Saturday Surprise — Short, Fun Critter Tales

Posted on by under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, Humour, Saturday Surprise

I almost skipped Saturday Surprise this week, for I had another political post ready to go for this morning and really couldn’t seem to get in the mood for anything light-hearted and fun.  And then, something crossed my radar that led to something else, and before long I realized there was something not quite right with my face … the corners of my mouth were turned up instead of down … I was actually smiling!  And thus came the idea for Saturday Surprise that had eluded me earlier in the evening.  So, get ready to smile at these very short, but fun critter tales …

Big cats are kitties too

ArwenJill Hicks was driving home from work when she saw what she thought was a cat run towards the road. Worried that it was alone, she scooped up the little “kitten” and took her home.  After making “Arwen” a cozy bed, she posted a picture on Facebook, asking if anyone would adopt the “bobtail kitten.” It didn’t take long before her neighbor helped her realize that it wasn’t just a kitten with a bobtail, it was actually a bobcat. “Thank the lord for her because I sure was about to put that baby in the sink and give it a bath and put it in bed with me!” Hicks joked on Facebook. Hicks took the soon-to-be-much-bigger kitty to a wildlife rescue who cared for her until she could be released into the wild.

And speaking of big cats …

mr-bMeet Mr. B.  Mr. B. is a big cat, but not a bobcat, leopard, panther, tiger or other wild cat, he’s just a big cat.  My best guess, knowing a bit about felines, is that he is a Maine Coon cat.

“OMG, big boi Mr. B is a CHONK. He’s a chonk of a chonk. He redefines the term. Can you guess how much he weighs? More importantly, can you give him a home?”

When the Morris Animal Refuge posted the above message, alongside a picture of said Mr. B., they were unprepared for how viral the big boy would go. So many people were touched by the massive cat and wanted more information about adopting him that he crashed the shelter’s website. “Mr. B. apologizes for crashing our website. We have our team working to get it back up as we speak. Unfortunately, they’re all cats, so it may take a little while,” they wrote. Happily, he’s since found his forever home.

A deer who is a real dear

It almost sounds like the opening to a fairytale: A lonely old woman who lives in a secluded cabin in the woods is visited every day by a magnificent stag who rewards her for her unselfish deeds. But this is 100 percent real life!deer-1Mette Kvam, 81, of Norway, had recently suffered the loss of her husband and was trying to adjust to living alone when one day she noticed a deer at her window. She fed him a piece of bread and immediately a friendship was born. “Flippen” now comes to visit her daily. She makes sure to always keep his favorite bread on hand and he keeps her company. She says he has saved her from loneliness and she loves nothing more than to feed and visit with him.

And speaking of animal buddies …

Buzz-1Tough, tattooed, and burly, Mark Cardenaz is probably the last person you’d describe as “Dr. Doolittle” but that’s exactly how friends describe the ex SWAT officer. So, no one was surprised when he took in an injured hummingbird he found on his back porch, nursing “Buzz” back to health with Pedialyte and sugar for six weeks. But that’s not where the story ends. After he released Buzz back into the wild he thought he’d never see his little buddy again but every year the bird flies from South America back to Cardenaz’s home in Georgia and lands in his hand. This year, Cardenaz worried something had happened when Buzz didn’t show up at his usual time but several weeks later, there he was, flitting around his head and begging for pets.

Seeing-eye cat?

After Terfel, an eight-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever in North Wales, U.K., developed cataracts in 2012, he began to bump into walls and furniture. Soon enough, the once-energetic dog was spending most of his time in his dog bed, unable to find his way around.

TerfelOn a whim, Terfel’s owner Judy Godfrey-Brown let a stray cat, whom she named Pwditat (pronounced Puddy-tat), into her home. The feline made a beeline for the blind dog and began using its paws and head to herd Terfel into the garden. Now the unlikely friends sleep together, and Pwditat helps Terfel find his way everywhere.

An inseparable bond

toldoA sprig of acacia, paper towels, and a plastic cup are just a few of the gifts that Toldo, a devoted gray-and-white cat, has placed on his former owner Iozzelli Renzo’s grave in Montagnana, Italy, every day since the man died. Renzo adopted Toldo from a shelter when the cat was three months old, and the two formed an inseparable bond. After Renzo passed away, Toldo followed the coffin to the cemetery, and now “stands guard” at the grave for hours at a time, says Renzo’s family.

Now to wrap up with a cute animal video about a baby squirrel who adopted a human family …

I hope that at least one of these stories, all of which, except the video, came from Readers Digest, by the way, has brought a smile to your face this morning.  And now, as I bid you adieu, I wish you a fun and happy weekend!

36 thoughts on “Saturday Surprise — Short, Fun Critter Tales”

  1. Pingback: Saturday Surprise — Short, Fun Critter Tales – Darwin Ferrer

  2. God bless these people who help vulnerable animals in need. The squirrel video reminds me of a fallen baby squirrel we rescued about 30 years ago when my son was 5. Squirrely Boy grew fast, and when he started acting crazy wild, the wildlife rephab person I talked to on the phone said it was time to let him go in the woods far from people so he would learn to adapt. We took him to a state park but couldn’t leave him in the remote part so we left him near the picnic area. After sniffing around a while, he climbed a tree and disappeared. I hope he’s had a good life.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. OH JIll!!! Love these stories. When I saw the very first 2 pictures my heart melted and then I read the stories and my smile just got bigger and bigger! Thanks so much for sharing! Happy weekend to you! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. This quote surrounded by a vast array of “creatures great and small” is on a framed page of an old calendar : “If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” – James Herriot. A certain Little Mister will love this “Saturday Surprise Letter from Miss Jill”! Thank-you for the smiles!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Jill, great vignettes. Flippen the deer touched my heart as he came along at the right time to comfort. We still get a few deer in our neighborhood, even though we are in suburbia. The other day we saw a fawn and its mama next door. No bobcats, though. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Flippen was the one that most melted my heart, and the ‘seeing-eye’ cat, too. Glad you enjoyed it! Squirrels is about the wildest wildlife we get here, but John Howell in Texas posted a picture last week of a buck and 5 does taking a nap on his lawn!

      Like

      Reply

  14. Maine Coons, supporting deer, homing hummingbirds, seeing-eye cats, and a guardian angel. What an interesting gallery of wonderful animals. Should have saved this for a Wednesday post. And then a squirrelly EMT worker. Thank you for a great post, Jill.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s