How did you find TCS and what made you join?

It's been years since we've had one of these threads, and so much has changed online since then!

Please share how you found TCS and what made you take the extra step of joining and posting?

I was curious about my cat so I type in American shorthair cats and this site came up as I scrolled to know more. And the reason I joined was I loved to brag about Bella & Thunder. They are my girls and I treat them as that.Family. I love them both and will do anything for them.

I was googling forums to learn more about my cat (Just one at the time) and had a few nagging questions that I wanted answered.. and this one stuck out to me more than the others that I've signed up for (I had signed up for 4 or 5 different forums at the time)

this one seemed to have faster responses to the posts, less spam and friendly members. Plus I liked how this forum is 98% free of people acting out their cats "Hi, I am Kitty. my mommy says I must..." type of role play which drives me nuts, lol.

The magic of Google

We had just been adopted by an injured stray tomcat and it had been over 20yrs since I last owned a cat.  Still remembered a lot, but wanted to catch up on the latest food options, newest toys, etc. as well as what to watch for after the treatments for his bite abcess and later, his neuter.

As best I can recall (has it been almost 10 years for me? :jaw: ) I had been visiting one site and captioning kitty pics there but they were overrun with trolls so I went looking elsewhere. Through Google I eventually found TCS and they had Captioning Contests!

I originally joined about July 2004 but my original membership was lost in the Great Crash of December 2004 along with most of my brilliantly funny captions.

I've met a few of the TCS folk and have had great times online with ya all!

hi I joined this site because I love it.

I had just gotten a new kitten  from my son,love cats but never had my own.I needed many questions answered.I googled many forums

but yours had the best Q & A and very friendly cat loving members.Im not much of a people person and dont fare well on chat sites,dont always have time to log on.YOur site  however is so informative,my questions get answered,with many options and nobody thinks Im crazy for being so in love with my furbabies.

I dont socialize much,I work weird,long hours,I live alone and everybody I know are dog people.So its wonderful to find a site,that caters to me

and my furbabies

Thank you and keep up the wonderful interaction for catlovers ,the world over.

I knew about this site for a couple of years before I even looked at it. My brother is a longtime member. I joined when Silly had her eye taken out and I was worried sick about the way it was oozing blood. I was reassured and helped by many members her. I want to help as many people as I can in return. Plus, I like the companionship here. In my area, there are not a lot of cat people. Mostly dog lovers who hate cats.

I was concerned about Mooch. We'd just adopted her and Noodles; so they were around 12 weeks at the most.  Well my poor husband, wearing a white t-shirt, picked up Mooch for a snuggle and poor Mooch left a big brown footprint on his shirt...  She then received her first bath.    I found TCS and posted and learned that it was because we'd changed her food suddenly.  We know better now and it's never happened again!

I was new to rescuing and had concerns about one of my fosters. I found TCS through google. I posted my concerns and received so much help and support. I fell in love with the site and the people then. I have received so much help and support since.

I had just lost my soul mate cat, Max. I was brokenhearted and searching for some way to help heal my hurt. I cried here and people comforted me. The support I got truly gave me strength to go each day. I was devastated.

It was so long ago that I don't even remember. I think I asked a question of some kind.

EDIT:  I lied!  My first post was in Behaviour forum.  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/90470/kitty-licking-my-nose#post_1239036

It was so long ago, I don't think I used google to search. I don't remember if it was maybe Lycos? Ask.com? :dk: But it was 11 years and about one month ago. We'd been caring for a stray (that we originally thought was feral) for a year. She was spayed. But the summer of 2002, kittens turned up in the yard. No doubt their mum was attracted by the food we left out for Booger.

We fed them for a month, and then started wondering what the heck we should do about them. We called "animal control" (doesn't exist) and local shelters (very rude, we were informed we should have had our cat spayed. ). Thank goodness - the kittens would probably have been killed if we were able to round them up and took them in.

I lurked the Ferals Forum (as I think it was its name back then?), and joined and posted when I saw how interactive and helpful everyone was.

...and four of those five kittens found their way inside with us. :lol3: One was adopted out to a vet tech. We started TNRing here... and everywhere.... The sixth that disappeared turned up a few months later (!!), and our secretary adopted her. :heart2:

And Anne, you posted a link to that news article about the feral cat the journalist dubbed "Osama." The steps taken to get Samoa (anagram) rescued led to .. so many things. :lol3: The SaveSamoa site is no longer up, the access passwords lost. But the StrayPetAdvocacy site is still up.

I remember google searching for the best grain free foods, on the market for cats.

Aparently, that same question was asked here. I found it and soon saw home awesome it was that you could ask you own question instead of google and hope something similar comes up.

I'd just adopted a little boy with major health issues and was researching how to best look after him (Sundar).

I tried one local site and found the people really rude and so decided to go 'off-shore'.      I felt right at home here and that was it!

The year was 2005 and I'd adopted Hannah, who was very sickly.  I actually asked for help on a cross stitching board and someone there directed me here.  Everyone was so supportive and helpful with my questions as I'd never had a sick kitty before.  I've never left. 
 

Before I brought home my first kitten in 2007 I bought a book about kitten care. At the end of the book the author recommended TCS. I didn't check it out at that time because I really didn't know anything about online forums.

A year later somebody dumped pregnant kitty on my doorstep. I bought several other books, all of which were totally unhelpful in the area of pregnant cat care. So I dug out the original book and looked up the website. I got so all the help I needed here without having to plow through a lot of irrelevant material and I've made a lot of good friends along the way.

Ahhh- good question! I was doing my thing, searching the web for the answer to a question, when this site came up as containing the answer.

2003 l joined and I just had Rosie then.

I was fed up of the trolls on the small site l was on so l started doing a search and found TCS.  I've never looked back because we have a more professional approach here  

Banshee had been diagnosed with a heart murmur, fluid around her heart, and then thyroid problems. I was trying to find answers to try to help her. I lurked for quite a while before I ever posted; it wasn't until after she died that I posted here for the first time. But I was a long-time lurker.

I'd been posting on a German cat forum looking for food recommendations because Jamie had been diagnosed with some food allergies and was refusing to eat any wet food that didn't come in a very small can. A member there recommended TCS, and since it was more fun to be able to post in my native language and the atmosphere was more congenial, I stayed.