The story of Ginny: a dog who saved more than 900 cat lives (9 photos)

Jeannie, a Schnauzer-Siberian Husky mix from the United States, is famous for saving over 900 cats and kittens during her lifetime, making her a legend.





Jeannie's story began in 1990, when she and her three puppies were found locked in a basement with no food or water in an abandoned house. The dogs were taken to a shelter for homeless animals, but after a veterinarian examined her, it became clear that Jeannie's life was hanging by a thread. However, the dog was still able to be nursed back to health, and she and her puppies began looking for a new home.

Meanwhile, her future owner, Phillip Gonzalez, was deeply depressed after becoming disabled, having injured his right hand in an accident at work. Phillip's neighbor, Sheila Harris, was very concerned about his condition, so she began to insist that he get a dog.



At the shelter, Phillip had his eye on a Doberman, but was very upset when he found out that someone else was already going to take the dog into a family. Then a shelter employee offered Phillip to take Ginny for a walk, and he reluctantly agreed. The dog seemed to sense his disappointment and refused to go with him, but then Philip looked into her eyes, and Ginny, as if at the snap of his fingers, suddenly stood up from her place and came over to him. “She refused to move until I looked at her face,” Philip said at the time. At that moment, he knew that this was the dog he needed.





Philip soon discovered that Ginny had an amazing instinct for finding sick and injured stray cats: the dog spent all day sniffing out all the nearby abandoned buildings, garbage bins, scrap yards, construction sites and alleys. Philip said that, in all likelihood, Ginny had set herself the goal of saving all the scared and lonely people who found themselves in the same situation that she had once been in.



The first rescue occurred during one of her walks. Ginny ran up to a pipe, started shaking and scratching it, the pipe fell and five kittens fell out, having somehow managed to get stuck there. Then a dog found a wounded cat in the glove compartment of an abandoned car, and so began a campaign to save cats' lives, which is why Philip became a regular at the animal shelter.

One day at the shelter, Philip found Ginny near a cage with a one-eyed cat, from whom she flatly refused to leave - he had to take the cat home. After some time, Ginny also asked Philip for another friend - a seemingly healthy cat. And a little later it turned out that this cat was deaf.



The most amazing thing is that Ginny was looking for injured animals. Anyone who has encountered the capture of wild, frightened animals knows how difficult it is to win their trust. But Ginny somehow managed it: the cats did not feel fear of her, but seemed to understand that she had come to their aid. Animal behaviorists believe that Ginny had a strong maternal instinct, likely a result of the trauma she experienced when trapped with her newborn puppies.



Ginny's life-saving instincts weren't limited to cats: she once came to the aid of a blind man who was about to step off a curb into a road where cars were racing. The dog jumped off the curb in front of him and began barking loudly until the man stopped and realized he had almost fallen into the road.



During her lifetime, Jeannie saved the lives of over 900 abandoned, injured, and sick cats. In 1998, in honor of her heroism, the Westchester Cat Club named Jeannie "Cat of the Year," and Phillip wrote two books about her life: "The Cat Rescue Dog: Jeannie's True Story" (1996) and "Blessings of Animals: The True Story of Jeannie, the Dog Who Rescues Cats" (1997). Phillip also created a charity to help homeless cats, called "The Jeannie Foundation."



Sadly, in 2005, Philip made the difficult decision to put Ginny to sleep. She was 17 years old and old age was catching up with her: Ginny's last days were in very poor condition, and Philip knew it was best for her. However, Ginny's life was long, full and eventful, and the hundreds of lives she saved are proof of that.