Mending Souls

11/15/2025

Steve Irwin was a major influence on me and much of my generation. His passion for wildlife was contagious! Many people in the animal welfare field today are doing what they do thanks to the inspiration of Steve. May his legacy live on!

Today is Steve Irwin Day!

It’s a day where we honour the extraordinary life and legacy of an Aussie legend.

Steve had a passion for conservation, and his organisation Wildlife Warriors continues this important mission to this day.

11/08/2025

THIS is why we ask “so many questions” when rehoming exotic pets. It can literally be a simple 15 min conversation if you’ve got all the info & supplies in order. Or possibly an hour conversation if you haven’t got the right info & need to learn everything modern science has updated in care standards. But why do I make sure you’re willing to listen? Why don’t I just allow animals to be rehomed to “loving homes” and let people “do their own research & make their own decisions”? Because first of all, most people don’t know where to look for CORRECT info. They think it’s fine to research for 5 mins & their animals slowly suffers until the condition becomes visible. OR they’re not going to do research & don’t need to have a pet for it to only be neglected!

This is the condition of animals that we often see getting surrendered. All because their first owner didn’t care to listen about why a couple different vitamins are critical. I’m not in the interest of setting an animal up for a dicey future. Someone threatened me over a bearded dragon once “I guess you don’t want to make a sale!” No sir, I absolutely don’t.

11/07/2025

Draco finally got adopted yesterday!! Now his (slightly grumpier) brother Boogie remains patiently waiting for a good home.

10/23/2025

Today was a magnificent day! Cookie AND Apollo both found forever homes!!! 🎉 🙌🏼 Adoptions have been rough this year, pretty much across all rescues. The economy is affecting people in multiple ways, including the strain many are feeling in not being able to afford pet care. We’re absolutely ecstatic for these babies to have both found a forever home, seemingly “out of the blue” on this random Thursday in October 😄 What a breath of fresh air 💜

10/22/2025

Ever wonder what meal prep looks like behind the scenes for exotic pets? Well, sometimes, a lot of work! 🫣
Sugar gliders especially have a rather complex diet with a wide range in nutritional needs. It's difficult to mimic their natural diet in captivity so diversity in fruits, veggies, and a few added vitamins are all necessary to give them the proper balance! Preparing a batch of their food looks a little bit like the meal prep you may do for your own family. We buy tons of fresh produce, wash, separate, chop, and blend it in batches, and freeze away the leftovers! 🔪🥕🥒🍎🫛
Of course when we are going thru several different greens, some will go to our reptiles as a nice "salad". Depending on the species they can even eat things like bell peppers & squash! We also grow our own sprouts & raise feeder insects for our reptiles 😊 Food scraps get composted & plastics recycled. A lot of work but it covers most of the "cooking" for about a month!

10/21/2025

*Life Tip*
Don't send emails from an icloud account or a business suite!!! Sometimes I get inquiries for adoption & my responses won't go thru, most often to these types of email addresses! Use your regular Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or whatever. I have 1 person emailing me right now from his iPhone & the email kickback I get says that his inbox is full/no longer receiving! Apple trying to micromanage your data storage amount has left him unable to receive email replies & he doesnt even know it. 😔
If he had left a phone number I would be able to reach out to him, but sadly I can't communicate with this person now.

10/03/2025

Super thankful for this donation we got in last week! These goodies will go to use for many animals 👌🏼

09/16/2025

No dogs, no cats, no puppies, no small mammals, no reptiles... no room for anything to come in until some adoptions happen!

09/13/2025

The state of the world is so tense right now. So filled with fear & hate. We’ve all experienced a heavy time these past few days. What can any of us do? 1 act of kindness at a time. Put in small efforts where you can. If it’s the animals you want to help, offer to foster at your local agency or donate a small portion of your spending money if you have the ability. This week we’ve taken in 2 “community animals” that had no one to help them. It’s been a very busy week, we are stretched thin right now, but the love from these guys is so rewarding.

Normally I cannot take cats as we don’t have any cat kennels yet. But this stray needed a few days of fostering for medical recovery & she pulled at my heart strings. Since the timeline is only a few days & not indefinite, I gave up my personal bathroom for her to stay with me a while.

A pup was also in need of help. No one to claim him, emaciated & starving, he went looking for a human to bring him in & of course he’s an absolute sweetie pie (as the most neglected always are) 😭 Once again I’m reaching out to my contacts trying to see if we can find space for an animal we don’t really have space for. Managed to get him a couple fosters who could help fill the gaps in each other’s schedules, & we started his care right away. It’s combined efforts that save lives! So far no owner has come forward but he’s in good hands now.
If you can donate to help us with cases like these, I will attach some links below. Needed supplies are on the Amazon wishlist & a tax deductible monetary donation can be made at “Zeffy” which is a platform that collects 0 fees ❤️

https://a.co/hipzoOa

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-mending-souls-animal-rescue?fbclid=IwRlRTSAMyYuRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHnA2yQr4og8roT3I5rQaH0x48Vc5PZZgi77UA29QVN9_n3eJ0wNGN1GIxdZv_aem_EXSzquTUsBxhrnsf-NCwnA

09/10/2025

*We are a SMALL private rescue. We spend the majority of our time cleaning, cleaning, food prepping, walking dogs, and cleaning some more. Not sitting on the phone but rather barely having time to get to it! Amongst having errands, shopping, and personal apts to get done during normal business hours. And sometimes driving hours to pickup an animal or to bring one to the best vet for their case! Some days there is no time to get to the phone until Im lying in bed at night. And almost every single day I’m texting multiple people back with resources trying to help with lost pets & emergency rehomes, even when we dont have the space to take them in. Therefore, applications for adoption sometimes have to wait a bit for my attention.

My goal is to respond to texts within 4-12 hours max. Emails are usually application inquiries, less urgent, and turnaround time is generally 1-3 days.

Sending follow up emails twice a day, a few hours apart, when Im replying to you daily but it’s apparently not fast enough for your liking… & sending things like just “????” to rush me is a bit ridiculous. And now accusing me of not being a real rescue, to guilt me into replying on your timeline? Thats not really showing you’re a mature, stable adopter!

I know some people think “if you really wanted homes for these animals you’d prioritize messages” but that is idealistic & frankly self centered thinking. I get to all my messages, prioritizing people in crisis, as fast as I can. Consider that we’re busy trying to care for these animals, dont just assume we’re doing a poor job replying. And carry that grace when you’re dealing with any business or loved one, really!

09/09/2025

Guess who got adopted now!!

Some of you may remember Tiny & Pandas story. Found in March at an abandoned house, left behind by their owners & in need of quite a bit of medical care. Some of you may also remember that Tiny was adopted back in June! Well Tiny’s first adopter didn’t work out & he was returned to us a few weeks ago with a bite wound & more reactive with other dogs than he previously had ever been. We got him back to his standard of care & relisted for adoption. Somebody who had been keeping an eye on these dogs decided they needed to come rescue the pair together! They didn’t want to adopt Panda alone, and knew that she was dog reactive so getting a friend would be really difficult. When they saw Tiny was available again the family contacted us to come & meet the dogs! We are SO happy to see them go together!! Happily ever-after, sweet babies 😘

If you can donate towards the medical costs, feel free to use the fundraiser link below! You may also reach out to me to see their invoice (I’ve posted it before but didnt really get any responses). Every few dollars adds up to help!!

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/abandoned-bulldog-needs-cherry-eye-surgery?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ-oTFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuihBcjKqBLI-EQwhllgd4rTM_--LNxAej4N3XL5kXZNokv3Yn923L0kBu8F_aem_bWLh2X-43X3kgmlshHUca

08/15/2025

Happy World Lizard Day!
These 3 boys are all waiting for adoption. If you've been looking for a reptile send us a message to discuss their needs!