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“Everything I see and hear makes me think of Weston. It’s hard to pick out a specific memory since they are all important to me.

“My husband, Chris, and Weston loved hunting together. They built a gaming PC together. Then Weston picked out parts and bought them to help his friend, Cody, build one as a surprise. Weston loved Christmas. Each year now, we’ve been giving gifts to other young men with EB, teens and 20s we know from Facebook. I feel sorry for them because I know what their life is like, and we want to help make them smile.

“After our house flooded in 2017 because of Hurricane Harvey, we had to live in an apartment for over a year until our house was fixed. We got Weston a kitten, Ricky Bobby, in June 2018. It gave him something to smile about while he was stuck in his wheelchair in that tiny place.

“Even though it was a challenging situation for the three of us there, I’m thankful that I got to spend so much time with him. I wasn’t working the last few years of his life, so I got to take care of him. It was the best job I ever had. Weston was the best boss.

“I would love to go back and live in that little apartment with him like we did after the flood. If I could have him back, I’d live there forever.”

— Dana Zucha

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• Rare skin disorder never-ending battle

• ‘It was sad each time a finger became useless’

• ‘Missing him is such a sad thing’

The post Taking care of son ‘best job I ever had’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I love animals. If I see a lost dog or cat on the side of the road, I’m like, ‘Oh, you poor thing. I can’t keep you, but I’ll shelter you for a couple days until I find you a home.’ I guess I’m just that type of person.

“That’s probably why I wrote this poem a long time ago called ‘Lost at Night.’ I had forgotten all about it. But when I was moving, I stumbled upon my poem book and rediscovered it. It was about a dog lost at night who can’t find his way home.

“I think I’ve always been a writer. But I’ve just recently decided to actually do something about it. I’m trying to get my words out there. So I thought, why not extend this poem into a children’s book. The lost dog meets another dog, and together they meet a cat. Then they all meet a duck. And later on, they meet two bluejays. They’re all lost at night, and home is nowhere in sight. Throughout their journey, they become friends. Then they finally meet a woman, and she takes all of them in. It’s kind of a sad story, but it has a happy ending.

“As a rescuer myself, I think the story carries a message about having a heart for lost animals. They all deserve a chance to have a home with someone who will love them and take care of them.”

— Maureen St. louis Nelson

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• She’s surrounded by a family of caregivers

• ‘Meals on Wheels’ met caregiver challenge

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Being active in the community comes natural for these sisters. Participation in student clubs and service groups has kept them quite busy in recent years. Their latest endeavor is to volunteer/foster with A Life to Live, a local non-profit organization that saves the lives of homeless cats and dogs.

“We’ve always loved animals. We grew up with dogs, goats, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, you name it. It was always like a mini-farm at our house.”

“We see a lot of strays, and we know there are too many animals that are losing their lives. So we want to be part of something to help make a positive change. One animal at a time, right?”

— Crisol (right) and Edith Napoles

A Life to Live would appreciate additional volunteers and fosters to support its no-kill mission.

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“When they’re all here, there are about eight or nine that we feed twice a day. Somebody’s got to do it, and we enjoy it. We have animals, and we wouldn’t want ours to go hungry.”

When did you start doing this?
“We bring our dogs out here to walk, so we’ve probably been feeding them for two or three years now. We’re just animal lovers. We have cats and dogs. We’ve adopted most of the dogs from here. Some of the cats came from here, too. Kittens, I can’t resist them.”

How many do you have?
“Well, now, I’d rather not say. A lot. We adopted another dog we found out here in October. And we have a few cats in the house, but I’m not going to say how many. They’re all well fed and taken care of.

“Our vet will take them sometimes if we can get them and they’re adoptable. We got one somebody dropped off here, a really pretty calico. She was real sweet, so our vet took her. They adopted her out, and I said we’d pay to have her fixed. But the people never brought her back to have it done.”

— An older couple, who preferred not to be identified

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“It started when I trapped a feral mama cat and she had four kittens. My husband and I worked together to socialize them, and then we wanted to find them homes.”

How do you socialize a kitten like that?
“What I do is forced love. I take him out in a little kitty burrito. I cover him up with a towel, and the only thing sticking out is his head. I just hold him and pet him, and he really hates it for a long time. Eventually, he understands that I’m not going to hurt him. Then I let him eat out of my lap, with just his head sticking out. It takes a lot of time, but it’s really rewarding to have him finally love you and trust you.

“Our main focus is spaying and neutering outside cats, which I think does a great service for the community. That way, maybe people won’t hate those cats so much if they’re not breeding and fighting all the time.”

— Magan Gonzales

Learn more about Good Felines.

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The post She believes rescue animals ‘deserve a fair chance’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I run a privately owned no-kill shelter in Dayton. We don’t get any assistance from the city, county or state, so we have to get out here to almost beg for donations.

“Right now we have 65 adult dogs, 15 puppies, 35 adult cats, 30 kittens and two horses. One of the horses came from a man who was pulling it by a rope behind his pickup truck. When my husband and I saw that, I said I hope he takes her to a good pasture where she can get some groceries. She was in bad shape. You could see every bone in her body.

“An hour and a half later, he was in my driveway with the horse. I ended up taking her to the vet, and she was 450 pounds underweight. We’ve had her three years now, and she’s fat and sassy. She’s up for adoption. But she needs someone who’s experienced with horses, because she’ll let them know who’s the boss.”

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