how did your kitty come to live with you?

I saw an ad on Craigslist for $10 kittens. Met the guy in a parking lot in front of a grocery store and he handed me a cat and I drove off. Hubby didn't even know I was bringing a cat home. Nora is THE BEST cat we've ever had, though. My husband has never been an animal person and she has him wrapped around her tiny little paws. To the point where he will baby talk to her. It's the cutest thing. She's more his cat than she is mine.

Our last cat Gus (who slipped out the door and never came back) was from my mom's cat's litter. He was the runt but ended up being GIGANTIC. Easily twice as big as Nora is now.

Originally Posted by 2furgirls

Why, how, where, when we got Soleste "NoBaby", (Soleste doesn't really know her real name, she thinks her name is "No Baby", so she is officially listed at the vet as Soleste NoBaby.)

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The cat I had in middle/high school was officially named Scooter, but I only ever called him Baby b/c he whined so much. I don't think he knew his name either. My mom named him Scooter and I hated that name anyway. I LOVED that cat to death and my mom put him to sleep when I was at work one night when I was 19 without telling me. I was heartbroken and cried for days.

All my cats were strays except Max. I answered a newspaper ad and found him. Speedboat and Mattie came up on the porch and I kept them. Mu husband came home from a fishing trip with Muffin. He was a kitten living in the woods near the boat dock.

Charlie is my old cat's son, he's with me since he was born

Bob - a stray who fell in with ferals and was rescued by someone my father dealt with at work. I was told I was getting a cat, and no one had any idea of sex, size or color. He's a big grey love bug who turned out to be asthmatic. He's named after the man who rescued him.

Freckles (RB) - one of my co-workers was moving in with her boyfriend and had 3 cats. He told her she could only keep 2 and had to have them declawed. I took Freckles - it was one day after my (now ex-)SIL took back her cats and I didn't want Bob to be lonely. He passed away 15 months later.

Bickford - After Freckles died Bob was running around looking for him. I saw Bickford listed on a Maine Coon group on Yahoo. He was having trouble adjusting to kids in the family, a new house and the dad was allergic and could no longer tolerate medication. 6 weeks later I went down to New Jersey and took him home. He wouldn't have been happy in a shelter and would have shown badly as he swats people when in a stressful situation.

Fera & Chloe (littermate sisters) - Someone from a church group did a courtesy posting for a friend who's daughter was moving home and had to rehome her cats. I had been thinking about getting a girl kitty so I took the two of them sight unseen. They're Siamese/Calico mixes, and suprisingly the boys adjusted to them rather quickly.

Smokey & Buddy - not sure if they're littermates but they were adopted at the same time six years ago by a woman who passed away this past spring. No one in her family could take them, and since it was 1) kitten season; 2) shelters are full due to surrenders in this economy and 3) Buddy is a black cat (and I had felt God asking me to take one at some point) I took them in. Another posting from a feline asthma group I belong to.

I went with a sibling to hang out while my sibling went to visit a litter way before it was time to take home the kitten. There was an older kitten who I was told needed a good home and I was given the cat.

Pearl-My daughter rescued her from an abusive situation and brought her to me. She was about 5 months old then, and turned 10 on July 4th.
Pepper-I saw her get hit by a car and stopped to help her. She got her little bells rung and bruised up a bit, but otherwise unhurt, and since I could not find a home for her, she stayed. She was a tiny thing and I found out later when I returned to the area where I found her that she and her littermates had been abandoned when her mom's owners had moved and taken mom away from her 5 week old litter. The neighbors took in her 2 siblings.
Scooter-I got him from a hotel that I worked at when the maintenance guys wanted to see if a kitten could be flushed down a toilet. He is my sweet tabby boy, and the girls love him.
Fluffy-She is DH's rescue. Christmas Eve 4 years ago he was at work and saw a fluffy little kitten peeking in the window at him. He and his co-worker went outside to smoke, and she sat nearby and "talked" to them. He put his hand down and she came right up and head butted it. He could not take a cat into the tattoo shop, so he tucked her inside his jacket and sat outside with her in the cold for 2 hours until I could come take her home. She is his little Princess, and they adore each other.

This is likely to become a long post

When we moved in here, I swore I would not get attached to any more neighbor's cats. We had done that in the past and it was always hard when we left or they left. Well, Misty had other ideas, and adopted us as a second family. Sometimes I think she spent as much time down here as she did with her real family. Then in Dec. 2005 the ineviable happened, and Misty's family moved back to Germany, taking her with them. I was heart broken, to say the least, and so was DH. I thought about fostering, but DH pointed out they would get the cat back when they pried him out of my cold, dead hands (probably true), so we started talking about adopting insted. I decided we should get two cats - preferably two who were already friends - so they would have companionship. Honestly, though, I never thought we would go through with it. My real objective was to get into some of the shelters and play with a few kitties until I got past missing Misty so much.

We went a few places, and then I put in an application for a no kill shelter that was quite a distance from where we live. We went out somewhere that day (it was a Sunday) and came back home to find a message on our answering machine from them. Called them back, but we really didn't want to drive out there that day because it was getting late in the afternoon. They called back a second time, and talked DH into going out. Took us probably 45 minutes to get there, and the cats they had that were together were the kind who ran and hid when we went into the enclosure, and that wasn't what I wanted. Most of the cats were sleeping because they'd just recently been fed. The placement person was walking us around introducing us to the cats, we went right past Cindy without paying much attention to her, then got to the other side of the shelter. She was showing us this one cat, and Swanie was in the next cage jumping up and down, climbing the cage, meowing, pick me! pick me! And I immediately fell in love with the little guy. We took him into the play room, and he ran all over checking out everything in there, it was so cute. DH and I looked at each other and knew Swanie was coming home with us. However, I still wanted a second cat and I wanted to get them both together, so I was running around looking at all the other cats, feeling very pressured because it was getting close to when the shelter closed. None of the cats were standing out to me as "the one." Then one of the workers said "What about Cynthia?" I had completely overlooked her (again) because she was sleeping in the back of her cage. So I went over and she looked like a sweetie. We brought her into the room and she flopped over to be petted, and kneaded her paws. We decided we would take her. We hadn't brought a carrier or planned anything at all, but before we could blink they had both cats in carriers and we were signing the paper work. They told us that they weren't going to let us get out of there without at least one cat, even if they had to stay around longer than 5:00.

Cindy meowed all the way home, and took her time adapting to her new family, but Swanie fit right in from day one. They both are happy here now, I think. Cindy has become very attached to DH, I call her his girlfriend. I tell him how lucky he is to have such a beautiful girlfriend. Swanie is more attached to me, and he's the lap kitty I always wanted. They are both the most awesome cats you could imagine, and DH and I always say it was fate that led us to that shelter that night.

Well I just posted about Pixie but my sister got her I think it was maybe a year ago for my niece, whom is still not old enough for a cat as she is too rough with them. But anyway my sister is not an animal person she just gets them and has them till she is tired of showing off with them and like with Pixie well bless her heart she lived in the bathroom almost the whole time my sister had her. Well my sister is moving and she can't take her so I talked my dad into letting me have her. I picked her up on friday and she is a total love bug she just hasn't learned that its okay to leave the basement yet. But soon she will.

3 little boys were carrying a scared black kitten through the crowd at an arts & crafts show at Waterloo Village in NJ. "Hey mister, want a kitten? We saved him from drowning in the canal..." Into my husband's arms went the kitten, and the boys disappeared into the crowd. 10 week old Louie feel asleep on hubby's shoulder and that was that... We shared 14 great years with our handsome boy.

Mickey was eating cookies near a dumpster across the street from our first apartment. When I got home from work, there was my DH playing with an adorable 6 month old tuxedo kitten. Louie got a sister. We lost our precious little girl last December. She was 21.

Katie belonged to one of my husband's colleagues. He and his wife couldn't stand her beautiful white hair on their rug any longer, so they decided Katie needed a new home. These folks were just an unfortunate "detour" on her way to her real home where we loved everything about her, even her shedding hair. Our sweet Katie died unexpectedly just short of 14 years old.

Rocky showed up one day where a friend and I had been feeding his mom, a beautiful feral cat whom we were trying to trap. We didn't know she'd had kittens - Rocky was the only one we found. A 6 week old Ragdoll -look- alike, Rocky let me pick him up and take him home. Mom was soon trapped and went home with my friend. Momcat was named Frosty because both she and Rocky were found at a Wendy's restaurant. To this day, almost 10 years later, Rocky enjoys the occasional Wendy's french fry.

My story is too long to put here, so here's the link! http://ecatbehaviors.blogspot.com/p/about-wessie.html

Eileen

Penny. Someone I worked with back in 2003 said a young feral kitten was begging for food on his porch. He trapped her and spayed her and sought to find her a new good home before any ultimate action (In other words: Shelter!). I had been researching getting a cat for nearly 2 years. I even had a subscription to Cat Fancy.

He asked if I wanted a cat and I said "Yes". After I said yes, he told me everyone he asked told him no. So he was glad. I was thrilled to see Penny's coat color and adorable face!! I had no idea about her coat color or gender but what a nice match for me. I really like black mackerel tabbies - and her eyes got greener with age. her personality is hilariously bratty
Age: 6+ weeks.
D.O.B.: Around April 15, 2003
Previous name: "Baby"

Daisy. Craigslist. Rescue litter. Daisy was supposedly "the shyest" out of a large litter. She had lots of calico sisters. If you click the link in my sig, she is the kitty in the foreground. Penny's in the background.
Age: 5+ weeks.
D.O.B.: Around April 15, 2005
Previous name: None.

Nero came to us because after Monte was hit by a car, Katina seemed lonely. We thought getting a cat smaller than her would ease her into having a new sibling. She wanted none of it though Nero was nearly put to sleep twice at the shelter, having chronic sinus issues, and near death a few times as a small kitten. He was the only one left of his 5 siblings, and caught our eyes and hearts instantly. When he melted in Rob & my arms, it was over, he had a home for sure We actually adopted him the morning we got home from driving from Maine to Charleston, South Carolina ... 20+ hours of driving, and by the time we got home we we're on that second wind rush, couldn't sleep and Rob promised when we got back we'd get a 2nd cat since even we missed having two around. We got home around 9am and headed to two shelters - the first one had all quarantined cats due to URIs.

Because Katina stayed with my in-laws (behind us), Nero was by himself and had wayyyy too much energy. We started looking into a larger, adult cat for him to "beat on". We kept stopping at Petsmart to look at Hoshi (previously named Star). He had been fostered for two years. We called his foster mom and she met us the next day with all the paperwork. We had brought Nero the night before for a meet and greet with all the kitties up for adoption, all hissed or batted, he and Hoshi played in the tunnel together and no bad kitty feelings went around, so Nero chose his own new brother. It turns out Hoshi's foster mom was actually supposed to bring him back home again the day we came to sign papers, so it was just in time

Neko came to us because Rob made a joke about "what if I gave you a cat for Christmas?" I had kept mentioning a 3rd cat, telling him I'd stop after that. When I went to my volunteer orientation at the animal shelter, I was walking out and saw a black cat flipping around in his area. He reminded me of Nero and Hoshi put together. I pestered Rob for about a week, saying it was their soul-brother Finally, he told me to go to the shelter and do the "hand test" and make sure he didn't bite when you touched his stomach, back, face, etc. And to see how he was around me. He was great! They told me someone came in earlier to look at him (oh, and his name was "Jim Bob" at the time ). I called Rob and he said the decision was up to me, if I came home and there was a new cat, cool. If not, cool. Of course as soon as he hung up, I was filling out the adoption papers Neko definitely loves his daddy, too.

Spaz

I was at the vet clinic one day with my dog and a lady came in to have a kitten PTS.
The receptioist talked the woman into surrendering her instead.
Seems the lady was a BYB and allowed her sibling Wegies to breed.
My bundle of fluff was 3 weeks old with severe food allergies and refused bottle feeding and had flea anemia.
I of course adopted her from the vet clinic two days later.
I had to cook all of her food myself for her first two years until her vet thought her stable enough for an elimination diet.
Corn was the culprit.
Spaz is 16 years olf now with CRF and Congestive Heart Failure.
She is still fighting and refusing to let go.
She still begs, eats like a horse, plays and cuddles.

Jade
Jade was one of three feral kittens I caught summer before last (my ex boyfriend adopted her two sisters).

Baby
Baby Cat is actually my mom's cat.
Pregnant, homeless Baby adopted my mom almost two years ago.
Had her kittens in my parent's car's back floor, then moved them to places unknown.
When they we about 5 weeks I caught them all and allowed her to continue caring for them for three more weeks while I socialised the babies.
I sent them and another solitary foster kitten I had toSan Diego with my ex as they would have a better chance for a home out there.
Baby's two girls were adopted by my ex's downstairs neighbors, and her boy and the single foster girl were adopted together by another lady.
I still get updates on all 4 babies.
After her kits were gone, my folks had Baby spayed and eartipped and released her to live with the other park cats.
She loved mom though and never went far.
My mom, being allergic and living in an RV couldn't keep her, but promised her a home if they ever bought another house.
When it turned cold, Baby came to my door.
I told her that she could stay as long as she got along with my girls.
She gets along with them ok, though she still doesn't like them.

Well, I wont tell about every one of my cats...way to many to list .

Jessee showed up on our doorstep one day. Cute little black and white kitty and friendly as all get out. Of course, she came inside. I had ordered the certificate to get her spayed and my daughter let her out on accident. She was not out long but became "with kitten". I was lucky enough to see my kittens being born, I even held them with gloved hands right when they came out. I think that is why there is such a special bond between me and them.

Boomer found us seventeen years ago...well, he found my son. He was the sweetest little kitten and would let my son play with him without a hiss, bite or scratch.

Pixie - born in our backyard.
Junie - came to us from the street
Zimmie - found in our backyard as a kitten
Soxy - appeared in our backyard one day
Billy - Ditto
Goldie - Ditto
Stockings - Ditto

Numerous others over the years, but seven and holding right now

Spooky adopted me. I was sitting outside one day and he came running up and jumped in my lap. I petted him for awhile and when I went inside he darted in the door without an invitation. He just flopped down in the middle of the floor and was like "Yep. My house now. Where's the food?" The resident cats and dog were floored. We found his "owner" who didn't want him and just tossed him out into the street so they said I could keep him. He was about 7 months old.

Mulder I picked out to be a companion for Spooky. When I moved out of my parents' house he was on his own and very lonely and started misbehaving. The vet recommended a buddy. I tried a couple shelters but after a couple of trials couldn't find anybody compatible. I found a Craigslist ad for Free Kittens and picked out Mulder from that bunch. Actually I almost didn't take any of them because Mulder was being standoffish, but when I went to walk out of the room he ran after me meowing and crying his head off til I picked him up. He was 7 1/2 Weeks.

Jinkers came from the county shelter. I was wanting a new kitten and checking some of the shelters, considering fostering for one of them. Instead I saw Jinkers on their Urgent list and met him and fell in love. Now he lives here. He was about 15 months at the time of his adoption.

We got Hurley on November 30, '09. It was 2 months after my beloved Chloe passed away. I really wanted another chinchilla and even made an effort contacting a breeder but after having a heart to heart with my husband we decided that it would be best to get a more common pet instead of an exotic. Chloe passed away due to an error on the vet's part with her anesthesia. The vets in my area just don't know enough about chins and they are so high maintenance. It would be too traumatic for me to lose another chin the way I lost Chloe.

So my husband thought he was allergic to cats but he was still open to the idea of going to the shelter and seeing if he had a reaction. We went to the shelter and we stayed for quite a while and my husband did have a reaction. We met Hurley and fell in love with his sweet little face. We ended up leaving, though without him. We got home and I kept pulling Hurley's profile up on Petfinder. My husband said he would try again and we went back the same day. The second time we were there my husband was fine. I think he was having a reaction to the strong cleaners they use there, rather than the cats. We adopted Hurley and it was all down hill (for my husband LOL) from there!

I decided after watching Hurley wander around the house calling and looking for someone who wasn't there that he must of had a companion cat at some point and needed a friend. I began looking for the perfect match. I was going to adopt a cat through a private rescue in California but the adoption fell through. The person who ran the rescue totally flaked out on me and was false advertising the cat. So on my birthday I went back to the same shelter we got Hurley from. I went with a friend this time as my husband was at work. My friend and I looked at all the cats and none of them really connected with me, until I got to the last room. I opened Pandora's cage and we had that instant spark. It was almost like we already knew each other... like old friends saying hello. I called my husband at work and told him I had found the perfect cat and she was. I brought her home that day, January 7, 2010.

Lilly was kind of an impulse.. I had the kitten bug really bad and convinced my husband that the cats needed another friend, LOL. We went back to the shelter and my husband fell in love with Lilly. He thought she was cute because of her bobtail and her personality. She didn't care about us or anyone else and was off doing her own thing. We brought her home (June 21, 2010) and she instantly took over. The house totally belongs to her and the other kitties know it. She is the Queen.

Originally Posted by lauren_miller

Lilly was kind of an impulse.. I had the kitten bug really bad and convinced my husband that the cats needed another friend, LOL. We went back to the shelter and my husband fell in love with Lilly. He thought she was cute because of her bobtail and her personality. She didn't care about us or anyone else and was off doing her own thing. We brought her home (June 21, 2010) and she instantly took over. The house totally belongs to her and the other kitties know it. She is the Queen.

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Is she still so tiny? I love her name that is my dog's name.

Originally Posted by Tavia'smom

Is she still so tiny? I love her name that is my dog's name.

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Awe thanks! She's not tiny anymore! She's 6lbs and almost as big as Pandora now! She's still the baby though. She cuddles with me every night making biscuits on my neck and purring and she loves kisses. When my husband gives me a kiss goodnight before bed, Lilly expects one too. She's such a funny little girl.