How did you meet your little fuzzbutt(s)

I am always curious as to how people stumble upon their fuzzy little friends.

I found my kitty in Texas.  I had just moved from Michigan to Texas for my first real big person job.  I had been in my apartment one week, alone, and the silence was killing me.  I had never had a cat of my own, but lived with two in college, and MY goodness did I miss their antics, their warm bodies, and just feeling loved.  I decided to hit up the local shelter and find a cat..  It was a very small shelter, with only 4 cats.  I knew what I wanted, an adult fixed cat, who liked to talk, and was, well fat.  I love squish. 

I found my love there on the first go!  I walked into the room, and there was a large, gray, two year old fixed loudmouth.  She may have been a bit shy, but the green eyes, and the constant chatting, I HAD to have her.  I signed papers, and was told that this was her last week there, before, well, you know.  I almost cried, I didn't want to hear that!! 

I got her home and fixed up nicely.  She had ear mites, bad teeth, and the biggest hairball, about half her size, was hacked up a few days later.  Oh and she was dragging her butt.  Little miss kitty had full anal sacs ( I thought that only happened to dogs!)

Anyways 3 moves, and 5 years later, I am still discovering interesting quirks about her.  I am not sure where she came from, or who raised her, but she is really jumpy at certain noises, and if she doesn't know you, a few hisses and a run under the bed will occur.  At least for about an hour, then she comes to her senses and says hi.  She will NOT go outside.  Not complaining, but I find it funny that if there is a screen, she will sit in it for hours chatting at the birds.  If there is no screen, she does that cat head-bob thing, then takes off for shelter under the bed. 

She also came pre-programmed as a very good sweet cat.  She never scratches anything but her scratcher.  She never jumps on counters, or in the bathtub with me. (The college cats used to, it was so strange to take a bath with a wet cat... no terrible jokes please haha)  The only time she has ever not used the litter box was my fault.  Someone, me, didn't clean it for too long, and in protest, she pooed outside it, but right in front, so there was no mess.  She plays, but never with her claws!  She eats the bugs for me, although bringing me them, i am not to found of.

She was the best find of my life!  I am having more problems finding a mate than I had finding an animal to fit my quirkiness. 

Please share, where did you find your kittie(s) and do tell about them   Please share pictures.  If i could be a crazy cat lady I would!  Sadly my lease limits me to two cats, and my finances limit me to this one haha, but for the time being, I am ok with that

We lost our last cat to heart disease, and a little over a week later I decided to go to the local shelter to drop off cat food and play with the kitties. Knowing that I'm a black cat fan and had plenty of experience with a cat that didn't like other cats, the volunteers showed me some black cats that were up for adoption, then steered me to 9-month-old Mogli, whom they knew I wouldn't be able to resist. They left me alone with him so he could work his charm, then suggested I go home and get a carrier.

He'd been surrendered to the shelter by his first family because he didn't get along with their other cat and had chronic diarrhea. It took months and scores of vet visits to clear up the latter, but he's doing well on prescription food now. His appetite is absolutely humongous, so our cabinets have child-proof locks, and we have to guard our plates while eating. He loves to chew just about anything, and at first I was replacing his collar just about every week because he'd get it off by pulling on his ID tag or snagging the breakaway clasp on the balcony cat net and chew it up. He wears a Beastie Band with a slide-on tag now, so that problem has been solved, and he gets cardboard boxes to chew up. He adores little furry mice and drowning his toys (and other things) in his water bowls.

Mogli made himself at home from the very first day, and almost eleven months later, we can't imagine being without him. He's very smart, mischievous and affectionate. He's an indoor-only cat, though he has access to a secured balcony. He likes to hang out there when his "girlfriend" (the neighbor's dog) is out on the adjacent balcony. He loves clicker training and knows several commands.

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We've had our kids for so long...we had six for years (known collectively as the RugCats), then went up to eight, down to seven, and we're now back at six. We have three of our remaining RugCats and the three girls are known as the Three Meowsketeers.

RugCats: BooBoo (our resident male) and Ms. Pepe (a plump tortie with attitude) are brother and sister, kids from Whisper's litter and were born in a clothes basket in our bedroom almost 18 years ago. They'll turn 18 in February and are still in great shape. Boo is deaf, but doing well, other than some nasty allergy problems. Ms. Pepe is wonderful and hides her age well; nobody would ever guess she's 18. Amber Louise is a little bright orange tabby, very skittish, but has come around beautifully, especially since the younger girls came into the house. A friend found her on her neighbor's front porch; she was about 5 weeks old. She brought her over to me to find her a home. That was almost 11 years ago....Amber has been with us ever since.

The Three Meowsketeers:  Mollipop (a mackeral tabby, I guess) was born at the animal hospital. We had taken BooBoo down for a physical and the receptionist told me about several wee kittens back in the hospital. I had lost Banshee, my feline love, and the receptionist knew that I was still hurting from her death. Did I want to see them? No! Yes. NO! Yes. Rick said, "Just go!" I saw my Miss Pop and she sat in my arms and stared into my eyes. The doctor on duty that night was watching Molli and me and he told the receptionist right out that Molli had found her mama. After I left, he told her to put my name down for Molli, that I'd be calling the next day. And I did. Mollipop came home about 4 weeks later and ruled the house (and me) from day one. To this day, when Mollipop really, really wants something, she will stare into my eyes....and she will not back down. I think she is beautiful and there are times when I'm watching her sleep that she almost takes my breath away, she is that gorgeous. (No proud mama here, eh?) Tabitha (a plump tabby with white paws and belly and the cutest little black spot on her nose) was found next door in my neighbor's driveway when she was about five weeks old. Neighbor called, I went over, Tabby came home....and stayed. I was supposed to keep her just until I found a home. Well, I did. Ours. It caused WW III between dear Richard and me at the time because he did not want another cat. No way. And now? Well, just the other day, Rick and Tabby were eating breakfast (Tabby loves Frosted Mini Wheats). Rick looked at me and said, "I love this girl. She is mine." And so she is. When we shop for groceries, we make sure we have a box of Frosted Mini Wheats, just for Tabby. And finally, Miss Muffin. Muffin  (a plump buff-colored tabby) was Mom's cat and when she went into a nursing home, Muffin came home to us. I told Rick I'd try to find a home for her, but Rick knew I was lying through my teeth. He told me not to bother, that Muffin might as well stay here, too. She's a good kitty.

And that's the clan. Six seems to be a good number for us. Seven was still OK, but when we went to eight, we felt too strained. We seem to do the best at six, especially since three are geriatric kitties now and need more care.

Milo: I moved out of my parent's house when I was 18 and wanted a cat of my own. I found a cat at the pet store that I liked, but you had to go to the humane society to adopt them and then bring the papers back to the pet store. We headed down to the humane society and as we walked in there were 2 little kittens in a cage. We immediately fell in love with the little orange boy and knew he was our kitten. I felt awful for the cat I was going to get from the pet store, but this little guy was just so cute and we fell in love with him. 

This is Milo the day we got him.


Zebra: We were thinking about adding another cat to our family. I saw this kitten at the pet store (same one we went to when we got Milo) and wanted her. If I remember correctly, we went home and I couldn't stop thinking about her so we went back and got her. My memory is a little fuzzy when it comes to how exactly we got Zebra.

This is Zebra, she stopped growing at 5 pounds.


Our dog we got at the pet store. I went for a walk one evening because I was bored and they had the cutest little jug puppies. I wanted one, but my husband didn't. Then we saw the basenji/jack russell cross and the basenji/lab cross puppies. We chose one of the basenji/ jack russell puppies. We couldn't say no to this face.


I've stopped going into pet stores and humane societies because it's too hard to not take them all home.

I met Autumn at a local no-kill animal shelter.  I had found another kitty on their website to look at but when I saw the beautiful green-eyed tortie sitting in her cage, I fell in love.  I still looked around at the other kits in cages and walking around but kept going back to where Autumn was.

The woman asked if I wanted her to take Autumn out of her cage and of course I said yes.  When she opened the cage door Autumn flew into my arms and I mean that literally.  She just flew out of that cage and into my arms.  She laid her head on my shoulder and I was sold   A week later Autumn came home with me.  They called her Demi at the shelter but I quickly changed her name to what it is now. 

Autumn has the colorings of Fall and that is how she got her name. 

All of my kitties were "pre-owned" before the 3 I have now.

October 8, 1998:   Abby came to me at 4 months from my friend's daughter's former roommate whose cat had kittens. I was looking for a second kitty to keep my RB kitty Chynna company because I was moving to 12 hour shifts at work and I wanted her to have some company. Abby's name is short for "Abigail" which is the name she had when she came to live with us. It didn't work. Chynna didn't like Abby from the start, even though she was a kitten.

Abby tried so hard for so long to make friends with Chynna but Chynna wouldn't have it. She was so jealous when I gave Abby attention, and for all the time that they were together, Chynna stalked and bullied Abby.

January 22, 2011:   Spencer and Katie were found as relatively new borns and taken with their Mom to the vet. 

Abby was my only kitty at time; Chynna having gone to the RB about 7 months earlier. 

Abby had a large cyst on the back of her head high up on her neck; about the size of a red grape.  I had dropped her off at the vet  the night before her surgery, and was waiting for a taxi, when I asked if they had any cats/kittens looking for homes.  My kitty biological clock had been ticking for some time since Chynna left but I wasn't sure I wanted to adopt another cat because Abby was loving being the only kitty.. 

I think what prompted me to ask is that there usually are pictures on the desk of kitties looking for homes, but there weren't any that day. I think I was subconsciously thinking that they would say "No!" and it would appease my biological clock for a little while.  Anyway, turns out there were and she asked if I wanted to see one of the 2 kittens (the mom was there too but she was part ferel and needed a home with no other cats). I said no that my taxi was on its way.  Well, she brought out the cutest little grey tabby girl, who was not the least bit cuddly!   I held her and she was wiggling and trying to get away the whole time, while purring!. 

My taxi arrived, but I didn't have the heart to send her back to a cage without a home, so I quickly told the girl that I would adopt her...... and her brother......and that I would pay the fee the next day when I picked Abby up.

You can read about that journey here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/226241/im-insane      and here     http://www.thecatsite.com/t/226609/todays-the-day-kittens

May 7, 1993:   My RB kitty Chynna, who I refer to as my "soul-mate kitty" was abandoned in a stairwell of a highrise building I lived in.  The security guards found her and put her in the party room and looked after her for a week while advertising for her owner. No one claimed her, so they put her outside. The building was sandwiched on 3 sides by very busy streets that had cars, buses and big trucks going down them. I lived on the 4th floor facing the front and all night I heard meowing, or what I thought was meowing.   It was May and quite cold at night. In the morning I was leaving for work and I heard meowing again.  I went towards the bushes and it was louder.  Then I saw a pretty white cat hiding in the shrubs.  I tried to catch her but she kept going from bush to bush. Finally she let me catch her.  I took her upstairs, and pulled out and old litter box and shredded up some newspaper.  The lady that was outside with me at the time, gave me some doggie kibble for her.

My plan was to take her to the humane society after work when I got home.  But that didn't happen. When I got home I found her asleep at the foot of my bed. I picked her up and was going to put her into a carrier, but she hugged my neck and started to purr and gave me kisses on my nose until it felt raw!  I put her back down on the bed, called a taxi and went to the store for cat litter and cat food.

She was with me over 18 years.

all these stories make me choked up with happiness

I wasn't looking for cats, persay, when I got my girls. I'd gone down to a friends vet clinic's open house to visit and hang out, and they had five cats (two adult, three kittens) for adoption. The older adult was so shy and sweet and I had a very hard time leaving her there, and the other was the prettiest cat I've ever seen in my whole life (so pretty that it worked against her, she'd been at the clinic since she was 2 weeks old and no one had adopted her yet because "she's so pretty, she'll get a home for sure, so I'll take one of these other ones" and the poor girl never did get a home). I wasn't' looking, but I missed cats, so I told my friend that if they weren't adopted by the following Friday, I would take them both. They did both get adopted by other people, but because of this whole story, another friend somehow got word that I "was looking for cats" lol. 

She worked on a horse farm (as do I, but a different one) and there was a litter of four kittens there that absolutely HAD to be gone in one weeks time. I don't know the details of why, but she called me up in a panic saying she knew I was looking for cats, and did I want kittens because no one would take them and they had to go, and she was going to take two because no one wanted them and would I take the other two?

Well I couldn't say no! haha. I  agreed to take them as fosters, but the second I saw their pretty little faces I knew they weren't going anywhere. It was a bumpy road with them at first but now they are 4.5 months old and I couldn't imagine life without them


Miami


Cairo

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All of these stories are wonderful!

When I was a kid, we had a total of seven kitties-I still remember their names: three indoors (Molly, Daisy, Bucky) and four outdoors (Gisella, Ainsley, Mousey, and Fern). We took them all in as strays and the four outdoor kitties mostly stayed in our large warm barn and helped catch some mice.

I adopted Miki (Snowshoe/Ragdoll mix) from the local humane society- she was found in a junkyard with her coat severely matted and was treated at the shelter. All I can say is that it was basically love at first sight- after a huge cuddle session with her I brought her home and now she is known as Princess Miki because of- well, let's just say her "attitude towards life". I have tried clicker training her to no avail, so DH calls her "the dumb little kitty-cat", but she's actually very smart (she's gotten into very strange places a number of times...) She is my furry hot water bottle and my primary furry cuddle bug.

I took in two feral kitties about a month ago- one (Calida) was a tortie and the other (Merida) was a torbie. They are now both 20-ish weeks old. I rescued them from a bird's nest up in a tree (literally, rescuing the cat from the tree!) and sadly found their dead mommy in the wash next to my backyard. I took them in and they are warming up very quickly.

I adopted my dog (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) Belle from the same shelter that I adopted Miki from. She was an owner surrender- they were having financial problems and couldn't support a doggy anymore. She is constantly being bossed around by Miki (with a couple paw-smacks in the tail when she doesn't follow orders from the Princess) and is dealing with it like it's no big deal- she loves to play and go on hikes outside. She sleeps right next to DH at night while Miki sleeps next to me. We definitely have a very full but warm bed.   

I'm so happy to hear all these great stories!  I am always in shock how our pets find us.  I have a kind of sad story, but it also showed me how much animals pick you.  I was volunteering at a shelter in Texas, trying to socialize a cranky cat.  She wanted nothing to do with my lap.  A lady was sitting in the waiting room, I think to sign papers for a dog.  This pissy little cat decided to take off out of my arms, and ran right up to the lady, and rubbed all over her and talked to her, even got some pets from the lady.  The lady was very sweet, but could not take the cat.  I was just in shock, all the times i saw this cranky cat lash out, and she decided the lady was the one.  The sad part, she never bonded with anyone again, and, well, it wasn't a no kill shelter.  I was glad though that the cat at least shared a sweet moment with someone.  They really do pick you!  I am secretly hoping a cat picks me, from outside, so I have a great excuse to get another one!

I love all these stories

I've had cats my entire life. There were cats in the house before I was born; Cujo and Vann were there the day my mom brought me home (they passed when I was really young), and we've always had at least two since then. I can't imagine life without them.


(My faithful companion, using me for her personal heater)

I'll never forget the day my mom brought Misao home; it was the middle of November, gray skies, cold but warmer than normal for the time of year, and a school day. We already had two other cats at the time (and a number of strays hanging around), but someone my mom knew was trying to re-home a surprise litter from a stray they'd taken in. I was 13 and struggling a lot at school (only had a couple of friends and was feeling really stupid because I had just been forced into a "special education" class--the school's solution for bored students was to stick us in a class that treated us like kindergarteners instead of giving us more challenging work, and the only class period coincided with my favorite class, band, so I was suddenly not only being treated like a 5 year old but had been forced out of the only class I enjoyed), so in part to help out her friend and in much larger part to cheer me up my mom said we'd take one of the kittens, without telling me about it first. She met the friend on her way home from work and picked one out. She tried to sneak the new kitten into the house in her jacket, but I knew something was up and asked what she was hiding.

It was a little tortie kitten and she was all mine. She sat with me while I did my homework and read; her favorite place to sleep quickly became the little space in my lap beneath my lap desk. She slept under my covers or by my head at night, and shared my breakfast (only cat I've ever met who doesn't mind soy milk). She watched TV with me. She cried when I was gone. She disapproved, very vocally, of my first boyfriend (for good reason, it later turned out. She's a much better judge of people than I am). She's been my companion for the last 10 years and has been there for me through some of the worst times of my life.


(Artemis, about a month or so after his rescue)

Artemis was a stray I picked up last summer. It was the middle of July, and my cousin's little girl was visiting from out-of-state. I took her out for a walk around the neighborhood one evening to run off some of her energy. A couple blocks from home, we saw a gray-ish cat sitting in front of a house. I crouched down and called to it; I've never been able to resist petting every cat I come across. The cat immediately got up and trotted up to me, tail up in the air. Close up, I could see how filthy the cat was, and it was missing fur. One eye was very clearly infected, and there were scratches all over its face, and a quick inspection showed definite ear mites. It looked like it hadn't had a decent meal in days. I wasn't going to leave the cat there, and it didn't likely belong to anyone in the shape it was in. I scooped the cat up and started the two block trek home. As I walked, I noticed the cat seemed overly warm, but I chocked it up to it being the middle of summer. My vet's office was already closed, so I set the poor thing up in the garage for the night and cleaned off his eye. He (as I had finally determined the cat was male, and not neutered) had been perfectly fine with me carrying him home and seemed quite happy to have some food, water, and shelter. I was left with a very dusty shirt, and discovered that he wasn't as gray as he looked. He was pure white.

I took him to the vet the next morning and left him in their capable hands for a full health exam and a neuter if they deemed him healthy enough. I brought him home the next evening. He looked much better, just from having gotten a bath. I was given pills and an ointment for his eye, told to monitor the fever as best I could and to call if anything changed. He settled right in as though he owned the place; he took over my bed, began "helping" me with all of my sewing, writing, and painting, and became my alarm clock. He didn't put up a fight once over the antibiotics. Three weeks, three rounds of antibiotics and two antibiotic ointments later, he was all better. Another couple weeks of good meals and he no longer looked malnourished. By the end of August, most of his fur had grown back (at which time a cat-expert friend confirmed my suspicions that he's probably Angora). Now, several months later, he's king of the house (second only to the tortie, who terrifies him) and spends most of his time in my presence.


(Loki, giving me the usual disdainful expression reserved for whenever I stick a camera in his face)

Loki was a feral kitten who showed up around the same time I took Arti in. He was around 3 or 4 months old at the time, and wouldn't come anywhere near us. My mother and I worked with him, sitting out back every day and offering him scraps of food and cat treats, and talking to him. We started calling him Shadow, since he blended in with the shadows. By September, we were able to touch and pet him. By October, he had decided he liked coming inside. He had also decided he liked attacking ankles and causing mischief. His name was quickly changed to Loki; that was the first time we heard him meow (or squeak, rather), so we think he approved of the name change. One day, knowing that cold weather was coming soon, we grabbed him, crammed him in a carrier, and took him to the vet for a neuter so he could stay inside. He forgave us pretty quickly when he realized he got to stay inside as long as he liked. After a couple of weeks, he finally settled in fully and started to follow Arti's lead in almost everything; now they're inseparable.

We adopted Tony from a local shelter called Friends of Gummi. Our Ali had just gone to Rainbow Bridge, and we went to PetSmart where Friends of Gummi had their kitties. I told the owner, Janice, that I thought I should get an older cat, but she put little 5 month old Tony in my arms and that was that. He came home with us that day. BJ, who was 10 at the time, fell in love with Tony and never had a day of jealousy. He thought Tony was our gift to him!

Angel came to us after BJ went to the Bridge. She was a stray in our neighborhood who visited all the houses. We brought her in the house, she immediately jumped on the chair where BJ spent his last weeks of life, sniffed it, curled up and went to sleep. We knew she was BJ's gift to us. That's why her name is Angel - or more completely - BJ's Angel.

Tippytoes was a stray who we swy outside our sliding glass doors. Actually, Tony and Angel were watching h er. I fed her for a couple of days, then talked to our vet who said to bring her in as soon as we could get her in the carrier. That same day she was back at our house, we put her in the carrier, she completely panicked on the car ride, but after her health was checked out she came home. Spent a couple of weeks just watching everything and taking in everything from a dining room chair. Now of course she thinks she owns the whole house. She and Tony are best buddies, but there will always be a rivalry between Tippytoes and Angel. They sort of tolerate and avoid each other!

All 3 are our little blessings and I can't imagine life without them!

PS.Their latest pictures are in the picture forum, if you have not already seen it.

I am new to this site and I really like it.

My husband and I are retired and have no children. We live in a Military town and a lot of animals get left behind when they get deployed. All of our cats adopted us except for the 2 my husband found and bought home. We had 5 cats and I told my husband we cannot afford to take in any more. But one day a  new kitty was on my front porch . I fed him for 2 weeks out side until I could not stand those sad eyes any longer and took him to the Vet.  I named him Chester because he has a limp like Chester on Gunsmoke. I let him stay in my spare bedroom because he had to have surgery on his paw. He is a wonderful and beautiful cat. I am working with "Thundering Paws" to try and get him adopted. He is a big Tom cat and loved all the attention he is getting. I have 2 other Tom cats that are accepting him very well. The girls on the other hand are snubbing him and hiss at him.  He does not even want to go outside. The picture I have of him is when he first arrived and he looks a little beat up.   He has changed a lot. 

We would have a very boring life if it was not for our cats. 

I had told my husband and kids "absolutely no pets" because I knew I would get stuck with the responsibility of it. Then one morning some four years ago my husband woke me up by droping a gray tabby in my bed. He said, "I can I take him back of you want" and that's my Boots. A week later I decided be needed a buddy so we rescued a tiny orange kitten from a farm, chosen by my daughter and he is my Bear. My life is so much better with cats!

My Sebastian was a stray or feral kitten that was being hidden on my dad's property with a black and white sibling.

My dad discovered them cause he happened to be sitting on his back porch watching fireworks on the 4th of July when he saw his dog, a big Akita, bolt out into the field like a nutball and attack something.

He ran out after him and found him with a tiny black and white kitten in his mouth and the dog would not let it go. When my dad finally got him to drop it, the kitten was dead so he took him out front to bury him.

As he was doing this, he heard his dog going nuts again and he ran back after him, but this time he was able to hold him back and my step-mom went over to the same spot under some old scrap metal, and she found this! They were not able to find any more kittens or the mother.






The kept him for a few days until I was able to drive out and get him. Those pics was the first day I had him after a bath to get rid of the fleas. I had never seen so many fleas on anything. But other than the fleas he was just skinny, no other problems. The vet said he was about 4-5 weeks.

As you can see from the baby pics, despite likely never having contact with humans, he was never scared of us at all! He has always been super outgoing and loves to follow people around and hang out. He even likes to sit on my shoulders and watch me work. Although he has never been a cuddler, lol!

He's had a few mild health problem with diarrhea and inflamed kidneys, but he's doing really well now, and should be about 8 months old right now!

My goodness, what a beautiful cat Sebastian is.. not to mention what a cutie he was when little.  I have never seen such a happy cat!  I love all these stories!  Its so nice to see how much people care for their little friends!  Such lucky little, or big haha, kitties!!

Actually let me clarify.. all the kitties are adorable!  Now i must find my cat and give her a squeeze, my cuteness alert if overloading and needs to be released!

my first "personal cat" was given to me by my ex.we had decided to be housemates, she was helping me out after a bad farming accident.i have traumatic brain injury and she knew a cat would be good for me, and a good way to help with the remembering everyday tasks such as cleaning litterboxes, making sure pop pop was fed and watered, groomed etc etc. also being a greenhorn with cats, a way to work on learning, and retaining things ive learned and read.well...that started a love affair with cats.pop pop showed up at the chicken coop with a friend that was scrawny and looking bad.we vetted and took care of "fuzzyhead" the first of many abandoned and ferals that we tend to.dodie had mr.mo already.then came pop pop. then fuzzyhead, ricardo, pretty girl, jingle bells, screamin'meow, manny the manx and yeller cat and a black cat with a white star.all but the last 2 i mentioned we have had spayed or neutered and were just left to fend for themselves..ppl can be so cruel.ricardo was killed by coyotes new years eve.we sure miss him.ppl think these cats benefit from dodie and myself, but its exactly the opposite.these guys and dolls have recycled me, given me more therapy than any therapist, doctor, shrink etc.the cats dont judge slurred speach and think im high or drunk, dont care about the scars i wear.they just keep bringing me love(and dead rodents) and i know when im doing chores one or more of my feline family will be waiting for me to finish cleaning stalls or feeding the horses so that we can hang out a while.sorry i have no pics.im having troubles figuring out how to put up pics with my android phone.will post pics as soon as i figure out how.

Our Bub came to the neighborhood early last year (2013) when our neighbor's daughter found her and brought her home to her mom. They didn't take good care of her and by mid summer we had noticed that her belly was filling out quite nicely. We had a heat wave at the end of the July and at the same time the neighbor went on a trip and just left the cat outside. The poor kitty spent the entire time on our shaded concrete patio, sprawled out to keep cool. After four days the neighbor had still not come home and the very obviously pregnant kitty was still living on our patio. We put out a box with a blanket and small dish of food. The next day I came home from work to find this surprise:

 
That evening the neighbor came home. I went over to discuss the situation (we had decided they were no longer her cats) and the first thing she did was offer all the babies to us... and then the mom too.  The craziest part was that this was a mere 14 days before our wedding and honeymoon! Thankfully my brother was able to kitty sit for us. We ended up keeping the mother and two of the kittens; Bub, Bear and Penny. My brother took the other two kittens (one for him and one for my sister). We never would have adopted them... but Bub gave us no choice and we love them all so very much now

From age 6 on, I always had cats growing up, and when I went away to college, I missed my cat Tanner so much, we would skype and i visited frequently. After I graduated college, and got my first teaching job, I knew moving Tanner in was not an option. Tanner and his brother, Bradley, are deeply bonded. They have been together since Bradley was born and Tanner was a year old. My mom would never be willing to  separate from Bradley, so luckily I'm close enough to visit.

Living alone, I was thinking about a pet, but unsure. Pretty quickly after I saw a kitten on the local shelter's facebook page and wanted to meet her so bad. She had already been adopted and I was told the shelter had no other cats, Suddenly I became aware of how badly I wanted a kitten. I spent days on petfinder and the websites of animal shelters in the area. I saw a lot of cute cats, but none that I was willing to drive out of town to go visit. I'll admit, I was guilty of typecasting my future kitty. I love gray/brown tabby cats. Tanner is a gray/brown tabby, and I've always thought they were the prettiest cats.

I looked and looked online, but no kitten really caught my eye. My gut just kept telling me- wait until you find one at your local shelter. I was just hoping that I'd find one sooner, rather than later. Living alone for the past 6 months was finally getting to me.

So that next Saturday I was visiting my mom, about 30 minutes away. And playing with my old cats made me want one so much more. My mom convinced me to go to the shelter in town, and honestly I did not think I'd find a cat. However, perched on a high shelf was a cat, not a kitten who caught my eye. The guy at the shelter called her "Vixie" and said she was about a year old. Her old family had left her about 3 weeks ago without much explanation. She was around a year old, spayed and had been front declawed by her old family.

He pulled her off that shelf and handed her to me, and she had me at first purr. I was quickly in love. It took me all of 5 minutes to decide to adopt her and after one quick stop at walmart for essentials we were on our way home, where I quickly decided she was "Zoey".

After getting home I got on the shelter's website and was just looking around. What I read was that they are a kill shelter who keeps their animals for 3 weeks before euthanizing them. I couldn't believe how close my beautiful kitty was to being euthanized. She's perfect and I can't imagine that!

A friend of ours was driving down a country road when he spied a cardboard box on the side.  He stopped to check it out.  Inside he found one little black kitty sitting and staring at him.  Beside the little kitty was a dead mother and three dead siblings.  Our friend, Dennis, scooped up the survivor and brought it home.  I was in the bedroom and I heard Dennis say to my husband, "Here.  This is for Jody".  I figured it was a piece of mail from the box out front.  To my utter surprise, my husband came in holding in one hand a tiny mewling ball of black fur.  My first thoughts were that he wouldn't make it.  He appeared to be about four weeks old.  But he learned how to eat and used the litterbox right away.  He was a very smart kitty.  We named him Malachi James (James after my husband's name).  We took him to the vet for shots, had him dewormed, DNA tested (he is a Bombay cat) and he had his "big boy" surgery.  He has made three moves with us.  He is now eleven years old, never been sick, and weighs about twelve pounds.  He is so special.  Our friend Dennis saved him from certain death.  And that's how we came by our little fuzzbutt!

k malachi james It never ceases to amaze (and disgust) me how cruel people can be. What kind of person boxes up a cat and her kittens? Malachi was lucky your friend found him in time.