Snow*..."Animal Crusader Extraordinnaire!" ;) ...

If you ever see someone running helter-skelter down the side of the highway and thru snake-infested grassy ditches, just yell, "Hey, Snow!" out the window, because that will probably be ME...trying to save some stray or hurt animal somewhere!

Holy-schmoley!...The stories I could tell you...insane...all of them....

***There was the 3-legged cat which had once been caught in a trap--and had gotten out of on its own--which I had to slam an empty laundry basket over it, in order to manage to catch it.

I was in college, and driving home for the weekend...with all of my dirty laundry for poor Mommy to wash...lol! I ended-up with my underwear strewn all down the sides of the highway! ;)

Yet, I managed to save that poor little cat...and had to have it's poor leg fully amputated...found it a home with a newspaper photog for the STL Post...he named her "Tri-Pod"! ;)

***Hmmm...the beautiful white cat I found as a Senior in HS...drove past it on the road in a remote area, I stopped to shush her off the road, and she just sat there and looked at me...not scared at all...sooo not normal for a cat!

So, the logical solution was to open my car door and have her hop in! She immediately fell asleep on my front seat! Again...not normal.

She had rabies tags, but it was Friday, and I could not call Animal Control until Monday.

So, I snuck her in the house and kept her in my bedroom all weekend. Dad did not know, but Mom always knew EVERYTHING! She was my total partner-in-crime...thank God! ;)

That Saturday morning, my dad opened my bedroom door to wake me up, and I just FROZE! That cat was sleeping peacefully as could be at my feet...and Dad talked to me for a few minutes before he left...that cat never did move, and Dad never did see her!

I thought that maybe he thought it was MY cat...my Silver Persian...and the covers were white...so maybe that cat was camouflaged...???

I totally could not believe I was getting away with it!

I later had to vacuum my room, and thought for sure she would freak at the vacuum...she never even woke up or batted a whisker...Okay...HMMMM.....SOMETHING was definitely going-on here!

I started snapping my fingers by her ears as she slept...NOTHING! THAT CAT WAS DEAF! OMG! NOW IT ALL MADE SENSE!

So, that Monday I called Animal Control, got the # of her "parents", and called them.

Her name was "Ivory"...she was born deaf...(they also had a black cat named "Ebony" ;)...she always wore a collar with a bell, yet she got out and lost her collar, and she could not hear when they called for her...and she could not find her way home.

They were ECSTATIC to have her returned to them!

***Then, there was the verrryyyy pregnant Bichon-mix I had found...she was definitely dumped on the side of the road...another find on my drive home from college from the University of Kansas (go Jayhawks! ;)

That poor little dog was so matted and starved...although sooo entirely fat!

Dad was the first one to figure out she was pregnant...and OMG...2 days later she had 12 puppies! Yes, 12! They were all healthy, too!

Yes, we found homes for them all...even the momma! There was no way we could keep any of them...we had a ton of animals of our own, already.

Geez...I found A LOT of animals coming home from school...my dad finally told me to stay there! ;) He knew I would always be dragging some new stray home.

That is, until I hauled my new boyfriend home, and Dad took one look at his long hair and guitar, and then he changed his tune! Dad didn't want me to go back, then! LOL!

***One time I was driving down a main road in my town, in my brand-new Mustang...which I still have, and love dearly...and I saw a cat lying in the middle of the road...it was dark, so I could barely tell what it was.

Well, I stopped my car in front of her...kinda turning my car side-ways to block the road, and hesitantly walked-up to her. I was wary of strays, especially hurt ones...you never know how they are going to react.

I had no regard for my new car...it almost got plowed-into...yet I was determined to protect her from being hit again...for that is definitely what had happened already.

She was huge and all-black...just beautiful...I could not really tell what her injuries were in the dark...so I gently scooped her up and carefully brought her back to my car...she lay in my lap while I raced to the 24-hour ER vet, 20-min away...which I got to in about 8!

I called the clinic on my cell...I had their # on speed-dial, that it is how much I am there! :O

As I drove, I could feel her warm blood seep into me, and then she started to release her bladder...OMG...I knew that was NOT good!

When finally at the vet, I quickly explained to them that she was NOT my cat, I definitely did NOT hit her, and that I would pay whatever it cost to save her...money was not an issue.

(I did not really have much money, but I knew my mom would help...I come by my craziness honestly...it's inherited!)

So, while the vet and techs struggled to save her life, I sat there on the hand-me-down church pew in the waiting area, praying my head off, and crying uncontrollably.

I was already imagining what it would be like if they saved her, and I could take her home......I would call her "Robbin", because I had found her in-front of the "Baskin Robbins" Ice Cream Parlor.

When the receptionist came out to get more information from me, she informed me that "Robbin" was poly-dactyl...6-toed...well, I had never heard of that! Her paws were HUGE, though.

(Later, I learned all about Ernest Hemingway, and his hundreds of poly-dactyl cats...he actually willed his estate in Florida to his cats when he died! They are still cared for there, even today. Interesting stuff.)

...

Well, after a few hours of the vets struggling with keeping her alive, she did not make it in the end. Her lungs were punctured, and was losing O2 faster than they could pump it into her...and she suffered internal bleeding, as well.

...

So, Robbin is now buried in my parents backyard, and the vet bill was almost $1000...the vets thought I was nuts, and Mom was not too thrilled to pay for the half which I could not afford...however, she DID understand.

You would have thought that the vet could have given me even a 10% discount! SHEESH!

Okay, well...THOUSANDS of other stories! You would not even believe! However, I will spare you all at the moment.

With everything I have been thru with animals since I was just a wee-sprite, I should be an honorary vet by now!

So, are ya'all still out there with me? Have you been able to plow thru all my "stchuff" without having to take a bathroom break, or trot off to grab a Diet Coke and a few ropes of Strawberry Twizzlers???

Yeah, I tend to run-on, but I talk fast, think even faster... and luckily, I can type like-the-wind!