The story of your cat’s adoption

[Shawna87]

Hey everyone! I’ve been having a little of a rough week and thinking of my kitties adoption stories helped perk me up. I’d love to hear everyone else’s adoptions/how you took in your kitties! I’ll go first…

Before me and my husband were married my husband found a kitten left outside by his work. I named her Lucy for him and his mom took her in. She was very sick as a kitten. While me and my husband were on our honeymoon my childhood cat Louie got diagnosed with stomach cancer. I was supposed to take Louie to me and my husbands new house after we got married, unfortunately as we were traveling back home I got news that Louie wouldn’t make it very much longer. Sadly he passed away before I could return home to him. I was devastated and my home felt empty without him. In the meantime my mother in law who took care of Lucy said she was scratching her furniture and she wasn’t in good health at her house (she doesn’t know much about cats). She told me she wanted to get new furniture but she’d have to get rid of Lucy first. I wanted to see her happy and healthy so I took her in and got her healthy. Several months later I felt that maybe Lucy was lonely so I was just casually considering adopting another cat. I came across a sweet kitten that needed a home and me and my husband adopted him and we now call him Beau. I love both my kitties to death and they came into my life exactly when I needed them.

I’d love to hear your stories! Bonus if you have pictures!!

(Lucy is the fluffy ball and Beau is the black kitty)

 

[Binxie]

I have had many cats over the decades, most have been strays that I took in. However there was one that I got at an estate sale I was going to the sale to see the many craft items being sold, when I got there there was a sign on the wall with a picture of a cat, stating that it needed a new home as the owner had passed away and was currently being held at a shelter. I felt so bad for this cat I went to the shelter and adopted him. This was years ago and he has since passed away but he was a great big guy and a great addition to my house, here he is.

 

[Antonio65]

I am the carer of a feline colony at my workplace.
On a morning in December 2019, I saw 4 new kittens in a filthy corner of the yard at the workplace. Their mother was a few steps away. They were about three months old. It was freezing and snow was expected. At that time I used to have the trap cage in my car all the times, so I set up the trap and a few minutes later I had trapped two of them. The other two kittens were rescued the next day, while it was snowing. All the kittens were taken to the local cat shelter, waiting to be checked and put up for an adoption.
Two days later I was called because one of them wasn't feeling well, so I went to the shelter, picked up the kitten and took her to the vet. She had a sore throat and a runny nose. She was given an anti-inflammatory and sent back to the shelter. But by the time we were out of the vet's office, the shelter had closed, it was 7:30 pm. So I brought the kitten home with me and thought to take her back the next morning.
Came the next morning, my wife and I saw the kitten was feeling extremely comfortable at home, had slept well, and was acting as she had always lived with us, so we decided to give her a chance for a couple of days. And she stayed.
We named her Giada, that means Jade in Italian.

Just 11 months later, while driving past a restaurant on a major road not far from home, I spotted a couple of cats in the parking lot. I stopped to check out and saw two adult cats. One of them had three tiny kittens with her. They were extremely young. The place was a nightmare, it was filthy and dangerous. I walked slowly towards them. The mom and two kittens ran away, the third one didn't see me coming, so I was able to grab her barehand, walked back to my car and put her in a carrier I had with me. She had very sore eyes, that's why she didn't see me coming. The vets treated her for this and a few days later she was fine again, and I adopted her. She was about 6 weeks old when I found her.
Meanwhile I managed to rescue the other two kittens as well. They also went to two good families.
My kitten was named Freya.

Giada (L), 3 years and 8 months old.
Freya (R), 2 years and 6 months old.

 

[Shawna87]

I have had many cats over the decades, most have been strays that I took in. However there was one that I got at an estate sale I was going to the sale to see the many craft items being sold, when I got there there was a sign on the wall with a picture of a cat, stating that it needed a new home as the owner had passed away and was currently being held at a shelter. I felt so bad for this cat I went to the shelter and adopted him. This was years ago and he has since passed away but he was a great big guy and a great addition to my house, here he is.View attachment 448235

Aww I love this story! He was lucky to have you take him in

 

[Shawna87]

I am the carer of a feline colony at my workplace.
On a morning in December 2019, I saw 4 new kittens in a filthy corner of the yard at the workplace. Their mother was a few steps away. They were about three months old. It was freezing and snow was expected. At that time I used to have the trap cage in my car all the times, so I set up the trap and a few minutes later I had trapped two of them. The other two kittens were rescued the next day, while it was snowing. All the kittens were taken to the local cat shelter, waiting to be checked and put up for an adoption.
Two days later I was called because one of them wasn't feeling well, so I went to the shelter, picked up the kitten and took her to the vet. She had a sore throat and a runny nose. She was given an anti-inflammatory and sent back to the shelter. But by the time we were out of the vet's office, the shelter had closed, it was 7:30 pm. So I brought the kitten home with me and thought to take her back the next morning.
Came the next morning, my wife and I saw the kitten was feeling extremely comfortable at home, had slept well, and was acting as she had always lived with us, so we decided to give her a chance for a couple of days. And she stayed.
We named her Giada, that means Jade in Italian.

Just 11 months later, while driving past a restaurant on a major road not far from home, I spotted a couple of cats in the parking lot. I stopped to check out and saw two adult cats. One of them had three tiny kittens with her. They were extremely young. The place was a nightmare, it was filthy and dangerous. I walked slowly towards them. The mom and two kittens ran away, the third one didn't see me coming, so I was able to grab her barehand, walked back to my car and put her in a carrier I had with me. She had very sore eyes, that's why she didn't see me coming. The vets treated her for this and a few days later she was fine again, and I adopted her. She was about 6 weeks old when I found her.
Meanwhile I managed to rescue the other two kittens as well. They also went to two good families.
My kitten was named Freya.

View attachment 448236
Giada (L), 3 years and 8 months old.
Freya (R), 2 years and 6 months old.

They are both such beautiful cats! Such a sweet story! I’m sure they are happy and spoiled! Thank you for sharing

 

[Amethyst Creighton]

I have two cats. The first ones mother was a feral cat who wouldn’t let anyone within 20 feet of her. She got in my basement through a broken vent & had 4 kittens. At that side of my house I have a flower bed with tall cannas, so I didn’t see them going in & out & didn’t know they were down there. Then one day I saw the mama cat & all her kittens romping & playing in my side yard & thought…how cute! I’ve been invaded by little wild kittens, lol I could only see the mom from a distance & thought she looked like a longhair dilute tortoiseshell. From observing them I could tell she was a very intelligent cat. She taught her kittens to look both ways before crossing the road…I’d never seen a cat teach their kittens this before. I was impressed! She taught them to hunt & which neighbors they could get food from. I started feeding them on my front porch, too. I never seen the father of these kittens, but I think he may have been Manx or part Manx…one of the kittens, a gray one with orange eyes, was born with a stubby tail about an inch long. Soon when mom & kittens would go off on their rounds or hunting, the black kitten would stay behind on my front porch just watching traffic go by. Kittens were about 3-4mos old at this time. The black one only left my porch to hunt, then back again. One night I gave him a leftover catfish fillet. He was going to town on it like it was the best thing he’d ever had. After that he proceeded to show me what a great hunter he was…first day, he left a baby possum on my doormat. Second day, he left a mouse & third day it was a huge crow. I thought, omg, he’s gonna bring the whole animal kingdom to me if I don’t bring him inside! I’d seen him chasing a rabbit before. One night it was raining & I was watching a scary movie. I heard this scratching on my window screen & almost jumped out of my chair. When I looked out it was him looking back in at me, so I let him in telling him: This isn’t a revolving door, so if you come in it will be for the whole night, lol. I took him to be neutered & he’s been inside since & I named him Shadow. So ‘he’ adopted me, not the other way around, lol. The others went to a man’s farm after he trapped them.
My other cat, Pixie, I adopted her from a rescue center. I was looking at this little gray kitten on Petfinder, but when I contacted the rescue center, she had already been adopted, but they told me they had other kittens & sent me some pics. They found Pixie under an elderly lady’s porch after the mama cat abandoned her. She was only 5wks old when they rescued her one night in December & it was 19F degrees that night. I don’t think she would have survived if they hadn’t found her. They searched the area for mama cat, too, but couldn’t find her. Pixie was 6wks old when I adopted her. Shadow is now 7yrs old & Pixie is 2 & half. The one on the left is Shadow with Pixie beside him…

 

[Antonio65]

The one on the left is Shadow with Pixie beside him…

View attachment 448995

What a lovely and heartwarming story!

 

[Alldara]

I am the carer of a feline colony at my workplace.
On a morning in December 2019, I saw 4 new kittens in a filthy corner of the yard at the workplace. Their mother was a few steps away. They were about three months old. It was freezing and snow was expected. At that time I used to have the trap cage in my car all the times, so I set up the trap and a few minutes later I had trapped two of them. The other two kittens were rescued the next day, while it was snowing. All the kittens were taken to the local cat shelter, waiting to be checked and put up for an adoption.
Two days later I was called because one of them wasn't feeling well, so I went to the shelter, picked up the kitten and took her to the vet. She had a sore throat and a runny nose. She was given an anti-inflammatory and sent back to the shelter. But by the time we were out of the vet's office, the shelter had closed, it was 7:30 pm. So I brought the kitten home with me and thought to take her back the next morning.
Came the next morning, my wife and I saw the kitten was feeling extremely comfortable at home, had slept well, and was acting as she had always lived with us, so we decided to give her a chance for a couple of days. And she stayed.
We named her Giada, that means Jade in Italian.

Just 11 months later, while driving past a restaurant on a major road not far from home, I spotted a couple of cats in the parking lot. I stopped to check out and saw two adult cats. One of them had three tiny kittens with her. They were extremely young. The place was a nightmare, it was filthy and dangerous. I walked slowly towards them. The mom and two kittens ran away, the third one didn't see me coming, so I was able to grab her barehand, walked back to my car and put her in a carrier I had with me. She had very sore eyes, that's why she didn't see me coming. The vets treated her for this and a few days later she was fine again, and I adopted her. She was about 6 weeks old when I found her.
Meanwhile I managed to rescue the other two kittens as well. They also went to two good families.
My kitten was named Freya.

View attachment 448236
Giada (L), 3 years and 8 months old.
Freya (R), 2 years and 6 months old.

They look matching in a way!

 

[Alldara]

Current cats
Magnus: Nobel needed a companion after Lily passed. We went for a 20 minute walk and found him glued to the door when we returned. I knew we couldn't go back to work after lockdown and leave him alone. We searched for a cat who lived with an older cat already.
His foster said he was found outside at a colony with his brother. The person who runs the colony hadn't had a cat give birth (they were all TNR) and said they were too friendly to have been born to a feral mum. She thinks they were dumped. In foster he was raised with two older cats and we brought him home after a video "meeting". The vet gave him one DOB but his foster estimated that as two weeks early. Magnus lied to his foster about being a quiet boy and immediately become a noisy boy. He is silly and has retained behaviours he learned in foster (he grooms Calcifer the same way her cat used to groom him!)
Magnus gave Nobel the two best years of Nobel's life. He never bonded to another cat the way he had to Magnus. He played with him (Lily never played with Nobel and no cat had in years, but Nobel always wanted to.) And taught Nobel new things.

Calcifer: we wanted a second cat introduced to Magnus before Nobel passed away. Also, we missed having a black cat. Again, we searched for a cat food with older cats. Calcifer always born inside at his foster home from a stray mum who was picked up by the same rescue Magnus came from. She had a LOT of kittens. They also had two resident cats, one whom was old and grumpy. It's rare for cats to be tested for FIV and FELV before adoption here, and Calcifer's mother had been and it was negative. It was truly a perfect match for one from his litter and after discussing with the foster mum she suggest Calcifer. She knew the kittens so well and we think thats why Calcifer settled with us so quickly. Calcifer very quickly loved his fur family and was always found near to another cat.

Late cats
Beeps: Found outside in northern Ontario while my aunt and uncle were on vacation. Was "my" cat as in gifted to me, but I was a child so my grandmother's cat really. We didn't know to keep him in while moving and he took off. Neighbours looked for him for us, and had our number but he never returned (likely, he lived at his other home who kept feeding him when he was on a diet, never learned who it was).

Nobel: his mum was dumped pregnant on my grandmother's property. My cousins brought her home and he was the only short-hair and the only male. I took him at 3 months and he was my first official cat. We were 17 years together and he trained himself to be my support cat at home.

Lily: After we left my Gramma's home Nobel needed a companion. I posted an ad on Kijiji for a 1 year old fixed cat wanted. A woman emailed me and said her mother-in-law left a cat here and refused to get it. If I could take her because they don't like cats and otherwise would take her to the SPCA. They never told me her name but they said she was found as a kitten in a box, her mother-in-law's friend brought them in, mother-in-law took Lily, then left her when she moved out. Lily's main companion was their Husky. She emailed twice to ensure Lily was settled in, just "how's the cat?". So I promised we would be her last home and we were. Lily came to trust people and became the reason 3 other friends adopted cats, specifically black ones. The depth of trust she built for me was something special I will always cherish.

I've had many other cats in and out of my life over the years. All rescues.

 

[aliceneko]

Toffee and Fudge were adopted from a local shelter, and I got them purposefully because they were the last in the shelter - and I fell in love the second Toffee locked eyes with me when I was visiting them. They were about 8 weeks old at the time. They were from a litter of 4 (that came into the shelter, their foster carers didn't know if they may have had more siblings) and came from a cat colony in an abandoned building in one of the neighbouring areas. They are semi-feral, and still don't like to be properly held and are incredibly wary of strangers. Sadly Fudge went missing in 2020 and has not yet returned. Toffee is the runt of the litter and he is unable to purr, he snuffles instead!

 

[SwissMiss]

At Christmas time in 2001 my brother adopted Rusty from a shelter for our dad as a Christmas present. Rusty was about 3 years old and had come from a cat hoarding situation with 47 cats in a one bedroom apartment. Rusty must have thought he hit the jackpot - going from that situation to live in a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs. I was in town to visit and Rusty bonded with me first. I was totally charmed by him. My dad told my brother - Why did you get me a cat? Why didn't you get me a black cat? (My brother knew it would be fine since we'd had cats since I was 7 years old.). My family does love black cats. Rusty must have bonded with someone - maybe the hoarder or someone before the hoarder because often cats in a hoarding situation don't make good pets. When I went back home Rusty totally bonded with my dad, but he was a one person cat and wouldn't give anyone else the time of day. If company came over he would run and hide. When my dad went to Europe for 5 weeks Rusty was unsure about coming down from upstairs when my dad returned. Finally he came down and when my dad went to bed Rusty was so happy that he licked my father all over his face. When my dad died Rusty came to live with me. He lavished me with attention but if friends came over he'd go in the back until they went home. I got him when he was 8 or 9 and he lived until he was 18 or 19. After he died I grieved more for him that I've ever grieved for anyone else before - human or animal. He was such a special soul. My current cat was found with her littermates in a locked garden shed at 3 weeks old. The mother was no where to be found. The shelter placed her and her siblings with a foster family. I saw a blurb about her dubbed the Cuddle Cat. The foster mother wrote - She just looks at you and starts purring. When I went to meet her and her siblings the 2 girls were shut down. I asked the foster mother which one of them was more affectionate and she said Jasmine. I took a chance and adopted her at 7 months old. I set her up in my bathroom and she was so scared, but the 3rd time I went in the bathroom she totally warmed up to me. She is a great cat and I'm so glad she was spared the hard life her mother had. She is now 7 years old.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

When I first moved into my own place I knew I wanted a cat, I’d been around them my whole life at home. and couldn’t wait to get one of my ‘own’. I read somewhere that British Shorthair cats were particularly adept at being house cats, and this was one aspect that was non negotiable to me. I was younger and didn’t know much about much then so I decided I wanted a British Blue. Looked on a quite well established pet site and found a ‘breeder’ not a million miles away.

We arrived at a house that was without sounding snobbish, a bit of a dump. There was an unkempt lady, the house smelled damp and was dirty and in amongst it all this tiny grey kitten. He clearly wasn’t a British Blue, there was no sign of a mother or father, no other kittens just this pitiful little grey boy who we estimated to be 6-8 weeks old. We enquired after the mother and father she said, mothers out who knows when she will be back. The lady just looked us up and down and said take him or leave him either way he’s gone today.
No way could I leave that poor little baby to go who knows where, I don’t even know if she owned the mother or she had got this kitten and decided she didn’t want him. But he wasn’t staying there. We paid her the asking price which was the asking price of a full 5 gen pedigree kitten just to get him off her hands.
We got to the car, that kitty snuggled into my husband without a whimper or care that he was in a strange place and just basically said ‘ahhhh I’m home’. He settled with us right from the moment we took him. And he stayed that way for 14 long years until this past February. He was the cat that was never meant to be with us, but actually he was because I believe everything happens for a reason and he ended up right where he was meant to, in my heart forever.

His name was Smeagol.