WHO are Belle ‘n’ Paws?
Belle and Paws are two beautiful senior feline siblings. These cats are brother and sister and found themselves in an unfortunate circumstance. The original owners of these cats were a family who found them outside with several more of their brothers and sisters as a litter of kittens, and with no sign of the mother.
The litter of kittens were split up with all the kittens finding homes except Belle and Paws. This family decided to take in both Belle and Paws, and continued to own them for twelve years.
After twelve years, the family had decided to sell their home and move. Their kids had grown and left the nest or went to college. Both Belle and Paws were headed for the ASPCA. In our world, you don’t throw away other family members, so when we heard their story, we stepped in to rescue these two beautiful cats and literally intercepted them on their way to the ASPCA.
Who Are We?
We are the people who stepped in to adopt these two cats “Belle ‘n’ Paws”. We are a couple, who have had an animal friendly household for years. We are almost always a multiple cat and pet environment and we’ve had many pets that have passed away over the years. All of our pets have lived happy FULL lives to the extent they could with their time with us and the time given them.
We have family and friends who foster un-homed animals (abused or otherwise) and train animals for other people as service or support animals. We’ve made several animal rescues over the years ourselves.
With that being said, the final decision to take in Belle and Paws for us was easy… we had the room and we instantly fell in love with these two cats.
More Pets Besides Belle ‘n’ Paws Here
As we started this website and continued dealing with our pets and their issues, we realized we were dealing with more than just Belle ‘n’ Paws when it came to managing senior pets and all the issues that come with them. We had a whole family we could share stories about and this website soon became a website for them all.
It was Belle and Paws that inspired the website in the first place, so we’ve kept their names attached, but the site itself has become a place to share all the issues for our entire family over the years.
Why A Website?
Originally when creating the website, we were excited about our new adoptees, and we were looking for a way to document Belle ‘n’ Paws’ journey into our current family. It was relatively easy to set up a website to do so. We were looking for a place to upload pictures so that anyone interested could follow Belle ‘n’ Paws’ progress.
However, once we started down this path of putting up a website, we thought we would add some links, resources and some sections to help other pet owners. Useful and educational information for visitors regarding their own animals that just might help other people who have found themselves in similar situations with similar pets with similar health issues.
AND we thought maybe we’d share some stories along the way.
Belle’n’paws.com was born.
The website is now evolving into a place to share information and advocate for those that can’t speak for themselves. We soon thought to ourselves that our own pets and animals have had many problems over the years. We’ve had to struggle through these issues without much help or resources. The resources online are scattered and for years there wasn’t much related to specific issues we specifically were experiencing.
While it is increasingly getting better online for finding resources regarding pet health (if you know where to look), we’ll be adding to this environment and writing about our own pets and the issues that we come across or need to address. Our belief is that other pet owners who may be looking for solutions beyond what they may have already tried may find some more perception and understanding of what might be going on with their pet.
Why Senior Pets?
Senior pets have a special place in our heart. For starters, if we have a pet at a young age, then they are with us when they move into their senior years too. We are their keepers and we take care of them for life.
Senior animals in rescue shelters are particularly heart breaking. You can just imagine a story where this animal has lived its life up until this point in a happy loving home environment, and now its thrown into a system where it may never see that again. It’s stressed. It’s scared.
We believe, that too many times, pet owners reach a certain point with their aging pets, where their pet gets to be too much or they don’t know how to manage their issues. Then essentially the animal is handed off to a rescue organization or the owner just makes the decision to put the animal down. We use the phrase “too many times” here because we believe much of this could be avoided with a little knowledge and perhaps a little more compassion for animals that can’t speak for themselves.
We’re here to offer both. Knowledge in the form of our own experience but we’re also here to give owners hope that it may not be the end of life for your pet just because they’ve been diagnosed with cancer or some other life threatening illness. Health concerns, diseases and conditions can be managed so that your pet still has a decent quality of life.
Senior pets have health issues or concerns that need to be monitored sometimes. As cats and dogs get older they are subject to more health issues just like humans are. Their bones get brittle and their joints get arthritic. Senior pets may need a little more watching over than their younger versions did. Sometimes that is just observation, sometimes that is more.
Senior pets can live full lives with hardly any issues. They can run, jump, and play just fine for years into their senior life. Above everything else, they all still have love to give.
How to Use our Website
We are NOT veterinarians. We are not here to replace veterinarians or their advice. If you are having an issue with your pet and you have a concern about their health, you should be taking your pet to a qualified veterinary professional.
We are simply animal lovers sharing our own experiences that we’ve had with our own pet’s issues. We hope others with a pet, that may have similar issues, may find some insight to help their own animal. It’s all about knowledge when it comes to taking care of your pets and we’re hoping our experience can add to your base of knowledge for your own pet.
If you like what you see, please share our website with your friends, with your family, and anyone that you think may benefit from the content here at our website or the resources that we link to.
We welcome everyone who is a pet and animal lover.. those looking for information.. or those simply looking for just a smile.
Thank you for visiting.
