Dogster Saved by Caring Catsters
Recently, TV station KOAT in Albuquerque reported that Dogster Noelle (left) was saved from euthanasia in a shelter by the members of the Dogster community, who arranged to transport Noelle (who was on death row in a Florida shelter) to a new home 1500 miles away in New Mexico. But several of my Catster friends were quick to point out that technically, it was mostly Catsters who did the legwork to save Noelle and her two feline housemates (Aldo and Tess) from an unhappy ending, and asked me to tell the story of the Catsters behind the scenes that made this happy ending a reality.
Here’s what happened… When Noelle’s guardian (47-year-old Laurel) died suddenly in her sleep, 
everyone believed that her three pets were being cared for by neighbors until Laurel’s brother arrived and could make arrangements to rehome them. Instead, Catster TC (right) found out via Facebook that Aldo and Tess were missing and Noelle was in custody at animal control. TC tells the story:
I pmailed Hazel Lucy (below right) on a Sunday morning to provide the information she needed.
What Hazel Lucy did that day and for the next several weeks still amazes me to this day. She posted in groups; found cats that lived in the Tampa area to set traps for the cats; she arranged for another Catster mom to go to animal control and get Noelle released to her and then arranged for the 1500-mile flight from Florida to New Mexico. Aldo was trapped and adopted by another Catster family [in Baltimore] and of course Noelle is happy and living in Albequerque.
Hazel Lucy is one of the most purrmazing cats I’ve ever had the priveledge of knowing. She did not do any of this for personal gain or for any other reason than to do her best not to see good furriends and their doggie sisfurr end up in a shelter or worse.
Aldo was flown to a home in Baltimore with the special help of Catsters O’Malley, Ele’ and Gimme. His sister Tess was never trapped, despite extraordinary efforts to do so. It’s believed that she found a home with someone, since her carrier was missing from Laurel’s home. Catster Ashlye Delicious Dazzle continues the search. On a brighter note, a pregnant stray “Gorgeous” who was trapped while they were trying to trap Tess was successfully rescued. Her litter was adopted out and she’s happy in a new furrever home.
I don’t think there are many Catsters who don’t know Hazel Lucy. She’s a powerhouse of activism, whether it’s her current campaign to help Catster Miracle’s family who was recently burned out of their home, her never-ending project to knit gorgeous shelter snuggles, or offering comfort and support to Catsters in need.
But Hazel Lucy, TC, Elle and Gimme, O’Malley and the others were only part of a huge team across the globe that worked together to rehome Aldo and Noelle successfully. I’ll quote from Hazel Lucy’s Catster diary entry that names most of the other Catsters and Dogsters who donated their time, money and support to this rescue effort:
Finally, thanks to all the wonderful Catsters and Dogsters:
Tyler – Mr Boombastic’s mom, Gimme’s mom, Dogster Mollie’s mom, Ashlye Delicious Dazzle’s mom, and so many many more. Your helpful suggestions, lists of resources, your encouragement, support, and referrals, made this rescue happen, and very quickly too.May 18th I received word from TC an Angel that Noelle was at animal control and that the cats were out. May 20th, traps were set. That same evening Aldo was trapped. After an overnight visit to his vet he went to stay with Gimme and Ele’s mom. May 23rd Dogster Noelle was freed from animal control to stay with Dogster Mollie and her mom. May 25th Noelle flew to her new home in Albuquerque to live with Catster Simon and Dogster Ziggy Stardust. June 7th Aldo flew with his new mom to Baltimore to live with O’Malley, James Tailer, Miss Jazzi and family. Meanwhile Ashlye Delicious Dazzle’s mom and Tyler – Mr Boombastic’s mom drove almost 300 miles each way to set more traps and search again for Tess. No sign of Tess. As her carrier was missing from the beginning, we felt sure that someone had her. The beautiful stray “Gorgeous” also benefitted from the rescue mission. Ashlye’s mom made an expert rescue/trap move and grabbed her! She is with kittens, so more lives were saved. They will all have fine homes. A fitting end to the saga that began so tragically.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this effort! Read more details of the rescue here.
Yay! We are constantly amazed by the big hearts the Catster family has. Hazel Lucy and her mom are the best. They go above and beyond when it comes to helping others.
We are so proud to be part of such a loving and caring community.
Thank you for posting this story. It would have made Laurel so happy! In fact, I am sure it DOES make her happy.
We were following the story from the beginning. All we could do from here in Ohio was donate money and give some purrs. We couldn’t be happier that Noelle and Aldo found wonderful homes, and we choose to believe that Tess has found a wonderful home as well.
Hooray! I am so glad wonderful Hazel Lucy, her Mom and everyone else involved in the rescue did get some credit after all. We love you Hazel Lucy! Chelsea Louise and family!
It was a wonderful effort by so many, and we were all so happy with the outcome! Yeah for Noelle and Aldo. Still purring that Tess is in a loving home.
Thank you Skeezix. I saw a link to the news story done on Noelle & must admit I felt it slighted all the hard work Catsters did to save Laurel’s furbabies.
Laurel is still greatly missed but I am so thankful to these fine Catsters, named & anonymous & all the hard work they did to help save this family.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only Catster that felt the story wasn’t completely told. Though Catster & Dogster are sister sites, it often seems everything is credited to Dogster. I sometimes feel like Catster is always in the shadow of Dogster & that drives me crazy. mol
Please no one get me wrong, both sites are equally wonderful, & if the situation was reversed I would feel the same way for Dogster.
Thanks again Skeezix! We are proud to be Catsters!
Stories like these help restore one’s faith in humanity. Thank you.
Skeezix my best furiend – you’ve given us a meowvalous insight and definicatically speaking, we meowsters are in the right place having CATSTER in our 9 lives – and DOGSTER too! Now that’s as good as it gets and we’re doggone furtunate kit kats! This story is truly Catzowey I give those fantasticat folks who made this situation a happy ending, well I give them the GUIDO 4 Paws UP award of the month!
Ciao & Meow,
GUIDO The Italian Kitty
Hiya Catsters!
As always, thanks for all of your great comments and support. The story of Laurel and her pets is a story that we at Catster and Dogster HQ are very proud of, and I think it is worth my chiming in to mention that here. The effort that Catster members made to see to it that Aldo, Tess and Noelle received the attention they deserved was indeed phenomenal and I echo eilu’s sentiment wholeheartedly: Stories like these help to restore one’s faith in humanity. 100% true.
When we were contacted by the reporter in Albuquerque, she was looking for a local member who would be interested in sharing her experiences with Dogster and Catster, and so I naturally recommended Alison because of her love and dedication to the Catster and Dogster communities. I was also well aware of the fact that she was the one who had taken in Noelle. So when the report ended up focusing on the story of Noelle, it was not a huge surprise. A local Dogster member who had been a part of a tremendous community undertaking does indeed make for a great news story.
We here at HQ are very proud of this story, and are well aware of the hard work and love that was shown in the Catster community, to reach paws across species lines and help out a furiend in need. It is never our intention to praise Dogster more than Catster, though we are aware that Dogster occasionally gets the good press that the ENTIRE Dogster/Catster community deserves. We are one family here, one community. And I wanted to take a moment to reiterate that.
Our heartfelt purrs, barks, meows and tail wags go out to Laurel, Aldo, Tess, Noelle, TC, Hazel Lucy, O’Malley, Gimme, Ele’, Ashlye Delicious Dazzle, Miracle, Karen, Skeezix, Diego, Tucker, Chelsea Louise, Laura, Oly, eilu and everybody else involved with, commenting about or touched by this story. Catster can’t do it without you. Dogster can’t do it without you. WE can’t do it without you.
Sending you an endless supply of meows, purrs and head butts,
Anders, Tailer, Aisha, Snuzzy, and EVERYpaw at Catster HQ
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*claps paws together* I’m linking the video to my article on the rescue right now!
Skeezix, thank you for retelling the amazing saga of Laurel’s furbabies. This was truly a community effort that stretched across the miles and touched so many hearts.
Hazel Lucy is amazing and deserves a great deal of credit for organizing this rescue. Everyone who helped out deserves a great big pat on the back.
And HQ deserves a shout-out too. During the rescue effort, Noelle was feature as Dog of the Day and Tess was Cat of the Day. The publicity helped the cause, so thank you HQ!
Purrs,
Rufus
[...] is a great posting from our sister site, Catster, on members that got together in an effort to save a Dogster who was left alone after the death [...]
[...] is a great posting from our sister site, Catster, on members that got together in an effort to save a Dogster who was left alone after the death [...]
Hazel Lucy and the catster and dogster communities are great. HQ, I cannot thank you enough for all you do for our sites. Without this site and all the catsters and dogsters, we would be without any hope right now. My house burned and we are facing a long road ahead and I’ll give you one guess who has been there to help lead the way! Yup, Hazel Lucy, the PAWS angels, especially Pasian, Scooter, Pie, and Jazzi, and a whole bunch of other ones. They have purred and woofed thier hearts out. talk about restoring faith in humanity. Hazel Lucy and her mom have a heart of gold. They have called the news channels and checked in via phone with my mommy every day. Thank you Hazel Lucy and all you Catsters and Dogsters and Headquarters! You guys are some pawsome people!
Hazle is one the most amazing catset ever she so sweet. In april my apt burt down my cats went missings and Hazle offered us a sungle to sell so we could raise some need cash. As i found my self with out anything.
The other day My freind Moki need a hat for his head to stay warm i emailed her about moki and she offerd to make him a hat. I am a proud owner of one of Hazle snuggles .
She put me on the list of catster in need of prays when i was sickly we love hazle she the best caster has to offer!! this dose not suprize me one bit that she would do something like this
Hazel Lucy is the *Mother Theresa* of Catster! We love her so much and we are so proud of her!! Thank You so much HQ for letting the story be told accurately!
Hazel Lucy gave my mommy lots of comfort, through her Catster’s in need of prayer thread in the forum, when our brother, Tiger, got sick and ended up passing from FIP. Mommy really loved getting lots of support from other catsters. It helped her through a really hard time.
Thank you Hazel Lucy….you truly are one of a kind!
How wonderful to see Noelle happy and running around. It is a wonderful story and like many others we are proud to be part of such a caring community. It truly is amazing what can happen when you harness the power of the paw!
Chai, Little Bit & Sugar Bear
Hi everyone! I just wanted you to know that the original interview was almost 45 minutes long and AliMom mentioned the efforts of the Catsters as individuals by name and as a group repeatedly throughout. Every single mention ended up on the cutting room floor, which is why her interview is so awkward and choppy. The interviewer is a “dog person” and didn’t want to write about Catster…even though that’s where most of the effort came from. She was really sorry that no one else was mentioned… but she really wants everyone to know that she included everyone. She even told them Hazel Lucy’s nickname – Mission Control!
Anyway, I love you all for everything you did to save my life and honor my true mommy – Laurel. She is looking down from the human Rainbow Bridge and smiling.
Love,
Noelle (as translated by Alison)
This is such wonderful news about Noelle!!!!
Many CONCRATULATTIONS to Hazel Lucy for everything that she Ashlye Delicious and everyone did..
Purrs and Hugs, Zoey, Opie, Muffy, BooBoo and Elmer (and Mom too)