How did you get your cat??

mrspickles

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I don't have very exciting stories about how I acquired my two cats, but I still feel good about it.

I moved to Toronto last summer for a job, and was here all by myself (at the time my boyfriend lived about an hour away). I knew I would want a four-legged friend to keep me company, and someone for me to take care of! I picked up Knoxville from an Animal rescue. He was just 8 weeks old, and was just brought in by some man who found him in the engine of his truck!! Knoxville truly was lucky to be found before the truck was turned on. He is now 1yr and 4 months old (approx).

I got Pumpkin about a month ago from my cousin and his wife. They have two small children, and it turns out that their 2yr old baby is developing asthma (or something - it is undiagnosed as of yet), and the doctor said they had to get rid of the cat, as Pumpkin may have been a trigger to what was happening with the baby. So I brought Pumpkin into our family and she is wonderful. Our kitty family is complete!
 

sunnicat

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We adopted Sunni from an ad in the paper. The lady was trying to give us a different kitten, but Sunni was the sweet little one that I wanted. The woman's granddaughter finally took Sunni out of the basket and handed her to me, saying, "Grandma, just give them this one....the other one is too wild for them!"

When Sunni passed June 30th, I couldn't stand not having a cat in the house with me. We went to the shelter and I fell in love with little Sophie right away. I would have taken her brother, Einstein, but he was already adopted!

Percy came to me out of a corn field when I was taking the dog for a walk. He had the biggest mouth I had ever heard for such a tiny kitten! It was a good thing, too, or I may not have found him! He's still got a HUGE meow.

Angel was a feral, hanging around the house for a year or so before I could get her to come to me. Once she trusted me, she was the most affectionate cat I think I have ever had. Angel loved her belly rubs! She disappeared 2 months ago, and we never have found out what happened to her.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Lets see...Tinsel was adopted from a lady either my mom or my aunt knew. Glory was from a litter my mom's cousin's cat had (I got to pick her out when she was just days old!), Tiger was married into the family. Bunny and Pumpkin came when my mother had a client working with the SPCA.

My mother helps people with disabilites find jobs and sometimes that involves going to work with them to help set natural supports in place or taking them on 'trial works' meaning they spend a day or two working somewhere for free to see if they do enjoy that work. So one day at the SPCA mom fell in love with these 2 kittens. Then the vet came in and took them to put them down because they were sick they said. (Nothing mom could see, but then we're no experts either.) Mom was heartbroken and my stepfather said she should have taken them. We had just lost Tiger a few months beforehand and Glory went a year before Tiger so we were kittyless and needed that hole filled anyway.

So the next day Pumpkin came home. He was tiny! About one pound. He was so small he couldn't hold his own heat right. So he was carried around by the staff in thier shirt pockets! Everyone was sad to see him go. When I came to see Pumpkin I was just drawn to a cage above him. Bunny was 2 or 3 when we adopted her just 3 days after Pupmkin. She mommied him and really helped him thrive and learn. He was taken from his mommy too soon so he needed the extra help. Then we found out from our neighbor that Pumpkin came from her daughters litter. Her daughter had 2 pregnant cats. One had a litter and then was hit by a car. So the second cat started nursing them and that caused her to have her litter a little early. (Is that really possible? To nurse other kittens when she hadn't had hers? Thats the story we got anyway.) So Pumpkin was a premie. He's now happy and healthy and fat! Just like Bunny!

Bunny's entrance to the family had drama all it's own. I was attached at the SPCA. So when we finally got the ok from my stepfather to get her mom had to call early Saturday morning to see if she was still there. She was they said and Mom said we'd be there to get her when they opened. When we got there she was gone! I panicked but fortunately they had just taken her to PetSmart. So we went there and got her.

Mooch and Noodles came because my Mother finally convinced Nathan to adopt a cat for me. Nathan was about to deploy and the last time I was terribly lonely and did not do well at all. So after a short lecture from his Mother in Law, Nathan caved and we went to the SPCA. Mooch and Noodles were the last 2 left of thier litter, so we couldn't separate them! They were cuddled up together when we came in. Thier mommy was there too. Oddly enough they were in the same cage Bunny had been in and thier mommy (who I wish we had adopted too!) was in the one Pumpkin had been in.

So there's my long stories. Hope you enjoyed them! I know these cats have brougt me more joy than I could have ever immagined. They are my little blessings!
 

booktigger

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Not sure about interesting, and this will be fairly long!! My neighbour claims the reason I have had so many cats is cos I only take on oldies, so they don't last as long!!
When my first housemate moved out, I didn't intend to get a cat, as I wanted to be able to come and go as I pleased. 2 days after she moved out, one of the neighbours asked my neighbour if she knew anyone that wanted a cat. his mum had died a few months before, he was fed up of the cat and threatened to microwave it if nobody would take it (despite there being a CP shelter 5 mins up the road), so she convinced me to take her. I always wanted a pure white cat, so I got one!!
She died 9 weeks later, and the house was so empty I asked my neighbour to take me to the CP branch, where I got Tigger. She was the only cat in there, so didnt really get a choice with her!! Told my mum who told me I was stupid as Ginger was a stray (funny how you don't always associate a cat with being stray unless they are thin). Toyed with the idea for 5 days, asked loads of people how much more it cost to feed 2 cats, then got the neighbours to take me to pick Ginger up. Gave him a quick stroke, and put him in the carrier!! Does worry me at times though. He did have an owner, but he was never allowed in the house, and it was the little old dear who fed him - his teeth were that bad he couldn't eat properly, so I don't know how much longer he would have lasted outside. He still weighed 12lb (about 5.5kg) though!!
8 months later, Tig died, and Ginger changed so much I wasn't going to get another cat. My friend just called into the local shelter while taking me home one day, and I told her not to let me have a cat!! This shelter is large enough to home about 200 dogs and 250 cats though, so I couldn't walk away empty handed. I needed someone quiet for Ginger though, and I wanted a tabby called Magic, but my friend convinced me to get a cat called Snowy - she was bullied and was rarely picked up, but when i picked her up she snuggled into my shoulder, so I had to have her!!
She died in Jan this year, and 2 hours after getting home, I got a phone call from my CP co-ordinator (she knew that Snowy was really poorly and that I would have space at some point) asking if i could take on a 10 year old female. I said I would ring them but couldn't guarantee anything - went round that evening, and it turned out they were in the vets at the same time as me that morning, and passed comment on Snowy. I decided that was fate, and I am now really good friends with her ex-fosterer (she was her mum in laws cat, and couldn't keep her).
Then my friend posted on another forum about a 14 year old cat she had been asked to take in - she had runny eyes and was unsociable, so I knew a shelter would just advise euthanasia - my friend had nowhere to isolate her, so I said I would take her in. we then found out she had mammary cancer, which I think explains why she was unsociable.
Tom, my long term foster was taken to the vets to be pts, but the vet couldn't do it, so he is here till he has lost enough weight to be rehomed.
Maybe not interesting, but I do wonder how many of the cats I have had would have died otherwise.
 

sharky

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Kandie was a freinds cats litter( mama cat was spayed )

Simon(rip) was found on a busy street at age of 5-6 weeks

Zoey came from the local shelter whan I got some wise idea Kandie wanted a buddy(haha )

Gigi came from the shelter in colorado
 

talon

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Salem : Petsmart/shelter
Raven: Shelter
Max: Petsmart/shelter/petfinder.com
Andy: petfinder.com/Petsmart/shelter

Nothing interesting on how I got them - only thing intersting is that they are all black.
 

arlyn

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Spaz -Dumped at my vet's office by her "breeder"

Shadow -Fiance's cat, his mom decided he needed him and he came home from work to find a little tabby kitten

Vash & Trouble -Fiance's mother decided we needed some younger cats in the house, so we adopted the brothers.

Ivory -born with congenital glaucoma, I agreed to take her knowing how hard special needs kitties are to place.

Cassi -Ivory's momma, it was a package deal.
 

darcifinn

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I got Finn and Darci from their foster mommy. I asked which one was going to be hardest to place and they said the little black one because she is so people shy and won't come out and she hides behind her brother. I said I will take them both, I am so glad I did. They are both sweet loving kittens, she is still shy around others but she loves her mommy and her brother and they are both so very cuddly. FOr a long time Iresisted getting kittens because I did not want to be the cliche single woman with a cat but I am so glad my sis-in-law convinced me to get the kittens I have not regretted it for even a minute.
 

menagerie mama

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I got Cajun at the Humane society when he was 8 weeks old, malnourished and sick. He's 10 years old this July. Smudge was found by a friend of mine as a 6 week old stray kitten wandering alone in a parking lot. She's 8 now. Cubby and Emily (sisters) were barn kittens that I got from a co-worker at 6 weeks old. They are now 4 years old. Elessar's mom brought him and his siblings up on to someone's porch one rainy night, and she took them in. She brought them in to my work (vet) and I fell in love instantly and begged her for him! He'll be 2 in December. I trapped Bob in my yard, fully intending to find him another home, but he won my heart also! I had seen him wandering the neighborhood for a year before I trapped him. He had scars all over his body and was declawed in front, and had fleas. Why do people have cats if they're just going to let them wander outside and get hurt like that? And no claws to defend himself...
He's probably about 6 years old. Finally, I also trapped Timmy in my yard, when he was 4 months old. When we brought him downstairs to the foster area of our basement, he got away from us and we couldn't find him for 3 days. He was in our sump pump! That's how he got the name Timmy, being in the "well" and all.
He was extremely feral and went through months of kitty therapy before he trusted anyone enough. Another one I was intending on placing in a new home, but he stole my heart after I tamed him! Aside from the occasional scuffle over a favorite sleeping spot, everyone gets along!
I also have 2 dogs, but being a cat forum, we won't get into them...lol.
 

waddle

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I had been thinking about getting some kitties for a while (what I really wanted was a dog, as I have never been a "cat person", but I'm not home enough for a dog). When I visited my parents at their farm they had a litter of kittens whose mother had been killed...we tried to save them by feeding milk replacer they had for the calves (this may have been totally inappropriate food for them?) but we didn't have a clue what we were doing, nor did we know we had to stimulate them to go potty often enough. They all ended up dying...they were just too young. After that I looked on petfinder, found Jack and Henry and the rest of their litter, and went to get them a week later. I think I'm now a cat person, LOL.
 

gailc

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Ox- I he was from a litter one of my cats had many yrs ago. I gave him to a co-workers as his daughter wanted a cat for her 16th birthday. When she turned 18 she moved out and left Ox (who was called something else) He wasn't neutered and got in a terrible fight and my co-worker spent some $$$ on him. He didn't want him after that due to fighting. I said get him neutered and I'll take him back. That was in 1991.
Grizzly-her and her sister (Sierra RIP 7/23/2003) came from one of our litters-their mama was run over by a car.
Bobber- was a unusual cat in one SIL's barn. She was a kitten when we took her home thanksgiving evening as their barn kittens winter survival rate wasn't the best.
Bakker-I obtained him from a rescue about and hour away. I had lost Sheba RIP 9/26/2004) and was actually looking for an older female to take home but he wouldn't stop crawling up my leg so I had to take him!!
 

eilcon

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I got my oldest, Katie, when I was stationed in the Army in Belgium. A British woman found her roaming her yard with no mama cat in sight. She didn't feel like she could take care of the kitten, so she advertised her for adoption on Armed Forces Radio. Many people were interested, but I was the lucky one chosen and Katie's been with me ever since.

Gracie came from a colony of feral cats in a local neighborhood that a friend of mine was caring for. We think she was only kitten in her litter to survive. My friend trapped Gracie and her mother, had mama fixed and I adopted Gracie.

Peter is also from a litter of feral kittens. He has six brothers and sisters.
I had no intention of adopting a third cat, but the first time I saw the shy little gray and white guy I knew he was meant to be mine. I put adopting him off for a while, hoping he'd find another home. He was adopted once, but returned when the person described him as viscious - hissing and scratching. He was obviously just scared because I've never met a sweeter, more gentle boy.
 

babyharley

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My story isn't nearly as interesting as all of yours!!

When John's cat had babies, (they were at his mothers house) we would go by everyday to see them. I was totally in love with all of them and I wanted one so bad, but my family is all alergic and I was so worried that no one could come visit me if I got one. But then in the end we decided to get one cuz we live 3 hrs away from all my family and they only come to visit at least 2 times a year so we figured that we could get one since they don't visit too often! We picked out Harley right away b/c when I went there that day to pick one up he was the first one to come to me and wanted to play right away and give me kisses! I fell in love with him immediately and he's been my momma's boy ever since!
 

darkeyedgirl

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Snickers was a stray. Broken leg, muddy, dirty & so adorably sweet!

Dusty was adopted from the county animal shelter (older cat... she was given up by someone else).

Jessie was adopted from the county animal shelter (kitten -- on the "way out" list).

K.C. was a stray... malnourished & sickly.

Zorro was given to me by a distant friend who didn't want him anymore... hated him & wanted to take him to the pound.

Hammie, I adopted from the Humane Society. My bunny died, and my bunny was Zorro's main playmate; so I adopted Hammie so Zorro would have someone to play with. They've been inseperable since!

& that's all for now...
 

ugaimes

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Originally Posted by OllyExtra05

I adopted Oliver from an animal shelter while in college in Upstate NY. He was only 4 weeks old when we got him, and so he definitely thinks I am his mommy!
Emma's story is more complicated...to read it, go to this thread
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60877
Oh Emma's story brought tears to my eyes!
. What a blessing she found you (and that you found her!)!

Eponine found me during my first (of two) senior year in college. I went to the Athens Humane Society wanting a kitten. Well, Eponine was almost a year old at that point (and the shelter had named her Mila), but she was the most stunningly beautiful and sweet cat I had ever laid eyes on. I went home that night and talked it over with my roommate (an evil girl who did not want a cat there) and my 2 best friends (who are wonderful cat lovers). Naturally, my best friends and I came to the same conclusion: BRING EPONINE HOME! So I did and the rest is history
.

Cosy found me in March. I spent about a month going to the Humane Society and checking with local rescue groups on an almost-daily basis, looking for that one sweet little kitten. Well, I went to the Humane Society one day and went straight to the kitten room. There were a few itty-bitty tuxedo kitties in there. I fell in love with one right away (her name was Katie) and I ran to the front desk to adopt her, only to find out she was already adopted. So then I said, "I want Donna!" (her sister). Donna WAS available, so I took her home the next day, where she was immediately renamed Cosette.
My life has never been better than it is now with my 2 sweet little rat-heads
.
 

lndscpsam

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I had to beg to get a kitty. It took me a good 10 months of nagging my husband before he finally gave in. I immediately went to the Humane Society and came home with an older cat. It didn't work out, so I was given a coupon to find another animal at the humane society. No luck. Then a friend of mine who breeds Persians offered me one of her kittens at a good price. She insisted I take her little white/blue van bicolor boy because he had the best personality. At the time he was only 4 weeks old, so I visited him constantly until he came home at 10 weeks. Well I was still stuck with this Humane Society coupon. I tried finding someone who could use it, but to no avail. So one day I go to the Humane Society to find someone who can use it. The few people I approached looked at me like I was scamming them-strange. Anyway, while I was there this lady comes over to a kennel that had a black and white kitten. She remarked how "there's only one left". I asked her if she had brought them into the Humane Society and she told me that she fostered the kittens for the Humane Society and that she was really hoping this little one would go to a good home because it was very sweet and it didn't have a tail. What, no tail! Talk about divine intervention! She couldn't have possible known I just LOVE those little manx kitties! WEll to make a long story short, that little manx kitten came home with me that day. My husband was fuming he was so mad! I knew if I gave hubby a few days to calm down I'd get to keep my kitty. And he did. She was aptly name "Pandora", because I certainly opened that box when I brought her home. I just love her and Sluggo and enjoy them every moment of every day!
 

kittylover4ever

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Well, our 4 year old, Trixie, was adopted out of an ad we saw in the paper. She was being fostered. One look and I was in love. We got her at 7 weeks.

Then came Petals, Tiggy and Bailey, in that order. They were all found abandoned as kittens by hubby Jerry while doing EMS volunteer work at an annual bike a thon called Pedal to the Point. The bike a thon is rode on all these back, country roads where there's very little traffic. I'm saddened to think that there are such heartless people out there that will dump sick kittens out in the middle of nowhere, but that is what seems to have happened to my babies. Thank God he found them and they are part of our family now.
 

courtney_ou

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my roomie and i decided we wanted a pet last fall. theres always someone giving away kittens on the OU site, so i started looking. I couldnt find anyone with kittens left b/c it was close to xmas. I started looking for chihuahuas instead. the day i was supposed to meet the chi breeder, one of the ppl giving away kitties emailed me the # of a woman who had some.
I called the lady and culd barely understand anythign she said b/c of her israeli accent.
rebecca and i went to look at the kittens. Chloe (then named Mabelle,) her mom and bro were the only ones left. They had been rescued by the no kill shelter from abusive owners. chloe was severely skittish and it took 30 min to catch her in an open room. she wouldnt even go near her mama or bro.
i actually wanted her bro but i couldnt have him without his mom and they were both Fiv+
the woman told me if i didnt take chloe, she would most likely be put to sleep due to her antisocial behavior and b/c no one else wanted her.
when i tried to pet her, she was soo scared that she was shaking. she was too scared to even hiss.
it broke my heart and so i took her. best decision ive ever made!
 
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