Barney’s Story
Barney was born under a bush in the cold and rain—left there, perhaps by his Mother, because he was different from the rest of her litter. His left rear leg was only a short stump and his jaw all twisted sideways, but he was alive and ready to see what this new world had to offer for a fine little handsome scoundrel. Happily he was found, and finally, when he was almost three years old, came to BrightHaven, or as we were then known… Read more
Beau’s Story
Beau came to BrightHaven in 1993 with his brother Louie-Louie. His loving elderly lady owner was forced to go and live with her family in Hawaii and could not take her boys. Louie, a huge, old sweet boy, settled quickly in our home, but Beau took a little longer. He was strong and tough and although already geriatric by modern standards—he was not at all sure he was ready for retirement in any shape or form! Read more
Bentley’s Story
When in the very prime of his little life at around 1 year of age, Bentley was involved in a car accident and suffered a broken back, resulting in paralysis from the waist down. He came to live here with us, initially sad, depressed and unwilling to face the bleak future. Being a cat, Bentley soon changed his thinking and became our huge inspiration as he bravely taught himself to walk, laugh and play again…Read more
Charlie’s Story
This gorgeous girl arrived here in April of 2004, mourning the death of her beloved person. Subsequently, her human “uncle” had taken her, along with sister “Honey” to a vet hospital—one girl tucked under each arm, dumped them unceremoniously down, and requested euthanasia. Thank goodness for our kind friend Sally, who contacted us, so that both Honey and Chewy could continue their lives at BrightHaven. Read more
Dafne-Ann’s Story
Dafne-Ann has lived in our house for almost four short years. Daf, Daffage, Daffy duck or a million of the other silly names I have for her, came to us after the demise of her much loved lady. Thankfully, her son Rick felt impelled to do the right thing for his Mum and find the purrrfect place for her girl to renew, refresh and live out the little time left to her. I say little time, as fifteen year old Daf brought with her a list of medical issues and surgical procedures, so long as to prove daunting to even the strongest of readers. Read more
Duke’s Story
This is the story of Duke, a tiny Betta fish with the heart of a lion.It was April 2010. I had lived in my current apartment in Somerville, MA, for a little over six months and I was a happy cookie since my pesky, slightly weird and smoking (literally, not figuratively) downstairs neighbor had moved out a few weeks previous. But why did I keep hearing disturbing noises coming from his apartment in the middle of the night? Read more
Frazer’s Story
Frazier—a 34 year old cat-hero with a facial cancer, who refused to die. Frazier went into death throes many times and even stopped breathing many times, before he returned to life to try again. Frazier fought death so many times that it became a joke that he would start to die in the afternoon and by night, would be requesting a second plate of food. BrightHaven animal Reiki teacher, friend and author Kathleen Prasad came to do a photo-shoot for her new Reiki book (see Resources section) with her many… Read more
Furbee’s Story
Our journey began way back when Furbee was a tiny kitten of only two weeks of age. Driving down a busy high street in Southern California, a rescue lady noticed something suddenly precipitate from the window of the car in front of her, to land in the gutter. Driving by, she caught a glimpse of what looked like white fur…and so the story begins! Furbee, so named by this wonderful kindred spirit, Sharon, remained at the vets overnight with massive… Read more
Harley’s Story
Libby, one of BrightHaven’s long time volunteers came to visit one day, telling us she had promised to rescue a sweet pig who was on his way to becoming “a bunch of Christmas hams” and now she did not know what on earth to do with him, as her own house and yard was hardly big enough for her dog! “Speedy,” as he was then known, started life as a 4H project, where he was raised by children, fattened up and then taken to market to be sold for slaughter. Read more
Hope’s Story
This remarkable dog was born with a major heart defect as well as no eyes. Rejected by her mother and given for euthanasia, baby Hope was cared for by shelter staff who just could not resist her charm…After many months Hope found her way to BrightHaven to be cared for as she left this earth—and there began a change in her story. When BrightHaven discovered that a dangerous heart surgery might be possible… Read more
Jackie’s Story
Jackie arrived at BrightHaven in August of 2001 and proceeded to touch the hearts, souls and lives of people too numerous to know, or count. A close friend was heard to comment that “BrightHaven is incredibly fortunate to have a yogi dwelling in its living room.”…and I guess that for me summed up her amazing life. For, you see, Jackie spent most of her six years here, in bed, unable to stand, much less walk. In the early days she could sit up on her elbows to eat, but most recently she simply… Read More
Joey’s Story
Joey arrived in June of 2004 and BrightHaven days were changed for ever! When only in his second year of life, Joey had been hit by a car, subsequently suffering back injuries which rendered him incontinent, with his back legs useless. His owner tried hard to care for him but confined him to one room as she was unable to manage his incontinence. Finally, faced with her own progressive illness, she was forced to seek help. Serendipity prevailed and Joey came to live at BrightHaven… Read more
Lucy’s Story
The “Lucky” black cat came to live at BrightHaven with her friends “Squeaky” and “Fuzzy” in October of 1999. Then 16 years old, she was the baby of the group and treated accordingly by her elderly brothers. The group had lived for many years as part of a large family in the care of a loving rescue lady. This person fell upon hard times and lost her home…an all too familiar story in these times! Read more
Mr. Woody’s Story
One clear thing about the genial Mr. Woody right from the very start, was that his life before BrightHaven was filled with love. This gentle giant loved everyone he met, and was delighted to lick every single human nose that came his way. Before BrightHaven, his recent past life was a tale so sad as to tug at the heartstrings, and even now we often shed a tear for what must have been the most traumatic day in his life. I refer to the day when fifteen year old Woodman and his beloved elderly gentleman flew by airplane together to begin… Read more
Panther’s Story
Where to begin I wonder, to talk about this somewhat shy black panther who came to BrightHaven back in 1993, along with his twin sister, Olivia. The differences between the two were immediately obvious…one large and black; the other a minute tortoiseshell with attitude! Olivia, or Livvy stepped into BrightHaven society that day, and with a flick of her imaginary fan and a toss of her long… Read more
Patti’s Story
Patti’s life never was the happy one of which she dreamed. It began with injury as humans threw her to the pavement to die and, at least happily did not then cease. It continued in the warm arms of rescue, but with so many brothers and sisters that Patti withdrew into her shell to become timid and fearful. After the death of the one person to have loved her Patti was alone again and filled with fear. That is when we could not resist her sad and soul filled eyes… Read more
Sarah’s Story
Sarah came to live with us at the request of a well-known author, who had heard of our work and prayed we could save her girl. She had tried the best that medicine could offer and hoped that our mixture of love, diet and homeopathic care would work a miracle. Sarah was so beautiful she almost took our breath away when first we saw her. It was hard to believe she was so very ill, but she suffered an awful dis-ease called feline plasmacytic… Read more
Tim’s Story
Tim was born in the family’s garage and cuddled with his brothers and sisters in their basket. The family made a fuss of the new babies when they came in to play and visit with them and the kittens really enjoyed the four young girls, although were a little scared by their effusive playing. After some weeks passed it was apparent that Tim could no longer walk and the family took him to the vet, who told them that he was paralyzed from the waist down… Read more
Trevor’s Story
Trevor came to BH in 1998 from New York after his beloved owner died and subsequently his rescue lady fell upon hard times. She decided to come to California to find her pot of gold ..and we all know the ending to that story!! Trevor ended up in a shelter with his family and BH agreed to take the elders of the group and so friends, Nigel, Millie and Meri came to live with us too. Trevor sadly for us joined them today. And so my story begins. It has been terribly hard to… Read more
