How do you pick a cat?

[Margot Lane]

B

"My" first cat Beeps was gifted to me. Really my grandmother took care of him though. I was 4. My aunt and uncle found him in the snow up north. He had damage to his vocal cords from the cold. Hence Beeps.

Nobel, I wanted to take a cat to college with me and my mum wouldn't let me take Sweetie with me. (Old cat that decided to get in my mum's car while her boyfriend was in an appointment so we took her home and put found signs and ended up with a cat.) She was quite old and just wanted to sit on your lap. She would stay on the top bunk beds and if you passed her twice without patting her she would cuff you upside the head (no claws).
My cousins had found a cat dumped in the woods. Turns out she was pregnant. My Gramma said I could have a kitten to take with me to college. I asked for a boy as they were less expensive to neuter and I only had a part time job. He was the only boy born and the only shorthaired cat in the litter. Him and 4 orange girls. Be default he was mine!

Once I moved out of my first apartment, Nobel was an only pet. He was lonely. I posted a Kijiji ad looking for a 1 yr old fixed cat. Enter Lily. I never met her before I adopted her.

After Lily passed, we would find Nobel at the door during our daily walk. It was so sad. He would be curled against it and pressed into it. We looked for a young cat who was experienced with seniors. Magnus was in a foster home with an older cat. We never met him before I adopted him. He loved us instantly.

Calcifer we had to look for a unicorn of a cat. One that had been tested for FIV and FeLV. And also one that had lived in a home with an older cat. His foster had a grumpy older resident cat. We talked to her and she decided Calcifer would be the best fit. It's who we asked for and she thinks we were correct from the descriptions posted online. We didn't meet him until his foster dropped him off.

We weren't planning on adopting a third cat again. We went to a pet store we don't normally go to. I like to peek at the cats. It's fun to play with the kittens through the glass. There was an est. 2 yr old cat and he pawed at the glass like he was digging to me. Usually when we asked about a cat, we were told we couldn't meet them until we make an application. That would end the adoption thoughts. This volunteer said, "sure come in." Ghost didn't just win me over, but my wife AND our friend who went from, "You're not getting a third cat." To "If you don't adopt him, I have to and my cat will murder him and me." Then the unicorn moment: he had been FIv and FeLV tested. We usually didn't have a ride either but had gone running errands with a friend with a car; we had a ride home. The stars aligned for Ghost in a way that makes you believe in fate.

Beeps really made beeping sounds? Like a car horn?

 

[Biomehanika]

Your parents did?! Oh wow, that's awful. I'm so sorry.

Lol yeah… I don’t think they *intended* to be mean but it was… I always wanted a pair of kittens as a kid, like I was OBSESSED with the idea of having two kittens, and I would ask for two kittens every Christmas, so just before Christmas they told me they thought it might “finally be the year I get my dream present of two kittens”, so I should prepare for their arrival. So on Christmas morning I’d be opening my gifts all anxious wondering where my kittens were, and one of them would make a big show of coming in with a “special gift” in a big box for me that wasn’t under the tree, and I’d excitedly open it thinking it was finally my kittens, and it was indeed two kittens…. two beanie baby kittens the first time and two random stuffed animal kittens the next time, yes, they thought it was so funny that they did it twice

 

[Ella Spell]

Oh bother! That's still sad.

On that note, I had winter mittens that looked like tigers. I named them Mitsy and Mopsy. I used to make them meow at each other and I used them as hand puppets even when it wasn't cold out, because I always wanted two kitties at the same time too!

Sadly, I lost one of them when I was about seven. I still mourn for that mitten.

 

[Alldara]

B


Beeps really made beeping sounds? Like a car horn?

Not like a car horn but like a tonal "menh" sound.

I was 4. Were lucky his name just wasn't "kitty"

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I didn't choose Flora. I put in an application for a kitten and I said that I didn't have any preferences for color, temperament or gender, so the rescue basically chose her for me (this was also right at the beginning of the pandemic so actually being able to visit cats was nearly impossible). With Maisie and Remy, I was drawn to Maisie's grumpy face in her adoption photo and I went to meet her. She didn't want anything to do with me because she doesn't like people (she had been at the rescue for 2 years at that point), but I wanted her. Remy was another cat at the same place Maisie was at since they wanted Maisie to go with a cat she knew and I chose him because he was one of the few cats in the room that interacted with me.

 

[HeyKat]

A cat came waltzing into our home, flopped down on the carpet, and said, "Yes, this will do."

We looked for his owners, but never found them. We suspect he was abandoned when they moved away.

It's been about 6 years now, and we still serve him

 

[Caspers Human]

The "Siamese Cat Song" from the animated movie, "The Lady and the Tramp."

We are Siamese if you please! (Bump! Ba-Dump! Bump-Bump!)
We are Siamese if you don't please!
We are checking out this brand new domicile.
If we like it, maybe we will stay a while.

 

[allmykitties]

The story of how we adopted Cosette...

I, too, have a cat named Cosette. She's a predominately gray tortie (dilute). One night in February 2016, my middle son came home from work at 10:30pm and there was a cat meowing in front of the house. I'd adopted four others from a shelter, so I couldn't bring her straightaway into the house, so we set her up in the garage. (Son had said he thought it was too cold, that it must be illegal to have a cat be outside in such weather.) Well, she devoured the food I put down almost immediately (in the time it took me to make a make-do litterbox), and then emitted the most foul smelling diarrhea into the box. So next morning I called the vet and got her in. $200 later, I had a healthy cat. Because she came to us like that in the cold, I named her Cosette.

My four adoptees at that time had all come from the same shelter/rescue. TV was the one I found first (she is a black and white tuxie), but there was a blog attached to the rescue and I learned that TV had a probable brother, Domino (black and white cow print; sadly he passed away from GI lymphoma last September), and he was shy and she was more outgoing, so I adopted them both. But at the same time there was a calico (Autumn, now very ill, same disease as Domino) who was probably their mother as they'd all be found together in the middle of nowhere 30 miles from any houses, and another long hair (dilute calico) named Circe whose picture on the sidebar of adoptable kitties just said to me "be my person". Circe was 6.5 years old when I adopted her and she lived with me for 9 years before developing inoperable lumps on her side and passing away.

I also started a small TNR project a few years ago during the year of the Kittenpocalypse. Nine kittens born to three mothers (one of whom vanished before I caught her), and only two of the kittens survived. Naturally, I captured the kittens and had intended to foster and adopt them out but they ended up permanently with me--Leo, an orange boy born from the one who got away; Jemmy, a brown tabby boy born from the gray tabby with white feet I called Socks. None of Lady Jane's kittens survived; Socks and Lady Jane were successfully caught and spayed. But people still won't spay their cats and apparently kick them out when they get pregnant which is how Char showed up (solid charcoal gray) and her surviving kitten is Pandora (long hair tortie point). Yes, I adopted Pandora, too.

So, I currently have six living cats--only one of whom I actually picked (I had been looking for a tuxedo cat), and all the others picked me or otherwise came across my path.

 

[amethyst]

Most of my cats I didn't choose, so I'll just stick with the ones I actually picked otherwise I'll be writing a book.

I had a couple cats when I was a kid but the first cat I got was from a shelter when I moved out on my own (well sort of, I rented a room in a house so I had roommates). I was looking for a young cat, but ended up falling for an almost 8 year old cat, name Rumpus, instead. The shelter did have kittens, and young cats, but when I went into the multi-cat room it was like he took one look at me and said "oh good you are finally here, lets go home!" and climbed into my arms. He settled right in and didn't want me to put him back down, I didn't even read his chart until after I decided to get him, but it apparently said he doesn't like to be held. That was also when I found out he was an older cat, but at that point it didn't matter he was coming home with me. He actually worked out perfectly, since I was working and going to school I was gone most of the day so being an older cat he was fine with that, getting a young cat would have been a mistake.

Years later when I moved to live with my now husband we went to the shelter to look for a kitten for our new house, they told me they didn't have any kittens, but when I looked at the cats there was a 5 month old (I guess they considered her a "young cat" not at "kitten") fluffy tuxedo female. She was really pulling out all the stops in the kennel cage she was in, trying to look as cute as possible batting around a little toy ball and pawing at the bars. She was the only younger cat there, and clearly was trying hard to get adopted so we signed the papers and took her home and renamed her Mystic (the shelter had named her something else but I didn't like it). It was clear she needed a playmate though, so about a month later after getting Mystic spayed we went to look at some 9 week old kittens advertised as "Maine coon kittens" which is a breed I love and are well known for being playful and good mousers. They weren't papered or anything, so were likely at most mix, but they did look like Maine coons so if not Maine coons at least very good look a likes. I didn't really care too much about color, but had wanted a male since I already had a female. I ended up just picking out the one that liked me, most were running around, hiding, and not wanting to be held. I was told there was only one male in the litter, and the one I picked was a female, but on the ride home I was checking the kitten out more and realized nope not a girl, lol. I named him Raccoon because of the dark marks by his eyes, but mostly called him Coon for short.

Living on an acreage people dump cats here, so I've had several more cats that were directly or indirectly the result of that. So I think the next cat I was able to actually pick out for myself was Misty. I had just put Coon down a couple weeks prior at 16 years old do to kidney failure and was at the local feed shop picking up food for the dogs, no intention of getting another cat at the time. The shop cat had had kittens a couple months prior and they were giving them away for free. My husband pointed them out and when I looked up one really caught my eye, a long haired silver tortie, and the way the light was hitting her she appeared to be glowing. I didn't even really look at the other kittens in the litter, it was love at first sight instant connection, I needed her. I took her out and she snuggled right up under my chin and named her Misty. She got along with everyone, but the age gap between her and the next youngest ones was a couple years.

The next ones I guess we sort of picked was Freya, Lily, and later Onyx. A mother cat and kittens were tossed outside during winter at the shop my husband works. Most of his coworkers didn't want them in the shop so they kept throwing them out in the cold and snow, and threw things at them to get them to go away. By the time we decided to try to rescue them (we really didn't need more cats) my husband could only find and catch one kitten so he took her home and later caught the mother and brought her home too, we named the kitten Freya and the mother Lily. Freya was only a few months younger then Misty so was a good playmate for her, and they got along great. Sadly Freya suddenly passed away at only 6 months, Misty was devastated (so was I), and was wondering around the house meowing and trying to find Freya, it was heartbreaking. We found out a few days after she passed away that one of my husband's coworkers apparently had rescued the other kittens from that litter (that is why he couldn't find the other kittens) and was finding homes for them, and they still had one, a black male, if we wanted him. So on his way home my husband picked up Freya's brother, who I named Onyx, to help us heal and give Misty a new playmate near her age.

 

[tiggerwillow]

Mine have either been "hard luck" stories, or chosen me

Ebony (my sweetpea) was a hard-luck story, she was desperate to get back to her kittens to nurse them but when I met her she had had to get seperated from them cause she was really poorly and there was a concern she would pass something through her milk to her babies, Ebony herself the vet thought only had 2 years maximum left, she was so poorly, and I was going through mental illness at the time as well so cause both of us needed the other, she came to me once the vets said she could get adopted

Tigger? She chose me, I was looking at another cat and Tigger was jumping around the cage trying to open the door and crying and at one point almost screaming for the door to get opened

Willow? In a way she was a hard-luck story, but she also chose me, she came over for a sniff, then did what Ebony had done and curled her tail round my leg like "mine now"

 

[maggie101]

Except for peaches my other 2 cats picked me. Maggie showed up on my porch 4 weeks old with mom and 4 siblings. Coco was a stray and taken 5 weeks old and showed up at my porch window rubbing against it

 

[eevans3373]

One day I came home and there was a cat here.

And he wouldn't stop following me around. So he became my cat.

Until he died of cancer last year. He was a good cat. I was sad.

Two weeks later when i was throwing away his stuff, I found these two other cats.

 

[RTR]

sit on the floor...(no treats) and wait! Cats pick you!

 

[tiggerwillow]

sit on the floor...(no treats) and wait! Cats pick you!

I can vouch for this, I remember when I was volunteering in rescue (several years ago), we had a badly shut down tabby and white girl called Smartie there, her owners had been evicted and her and two other cats got dumped outside the door by the landlord, the rescue took them in, Smartie was badly shut down and refused to come out of her cage

until one day when a couple came in, we had opened Smartie's cage figuring "it won't matter if her cage is open cause she never leaves it" the lady of the couple sat beside her open cage and first one paw came out, onto her lap, cautiously a second paw onto the lap, then slowly the third then the fourth, she then lay down on the lady's lap, she had clearly chose them so they adopted her