Fall of 2016 I decided I was ready for another “big girl” to join our family. The previous fall we had lost our beautiful 15 year old shepherd/Rottie mix to cancer. I came across a picture on PetFinder of a sweet 10 year old black lab named Madison, whose quirky ears and gray muzzle grabbed my heart. She was being fostered by a wonderful woman, Mary Giordano-Grant, who works with Johnston County Animal Protection League. Within a week of filling out the application Madison was coming home! She was the sweetest, most mellow, most well behaved girl ever. With the exception of some initial dental concerns her health was great.
As she aged there were some normal concerns with her joints but she was able to get around well. On December 26, 2019 she suffered a stroke during the night. The next morning a caring vet helped me say goodbye. Though she only shared a few short years as part of our family I feel very strongly that she gave us the best years of her life and was appreciative of all the belly rubs & loving she received from all who knew her.
Too often older dogs are overlooked by someone who thinks they only want a cute puppy. Providing a responsible, loving home to a dog in their golden years is such a rewarding experience. JCAPL was so incredible to work with. Please consider adopting an older animal through their program.
Katy is absolutely wonderful, it is amazing how far she has come.
I wanted to give you a quick update on Spencer. Omg, do we love him to death! His nickname is “Cat-Dog” because he does think he’s a dog. He follows me around the house “helping” with everything. He’s great with our dog & our other cat…she has diabetes now & Spence must know cause he’s so good with her. He’s my snuggle bug too. We couldn’t be happier! And someone did a great job with him early on because he’s never once picked at the furniture.
Madison celebrated her 1st Christmas with us in style! She has done so well with all the children that come around, including our youngest grandchild who is 15 months. We are so fortunate to have found her.
Our Happy Tail story is a match made in heaven! While volunteering with JCAPL as a cat cleaner at the Smithfield PetsMart, I got to meet many, many cats and kittens, all needing a loving home. September 2014, my family decided we would become fosters, which we had never done before. Grace came to JCAPL as a feral cat who lived in a cat colony in Goldsboro behind KMart. She was found in the winter months living in a ditch trying to raise 5 kittens, all who looked just like her. She was trapped and spayed, hence her clipped left ear. All of her kittens were rescued and later adopted out. Caregivers of the colony noticed she had a pretty bad injury to her eye. They suspected she may have been hit or abused by someone. It was feared she was blind in that eye. 
My heart melted for her because she had been through so much. My husband and I decided she would be our first foster! Our 13 year old daughter is named Grace, so we made the decision to call our new foster “baby Grace”. We fostered baby Grace for a few weeks and when it was time for her to go back to PetsMart, we just couldn’t let her go. We officially became foster failures October 2014! Baby Grace has become quite the diva and is spoiled at every chance we get. I can’t imagine the life she must have had prior to coming into our home, but now she lives in the lap of luxury with all the love she could ever possibly imagine. As I type this she is in my lap making biscuits getting ready to snuggle down for a nap. Her favorite past times include (obviously) napping in my lap, playing with her ribbon toy and fluffy pink bell toy, sunning on the sun porch while watching birds, and eating anything salmon!
Hope this finds you and the family well. Wanted to give you a Katy update since we are coming up on our 6 month anniversary together. She remains just wonderful, a very precious girl, that we would not trade for anything. She is spoiled rotten, but that is a good thing, right? She is just under 50lbs (49.4 to be exact) and has grown much taller- she has some long legs and she can really run fast. She has developed her own set of crazy antics- she loves to hide things under a blanket or one of her doggie beds- including herself. And you should see her gymnastics- she can do a perfect forward roll, she just tucks her head down and rolls over- usually landing on one of us, and she would make a good high jumper, luckily she doesn’t realize there could be purpose in it.
We can’t wait for cooler weather so we can run and play, go to the park, the lake and any place else we happen to wander. I am enclosing a few new pictures so you can see how much she has grown. The one in the house was taken as she tried to help me make Kennel quilts to donate to shelters in Louisiana, she has to be in the middle of it. There is a picture of her coming out the doggie door, she has to duck down a little to get out. And a couple of her just relaxing and hanging out.
