It has been a busy summer. Even though I’m retired, I like working in my flower garden, just sitting on my patio reading and getting a little house cleaning done. And we can’t forget: spending time with Sadie Grace and Ollie. Being retired is wonderful and I am fortunate I was able to do it sooner than later.
At the end of the first installment of “Rescue is my Breed,” I ended with losing Lucy, our mix terrier, at 19 years old. She was our second rescue. Beau was our third and a gentle giant. A 125-pound lab and Chesapeake retriever mix, he was the only one left after Lucy passed.
About that time, we had taken a kitten in from my sister-in-law. She had a mother cat that had a few kittens, and the mother cat was hit by a car and killed. The kittens were about 6 or 7 weeks old. I wasn’t thinking of getting a cat because we had had several. Because we live in the country, they were outside cats and always went missing.
One day my sister-in-law came with a black and white male cat and placed him in my lap and said, “He needs a mom. You’re it.”
He was named Zack. I never had a male cat before and I believe he was a typical one. He tried to mark, but we had him neutered right off and that seemed to fix that problem. Sometimes he would take off for days, but always came back. After he was about 2 months old, I went to the Central Aroostook Humane Society and got a 5-month-old white and orange kitten who was named Zoey.
Zack and Zoey were inseparable. They slept together almost all the time. Zack was a sucker; I attributed this to being taken away from his mom too early. At night he would wake me up to get under the blanket. There were several blankets on the bed, but you had to put him under the same one nightly because he sucked on that same spot. He never outgrew that.
Zack was always climbing a tree. One day I heard meows and looked up, and Zack was way up a tall spruce tree. I tried to call him down, but he was up there all day. Finally I told my husband, “He won’t come down. You need to help him.”
My husband at the time was a lineman and wasn’t afraid of heights. Up he went in the spruce tree and grabbed a clawing Zack. When they both got down, they were covered in sap, which was so hard to get out of Zack’s fur. Zack never went up a tree that far again, at least to my knowledge.
Zack was not with us that long. After he had turned a year old, I found him sitting outside and he could barely breathe. We got him into the veterinarian’s office and the diagnosis was not good. He had damaged his diaphragm. The vet said either he fell a long way from a tree or a car had hit him. The outcome was 50/50 if they operated, and at the time he was in pain so we decided to end his misery.
Zoey was very upset and missed Zack terribly, but Beau was here to soothe her through her grieving process.
Beau and Zoey continued to be the best of friends. Beau was a porch puppy or an under-the-tree dog — those were the two places you would find him. He was one of the best dogs we had. He loved people, kids and other animals. He was the gentlest dog we ever had.
At different times Beau damaged both his back leg cruciate ligaments. That was expensive and a difficult healing process, but when you own a pet, and they are family, you do what you have to do to take care of them. Both legs healed fine, and Beau lived to be 13 years old. That’s a good life for a large dog. He was loved and adored by us.
During his last year he started having seizures and after we took him to the vet’s, we found out he had a tumor in his stomach that probably was cancerous, and the vets also thought he probably had a brain tumor. So, at the age of 13, we lost Beau.
Zoey’s story will continue in part 3 of Rescue is my Breed.
If you are looking for a furry friend, check out the Central Aroostook Humane Society. We have a selection of animals to choose from. Rescue, rescue, rescue — these animals are so full of love to give.
“Don’t cry because it is over; smile because it happened” (Dr. Seuss).
Gail Wieder is on the Central Aroostook Humane Society board of directors.
