I don't know what I'd do without her or Miagi.
lovely stories, all of them!
That's a lot of stories, lol.
This first story starts off pretty bluntly. It was July of 1999. With Luckysomeone had tied a wire around his neck, tied the other end to the rear axle of a stranger's car, and he was dragged for who knows how long. The car was at a stop light on Logan Blvd in Chicago when my father was walking the dog. Was sheer luck that he saw this tiny black and white kitten, all battered from being dragged. He alerted the driver, who stopped his car's engine. My father cut this kitten loose, took him to the vet, then called my mom to ask what he should do with it. Mom of course said to have him neutered and bring him home. We named him Lucky because, well, obvious reasons. So, that's how we got my little old man that spent the next 16 years and 4 months of his life in our home.
With Maple, it was March of 2002. My friend up in Toronto sent me an email shortly after my birthday, apologizing for not saying happy birthday to me. Her cat had a litter of kittens on my birthday, a bunch of little black kittens. I LOVED black cats! She asked me if I wanted one, knowing that I loved black cats and well, she was born on my 25th birthday. I of course wanted her! So she was spayed up there, and then in June my friend flew down to Chicago with a little black kitten. We named her Maple to pay homage to her home country.
With Sara, it was sometime in 2006. I was having a lot of health problems around that time, so the months kinda blurred together between 2006-2008. Anyway, a coworker of mine had adopted a 4-year-old female kitty to keep her male kitty company while she was not home (both were fixed). Her name was Sara. She apparently was good at sneaking out of the apartment, not sure how she did it during the day exactly. Anyway, a couple of times, she snuck into another tenant's apartment and peed on things. That tenant complained, and she was told she had so many days to get rid of her. She was going to throw Sara in the woods. This was a tiny, completely-declawed kitty. She never would have made it. I don't know if she really would have done that, but we said we'd take her. It was originally supposed to be a foster-type situation, and her sister was going to take her a few weeks later. Well, weeks and eventually months went by. Never heard anything more about it. We got to the point where we decided we wouldn't give her up regardless of whether we heard back (which we didn't).
*For about seven years, since our Ali Cat died in 2008, it was just the three kitties above. We shook things up a bit in 2015*
In July of last year, a friend re-posted a picture of some black and white kitties on Facebook. I happened to see it, and said how much I wish I hadn't seen it. They reminded me soooo much of Lucky! A bunch of fuzzy little black and white Luckys! A mama cat and her five babies were found at Botanic Garden by a couple of the coworkers. They brought the whole brood in and kept them safe and comfortable until they were weaned. They weaned a bit sooner than they probably should because mama wasn't doing so well, she had a really bad URI. They estimated they were about 6 weeks at that point. They found homes with people they knew would take care of the kitties for two of them. Two weeks later, there were still three kittens, and the mama. The day after I saw the picture, I decided to go check out the babies. By the time I got there, someone had adopted one of them, and so there were two left. There was NO WAY I could leave one behind. I wanted to take them to the vet first through, so the lady (whose reposted picture I saw) took them home with her that day, along with the mama. I picked the babies up on Tuesday, which was the soonest I could get an appt. Funny by two story - I made the appt before I ever even visited them that Saturday. I knew they would both be mine. So that Tuesday, on July 14th, I picked them up, took them to the vet and brought them home! They eventually became Oliver and Oscar, but they started their lives with us as Tweedledee and Tweedledum
Last but not least, we have Penelopy. After Lucky passed away, I was desperate to fill a hole in my heart, which I tried to do by honoring his memory. I was donating to shelters but it wasn't quite filling whatever need it was that I had. While looking up the shelters, I of course was looking at the kitties they had. There were SO many kitties needing homes, in so many locations. I realized the best way I could honor his memory was to give another kitty a forever home. I remember going to Orphans of the Storm, who had over 300 cats. That was a bit overwhelming. But then I eventually saw a picture of Penelopy at another shelter, and my heart was stolen. This beautiful black kitty, guesstimated by the vet to be about 3 years old. She's been with us a little over a month now, and has definitely made herself quite at home here.
truly a beautiful story! and your Wesley and Lucy sound like they were wonderful cats.
They truly were special. I still miss them but we had many happy years together. Wesley was so smart and personable and Lucy was such a sweet cuddle bug!
To this day, I'm thankful that Lucky never seemed to remember that day. He was never fond of strangers, but he was never what I'd call skittish. Probably one of the most (if not the most) openly loving cats I've ever had.
lovely stories, all of them!well, of course not the beginning of your Lucky's story.........but everything after the beginning, knowing he was so loved and well cared for for so many years.
Omg, that is horrible that they wanted to do that! Thank goodness you were there to save them. So sad that people let their cats get pregnant then resort to killing kittens like that.My friend's neighbors were going to drown the entire litter when mama had her babies as they didn't want more cats. I couldn't let them do that. So after they were born, I got them to keep the kittens the 6 weeks with their mommy, going over every day (on foot in sub-zero temps) to check on them all. Meanwhile I was busy finding homes. By 6 weeks I had found homes for all 5 kittens in the litter including my Comet (he was the cutest)
4 Friends got new kittens and I got one too. It was only a few weeks after losing my Paisley girl so Comet was kind of my comfort for a while. Now he's become my emotional support companion for my PTSD and anxiety. I guess Comet and I kind of rescued each other.
And yes, I assured that they got mama cat spayed so no more babies. I can't believe they were going to DROWN the kittens. I shudder at the thought.
I still cry when I think back to this.
i can't put into words how much I love my baby boy and what he's done for me. Comet is the best thing that ever happened to me.
Geez guys, you're making me cry here!
so many lovely stories, but like yours, many have some sad parts to them.
Merlin came to me from a neighbor who got him and his sister from a friend. Merlin passed away 12 short years later from illness.
A year after Merlin's passing I was ready for another cat. I wasn't completely pet-less. I did have gerbils at the time but it just wasn't the same as having a cat. I knew I wanted to adopt so I spent a lot of time looking at the local shelters' and rescues' web sites and visiting the SPCA shelter. But none of the cats seemed right. So I kept looking. Someone on the FDMB board (I was still posting there despite no longer having a diabetic cat) mentioned Abys. I can't recall if she suggested that I look at the breed or what but I started looking into Aby breeder web sites. I wasn't really interested in buying a purebred. Then I stumbled upon a breeder's web site and just knew that one of the Aby kittens was meant for me. I contacted the breeder just to inquire about thekittens. She just had a new litter born if I wanted to reserve a pair. After thinking about it some more, I reserved two kittens and sent in a deposit. The breeder sent me some picures of the kittens around 4 weeks old and again when the kittens were around 8 weeks old. Unfortunately one of the kittens developed erosive esophagitis and the breeder said that she would take responsibility over any future care the kitten may need and returned half of the the deposit since I would only be getting one kitten. We made the arrangements for the kitten to be hand delivered to me at the airport (the breeder has a friend who personally transports kittens across the country) and final payment. The date of arrival was exactly one year after Merlin had passed away. I thought it was just coincidence. The kitten would be 3 months when he arrived. So on the arrival date the plane had to make an unscheduled stop somewhere for "maintenance issues" and arrived 3 hours late. The breeder's friend was more than happy to hand the kitten over (he apparently was non stop vocal during the entire trip and drove the other passengers nuts). By the time I got my kitten home (and yes, the kitten was very vocal the entire way) and safely (he managed to claw a hole in the mesh part of the soft sided carrier and poke his head out. The carrier had only been used twice before), it was not only one year exactly after Merlin's passing but almost exactly at the same time he passed awaySeriously, I think Merlin did have a paw in sending me a kitten on his one year Bridge date.
Three months later I was looking for another kitten to keep up with Leroy's zoomies. It was back to looking at the local shelters and rescues. I remembered a rescue having a "meet and greet" at a local pet store on Saturdays so I contacted them and described what I was looking for. The person said there several possible matches and invited me to stop by the pet store that Saturday to meet the cats. I went to take a look. None seem quite right but the lady insisted that a long haired tuxedo would be perfect to keep up with Leroy. I was hesistant at first. I had visions of poop cling ons and massive hairballs to deal with. The cat was about the same age as Leroy and seemed shy even when I held her. The lady didn't have much background on the cat other than she was dumped at the shelter because the former owners wanted the cat to be outdoors only so they wouldn't have to deal with a litter box (really???) and that in the foster home the tuxedo loves to reach a paw out and grab you as you walk by to get attention. The lady said I could take the tuxedo home to "try out" for a week. So I did. Five years later I still have the tuxedo cat
all very nice stories!Shadow was very much a planned addition. Two of the cats I grew up with were British Shorthairs - bought around my 6th birthday to make up for the fact that our stray (Willow, female white DSH) was incredibly touchy and prone to scratching when petted. After they passed, mum really wanted another pair of BSH boys. Shadow and Cali(officially called Carbonel and Calidor) were the only boys on their litter, so home they came. That was 13 years ago. Cali passed in April of 2014 from CHF, but Shadow's still going strong!
Shad seemed to be enjoying life as an only cat, so we had no plans to get another. Then the owner of the farm where I keep my Exmoor pony asked us to trap and rehome a semi feral which had started hanging around. Whilst I was working with her (trying to trap her with just a cat carrier), I suddenly heard meowing coming from the other direction. I looked round, and a little black head was peering out of the cellar under the grain dryer! This is the beginning of Asha's story [thread="293484"]Kitten Worries[/thread].
She's fitted in wonderfully, is my true soul mate cat and, best of all, she and Shadow get on really well. She's brought out his inner kitten, and he clearly loves having her around
'My' semi feral Pushkin is simply the farm cat. We've no idea how old she is, except that she's elderly now. She fell in love with my pony, and once we realised she wasn't being cared for, we started feeding her etc. I view her as mine because nobody else bothers (they mostly complain), and we essentially have responsibility for her.
years ago, when it was my mickey and snick and me, there were two apartments i rented where i needed to make double pet deposits. in between those two apartments, there was another apartment that the landlord (a very good landlord, who took good care of his rentals) charged no pet deposit and also allowed me two cats instead of just one that he normally allowed. i know that in some areas it can be very hard to find an apartment that allows cats; but many/most of those same apartments allow dogs --
awww.........they chose you!
your sweet Comet -- you were meant for each other!My friend's neighbors were going to drown the entire litter when mama had her babies as they didn't want more cats. I couldn't let them do that. So after they were born, I got them to keep the kittens the 6 weeks with their mommy, going over every day (on foot in sub-zero temps) to check on them all. Meanwhile I was busy finding homes. By 6 weeks I had found homes for all 5 kittens in the litter including my Comet (he was the cutest)
4 Friends got new kittens and I got one too. It was only a few weeks after losing my Paisley girl so Comet was kind of my comfort for a while. Now he's become my emotional support companion for my PTSD and anxiety. I guess Comet and I kind of rescued each other.
And yes, I assured that they got mama cat spayed so no more babies. I can't believe they were going to DROWN the kittens. I shudder at the thought.
I still cry when I think back to this.
i can't put into words how much I love my baby boy and what he's done for me. Comet is the best thing that ever happened to me.
Geez guys, you're making me cry here!
i agree! i think life can get extra tough for people sometimes. to decide to rehome a beloved cat can be an agonizingly hard decision, but that people make that decision for the best interests of their cat speaks to me that they are responsible and have integrity.
