Everything Under The Sun: Looking Out For Stray Pets

It takes a lot of ingenuity to crate train a group of rescued dogs.

What do you do when you're an animal lover and notice that the area where you live has a problem with numbers of stray animals? If you're Englishe Miller, you start saving these animals one stray at a time. In her case, she started M&M'S FUR-EVER FURBABIES RESCUE, located in Harnett County, NC.

The rescue saves abandoned, abused, and disabled dogs and cats by placing them in a network of foster homes and making them available for adoption. In addition, the organization helps to raise awareness of the issues that lead to abandoned animals through educating members of the community and youth. Among the topics they address are spay/neutering pets, and how to prevent pets from entering shelters.

Ms. Miller described her rescue organization, "My bottom line is to raise awareness here in the South that breeding animals for personal or financial gain leads to problems like the one we currently face. I want those who may be in a financial bind and can't feed their animal to have a place they can go to receive food for their pet instead of taking them to an over full kill shelter because they felt like they had no choice. I want everyone to understand we are the voice for these innocent precious animals."

Through the Saving Animals From Entering Shelters (S.A.F.E.S.) program, M&M assists low income families with obtaining enough food for their pets. In future, the plan is to find a way for these families to have access to low-cost vet care and spay/neuter services.

Another program, Next Generation Animal Advocates, focuses on youth by educating them about responsibility in regard to pet care and also the importance of spay/neuter, so that whenever the next generation thinks about adding a pet to their home, they will automatically think spay/neuter.

Rescued cat Puss in Boots gets silly in his cat bed.

One of M&M's most recent rescues is a 12-week-old lab/kelpie mix puppy, eventually named Twixie. She, her sibs, and her mama were strays that were spotted at in the woods behind a business. The business owner managed to capture two of the babies, Twixie and her brother. He kept the boy and had promised the girl to a neighbor, but became concerned about how that person was treating this girl. Englishe educated that neighbor about what needed to be done for the pup, and insisted that he take her to the vet because she wasn't in good shape. A few weeks later, the business owner came by with Twixie, explaining that the neighbor had left the puppy tied up outside and had neglected to take her to the vet, so she was still in the same condition. Obviously, Engishe took her in. She was underweight, so she was placed on a gradual weight gain regimen. Twixie also had fluid-filled joints and had a biopsy to determine form of treatment. A very sweet dog that is able to socialize well with dogs, cats, and children, Twixie is being transitioned from the life of an outdoors dog to an indoors dog.