I wonder if anyone is interested like I am.

Hi fellow kitty lovers..........just wondering if anyone would be interested in posting how you came to have all of your wonderful furbabies? If so, let me know, and we'll see what developes. All of the pics posted here are just so adorable, and being that I just signed on in May, I'm not real familiar with how you all came across and adopted your babies. Please feel free to post a pic with your post.
Susie

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

Hi fellow kitty lovers..........just wondering if anyone would be interested in posting how you came to have all of your wonderful furbabies? If so, let me know, and we'll see what developes. All of the pics posted here are just so adorable, and being that I just signed on in May, I'm not real familiar with how you all came across and adopted your babies. Please feel free to post a pic with your post.

Susie

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The simplest, most effective and most direct way of explaining it, is also conversely the most vague.



Love.


Spotz

Well, not sure I understand that Spotz, but thanks. You have a beautiful kitty.

Well, it all started 5 years ago now. I begged and begged and pleaded and begged some more for my bf to let me have a cat. Then the Christmas of 2002 his best friend was getting his girlfriend, mom, and himself cats that were all apart of the same litter. There was one kitty left, and he called my bf and told him that he should give it to me for Christmas. My bf asked me how I felt about that and I told him yes of course!!! And then we went and picked Dori up!

Originally Posted by squirtle

Well, it all started 5 years ago now. I begged and begged and pleaded and begged some more for my bf to let me have a cat. Then the Christmas of 2002 his best friend was getting his girlfriend, mom, and himself cats that were all apart of the same litter. There was one kitty left, and he called my bf and told him that he should give it to me for Christmas.

My bf asked me how I felt about that and I told him yes of course!!!

And then we went and picked Dori up!

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Squirt, I had to talk my husband Jerry into it too, but he wasn't too hard. I had wanted a pet for so long, and we finally bought our own home where we could have pets. So, 3 years ago, we looked in the paper, saw someone giving away kittens, and went and picked out our Trixie. Then a year later, Jerry found Petals out in the country abandoned and very very sick. She was only 14 oz and about 4 weeks. After some vet visits, she is as good as new. Then a year to the day from that, he was out again in the country and found Tigger and his sister, 4 months, roaming around lost. He brought them home. Both had upper respiratory infections. We found a wonderful home for his sister, and kept Tiggy. Our three are very spoiled and very loved.

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

Well, not sure I understand that Spotz, but thanks. You have a beautiful kitty.

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I suppose that to me it's not how I found them in my life, but how they found me in theirs.

All of the domestics I've ever had, were rescues. Some were stray/feral, some were from organizations, some I just took care of while a friend was away.

Some way or another cats seem to find me. I'm not the only one who's "afflicted" with this phenomona. Many other people on the boards have similar stories.

I suppose they knowhow much we care; how much we love.

Spotz

I hated cats. Or so I thought. My husband and I fed the wildlife - birds, raccoons. Even had a fox on my doorstep. Well, with dog food out for the raccoons, a hungry cat would occasionally decide that that was the best they could find. It doesn't usually get that cold here, but one winter, about 1997, we had three consecutive nights of freezing temperatures. And a long-haired tabby practically camped on our doorstep, meowing to get in. We didn't want a cat. But when I got up at 4:00 AM one morning and found the cat still there, and again it meowed to get in, I gave up. And that is what started it all.

Guard Cat is no longer with us; we lost him to cancer a couple of years later. But both my husband and I had become so attached and the house seemed so empty that after three weeks, we located another cat from a couple that had to give away several outdoor cats before they started their living out of a motor home. Red Cat is still with us five or so years later.

Then about three years ago Red Cat and a stray in the neighborhood kept getting into so many fights that I decided that the only way to stop the repeated trips to the vet from abscesses was to catch the stray and turn him over to animal control or PAWS. Well, I caught him, but he had an abscess, too, probably from fighting with Red Cat. I felt obligated to get him treatment. I found out that the area PAWS had closed. I called animal control and was told that there was a low chance that they would find a home for him; the officer had just put down three cats that week in this little town. I just could not cope with the possibility that this beautiful and sweet kitty might lose his life if I turned him over, so I kept him. Unfortunately, he and Red Cat continued to fight for some time, though they are pretty good buddies now.

I got Sam from my mom's litter of kittens after the baby kitten I found in my yard died. I had to beg my landlord for quite some time to get him and what I think made him give in was the fact that my landlord's name is Sam as well.

Sally was brought to me by my landlord who found her after she had been abandoned by another tenant. She's moody and a bit crabby so she and I have something in common and get along great.

Willow was a kitten of a Feral mom. Her and her siblings were born on the play ground of a day care I was working at. The plan was to catch mom and all the kittens but I think mom knew what was planned before I even knew lol my b/f and I were giong to take them home and make sure that all the kittens and mom were ok and then we were going to see if we could rehome them. I wasn't to fond of cats I actually never wanted one. But I could never handle seeing any animal without love. So we go to try and catch Mom and She runs and hides in a different place on the play ground. We track her there and tried to catch her again this time she ran and we couldn't find her. But we did find one of the 5 kittens. So we took her home and thought we would try and catch mom and the others the next day. Well by the next day Willow had wrapped me around her little claw and I was taken. We never did catch Mom or the other kittens We tried but she was just to smart and to fast for us. A buisness down the way a little ended up Trapping the other kittens. And the mom actually Ended up Choosing one of the familys from the Day care to go home with LOL when They came to pick up their child from Day care she was very insistant about going home with them. It was really cool to see. I don't know if she is still with them or if it was just a free ride out of town LOL.

Blade I found along with his Brother off of PetFinder.org. I had always wanted to name a cat Kitman so I was determined to find a male kitten to name Kitman. So I brought both Blade and Kitman home with me. Kitman had a wild streak and a HUGH desire to be an outdoors kitten(his father and mother were indoor outdoor kitties) I couldn't let him do that, and I didn't want to keep him all couped up so I ended up Giveing Kitman to a friend of mine whose cats have always been indoor/outdoor cats. So I know he would be well cared for and loved. Leaving me with my blade who is just a layed back cuddle bug even gets scared by birds flying by the window LOL he wouldn't last outside 2 mins before he suffered a heart attack LOL

My life was changed for ever the moment Sierra stole my heart when I found her outside a bookstore. She was only a few days old, so tiny, but very strong willed! I bottle fed her and attended to her every whim. She has been the love of my life every since!

It all started on day in April of 1996. I had been living in this tiny little apartment for the past 3 years event free, and had just gotten a new great job. One day I came out of my apartment to throw out some trash in the dumpster and as I was walking back into my apartment I saw this little black cat go between the apartment building and the cement stairs leading up to my apartment. I was shocked the cat could fit in there so I had to check it out! So I very slowly walked up and took a look and there was this little black long haired cat back there. I backed away and started talking to her nicely and eventually she came out to look at me. I think it took a couple days but eventually she was letting me pet her and I had gotten some food for her which I left on my stairs. Technically I wasn't allowed to have pets... but she was so adorable, I really couldn't help myself. The cat later came to be known as Isabelle who's now 10 years old and is just as cute as ever!

Isabelle had 3 litters of kittens (cringing with embarassment), most of which I found homes for including one who stayed with me, who's called Audrey and is now 8. I kept her because she was the shyest in her litter and she remains pretty shy with guests today, though she loves to be with me.

In late 1998, my now ex Steve moved in with me in the tiny apartment, and that more or less forced us to find a bigger apartment. His brother had a cat that was very active and needed more space to run around so he gave her to us. Her name was Heidi. Heidi and Isabelle were playmates.

So now we were up to 3 girls, no boys. Steve wanted a boy cat to call his own, though we weren't really looking for one seriously. One night we were at a friends apartment for a party and it turned out his neighbor upstairs had a boy kitten that needed a home so we agreed to take him when he was ready. His name is Sebastian.

Two friends of mine were boyfriend & girlfriend when we met. They had 4 cats and two of them had a litter of 6 kittens. Shortly after the kittens were born the girlfriend moved out with the mother and kittens and Steve & I lost touch with her. Well one day, she calls Steve out of the blue, drives up and picks him up and takes him down to see the kittens who were probably a little more than 2 months old by then. I had to go pick him up at her new place. Steve begged and begged for us to take two home and ultimately being the sucker I am I agreed.... The two girls (who we thought were boys when we took them home) were later named Amelia and Zoey. Years later, I am amazed at how much of a cats personality is hereditary! They are both so much like their parents, especially Zoey who looks and behaves just like her daddy!

Well Steve and I split up and he took Heidi & Sebastian with him... He wanted Amelia too but I wasn't giving up any more cats! I was already sore he was taking the two that he was!

This left me with 4 females who after a couple of months were getting a little nasty with one another. That's when I realized that having a mixed bunch of cats (ie different sexes) is a good idea. So I decided that I needed at least one boy... and if I'm going to get one kitten, I should get two... so I found Casey & Clarence at a not-so-local shelter and I adopted them. They were feral when I brought them home and didn't want to have anything to do with me. A year and a half later they're two real sweethearts who have brought peace, harmony, and lots of exercise to the group. They're now two years old!

Well that's my story... and below are pictures of my six fur babies! Can you tell I really like talking about them?

I wanted a pet of some sort. After going down a list of possibilities, hubby finally agreed to a cat. So off I went to the shelter, JUST for a look, and left with signed adoption papers for a tiny little orange furrball that had leaped up on the bars and bit and scratched me. Love at first sight.

So after a month, I thought my kitty needed a playmate smaller than me, so back I went to the shelters. I was told to get a girl kitten 'cause they'd get along better. But fell in love with another boy kitten. Four days later he was still there, so home Ginza went with me. They got together like gangbusters.

Short version of long story: had to go back to the shelter for procedure for Ginza. While there, I thought, oh, just a little look, and left with papers for Kayla, who had flung herself at the bars and meowed insistently that she needed to go home with me.

One year later, I thought maybe we should have another girl for Kayla. Back to the shelter, and Pixie screamed at me demanding to know why I took so long to get there. Home she came.

Awww, excuse me now while I go hug my little guys.

Rosie was my ex boyfriends idea because he'd never had a cat before but did like them. We wanted a kitten and had problems finding one as the kitten season was just starting. After endless phone calls i eventually found Rosie in a pet shop, which was pure luck as not many pet shops sell kittens or puppies now. We got her when she was 6 weeks and that was 2 year and 2 month ago.

Sophie will be 12 weeks old on saturday and i got her from a friend who is a veterinary nurse when she was 6 weeks old.
Sophies mum was taken to Emmas surgery by the owners thinking she was having problems giving birth, and when the vet presented the owners with a bill for what care and attention they had given Jasmine(Sophies mum), they then decided that they didn't want Jasmine or her kittens and asked the surgery if they could find them all homes, and find good homes they did, as well as Sophies mum.

I was living with a roommate who had a cat. I had always been a cat lover, but swore I wouldn't get one of my own until I had my own place. Well, friend called and said this little black kitten had wandered into her yard. She already had three outside kitties and didn't want another but couldn't turn the little guy away. After digging him out from under her washing machine, Simon was mine! He is a one person cat and loves me unconditionally. He's definitely mamma's baby.

After my boyfriend and I started dating, he decided he wanted a cat too. So we went to the humane society and he picked out a little gray cat that we thought was a Russian blue. That's Max. He is a little lover. We now think he's either a Nebelung or a Turkish Angora because he has medium long really silky fur. He loves everybody. If you rub his belly you can be his best friend. Now Simon and Max love each other because we got married and now both kitties are spoiled, fat, lazy inside kitties!

My landlord (who is also a friend) told me I needed a cat. For two years. Then the upstairs apartment was rented to a young woman who had always wanted to have a cat, so we decided to "share" one, letting it go to either apartment. She had a friend who volunteered at a private boarding kennel, mostly dogs, but often had cats for adoption. They had Sam there, his family had given him up because their children were developing allergies. They told us he was 5 years old. So, we took him, sight unseen. I remember the day he arrived, the girl opened the carrier, and this big, long, lean, all grey cat cautiously made his way out, then up the stairs. He rolled and rolled and rolled on the carpet, walked over to the food dish and had a bite to eat, then went and used the litter box we had set up. It wasn't all that easy, we had a few set backs, but that was Sam's introduction. Later I found out that he had been so depressed at the kennel that he just lay in his cage for 3 months. He wouldn't ever go out to play, did little but sleep. So I can just imagine how happy and relieved he was to find himself in a home with stairs, and carpet, and space, and laps to sit on, and beds, and, most importantly, no barking dogs.

I decided a year later that he could use a companion (thinking that he might be lonely when I wasn't home). My mother was in final stages of terminal cancer, and I was too busy to supervise a new cat introduction, but it was something I thought about a lot. Sam was a "therapy cat" for those last months, we'd go visit my parents' house, and he would lie on her bed beside her and purr and purr. And I would go to PetsMart and visit the kitties for adoption and cry every time.

The day after my mother's funeral, I found Bailey at PetsMart. She is the little ginger tabby in my avatar. She was estimated to be 4, although I think she was younger, had been found stray, and pregnant. Her kittens were weaned, and all adopted, so, as they put it, now it was time for mommy to find a home. There were lots of lovely ginger cats that day, but something about Bailey caught my eye, she was quiet and shy, but when they let me pick her up, she wrapped her paws around my neck, burrowed her nose into my shoulder, and would not stop purring. I brought her home. Sam saw her in the carrier, and rubbed her nose through the grate. I did the whole introduction routine, but they never ever had a hostile moment, and get along great.

Later I found out that Bailey had 10 kittens in that litter. I think she deserves to live in the lap of luxury now.

We had adopted Molly from a friend when we moved into our apartment, and she was realy depressed because she lost her sister, and it was a traumatic move, and in retrospect, I never should have agreed to take her away from her sister, but we (our friends and I) never expected Molly to be so sad (I don't think they realized how close she was to her twin) So we went to Petsmart (to see if we could get her a new companion cat), which displays cats from second chance animal rescue in our area (by the way, Petsmarts all over donate to the local rescues as well as offers a place for rescue chapters to have meetings and get the pets good homes.) we saw about 10 beautiful cats, but only Paige hopped out of the kennel and started loving us as if she KNEW we were gonna be her parents. How could I refuse...

Plus When we were waiting for someone to let us into the viewing area, She started chasing her tail....

When we filled out the form, jason said.."well,she's cute, but she's a little bit of a spaz..." and I said " hey, ... isn't that how you describe me?" ... and well there we have it.. a little spaz family.

On an unfortunate note.. Paige didn't end up being a good companion for molly, or hasn't yet... so Molly's not gotten any better on the depression front. We're taking her to the Vet soon to see if there's anything we can do about her.

We had just moved into our new house the Wednesday and the Saturday we went for a drive of the neighbourhoud, drove past the local SPCA and decided to have a look around. My hubby just adores all kitties so no problem trying to convince him, all the cats I grew up with were my mom's kitties so I ddidn't really have much experience.

We walked out to the kitten pen ~ more like a kitten paradise ~ went in and started getting "attacked" every second step or so. There must have been at least 20 of the little guys there, having the time of their lives...

My hubby started playing with a ginger when I saw this little one shivering in a basket, she just looked up at me and tried to hide behind a cushion. DeeDee was the smallest of the litter but she was just too gorgeous. Our little boy was already lying on his back having his tummy rubbed...no shame that one...LOL...

Initially we wanted girls, they roam less than boys I am told. But when we got the reception area they checked on the forms and saw that Dexter was a boy, but we had already fallen in love... Unfortunately the SPCA has a chipping policy, not chip no cat. If someone came at me with a needle that size I would kick and scream as well...unfortunately this was worse for Dexter which is why he became a claustrophobic cat. And this is the reason why he became an outdoor kitty and passed away last friday night...

But I believe he is in kitty heaven and probably enjoying all the freedom and no fear..

I moved out of my parents house to live with my boyfriend last September. I left Axl behind because he was almost 12 and he loved my Dad more. I missed having a cat and persuaded my boyfriend to get Jeepers. He was not a fan of cats but he is now a convert.

Well, I had never had a cat growing up(only dogs) but had always been an animal lover, and my husband and I had thought about adopting a cat for about a year after we got married. We decided that we were ready to have a cat and went to our local PetSmart that shows cats and kittens for adoption for a local no kill animal shelter. We both thought black cats were beautiful, and we saw a small black cat looking out through the glass. We were able to take her to a little room to spend some time with her, and she hid almost the whole time, but would let me pet her right on the face, so I knew this was the cat for us. I liked that she was shy and sweet. It turns out that she had been brought to the the shelter as a kitten and adopted, but was brought back because the previous owners didn't think she was fun enough. Lucky for us though, because we got a wonderful cat. We renamed her Trinity. She was 11 months old when we adopted her July of 2003 so she will be 2 this July.
Well, since my husband and I are gone at work all day, a few months later we decided we wanted to get a buddy for Trinity so she can have a companion while we were gone. We decided we wanted to adopt a kitten so that she could grow up with Trinity. We went back to PetSmart again to look at kitties from the same animal shelter for adoption, and we met a wonderful foster family that was there with two 14 week old kittens. They were adorable and very sweet- one was all black and another one was black and white. We decided to adopt the all black one because she was really easy to hold and she captured my heart. We kept her name Anika because the little girl in the fostering family named her and it was cute. It turned out Anika and her litter were born on the same day we had adopted Trinity! The foster family even sent us baby pictures of Anika and her litter. Anika's story is kind of amazing in that her mom's time was up at the humane society and they were going to put her to sleep but then they discovered she was pregnant, so they gave her to the no kill animal shelter and was placed with a foster family! Anika will be 1 in July.
Sorry this post is so long. I just love my girls so much and they have brought so much joy to my husband and I that I love talking about them.

I live in a rural area and there is a constant supply of ferals and strays without looking very hard. Long post, but I have a large group here.

Shep: My husband was walking the dogs late one night and felt something scrape against his leg. Thinking it was a snake, he jumped back, looked down and saw her there. He contacted all the neighbors and when no one claimed her, we simply kept her. We've had her 12 years and we believe she is about 17 years old right now.

Stumpy: I heard a kitten screaming from our storm cellar out back of the house. It was spring, and I wasn't aware of any feral cat litters. Upon investigation, I followed the noise, found him with his tail half chopped off and bleeding, picked him up and brought him in the house. I laid him down o my husband's chest where he curled up in a ball and started purring. I asked if we could keep him and Steve was so smitten by him immediately that of course his answer was yes. Vet visit followed immediately. He had to bottle feed him for a couple of days before we weaned him.

Tigger & Eightball: A very pregnant feral cat showed up at our house one day and the next day her stomach was smaller. We followed her for a few days to locate her kittens (she was careful about not letting us find them), and found out she had them in the rafters of our garage. We put them in a box, put a ladder up to the rafters so that we could handle them everyday. When they could climb out of the box, we built a larger shelter for them and mom on the floor of the garage. Fed mom good food everyday and watched to see when the kittens were weaned. The day they were weaned we brought them inside then went out to trap the mom. Mom disappeared immediately and showed up next very pregnant with her next litter. We adopted out their sister Molly to a neighbor.

Bob Marley: Found him in a box in the garage. Like Stumpy, didn't see a mom and so he was immediately was brought inside and fortunately already weaned.

Pinky: Part of a litter of 4 feral kittens. His brother managed to get tangled in a clematis vine and bit me when I tried to cut him free. So Ruby had to be brought inside to quarantine for rabies and Pinky just had to come with him. Found homes for the other 2. Ruby crossed last fall.

Scarlett: Feral mom had 3 kittens in our flower bed. She moved them every other day (that was hard to keep track of them), then moved them next to our front porch where we built a shelter over them. She wasn't feeding them well and just as we were about to intervene and supplement feeding, she disappeared when they were about 3 weeks old. Poor babies were malnourished and we had to really work them to get them to come around. Adopted out her brother and sister. We assume mom was killed but we never found any signs of her.

Muddy and Koko: Feral mom had 4 kittens next to the front porch (in the exact spot where we had the Scarlett litter). We built a much sturdier shelter this time, but mom was killed by the neighbor's dogs when they were 10 days old. It was so sad, but the shelter was dog proof so the kittens were unharmed. We bottle fed them and adopted their 2 brothers to friends in Denver.

Dakota and Sage: Born in a barn the night that the big tornados hit Kansas City and Missouri in general last June 4th. They were socialized and I adopted them.

Spanky and Little Oscar: Looked out my back door one day and found 3 new kittens out there, all 3 different ages so they were not part of a litter. They were obviously dumped here, most likely by someone cleaning out the summer kittens from their barn. Quarantined them for 2 months while we tested them for FeLV (it hit my colony during the time when we found them), then adopted out the oldest kitten thru a Humane Society. Little Oscar was and still is so small, and I was and am still concerned about his health. I didn't want to put him thru an adoption program with a chance that an innocent person adopts him and he dies young (he continues to test with a clean bill of health but I just have that intuitive feeling that something is seriously wrong with him). Spanky stayed because I'm a strong believer in adopting in pairs.

Spike and Sam (puppies): Someone thru their intact female dog out on the streets when they moved and she had litter after litter for 2 years, all the time alluding capture. After her last litter of 11 puppies, a vet was called in to dart gun sedate her and she and her litter were brought into the humane society. We adopted these 2 and the mom is living happily at her foster mom's house - she adopted her cause she fell in love with her.

So I guess that all of mine have some sad story to their lives!