# Share your stories about how you picked out/found your pet!



## CatDrool1324 (Jul 24, 2009)

How about some stories about how you picked out your cats (or any other pets)? Mine really excites me to think about so I thought that it would be nice to share it with you, and to get the privilege of hearing some other unique and bizzar stories as well.
My mother and I went out one Wednesday night for our usual date night, and I suggested that after dinner we go to Petland and gawk at the kittens. She couldn't have agreed more, as she is also a cat-loverx10000000. We scarfed down our dinner, then drove like a maniac on steroids to the nearest Petland (we didn't speed though, we just felt like we were due the the adrenaline). As soon as my mom laid eyes on the skinny kitten sharing a cage with two bigger cats who were stealing his food, she just wanted to hold him. He was massaging the other cats and laying down on them and trying to play with them and they would just ignore him. It is a very interesting concept--that a living thing could forgive the very beings that were being so rude to him and stealing his food and ignoring him. It was that kitten who taught me the lesson of forgiveness. And I didn't want to pester my mom, because that would just make her not want to take the kitten home. She was already falling in that direction anyways. I just nudged her in the right direction. 
That kitten's first name was Jinx, then Yoyo, and it still is Yoyo. He is now almost one and a half!


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## DustinG. (Jul 25, 2009)

thats a great story...i got a good visual of the tiny kitten having his lunch stolen in the cafeteria by the bullies...and the kitten still trying to be thier freinds becuase he thinks they are sooo cool. :lol: 

unfortunatly...not really interesting how i got my pets. Our first Kitten, Allie, we got at an animal shelter. I was looking for a silver cat to name Mr Higgins, there wasnt one there. then i saw a really cute bright orange tabby boy, i pulled him out to play with him, and he started to SCREAM at me!......i put him back real quick! he shut up when i put him back in the cage with the little calico girl that was passed out. I was watching him climb all over her, paws on her head, chewing on her ears, and she just stayed asleep...so my wife told me to grab her. I pulled her out and she was still mostly asleep just hanging limp in my hands, and she had a dried blob of neon pink paint on her for head, to mark her for some reason or other. eyes droopy, and looked back and for quietly meowing at us..to me it sounded like ..."huh...what? where am I? oh...im sleepy, what do you guys want?" she was adorable, and no one has "laid claim" to her like they had on 90% of the other kittens, so we took her. thought she was going to be a lazy relaxed cat, based on first impressions. yeah....NOT SO. she is INSANE, and MOODY!!! but she is still sweet and lovable.

we got a russian blue we named Mr Higgins last friday...even more boring story. i just kept googling for "russian blue kitten" until i found someone who was fostering one for the local non-profit organization. they had him listed on craigslist with his 2 sisters...

i know there are some more interesting stories our there....where are they?


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## seashell (Dec 5, 2003)

Both interesting stories! Your story isn't boring, Dustin  

We didn't choose our Tiddlers - they chose us! About 6 months before our poor Jimmy died the Tiddlers moved into a flat below us with their (human) mother. As soon as they realised that the big scary ginger cat wasn't around any more they couldn't wait to start exploring and hanging about outside our door, wondering what lay within. So of course we couldn't resist letting them in.

One thing led to another and they visited more and more frequently. Then we made the 'mistake' of supplying them with little snacks and we couldn't get rid of them. Their human mother was quite a flighty young thing and often seemed to stay out all night without warning, so the Tiddlers got to staying with us overnight from time to time.

Then their human mother had a real human baby (possibly as a result of one of the overnight expacapades :lol: ). Now we can't get rid of the Tiddlers - they are with us virtually all the time. They pay her a visit now and then and stay with her when we're on holiday, but mostly they act as if they live with us. I think they regard the block of flats as just one big home for them and they just go wherever they want  

seashell


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## CatDrool1324 (Jul 24, 2009)

Great stories! Kepp em coming!


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## Kitty00776 (May 1, 2009)

I like your stories. I have a few cat so i have a few stories too 

My moms cat that passed a few months back was just a baby when we got her. A stray cat had kittens in our garage and we had gone to see them and i think we scared her away cause she decided to move her kittens. We watch them and after she was done we went back out there and she had left one so we left it alone for the rest of the day and when it started to get night she hadnt come back for it. So we gave it to our mom for mothers day. Even though she told us no more pets  She was really a baby, not walking or anything and my mom bottle fed her and everything. She has her first steps on video tap, not her human kids though lol. She lived to be 15 years old.

My two bigger babies my little brother and me "found" outside. Our neighbors girlfriend brought them from somewhere and had let them run around her yard while she went inside. They were young maybe 4 months old i suspect. Me and my brother caught them and took them over to our house and were playing with them and we asked our mom if we could have them, or maybe we asked the lady if we could have them first, i cant remember. But me and my brother build them a little house on our front porch and started feeding them. Mine was the girl Kilala and his was the boy Tigar. Kilala lived outside until she had kittens and i brought her in and she stayed in.( thats how i got the other two cats ) And Tigar recently came in because he had his eye removed and i felt he wouldn't be as safe outside anymore. I like them being inside i don't have to worry about them as much. They are five now.

Those are the only cat story i have that are interesting and that i can remember. Hope you liked them.


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## salsachick (Aug 4, 2009)

I love the story about how I got my first cat (passed away now, but we had 13 great years with her!):

When I was a junior in high school 13 years ago, an announcement was made that whom ever had brought, and then left, the kitten at last nights soccer game please come claim her. Obviously no one had brought a kitten to a HS soccer game, so there came a following announcement would anyone interested in taking in the kitten left at the soccer game (and had parent's permission) leave their name with the office.

I got my mother's permission to put my name "at the bottom of the list." She had many cats over the years, but not since the oldest one died when I was 5 (this was 11 years later) and didn't really want to take care off/clean up after one. But we have always LOVED cats, so she made that compromise. I went to the office and did exactly that, put my name on the Bottom of the list.

At the end of the day I got called to the office to take home the kitten (only it was an 6-8 month old cat!). It turned out that while I was at my locker and getting to the after school waiting room, my friends (who had pets and new I needed/wanted a cat) stood at the office door and told every one who came to inquire that I was already taking her! My mom still thanks them to this day  

She was a very girly cat. I almost called her Precious, but went to see Beauty and Beast on stage the weekend after getting her. I always loved the flirty romance of Lumiere and the feather duster - who in the play has a name - Babette. She was a lovely and unique girl who gave us alot of love while she was around.


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

Pepper and Ginger's stories are the most unique here.

I used to work with at risk youth, one of my youth loved cats so we had a lot in common. She fed a lot of strays at her bus stop in the AMs and also in late March told me about a pregnant female she had been feeding at her house. She told me about how the female was really sweet, would let them handle her etc but the babies were moving and she was due soon. Knowing the neighborhood I felt a tug to let this momma have her babies somewhere safe. I asked hubby if I could bring her home and let her give birth here in safety--he said she could come here, but not inside. It seemed like in an instant I had a big dog cage borrowed from someone and I was prepared to house this cat. I told the girl I would come pick up this cat if they could hold on to her for me--her older sister said she would just carry her to me at work--about 6 blocks distance. 

On April 2 I brought the cat home, the babies were active in her belly. I took her to the vet about 3-4 days later so make sure she was flea free and FIV/FeLV negative which she was. The vet said she'd have the babies in the next week. I waited 18 days total for five beautiful healthy kittens. Four females and one male, a cream, a blue and white, a torbie, a tortie and a black and white. Momma Ginger was a great momma and she raised her babies in the cage on our front porch. At 8 weeks I found them homes, one in our home, Pepper. And when nobody would take Ginger, we decided to keep her here with us. 

Its been 16 weeks since Ginger gave birth almost 19 weeks since Ginger came into our lives. I know that there are multiple reasons I have Ginger and Pepper. I no longer work at that job with those youth, but my heart will forever be with them. Each time I see Ginger I know that I have a little piece of those kids right here with me. And Pepper is a constant reminder that Ginger will never mother another litter and that I did what I set out to do, keep Ginger and her babies from adding to the pet overpopulation. Pepper is also named in memory of a beloved turtle we had put to sleep just a few weeks after the kittens were born.

Leslie


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## DustinG. (Jul 25, 2009)

Jack&Harley said:


> Pepper and Ginger's stories are the most unique here
> Leslie



awww that is a really sweet story!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I have *never* got to choose my own cat. _They have all chosen me._

The cats of our 16yr marriage (1993-current):
Inky was brought home from my husband's work when he found him sick and huddled on the downwind and sunny side of a car tire, trying to absorb some heat from the sun and engine warmth. 
The Trio: Mister, Silver and Toby, were found/rescued among the dairy outbuildings of the farm we rented our house on. They were about 6-7wks old. 
The Wanderer was, as his name indicates, a travelling tomcat who I tamed/socialized in the barn. We returned from a vacation to find him with a broken leg so he was taken in for a cast and The Snip. He became my husband's cat, following him around the house and laying on his feet.
Bonnie was another rescue kitten from my husband's work.
Oscar and Blaze both wandered up to our house after The Wanderer became an indoor cat. Oscar had to remain an outdoor cat because he would *not* adjust to living with other cats indoors. 
Marmalade was another orphaned rescue from my husband's work. Marmy came to me blue wih lack of oxygenation, his body shutting down. I remember the frantic drive to the vet, constantly checking to see if he was still breathing. Vets were able to give him fluids and revive him. I bottle fed him for 7 weeks. He was my first bottle-fed cat.
Reilly kept running into the home we rented in Washington State and was so persistent. Another lady asked if he was ours, because he was getting into her trash and she was going to take him to the pound. Instead, we took him to get neutered and my husband took him to work to be the office cat. The first week he stayed at work, but came home with my husband on Friday night. I freaked, but luckily the home-cats never did. They accepted Rei as if he had *always* been part of the family. From that weekend on, Rei drove back/forth to work with the husband every day. Eventually Rei couldn't stay at his work (_other contractors_) and Rei became a permanant addtion to our home family.
I saw BooBoo get hit by a car in front of our house and run off. I searched unsuccessfully for him and everyone I spoke to knew nothing about the classic orange cat. Two weeks later, he was sitting on our front patio table and I put him inside the house. Instant housecat.
Squirrely-Jo was found abandoned at a stopsign with her two siblings when they were about 5-6 weeks old.
Shasta was found in our garage at about 7-8wks old.
Malibu was my first TNR, and I trapped and raised her litter to be adopted through the center that helped me get Mallie spayed.
Shadow showed up pregnant so I brought her in to give birth and eventually had her spayed and her litter was also adopted out.
Pretty was another TNR, and my _most challenging_ tame/socialization project, to date. Her litter was also trapped and tamed/socialized for adoption.
Dusty was the sire of Pretty's litter and he was also socialized for neutering.
LuckyDuck (Louie) was found by my husband at his work with a terribly infected abcess; the abcess was the size of a tennis ball. He brought him to me and I took him right to the vet. Poor Louie looked like Franken-kitty for a while, he had 8" of stitches in a "Y" shape under his throat.
Rusty was a cat who I found collapsed on our back patio and I tried to save him, but after 6wks of great food/care, he was still losing weight so I helped him over The Bridge.
Floofy was abandoned and sort of hung around a neighbor's house. He sort of 'attached himself' to me when I went over to speak with them one night. They didn't want him so I brought him home.


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## DustinG. (Jul 25, 2009)

Heidi..........you are FELINE SAVIOUR to the bone! bless you!

:2kitties :2kitties nekitty :kittyturn nekitty :2kitties :2kitties :cat3 :blackcat :catmilk :kittyball rcat :wolfie :cat3


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

I figured Jack and Harley deserved their moments as well.

Jack started it all. I grew up in a dog only home and after moving out longed for a furry pet--turtles just aren't cuddly. I knew we couldn't house a dog and for a couple weeks had been looking at cats on petfinder--but hadn't even brought the idea up to hubby.

The day before Halloween our good friend, Jackie, texted me and said I just found an adorable orange kitten on our back porch, can't you find room in your heart for something cuddly. Hubby agreed to go see the kitten the next day and in love we both fell. Jack-o-lantern came home that Halloween night and our lives have never been the same.

Harley was rather spur of the moment, hubby had agreed at some point we would add a second cat but it would have to fit just right. We had taken Jack to petsmart to weigh him and I saw Harley in the adoption area. He looked so sweet and meowed at me throw the window. We asked to see him in the little room and he pulled at my heart strings. He just seemed to fit. He had spent 4 long months in the shelter. hubby wasn't set on things and said he'd think about it. That night we were with the couple that gave us Jack and I told them about Harley (named wookie at the time) they said do it. Hubby agreed to it at 8 PM, I callled petsmart to see if he was still there, they said he was but they couldn't hold him, I said if he's still there at noon tomorrow I'm adopting him. The only issue was that I knew our landlord wouldn't agree--they are worried about their new carpet. So...we lied and adopted him under our friends names who own their home. 

In 18 months our landlords have come here 3 times to fix things and we are looking at houses to buy now so we aren't real worried that we have 3 (well technically 4 but Ginger lives outside) and our lease says 1.

Leslie


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## wizzel (Aug 5, 2009)

I just got my little miracle Mathias he is 12 weeks old, about. He was born out at the barn where I work part time. His Mom is feral and had put his litter in the space in-between the out side wall of the barn and the back wall of the horse stall there is a space of about 10"-12" and it was filthy and dark and not very good place to grow up, so the owner got them out and moved the 4 kittens about 20 feet to a nice dry clean space. Well Mom promptly abandoned her liter she would walk right by them and would not even look at them. My boss has 17 horses to take care of on a daily basis adding 4 kittens was just to much for her so she asked me if I would foster them till they could feed them self’s they were about 3 weeks old at the time and half starved. I am a sucker for any thing small and fuzzy so of course I agreed. I do not consider me self a cat person and I was not going to keep one I was just going to do a good thing and enjoy my self while I had the company. But there was this one he would follow me around and seek out my lap more than any of the other kittens and wait at my feet patiently while the other 3 would be doing acrobatics as I was fixing a meal. So it did not take long to change my mind I was chosen and since I'm a sucker for small fuzzy things I caved, there was just one small problem, my parents, I rent above there garage. At first they said "*NO*" eventually they changed there minds but it was dicey for a while. It all ends well I found the other three great homes and I got to keep Mathias. Oh happy day.


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## love.my.cats (Jan 29, 2009)

My ex's Nan used to feed a few stray cats. One of which got pregnant. We were visiting one day and she asked me if I'd seen her pregnant cat and pointed out the bushes she's usually hiding behind. When I looked in there, I noticed a bigger patch of ginger than what should have been on the tortie mother cat and realised it was a tiny ginger kitten! Turned out she'd only had two kittens. One male ginger and a female that was black at birth but tabby markings came out as she grew older. She set them all up in a room inside and offered that I could keep whichever of the kittens I wanted once they were weaned. Originally I wanted the female but as we visited them over the next few weeks, the ginger one was much more calm and relaxed and affectionate so I decided to take him instead! 
He grew up around other animals (rats, rabbits, another cat that sometimes came inside but didn't particluarly like him!) and when I broke up with my ex, I lived with a friend for 6 months who also had a cat. They got on pretty well and I think Samson missed the company when I moved back to Mum's.. I then fostered a cat but Mum put a stop to that as he (the foster) kept peeing/pooping through my room and it smelt so bad! Him and Samson played together all the time though and again, Sammy was lonely. 

I decided that it might be better to adopt a new kitten so that it would grow up with Sammy and hopefully not have the peeing/pooping issues outside the box! My current boyfriend was going to buy me a Ragdoll for our 1 year anniversary but I really couldn't justify asking him to spend so much money on a kitten when there were so many looking for homes in shelters, for much less money. So I talked to my current bf about the extra cat (figured we'd probably eventually live together and it'd become his cat too so needed to make sure he'd be okay with 2 cats).. I really wanted a long haired kitty and my bf really liked the grey/blue colour. 

So for weeks, I visited shelters (driving upto an hour and a half if I thought they had the perfect kitty) but had no luck.. One day I was supposed to visit my best friend in hospital but drove around for 1/2 an hour and couldn't get a park! So I went straight to work, arriving early I decided to chek out the local pound just around the corner. There was a TINY grey kitty in the litter tray. I wasn't allowed into the cat area but the guy that worked there went to get it out for me to see. As he was going in, there was suddenly this GORGEOUS grey ball of fluff sitting at the window right in front of me! I have no idea where she'd come out from but as soon as I saw her, I knew it was meant to be! About 10 mins later, she was in the car back to work with me =)


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## vammpiire (Aug 17, 2009)

Awww, those are all really great stories.. I enjoyed reading every single one of them

How I got my kitty..
Well I got him 6days ago. 
My brother is going off to university in September. We're not going to be seeing him a lot and since I'm really close to my brother he knew I was going to be really sad and depressed with him not around. My brother is 19 my sister is 16 and I'm 13. My sister does miss my brother but, she's not as attached to him as I am. anyways.. he doesn't like it when I'm sad so he decided to surprise me with a kitten. Two days before he brought him home my brother told us that a special guest is going to be coming over. And he kept reminding us.. I got so mad at him cause he wouldn't tell me but, the wait was worth it. 
So when he gets home from work in the afternoon he's with his girlfriend and a kitten in a little cardboard box. I've always wanted a cat or dog all my life and I finally got one. I was so happy! 
So we trimmed his nails and then gave him a bath which he hated very much. He REALLY needed a bath because my uncle own a car shop and he was covered in grease. We still call him our little grease monkey. They found a pregnant kitten in their shop. It had three kittens and they gave one to my brother. My uncle already named him. His name is Kovu (From the Lion king II) He's a real cutie and I love him to death even though he can be a pain in the butt a lot of times. Hopefully I can get a picture up of him soon. 

~Vanessa


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## Desslok (Sep 11, 2009)

I'd type up my story, but the Temporary Cat has my typing arm pinned and is fast asleep and not letting go. So this is just a placeholder for later.


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## raecarrow (Oct 27, 2009)

When I was little my parents had two outdoor cats that they had as barn cats to take care of the mice that would get into the horse feed. Their names were Johnna and Jason (after two of my cousins, we also had two parrotkeets named Paul and Johnnie after two more of my cousins. Jason was a good cat who died of old age, after my parents got found a new home for my mom's horse (who she didn't have time to ride and take care of anymore because she was busy with 3 kids under 6) they gave Johnna (who was a GREAT mouser) to a friend who was having mouse/rat problem's in their barn. They did have other cats but they weren't really good mousers. 

When I was about 8 I found that my neighbors two Westies had treed this gray tabby teenager kitty. I chased away the dogs and got him out of the of the tree, fed him, named him Tiger and that was that, he was my kitty. Sadly, about a year later around Christmas, my mom found him on the road out in front of the house, he had been hit by a car and killed.  

My parents then found two cats (a mom and a grown kitten) that were being offered to a good home by their owners who were moving across country and didn't want to take their outdoor cats with them. The momma kitty was a beautiful longhair tortie named Tinkerbell (she was a rather pissy kitty who would attack without notice) and the kitten was a white cat with orange spots named Little Lotta (because she had a lot of little toes on each of her feet, she had at least 7 toes on each foot) and she was a talker. You would say hi to her and she would sound like she was trying to talk back to you. She was a great cat. When I was 11, we had to move into my dad's parents' house to take care of them and they wouldn't let us bring the cats. My parents made sure to find Lotta and Tinkerbell a good home.

After this, we didn't have any pets until my parents bought a house for us and my grandparents to move into when I was 14 and then we went to getting Dachschunds. We couldn't have indoor cats because one of my sisters was allergic to them and we couldn't have outdoor cats because they live off of a BUSY country road and there were always cats getting hit by cars flying down the road (we didn't want a repeat of Tiger). Then in highschool, I developed very bad allergies and asthma and one of those allergies were to cats (even to shorthairs  ) so I thought I would never be able to get a cat again because I never wanted to get an outdoor cat because I didn't want them getting hurt by all the bad things in the great outdoors.

When I was getting ready to graduate college, I was debating weather to get a dog because I didn't want to live by myself but I knew I would be working 8 hours a day and I didn't want to leave a dog alone during the day. My college roommate suggested looking at Bengal cats because her cousin was a Bengal breeder and she has noticed that they are usually easier on people with cat allergies than your average DSH or DLH cat. When I went to look at the cats and I walked into the house where she had 20+ cats and kittens at this point in time and I did not sneeze once!!!! I then picked out my love bug, Teddy (named this because he is a cuddly bear of a cat), who was a year old at the time. He has been a great pet and I decided that I wanted a second cat who could possibly be a buddy for him. So, two weeks ago today, I went back to the breeder and picked out Leo, who is actually one of Teddy's littermates. I am still trying to get him used to me and I am going to get him vetted and neutered on Monday. 

LOL I gave a joke that I've had a *sing songy* Leo, Tiger, and Teddy. Oh My! (to the tune of "Lions, Tigers, and Bears")

The breeder is getting out of breeding because she has a 10month old daughter and doesn't have the time and money to support breeding these lovely cats. She has had a hard time giving these cats to good homes because they aren't cute little kittens anymore (though they are ADORABLE and great adult cats) because most people want to get a kitten. If there is anyone who lives nearish southeast PA that would love to help out some great cats I can put you in touch with the breeder who still has 3 female Bengals and one adopted stray that she is trying to find good homes for. All of these cats are great and they have been raised underfoot and have been taught not to intentionally bite or scratch people and not to jump on counters!

Hope you enjoy my stories.


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## Chrysalis (Oct 10, 2009)

Oh geez, here we go. I'll start with the least interesting and go to most unique... 

Rodney was found by my boyfriend (prior to us meeting) out by Lake Michigan. He was a kitten and trapped between some rocks there, crying sadly. BF rescued him, but because of his transient housing situation, kept trying to find people to take him in. But... Rodney was already pretty attached to the BF, and the BF to Rodney, so he decided to keep him!

Basil was found by me in a Walgreens. I went there with a friend late at night, and heard a faint cat meow. Turns out, Basil had been in the store all day (according to the pharmacist). Given his age (about 6 months) and friendly nature, I figured he must have been ditched. He followed me around in the store so I couldn't help but take him in. He slept by my head the first night I brought him home and has been closely attached since. 

Moxie was found in a parking lot behind a brothel. A friend, my BF, and I were going out to get thai food and unknowingly stumbled upon a brothel! We started to walk toward the "restaurant" and realized a nearly nude woman was standing outside... then we heard the mewling. Turned around to find the kitten and pick her up, and then realized the nearly nude woman was now....totally nude. And there were dudes coming in and out of cars back there... who didn't seem to be hungry. In total shock, we took the cat and left, and ordered pizza. 

We were debating whether to keep her or not, but for about 5 years I was hoping to end up with a black female kitten with white paws, and I wanted to name her Moxie. I knew she LOOKED like the cat I wanted, but we didn't know her sex until we got back to my friend's place. Once I knew she was a girl, I knew I had to keep her. What are the odds that the cat you've been waiting for just lands in your arms? (Or that you stumble across a brothel, but that's a totally different feeling... )


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## fluffybum (Dec 28, 2009)

Nothing special about how we got ours, but I'll share anyway  It was more of a process.

Ive always had domestic pet rats, for half my life pretty much. I love them but about a year ago really just got to the point where I wanted a pet who didnt need to be put back into a cage all the time, something bigger that would live more than 2-3 years. Its so sad when you love your pet, get to know it and watch it grow up and become part of the family, to have it pass on after not very long at all compared to our life span.

1st thought was a dog, but with us not owning our own home yet this didnt seem wise. Id like to have a large fenced section if we had a dog. Also its pretty much impossible to rent where we are if you have a dog.

We were taking one of the ratties to the vet last year for a lump that had to be removed, when I saw this ginger and white kitten in the waiting room, a little stray needing a home. I wanted to take him home and the vet nurses on duty were very encouraging that a cat was for us, so after talking about it in the car for half an hour we went back into the vets with a carry cage and wound up bringing home this little fella. (After getting the vet to worm him and give him his 1st vaccination). And so we had our very 1st cat. We noticed he kept biting everyone a bit at the vet, but just passed it off at the time as him being a playfull kitten.

Unfortunatly, and I wish our vet had been a bit clearer on this, it turned out the 'stray' wee guy was a feral. He was in attack mode all the time and we had no idea what to do with him. I churned my way through piles of cat behaviour books from the library, and tryed everything in them, to no avail. As inexperienced cat owners we were out of our depth with a feral for our 1st cat.

After a few weeks of bites and clawing Astro one night lunged at my face randomly and bit me, leaving my lip bleeding and scratches on my face. It was heartbreaking - I mean this guy needed a home, and we wanted to keep him, but we rang back our vet and said we felt he needed to go to a more experienced owner. We didnt want to take him to the SPCA as we felt his fate there wouldnt be so good, at the height of kitten season.

I believe he went to someone on a lifestyle block in the end, I often think of him and hope it all worked out and he is happy. He would have grown into a lovely handsome boy.

The house was empty without him though. We agreed we still wanted a cat (a domestic one!) so looked in the classifieds and it wasnt long before we had Basil, a fluffy black and white male. We viewed him twice and had a hard time choosing between him and his sister, but in the end went with Basil. The difference between him and Astro was just amazing! We didnt know ourselves. 

Nearly a year later and we got our new little girl, who we are having fun trying to name. Shes a dark shorthaired tabby whose existance came about because on the morning the mother cat was supposed to be desexed, the owners mother died. Cat didnt make it to the vet that day and as far as I know one of the children didnt close a door or something and she got outside and wound up in kitten.

Kitten season is quite bad this year where we are, so we thought what with room in the home/heart and budget for a 2nd cat we may as well help out :wink: Plus we'd talked about it a while ago and thought we'd get a second one eventually. The only difference here is that I was going to eventually get our second one (and we thought we'd give an adult a home, not a kitten) from the SPCA or a cat rescue. 

I just put some money on the ladies vet account last night, a thank you for our little ball of fluff (she was free - but still) a donation towards desexing the mother cat. I think cash is a bit tight for them (they were going to use the SPCA free desexing campaign).

So it was really because of a small feral kitten, and rats, that we wound up with our 2 cats we have now. Quite an odd combination of reasons really! I still have rats too!


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## CatDrool1324 (Jul 24, 2009)

wow, this sure is a lot of replies, lol. i havent been on in a while, so I haven't gotten to see them since, what, August?
but we all have some pretty nice stories here. nice pets to all of you ;]]


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Since I had no experience with cats and already had a dog, I was totally not thinking of getting another pet, let alone a cat. I was at Petsmart and they had an area reserved for the shelter to display their animals for adoption. They had a big cage with one kitten out in front. I played with it and was so affectionate with me. It was playing with my hands (claws retracted) with its paws, rubbing against the side of the cage in an effort to rub against my hands. I made the 'mistake' of asking to hold the kitten. After that I was lost. She seemed so comfortable in my arms and I felt it so natural to be holding her. 

I left with my family after a while to shop somewhere else, but I couldn't forget the feeling. After a couple of hours, I convinced my parents to go back. My dad wasn't pleased at all since first of all, he isn't an animal lover and secondly, I already had a dog and a chinchilla. He's like 'you've already got enough on your hands, it's just added responsibility.' My mother is an animal lover, but she's afraid of cat claws and cat bites so she said it would be my total responsibility. After I got it, I learned she was still available and I held her again in my arms. The only concern I had was that she got along with my dog. But she was still purring and very affectionate with me. So I figured she wasn't aggressive and might get along with him.

We got home and my dog, Rocky was like 'OMG, what is THAT?!' and proceeded to investigate. At first, Miu the kitten was a bit frightened and hissed at him. It's been 2 months now, they seem to be good friends. Miu follows Rocky around and tries to snuggle with him. Rocky just needs a bit more time though. He's been experiencing jealousy issues and won't let Miu cuddle yet. However, he loves play time with Miu. It's quite funny to watch them. She'll walk over and instigate him by pouncing at the floor in front of him or do a 'c'mon chase me' dance. Then he'll bark and start chasing her around the house. Hilarious because we'd be sitting in the den watching tv then out of nowhere, two furballs fly by with a cacophony of barking and paws against the hardwood floor. Then as suddenly as that happens, you turn your head, they're gone and all is quiet again....until they come around the bend once more. LOL! 

Good thing is, as I mentioned, my dad is not an animal lover and of course he won't admit it, but I know that he totally loves Miu now! It's quite amusing that my silent, usually gruff dad will walk over and then call her name in this high voice to get her attention..then he'll dangle a toy in front of her and play. wah ha ha! He also does similar stuff with Rocky too! He'll come home from work and ask Rocky why he's sitting there and how his day was. HA HA.

My mom is also starting to fall in love with her. She's still afraid that Miu might bite her or scratch her. But funny thing is Miu loves to sleep with her on the sofa, sometimes in her lap! Mom's still wary, but is okay with that. Hopefully, Miu will grow out of or I can train her out of the biting scratching thing out of nowhere. Then my mother will totally be okay.


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## Chrysalis (Oct 10, 2009)

Awww, that's so cute Alpaca! I grew up in a house where my parents didn't like cats but we had dogs, turtles, hamsters, and all kinds of other pets (even a prairie dog and an opossum at various points!) My dad has always said he would never get a cat, but when I went home the last time to visit, my mom said they would probably get a cat after their current dog passed away! She used to never acknowledge that I had cats at all, but now when I talk to her she asks how her grandcats are doing, haha! 

My dad, I think, may also change his mind. When my family visited, Rodney went right up to him and was trying to get his attention, sitting on his lap, putting his head in my Dad's hand, etc. I think maybe he'd just never seen such affectionate kitties and didn't realize what a joy they can be! I have no doubt that when they have their own cat, they will love him or her just as much as they love dogs.


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## aprilmay (Dec 29, 2009)

Love all the stories! Still need to go back and read them all.

I currently have three, my youngest two are Lucy and Juno. Lucy was a stray that found me, I had to earn her trust. It took weeks, but was totally worth it. I got Juno from a friend after my cat Bella died. 

Bella had diabetes, and after my mom died she passed. To this day I think Bella died partly from grief, she loved mom so much. Bella was part of a litter of a stray. A friend of my mom's found the stray taped up in a box in a dumpster. He rescued the cat, and found out she was expecting kittens. We took one.

My oldest is Mr. Kitty. He was my first. I begged for a cat and mom said as soon as we got a house (our apartment didn't allow animals). Sure enough, a month after my 16th I got him!

My mom's friend had said I could have a female from her litter. The kittens were about a month old. I went to pick one out, but I knew I couldn't take the kitten home right then. 

All the cats were precious. But there was something that drew me to Kitty, a deep orange and white male. There was a connection, he came right up to me. He chose me.

I had to practically beg her to let me have him. He looked exactly like Tom, his daddy, her favorite cat. But she did. I saw her recently and she told me she was so glad she let me have him...all her others died young.


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## FallenOfTheStar (Jan 9, 2010)

Max - We got Buddy and Sophie after our first cat Max had to be put to sleep. I got Max from my bestfriend who's father's cat had kittens. Their cat had given birth to kittens about twice. I wasn't able to get one of the first litters because they were all spoken for but they told me if there cat has kittens again they well save all of them and let me have first choice and sure enough their cat had kittens again. So I came over to my friends dads house a few times after their cat had kittens for the second time and fell in love with the white and gray kitten. I tend to fall in love with the odd/different kittens as all the other ones were black. So they told me that they would save the white and gray one for when I was able to take him. I came back about 2 - 3wks after the kitten was able to be separated from his mother and took him home. Once I brought him home my whole family fell in love with him. We had to put him down thought after 3years because he went crazy and the vet said it was the best thing for him.


Buddy - After Max was put down my family knew they couldn't go without a cat. It was maybe 5months could of been more not real sure on time frame. Anyway we went to the shelter and saw Buddy. He was a rescue cat and had gotten hit by a car and the shelter saved him and kept him. He was sitting all alone and looked like nobody wanted him but he was just the cutest thing ever. We had given him a tons of names (more or less just changing it) but he pretty much picked his own name because Buddy was the only name he came to. He's all orange and he's just the most cuddly thing. You can bug him like crazy and he doesn't care. He's just a big lazy cat. He's 4years old now and we've have had him ever since he was maybe 2years old. 

Sophie - My family knew I always wanted a cat who was white and black and named Sophie. So one day while I was at work my family went to one of the pet shops around town. They were just looking at all the kittens when they came a cross a black and white cat. They asked to see her and when they took her out and were holding her they just knew she was the sweetest little thing. She was so tiny and looked like she'd always be tiny. They decided that after holding her and stuff they had to get her. So I came home from work and I walked in the door and my little sister told me she had a surprise for me. I walked upstairs and sitting in the living room was a black and white cat I've always wanted and she told me her name was Sophie. Sophie is sweet but not tiny. She was super tiny when she was little but now she sure isn't. Sophie is now maybe 1years old maybe 2years (I could be totally wrong but my mother for sure knows the age ) and I believe we've had her since she was 6months 8 months old. 

I love both of my cats. There like my babies.


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## dmcwlvssr (Apr 24, 2005)

Wow I haven't thought about a lot of this in a long time. Great topic!! 

I got my first kitty when I was 18. My friends Grammy had this cat visiting on a daily basis and she couldn't find an owner, She was allergic and it lived in her screen porch. I took it off her hands and that was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the feline personality. Her name became April the month I got her. She was what must have been pure Siamese slinky and vocal. She had kittens and I kept Smokey and Lil Bit from that litter found home for the rest and got her fixed. She wasn't a good mommy and took off when the babies were not quite 8 weeks, Then Lil Bit had a litter before I got her fixed. I kept Bandit .At the time I allowed them to come and go freely. Smokey died at 6 a fight with something. Lil Bit died at 5 hit by a car. Bandit made it to 12. before cancer got him. Next came Panther the blackest beauty ever, My SIL asked me to take her to the pound she didn't want her any more. I took her all right Panther girl was put gently to sleep at age 18. MyThai Thai came next he and Panther we the best of pals. Thai was a feral kitten a friend on a farm had. He wanted to catch the female to get her fixed and instead caught him. He was still quite young and still needed to be fed so he called me. MiThai Thai was my best friend I loved him very much. He went through a lot until cancer too took him at 12. After Panther left us I got Mischka to keep Thai company but he did not like her at all. Mischka was found at a Berkley campus when they were leaving for summer. A friend brought 3 tiny kittens home with her. She was one of them. After Thai left I thought the same thing Mischka needed a pal. So I went to the local shelter and got Linx. That was a mistake too. They hated each other from the start. Mischka withdrew and spent most of her time hiding. After all the cancer issues I starting learning all I could about cats and health issues. This is when I started with indoor only. I went to my first cat show and saw the Somali breed. It was love at first sight. What a beautiful creature. I saved my money and was put on a waiting list and then finally the day came. I got my Sundance. he was a blessing in a fox suit. He and Linx were rambunctious and totally into each other. My Mischka girl finally started to come out of her shell again. Lucky 3 was the number. Then I started thinking poor girl was out numbered with the two rowdy boys so I found Pandia on a Siamese rescue. She and 13 other Siamese and orientals were abandoned in their outside cages and found by animal control . She was a very sick little girl. Look at her now. Well that is it for now.


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

Arianwen's story is not nearly as interesting as some of the other stories here.
I adopted Arianwen "unintentionally", during a stress-filled time in my life. I was still caring for my mother who has Alzheimer's, but missing having a cat in my home and in my life. 

So, I went on Craigslist Huntsville, thinking there was no harm in looking at kitties up for adoption and imagining they could be in my home, despite knowing there was no way I could adequately take care of both a cat and my Mom. But, there was something about the little grey tabby at a cageless no-kill rescue in nearby Albertville. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about her tugged at my heart.

I replied to the ad by e-mail, and got a reply that she was still available, and could she be brought to my house for a 'trial period'. I thought. "Sure. No harm in trying, right?". I had a bad cold then, so I asked if it was okay to put the trial off till I felt better. 

A couple of weeks passed, and my cold got better. I started thinking how foolish it was to try adopting a cat when I had my hands full taking care of Mom. But, in one of her more lucid moments, Mom said she'd like having a kitty around; it would "brighten up the house".

After a fairly rigorous home screening and application process, Arianwen was here. And she wasn't _that_ much more work or expense. 
I had to admit, having her here added a certain warmth to our house that really was missing before. She became an irreplaceable family member.
Every day provides more proof of how essential and special she is. :heart

Sorry for the long post, but this is the first time I have written an 'unabridged' account of how sweet Arianwen came to my home.
rcat


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

@Gunterkat

It's not a boring story at all! I find it commendable that you took in Arianwen when you were caring for your mother. Was Arianwen a kitten when you got her? Cats do help relieve stress. I never thought they would do a better job at that than dogs! Although definitely not the same, I was in a similar case with Miu. 

My mother has arthritis in her hands and everyday household chores are always painful. We already had Rocky who she insists on helping with because she loves him so much. At first, she didn't protest, but after I got Miu, Mom was so frustrated with her. I have to come home straight from work to relieve her. She would say over and over again how I bit off more than I can handle and I already had Rocky. I didn't say, but one reason why I got Miu was because Mom never goes out and has no close friends, so I felt she needed some more social interaction. She still gets annoyed and angry when Miu is naughty but she does laugh at her antics. And despite her fear of cats, she's starting to warm up. She touches Miu's paws when she's asleep. Hope Miu grows out of her naughty kitten phase soon.


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

Thanks, Alpaca!  
Arianwen was about nine or ten months when I got her.
Mom became a permanent resident at Marshall Manor nursing home a few months back. Her condition had advanced to the point where I could no longer take care of her at home.
But Arianwen misses her, and in her cat language has been telling me she'd like to go with me in the car to visit Mom. She says she won't be scared, and really wants to see her.
Sweet little genius kitty! :luv 
I think I will take her with me one time, because it's not a far drive.rcat

Your mother will warm up to Miu. Cats can find their way into even the most dyed-in-the-wool dog person's heart. :wink:


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

gunterkat said:


> Cats can find their way into even the most dyed-in-the-wool dog person's heart. :wink:


*raises hand* Yes, that would've been me. Before Midnight, I used to have the opinion that kittens were cute, but once they grew up, they were ugly. Thanks to my little bundle of black fur, I have now decided that cats are gorgeous...no matter what their age is. And while I still do like dogs, my first choice for a pet will always be a cat.


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## EvieSkye (Jan 18, 2010)

Skye was the odd one out of my friends cats litter. Smudge was the healthiest looking.


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## Cassie8236 (Jan 18, 2010)

Hi All, I'm new, but I figured this would be a good first place to post.

My first 2 cats, were found in my bosses (old black)Cadillac. I work for a limo company and he had his car parked on the lot and one of the drivers was going to do something with it and came out with 2 black little furballs!! The car had been sitting in our lot 3-4 days, at a mechanic 4-5 days before that, and in his driveway at home!! No telling when or how the cats got in there!! But I am glad they were found, his car was going to be COVERED for 2 weeks while he went out of town! :yikes . It was midday at work, I went to the pet store next to my work bought them some food, and called my husband and told him that we were getting a cat!! (and brought both of them home!) So we ending up with Cadillac (boy) and Jordan (girl).

Our other cat, we went to the petstore to buy the other 2 food, and there was a rescue group there. We were walking by and I see this BEAUTIFUL tuxedo cat, terrified, shaking, looking around with her big eyes. I squat down to talk to her and she moves so I can pet her, then I ask to hold her, and she snuggled right up to me and started purring....I was a done! We adopted her about a week later!


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## kimmy.j (Dec 28, 2009)

Oh my Jeeves.

I like animals, a lot. My husband, however, could do without. I REALLY wanted a cat, but knew I couldn't have one because of my husbands allergies.

In my spare time, I would always check the shelters website, to see what animals they had taken in. They had the most beautiful cat I have ever seen....but I knew I couldn't have him....so I tried to look at dogs. There was a dog, his name was Spider. He was absolutely gorgeous, and looked like the sweetest, most well behaved dog in the world. 

It said he wasn't housebroken, which didn't turn me away. I had been watching him since September, knowing that his days at the shelter were probably limited, I started getting very worried towards the end of December. I checked on him every day and I tried to get everyone I knew to adopt him. A few days before Christmas, my husband says "would you want Spider as a Christmas present? Let's go meet him tomorrow" -- I was glowing! 

I didn't sleep at all that night. I was so nervous to meet my could-be dog. I thought about all the accidents he could potentially have all over our brand new house, and the fighting it could cause between my husband and me. Either way, we went to meet him that day. He was nothing like I excepted. Although I'm sure he was a great dog, he was not the dog for me.

I nervously asked my husband if we could go meet Jeeves - The cat I had also been watching. Without hesitation (as I expected) we went into the cattery...

Jeeves was hiding in the very back of his cage, so so sick with a URI, he wouldn't come see us. I opened the cage, and he let me pet him. We took him out, and he was shedding ALL OVER THE PLACE. I thought for sure, this meant that we couldn't take him home.

We left the shelter without a cat, but talked about it all through the night, stocked up on Alavert (allergy medicine), and the very next morning, went back to take him home! 










As of last week, Spider also found a home!


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## WillowWynde (Dec 4, 2009)

Hi everyone! I’m new here and thought I’d start off introducing my cat and I by telling how we met.

Three years ago I experienced a horrible breakup that left me pretty devastated on New Year’s Day. I remember feeling so sad and broken and that I didn’t want to be alone, but I didn’t want another relationship. I started thinking about one of my friend’s and her cat and how happy the two were together. So, I did a little researching online and found a very nice shelter that wasn’t too far from my house and decided to just take a peak.

I had been surrounded by dogs up until this point and I was excited and nervous because I didn’t quite know what to expect. I remember walking into their huge cat room and being impressed with how clean it was and all that they had provided for the cats! There were huge windows with seats, soft and fluffy beds, toys and kitty gyms, and TVs with bird shows!

All the cats were so beautiful and charming, but one literally caught my attention. Perhaps it was because she jumped into my arms and “merfed” at me before I could close the door. When I caught her and sat down with her, my nerves calmed completely and I couldn’t stop smiling and staring with wonder at this precious little animal.

She stayed in my lap and purred up a storm while other cats came up to introduce themselves. There were so many lovely cats, but it was obvious that we belonged together! Shortly after, I adopted my little white and black ball of love named Soy.

Each day since has been a wonderful adventure with her! I can never express how much I love and adore her! We’re two peas in a pod and I thoroughly enjoy spoiling her rotten! Even though she came from a no-kill shelter, I cannot help but feel we saved each other.

Thanks for reading our story and I apologize if it was too long! I can sometimes ramble when talking about my baby! :lol:


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## Mrs. PBJ (Dec 29, 2009)

Bosses story is weird.

His mother lived in a house full of cats. She was a feral and pretty naughsty the first week or so. 
Then she relized I guess she had a warm house and food everyday so by the time the kittens. Where ready to leave she was adoptable. So we where going to go ahead and rehome them all. Well boss turned up with a severe food allergy and we desided that he needed to stay with us plus our four nieces had put claim on him.

So they picked Boss and sense there daddy wont let them have a cat its there cat that loves with us we will let them think that there only 3 5 6 for that matter


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## BroganMc (Feb 28, 2010)

Our first housecat Peppermint (a Siamese/tabby feral) was rescued from the Animal Shelter trap when she was just 4 weeks old. Her mama took off for the woods but she kept wandering into the trap. She was the runt of her litter and so determined to rush headlong into peril. We grabbed her, shoved her into our Laundry Room and set about training her to be a housecat. That meant litterbox training, learning not to hide from us, not to run out every time the door opened or look longingly out the window all the time. It also meant protecting her from our 5 yr old Black Lab who thought cute furry things were chew toys.

After lots of play, food bribes, and coaxing she settled in to be the ruler of the household. She outlasted the dog, endured the round of human nieces and nephew babies who visited, and befriended whoever was sick in the household. After 15 years she died from a stroke. She got a little fatter around the middle but still loved to play like a kitten.

Our newest pets adopted us at the local shelter. We went looking for a new pet when no more ferals or strays had come into our lives in the 8 mos since we lost our Peppermint. All we asked was for a female young cat, one who needed a home and would like being a housecat. The shelter volunteers scopped up this beautiful white & black 5 mos. old kitten and plopped her in my arms. She started purring the moment she was pet. Her previous owner had given her the name Cruella but we thought that was much too mean for such a sweet kitty. I fell instantly in love. But when the volunteers pointed out her sister hiding in the corner my Dad had to go investigate. She didn't like being picked up but liked his gentle stroking.

Seems both sisters had been living in the orphanage for a month. They had really bonded and the volunteers encouraged us to adopt the pair so they wouldn't be so lonely. We had only intended to get one kitty but we didn't have the heart to break them up. So we thought about it a bit then decided we'd take them both.

Now it's a race to see if they bond more to us or each other, or start playing us against each other or just compete for our affections. That black-n-white kitty (renamed Bella) is such an affection hog. She won't wait for her sister to decide she likes us but jumps right up for a pet, treat or whatever we have to offer. Fortunately her sister gets curious or jealous and quickly follows suit.


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

Great stories!

Murphy is only my second cat ever. We lost our special, sweet, shy Rookie very stressfully in February 2008, after which I said to my husband, "Over my dead body" will we ever get another cat. Within 4 days I was looking at the SPCA listings again. Who did I think I was kidding?

I picked "Fred" from the SPCA listings because he was listed as declawed and affectionate. Bingo, we have a winner. When we got there and asked to see him, the woman disappeared into the back rooms of the very overcrowded shelter, meaning that "Fred" wouldn't even have been seen by potential adopters unless someone asked for him specifically, as we had. He had already been in that cage for 1.5 months and they had labeled him a "door-darter." Hey, I'd be a door-darter too. I'll never forget the excited, cute look on his face as she carried him out of there.

We went into their little office room, she set him down on the floor, and it was an immediate lovefest. He was purring loudly, raising himself up to rub cheeks with us, nosing around the room, back to check in with us, just lovin' life now that he was out of that cage. One look between my husband and me, and it was all over. :luv 

To our surprise, the woman said we could take Fred home that day! We didn't have a single cat thing in the house, so we rushed off to PetSmart, restocked everything, and went back to the SPCA to pick him up. The rest is history. Fred became Murphy (this was a couple days before St. Patrick's Day, so I guess there was Irish in the air), and he has been a joy and pleasure ever since. This is how he waits for me to get home every night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLFGO_T2K2g


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## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

OK, I'll chime in. I'm new here, and I adopted three rescue cats in February, from three different shelters. I didn't plan it that way. I'd had a cat for 18 years; he passed away in 2004. I now had the time to devote to two new indoor cats, so I started doing research. I came across an article and video about Havana Brown cats, very rare (between 500-1,000 purebreds in the US), chocolate brown, a cross between Siamese, Burmese, domestic shorthair black, and Russian Blue. I looked on Petfinder.com every day (it lists over 100,000 rescues throughout the US and Canada). There were only 20 Havana Browns listed in the US, only 5 of them were really chocolate brown, and the closest was 500 miles away. After two months, I gave up, and I ended up committing to two DSH whites, had one but not the other yet. The next Sunday, after a snowstorm, I went online and out of curiosity checked out Havana Brown listings. There was one new one, for Hershey, that day.

Hershey was taken to a shelter near Philadelphia on December 31, emaciated and bleeding from head to tail, by someone who had seen him on the street. He weighed maybe 5 pounds, with ribs sticking out; he would not have made it for than another couple of days. He was taken to a vet, his entire right side shaved, and his lacerations were cleaned up. Fortunately, he had no internal injuries or broken bones. It took him a month to convalesce, and I saw his announcement within hours after it was posted. Even though I already had two cats, I had wanted a Havana Brown, so I drove 2 hours 45 minutes each way just to see him. I decided I had to have him, but not until my first two cats had at least met each other. So I drove back three weeks later, 2 hours 45 minutes each way, and picked him up. He didn't utter a sound the whole trip home, except for a short cry just before he had an accident in the carrier halfway home. Hershey is now Hershey the Fearless, Hershey the Bold, totally bonded and affectionate, larger than life, and also a lap cat who needs human attention. In short, he's wonderful, and I can't imagine his not being here. He's gone from near death three and a half months ago to head of household, and he's a joy to have around.


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## Ariel1719 (Apr 12, 2009)

Aww these are all such lovely stories!

I'll share the story of my sweet boy Jesse James 

The summer of when i was in grade 7, i was 12 at the time, but turning 13. My life was a mess. My parents were at the time going through a messsy seperation/almost divorce and my younger brother and i were torn between them. My mom had dragged us out to her bf's farm the whole summer, where we basically lived for 5 days of the week. I did not like this man, i thought he was rude, did not care for our mom right, and was mean, but i was just a child. He had two older children whom did not like him aswelll, but they lived with their mom. 

One day they called him up and said that their mom was making them get rid of their two cats, and were asking if they could come live on the 100acre farm he owned. He reluctantly said yes, but this made my brother and i very happy, as we had never ownd a cat or dog due to family allergies. The daughter brought over the two, a 11yr old grey and white longhaird female, named Missy, and a 1yr old orange nd white tabby named Dante, whom i grew very attatched too. My brother and Missy hit it off, and Dante and i hit it off, ofcourse mine gave me multiple scares, escaping for nights on end, jumping up on the high celing and almost falling. A worried step mom i was. Thankfully though, my mom and her bf broke up which forced us to leave. On our way back to our home from moving things(we had to do multiple trips), about an hours drive, we stoped in the local petstore to buy crickets for our two lizards. And there he was. All curled up in a little ball in the corner of the pen was my Jesse James. 

He looked almost identical to my Dante, which made me so drawn to him. I gave my mom the puppy dog eyes, and she said the infamous 'we'll see'. Later that evening when we were in our backyard, my mom asked if i would love the kitten in the petstore, she had always loved cats, I ofcourse never owning one jumped out of my pants and sreamed yes. On our way home from our last moving outday, we picked up our little guy, and he slept the whole wa home.

6 years later, hes still my little man and sleeps with me everynight and greets me wheever i come home<3


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## thanigraphics (May 28, 2010)

Cool stories, I kinda lol'd at some ^^
Well, I used to have 2 cats, then all of a sudden I have six! This is how it went:
I had an old cat, who died a few months ago because of a heart disease. Last year, when she was still alive and kinda healty, I felt sad for her, having nobody to play with.
At the same time I got myself a new job, and a nice collegue of me was telling me about her cat who had give birth to a bunch of kittens. A week later I picked up Fluffy, a cute white-tabby harlequin kitten (european shorthair mix) she was 9 weeks at that moment.

At home, my older cat didn't like the appereance of the playfull kitten and just hissed at her and ignored her. The kitten got more hyper and hyper, and yelped when I was away. My collegue where I got Fluffy from adviced me to take in another kitten. So I picked up Sanga at the shelter. She was an ill kitten, 12 weeks old. Claws extended and a bit fierce. But she jumped on my shoulder and claimed me as her owner, what could I do? So me, the slave, took my new master home.... after a month this fierce dominant little lady turned out to be a cute cuddly toddler inside.. whe became very good friends with Fluffy and Fluffy stopped yelping when I was away and at night, which my neighbours were thankfull for! 

Then, march this year, my parents were at a party with friends. They saw a stray puss who was pregnant and the friends of my parents took the stray cat in. An hour later they saw her giving birth to 4 kittens. One of them is now at my place, the black seven weeks old Casper (now he's a few weeks older, though) He's totally accepted by my other cats who adore him and play with him and even mother him! 

And the other 3? They are the un-planned, but welcome babies of Fluffy! Now 2,5 weeks old! Pictures follow


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## Sunlight (May 31, 2010)

Hi!
First I like to tell sorry if I make mistake how I write. My native language is not English, but I love cats.  I have a lot, I adopted them from the street. Each of them has a story. Now I like to tell you about the first cat, who I got in this country 4 years ago.
My husband and I had a same work. We changed each other. For years ago I went to work in the morning. My husband was sad and called me outside, he wanted to show me something. How I looked his face I knew a cat came and most probably we could not help. We had no much money we could not take them to the doctor, we just helped the street cats with food, water, and milk. In this time we had 30 street cats who came to eat every day. I went outside after my husband who show me a 3 - 4 month old cat who had open broken leg. I knew her, I always took food for her and her mother. We talked a lot and we decided to take her to the hospital. I stayed to work and my husband left with the cat. He came back alone and told me the news. He got 2 hours to decide what he wanted. The doctor did not give 1% chance for the cat. Her leg was not just broken it was already infected, too. We again talked and we decided. She had to get a chance to stay alive. So my husband went back to the hospital to tell what we decided. After 2 - 3 hours he came back with a cat. Poor cat had two stay in her box for a long time to did not touch the floor, did not get more infection. The doctor said if she lived three days she had 10 % chance. And she lived. She was with us 24 hours we never let home alone. But she was in the box, closed, she could run little only when we covered the floor with clean clothes. It was hard and for us and for the cat, but she won her life. And after about two month she could go out from the box, she was healthy.  After a year my husband took her back to the doctor, and the doctor cried little, he could not believe that cat stay alive who got no 1% to live.


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## Avalonia (Oct 7, 2007)

Oh Sunlight, you and your husband are true angels to have done all that for that little cat. That was a beautiful story. How lucky she was to find you!

I am also one of those people whose cats choose them. I've always wanted to go to the shelter and pick out a cat, a fluffy orange cream one or a Maine ****, but I've never made it that far because whenever I have an opening a cat just shows up. I think I've told my stories here before so I'll try to make them brief.

*Emanon and Miss Grace*: Adopted from a co - worker. Wait, I guess I did get to pick my own cats. Once. 

*Snow Cat*: Found him wandering in our apartment complex in 1995. I thought he was far too pretty, too friendly, and too well fed looking to be homeless. He kept coming around so one day I opened my front door and asked him if he wanted to come in. Indeed, he did. Then I posted Found Cat signs and the upstairs neighbor came down to tell me everyone was feeding him because he was so charming, but no one wanted to keep him. Perfect, I thought, and he was mine from then on.

*Cleo*: I was still living in the same apartment complex and I encountered her on the way home from the store. Same story as Snow -she did not at all look or act like a stray. But she literally chased me home - I actually started running when I saw she was following because I already had three cats and I was only supposed to have one. But after she chased me for two blocks I was a) out of breath b) and sure that she must need me if she was going to chase me that far. I put up found cat signs for her too and did not get one call. Their loss, my gain. She was the sweetest cat I ever had.

*Normie*: Still the same apartment complex. It was pouring down rain one day, the worst storm I'd ever seen in southern Cali since I'd moved there and I was going nuts because I could hear this cat crying somewhere outside. It was almost a howl and it was so desperate that I had to look. I made my then boyfriend (now husband) help me and we finally saw this drenched kitten stuck in a tree. Husband looked at me. I looked at him. He shook his head. I made puppy dog eyes. He folded his arms and shook his head again. I got teary. He sighed and went up the tree, telling me the whole time 'we are NOT keeping this cat, do you hear me? NO MORE CATS!' (we totally kept the cat. :mrgreen: ) 

*Lea and Pandora*: For years I'd managed to escape being adopted by any more cats, and I figured this was because I had three kids, moved back to Oregon, and was not living in any circumstanced where we could have any more. We only had Snow Cat and Emanon left after we gave Normie to my sister in law (who promptly lost him  ) Miss Grace disappeared one day, and Cleo died at the age of ten from a respiratory infection. We were hiding our old boys from the landlord and really, really, really did not want any more cats. One day my husband got me out of bed at six or so in the morning. I come into the living room and he has two kittens on the couch. He found them huddled in a ball shivering on our porch. It was snowing; what could we do? 

Found out later they belonged to our next door neighbor. She told us they were 'outdoor cats' and she couldn't let them in the house any more because her boyfriend's dog didn't like them. She said she would take them to her mother's. She never did. They were on our porch the next night too. (I always wondered why they didn't huddle on their own porch :lol: ) We kept taking them back to her, finally she stopped answering the door. Then we found out the house we were renting was being sold and there was NO WAY we were leaving them with her, so we took them with us. She came over a few weeks later asking about them and acting like she had given them to us, delusional chick. Turns out she was moving too and we were so glad we had taken them because there is no question that she just would have left them behind. But they are very sweet cats, not fearful of people at all, so at some point she must have taken good care of them, or the person she got them from did, so we're thankful for that at least.


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## Sunlight (May 31, 2010)

Avalonia thank you very much for your kind word.  You are a wonderful person, too. You have a really nice stories, I am always happy to read people save animals and do not turn away their head.  
I brought the photo of the cat, who we saved and I brought an other story, too. 
Here is the photo, you can see she has only three legs, but do not worry, she can run very quickly and she can jump where ever she want. The only 'problem' with her she is afraid from the people too much. We do not know how she broke her leg, but I think somebody hurt her that is the reason she can not trust anybody, only me and my husband.
















And the other story. One summer evening I took the rubbish to the big garbage what is in the park place. I listened kitties were crying. I was surprised, I knew my street cats they had no so small babies in this day. I tried to follow the voice and I found out it was coming from the big garbage. I tried to look for them, but there were so heavy things I could not move them. I run home, in my eyes tears. My husband looked at me and asked what happened. I told him what I heard. He went to the garbage, moved the heavy thing and found two small cats. The next day happened the same thing. There was more one cat.








Somebody put in the garbage three beautiful, healthy kitties. They were very small, they could not eat, they needed their mother. Unfortunately I have no mother cat in this time to give them to her, so I feed them every day, I washed them. I was their mother. Two black stayed alive, the gray one unfortunately died.  For one of the black I found a family and the other one I kept. She still thinks I am her mother.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I haven't finished reading all the stories, but I have to leave soon and figured I'd hurry and put mine up. This goes in chronological order!

I live out in farmland. While my dad's property doesn't have a barn or anything, there is a little thicket with an old shed, and that's where most of the ferals and strays hang out. The first 20-ish years of my life, I've had cats around, but never OWNED one. We left food and water out, and some of the tamer ones would let me and my sister play with them. My dad only kept them around (rather than trapping and sending them away) because he wanted them to eat the rodents that were eating our garden and digging holes in the lawn and other annoying stuff.
My dad is not exactly an animal lover - though he doesn't really hate them either. He grew up on a farm, in the depression era, and therefore thinks any animal that is not earning their keep is not worth having around. Horses plow, cows milk, dogs herd, cats mouse. There's no such thing as a "pet".

When I was 23, at the end of summer in 2001, around August or September, I got my first owned cat.
One of the ferals had kittens under our back porch. I would take a flash light and peek in there ever so often, just to get a regular dose of "awww, how cute!". As it was, I couldn't see any details very well, just see balls of fluff and hear mewling. One day I went out, and the mother cat was leading off her litter to go hunting training, I assume. The last kitten in the line was hopping more like a rabbit than tottling like a kitten and was barely keeping up. I wondered what was wrong with it, and went to catch it and find out. It had no back legs!
At first I wondered if my dad had got her with the lawn mower, but they weren't horribly mutilated or anything. Just ended in rounded stumps halfway down. Her tail was also short, and ended where her legs did when you held her up by the scruff. I'm assuming the umbilical cord got wrapped around her back end, and cut off the limbs.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to hunt or run from predators (there's foxes in the field across the street and hawks and neighborhood dogs, a busy street, etc.), I decided to take her in. My dad wasn't very happy, but I promised that I would clean up all messes and she would stay in my room and not wander the house. So he reluctantly let me keep her.
I'm very picky about names, their meanings and origins, and stuff like that. It took me 2 weeks to find the kitten a name. I remember sitting in church with a baby naming book and reading it, rather than listening to the sermon! Eventually I chose "paisley", because of the mottled/striped markings on her (she's a lynx point), and spelled it differently as Paizly to make it more unique.
In 2003, she somehow broke her back left thigh. I came home after family dinner on a Sunday, to see her huddled up under the desk and yowling. $500 emergency vet bill to take her in for x-rays and pain killer. The vet said it could have pins and rods in it, but the way she 'walks'/scoots around, it might just pull them out. So I had it totally amputated. She still gets around okay with 2 1/2 legs, though!

After getting divorced in spring 2008, I was free to do more of my own activities, and I wanted to work with animals. So I started volunteering at a local rescue group. I initially told my dad that I was only going to clean cages and help out at adoption days and wouldn't bring home any cats... HA! Only a week after I started, I took home a cat because we had run out of other fosters. It was supposed to be temporary... again, HA!
Poor Lily hated going to adoption days. Being caged up, in a strange place, with lots of strange noises and people. Every time somebody would get near her cage, she would hiss and growl (but never swat, like some other cats). So of course people would think she had that attitude ALL the time, despite me trying to explain the situation. After a year of watching her never learn to calm down, I just put her up on Petfinder and kept her home. A year after that, the rescue director said I should just keep her.
She doesn't seem like a Lily to me, so I re-named her Nebula... because she's black like outter-space, and has little smudges of white (like nebula clouds) on her hip and underside.

Even if my dad would let me bring more, the city law has a limit of 2 cats per house, so I'm gonna have to be satisfied with that for now. If I could have it my way, I'd have 2 dozen!


I have recently decided to once again take care of the ferals in the yard (since taking in Paizly, food stopped being left outside and the ferals have kinda been left totally on their own). This time I'm actually going to be more proactive, and build winter shelters and TNR, and actually CARE for them now. So if you count them, I now have 2 indoor cats and at least 7 outdoor cats.
I've only been feeding them for a week, and still have yet to get materials for building the shelters. So far, I have counted 7 individuals. I don't know genders yet (nobody holds their tails up high enough for me to figure it out!). I sortta started naming them:
*Spotty* - white with brown spots.
*Scraggly* - grayish-brownish tabby with white chest & paws that looks just as the name suggests...rather scraggly and unkempt. Also has eyes that seem lopsided, but I can't quite tell which eye has what wrong with it - not goopy, so I assume a scar from a fight has made an eye look weird.
*Vermilion* - orange tabby that has colors ranging from pastel orange to a deep firey red, and white chest/paws.
The other cats are brownish-gray tabbies that so far all seem to look alike...I can really only tell differences if they're all together (how I counted 7). I may start keeping some sort of notebook and keeping track of individuals better, and find names suitable to certain markings or even personalities if I can watch them enough (having no job or school, I got plenty of free time for it!). I guess I should take pictures, as that will both help identify and I can show them off here!


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## Oriole (Jan 11, 2010)

Those are all wonderful stories! Heidi - a lot of kitties must be very grateful to you 

I got both of my cat-children at the local shelter. 

*Lizzie* was the first one and actually picked me instead of the other way around. All I knew was that I wanted to get a grown-up kitty - because they are typically more difficult to place and also because it was my first cat and I was afraid of making huge mistakes in raising a kitten the first time around. I remember going into a room with around 20 cats and wanting to take them all with me... However, they seemed disinterested in me and busy with their own comings and goings...except for Lizzie who came running, meowing her head off and trying to climb up my leg. She couldn't have been clearer about her intentions of adopting me  and truly is the best kitty one could wish for.

*Mikey* came six months later when I decided that I absolutely must have another kitty and a companion for Lizzie. This time I felt braver and got a 2-month old kitten - whom I have to admit, I chose solely based on looks; and, boy, is he gorgeous (I am biased, obviously )! He has now been with me for a little over 3 months and it seems I have committed no faux pas in regard to his education AND have managed to successfully introduced him to Lizzie with her adopting the little critter and taking it upon herself to teach him good manners :wink: 

And just because I cannot resist adding a picture:


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## Herp Lover (Jul 20, 2010)

Sassy: My dad found her in front of our house when she was about 8 weeks old.

Chica: I was looking for a cat on Craigslist as a companion for Sassy and so that we would still have a cat after she passed on. Her litter was 5 min from my house so we went to look at them. When I picked her up she hissed at me and I fell in love with her. She was only 7 weeks old and her mother died a week before.

Jack: He was running across the road in front of my mom's car when he was about 6 weeks old so she picked him up. He was very sick and could not see out his eyes. He came out of a feral colony but is the most loving cat I'v had.


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## Mom of 4 (Jul 29, 2006)

My sons were living in an apt when they noticed a beautiful Wegie/calico mix wondering the complex. They offered her food and water over two weeks, then invited her into their apt. She still lives with my older son. She is terrified of dogs, but my son rescued a Cattledog puppy from a cemetery. Scallywag loves her, but Captain just tolerates the dog.

I enjoyed being around Captain so much, that I decided I wanted a cat. Perably an apple head Siamese like I had growing up. I found an older one at a local rescue that teams up with Petsmart. She was friendly toward me, but not my husband. While we were there, I saw a cute tortie that climbed all over both of us. So Zoey came home.

Two years later, my college-age daughter moved into an apt by herself for grad school. She missed our houseful of dogs (Zoey was added after she left for college), but knew that apt wouldn't allow Newfies. At Thanksgiving, having decided that a cat would work, she searched all of the Craigslist, newpaper and petfinder ads. A cute kitten with orange cheeks was listed in a shelter an hour away. After calling to make sure they were open and the kitten still there, we drove to the shelter. The shelter never mentioned that the kitten and his 10 littermates were turned in as found and had to be kept for another week before being available for adoption. And they wouldn't let us place our name on a waiting list, leave a check for way more than the required adoption fee or even pay cash.
A week later, I planned to drive to the shelter as soon as I got off work at 4 PM. On the way, I decided to call and make sure she was still there. Nope, the kittens were all gone and the shelter wouldn't tell me where. As this was going to be my daughter's Christmas present, I had to make an effort to find her. I contacted the cat rescues near the shelter - one of the ladies took pity on me and talked to the shelter. The kittens had been picked up by the shelter in the town next us. Every year, the town has a Santa's village, with cute pupies and kittens available for adoption. I called that shelter, who said the kitten was still there and wouldn't be available for adoption until Dec 17th. they even let come look to be sure the kitten was really there.
I took off of work on the 17th (a huge deal to get time off). My daughter was home for Christmas break and joined me - we were in the shleter parking lot at 5 AM, determined to be first in line. The car was packed with blankets, coats, gloves and hats as the high was going to be in the upper 30s that day. Everytime a car pulled up, one of us would run to get in line - little did we know that used a parking lot camera to determine who arrived first. We were first in line - my daughter got Harper Lee and I got Talley, one of her sisters. The kittens were 3 dollars each and we had to sign a contract to get them spayed and their rabies vaccine by a certain date (which we did).
Zoey and Talley are friends, but Talley and Harper are very close, even though they don't live together.


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## LolaCat (Jul 31, 2010)

*How I found Lola*

This story may be boring. Its nothing amazing or special. 

I found myself wanting my own little baby kitten. I have tried fish, you cant snuggle a fish. I tried toads, it was a somewhat a disgusting experience. 

I decided to have my mom and brother come with me to pick one. We tried many places, most of them were closed for some reason. (Don't worry, we would make sure we know for sure where the kittens come from.)

My mom had said to take your time finding a kitten and not to rush it. I was so excited but I understood. But later that day we went to the humane society.

I saw many adult cats laying around which made me feel sad knowing that they don't have much of a chance of being adopted.

Anyways, we were looking for a Siamese because we adored the look. We found one and went to the room to play with it. It was shy and hiding under a chair. It got its claws out when my brother tried to hold it.

Of course I was looking for personality rather than looks.

We found a kitten that especially stood out from the others in its cage. It was the one out in front playing. So we brought it to the "testing" room. It played, ran around, immediately purred and cuddled when we picked her up. I immediatly fell in love. My mom was stuck on the Siamese but then I reminded her of its personality. 

The next day we adopted it after the hard decision of adopting another animal. On our way home we got lunch and some basic supplies. We locked her up in my room and set up her litter so she can get acclimated. A friend of my mom's came up and thought of the name Lola.

To meet her, go to this link to the thread:
http://www.catforum.com/forum/41-meet-my-kitty/134487-meet-lola.html


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## koobe (Nov 8, 2009)

As I came out of college, switched a few jobs, things are getting settled down and I wanted a pet. Since I was living in an apt, so I was thinking about cats. But I owned dogs before back home (in another country) I did not rule out dogs either. I went to a few shelters, looked at guardian programs of some dog breeders, was really fighting to adopt a labordoodle puppy and failed, etc.. The search went on for over a year.

So one day, we went to see the kittens in the Humane Society again. There was one white kitten called Rose we like. She was very gentle. We wanted to take a day to thinking about it. The next day, we decided to get her. But then, the staff told us she is one of the bonded pair and showed us the other kitten. We only want 1 kitten and we felt something was missing with the other one. So we decided to look for another one in the shelter.

We told the volunteers we do not mind a black cat, and she showed us a few black older kittens (5-8 months) which adoption fees are waived. But I could not make up my mind, so I started looking for other options. We were in the shelter for 2 hours, so long that one staff had to go off shift.

Then they introduced this little black guy who was in a kitten condo with 4 other kittens and one small cat. They are the remaining ones in the shelter that we did not see. His name is Jasper, and I remember the staff yesterday said Rose is as darling as Jasper. And everyone loves Jasper. So when I was looking at Jasper, he was kitty fighting with another kitten, a brown tabby. Even when Jasper gave up, the brown tabby wouldn't, he would start another game with Jasper. It was in 2 seconds, I decided I want them both, even I did not want 2 kittens. The staff reminded us that they are not bonded pairs, and I do not need to adopt them together. 

I did not hesitate a bit, yes, both of them, together. They are the ones own my heart. Now Jasper is Panther, and Max is Cheetah. 

Oh, I love them so much.


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## Layla0710 (Nov 30, 2010)

Such great stories!! 

Mine isn't very unique, but it somehow ended up really long!

There is a PetsMart in the same shopping center where I work and sometimes I stop in if I'm running ahead to look at the kittens. The previous times I went I was lucky enough to not fall in love and have my heart broken when I walked out empty handed. Because of this, I thought I was in the clear. My cat- hating roommate had since moved out and although the landlord said it would be okay to get a cat I wasn't intending to for at least a few more months. This was August and I didn't plan on getting a cat until at least November. (Crazy hours during the fall/ early winter months at my second job).

Anyway, it was a Friday night and I was scheduled to work all weekend. I waitress full time which means that on Saturdays and Sundays I'm usually at the restaurant from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm with no chance of leaving for a break during the afternoon. Basically there would be little to no time to spend with a new pet until Monday. 

I went into PetsMart on a whim before work and unfortunately this time wasn't like the last few- I immediately spotted a tiny ball of fur sleeping in a cage with 3 other similarly sized hairballs and fell in love. The kitten was calico, mainly orange, with a mane of white around her neck and a black stripe down her nose. After awhile she got up and started playing with the others, although there was a loud, obnoxious black and white male who seemed to intimidate her since he was a bit bigger. She was playful and alert, but not boisterous. And oh, she was so tiny! I inquired about putting a "hold" on her but they told me it was only good for 1 day which crushed my plans to wait until Monday. They also mentioned something about the amount of calicoes that come in and if she wasn't there then surely there would be another with similar coloring. I understood, but that wasn't good enough- I wanted HER and was a bit shocked that I wanted her so badly after the previous trips where I left without falling in love. The fact that I was starting to sound like a 5-year-old in my head only cemented my desire to get her.

During my shift that night all I could focus on was what the best thing to do was. Should I take the chance that she still might be there on Monday? Should I take a long break at work on Saturday and get her? (I'm sure you know this- but weekends are when servers make the best money and personally Saturday mornings have been VERY good so it's hard to give them up). My plans were complicated by the fact that PetsMart didn't open until the exact same time I was supposed to be at work. Eventually I had bothered my mangers enough about the topic that they told me to come in a little late the next morning and so I would have time to go there first.

So that's what I did! Saturday morning (after a sleepless night thanks to worrying whether she would be there or not) I went to the store and filled out all of the paperwork and bought all of the necessary items (litter box, food, toys, etc). I would be back on my break to pick her up so that she wouldn't be home alone for an entire day. My day shift was agonizing since all I wanted to do was pick up the kitten, and it was made even worse because we were busy and I was missing out on money to pay for said kitten! Eventually I picked her up and brought her home, and she has been a joy ever since. It's been a lot of fun watching her grow up (she was 2 months then and is now 5) and she's been the sweetest, if sometimes crazy, little cat. I'm glad that I went with my instincts and took a chance on her.

Her are a couple of pictures that I took on the first day I saw her:


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

Hmmm...can't believe I missed this post as old as it is.

Azalia was the first to come along. We got her from the ASPCA. We were searching for a cat that was not a kitten since I had a rambunctious 5 year old. Funny thing was the adoption was pretty uneventful and Azalia was one of the first cats we saw, but we wanted to make sure we chose the right one and continued looking at others before we made our final decision.

Well, we looked at all the other candidates and still liked Azalia the best. We went back downstairs to retrieve her with the volunteer and she was gone. He finally located her about a half hour later. A young couple was visiting with her and had decided to adopt her. We were so disappointed.

I am not sure why, but they decided to think about it instead and when they put her back into her habitat, we snatched her up immediately. We didn't want to risk losing her again.

Egypt chose me. 6 months later after Azalia's adoption, we returned back to the ASPCA. Egypt was in a habitat with other cats and she immediately claimed me. I knew she was the one and although she's had a lot of issues with behavior and health, she's my sweetie. We were destined to be together...she just knew it!

When we adopted her she had been named Lenore by the shelter workers. However, this name did not fit her in the least. The kids decided to name her Egypt, which matches her personality a lot better.

Lacey is our newest addition. I had gone to a cat show and fell in love with the Balinese/Siamese breed. I contacted a breeder looking for a Balinese Seal Point. Lacey's breeder felt she was too small to be a queen so I was able to have her flown in from PA. I know I overpaid for her since she was already 6 mos old and unspayed, but at that point, I almost felt as if I was rescuing her from a life of exploitation for cash. I spent every last penny I had to get her out of that situation in a hurry.

I am happy I decided to add her to our family. She is our 3rd and last cat. Our family is now complete


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

This story has kind of a funny/odd beginning. My boyfriend (Eric) and I were at the Long Beach Aquarium for my birthday. We were in the tropical exhibit, looking at frogs, and out of nowhere he says, "Hey, do you want a frog?" I said, "I...don't know. Do you?" He responded that he thought getting a pet of some sort might be a nice idea.

And so this spawned a lengthy discussion about pets. We both determined we felt our home could use a pet. We'd both grown up always having pets and missed that. My dog still lives with my parents and I've missed him ever since I've moved out (couldn't take him with because he's 15, has spent his whole life in that house with his 2 dachshund buddies, and needs pretty frequent supervision due to his age). 

I've owned every type of pet imaginable in the past (chinchillas, frogs, lizards, rats, mice, hamsters, dogs, cats) so we went down the list. After my last batch of hamsters, I had sworn never to own another pet that lived in the same space in which it defecated. I was pretty sick of scrubbing urine and poop out of plastic tubes. This ruled out frogs of course, and rodents, and most other pets. We concluded a cat or a dog would be what would make us happiest, but we both work full-time (and this was before I started working from home) and live in a second-story condo with no yard. A puppy or dog didn't seem like a viable option.

So cat it was. I had grown up with cats, and my room mate in college had a cat. I knew I was allergic but that my allergies tended to lessen with prolonged exposure. I also was kind of nervous around cats because I'd grown up with a skittish snappy stray that my parents had taken in. I knew, logically, not all cats were like this, and really wanted to change my opinion of them. We decided adopting a kitten that I could raise and bond with would be the perfect solution.

I was initially interested in getting an Abyssinian because I'd always loved how they look and their personality seemed ideal. Because I was looking to improve my opinion of cats, and was mostly used to dogs, I wanted a very social, energetic cat that I could bond with. 

Much to my dismay, I could not find any Abyssinian kittens (mixed or pure) anywhere local. I didn't want to go the breeder route. I really wanted to adopt. Ultimately I decided that I didn't _need_ an Aby, and was sure I could find another kitten I liked, but was still holding out hope the day we decided to just go check out the LA County humane society. I'd seen a cat on their website with a ticked coat that at least had a pattern similar to an Aby.

When we got to the shelter, the ticked kitten was nowhere to be seen. There were a _lot_ of kittens (this was kitten season, early summer). Lots of different colors and patterns. And then this little grey pointed kitten with blue eyes caught my eye. He was unlike any other kitten I'd seen there. I instantly loved his pattern and coloration, and was thrilled when he came running right up to the front of the cage as I walked over. He seemed very friendly, which was exactly what I was looking for.

I wanted to make sure I gave the cat selection a thorough look though, so I moved on to finish checking the rest of the cages. By the end I had found another little friendly brown tabby that I really liked, and was torn between him and the pointed kitten. Then I saw another family with two kids asking to see the pointed kitten. I thought, "Oh well, they're probably going to take him." The younger daughter asked to hold him...and when she tried to, he instantly scrambled up her arm, onto her shoulder. She freaked out, going, "Mommy! Mommy! Get him off!" The pointed kitten was returned to his cage and the family moved on looking for a quieter, calmer cat. I immediately swooped over after they'd left and asked to see the pointed kitten. I held him for a bit, and after he made several spirited attempts to lunge for the door and escape his prison, my choice was made. 

And that is how we got Apollo! Athena's story is a bit shorter. That spirited little pointed kitten we loved so much turned out to be spirited indeed. Almost too much so. He constantly wanted attention and play, and I did my best to provide it, but I did have to get work done and I felt he just wasn't getting the attention he needed. People kept suggesting we get another cat to keep him company. Finally after a few months I was able to persuade Eric to agree to this, and so I went Petfinder searching again. I'd fallen in love with the pointed look and siamese energy of Apollo, and wanted a cat that would be a good match for him. 

We found this little girl on Petfinder: Petfinder Adopted Cat | Siamese | Woodland Hills, CA | Teena The same rescue had several different pointed kittens, but I could tell Eric liked her the best. We went to an adoption event to look at her. She was very tiny and frail-looking at the time, and had apparently suffered a bad bout of illness as a young kitten. But her foster assured me she was healthy now and very spirited and could certainly hold her own against another hyper, aggressively playful lynx-point. She was also very sweet and friendly. She seemed content to just be held by me all day. Eric and I went home, spent the next day thinking and talking it over, and we agreed that she would be an excellent choice. I submitted an adoption application, fretted over it until I finally heard back and was approved, and then went back to the adoption event the next weekend to take her home! And she did indeed end up being a perfect match for Apollo! She gained weight, got bigger and stronger, and is now a lightning fast little sparring partner for him.

These guys have completely turned me into a cat person (look, i'm even on a cat forum!) and I've been so happy with my decision to adopt them both.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

The first cat I owned I got when I was five years old. He was found under unusual circumstances. He'd been abandoned by his mother under a stage that was being torn down and my father found him. Since he was working (tearing down the stage!) he put the little kitten in a co-workers car with the window open a crack. When he came back after work to get the kitten, it was gone! My dad looked everywhere but thought the only explanation, despite that the kitten could fit in a tea cup it was so small, was that it had somehow jumped through the crack in the window. A few days later, my dad got a call from his co-worker, saying he'd heard some strange noises in his car the last few days and tore his car apart and found the poor thing had climbed in behind the glove compartment or something impossible like that. I think he wanted to keep it, but my dad talked him out of it. I think he used the fact that I really wanted a cat as leverage, haha. Anyway, I don't have very clear memories of the cat (Lucky - he was all black ), since he only lived to be three - he had crystals in his bladder and the vet was terrible, she never gave us any option but to put him down. I do remember he was very friendly, loved to lick you, and brought lots of lovely presents inside the house. The clearest memory I have of him unfortunely is him screaming in pain around the house, and crying for hours after he was put to sleep.

My other cat, Blaze (the orange one), was a feral kitten that was caught at 6 months old behind a dumpster by the mall with the rest of his family. He's now 15. I was about 8-9 at the time of getting him, a little while after having Lucky put to sleep. For some reason I was set on an orange cat. The TNR lady phoned us about a feral orange boy she had and brought him over for us to look at. I wanted him right away despite how frightened he was of everything. So... we got him. It took him a week or move off the couch he was so scared, and a year before he was willing explore the hall leading to the hallway outside the apartment. After he turned about two, I've never heard a hiss out of him. He's a chatterbox, I'd swear he's part Siamese sometimes!

The next cat I happened across, Blacky, needed to be tamed since she was a semi-feral in the neighbourhood... instead of rephrasing the story, I'll just post its link: http://www.catforum.com/forum/56-feral-cats/137714-taming-cat-success-story.html


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## bkitty (Aug 17, 2009)

Katt - 1979-1998 Saw an ad for free kittens and went to pick one out, Katt was older and hiding on the top of the kitchen cabinets. Was told she was too wild and mean to give away and they planned on shooting her. 2 days later I was able to pry her out from inside my car seat. She decided she was adopting me.
Tig 1986-1999 Neighborhood boys sicced their dogs on him when he was about 5-6 weeks old. I lost my temper & went out to smack kids and dogs with a broom. Tig ended up climbing up to my shoulders. Got him all stitched up and no-one claimed him so we kept him. About a year later found out he probably was an escapee from a Maine **** hobby breeder who lived in the neighborhood. He grew from a scrawny fluffball to a 23lb massive luvbug.
Flynx 1997-2004 Runt of an orphan litter I bottle-raised. Our Marfan wonder - he grew into the tallest cat I've ever seen. I kept him because Tig wanted him. Tig carted him around, bathed him, litter trained him and slept with him.
Methos 1997 The vet gave him to us to bottle-raise. We didn't have a choice - he adopted us.
Pixel 1999- The night we buried Tig my sister shoved this 7 day old kitten in my husbands arms and handed him a bottle. We believe it is possible he was a great grandson of Tig since he is a much smaller clone of Tig. Same mackeral markings, same white patterns. Again he is the hubby's cat. I am only tolerated because I can open cans. 
Tuffy 2004- I had asked the Maine **** rescue to keep me in mind for a kitten. Tuffy needed a home & I took a chance. OK so he is a DERP. but he is cute tho.
Bentley 2005 - A guy at work said he was taking his cat to the shelter because he wanted to move - shelter had a rep for euthanizing senior cats within 2 days. What kind of idiot is ok with having their pet of 5 years killed to get a different apt. Worked out very well for us since we had lost Flynx our alpha & Bentley took on that role.
PuddyWow 2009 - Our vet gave us a litter to bottle-raise. He decided I was the mama and refused to make up to any would be adopters. Still our resident smergler. 
Sasquatch 2010 - During a visit to our daughters he decided he really liked us and PuddyWow and our Punkin decided she liked being the queen bee at our daughters, so we swapped.


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## 3felines (Jun 20, 2010)

Checkers- About eleven years ago my sister came to our house and had a box of kittens. Well she took them out and all of them where white with a few grey patches on their heads, except one, Checkers. She was fluffy and black and white and ran like a bat out of ****. Well my sister left her with us because I wanted her and so the story goes! 

Grady- Again, with my sister, we went to her house and I had my sister pomeranian. Well we walked in and all the kittens scattered, except Grady. He poofed and arched himself up and hissed and started walking sideways towards the dog. He captured my heart with his attitude and I brought him home. 

Athena- well Athena I found, yet AGAIN with my sister. We went to walmart and as I'm walking out I saw these little kittens near an enbankment. Well me, being the dead beat animal lover, couldn't let them stay there. I tried to get near them but they scattered, Athena was the only one who let me get close enough to snatch her and she came home with me as well


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## Gizmokitty (Nov 10, 2009)

Gizmo's story is a little boring, yet a little bittersweet. The family had a Burmese cat, Max, who passed away. I was attached to the guy, no matter how distant he was from me (he was a cranky old man in the end). So, after a few months when everyone had the time to grieve for Max, my family decided to get me a cat, which would be one I chose. Why they did that, I'll never know.

Not wanting to quite decide right away, my father and I went to Petland to just look. One stood out the most, Gizmo. He was the sweetest kitten there, and seemed to fit right into my arms, taking a little catnap while we decided to either take one home or walk away. The other kittens didn't seem to fit as well as he did, they were either going off and doing their own thing or just sleeping in their area not wanting to be bothered. Yet, there Gizmo was, he seemed to love the attention he was getting from us. It was almost love at first sight, I couldn't put him back, so I picked him (or rather he picked me) to take home.


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## Nana2Two (Jan 2, 2011)

In November 2007 my husband and I awoke as usual and when he was leaving to go to work there was this little kitten sitting on the front deck in a patio chair. Neither of us really thought about taking in a cat so we tried to shoo her away. After a couple of days of her refusing to leave (probably because I was sneaking her food while the hubby was away) he finally gave in and took her to his cabinet shop to be "shop cat." Well unbeknownst to us... she was pregnant. After she had birthed the 4 kittens and they were adopted out to some of his cat loving customers he had her spayed.

(This is where the story gets good!)

One day Samantha had wandered out of the shop and jumped into the back of the pickup of a painter that was there to pick up cabinets. Of course nobody knew this at the time... later that day the painter called my husband to tell him that he found the 'Samantha's collar (small town vet, names and numbers on the id) on his picket fence but no cat... so my husband goes to the painter's shop and is frantically searching.. no luck! He was so depressed and cried for days looking for her!

(Gets really good now!)

So 3 months have passed and my husband was going to the bank on a rainy day and is sitting at a red light and just happens to look to his left and there Samantha was sitting on a porch!

He opened the pickup door and Samantha hauled booty to jump in with him and they shared an emotional reunion!. An elderly woman was watching from the storm door and was shouting at him "That's my cat you're stealing!" His reply was "No that's my cat I'm stealing!!!" 

Not long after that she came home with him to find this as her permanent home! Of course... she knows who rescued her and she is a Daddy's Girl and has no cuddling to offer me!


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## Nana2Two (Jan 2, 2011)

Rowdy's story is a little different... 

With all the love that Samantha and my husband were sharing I was feeling a little left out so my husband, my best friend that volunteered at the SPCA and I went to the SPCA to find me a cat!

I went to the cat kennels and met a few of them. Rowdy greeted me warmly through the wires but he was in isolation with other cats that were being treated for ringworm and we couldn't get him out. I would stick my fingers through the wire and he would lick my fingers and purr on my hand... I moved down the line... my husband and friend were sticking their hands in the kennel and Rowdy was ignoring them walking down the length of the kennel to get to me! The SPCA told me he would be able to come out of the kennel the next day.. so we all returned and I picked him up, he laid his little head under my chin and purred and purred... I gave him to my husband to hold and he was clawing to get to me! My friend held him and he clawed his way from her to get to me!

We brought Rowdy home and wherever I went he went! 

We lost Rowdy on Christmas Day to Wet FIP and I lost a part of me... he will always be in my thoughts and in my heart.


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## dianafaye (Jan 15, 2011)

My first cat, Kitty, we got from a friend of my step dad's. He took me to look at the kittens, and while I was playing w/ a sweet shorthaired and it's mom, he picked Kitty, who was very skiddish and not very affectionate. And they showed us his parents.. 2 of the largest cats I have ever seen.. huge balls of black fur lol. I still don't know what breed he is. Unfortunately, I guess the "friend" didn't have much luck homing the other kittens, so Kitty's siblings got dumped at the construction site, or at least that's what my step dad told me. I'm still absolutely appalled and I remember the little short hair kitten and I hope they were ok, but at least Kitty didn't have to have the same fate. FYI, this happened in Florida.. 
Siren, who I had to relinquish to my ex, was a surprise. My roommate randomly picked up a stray who ended up being pregnant and gave birth to 4 kittens. She was young and none of us, including her, were prepared. I was the only one there who had any sort of common sense in the way of animals, so I helped my roommate and her cat. I think Momma was just as shocked as we were to have kittens, so it took her a while for instincts to kick in. Siren was the 2nd born, but she was preoccupied w/ the 1st born. I didn't want to interfere, and I've never dealt w/ a birth before, but eventually I started to turn her or the baby so she'd get the sac off him. She finally broke a hole through it, but left him again, so I removed the rest of the sac. I was freaking because he wasn't moving and I thought he was dead, especially since Momma was ignoring him, so I wrapped him in a towel and my roommate grabbed a blow dryer and held it from a distance to help keep him warm while I rubbed at him trying to revive him. After what seemed like forever, he cried, and I never heard something so loud come out of something so small, hence the name. After that everything was fine: Momma took care of him, the others came out w/ no problems, and everyone looked great. And Siren was always the loudest and boldest of them all- he was trying to explore before he could open his eyes and never cried, unlike his siblings, when he was picked up and def showed a lot of spirit. I broke up w/ my ex and eventually moved into my current boyfriend's parents' house, who already had 1 cat and it was already a strain to let Irving come with me, and Siren was a terror and wasn't allowed. My ex was moving back home, and I have to have faith that he's lived up to his word to take care of him. Before then, I took care of them all... broke my wallet trying to keep up w/ shots and keeping up w/ basic maintenance. Some people shouldn't have pets, and I was stuck in the house w/ those kinds of people and 5 cats. Luckily the other siblings found homes, and Momma went w/ the roommate who found her and eventually she took it upon herself to just live outside. I wish I could've kept Siren tho, I miss him so much  I've never gotten over the guilt and I just hope I made the right decision... I just wish I could've done more.
Irving originally belonged to my college ex. I dated him for a year never knowing he even had a cat until he came to the house- the family friend who was taking care of him didn't feel like doing it anymore.. and by care I mean just the bare necessities. Granted, the guy paid all his vet bills and fed him, but Irving lived outside and only got attention in passing. I tried not to get attached, but I was going through a funk and was just always there, so he'd hang out w/ me. Another roomie decided he liked him and kept his food dishes in his room, and Irving was either locked in the room w/ him or locked out. His water dish was kept by a heater that evaporated it quickly, and the guy would forget to fill it, or his food dish, assuming he had money to buy it. And the litter box was disgusting. So I started cleaning out his box. When I found him drinking out of my cup (we had to "live" in the living room because the attic room was too cold or filled w/ bats), I provided him water. When I'd find half eaten birds in the basement, and finally confronted the roommate (I never went in his room, so I didn't know he wasn't feeding the cat until Irv's behavior made it obvious and I eventually saw it for myself), I provided him food. They kept a window open for him to go in and out of like a swinging door and he'd be gone for days before turning up.. I'm pretty sure neighbors were probably caring for him, thinking him a stray. One neighbor took him to the vet for his cherry eye and dropped him off w/ eye drops. It was a known condition, but I was thankful that the neighbor cared enough about a random cat to notice and took him to the vet. I tried so hard not to get attached but I took up his care. I had to nag my ex to take him to the vet when he had worms and it was only because I found fleas and a 3rd roommate added to my complaining that he went, and I made sure he got his shots. When we'd break up, I'd worry about him and he was always so happy to see me when me and my ex got back together and I came back. Eventually, I dropped out and moved away and my ex was leaving to go to another country, and his roommate who "liked" him wanted to keep him- i.e drop him at his parents' house. My new roommate had 2 cats of her own, and Irv supposedly didn't like other cats, but I found the nerve to ask her if I could take him and if it was a problem I'd find him another home. And so, he became my cat, and got along great w/ the other two. It felt like we were both holding back but once he was "mine" that was that. He finally became used to drinking from the water dish instead of cups (because it was always full) and if he got out, he hunted less and if he did it was to bring me a present (he once caught me a bird and kept it alive, and I got to play w/ it for a little to make sure he was ok. He was really mad when I let the bird loose, tho lol). He doesn't pull my clothes in his litter box when I leave anymore and his separation anxiety is quite mild.. he makes it clear that he misses me if I've been gone over night but I feel that he doesn't worry about me not coming back, and I have good roommates now who appreciate him and give him attention. He never used to sit on anyone's lap and wasn't very cuddly, just sat near you, but now he'll sit on laps (first only mine, now anyone lol) and sleep on me or pressed against me. 
I went from that "flop house," to a friend's couch, to an apt that my roommates practically destroyed (where Siren was born), to my current boyfriend's parents' house, to our own apartment. We lived through some situations that were barely livable to finally being able to relax. He doesn't even try to go outside anymore, but if he did, it's not too rural and not too busy and I wouldn't have to worry if he got outside. He's got nice big windows to stare out of and his own chair and we both have a nice big bed to sleep in together. He's got yummy treats and toys that he ignores and chooses to go w/ balls of paper or bottle caps (some habits die hard lol). And although he hates car rides and the vet, there's no more worms or itchy fleas. It's been really interesting to see him blossom and get used to actually getting attention and steady supply of food. Every day he just tugs at my heart because he's never stopped being so appreciative.. it's like he never knew that he always deserved better. He's always been such a good cat and I don't know how anyone could have resisted loving him. I'm just so glad my old roommate said "yes" and changed both of our lives forever.


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## kittywitty (Jun 19, 2010)

I adopted my first cat, Pumpkin Patch from a shelter in Brooklyn, NY. Out of all 150 cats that were either in cages or roaming free, she picked me out. She was the socialized cat who was allowed to roam and as I walked through the shelter, I saw her sitting on a table and when I went to pet her, she went to scratch me. I was not experienced with cats at that time so I just kept walking, a little scared I admit. When I got to the end of the shelter, I saw her across the way. She must have followed me. She just sat there looking at me as if to say, "Hey how bout me?" She was a calico, white with patches of orange, brown, and block spots with a brown patch on her nose. So, I inquired with the shelter staff about her and they informed me that she was a 1.5 years old but had pins in one of her back paws because someone had kicked her and that she might end up a three legged cat if the pins did not take. Well, being that I had a bad leg myself, I felt that I should not hold this against the kitty. She just kept looking at me as if I was her only ticket out of that place. My friend who was with me urged me not to take her because of the pins and chances of her becoming three legged. I ended up taking that chance and made my donation (which was only $25) and had to return two days later to pick her up. Her original name was Patty Cakes at the shelter but when I got her home and saw that she had patches of orange, brown, and black including a brown patch on her nose, I decided to rename her Pumpkin Patch. I am proud to say that she became the best cuddle bud kitty in the world. Her paw healed just fine and she did not become a three legged kitty. She could run and jump just like any other kitty. She was my first furbaby and she lived until about 16 years. 

Then two years later, came Multi (as in Multi-colored kitty), another calico or tortie, she had many colors but had more black on her with white chest and white paws. She was found roaming the streets of Brooklyn and my boyfriend, at the time, spotted her walking around some guy's leg. The guy said he had no idea whose cat this was or why she was rubbing herself on his leg. We had asked around if this was anyone's kitty and nobody seemed to know. So, my boyfriend being jealous that Pumpkin Patch was so close to me, decided to bring Multi home so that he could have his own cat. Little did he know, Multi was nothing like Pumpkin Patch. She was a lot more shy and a lot less friendly. But everyone thought she was pretty. I took her to the vet to make sure she was healthy before I introduced her to Pumpkin Patch. The vet estimated that she was around 1 year old. They never really got along and pretty much stayed away from each other. One interesting thing about Multi was that she used to take my slippers when I was not at home and hide them. Sometimes I would come home from work and find my slippers on her favorite pillow. I never saw her move the slippers though. I guess even though she never cuddled with anyone, she liked cuddling with my slippers. My boyfriend pointed out that she must have loved me even though she never showed it. She lived until about 14 years.

Oreo came into my life when Pumpkin Patch and Multi were in their elder years. Oreo was found in the street by my current boyfriend after almost getting hit by a car . I don't know what possessed him to pick a stray cat off the street, he used to say he hated cats. But he developed a secret liking for cats when he fell for my cuddle bug Pumpkin Patch. So, he calls me up and says, "I found a kitten and I am bringing him/her over". Before I could say anything, he was at my house with a stray white and black female kitty. We named her Oreo because we are not very original when naming cats. I was so excited because it had been a long time since I had a young kitty. When I brought her to the vet she was diagnosed with parasites, fleas, and worms. The vet was telling me that I might want to take her to the animal shelter because she was so sick. However, after doing routine tests for feline diseases, she came out negative for all of them so we treated her for the fleas, parasites and worms and kept her. I remember staying in the safe room while she was sick and promising her that I would take care of her. She even had a bb gun pellet stuck in one of her legs. I sent my boyfriend the vet bill, he felt so bad. The vet estimated that Oreo was 8-9 months young. Luckily, I kept her away from my other two cats until she finished her medications and anti-biotics. Once Oreo's health was cleared by the vet, I introduced her to my older cats. It was a slow process and didn't go as smooth as I had planned. Oreo was from the streets and pretty tough. She would pounce on the older kitties who never wanted to play with her. She bonded with Pumpkin Patch, they would sleep together on the couch or bed, but still would make it uncomfortable at times for Pumpkin Patch to walk freely in the house. I knew that Oreo would probably benefit from having another kitten in the house. However, at the time, my budget could not afford another cat for Oreo. After my two older cats passed away, she became a very loving cat to me. I feel that she really appreciates me taking her in while being so sick.

After I mourned for my elder cats, I found that I was constantly looking on Craigslist and Petfinder for a companion kitty for Oreo. I ended up adopting a cat from a woman who couldn't keep her cat because she was pregnant. I went to meet the cat and it turned out that this 7 month kitten's name was Pumpkin! I took that as a good sign as my first cat was named Pumpkin Patch. I renamed her Little Pumpkin since at the time of adoption she was little compared to my other cats. Little Pumpkin and Oreo were introduced slowly but Oreo would bully her too. In the beginning, the fighting was really bad. I think Little Pumpkin was scared for her life. Then I got Feliway and that seemed to help calm Oreo down. Now I find them sleeping on the same bed and if they do chase each other, it's more like a game of hide and seek. I also play with both of them using the cat charmer and da bird. I recently ordered the turbo tracks and can't wait to set that up for them. 

I just love being a cat meowmie! See my signature for pics of all my cats described above.


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## KoritzerMarie (May 29, 2011)

I recently found a cat that I like.
About a month ago, my boyfriend and I were homeless. Some friends of ours decided to help out and put us up at a campsite a few miles outside of town. And while we were staying there, we noticed a lot of stray cats wandering around. Most of them weren't very social, but one of them walked up to me and let me pet her. She looks like a siamese mix, and she is very sweet. 

We let her sleep in our tent with us (because sleeping outside sucks) and I grew quite attached to her. 
Every morning I fed her meat and cheese, and every night she slept with us. 
Eventually I wanted to name her, but we (and everyone else, I assume) had been calling her "kitty". So I started calling her Pretty. 

I imagine she's more tame than the other cats in that area because she had a previous owner, and was probably left there  
and I've decided that when we get a car, we're going to drive back there and bring Pretty home.


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## CatsPride (May 29, 2011)

Bindi- was a free to good home black kitten that I got from a woman that had too many animals and was fined over $200 by Animal control. she had 3 cats at least 1 was indoor/outdoor plus a mother cat with 6 kittens. plus a dog that was abused by her ex- later ran away and was never found. The kittens were tame the woman and her kids raised them underfoot, mom was a wreck she was later put down for behavior issues, she clawed my leg when I was wrestling with one of the woman's human children( too near her litter). Bindi later brought fleas to the house we had to treat the cats and the house for them. 2 of those kittens went to a shelter ( and we know what happens to them) 3 went to a co worker of hers. The woman didn't follow the vets recomendation for frontline so we had a reinfestation of fleas. Dad broke up with her before Bindi was a year old. 


Leopalorn- was from a somali breeder in iowa, they had a few rescues plus an Aby to help the lines out. He wore a green ribben around his neck. The tom/sire wasn't on the premeses he was on stud. But I got to see the female/queen, she had gone back into heat so she wasn't in the best of moods the breeder told me. They had catnip and a nice house for the cats to play.


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## oceanmist (Feb 12, 2011)

Cassie: My parents were going to a country club for dinner one summer night. They take the back roads and at one spot they passed a couple kittens playing in the road. They didn't stop then, because they had no where to put them. On the way back they were still there and my parents went home. My mom convinced my dad to go back so he did. He was only able to catch one kitten(Cassie) while the other one hid in a pipe. So we kept her. 

Cherry: After Cassie had died I was a mess without a cat. So we sent in a form to the shelter and 2 weeks after Cassie's death we were off to get a kitten. We went into the room with the cats that were around 1 year old. The first cat that came up to me was a handsome black and white cat named Prince. He liked being petted but when I went to hold him, he jumped away. Then I started playing with the other cats with a feather toy. Cherry stood out because she was the one who was chasing the feather toy in circles and falling over with dizziness. I still didn't pick her then. I wanted to look at the other cats, none of them liked being held. And most of the ones that I liked the colorings of were sleeping and not wanting to play. Finally I went back to Cherry and when I picked her up, she just flopped onto her back and let me pet her. So I took her home.


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## konstargirl (Feb 4, 2011)

Misa apparently picked me. lol She was sitting on top of me and my sisters lap. All of the other cats kept running away.

Francis was in the same situation as Misa.

Vinnie I'm not sure. I think he was the only one checking out my sisters bag and playing with keys. lol


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

How Sasha came to be with us? Well... its not very exciting. We were dropping off some donations at our local animal shelter. There was a beautiful cat there who was kept separate from the other cats due to the fact she had NO claws (not even back claws) My husband started petting her and by the time I got the donations taken care of ..err.. we had a cat. hehe She was an adult and only she knows her history. She had no behavior issues so not really sure why she ended up in kitty prison. 

Her name started out as Scheherazadea due to my husband being such a sucker to her. For those that are unfamiliar with who she is, she is the Queen that created the Ali Baba and the 40 thieves tales (1,000 and one nights) and many others in order to stay alive. Her hubby was set to execute her as soon as she finished her story ...which she never did finish lol that was one LONG story hehe

My kids were so little (heck this was before my daughter was even born!) that the name was difficult for them to say and it got quickly shortened to Sasha girl.


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## emeraldfire (Jun 30, 2011)

My cat was named Smokey but we nicknamed him Monsigneur Snuggles because of the following story: 

My family and I are Catholic, and I only say that because we had the priest over to give us communion one day (my father was ill and couldn't go to Church.) I was at the bottom of his bed doing a reading, Smokey was sitting quietly in the corner. All of a sudden, he leaped up onto the bottom of the bed, walked across the alter cloth we had placed there and laid quite happily at my dad's side.

We were slightly shocked (although I kept reading) until the priest started laughing. We apologized to him and he assured us that it was alright. I thought it was funny but I couldn't laugh out loud. I started calling him "Monsigneur Snuggles" around family. He was an extremely holy cat.


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## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

Meme was dumped at the office park I worked at, it wasn't the type of place a cat could wander into on her own and she was already spay.
The girl in the office rescued her.








From her build I believe she was a British Shorthair, she had a rather sqeaky Meow which sound like she was saying Me Me si I suggested we name her Meme and that was her name until the day she passed away many years later.
I worked in the shop at the other end of our large warehouse, but when I went into the offices I would always give the kitties some pet, we also had Riley our red tabby alpha office cat, he was old and grumpy and he and Meme didn't get along.
Well one day when the design staff was out of the office I'm talking to Lisa the office manager and Meme is just going nuts rubbing against my sneakers. I thought it was really cute but didn't realize that she was marking me as her person.
She and Riley continued to have problem so Barbara the owner of the company took her home, I was kind of bummed as I'd grown to really like her.
Well less then a week late Barbara brought her back, she was crying constantly and was obviously unhappy at Barbara house.
Shortly afterwards she escaped into the warehouse and into the loft above the office and refused to come down.
I started feeding her first at the top of the stairs and later at the bottom of the stairs.
I would sit on the step and give her lot of pets.
You might ask why I didn't take her home, well I lived in an apartment and most of the apartments in my home town don't allow pets.
So this went on for several months then finally Meme started following me to the shop at the other end of the warehouse and spending the day at my desk.
So every mourning I would call her from the bottom of the step and she would come down to the shop.
She became the warehouse watch cat, I was also feeding a some feral cat and she would keep watch at the roll up door and prevent them from coming into our warehouse.
Then one day I had to go to a job site and went straight home without returning to the warehouse.
When I came in the next mourning Meme wasn't in the warehouse, they had **** the warehouse at closing time without making sure she was in.
I was furious, I canvased the area and no sign of Meme.
I came back that evening when it was quiet and called for her and heard her meow coming from the bushes across the street.
I went across the street and continued to call and she finally came out scared and very glad to see me.
That year at Christmas time when we closed the office I took her home, she made herself and home and spent the remaining 5 years of her life living with me.
She absolutely adored me, she would sit quietly either in my lap or right next to me as I watched TV, it looked like she was watching too.
As soon as I started to stir she would jump down, when I returned to my seat she would jump on the couch then cross over back to my chair and settle in again.
She liked to sleep with me and would snuggle against my back, by mourning she would be in the middle of the bed and I would be on the edge. :lol:
She was just a wonderful cat and it broke my heart that she passed away when I was on a road trip, after that I promised myself I would be there for my pets when their time came and when Samantha was diagnosed with cancer at 16 years old she died in her Papa's arm with him telling her how much he loved her.
I've been blessed to have had 2 soul kitties in a row, it hurts really bad when they go but the love the provide was worth the pain.


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## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

Meme was dumped at the office park I worked at, it wasn't the type of place a cat could wander into on her own and she was already spay.
The girl in the office rescued her.








From her build I believe she was a British Shorthair, she had a rather squeaky Meow which sound like she was saying Me Me so I suggested we name her Meme and that was her name until the day she passed away many years later.
I worked in the shop at the other end of our large warehouse, but when I went into the offices I would always give the kitties some pet, we also had Riley our red tabby alpha office cat, he was old and grumpy and he and Meme didn't get along.
Well one day when the design staff was out of the office I'm talking to Lisa the office manager and Meme is just going nuts rubbing against my sneakers. I thought it was really cute but didn't realize that she was marking me as her person.
She and Riley continued to have problems so Barbara the owner of the company took her home, I was kind of bummed as I'd grown to really like her.
Well less then a week late Barbara brought her back, she was crying constantly and was obviously unhappy at Barbara's house.
Shortly afterwards she escaped into the warehouse and into the loft above the office and refused to come down.
I started feeding her first at the top of the stairs and later at the bottom of the stairs.
I would sit on the step and give her lot of pets.
You might ask why I didn't take her home, well I lived in an apartment and most of the apartments in my home town don't allow pets.
So this went on for several months then finally Meme started following me to the shop at the other end of the warehouse and spending the day at my desk.
So every mourning I would call her from the bottom of the step and she would come down to the shop.
She became the warehouse watch cat, I was also feeding a some feral cat and she would keep watch at the roll up door and prevent them from coming into our warehouse.
Then one day I had to go to a job site and went straight home without returning to the warehouse.
When I came in the next mourning Meme wasn't in the warehouse, they had shut the warehouse doors at closing time without making sure she was in.
I was furious, I canvased the area and no sign of Meme.
I came back that evening when it was quiet and called for her and heard her meow coming from the bushes across the street.
I went across the street and continued to call and she finally came out scared and very glad to see me.
That year at Christmas time when we closed the office I took her home, she made herself and home and spent the remaining 5 years of her life living with me.
She absolutely adored me, she would sit quietly either in my lap or right next to me as I watched TV, it looked like she was watching too.
As soon as I started to stir she would jump down, when I returned to my seat she would jump on the couch then cross over back to my chair and settle in again.
She liked to sleep with me and would snuggle against my back, by mourning she would be in the middle of the bed and I would be on the edge. :lol:
She was just a wonderful cat and it broke my heart that she passed away when I was on a road trip, after that I promised myself I would be there for my pets when their time came and when Samantha was diagnosed with cancer at 16 years old she died in her Papa's arm with him telling her how much he loved her.
I've been blessed to have had 2 soul kitties in a row, it hurts really bad when they go but the love the provide was worth the pain.


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## emeraldfire (Jun 30, 2011)

emeraldfire said:


> My cat was named Smokey but we nicknamed him Monsignor Snuggles because of the following story:
> 
> My family and I are Catholic, and I only say that because we had the priest over to give us communion one day (my father was ill and couldn't go to Church.) I was at the bottom of his bed doing a reading, Smokey was sitting quietly in the corner. All of a sudden, he leaped up onto the bottom of the bed, walked across the alter cloth we had placed there and laid quite happily at my dad's side.
> 
> We were slightly shocked (although I kept reading) until the priest started laughing. We apologized to him and he assured us that it was alright. I thought it was funny but I couldn't laugh out loud. I started calling him "Monsignor Snuggles" around family. He was an extremely holy cat.


Smokey was a feral cat born under my parents restaurant step. He was one of a litter of five cats. I was the only one who heard the kittens meowing when I was alone in the back room and it was quiet. No-one believed me until a patron came in and said, "You have a litter of kittens under your porch."

I had first noticed a jet black kitten and an orange tabby kitten out and about first - I named them Midnight and Katy Daly in my mind (Katy was named after an Irish song) I had been told that I could have one cat (my parents had had five) and was having trouble picking just one!

We called the local no-kill shelter and they managed to catch all the kittens (the mother cat was never caught unfortunately. We found out that our next door neighbor's pregnant cat had "disappeared". He came in and told us he wanted the mother cat back; didn't care what we did with the kittens).

Anyway, Katy Daly was totally feral and I couldn't take her, two more females and Midnight (known as Felix in the shelter) were adopted out to good homes. That left Midnight's brother whom I never actually saw, but heard about from my dad - a gray and white male who was the most docile amongst all of them. His name was Oscar when I got him. I changed his name to Smokey because of his coloring and because he had rings on his tail. He was three months old. :catmilk


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## KittieLover (May 2, 2011)

Awwww, cute stories. I love this thread!

Catty- Found her across the road when I was walking. Took her home and Mum and I put a 'FOUND' ad in the local newspaper and no one came to collect her. So then she was officially ours

Kitty- Looked in the local newspaper and found an ad which said 'SIAMESE KITTENS FOR SALE'. So we went an hour and a half to the breeders house and got him.

That's my furbabies! Not very long but you can check the full one's out in the 'Kitty Tails' section

-Sarah


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