The most rewarding thing you can do in life, is rescue a pet!

I recently saw this heartwarming video online, it really did bring tears to my eyes. A beautiful dog rescued from almost certain death. The love shown in this beautiful animals eyes was testament to its owners dedication, throwing a lifeline to ensure this little dog had a second chance at life. Named Freddie, the hope is she will now have all the devotion and love she needs to try and live a full life. Rescuing an animal is a truly amazing thing to do and something my partner Darrell and I have done many times ourselves!

Our first rescue cat was Lily, an oriental foreign white. She was a breeding cat, kept in a cage for most of her life and badly in need of a forever home. I saw her story in a local newspaper in 2007 and immediately fell in love with her. I had seen no photographs, just a write up about her situation. After giving birth to her last litter of kittens, she suffered complications from a botched cesarean, leaving her badly scarred; as a result she acquired a hernia, which required a further operation. Her life as a breeding cat had come to an abrupt end and she was about to be euthanised when she was rescued by a local charity.

Lily was a fantastic cat, who Darrell and I loved with all our hearts. We were lucky enough to have her in our life until her death in 2017. She was extremely needy, but wonderfully loving, always close to both of us wherever we went, even travelling with us across Europe to our new home in Alicante. Her final few weeks were terribly upsetting; the bond we had with this amazing intelligent cat was so close and unforgettable, that we found it very difficult to let go. Knowing when the time is right to say goodbye is important. When I rescued her from an uncertain fate in 2007, I knew instantly it was the right thing to do, just as I knew it was time to put her down in 2018.

The memories I have with Lily will be with me always, she was a big part of my life, as any pet is. Her plight pulled at my heart strings and I was so content watching her grow after such a traumatic ordeal. Because of her past, she did have many heath problems, surviving cat flu on several occasions, when she should have died, but she was such a special girl everyone who met her, just couldn't help falling in love. When she died, we had her ashes scattered in an animal sanctuary near our villa in Spain. A part of her will always remain there and it will always be an excuse to return to our old home from time to time. I am glad she was a part of my life, I will always have her close inside, often looking at photographs and remembering the times we all spent together as a family!

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A few months before Lily died we rescued two tiny kittens, while living in Spain, they were no more than five or six weeks old and it was touch and go whether or not they would live. Thankfully they survived and we were lucky enough to have Mollie and Wildling for nearly a year. Of course we would have loved to have spent more time with this wonderful brother and sister duo, full of adventure and character, even after being dumped in a garden, trying to survive in the hot Spanish sun.

When I left for Spain in May last year we reluctantly decided to have Mollie and Wildling re-homed. Our destiny was moving firmly away from Gran Alacant and it seemed unfair to uproot these two young cats and take them to a new home in the UK. The last thing we wanted to do was give up the new additions to our family, but we found them both a home together with two of our friends living an hour and a half drive away in the southern Spanish province of Murcia.

We were happy to take on Lily, Mollie and Wildling, they were all very special pets. Every rescue animal has a story to tell and suffers from the memories of a past they would rather forget. They did have their own set of problems and we did have to dedicate more time to their rehabilitation, but the love they gave in return was so precious, it was worth all the pain and heartache.

If you are thinking about re-homing a rescue cat or dog, don't think twice, you will not regret it. The time we had with all our pets was rewarding and special, there was never a dull moment. When Darrell returns from Australia we hope to once again settle down and welcome some new rescue cats into our life, until then, it is great to continue reading stories of others, doing what they can to help animals in need, just like those in the video above. Animals do indeed make a home; my life certainly wouldn't have been the same without them!

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