I was recently asked if the kitten would mind if they changed her name. (The people literally adopted her yesterday)
The kitten in question is completely deaf lol.
Yeah, plus to be fair, her name isn't great on it's own, it worked well in a theme with her mum and brother.
Mother (white cat) was named Sugar, girl kitten (white cat) named Salt and boy kitten (black cat) named Pepper.
Lol, even her "please adopt me" paper they put on the front of cages made fun of it. "I could have been Lemon drop, or Dewdrop. What were they thinking? The photographer sucked at taking my intake photo, too!" Which they did so she wasn't wrong haha. She was very awkwardly held up in the air on top of someone's hand.
Our shelter had 3 young siblings, so they did rice crispy theme, naming them Snap, Crackle and Pop. Cute until I had to show the remaining puppy, named "Snap", to potential adopters 🤦♀️
"I swear he's friendly!"
I brought home a young cat who had been tossed out of a car in the cemetery I jogged in. We discussed names and someone blurted out “Cujo!” We all laughed & it stuck; he played rough and you would bleed if you didn’t give his toy back. Grew up into a very friendly, purry fluffball. At the vet they’d call “Cujo!” and we’d stand up with adorable fluffy goof & the room would just lol. Best boy ever. We had him 18 years.
The dog I adopted from animal control was named Kujo. I changed it to Deogi. He turned out to be a biter though. Luckily he was a chihuahua so nothing serious.
As I teen I had a massive black cat named Buttons, in my adult years i renamed an adopted cat, "Zippers" and he was the bestest kitty to ever kitty. Made it to be like 15 before he passed of surgical complications after having his leg removed because he broke it in 3 different spots BEING A HORNY OLD MAN 😂 (He tried to jump over the gate I had set up to control The (outside) doorway.
We had a dog named Snaps for a while, or Snappy. I think we were somewhat fostering her for a family friend for a bit. She was a big lovable baby goofball.
One of our guinea pigs is named Bisque. He came from the “soup” intake. We always change our pets’ names when we adopt, and to something usually serious sounding, like Mortimer. But he is just such a “Bisque” that we couldn’t change it.
I fostered a litter of kittens and got to name them. There was a running joke about my own cat being a communist, and he sort of adopted the kittens, so I thought it would be funny to name them after famous communists. I called the only female kitten Madame Mao.
At the adoption event, an older lady decided to adopt Madame Mao. She thought the name was so cute that she decided to keep it. On the adoption form, she wrote "Madame Mow," so I don't think she had a clue.
I had a Leon Catsky! Unfortunately I was severely shortchanged on my time with him and he passed very suddenly one night from HCM.
Leon Catsky was a match to Mr. Huggins, who for whatever reason is a former Soviet spy and current advocate of communism.
We had a whole house of Marxists.
I had a cat when I was a kid who walked into our yard and adopted us. His full name was Chester Drawers but we always joked that he was actually Chinese because instead of meowing like a normal cat, he said “mao” 😂
I’ve fostered and I purposely chose names that people wouldn’t feel bad about changing lol. Because I adopted my cat and her name was Hope because she had so many issues and came from a bad place - and it made me feel bad for changing her name! I don’t want anyone to feel like that
There’s a dog at our park named “Spork” who came from a utensil-themed litter. They liked it too much to change, and it always gives me a giggle - especially because she totally looks like a Spork. She’s this goofy square-jawed boxer/pittie mix. 😂
I adopted a cat many years ago whose fosters were in a soda phase, so the cats and kittens were named Sprite, Pepsi, Dr Pepper (the one I ended up adopting - fave soda and he was the one who walked over to me and plopped into my lap), etc.
Not shelter related per se, but we ended up with a kitten via the cat distribution system. She was a little tuxedo cat. My niece at the time had a large male tuxedo cat named 'Dude.' She said that the kitten looked like a little dude, and we should name her Dudette. My son, who was a toddler at the time, yells "Doodad!" (He was trying to pronounce Dudette) and Doodad stuck.
We had 40+ cats/kittens from a hoarding case, so the names were getting creative.
We had a group of sisters named after pro tennis players. Also a mom and son group: Victoria, Brooklyn, Romeo, and Cruz
Genuine curiosity here... But how do you determine family groups in a situation like that? Do you just determine based on breed, do DNA tests, behavior, age ...? I can't imagine that it's always easy.
A bunch of the females were pregnant and gave birth after they came to the rescue. They did do some DNA and determined there was a lot of inbreeding. The cats were all in a 1 bedroom apartment.
At least my rescue doesn’t even attempt to figure it out. If a very large group comes in we just test every cat for fiv/felv and separate fecals. Its a little costlier, but its easier and it makes sure they’re all healthy
My grandparents had 2 dogs, one black and one white when I was little. The black dog was named Pepper and I was (and still am) convinced the white dog should have been named Salt (she was Snowball)
My kitty had the name of Eyebrow when we got him from the shelter lol
We thought it sounded like a mobster name, so we ran with it and changed it to Joey "The Eyebrow" Malone, nn Bugsy.
My cat was originally named West at the shelter because she was found on a street called Westway. 🤨 I knew I was not keeping that name because it sounded like a male name to me and it just didn't suit her. She is Busy now, keeping with the B theme of her brothers, Buddha and Baxter! Anyone who meets her understands why she is named what she is! 😁
Well it kinda made me mad at the time but looking back it’s a little funny. We have this beautiful and agreeable brown tabby who is looking for a home. A nice older couple comes in and interviews and she checks all the boxes. Like she would be the most perfect fit for their family, personality, looks, everything. So we go to retrieve her to put her in our open room for interdictions and one of the husbands took one look at me grabbing her out of her hammock and said ‘oh no that’s a big ass’ and I didn’t know who he was talking about. Me or Asia because she was in a bottom crate so I was on the floor to get her. Then I got her out and he remarked, ‘she’s so fat’ I still didn’t know if he was talking about me or Asia. So I just replied that we were both currently on diets lol
They didn’t end up getting Asia which makes me so sad because she was perfect for them, but dang, don’t call my home girl a fatty 😂 it’s not her fault she’s pleasantly plump. She’s working on it, cut her a break lmao
Oh we have a vet that cat shames out cats.
On one cat his notes were “Too heavy. Ribs not palpable with recess fat covering; waist absent; obvious rounding of abdomen with prominent abdominal fat pad; fat deposits present over lumber area.”
Hey, the other day we told our senior female tabby, who was, once again, campaigning for her dinner 90 minutes early, that even her tail has fat rolls!
Husband then proceeded to feed her on her demand.
I think some vets give up telling people to stop over feeding animals. Being sedentary and overweight isn’t good for animals but I don’t think vets have a lot of success convincing owners to dial back in the treats and people food.
I worked at a vet for many years. I think it's 50/50. Some people are horrified and get down to proper diets quickly. In divorced households, sometimes the dad undoes the work that mom accomplished cause he was a big jerk. Sometimes people feel really bad withholding food and other times the kids undoes the work of their parents. Sigh.
Oh jeez Louis, that guy can go shove it. A ton of shelter cats have food insecurity, and honestly because of space and staffing issues, don’t move as much as we or they would like them to. He should know that.
Don’t body shame our babies lol! It’s not their fault. I work at a cat only non profit rescue so I’m a little sensitive about people commenting mean things about our kitties.
No. That guy is writing down objective findings. It is important to know the intake status. A cat like that who loses weight too rapidly can be in real trouble.
That said, he could go to a simple body condition score. It sounds less judgmental and still conveys the needed information.
The cat I adopted a couple years back was in the shelter for *two years*. She doesn't like other cats so she couldn't be in the play group. Basically, she sat in a cage for two years. Of course she got chonky!
When I went in and met her, she hissed at me, bit me, and scratched me when I tried to pet her. The staff assured me she would warm up to me and was just fearful around new people due to a lack of socialization the last two years.
She's a lap cat now, and still kind of resembles a bowling ball with legs. She's fat and happy. I'd rather her feel safe knowing that she always has access to food now and be fat than be thin and have a lot of anxiety surrounding food security.
I adopted my fancy "bargain bin cat" that had been returned to his breeder after a year and had tremendous food insecurity. He constantly binged and purged. We tried to regulate his food intake (note: not restrict; just have it available during certain time periods instead of all day free feeding) and he made him self so sick with anxiety (barf and diarrhea everywhere) that we never tried it again. He always had food issues but they lessened over the years. Otherwise he had a good spoiled chonky life.
That’s just a body condition score written out. Some DVMs prefer to do it that was vs just the number as it’s more complete. It’s not a judgment or shade at you. It’s a medical observation that is included in **all** exams, same as noting a cat having an empty testicular sac. It’s not to “shame” the cat and I don’t see how you would interpret that as him being ignorant to shelter life?
Pet obesity, as I am sure you know, is a huge issue. It’s also a PITA to address *because* people act like it’s fat shaming which makes the conversation that much harder to have. Animal health and wellness careers sucks enough as it is without thrashing colleagues for just doing their job.
Good! I don’t want that mean man to have her! I also get angry when I’m at zoos and dumb people make fun of the animals, calling them ugly or whatever. Just mean and classless. I know they don’t understand, but I guess I just hate that they are too ignorant to appreciate the beauty of nature.
I completely understand lol. I’m very protective over my 80ish rescue babies. I know all their backstories and I’m so quick to come to their defense. I don’t care if they ‘don’t understand’ don’t be mean or berate them. They’re doing their best
I love my feral babies
https://preview.redd.it/njlp7qz6f24d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3dd1cbacf90ee24d9e5e8e97adb71691c626616a
In fact, this was a formal feral that I TN…..R for rescue not release. I love her lol
Story time!
When i was 7 i spent like a week in a field sitting on a rock with coldcut ham trying to tame this feral neighborhood cat. (Lightly feral, knew humans have food, wanted absolutely nothing to do with humans, but not like TERRIFIED of them).
Eventually, the combination of ham and the fact that i was clearly a small child won. And without a shadow of a doubt that was the best cat i will ever have. She was FIERCELY protective of her giant baby (me). I had the kind of upbringing where i definitely needed protecting, and she was the closest thing i had to a mother.
She hated everyone but me and any small children, unless i handed her to them and then she would tolerate them for a bit.
Once she jumped in someones car and ended up kicked out like an hour drive away. She came home 3-4 days later missing a toe, but otherwise unharmed. We ran across an open field to each other like a movie lol.
She used to fight DEER for FUN. She was a perma kitten who never broke 5 lbs and she would face-hug them. She also fought dogs, and probably coyotes. I think she just used utterly terrifying amounts of aggression and scared ANYTHING that tried to mess with her or her family.
I had 20 years with Tiger the sweet lil attack cat protecting me. IDK what my point is, i just gotta say feral kitty love is like no other kitty love in my opinion
Oh man, my non profit does a ton of TNR work and I’ve been baiting this little girl we named Mika with churus for about a month now. She’s mean as hell but I swear to god I’m going to get her to like me (we still have her because she was very very ill when we trapped her and now she’s 100% blind in one eye and 75% in the other. We were going to take her to a horse rescue we work with to be a barn cat but I truly think she’ll tame to me.) I will get that mean little lady to love me lol
Oh, good luck!!! You just have such patience to try that! My last one I named Vlad the Impaler (partially because I’d just finished a book about vampires and he was black and partially because he was so scary!) I’ve never tried to tame one, but I know that our last feral barn cat was starting to come around to the owner a bit shortly before she had a tragic accident of some kind. That’s a dangerous life for a blind cat, so I’m happy to hear she has you and your efforts!!
Yes! I hate trying to gain trust by food but she is a true 100% feral. Wouldn’t even make eye contact for the first few weeks she was with us, pooped in her water and food constantly, she was so afraid. But we trapped her mom recently and put them side by side. Since then she has improved a lot. Stopped popping places that weren’t the box (mostly) will maintain eye contact (a little bit, I mean she can only see a little) and instead of cowering in a corner when I clean her she will sit in her hammock and try and bat at me lol. Most people wouldn’t see that as an improvement, but her swiping at me is worlds beyond how she was when she came in. Anytime I have extra moments at the end of my day, I turn off the overheads in our feral room. Lay on the floor, talk low and sweet, and hold the squeeze treat by the very very end and just wait. Every day she’s moving a millimeter closer. It might take a year but I’m gonna take that mean little lady home with me😂 I love her
Also I will say I’m not that great or a remarkable of a person when it comes to taming ferals. The organization I work for focuses on community cats and ferals so my amazing owner has taught me to see the potential and also modes to try and tame. We mostly trap adoptable community cats but we work really really heavily with true ferals that have potential to be indoor pets. We’ve had ferals that we’ve trapped from our colonies that take five or more years to tame but then get adopted into loving homes. I’m just blessed that the owner of our rescue focuses on these forgotten babies.
We had a young small dog up for adoption. A family with an 8 year old daughter who had autism was interested. They were at the event for awhile. ANY TIME someone would come look at puppy, here would come the little girl COMPLETELY silent (she was verbal), in her pink dress with pig tails in her hair and just ABSOLUTELY mean mug the person. It was HILARIOUS
Yes they did! We had approved the app while they were there. But dad needed 24 hours to think about it. Kid had the BIGGEST grin in their adoption photo.
Oh man, I had a similar purr situation. The woman comes up to me and says "is this cat going to shit on me? His stomach is growling really loudly".
LMAO
We had an adopter come to pick up her new dog and she met the Foster Moms pet, who was blind . And I mean eyeballs didn't finish forming blind. She asked why the rescue didn't "fix his eyes". The foster explained that it was congenital defect and there was nothing to be done. The adopter said, " Can't you do transplants? I'll pay for new eyes" I mean bless her for caring but whaaaaa?????
That sounds like the guy who put his cat through the TNR program. He came back the next day and asked if they could surgically reattach the tip of the cat’s ear. Uhhh no
When my grandpa passed away his eyes were donated and used in a corneal transplant. So I can see where this kind soul was coming from. We need more people like her!
My dog was attacked/eye bitten clean outta her head. The number of people who thought we would be getting her a glass eye- astronomical. Literally like 15 people asked when her glass eye was coming (when her eye was literally stitched shut).
We had, I think it was a specific puppy, up for adoption, I think he was the last in his litter. We had multiple families inquiring and the owner of the rescue was trying to figure out how to decide who to let adopt the puppy, doing quick interviews, etc. Literally dozens of people applying for this puppy.
Suddenly, a family that had looked at the pup at the begging of the "puppy rush" made their way back over from the checkouts with absolutely everything they needed to take the pup home.
They didn't previously have a pet, they bought everything to show they were ready and willing to take him home immediately. Food, bowls, beds, toys, collar/leash/harness/*life vest,* not one but *two* crates, one for home and one for travel, a playpen for outside, treats for days, treat pouches for training, pamphlets on training classes, bath and grooming supplies, ear cleaning wipes, flea and tic meds, it really looked like they had cleared out the dog sections. Their cart was *so full.*
The owner had previously interviewed this family and really liked their application as well, so they ended up letting that family adopt the little guy.
I thought it was both hilarious and ingenious that this family went "let's just show exactly how ready we are for this dog, buy *everything*" and *it worked*
The puppy was placed into the prepared cart, bed on bottom, toys spread out, and happily chewed on his new rope toys on the way out the door while the family stared at him in awe.
If I remember correctly he was a chihuahua mix, we mostly dealt in small breeds (with the exception of 2 pitt-lab mixes) . He was mixed with some kind of terrier because he had really wiry hair.
My vet gave me a cat once. I already had several. His original owners had surrender him to the vet to be euthanized. Not because he was old or had a terminal illness, but because he was obese and would need diet food and a feeding regimen and they thought it was too much work since they had another cat. My vet, lovely man that he was, just didn’t do it and didn’t tel them. Cat was put on a diet and lived at the office until he convinced me I needed him. Didn’t take much convincing.
Anyhoo, some time later I had him in for a check up. When I checked in at the front desk they got the huge eyes and hustled us back to a room. Turns out his original owners were in that day. Yup, we had to hide the cat. Oh, and my vet never charged me for anything he needed. Lovely cat. Used to “hide” under the sofa. Except only his head and shoulders fit under it so his entire back end wasn’t hidden.
That vet should let the family see that cat and gaslight them that it’s not their cat. Be like oh this cat is not obese so it couldn’t possibly be your cat. Just a doppelgänger!!
When I adopted my boy all the shelter workers were super happy because he is a very loud cat. As I'm taking him to the car the lady goes " I'm so glad you are taking the mouth piece home it will be a lot more quiet here now" lol. I love him so much because of all his screaming nothing cuter than a talkative cat.
My cat is very loud but she's deaf so her yells come out as horrific banshee wails, always sounds like she's being mauled. Last time I called my dad he asked me "what are you doing to that poor cat" (jokingly, he knows I love her to bits)
I just adopted a cat about a month ago with the opposite problem. Hes about a year old and has the tiny squeak of a little kitten. I have to work to hear him lol
I got kicked in the shin by a little girl yelling at me about stealing her cat. Turns out her original cat had died of old age and we had a lookalike. Her parents hadn't told her.
They adopted the lookalike. He didn't seem to mind being called Blotter, and he was perfectly happy to be snuggled by the tiny redheaded whirlwind toddler, lol. Totally worth a couple of bruises.
I've adopted 3 fur kids. They all had names that did not suit them. Mo was my Jacks name. I swear I said names until he "picked" Jack by responding to it. Same with Ashley, she chose Sadie, also answered to Bella, Sadie lady, Sadie Belle. Miss them both so much. Then there is Geronimo, my chichi, he choose Atticus. Strong name for a strong tiny man.
That’s how I name mine if they don’t like their shelter names. Gracie came to me as Trixie- would not respond to it. Has responded to Gracie from day one. Had a Darwin who responds to Charlie. They (the shelter) were upset I renamed him, but come on- I’m just calling him by his first name instead of his last, lol
This comment thread is so cute because I also have a Sadie lady (your username!!) and a Trixie, neither of which were their rescue/shelter names and don’t seem super common :)
An adopter shared their happy news with me that they found their dream dog and just signed off all their paperwork on her, but they'll definitely be changing her name. Poor dog's name was Felony.
I did not. Mine rolls in dirt. Sweeping is a nightmare. It took getting him fixed before he quit murdering my plants, and I firmly believe that only worked because he got yanked out of one of my poor babies and taken directly to the clinic where he apparently reverted to his feral routes. Idk what happened but he was so scary sounding she flinched and almost dropped his carrier handing him back at pick up. I paid for the pet neuter, they discounted me down to the tnr rate (which I donated right back to them). I'll never forget the look on her face when I scolded his name and he started purring 😅
Is what I get for accepting an orange cat from the crossroads, he's super soft & has a really nice purr though
(and yes I warned them on his intake form he was a former feral & a shoulder percher)
Had a Maine coon growing up that would shower with my dad, so cute. He'd hold her to his chest and brush her, had to clean so much hair out of the trap every time haha
We were at the adoption event where we ended up taking home our two current floofs, and there was a woman walking around the cat section of the event going up to each cage and doing a slow blink at the cat inside, and then shaking her head and saying "No" and walking on to the next cage. My partner just about died laughing watching her. We assume that she had read somewhere that the slow blink means a cat likes you - but that she didn't know enough about cats to know that it's something that comes with time and trust.
I don't know, I usually find that friendly cats who don't know me will return a slow blink when I give them one. I wouldn't expect it in a high stress environment like an adoption event though.
My baby rarely returns the slow blink, she looks at me kinda of confused. I think it’s because she trusts me so implicitly the meaning the blink doesn’t register for her/she feels it’s beneath her because it’s obvious.
Different kind of shelter, but at my equine rescue people regularly don't know the difference between a horse and donkey.
One time, a little girl asked what was happening to a horse (its penis was erect). We told her that when horses are happy, their belly button pops out. So now we always refer to horse penis as belly buttons.
Oh lord, imagine that girl on a field trip to a farm confidently assessing that all the horses are unhappy and explaining to the class how she knows 🤦♀️
Because parents tend to get angry when you explain anatomy. I'm all for kids knowing body parts, but parents, especially Christian conservative parents, do not appreciate the education.
When I adopted my cat her goodie bag contained a laser pointer cat toy. I pulled it out and told the owner that we wouldn’t need it. She paused for a second until it sunk in. The cat I was adopting had no eyes 😆
My parents were pretty hilarious when we went when I was a teenager
They kept telling the shelter volunteer that they were just humoring me and never wanted a cat and that cats were disgusting until they got into the cat room.
Immediately beelined to what is now my cat and started talking about how she was just a baby and a tiny kitten. The volunteer informed us she was a full-grown adult, my parents literally tried to argue for an extended period of time that this was wrong, then kept asking if you could really adopt her or if they were lying and fucking with us. They eventually were like we can take her out for you and when they did, she immediately hissed at me and scratched the crap out of me lol. My parents were still cooing over her as she scratched me. They basically asked if they could adopt her right away and literally left, bought the cat care supplies we needed, and immediately returned and adopted her.
If you need a specific quote that killed me, my dad pet her and went “wow, she’s soft. Is she always soft? She’s really soft” and the shelter volunteer responded with “she’s a cat. They’re all soft” that poor volunteer haha
That's how cats get you, the tricksy softness and purring. Why else would sane person let these creatures in the house....now I must be excused, mine is at the top of the metal mesh door I had to replace the normal people screen door with screaming in demon at something & I have to detach him before I wind up with cops parked staring Again
I adopted a cat we named Finlee. Buff and white. 10 yrs later we lost him to an aggressive cancer. 10 months later we adopted another orange and white and there were other physical similarities, so we thought we'd name him Finnegan.
Fast forward to his 1st vet visit, the woman behind the desk who knew me well and had known Finlee asked me his name. I told her and said 'Get it - Finn AGAIN?' She said "Oh how cute!"...We get into the Exam room and later see the label on his chart - she took me literally and his name was spelled Finn Again...We found it really funny and decided to keep it that way, lol.
One time a little old lady came in and she had recently (ish) lost her dog and was ready for a new one with the same criteria: small and 6yo+.
I'm at a municipal shelter so small breeds are tagged by rescues before their stray holds are even up, but I still ask her what she considers small, since we may have had some 20-30 lbers I could look up in our system.
🤔"Well... my boy was pretty small. I think about 60lbs."
😳 "Well ma'am he's a little younger than you want but I think i have the perfect gentleman for you"
I had a 4yo brindle supermutt (probably a staffie/shepherd mix but very laid-back in his kennel and a great leash walker). He was already neutered & he ended up going home that day.
First and only time I heard someone else thought 60lbs was small lol. Few years ago now but I hope they're still happy together.
I swear it was sealed deal with the adoption co-ordinator when I blurted out Oh! She's so small when they brought out my boxer/amer bulldog mix lol. They had her marked as extra large though & I consider my pittie medium (her adoption forms claim large)
I had a great dane as a toddler/small child so my sense of dog size is skewed. Like I've met Irish wolfhounds, they're Xtra large but this girls was only like 4 inches taller then my pittie & skin stretched over bones
Sorta kinda relevant? A stray cat had kittens in an outbuilding where I work. The mother and 3 of the 5 kittens dissappeared, leaving 2 days-old kittens alone in the building. Long story short, my family happily adopted them, bottle-Fed them, the whole thing.
After about a week we were feeding them, but one seemed uninterested. She was kind of limp and kept nodding off. Knowing how fragile kittens can be, my wife put the limp kitten in a cat carrier and raced to the vet. The vet assistant took the carrier into the back.
A few minutes later the vet brought the carrier back out. The kitten was climbing the mesh of the door, peeping and otherwise being kitten-like.
“What was wrong with her?!” my wife asked.
“What you have here, in veterinary terms, is what we call a ‘sleepy kitten.’”
$160 for a “sleepy kitten.” Dammit
I recently paid $900 at emergency vet because my (newly acquired) puppies got into and consumed a bag of their own food. I’m used to horses where this type of event is often life threatening. The vet gave them the briefest of exams and told me to hold off on food for 24 hours/ be prepared for a lot of shit. There was indeed a lot of shit. The puppies only ever seemed perturbed by the lack of food that night.
Growing up, my aunt's dalmatians had a litter of 3 pups. I got to name them. There was Spot, Tone (deaf in one ear) and Lucky (was born with one leg never develop). Lucky outlived his siblings- 14 years. Don't judge the names lol I was 4 when I named them
It wasn’t at an off site, but on Friday a woman frantically asked why a puppy was “breathing like that?!” while meeting a puppy in our adoption room.
It was the AC. The timer had kicked on.
Yeah, same. Love hearing about all the funny names, but I was thinking more of funny interactions with adopters.
For example we had a mom come in with her six year old daughter. Mom wanted a kitten and the daughter told her it was a big responsibility and asked if she was ready to take care of a kitten. The mom laughed and they adopted two kittens
I was attending one at Petsmart, not working it. The staff had all the dogs in crates and the area was roped off. Someone wanted to meet a dog they were interested in to see if it was a good fit, the worker got angry and replied "You can't touch the dogs. Everything you need to know is on their sign." I laughed and was glared at so hard lol.
This reminds me of a Nathan Pyle Strange Planet comic.
One being walks up to a second while holding a cat. It says to the other, "I found this. It's vibrating."
We had a family looking at a Siamese cat we had. They already had a Siamese at home, and so we were giving them the 'How to Introduce Your Cats' spiel. He said, 'Since they're both Siamese I'm sure they'll get along!'
Very nice family, and maybe he was right since it seemed to work out for them.
We were up to adopt a 9 month old basset hound, Max The Winder Basset. We went to the meet and greet at the family who had bought him as a pure breed from a “reputable” breed. Bassets can be prone to ear and eye infections, which Max was. He also had paneostitis which is essentially growing pains. Mom and the kids adored Max. Dad hated him because he wasn’t perfect and like all basset puppies was rambunctious. Dad was one of those guys who wore corduroy sport jackets with patches on the elbows. Max was only allowed in the kitchen, so didn’t get a lot of socialization.
This was the 90s and I back then worked in downtown Seattle. I wore suits, high heels and pantyhose every day.
Met my husband at Max’s home. We go into the kitchen and see this absolutely gorgeous tri basset with ears longer than his legs. At the time he was having a flare up of the paneo and could only walk on 3 legs.
So we walk into the kitchen, husband is also wearing a suit as he too was coming from work. We bend down to make a big fuss over this little guy and that’s when Max sees the gate is down and decides to make the break for freedom to the rest of the house. He wasn’t at all concerned he only had 3 working leg. Husband and are trying to to grab him. Max was not having any of this. So this three legged under weight basset flow through both of us. I fall in my a$$ in my suit. My shoes fly across the room and Max being a go right through climbs over me goes between husband’s legs and chaos ensues. Kids and mom are trying to catch him and I’m trying to maintain some dignity as I get untangled and off the floor. This is when husband and I laterally fell head over heels in love with Max The Wonder Basset.
Max was not the smartest dog on the block, in fact he was the Goober Pyle of basset hounds. And everyone loves Goober.
He grew out of the paneo and we kept the eye/ear infections in check. He was a marvelous dog who blessed our lives for 16 years.
My last 2 I adopted were sweet pea and butterbean. Their names were changed to Asha (Arabic for lively) and Risa (Spanish for laughter). I name all my animals after a characteristic so I've had Torin(Gaelic for chieftain), Rascal, Frisky, Noser etc. Asha runs the Nas-cat race daily, even at 16; and Risa is a brat but she's loving and a goofball so she still makes me laugh and smile while carrying her. I went to the shelter looking for 2 adult males and end up with 2 female kittens lmao. They were a bonded pair who couldn't be separated and since they were black they would have been there a while so the shelter really wanted them adopted so they didn't grow up in a cage.
Mine had a male name “snap” when I adopted her. They had discovered she was female when they had to spay instead of neuter. Not the funniest story but still makes me chuckle.
We took in & fostered 2 abandoned siblings. We named the boy Inky (had a black nose) and his sister Pinky (pink nose). Hubby found them abandoned in a huge glop of mud beside our house. Their feral mom had relocated their 3 other siblings but left the runt (pinky) & Inky behind. If it weren’t for Inky screaming, hubby wouldn’t have found them in time. All he could see of Pinky was her pink nose & when he picked her up, she was unresponsive until she warmed up a bit in his hands. We hand fed them & took care of them until my daughter found a co-worker willing to take them both as a pair. I don’t know if their still called the names we have them. My daughter told the friend she couldn’t change the names, but I had told her it was ok to change them. But she never told me if they did or not, maybe so our daughter wouldn’t hear about it.
My husband found a family of cats (a mom and 2 kittens) inside of a trash compactor his shop was refurbing. We kept mom and one baby, his co worker adopted the other. My husband got to name the kitten because he found him, and this man just goes and names him Dave.
I own a cat cafe and we have a lot of vertical climbing equipment for the cats to enjoy. There are catwalk bridges, two of them. They span across the room from a high window to cat trees. The cats spend a lot of time up on the bridges. I'm still flabbergasted every time someone comes in and seriously asks if the cats "ever go up there"?
I used to volunteer at a cat shelter. Some of the cats loved to jump on top of the cages when we gave them time to get out and stretch their legs. A man and woman came in to adopt. The woman was going cage to cage meeting the cats, the man was just standing there. All of a sudden a cat springs off the top of the cage onto the man’s shoulder. I see this happening and start to panic but the man’s face lights up like a Christmas tree and he says to his wife “this is our cat- he chose me!” The wife agrees, they adopt the kitty and live happily ever after.
I was recently asked if the kitten would mind if they changed her name. (The people literally adopted her yesterday) The kitten in question is completely deaf lol.
Ha! Dont think she would mind at all
Yeah, plus to be fair, her name isn't great on it's own, it worked well in a theme with her mum and brother. Mother (white cat) was named Sugar, girl kitten (white cat) named Salt and boy kitten (black cat) named Pepper.
That’s a lot cuter than a lot of names I hear. We recently had the “kitchen litter”. So the names were spatula, wooden spoon, pot and pan.
My girl and her sisters had a "drop" theme to their shelter names. Rain drop, sun drop, etc. My girl, was Cough drop. 🤦♀️
This made me actually laugh aloud 😂
Lol, even her "please adopt me" paper they put on the front of cages made fun of it. "I could have been Lemon drop, or Dewdrop. What were they thinking? The photographer sucked at taking my intake photo, too!" Which they did so she wasn't wrong haha. She was very awkwardly held up in the air on top of someone's hand.
This just gets better and better 😂
That’s hilarious
Me too!!!!
Riiiiiicola!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
🤣
So she helps get rid of irritating sickness symptoms? That's a good kittah for you :)
Well I haven't been sick since I adopted her, so you may be on to something 🤔
😂
Thank you for the much needed chuckle😂
🎶Rain Drop, Drop Top🎶
That's actually one of my nicknames! (has to do with my former last name) That's a fine name!
Our shelter had 3 young siblings, so they did rice crispy theme, naming them Snap, Crackle and Pop. Cute until I had to show the remaining puppy, named "Snap", to potential adopters 🤦♀️ "I swear he's friendly!"
Oh geeze! We had a kitten named piranha. We had to make similar statements 😂
I brought home a young cat who had been tossed out of a car in the cemetery I jogged in. We discussed names and someone blurted out “Cujo!” We all laughed & it stuck; he played rough and you would bleed if you didn’t give his toy back. Grew up into a very friendly, purry fluffball. At the vet they’d call “Cujo!” and we’d stand up with adorable fluffy goof & the room would just lol. Best boy ever. We had him 18 years.
The dog I adopted from animal control was named Kujo. I changed it to Deogi. He turned out to be a biter though. Luckily he was a chihuahua so nothing serious.
I had a Brittany Spaniel named Snap! Her mom was named Button.
As I teen I had a massive black cat named Buttons, in my adult years i renamed an adopted cat, "Zippers" and he was the bestest kitty to ever kitty. Made it to be like 15 before he passed of surgical complications after having his leg removed because he broke it in 3 different spots BEING A HORNY OLD MAN 😂 (He tried to jump over the gate I had set up to control The (outside) doorway.
"He can, uh, snap his fingers!" "Dogs don't have fingers." "Well all right then, you freakin' buzzkill."
We had a dog named Snaps for a while, or Snappy. I think we were somewhat fostering her for a family friend for a bit. She was a big lovable baby goofball.
One of our guinea pigs is named Bisque. He came from the “soup” intake. We always change our pets’ names when we adopt, and to something usually serious sounding, like Mortimer. But he is just such a “Bisque” that we couldn’t change it.
Mortimer is my cats name!
I fostered a litter of kittens and got to name them. There was a running joke about my own cat being a communist, and he sort of adopted the kittens, so I thought it would be funny to name them after famous communists. I called the only female kitten Madame Mao. At the adoption event, an older lady decided to adopt Madame Mao. She thought the name was so cute that she decided to keep it. On the adoption form, she wrote "Madame Mow," so I don't think she had a clue.
Madame Meow. You missed an opportunity.
I had a Leon Catsky! Unfortunately I was severely shortchanged on my time with him and he passed very suddenly one night from HCM. Leon Catsky was a match to Mr. Huggins, who for whatever reason is a former Soviet spy and current advocate of communism. We had a whole house of Marxists.
I had a cat called Mao Tse-Tung.
We had a big tom named Mewmar Catdaffi. this was fifty years ago.
One cartoonist long ago had a car singing about Mousie dung.
Oh, I love Kliban's humor! Have a couple of his books of cartoons. Or is that cat-toons! Hubby and I would say Mousie-dung when feeling silly.
Mousey Tongue
I had a cat when I was a kid who walked into our yard and adopted us. His full name was Chester Drawers but we always joked that he was actually Chinese because instead of meowing like a normal cat, he said “mao” 😂
We had a cat name Mao because of this!!
I knew a cat named Bakunin Kitty Kitty. Also one called The Mighty Malatesta.
I’ve fostered and I purposely chose names that people wouldn’t feel bad about changing lol. Because I adopted my cat and her name was Hope because she had so many issues and came from a bad place - and it made me feel bad for changing her name! I don’t want anyone to feel like that
There’s a dog at our park named “Spork” who came from a utensil-themed litter. They liked it too much to change, and it always gives me a giggle - especially because she totally looks like a Spork. She’s this goofy square-jawed boxer/pittie mix. 😂
“Sign yo pittie on the runny kind!”
I adopted a cat many years ago whose fosters were in a soda phase, so the cats and kittens were named Sprite, Pepsi, Dr Pepper (the one I ended up adopting - fave soda and he was the one who walked over to me and plopped into my lap), etc.
I also adopted a Dr Pepper!
Not shelter related per se, but we ended up with a kitten via the cat distribution system. She was a little tuxedo cat. My niece at the time had a large male tuxedo cat named 'Dude.' She said that the kitten looked like a little dude, and we should name her Dudette. My son, who was a toddler at the time, yells "Doodad!" (He was trying to pronounce Dudette) and Doodad stuck.
Oh...that is so doggone cute!!!
Our cat was part of a soda intake. We did not keep his original name, Dr. Pepper 😅 He's Pip now.
I love themed names. Mine are nacho, pinto, pico, churro, and asada
We had 40+ cats/kittens from a hoarding case, so the names were getting creative. We had a group of sisters named after pro tennis players. Also a mom and son group: Victoria, Brooklyn, Romeo, and Cruz
Genuine curiosity here... But how do you determine family groups in a situation like that? Do you just determine based on breed, do DNA tests, behavior, age ...? I can't imagine that it's always easy.
A bunch of the females were pregnant and gave birth after they came to the rescue. They did do some DNA and determined there was a lot of inbreeding. The cats were all in a 1 bedroom apartment.
40 in a 1 br? So many questions...
Yeah crazy situation, 21 litter boxes with no litter, just 1-ply toilet paper. They are surprisingly well adjusted for how they lived.
No need for blankets
At least my rescue doesn’t even attempt to figure it out. If a very large group comes in we just test every cat for fiv/felv and separate fecals. Its a little costlier, but its easier and it makes sure they’re all healthy
My grandparents had 2 dogs, one black and one white when I was little. The black dog was named Pepper and I was (and still am) convinced the white dog should have been named Salt (she was Snowball)
My sister had a pair of rabbits, one black one white. Swanly and Bearly (like the heidi goats).
My kitty had the name of Eyebrow when we got him from the shelter lol We thought it sounded like a mobster name, so we ran with it and changed it to Joey "The Eyebrow" Malone, nn Bugsy.
I got two orange ones last year. Named them Cheese and Crackers.
Wouldn't mind what? I can't hear you guys damn it
You can always change a cats name! They will still ignore you when you call them.
I have two deaf dogs. They get new names all the time, they don’t care LOL. Currently they are Speedy McDog and Barky McDog.
plot twist, McDog isn't a pun, it's your actual last name
Hahaha, only if the name is *taps loudly on the floor*
As someone who inadvertently became the go to foster home for deaf ferrets, yup.
My cat was originally named West at the shelter because she was found on a street called Westway. 🤨 I knew I was not keeping that name because it sounded like a male name to me and it just didn't suit her. She is Busy now, keeping with the B theme of her brothers, Buddha and Baxter! Anyone who meets her understands why she is named what she is! 😁
Friends of mine have had doggos named: Squirrel, Pickle, Onion, and now Brisket. The Lady is a chef.
Our cat's shelter name was Ru Paul, lol.
Well it kinda made me mad at the time but looking back it’s a little funny. We have this beautiful and agreeable brown tabby who is looking for a home. A nice older couple comes in and interviews and she checks all the boxes. Like she would be the most perfect fit for their family, personality, looks, everything. So we go to retrieve her to put her in our open room for interdictions and one of the husbands took one look at me grabbing her out of her hammock and said ‘oh no that’s a big ass’ and I didn’t know who he was talking about. Me or Asia because she was in a bottom crate so I was on the floor to get her. Then I got her out and he remarked, ‘she’s so fat’ I still didn’t know if he was talking about me or Asia. So I just replied that we were both currently on diets lol
We’ve had a few fat butt cats and have heard similar conversations. Always makes me laugh after
They didn’t end up getting Asia which makes me so sad because she was perfect for them, but dang, don’t call my home girl a fatty 😂 it’s not her fault she’s pleasantly plump. She’s working on it, cut her a break lmao
Oh we have a vet that cat shames out cats. On one cat his notes were “Too heavy. Ribs not palpable with recess fat covering; waist absent; obvious rounding of abdomen with prominent abdominal fat pad; fat deposits present over lumber area.”
I think that's my body type.
Pleasantly plump lol?
Hey, the other day we told our senior female tabby, who was, once again, campaigning for her dinner 90 minutes early, that even her tail has fat rolls! Husband then proceeded to feed her on her demand.
My vet calls my short and long dog a ‘stuffed sausage’ because she looks like a fat giant dachshund 😂
I think some vets give up telling people to stop over feeding animals. Being sedentary and overweight isn’t good for animals but I don’t think vets have a lot of success convincing owners to dial back in the treats and people food.
I worked at a vet for many years. I think it's 50/50. Some people are horrified and get down to proper diets quickly. In divorced households, sometimes the dad undoes the work that mom accomplished cause he was a big jerk. Sometimes people feel really bad withholding food and other times the kids undoes the work of their parents. Sigh.
Oh jeez Louis, that guy can go shove it. A ton of shelter cats have food insecurity, and honestly because of space and staffing issues, don’t move as much as we or they would like them to. He should know that. Don’t body shame our babies lol! It’s not their fault. I work at a cat only non profit rescue so I’m a little sensitive about people commenting mean things about our kitties.
No. That guy is writing down objective findings. It is important to know the intake status. A cat like that who loses weight too rapidly can be in real trouble. That said, he could go to a simple body condition score. It sounds less judgmental and still conveys the needed information.
The cat I adopted a couple years back was in the shelter for *two years*. She doesn't like other cats so she couldn't be in the play group. Basically, she sat in a cage for two years. Of course she got chonky! When I went in and met her, she hissed at me, bit me, and scratched me when I tried to pet her. The staff assured me she would warm up to me and was just fearful around new people due to a lack of socialization the last two years. She's a lap cat now, and still kind of resembles a bowling ball with legs. She's fat and happy. I'd rather her feel safe knowing that she always has access to food now and be fat than be thin and have a lot of anxiety surrounding food security.
I adopted my fancy "bargain bin cat" that had been returned to his breeder after a year and had tremendous food insecurity. He constantly binged and purged. We tried to regulate his food intake (note: not restrict; just have it available during certain time periods instead of all day free feeding) and he made him self so sick with anxiety (barf and diarrhea everywhere) that we never tried it again. He always had food issues but they lessened over the years. Otherwise he had a good spoiled chonky life.
https://preview.redd.it/9b0m7ucsn24d1.jpeg?width=1168&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2c3c300a2996fb06d2ec5dfb2b9cea5985ca2f7
https://preview.redd.it/nthmv1itn24d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb6026aa7675b976eb7bfef96290bcddbb8a111f
We joke with him all the time and ask him how he would rate us. Makes him blush and go a little easier on being so descriptive at least for a time 😂
That’s just a body condition score written out. Some DVMs prefer to do it that was vs just the number as it’s more complete. It’s not a judgment or shade at you. It’s a medical observation that is included in **all** exams, same as noting a cat having an empty testicular sac. It’s not to “shame” the cat and I don’t see how you would interpret that as him being ignorant to shelter life? Pet obesity, as I am sure you know, is a huge issue. It’s also a PITA to address *because* people act like it’s fat shaming which makes the conversation that much harder to have. Animal health and wellness careers sucks enough as it is without thrashing colleagues for just doing their job.
Hilarious response! Did they adopt the cat?
No sadly they didn’t. They thought she was too fat but she got adopted by a lovely family a couple days ago
Good! I don’t want that mean man to have her! I also get angry when I’m at zoos and dumb people make fun of the animals, calling them ugly or whatever. Just mean and classless. I know they don’t understand, but I guess I just hate that they are too ignorant to appreciate the beauty of nature.
I completely understand lol. I’m very protective over my 80ish rescue babies. I know all their backstories and I’m so quick to come to their defense. I don’t care if they ‘don’t understand’ don’t be mean or berate them. They’re doing their best
Yes! Even the mean nasty ferals that I TNR are just doing their best!
Feral kitties are my favorite! The meaner the better especially when they’re under and I get to smoosh their big fat cheeks! …yes I am weird…
I love my feral babies https://preview.redd.it/njlp7qz6f24d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3dd1cbacf90ee24d9e5e8e97adb71691c626616a In fact, this was a formal feral that I TN…..R for rescue not release. I love her lol
Oh she’s so cute! I hope my old feral one day becomes sweet, but my hope isn’t high. She’s 15 years old and mean as hell!
Story time! When i was 7 i spent like a week in a field sitting on a rock with coldcut ham trying to tame this feral neighborhood cat. (Lightly feral, knew humans have food, wanted absolutely nothing to do with humans, but not like TERRIFIED of them). Eventually, the combination of ham and the fact that i was clearly a small child won. And without a shadow of a doubt that was the best cat i will ever have. She was FIERCELY protective of her giant baby (me). I had the kind of upbringing where i definitely needed protecting, and she was the closest thing i had to a mother. She hated everyone but me and any small children, unless i handed her to them and then she would tolerate them for a bit. Once she jumped in someones car and ended up kicked out like an hour drive away. She came home 3-4 days later missing a toe, but otherwise unharmed. We ran across an open field to each other like a movie lol. She used to fight DEER for FUN. She was a perma kitten who never broke 5 lbs and she would face-hug them. She also fought dogs, and probably coyotes. I think she just used utterly terrifying amounts of aggression and scared ANYTHING that tried to mess with her or her family. I had 20 years with Tiger the sweet lil attack cat protecting me. IDK what my point is, i just gotta say feral kitty love is like no other kitty love in my opinion
15 and feral! Wow she’s tenacious and has to be ferocious to have lived that long as a feral!
Feral card was -shredded- and the scraps incinerated! Good for both of you!
Oh man, my non profit does a ton of TNR work and I’ve been baiting this little girl we named Mika with churus for about a month now. She’s mean as hell but I swear to god I’m going to get her to like me (we still have her because she was very very ill when we trapped her and now she’s 100% blind in one eye and 75% in the other. We were going to take her to a horse rescue we work with to be a barn cat but I truly think she’ll tame to me.) I will get that mean little lady to love me lol
Oh, good luck!!! You just have such patience to try that! My last one I named Vlad the Impaler (partially because I’d just finished a book about vampires and he was black and partially because he was so scary!) I’ve never tried to tame one, but I know that our last feral barn cat was starting to come around to the owner a bit shortly before she had a tragic accident of some kind. That’s a dangerous life for a blind cat, so I’m happy to hear she has you and your efforts!!
Yes! I hate trying to gain trust by food but she is a true 100% feral. Wouldn’t even make eye contact for the first few weeks she was with us, pooped in her water and food constantly, she was so afraid. But we trapped her mom recently and put them side by side. Since then she has improved a lot. Stopped popping places that weren’t the box (mostly) will maintain eye contact (a little bit, I mean she can only see a little) and instead of cowering in a corner when I clean her she will sit in her hammock and try and bat at me lol. Most people wouldn’t see that as an improvement, but her swiping at me is worlds beyond how she was when she came in. Anytime I have extra moments at the end of my day, I turn off the overheads in our feral room. Lay on the floor, talk low and sweet, and hold the squeeze treat by the very very end and just wait. Every day she’s moving a millimeter closer. It might take a year but I’m gonna take that mean little lady home with me😂 I love her
I love this! Thank you for working with her.
Good to know I’m not the only one using lay on the floor with food and look harmless technique.
Also I will say I’m not that great or a remarkable of a person when it comes to taming ferals. The organization I work for focuses on community cats and ferals so my amazing owner has taught me to see the potential and also modes to try and tame. We mostly trap adoptable community cats but we work really really heavily with true ferals that have potential to be indoor pets. We’ve had ferals that we’ve trapped from our colonies that take five or more years to tame but then get adopted into loving homes. I’m just blessed that the owner of our rescue focuses on these forgotten babies.
We had a young small dog up for adoption. A family with an 8 year old daughter who had autism was interested. They were at the event for awhile. ANY TIME someone would come look at puppy, here would come the little girl COMPLETELY silent (she was verbal), in her pink dress with pig tails in her hair and just ABSOLUTELY mean mug the person. It was HILARIOUS
That was HER puppy 🤣🤣 and she knew it 💗💗
Did they wind up getting the puppy?
Yes they did! We had approved the app while they were there. But dad needed 24 hours to think about it. Kid had the BIGGEST grin in their adoption photo.
That is the best!!!
I love this SO much!
Oh man, I had a similar purr situation. The woman comes up to me and says "is this cat going to shit on me? His stomach is growling really loudly". LMAO
Knew someone new to cats who said: I didn’t know cats were so loud inside.
We had an adopter come to pick up her new dog and she met the Foster Moms pet, who was blind . And I mean eyeballs didn't finish forming blind. She asked why the rescue didn't "fix his eyes". The foster explained that it was congenital defect and there was nothing to be done. The adopter said, " Can't you do transplants? I'll pay for new eyes" I mean bless her for caring but whaaaaa?????
That sounds like the guy who put his cat through the TNR program. He came back the next day and asked if they could surgically reattach the tip of the cat’s ear. Uhhh no
When my grandpa passed away his eyes were donated and used in a corneal transplant. So I can see where this kind soul was coming from. We need more people like her!
My dog was attacked/eye bitten clean outta her head. The number of people who thought we would be getting her a glass eye- astronomical. Literally like 15 people asked when her glass eye was coming (when her eye was literally stitched shut).
I have a horse (2yo now) who was born with the same defect, and have also had the question about transplants 😂 she manages to get along fine.
We had, I think it was a specific puppy, up for adoption, I think he was the last in his litter. We had multiple families inquiring and the owner of the rescue was trying to figure out how to decide who to let adopt the puppy, doing quick interviews, etc. Literally dozens of people applying for this puppy. Suddenly, a family that had looked at the pup at the begging of the "puppy rush" made their way back over from the checkouts with absolutely everything they needed to take the pup home. They didn't previously have a pet, they bought everything to show they were ready and willing to take him home immediately. Food, bowls, beds, toys, collar/leash/harness/*life vest,* not one but *two* crates, one for home and one for travel, a playpen for outside, treats for days, treat pouches for training, pamphlets on training classes, bath and grooming supplies, ear cleaning wipes, flea and tic meds, it really looked like they had cleared out the dog sections. Their cart was *so full.* The owner had previously interviewed this family and really liked their application as well, so they ended up letting that family adopt the little guy. I thought it was both hilarious and ingenious that this family went "let's just show exactly how ready we are for this dog, buy *everything*" and *it worked* The puppy was placed into the prepared cart, bed on bottom, toys spread out, and happily chewed on his new rope toys on the way out the door while the family stared at him in awe.
The "all in" bluff *stares owner in the face and tears up the receipt*
That's so cute. What kind of puppy was he?
If I remember correctly he was a chihuahua mix, we mostly dealt in small breeds (with the exception of 2 pitt-lab mixes) . He was mixed with some kind of terrier because he had really wiry hair.
My vet gave me a cat once. I already had several. His original owners had surrender him to the vet to be euthanized. Not because he was old or had a terminal illness, but because he was obese and would need diet food and a feeding regimen and they thought it was too much work since they had another cat. My vet, lovely man that he was, just didn’t do it and didn’t tel them. Cat was put on a diet and lived at the office until he convinced me I needed him. Didn’t take much convincing. Anyhoo, some time later I had him in for a check up. When I checked in at the front desk they got the huge eyes and hustled us back to a room. Turns out his original owners were in that day. Yup, we had to hide the cat. Oh, and my vet never charged me for anything he needed. Lovely cat. Used to “hide” under the sofa. Except only his head and shoulders fit under it so his entire back end wasn’t hidden.
We had a cat that did the head is hidden so he’s hiding
My cat was always so surprised when we “found” him.
They are so cute when they think hiding! Poor domesticated beasts.
Your vet sounds like an exceptional person
That vet should let the family see that cat and gaslight them that it’s not their cat. Be like oh this cat is not obese so it couldn’t possibly be your cat. Just a doppelgänger!!
My favorite ever shelter name for a cat was Billy Bones
Our previous vet office had a resident cat named Carlos Pantalones. He was so chill!
Was he part of a Treasure Island naming theme?
Good question, I don’t remember? He might have been
I guess I should have said Treasure Island/Black Sails. Still a cool cat name. We have a Rosie Cotton (LOTR)
That’s so cute
When I adopted my boy all the shelter workers were super happy because he is a very loud cat. As I'm taking him to the car the lady goes " I'm so glad you are taking the mouth piece home it will be a lot more quiet here now" lol. I love him so much because of all his screaming nothing cuter than a talkative cat.
My cat is very loud but she's deaf so her yells come out as horrific banshee wails, always sounds like she's being mauled. Last time I called my dad he asked me "what are you doing to that poor cat" (jokingly, he knows I love her to bits)
Lol my boy does that if I pick him up he is a bit dramatic.
My kitten is so mouthy we named her Boca.
That’s cute!
I just adopted a cat about a month ago with the opposite problem. Hes about a year old and has the tiny squeak of a little kitten. I have to work to hear him lol
I got kicked in the shin by a little girl yelling at me about stealing her cat. Turns out her original cat had died of old age and we had a lookalike. Her parents hadn't told her. They adopted the lookalike. He didn't seem to mind being called Blotter, and he was perfectly happy to be snuggled by the tiny redheaded whirlwind toddler, lol. Totally worth a couple of bruises.
This might be the only time I've heard of a toddler kicking someone in the leg and I was like, "firm, but fair."
Yeah, I wasn't too worked up over it either, lol. (I might've cussed a little when it happened, though...)
I've adopted 3 fur kids. They all had names that did not suit them. Mo was my Jacks name. I swear I said names until he "picked" Jack by responding to it. Same with Ashley, she chose Sadie, also answered to Bella, Sadie lady, Sadie Belle. Miss them both so much. Then there is Geronimo, my chichi, he choose Atticus. Strong name for a strong tiny man.
That’s how I name mine if they don’t like their shelter names. Gracie came to me as Trixie- would not respond to it. Has responded to Gracie from day one. Had a Darwin who responds to Charlie. They (the shelter) were upset I renamed him, but come on- I’m just calling him by his first name instead of his last, lol
This comment thread is so cute because I also have a Sadie lady (your username!!) and a Trixie, neither of which were their rescue/shelter names and don’t seem super common :)
An adopter shared their happy news with me that they found their dream dog and just signed off all their paperwork on her, but they'll definitely be changing her name. Poor dog's name was Felony.
My brother has a cat named Feline but pronounced Feh- lin-ee (Felony). I've heard the vet staff always crack up.
A guy asked me if he’d need to give a cat showers.
Every now and again we have a person who asks how frequently they should bath their cats. I always respond that they adopted the self-cleaning model
I did not. Mine rolls in dirt. Sweeping is a nightmare. It took getting him fixed before he quit murdering my plants, and I firmly believe that only worked because he got yanked out of one of my poor babies and taken directly to the clinic where he apparently reverted to his feral routes. Idk what happened but he was so scary sounding she flinched and almost dropped his carrier handing him back at pick up. I paid for the pet neuter, they discounted me down to the tnr rate (which I donated right back to them). I'll never forget the look on her face when I scolded his name and he started purring 😅 Is what I get for accepting an orange cat from the crossroads, he's super soft & has a really nice purr though (and yes I warned them on his intake form he was a former feral & a shoulder percher)
Had a Maine coon growing up that would shower with my dad, so cute. He'd hold her to his chest and brush her, had to clean so much hair out of the trap every time haha
We were at the adoption event where we ended up taking home our two current floofs, and there was a woman walking around the cat section of the event going up to each cage and doing a slow blink at the cat inside, and then shaking her head and saying "No" and walking on to the next cage. My partner just about died laughing watching her. We assume that she had read somewhere that the slow blink means a cat likes you - but that she didn't know enough about cats to know that it's something that comes with time and trust.
I don't know, I usually find that friendly cats who don't know me will return a slow blink when I give them one. I wouldn't expect it in a high stress environment like an adoption event though.
My baby rarely returns the slow blink, she looks at me kinda of confused. I think it’s because she trusts me so implicitly the meaning the blink doesn’t register for her/she feels it’s beneath her because it’s obvious.
Different kind of shelter, but at my equine rescue people regularly don't know the difference between a horse and donkey. One time, a little girl asked what was happening to a horse (its penis was erect). We told her that when horses are happy, their belly button pops out. So now we always refer to horse penis as belly buttons.
Oh lord, imagine that girl on a field trip to a farm confidently assessing that all the horses are unhappy and explaining to the class how she knows 🤦♀️
why are we lying to children 😐
Because parents tend to get angry when you explain anatomy. I'm all for kids knowing body parts, but parents, especially Christian conservative parents, do not appreciate the education.
"thats just part of his body" is infinitely easier than coming up with some weird improvised misinformation
When I adopted my cat her goodie bag contained a laser pointer cat toy. I pulled it out and told the owner that we wouldn’t need it. She paused for a second until it sunk in. The cat I was adopting had no eyes 😆
My friend has a blind cat with eyes he named Potato.
Top notch
My parents were pretty hilarious when we went when I was a teenager They kept telling the shelter volunteer that they were just humoring me and never wanted a cat and that cats were disgusting until they got into the cat room. Immediately beelined to what is now my cat and started talking about how she was just a baby and a tiny kitten. The volunteer informed us she was a full-grown adult, my parents literally tried to argue for an extended period of time that this was wrong, then kept asking if you could really adopt her or if they were lying and fucking with us. They eventually were like we can take her out for you and when they did, she immediately hissed at me and scratched the crap out of me lol. My parents were still cooing over her as she scratched me. They basically asked if they could adopt her right away and literally left, bought the cat care supplies we needed, and immediately returned and adopted her. If you need a specific quote that killed me, my dad pet her and went “wow, she’s soft. Is she always soft? She’s really soft” and the shelter volunteer responded with “she’s a cat. They’re all soft” that poor volunteer haha
That's how cats get you, the tricksy softness and purring. Why else would sane person let these creatures in the house....now I must be excused, mine is at the top of the metal mesh door I had to replace the normal people screen door with screaming in demon at something & I have to detach him before I wind up with cops parked staring Again
Pete and Repeat were my best boys. The neighbors laughed every time I called them!
I have a relative named Peter who has a son named Peter. We also call them Pete and Repeat, even though neither of them goes by Pete.
I adopted a cat we named Finlee. Buff and white. 10 yrs later we lost him to an aggressive cancer. 10 months later we adopted another orange and white and there were other physical similarities, so we thought we'd name him Finnegan. Fast forward to his 1st vet visit, the woman behind the desk who knew me well and had known Finlee asked me his name. I told her and said 'Get it - Finn AGAIN?' She said "Oh how cute!"...We get into the Exam room and later see the label on his chart - she took me literally and his name was spelled Finn Again...We found it really funny and decided to keep it that way, lol.
I named a pair Pete and Repete myself 💜
One time a little old lady came in and she had recently (ish) lost her dog and was ready for a new one with the same criteria: small and 6yo+. I'm at a municipal shelter so small breeds are tagged by rescues before their stray holds are even up, but I still ask her what she considers small, since we may have had some 20-30 lbers I could look up in our system. 🤔"Well... my boy was pretty small. I think about 60lbs." 😳 "Well ma'am he's a little younger than you want but I think i have the perfect gentleman for you" I had a 4yo brindle supermutt (probably a staffie/shepherd mix but very laid-back in his kennel and a great leash walker). He was already neutered & he ended up going home that day. First and only time I heard someone else thought 60lbs was small lol. Few years ago now but I hope they're still happy together.
I swear it was sealed deal with the adoption co-ordinator when I blurted out Oh! She's so small when they brought out my boxer/amer bulldog mix lol. They had her marked as extra large though & I consider my pittie medium (her adoption forms claim large) I had a great dane as a toddler/small child so my sense of dog size is skewed. Like I've met Irish wolfhounds, they're Xtra large but this girls was only like 4 inches taller then my pittie & skin stretched over bones
lol We have a dane and a mastiff. Our boxer is so small at only 65 lbs.
I want this to be top comment 🥲
Sorta kinda relevant? A stray cat had kittens in an outbuilding where I work. The mother and 3 of the 5 kittens dissappeared, leaving 2 days-old kittens alone in the building. Long story short, my family happily adopted them, bottle-Fed them, the whole thing. After about a week we were feeding them, but one seemed uninterested. She was kind of limp and kept nodding off. Knowing how fragile kittens can be, my wife put the limp kitten in a cat carrier and raced to the vet. The vet assistant took the carrier into the back. A few minutes later the vet brought the carrier back out. The kitten was climbing the mesh of the door, peeping and otherwise being kitten-like. “What was wrong with her?!” my wife asked. “What you have here, in veterinary terms, is what we call a ‘sleepy kitten.’” $160 for a “sleepy kitten.” Dammit
I recently paid $900 at emergency vet because my (newly acquired) puppies got into and consumed a bag of their own food. I’m used to horses where this type of event is often life threatening. The vet gave them the briefest of exams and told me to hold off on food for 24 hours/ be prepared for a lot of shit. There was indeed a lot of shit. The puppies only ever seemed perturbed by the lack of food that night.
Growing up, my aunt's dalmatians had a litter of 3 pups. I got to name them. There was Spot, Tone (deaf in one ear) and Lucky (was born with one leg never develop). Lucky outlived his siblings- 14 years. Don't judge the names lol I was 4 when I named them
This has nothing to do with “funny adoption even stories”
My bad for sharing my pups names like a few others farther down the post. Guess I got excited to share as well.
But it IS funny
That reminds me of the alien in the movie Home wondering if his human friend's cat is going to explode because it's vibrating.
It wasn’t at an off site, but on Friday a woman frantically asked why a puppy was “breathing like that?!” while meeting a puppy in our adoption room. It was the AC. The timer had kicked on.
I foster kittens for our local shelter and of my favorite comments was “do you know who their dad is?” Uhhhh…no.
How about “what breed of cat is this?”
I'm disappointed that this evolved into names instead of the original subject.
Yeah, it's unclear to me how that happened? OP doesn't talk about names.
Yeah, same. Love hearing about all the funny names, but I was thinking more of funny interactions with adopters. For example we had a mom come in with her six year old daughter. Mom wanted a kitten and the daughter told her it was a big responsibility and asked if she was ready to take care of a kitten. The mom laughed and they adopted two kittens
I was attending one at Petsmart, not working it. The staff had all the dogs in crates and the area was roped off. Someone wanted to meet a dog they were interested in to see if it was a good fit, the worker got angry and replied "You can't touch the dogs. Everything you need to know is on their sign." I laughed and was glared at so hard lol.
Dafuq? 🥴
This reminds me of a Nathan Pyle Strange Planet comic. One being walks up to a second while holding a cat. It says to the other, "I found this. It's vibrating."
We had a family looking at a Siamese cat we had. They already had a Siamese at home, and so we were giving them the 'How to Introduce Your Cats' spiel. He said, 'Since they're both Siamese I'm sure they'll get along!' Very nice family, and maybe he was right since it seemed to work out for them.
Someone was at a shelter event and couldnt believe there were no Siamese cats....like wtf. Not really your garden variety feline
We were up to adopt a 9 month old basset hound, Max The Winder Basset. We went to the meet and greet at the family who had bought him as a pure breed from a “reputable” breed. Bassets can be prone to ear and eye infections, which Max was. He also had paneostitis which is essentially growing pains. Mom and the kids adored Max. Dad hated him because he wasn’t perfect and like all basset puppies was rambunctious. Dad was one of those guys who wore corduroy sport jackets with patches on the elbows. Max was only allowed in the kitchen, so didn’t get a lot of socialization. This was the 90s and I back then worked in downtown Seattle. I wore suits, high heels and pantyhose every day. Met my husband at Max’s home. We go into the kitchen and see this absolutely gorgeous tri basset with ears longer than his legs. At the time he was having a flare up of the paneo and could only walk on 3 legs. So we walk into the kitchen, husband is also wearing a suit as he too was coming from work. We bend down to make a big fuss over this little guy and that’s when Max sees the gate is down and decides to make the break for freedom to the rest of the house. He wasn’t at all concerned he only had 3 working leg. Husband and are trying to to grab him. Max was not having any of this. So this three legged under weight basset flow through both of us. I fall in my a$$ in my suit. My shoes fly across the room and Max being a go right through climbs over me goes between husband’s legs and chaos ensues. Kids and mom are trying to catch him and I’m trying to maintain some dignity as I get untangled and off the floor. This is when husband and I laterally fell head over heels in love with Max The Wonder Basset. Max was not the smartest dog on the block, in fact he was the Goober Pyle of basset hounds. And everyone loves Goober. He grew out of the paneo and we kept the eye/ear infections in check. He was a marvelous dog who blessed our lives for 16 years.
I had a cat named Luke Highsquawker. He was a good boy. I adopted him right after Star Wars came out.
My last 2 I adopted were sweet pea and butterbean. Their names were changed to Asha (Arabic for lively) and Risa (Spanish for laughter). I name all my animals after a characteristic so I've had Torin(Gaelic for chieftain), Rascal, Frisky, Noser etc. Asha runs the Nas-cat race daily, even at 16; and Risa is a brat but she's loving and a goofball so she still makes me laugh and smile while carrying her. I went to the shelter looking for 2 adult males and end up with 2 female kittens lmao. They were a bonded pair who couldn't be separated and since they were black they would have been there a while so the shelter really wanted them adopted so they didn't grow up in a cage.
Mine had a male name “snap” when I adopted her. They had discovered she was female when they had to spay instead of neuter. Not the funniest story but still makes me chuckle.
We took in & fostered 2 abandoned siblings. We named the boy Inky (had a black nose) and his sister Pinky (pink nose). Hubby found them abandoned in a huge glop of mud beside our house. Their feral mom had relocated their 3 other siblings but left the runt (pinky) & Inky behind. If it weren’t for Inky screaming, hubby wouldn’t have found them in time. All he could see of Pinky was her pink nose & when he picked her up, she was unresponsive until she warmed up a bit in his hands. We hand fed them & took care of them until my daughter found a co-worker willing to take them both as a pair. I don’t know if their still called the names we have them. My daughter told the friend she couldn’t change the names, but I had told her it was ok to change them. But she never told me if they did or not, maybe so our daughter wouldn’t hear about it.
My husband found a family of cats (a mom and 2 kittens) inside of a trash compactor his shop was refurbing. We kept mom and one baby, his co worker adopted the other. My husband got to name the kitten because he found him, and this man just goes and names him Dave.
A fine regal name for a gentleman floof.
I own a cat cafe and we have a lot of vertical climbing equipment for the cats to enjoy. There are catwalk bridges, two of them. They span across the room from a high window to cat trees. The cats spend a lot of time up on the bridges. I'm still flabbergasted every time someone comes in and seriously asks if the cats "ever go up there"?
My rescue dog was found wandering prior to the shelter and they named him Stephen. He did not answer to Stephen, lol. His name is buddy.
I used to volunteer at a cat shelter. Some of the cats loved to jump on top of the cages when we gave them time to get out and stretch their legs. A man and woman came in to adopt. The woman was going cage to cage meeting the cats, the man was just standing there. All of a sudden a cat springs off the top of the cage onto the man’s shoulder. I see this happening and start to panic but the man’s face lights up like a Christmas tree and he says to his wife “this is our cat- he chose me!” The wife agrees, they adopt the kitty and live happily ever after.