The dog who rescues cats: Ginny has saved 300 needy cats and one special human

Vegetarian Times, March, 1997 by Catherine Censor Shemo

The year was 1990, and Philip Gonzalez was optimistic about his prospects. The 40-year-old Vietnam veteran was earning a good having as a seam fitter. Weekdays he would commute to his construction job in Manhattan and return home to his one-bedroom apartment on Long Island for a simple vegetarian dinner. He traveled, played sports and indulged his taste in good clothes and gold jewelry. Philip might have enjoyed such modest pleasures for years to come, but a terrible accident swept it all away.

"I was putting some tools away when a big machine that cuts and threads pipe caught my right arm by the coat sleeve," he recalls. He struggled to free himself but was swept up by the rotating machine as it mangled his arm, dashing his head against the concrete floor repeatedly as it spun. He's thankful that he was unconscious through most of the ordeal.

Philip narrowly escaped amputation, but his right arm -- his good arm -- was all but useless. He also endured serious trauma and the cumulative injuries left him permanently disabled, unable to work and so broken in spirit that he refused to leave his apartment. A concerned neighbor, Sheilah Harris, hit upon an idea to restore his hope: an animal companion.

Together, Sheilah and Philip went to their local animal shelter. "I wanted a big dog," says Philip, "a rottweiller or a Doberman, but the shelter didn't have any dogs on the adoption floor that I liked." They were about to go when the attendant said he had two more dogs in the back recovering from being spayed -- one of them a Doberman. Philip went to the cage, and although he had his eye on the Doberman, a strange, shepherd-sized scruffy dog came right up to the bars and started to lick his hand. Philip wasn't interested, but Sheilah implored him to take the dog for a walk around the block. To appease her, Philip agreed. By the time they returned, Philip was ready to fill out the adoption papers.

The shelter attendant told Philip that the dog, a mix of Siberian husky and schnauzer, had been found locked with her three pups in the closet of an abandoned apartment. She had been left without food or water. Her hair had fallen out from malnutrition and she was badly dehydrated but when found, she was still guarding her pups with her last bit of strength. Moved by the story, Philip looked down at the dog to see her body wiggling with excitement and her tail wagging furiously. Despite all she'd been through, she was full of love and enthusiasm. Philip realized that as much as he thought he had to offer this dog, the dog had just as much to offer him. He promptly named the dog Ginny after the Barbie-like dolls Sheilah collected and brought her home, her nose tucked under his chin for the duration of the ride.

THE PIED PIPER OF CATS

Three Days after Ginny's homecoming, Philip walked her by a vacant lot. Ginny saw a cat and ran after it, her leash slipping from Philip's hand. Ginny shot toward the cat as Philip looked on helplessly, fearful that the two would fight. To his amazement, Ginny started licking and grooming the cat. The cat was purring and rubbing against Ginny so Philip let them nuzzle for about an hour before tearing the reluctant Ginny away. As soon as they got back to the apartment, Ginny started whining to go back to the vacant lot. This time, Philip thought to grab a can of dog food to feed the cat. The cat gobbled it gratefully and played with Ginny, even riding on her back for a gallop around the lot. Philip returned every day to feed the stray but soon the "stray" turned into "strays."

"There must have been 50 cats," Philip laughs, "and Ginny wanted to play with all of them." Whenever Philip walked Ginny, all the cats would come out of their hiding places and walk alongside her. A passerby who witnessed the spectacle called out to Philip, "What are you, the pied piper of Long Island? Why are all those cats following you?" In answer, Philip dropped the leash, letting Ginny veer off in another direction. The cats followed Ginny leaving Philip standing alone.

After the experience with the cats at the vacant lot, Philip figured that Ginny might want a cat of her own. The two headed down to the shelter where Philip assumed they would spend a couple of hours choosing among the shelter's 80-odd cats. Once again, Ginny proved to have a mind of her own. As soon as she was led to the cat adoption area, Ginny made a bee-line for a cage holding a white kitten. She whined and paced in front of the cage, begging for the cat. Philip didn't see anything special about the kitten but he adopted it. Two days later he learned that there was something special about the kitten Ginny chose: She was deaf.

Philip didn't know it, but Ginny would not be satisfied with one cat. A week later, Ginny accompanied Philip as he carried a donation of cat and dog treats to the shelter. Again, Ginny came to a halt in front of a cat cage. She went into her begging routine. The object of Ginny's excitement? A cat with one eye. Philip shrugged and took it home. At a routine vet appointment, Ginny caught sight of a cat with a rope around her neck. The vet was going to put the cat to sleep because she had lost her rear paws to frostbite and because she was a wild, hissing cat who stood no chance of adoption. Philip was determined not to take the cat, but Ginny insisted. They took her home.