Furrari was about 8 days old when I got him and his 3 siblings (Mom cat had a nasty infection and was on anti-biotics). The guy who had them knew nothing about kitten care. They were so chilled and weak that by the time I got them warmed up enough to feed them I lost two.
Freya wandered in off the street 12 years ago. She was totally unconcerned about the three dogs that also lived here.
Elija Blue-eyes I picked out of a litter - belonged to my boss's girlfriends's daughter's cat.
Both my cats were found on the street. I found Buster wandering in my yard and Holly Golightly was living at the KFC/Pizza Hut hustling for chicken wings.
We got both of our cats from Safe Haven for Cats, the area's first no-kill shelter. We went with the intention of "window shopping," checking out the place, etc. and fell in love with Swanie. We knew we wanted two, but originally, we wanted two who already knew and liked each other. Swanie was by himself, and none of the other cats had made a big impression on me. Finally, the counselor suggested Cynthia. We got her out of her cage, and she was such a little sweetheart, rolling over and purring when I petted her, so we took her too. We were so unprepared, they had to sell us a carrier and were nice enough to loan us a carrier (we already had one at home). As we were loading the cats into our car, the counselor told us that they had had no intention of letting us leave their shelter without cats
I think fate took us to that shelter that night, because we couldn't have done any better anywhere.
Jasmine - A very reputable no-kill cat rescue i used to volunteer for. (one of the best rescues in our area! i volunteered there for years and fostered! Jasmine was a foster cat that never went back
)
Isabella- She came from the same rescue as Jasmine- she was dumped by her horrid breeder after she had been abused, at a VERY high kill shelter. The owner of Mewtopia saw her and took her in. I brought her home to foster her and bring her out of her shell- and i knew my home was the only one for her!
Kojak- my niece and her friends found him and his littermates one day after school when they walked past a couple of mean kids that were trying to hurt them. Her and her friends grabbed them and ran home with them and called me. I let the shelter where i work know what was going on and they became shelter kitties- but i fostered them as they were newborns
Kojak was the runt, and the sickly one of the bunch- he stayed with me long after his littermates were neutered and found homes. By the time it was time for me to take him to be placed for adoption i was SOOOOOOO attached- i started bawling right then and there- Colin saw how much i loved Kojak and said we could keep him
All of my cats are rescues/shelter animals. I definitely acknowledge that there are certainly wonderful, very good breeders out there. But for me, i personally refuse to buy an animal from a breeder when there are countless animals (both purebreed and moggies) in shelters across the country that die each day due to overpopulation. I work at a shelter, i swear i'd take them all home with me if i could lol.
I found my kitty online from Craigslist. The shelters only had kittens at the time and I wanted an older cat to adopt. I was online at the right time when I spotted the ad.
Indiana Joan: feral kitten that was abandoned by her mom while out hunting in our fields
Stumpy: feral kitten that we found alone in our storm cellar
Eightball: feral kitten that was born in the rafters of our garage
Bob: feral kitten that we found alone in a box in our garage
Pinky: feral kitten who showed up with their mom one day - probably born in the woods behind our property
Scarlett: feral kitten born in a flower bed
Lucky Pierre: feral kitten probably born in the woods behind our home
Muddy/Koko: feral kittens born next to our front porch
Dakota/Sage: adopted from a humane society, but were feral kittens born in a barn in our neighborhood
Oscar/Spanky: part of a trio of unrelated feral kittens dumped on our property. I assume someone cleaned out their barn and thought we needed more.
Yup - we lived in a part of the country where there were a lot of dumped cats. It's a challenge when there are hundreds of vacant acres around and lots of old outbuildings at your home.
My RB cat Sphinx: Humane Society. He was going to be pts at any time. Kuce : Humane Society (The same day as Sphinx). She was also going to be pts at any time. Luvbug: Stray kitty at our apt. complex. He was apparently dumped by his previous owners and was 2 lbs underweight - you could really feel his ribs. Lil' Jag: Also a stray kitty from the same apt. complex as a 3.5 month old kitten.
My 1st cat that I got when I was 5 years old was abandoned by her mother in our backyard when she was just minutes old. When that cat was 2 years-old she had 3 kittens. 2 of thoes kittens we had for over 20 years before they died. 3 months ago we adopted our 2 kittens from the local animal shelter.
My current two are both fosters that came and didn't go - both had been with me for months and no interest (both 13 at the time they came). All my previous cats have been rescues, I dont generally have to go looking for a cat though, they seem to find me!!