From stray to “soulmate,” and yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

By Toni Miles

The Long Beach Police Department Animal Control Care Facility, located at 201 Alexander Road in Long Beach, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The facility is managed by the Long Beach Police Department and Animal Control.

Here I – we – go again!

It was just another sweltering South Mississippi summer day – you know, the kind that envelops you in sweat from the time you walk out the front door to your car in the driveway.

The mission – to push through another outdoor cardio workout on nearby bridge. I prefer working out on bridges and beaches, because even the slightest breeze off the water makes all the difference, and, at times, I truly believe can be life-saving, especially in the wake of recent heat waves that have gripped the entire nation.

Hard to believe I was “warming up” for this morning’s run in such soul-sucking heat, but I was, only to lean down during a calf stretch and come face-to-face with a terrified, starving kitty with eyes staring back at me as big as mine.

Meet Charlie, a female kitten dumped under a local bridge, who has found a home with Long Beach Breeze Managing Editor Toni Miles.

Wild-eyed, untamed fur, clearly distressed yet too desperate to completely evade contact with me, this tiny furball let the vocals rip, and, boy, did her broken cries for help tear at my heart strings.

I lifted up my head, scanned the area, praying to find her mother (and hopefully no other kittens), but to no avail.

After a short-lived foot pursuit and a half-hearted fight, she conceded.

Sighing, so did I.

Not again. The last thing I need(ed) was another mouth to feed. For reasons unknown, the four-legged variety always scope me out, “choose” me. I must have “sucker” written across my forehead.

I have raised a blind Boston Terrier, Buster, who was my companion for more than a decade. After he passed, I could not get out of bed for nearly three days, grieving the loss of that special (needs) soul.

Charlie cuddles up for a nap with her new bestie, Toni’s three-legged senior chihuahua Rocky. (Photo credit Toni Miles)

Then, along came Rocky, who doesn’t even have four legs – only three. This three-legged, now sixteen-year-old chihuaha – who could still give any young pup with all four legs a run for his money – got me in trouble from day one – and he wasn’t even supposed to be mine.

On assignment in Corpus Christi, my videographer, Travis, an older, salt-of-the-earth, no-nonsense type of guy, fell in love with the little three-legged chihuahua pup who was housed with his brothers and sisters at a no-kill shelter started up by a woman who had dedicated her life and resources to sheltering unwanted animals after nearly losing her life in a car accident years prior, when she worked as head of a major company. Even I was a little surprised (working in the news business as long as I have, not much surprises you) when Travis informed me this woman, clad in overalls and make-up free, once headed up a major corporation. As he told it, when her life hung in the balance during that car accident, she prayed and made a bargain with God – to use all of her resources to fund and run a no-kill shelter. And, to date, she has kept her word.

Travis insisted we adopt the pup on the spot, and he needed a loan to pay the adoption fee. Gladly, I pulled out my card after a short-lived banter over the possible consequences of returning to the TV news station with a dog. The studio was chaotic enough.

As I paid the pet fee, the shelter owner looked me square in the eye and asked me if I was going to take care of the pup. I explained again to her that the adoption was for Travis. She paused, and a slow smile spread across her face knowingly. She nodded, took the payment, and off we went to put together our news story on overcrowded animal shelters and care.

As I was anchoring the noon news show, Rocky decided to bark. Non-stop. During commercial break, my boss came in and asked why a dog was barking and why he was hearing it on air on a day not designated for Pet of the Week. Fun explaining that one.

That day fatefully also brought with it a torrential downpour. Travis had water in his house, and he asked if I could take the three-legged adoptee home.

I did, and he never left.

Fast-forward sixteen years, five jobs, two states and three cities later, and Rocky and I are still together.

Now, we have a new addition to the family – which expanded to five total animals before this newly-acquired kitten joined the brood, thanks to a stray mother cat who dropped her three-week kittens off with me years ago, never to be seen again. That was nearly three years ago, and since I have acquired “bottle feeding” (formula) skills. By some miracle, all of those kittens grew up to be loving adult cats who still stick around to this day and even leave me lovely gifts, ranging from dead rats to slimy snakes.

I’m told this is a gesture of love from cats. I am not sold on this.

Now, to present day – another mouth to feed. Not sure if this abandoned kitten was a boy or girl at first, I decided on a neutral name – Charlie. After all, I am a Toni.

The latest addition to this journalist’s family, Charlie, assists her new caretaker as she (tries to) work. (Photo credit Toni Miles)

Surprisingly (again), my aged dog and faithful three-legged companion Rocky took to Charlie like a duck to water. I guess you actually can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Now, just a few weeks in, the two are inseparable, except for when I am working on deadline and Charlie wants to “help” me out while I’m trying to write and type.

I can’t complain too much. Charlie’s “interference” compelled me to write this column. I cringe to think of the fate this precious kitten may have faced had our fated encounter not unfolded under that local bridge recently. She likely would have died a slow and painful death. In fact, she may have been hours away from the end of her life had I not decided to run that bridge that day.

To be honest, I am scared to even park in that spot again, for fear of running into another kitten or batch of them. It’s become a place where people continually just dump off kittens. I simply do not have the capacity to understand how a human being can just intentionally abandon and essentially leave a defenseless animal for dead, but it happens – and often.

I have received phone calls, and even myself have been informed first-hand, that many of our local shelters are over capacity, especially during certain times of the year, and simply cannot handle any more unwanted animals, namely kittens.

I know it sounds cliché’, but there is a very real and easy solution to this problem – spay and neuter. Those four kittens I raised to adults – each one of them was fixed as soon as possible.

My brood – Rocky, Charlie, Marty-Smarty Pants, Gorgeous George, Itty Bitty and Houdini – all had a good stroke of luck and found me and a loving home. The vast majority of unwanted pets are not so fortunate. These critters have emotions, feel, love and, yes, grieve and suffer, just as we humans do. The difference is we have the ability to “fix” things. They don’t.

(Photo credit Toni Miles)

I understand that many simply cannot accommodate a pet, or another animal, in their household, but there are other ways to help out. There are several local animal shelters and facilities, some right here in Long Beach, that are committed to caring for unwanted, abandoned and neglected animals, and these organizations always need help – donations in the form of pet food, blankets, monetary donations and more.

Among them: the Long Beach Police Department Animal Control Care Facility, located at 201 Alexander Road in Long Beach. This facility is managed by the Long Beach Police Department and Animal Control and can be contacted at 228-863-7292 or 228-224-5584. They also have a Facebook page named LBPD “Animals Needing Care and Adoption.” The facility is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has animals up for adoption. As of late August, three dogs, two kittens and two cats were needing homes.

Another popular pet care facility in Long Beach is For Pet’s Sake Rescue. Its mission is to provide strays and abused animals with a safe haven to heal, rehabilitate and get a true chance at the life they deserve. For Pet’s Sake Rescue can be reached by calling 228-202-7125.

There’s also the Long Beach non-profit Batman’s LBMS Animal Rescue Foundation, which can be found by this name on Facebook and is an organization that devotes all of its proceeds to benefit and care for unwanted, abused, abandoned and neglected animals in Long Beach. They can be reached through their Facebook page or at BatmansLBMSAnimalControl@yahoo.com.

And, of course, there’s the Humane Society of South Mississippi located in Gulfport which can be reached at 228-863-3354 or through their Facebook page.

In a fast-paced world consumed with online “images” and digital, faceless relationships, deciding to provide for, foster or adopt one of these four-legged (or as in Rocky’s case, three-legged) creatures, may just turn out to be one of the best investments you ever make.

Believe me, I know.