The Joy of Saving a Life Thru Shelter Adoption

When choosing a family companion, we have only ever considered adopting through a shelter. Our furry family is made up of 3 cats and 3 dogs. Five of them were adopted from an animal shelter. The only one that wasn't is Bootsy the tuxedo cat, who was taken in as a kitten. He was saved from a life as a stray and perhaps, eventually, life in a shelter. Half of our furry family was adopted as kittens or puppies and the other half were already full grown adults. All of them are special, and have their own stories, but Chester has had the most complex.

Chester was adopted in 2000 and was already one year old. He is a golden retriever and husky mix with a wonderful temperament. We adopted him from a no kill shelter with an amazing 30 day pet insurance benefit. He was rescued from another shelter, where he was on top of the list to be euthanized. He was found wandering the streets. The no kill shelter saved his life and in turn by adopting him we made room for another dog that could also have been next on that horrible list.

Within the first few days of bringing him home, we noticed that Chester was losing weight. He became very sick and had bloody diarrhea, vomiting and was dehydrated. Luckily, we had the pet insurance, so we brought him back for a check up. He was diagnosed with parvovirus and was very ill. Parvovirus can be very dangerous and most of the times fatal in puppies. Since he was found on the street, and was just transferred from another shelter, he hadn't been yet been diagnosed before we adopted him. He was admitted to the shelter's medical facility and stayed there for approximately two weeks. We visited him several times each week. It was so sad to see him hooked up to the IVs and so lucid. But, finally two weeks later he was better and we were able to take him home.

He has been with us for the last 9 years and he is the sweetest dog. He still has a sensitive stomach due to his illness and we can only feed him one brand of lamb and rice dry food. Soon after, we adopted a German Shepherd / Pitbull mixed puppy, Lua (which means moon in Portuguese), who won't go anywhere without her best friend, Chester. She was adopted from a shelter a few days after the tragic 9/11 day. Working in New York across the street from the World Trade Center deeply affected me. It was amazing how the rescue dogs helped with the recovery efforts. We were inspired to take a trip to the shelter and adopt a new addition to our furry family, who was Lua. She will not leave Chester's side and won't even go outside without him.

Adopting our furry family from a shelter has been a positive, rewarding experience. There are so many beautiful dogs and cats waiting for a loving home. Many of them will have their precious lives ended. When choosing to bring a new addition to your family, please consider adopting from a shelter.