How did you get your "fur babies"?

I dont know if this question has been done yet, but I thought it might be fun to talk about how we got our "fur" babies. I'll start:

One of the first pets we had was RING. My grandpa found her in our backyard when I was about 4. She was SOOOOO SMALL!!!! She still had her eyes closed. She was abandoned by her mom who was one of the neighborhood feral cats.

A few years later, Ring had 3 kittens MIDNIGHT, JC, and COCO. We didnt even know Ring was pregnant untill one night we heard some noises in the back yard. When my grandpa and sister went out to investigate the noise, they discovered 3 tiny kittens laying next to Ring. Unfortunatly my grandparents wouldn't let us keep all 3 kittens (They said that we couldnt take care of 4 cats). A few days after we gave Coco away, Ring disappeared and we NEVER saw her again. We keept Midnight and JC untill they they died when they we 20 yeas old. I still miss Midnight and JC!!!!

About 2 years after Midnight and JC died, my grandpa decided that it was time to get more cats. So we went to the Animal Shelter and adopted CALI and RIPLEY. We have now had them almost a year now, and what a year it has been!!!!!!

Lets see...

KAHLUA - My roommate's pet store puppy. *sigh*

HENNESSY - Rescue kitty.

BACARDI, GUINNESS, BAILEYS - Pet store Rats.

JACK, PUCK - Rescue rats.

I adopted Milly from a shelter

Hrmn.... I've had a lot of animals in my lifetime so far... so I'll just tell you about Tosca and Bootie. Otherwise I'd be here all day!

I moved to copenhagen, Denmark in July 2005 and had just had to rehome my two beloved kitties from the UK - Sprocket and Greebo. I was really upset that I couldn't bring them with me, but I knew it was the best thing for them to have new homes because I would be moving into an apartment and they had been used to a house and garden. So after a couple of months my DH and I went out to the local cat rescue centre and chose a little tuxedo girl (who was called Emma) to bring home again. She had had kittens when she was only a few months old and still a baby herself - when they found her in a barn, there were some tiny kittens. The people who found her called the shelter to come and take her somewhere safe, but when they got to her, the babies were nowhere to be found. They searched high and low for them, to no avail. Of course, because my name is Emma, she couldn't really keep hers - she'd only had the name for a couple of weeks and wasn't responding to it anyway - and it would be bad enough for Rune to shout "EMMA!" in the apartment and have me ignore him, much less the cat as well!! We both have musical backgrounds and decided to give her an operatic heroines name - we settled on Tosca after she tried to throw herself out of the balcony (through the window without opening it, I might add - I know there were no windows on the balcony in the opera, but it worked all the same!) She lived for two weeks in our closet because she was so shy and scared, but now, you have to try and hold her back from people!

Bootie is also a rescue cat - by the time her mum came into the shelter with 6 tiny kittens, I was working there! I specialize in working with the ferals and mums and kittens, so she was put in my charge. The downside was that mum had had a virus while she was pregnant and all 6 kittens were born with it. Mum managed to fight it off with a little help - TLC and some penicillin to fight infections etc - but four of the babies were beyond our help. The kindest thing for them was to give them peace. They were underdeveloped and had difficulties breathing and moving. That left two. Bootie and her brother, who we named Toffi. Bootie was in fact the runt of the litter, but surprised us all by fighting off the virus. It had attacked the cerebellum in her brain and had prevented key neurological connections from being made - her balance was dreadful and for a while, her back legs more or less had a mind of their own. She had no "cat language" body or vocal and our vet was convinced that she may never do. Our vet was convinced that we should euthanise her - but I vetoed it! I fought for her because I could see that there was a little character behind the vacant eyes just trapped and waiting to break free. A colleague and I fostered the two remaining kittens when they were old enough to be separated from mum at 16 weeks (we gave them an extra 4 together because the virus had been so devastating). Mum very quickly found a new home - she is now called Trixi and living the high life with a faily who adores her! Toffi, though beautiful, wasn't very bright and had a passion for stringy thingies. We "cat proofed" the entire apartment for him and still he managed to pull a thread from under the sofa. He swallowed it - and kept swallowing until he'd managed to eat a length of thread that was about 2.5m long!! He had emergency surgery to remove it all from his stomach and intestines, but unfortunately, he then got a very severe infection that he couldn't fight. We did the best we could for him too, but it wasn't enough. We had to make that heartbreaking decision to let him sleep That left Bootie. She was still walking funny and missing her brother too, so it was really tough for her. When it came to the end of the fostering period, I couldn't give her back to the shelter. I simply couldn't let her go back there to sit in a cage and wait for a family - she'd been doing so well in a foster home that she'd learned to walk, and she was getting better at vocal sounds. She still couldn't jump, but that didn't matter. So I paid for her and took her home to Tosca. Tosca was quick on the uptake that Bootie wasn't "normal" and they've both learned a little something from eachother. She still had the vacant look for a while - but one day, just out of the blue, she suddenly became focussed. And that's when I KNEW I'd done the right thing and she had taken the chance that we gave her. She was a fighter and she'd come out of the other side Bootie now not only walks and runs normally, if a little funny, she can jump and vocalise properly (she does have her own "turn of phrase" for different things, but that's ok ) but she has demonstrated a level of intelligence far beyond that which our vet had believed she would ever have. She can open doors (Tosca can't!) and she has learned different sounds and so knows if you're in the kitchen to make her food, or a cup of tea, she has learned the sound of the alarm clock and if I can't hear it through the earplugs, she will come and wake me up. I'm so proud of her, she's my baby!!

Tosca and Bootie have both got very peculiar little personalities, but that's what makes them so wonderful!

Coco who is 16 wasnt planned.
My Sister Adopted a Dog but she had to take her back because she tried to Kill the Cats and was very mean. she took her to a No Kill place.
Then she went to the Pet Store and there was Siamese Mix Kittens. They all looked Siamese except Coco. Coco was 45 with Shots. I gave my sister the money and said get one of the Siamese looking ones. They were all gone so she got Coco who is Black and White. The Pet store is out of Business. Who know Coco would be on eof the best Cats we ever had.
Meeko who will be 8 June 11 I got from my Brother. His Cat had Kittens and I picked her because she looked alot like my Stripe that had Crf and was given a year. Stripe was Pts when Meeko was 3 Months and Meeko is so much like she was.
Sasha was from my Brothers Cat. There was one blue kitten and I said I will take the Blue one. I got her when she was 3 Months. All died but her and her Brother. She is a skinny and small Cat.
Oreo came from my Brothers other Cat. I got her because I knew Yoshi was dying and she has fcks. I said I will take the black and White Kitten if she lives. i got her at 3 Months too

3 of ours my DH found at work when they were kittens. he works for the railroad and of the three 2 he found in the rail yard and 1 was in a boxcar.
the 4th one found me in the condo complex we used to live. her owners had moved without her.
the other 5 are the pregnant stray i brought home. she had 4 kittens a week after i trapped her. since we couldn't find good 'forever' homes for them we kept them all

We have had quite a list of pets I'll only put down the cats though...

Matey - my sister brought him home when I was about 4 and he was stashed away in a cupboard when we moved interstate by my brother.

Emma - Cat rescued by my sister who then left emma with us to look after.

Milo - Dont know where he came from or where he went he is still mysterious.

Kudos - my brother knew i was lonely when we moved out of home together so he brought me a pure white kitty for christmas and stashed him away under the stairs until christmas day! Big suprise and one of the most intelegent cats I have had so far.

Chula - RSPCA kitten who had an unforunate accident too soon

**Mika - Russian Blue baby girl who was freightened to death by our staffies (RIP Mika I still love you).

**Katya Rose - Russian Blue Baby Girl who gives grief to our staffies and has now been diagnosed by another vet as not having cat flu but only have a common cold. (relief).

We purchased both Mika and Katya Rose from our breeder near home and we could not be happier with Katya.

We are hopefully going to be getting another Russian girl for breeding in a year or so now that we have our prefix and Katya has been cleared as not having cat flu what a relief!

I won't go on about all my animals,or this thread will be long.Hehehe...so I will just mention the cats.

I got them when they were 8 weeks old from a old lady who had a cat that always went out.I actually wanted the mother,but she HATED dogs and I foster dogs,so that wouldn't be a good idea.There were 4 kittens and I chose Hatchet first.The woman wanted me to take Hatchet at 5 weeks! I convinced her to wait,until they were at least 8 weeks.She kept threatening to drown them or throw them out in the street.I was of course worried for my little Hatchet.But my cousin lived in the same building and kept an eye on the lady for me!

Finally when they were 8 weeks old I went to get Hatchet.And well I left with Benjamin too.The other two kittens had homes and he would of been left.I also thought it would be nice for Hatchet to grow up with his brother and well I was right.Hatchet seems to look up to his brother.But while Benjamin gets into ALOT of trouble,Hatchet is the GOOD one!

I got Beauty from a rescue centre. She was sleeping in her cage when I went in to become a volunteer and I knew straight away I couldn't see her die in a cage! So I persuaded my family to take her on.

Spazz is a street tom reformed to our spoiled eldest. Boots my fav is Spazz's baby only one, both Da and Boots are neutered. JuJu is a tortie tailess whose a attitude waiting to happen. NOTHING BETTER be on those counters cause JuJu will clear them. He's a stray fron the neighborhood. Ganddolf is the neighbors litter baby and newest. He's hevay cream with semi long hair and blue turning green eyes. AngelBoots

I've had lots of pets, so I'll just tell you about the current ones.

CATS:

Grabat - she's been here longer than I have, she was born under the house and when she was old enough she kept running inside so John's dad finally let her stay. When we moved into this new house, his Rottie decided he didn't like Grabat anymore, so John's dad put her in the basement with John and I and our group.

Leo - John's uncle called one day and said that a stray cat his wife had been feeding had brought a litter of kittens up on to his porch. She wasn't feeding them anymore and he couldn't keep them all around there. So we took them in, got momma spayed and took her back to him, found homes for the other kittens and kept Leo!

Tabitha - Two of our cats had just passed away and the camper (we were living in a camper at the time while our house was being built) felt empty with just Leo, so when I saw a "free kitten" sign at the pet store I called the number. The people lived just about a mile from me so we went to look. They had found Tabitha on the side of the biggest highway in our area with her mom and sister.

Spooky Bear - while we were living in the camper, John's dad came over and yelled for me one morning. While he was out feeding horses he had noticed a little black kitten in the corner. Since it was really cold, and there was no mother in sight, John and I caught the kitten and took him inside. We set up traps trying to catch the mother but never did find her. Spooky Bear was around 4 weeks old then, so we raised him and kept him.

Spike - A couple years ago we stopped at a "free kitten" sign and adopted a black and white kitten, Oliver Felix. He had many health problems but we loved him so much. He passed away way too young and we were devastated. A few months later, we passed the same house and they had the same "free kitten" sign in their yard. Spike is at least half brother to Oliver Felix so we had to have him. Luckily Spike does not have any health issues like his brother did.

Captain Squishy & Garfield - John came home from work one day and told me that he had been talking to someone and they told him about a friend of theirs whose cat had just had kittens... but then the momma cat was hit by a car. There were four kittens and the lady tried to feed them and care for them, but she told me that she didn't know much about raising them. So she brought them out here to us when they were 4 days old. Unfortunately, the other two kittens were already too far gone to save and they passed away shortly after we got them.

Taco & Woodward - we took in their mother, a stray, while she was pregnant. They were born here. We planned on keeping Woodward from the beginning and Taco had a home lined up for him. But when it turned out that Taco had Feline Herpes, the girl didn't want a cat she had to give medication to, so she didn't want him anymore. We tried to find him another home, but eventually realized we didn't want to give him up.

Lilly - She was dumped here. We don't really know why, she is an absolute sweetheart (and already spayed too). I saw her one day in the yard and tried unsuccessfully to trap her, and she seemed too scared to come to me. This went on for a month. Then one day I saw her back behind our barn. I sat down on the ground and called to her and she ran right to me. I showed her to John and he said "take her inside".

Orion & Rufus - Again, we took in their pregnant mother and they were born here.

DOGS:

Thunder - He was found as a newborn in a dumpster with his siblings. The girl that found them bottlefed them and raised them until they were old enough to be adopted. I adopted Thunder at 12 weeks old.

Sammy - I rescued his mother while she was pregnant. He was born at the vet's by c-section and I brought him home 2 hours later. I decided to keep him, but when he was around a year old I moved in with John and my mother begged me to let her keep him at her house. I agreed, but about a year later I found out that she was keeping him in a cage 23 hours out of the day and he was almost 40 pounds (should only be 15!). I took him back right away.

Scooter - He was advertised on a local radio show where people buy and sell things. I had wanted a Beagle for awhile so we went to look. He was being kept outside in mid-January with no shelter and was only 6 weeks old.

Juno - She was one of another "oops" litter, the people were going to take her to the pound the next day if they didn't find someone to take her. She was also only 6 weeks old.

Wow - all the animals I've ever had....

Prince (dog) - Shelter, he had a bad disease and died 3 days after we adopted him

Toto (dog) - from a Silky Terrior breeder. He lived a long and happy life. He lived to be 16. He died a year and a half ago. RIP

Bailey (dog) - was my brothers. He got him from a Schnauzer breeder. He is still alive and living with my mother.

Tiger (tabby - maine coone mix) - I found him when he was a tiny kitten wandering the apartments where I used to live. He was crying at my door and was too precious to not keep.

Jake (domestic medium hair) - I got him from a rescue shelter. I had to give him away though - along with Tiger. I miss them both SO MUCH

Pepper (my current baby) - from the SPCA in Virginia Beach. She is now spoiled rotten!!

I had one (Bushee RB) since before i was born.

I wanted a new cat so i took a rock from the garden, put cottonballs on it and googly eyes and named it "no pet". and from there my mom took us to the Humane society to get Brandie

We put Bushee down the day after Christmas, didnt want to replace her right away, but someone at my moms work had a barn kitten that needed a home so thats how we got Baby

I wanted a third cat, so i convinced my friends parents to take me to petco (bad i know... i was young) and i got another kitten and named her Baylee... i gave her to my dad for Christmas

Velvet i adopted from the Humane Society almost 12 yrs ago.

Jasmine - i was volunteering/fostering for a local no kill rescue a few yrs back when she was turned back into the shelter. The people had adopted her as a kitten and had broken the contract by not watching her health- they allowed her to get morbidly obease and also broke our no -declaw contract, so i took her in as a foster to try and get her weight out of the danger zone, and well....after only having her one night- she was soooooooo sweet, i decided to adopt her myself

Isabella- she had a breeder....apparently the breeder had a nervous break down and just snapped and beat the devil out of poor Izzy and then dumped her off at a high kill shelter in the area. The owner of the no kill rescue i volunteered/fostered for at the time happened to see what kind of poor shape Isabella was in and took her out of there before she was pts. I got a call that day to see if i could foster a severly abused kitten with brusied ribs and a huge hernia from a crappy spay job the other shelter vet did on her. I picked her up and she was soo terrified. It took me months of working with her just to let her get comfortable with me touching or holding her without her thinking she was going to be hurt. By the time she was ready to go back to be adopted out- i was the only person she trusted/would bond to- so i decided to adopt her and keep her as my special girl. We still even yrs later now constantly work to socialize her and get her use to other people. We try to make our home very positive for her so that she's comfortable and knows we would never hurt her.

Kojak- he was a foster kitten from the shelter where i work as a vet tech. I was fostering him and his litter of brothers. He had ringworm, upper respiratory, and feline herpes. The little guy almost lost his eye and his life at several points. (i'm sure some of you guys remember the pictures from when he was so sick!) With a lot of love though we were able to nurse him back to help. All of his littermates thrived and were able to get good forever homes- but Kojak just stayed a little ill and we were told he would always have problems with eye drainage and nostril issues on the one side of his face. Knowing he would likely not get adopted in that condition as it's going to be that way for life, we kept the little guy. He's rotten as all get out, but he's soooo sweet!

tabitha - friend of a friend had 6 kittens. i chose a black and ginger one when they were 4 weeks old and then a week later the woman rang and said i couldn't have her. apparently this kitten was scared of kids. weird or what! so out of the 2 remaining one black and one tortie, i chose tabby.

milo - wanted a ginger kitten so looked in the local papers. found this litter in the next town and they had 1 ginger left. went over the next day and picked up this ridiculously cute ball of fluff, my little toots. we actually got him as a friend for my rb cat janet, which he certainly was. they were super close.

shinobi - after janet crossed the bridge, milo missed him terribly, so i contacted the local rescue center and finally found 4 month old shinobi. he'd been found in a graveyard at 12 weeks old. bought him home and him and milo have become the terrible twosome!

Bubba - we were just going to animal control for me to get my doggy fix... lol, yeah right... we saw the sweetest lab mix... up to date on shots, already neutered, etc... there was a tornado on the way so we took him that day... he is still the sweetest... most loving dog ever!

My kittens haven't joined us yet, however i found them on the pregnant cats and kittens section of this forum! i fell in love with them via their pictures and we are bringing them home next week!

Our geckos... we were searching craigslist... my fiance made a deal with me if he could have gecko's i could have kittens... lol, i found 2 that night being rehomed with their tank, etc... one of them was sick ... so i kind of nursed her to health... they have definitely grown on me!

Cats -

Smudge - Parents bought her from a friend of theirs when she was 9 weeks old, sadly she only lasted 2 years before passing to the Bridge. Her brother Fudge was here with us for only 1 week before he died.

Percy - My Aunt and Uncle gave him to us when he was a kitten, unsure of his age though..he died at the age of 12/13 (not to sure of the age, as our neighbour took him in after so many years)

Tigger - Was another one of my Uncle's cats, and when they moved house she decided to stay behind and became a stray cat for a few weeks. It took a lot of encouragement from me and plenty of scritches to persuade her into the house. She died at the age of 14.

Brandy - Was adopted from my sister who could only keep so many cats in her home. He came from a litter of six, and his brother Milo lives with my sister currently.

Shark - Also came from my sister's house when her cat Daisy had a litter.

Arwen - Shark's youngest sister, and the runt of the litter. Being the last kitten left who nobody seemed to want, we took her in

Dogs -

Jake - Was my eldest sister's dog, a rough collie. We had him here from puppyhood right the way round til old age. He had to be put down at the age of 15 due to sclerosis of the liver, and he also had terrible arthritis in his back legs that he couldn't walk properly We eased his suffering and sent him to doggy heaven.

Jasper - Adopted at the age of 9 weeks from a local farm, met both parents. He is a happy, healthy two year old yellow Labrador Retriever. It was my parents decision that we have another dog to protect the home.

All my pets have came from shelter's.

I'll make this short and sweet!

Enzo, was at my granny's farm and he was just too pretty to leave there!

Leya, we got for Enzo because he needed a friend. We went to the local pound and just loved her to peices. Then a couple months later we took her to be spayed, per pound rules. I thought it was too early and she was still under weight. And that's how she ended up blind.

Stuart, we weren't planning on at all. I went to my granny's one day and someone had dropped a cat off at her farm. People really like to do that when you live on a farm It looked like poor Stuart was litterally dropped out of the car window, his back had been injured and he was sickly. So I took him home to get him better and work on finding him an inside home. Well, long story short my SO said "we can keep him!!!"