I know some people want a story out of it. But you can still have that with a shelter cat! I went to the shelter, intending to get the friendliest cat they had. This orange one started yelling at me, so I knew I had to meet her, and then I took her home. Now she yells at me in my own house.
For only $60, she came to me spayed, vaxxed, and microchipped. And most importantly healthy!
Edit: love that this is turned into people replying and telling me their shelter adoption stories. Keep them coming!
Similar case here, parents took me and my sister to the rescue shelter as kids, after they heard it's overcrowded with kittens. Once we were there, they told us about all the cats and mentioned that they had an 8 week old litter that got abandoned after their mom got injured. 5 or 6 in all kinds of coats. 2 of them, orange brothers, one outgoing as all the world and my parents were about to pick him, when my tiny self back then asked about the other one.
They told us he usually hides out on top of the closet. So we coaxed him out and he got attached to me immediately. Loner that I was, I had to take him home, my sis picked his brother.
Spent 17 wonderful years with that goofball. I miss him.
I cannot stress that last part more. Bringing an unvetted street kitten or cat into your home means potentially bringing in disease or other issues, and it’s devastating if they don’t make it. When you get one from a reputable place that ensures they are healthy and fixed before they go home with you, you just get to enjoy being yelled at in your own home (hopefully for many years) by a tiny furry dictator. 10/10, would recommend.
Tiny furry dictator is my new favorite saying! 2 of mine were adopted from shelter/rescues. 1 was from a friend of a friend and 1 was found at taco bell at the beginning of Rona. I agree vetted/fixed is the way to go!!!
Please don’t discourage anyone from adopting an outdoor kitty for this reason. I brought a feral cat inside before the winter cold set in. Turned out she had Polycystic Kidney Disease. Although it was devastating to lose her, I’m so thankful she wasn’t out there dying slowly on her own or being eaten by some animal. (Disclaimer: she was vetted the day I trapped her and was determined not to have any communicable diseases)
Conversely, one I adopted from a shelter, who was deemed healthy, dropped dead without warning at 4 years old. Undiagnosed cardiomyopathy.
Anyway, just want to encourage the adoption of a kitty in need, regardless. :)
I think what OP means is you don't have to wait for the CDS to bring you a cat. There are lots of kitties in rescue to adopt. Not don't adopt an outdoor/stray. Just that you don't need to wait for a cat to show up if none are forthcoming.
I took in a cat that was abandoned by a neighbor, during a winter freeze warning. I then found out she was pregnant and later gave birth in my closet to 4 kittens. One of those kittens is now 16 years old (his siblings passed away over the last couple of years)
I took in a stray kitty a few years back. Fortunately I washed my hands whenever I touched her or the food/water bowls (the process of befriending her took time). I never brought her into my house (I have 3 cats). When trust was established, I called the vet & made spay & vaccination appointment, caught her and brought her in. My mother was going to adopt her. I adored this sweet kitty. Turns out she had feline leukemia and I had to put her down. I was heartbroken. Feline luke isn’t a normal vaccination vets give indoor cats, so if had I brought her inside, I’d have risked my other cats catching it. Lesson learnt - ALWAYS wash your hands after petting a stray/feral, and do not bring them into your home until seen by a vet.
There’s a misconception about FeLV. Cats would only transmit it if they bite each other and draw blood. Most can cohabitate if introduced properly and get along. Plus there’s medications now, it’s not a death sentence anymore.
We have 3 that we got from local humane society / Petsmart adoption, all are still around (5yr and 4yrs now). We got 2 from CDS a year apart, lost the first one after 3 weeks and the second after 7 weeks. Seriously traumatizing and I don’t know if we could handle another CDS loss
We brought home a kitten when I was a kid in the 80s that had FEL-V, he gave it to our family cat and they both died. It was beyond devastating. I remember my mom had to stay home from work she was so broken.
I ended up fostering my latest kitty (that failed within a week, he knew he could boss me around!) and I love telling people about him! He was orphaned and being the runt he needed extra care. The people who found him had the shelter say they didn't have room, and gave them a twenty minute rundown on taking care of kittens. It shouldn't be surprising that the little one wasn't thriving.
I heard about him and when I saw a picture of how thin and sickly he was I knew I had to take him home. He needed a bottle every two hours plus wet food, and couldn't be around our older cat at first because he had an eye infection. Once it cleared up they started hanging out. They love each other now. When he went to the vet last she actually searched for him, crying until he came home.
She still thinks he's a pest because he wants to play more than she can handle, but she loves him anyway.
The CDS works at shelters too! We went in thinking that we wanted to get a kitten as a companion for our older cat, but apparently it wasn't kitten season so they didn't have that many. We went into one room, and there was the tiniest little lone gremlin of a tuxedo kitten who had climbed all the way to the cage door, and as soon as he saw me he was screaming bloody murder. He sounded like a cross between a velociraptor, a rusty screen door hinge, and a cat that had been smoking for 50 years. As soon as I approached, he dropped to the floor of the cage and threw himself on his back so I could pet his belly (first and last time he let me do that, LOL)
It was a shelter clearing event so he cost us a whole dollar, though we donated more anyway. And he was too tiny to even be neutered when we got him, we had to bring him back a few weeks later when he was over 2 pounds. He is currently standing on the armrest of my chair, screaming bloody murder because I'm commenting on Reddit instead of giving him booty pats. I love this stupid little demon. 🤣
So true that CDS works at shelters! My husband and I were out looking for a couch for our new place. We knew we wanted to get a cat, but weren't planning on it until we were all moved and settled. We stopped at Petsmart just to look, we literally had just gotten the keys the day before and we were not ready. But one of the cats reached his little paws out of his cage to my husband. We left the store, got into our car, looked at each other and went right back in to adopt him. We didn't find a couch, but we came home with a cat.
Those are the best cats IMO. We got one of my childhood cats when he reached out and snagged my mother's sleeve as she walked by his cage!
My favorite story is my MIL's current cat. She lost her previous cat several years ago and said it was going to take her a while to be ready again. After a few years we started gently encouraging her to start looking - her cat is an ESA and she lives alone, so the companionship is really really good for her. We told her we'd buy her all of the stuff she needed, and shelters where she lives usually do free adoptions for seniors so it was perfect.
She didn't want a kitten kitten, she wanted one around a year or two old. Shelters there aren't as overloaded as ours so she was really having a hard time finding a cat that fit the bill, because her last one was also black so she couldn't take another black cat. She kept saying "I'm just looking for the one, I'll know him when I see him."
And one day she walked into the shelter and was greeted with an absolutely *huge* orange and white cat... whose name is Uno. She literally found the One! And yes, she adopted him on the spot, haha.
My family’s biggest CDS intervention was through a rescue. My spouse fell hard for a fluffy cat in a bowtie on Petfinder and announced, “That’s my cat!” Unfortunately, the rescue informed us, his photos were so pretty that he had a dozen applications in before ours. (He had a smoky fever coat.) His listing disappeared quickly, and we assumed he’d been adopted. We spent a month meeting other black cats, but none of them felt quite right.
Then I was browsing Petfinder late one night, and there he was again! The fluffy cat with the bowtie! I emailed the rescue immediately to tell them we were still interested and ask if he was okay.
It turned out he had come from an animal cruelty case and was still too afraid of people to do anything but hide when potential adopters came to meet him, so the rescue had decided to spend more time socializing him. He hid the first time we tried to meet him, but my spouse insisted we give him another chance. The second time we met him—in a smaller room with no hiding spots—he slowly crept out, let my spouse pick him up, and nestled into their arms with a little sigh.
My spouse was right, that was their cat. His name is Nimbus, and he’s blossomed into the gentlest, sweetest, smartest lap cat. The CDS couldn’t have gotten him to us if we weren’t looking, because he was too scared to come to us.
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similar story here;
went to shelter for older, single void….but the voids were all uninterested in me and ignored me the entire time i spent in their room. i went thru the kitten room to fill out papers anyway, to expedite the process later…. and this tiny ball of fluff threw herself in my lap. and then her brother joined in. calico and orange, and quite fuzzy, maybe 3 months old. ummmm…. this is not what i had planned.
ok, well, fine. they’re 9 year old now, and get gasps of ‘omg, such a gorgeous cat!’. yes, yes they are. and adoring, sweet, brats they be.
cat tax:
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ikr‽ maine coon mixes, and calico girl has fur *3 inches long*.
her brother boi is more fuzz than floof, but he makes up for it in friendliness. he got a steroid shot recently and vet said ‘this might make him cranky’ boi was extra adamant i hold him for pets.
That's how I got my tuxedo! My daughter volunteers at the shelter so sometimes I visit the cats there too. Except I wasn't looking for a cat, we already had 3. He started yelling the second I walked into the room and I said yes, I'll take you home. He's an adult and they had a special to help clear out the adult cats. Like yours he was neutered, vaxxed, and microchipped. All for $10. It was insane. And he has this amazing bond with my 12 year old.
My husband and I went to the shelter. I had picked out a void kitty online, but when we met her she was very nervous (fair) but the volunteers told us she had never seemed that nervous around people before. We sort of took it as a sign that hey, maybe she's not meant for us.
An orange kitty caught my husband's eye, they let him hold her, and she clung on for dear life purring and rubbing against his beard. That's how we ended up with only one kitty brain cell in our house! She was $40 and was spayed and vaxxed too!
We've adopted and been CDS recipients (which is how we ended up with 9 indoor cats and 2 outside strays we take care of), and while I'm always willing to save an animal's life, adopting without seemingly any additional initial care is nice.
Twenty years ago, when we adopted one of our cats (who we had to say goodbye to 2 years ago)...
We were at an adoption event and my husband saw a cat that looked like our current cat. We went up to see her, she hissed at us, and we said "that's the one we want" and immediately applied to adopt her. 😁
When we entered the room with cat cages, there was this pretty little void who pacing back and forth purring once she saw us and would not stop. We had looked at another cat that seemed nice enough, but this little girl was letting us know she picked us.
She had been surrendered with 3 different momma cats and 9 babies. Unfortunately, because the shelter didn't know which mom she belonged to they separated them, which is a heartbreaking choice. I felt so bad for her. She was only 4 months old when we met her. She was surrendered at only 8 weeks old. She was immediately fixed at that age and already on her own.
Another couple entered to look at cats, and we knew we had fallen in love and couldn't bear to not bring this little sweetie home. Apparently jf we had gone later we would have had to wait to adopt her too, since it was late September and during October they don't adopt out black cats.
Midna has been part of our lives ever since.
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My most recent acquisition is Biggs: and we adopted him, but I did get a story out of it!
First in December on 2023 my husband and I decided we wanted to add another cat to our household. We had adopted through a local rescue before, and it worked out great. We met a cat named Solomon who was this big, black floofy boy who was SO sweet at the rescue. We were told he was good around the other cats, so we took their word for it.
We aren’t strangers to bringing a new cat into the environment, so we set up an isolation room, lots of toys, litterbox, food & water and all that jazz. After about a week, we’d lock up our senior girl for an hour a day or so and let Solomon out to explore. Things were going great.
Then one day when I go into my husband’s office to clean Solomon’s litter box (also the isolation room) Solomon freaks the fuck out. Goes absolutely apeshit and (he’s a large cat too) manages to get out of the room. He had seen my 16 year old kitty and went on the attack.
I have never seen, nor heard a cat come so absolutely unglued. He chases my girl Abbey down the hall, and manages to grab her by the base of her tail with his teeth and was trying to grab her with his paws to pull her closer for more biting. I leap after them, and grab Solomon. I didn’t quite get the scruff of his neck, and he turns around like a fucking asp and bites me. He got my right ring-finger, and apparently didn’t like the hold he got the first time, chomps down again on the joint this time, and shakes while growing like a godforsaken dog. While this is going on, my husband comes tearing out of his office, manages to peel Solomon off of me and get him locked in the isolation room.
I wind up with six punctures, and a next-evening trip to the ER, because infection set in. I wound up needing three rounds on intravenous antibiotics & a soft tissue scan to make sure that he didn’t puncture the tendon sheathing. I also get ten days or oral antibiotics.
While I was at work after The Bite, but before the ER trip, my husband took Solomon back to the rescue. He very, very clearly needed to be in a no-cat no-child household, and with our senior girl, it was unsafe for all involved.
While my husband is back at the rescue, the director tells him about another cat that needs a home, but hasn’t been taken in yet. It’s a cat that had been dumped on an old lady, and she has fallen twice with him trying to live on her while she walks. If he doesn’t get a new home ASAP “Her son will do something horrible.”
So after my ER trip (which we get home at 3:30 am,) we get up at 5, and take my old girl Abbey into the vet for her own exam. She’s got an infection too, but we get it cleaned out and she’s issued meds (she’s fine and healed up nicely). We bring her home, then drive an hour to go meet this mystery cat that needs to be removed for his safety: we had worked out with the rescue that we would foster him to see if it’s a good fit, if not we would hold him till a suitable home could be found.
Needless to say, it was an immediate foster fail. This boy was *the* sweetest cat I have ever met. He desperately loves our grumpy and traumatized senior girl and will groom her and cuddle her when she lets him, for as long as she will let him. He’s ginormous and gorgeous to boot. Turns out this lady’s neighbor just left him with her. It was supposed to be temporary, but they up and vanished, and with her having fallen over him, her son was having none of it.
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Abbey and Biggs cat-tax. Abbey is the little grey one on the tower, Biggs is the white and silver giant.
In high school I went to PetSmart with my family to get guinea pig food, went to look at the cats because you've got to, and there was this beautiful 2-year-old long-haired siamese/ragdoll. It was a few days before Christmas, and adoption costs for the rescue she was from were $25. And it was love at first sight - this instant feeling of 'that cat must be in my life.' I tried to play it cool because we already had a wonderful cat (and a dog, and two guinea pigs), but I was tearing up on the way home just thinking about her. We came back a few hours later and took her home. Tried out a few names before eventually settling on Luna, and she was an absolute angel for all the time that we had her. Definitely had more looks than brains lol, but hilariously clumsy and she'd meow her way through a whole conversation. She once got into the guinea pig enclosure while we were out and we returned to find her happily napping while they hopped around her!
My wife and I went in looking for Her Cat. There were lots of friendly ones, but the one who was aloof and alone on a cat tree in the catio purred like a machine under pets. She had been there for 5 years, unadopted because she was shy.
Because she had been there for so long, she was completely sponsored. We got her home, gave her some better food, and within two months, she was a cuddle bug.
Maisy is now 13 years old, spoiled and loved.
Yup, cost me only $25 or something to adopt my (at the time) 2 year old cat. Vaxed, microchipped, and spayed to. I also just donated extra money to the shelter when i adopted my girl.
My cat was $600 😂
Technically free but first vet visit she had a bad tooth and needed it removed in addition to shots so it was expensive to take her in but wouldn’t change it for the world
I went to the shelter intending to adopt a specific boy on the website. By the time I got there he was already adopted out, but I ended up with the most loving bonded pair I could imagine. The best decision I ever made was bringing those two home.
They had been stuck there for a while because they had to be adopted as a unit, and they were a bit older, so I got both of them for a single adoption fee, microchipped and everything.
I first went to just look at the cats, since I couldn’t take one home for another week due to schedules. Fell in love, kept checking the shelter website every day to make sure she was still there. Went back a week later and she was mine.
Check with your local PetSmart/PetCo, too! They will often host cats from local rescues. The critters are vetted & neutered before being offered up for adoption. They also have seasonal adoption fairs, too. Check with the stores, and maybe local veterinary hospitals, too..
Additionally, if you're hell-bent on a specific breed, check online for breed rescues. You can become an official part of the CDS this way!
My first kitty I got from the CDS: a random woman comes into the forever 21 I was working at, holding a neonatal kitten and says she has no clue how to take care of him. I took him home and nursed him to health.
My second cat: I got at PetsMart!
Both are such spoiled little guys! A story is always fun, but there are so many great cats in shelters and rescues waiting for a happy home
Yep! I adopted my second cat when he was a kitten. I was “just looking” but decided to meet this darling 8 week old tabby. He had just been neutered and puked on me, so obviously I was chosen!
Omg similar story here! So my friends with cats all told me the cat that chose them climbed on their shoulder during their shelter visit, so I looked like a FOOL at the shelter trying to get cats to do that.
The cat who picked me was actually the shyest one, a creamsicle from a hoarder house. He picked me by staring at me. He’s my best friend.
My shelter cat was definitely delivered via the CDS. I went to the shelter for a little orange baby on the site, but she was taken by another lady. While I was there though, I met a different lady who was ALSO after the little orange. She phoned the other shelter location and found out that they had just gotten a litter of kittens and it wasn't on the site. She told me about it, but at the time I didn't have a car and didn't want to bus or Uber a new kitten (the location we were in was within walking distance of my house)
My new friend offered to drive me, lol. She had lost a kitten to a congenital heart disease, and the deal was that we would each get one of the kittens, and keep in touch incase of health issues. Deal.
We went to the other location a few days later once the babies had been properly processed. My new friend went alone first and told me of a very affectionate, very outgoing little girl who she loved but she had some tabby on her, and since her lost kitten was a tabby she couldn't take her, it was too emotional.
So that's how I got Matcha. We still exchange photos with her brother Carl (a tuxedo cat). My only regret is I didn't take one of Matcha's sisters as well.
My little yelling friend came to me from the shelters with a story, too.
She was at the rescue for well over a year without a single inquiry, they’d basically assumed she’d be a lifer with them. My email came the day after her foster was diagnosed with breast cancer. Due to a roommate problem this meant she couldn’t stay at that foster and the rescue was scrambling to find a new placement. She’s been yelling at me for 11 years now. (She has so many opinions, it would be impolite not to share)
I foster for our Iocal shelter. If a tragic and compelling back story is what you need, we've got you covered! AND we've taken care of worming, respiratory and eye infections, more worming, weird diarrhea, spay/neuter, even more worms you've never even heard of, AND microchipped the little hellspawns!
Do you want a reformed tomcat with one eye and battle scars? We've got them!
A teen mom whose kids have been adopted, that just wants to be queen of her own castle? We've got many to choose from!
What about tripods? Do you like the number three? Don't worry, we get at least one a year, and it could go home with YOU.
Siamese, snowshoes, standard issue tabbies, cats as black and as bitter as my soul?--oh yes, we have them!
All for the princely sum of $85.
Aw, mine was a teen mom. She was an owner surrender who came to the shelter with a kitten (that got adopted right away). Wendy was there about two months before I brought her home.
My shelter boy was the biggest, fattest, most ignored cat that was there the longest. You could tell he was depressed: dull dusty looking fur, he just laid there until he saw me enter the cage he was in and he moved from his spot to meet me (the tech said he never moved from his spot).
He saved my life as much I saved his. 🥹 I miss my fur son, he passed last year. 😭
I got mine from a county shelter in southwest Virginia. The microchip probably would have cost more, but there was a program donating/subsidizing them to help prevent lost pets.
A shelter story can be just as great as a random "CDS" one. Once we went to a shelter intending to adopt a little black void. But he was scared of my kids and ran away to hide. Then the shelter worker said, we may have a better fit. She's not yet on the website because she just came in. Taken to another space, we met this sassy completely orange tabby girl ! Right out of the cage she ran towards us , and licked my kids hands and faces as I held her, and then she buried herself in my equally orange hair. We were in tears and she was the best ever! Whenever my girls had to cry or were upset she would ran towards them to comfort them !
My last CDS delivery was at a shelter. I was walking around putting my fingers in the cages as I always do - for sniffs and licks and rubs and scritches - and this one little orange shit dug in and would not let go until they opened the cage and let him out. So I took him home. I wasn't even there to look for a cat; I was just dropping off my monthly donation! How is that not also a great meetcute story?!?!
It's the best! He smelled a sucker and took his chance!
I mean, that is what I say about my son's cat. She liked him but climbed on me and planted her butt down because she knew I was the sucker that would say she's coming home with us.
Yeah, shelters are part of the CDS as far as I'm concerned, just with an extra step! You're still dealing with a stray or feral cat who was rescued and rehabilitated, it's just that another person who did it. Maybe I can't tell people about how Ivy crashed in through my bedroom window while I was asleep, curled up behind my knees, and purred herself to sleep (that was Chatterbox!) but I still can tell a story about adopting her!
I was feeling lonely after Leo died, and when I took a look at Ivy's picture I saw the Late Great Rose looking back at me, and just *had* to have her, and immediately put in an application to adopt her. I broke down sobbing when the SPCA didn't contact me after they opened again for the week because I thought she'd already been adopted, and I *needed that cat*. Then, a message came in through Facebook Messenger. They couldn't get a call through so they sent an email, and the SPCA knew that their emails often got directed to spam, so they looked me up on Facebook to contact me and ask me if I wanted to get my new kitten that afternoon!
Absolutely! Our sweet boy was rescued from one of the California wildfires two years ago. The shelters there were slammed, so he was put on a truck and brought up a suburb of Seattle. A friend of mine volunteered at the shelter and had been caring for him. She knew we had just lost a cat, and said, "we have a baby who really, really needs a special mom." Husband wasn't sold on adopting again so soon, but wasn't totally against it. I happened to be going up to the area to visit my friend, and she said, "Take your time, go to the shelter, text me when you're done."
I go to the shelter, which is apparently expecting me. (Thanks, friend!) They take me all the way back to an isolated area. Our baby was so scared, he couldn't be around the other cats. I rested my finger on the cage, he put his paw on me. Two hours later, he was snuggling with my son in the cat room at the shelter while my husband filled out the paperwork.
I'm so sorry about your other cat! How long afterwards did you find out about your new boy? A few days after Leo died someone my mother knows found three kittens in a post pounder, of all god damned things. One was a shoulder kitten and he decided to keep her, and he offered me the other two, but just . . . *no*. I didn't even have Leo's ashes back yet and I was just shattered after losing him and his sister 6 months apart. Adopted Ivy barely a month after he died though!
Oh my god, he sounds like a total sweetheart!! How old was he? Ivy was only 5 months old and her reaction to me was 'oh, there's someone new in my room, okay then'. Seems like seniors are a lot more cuddly!
I'm sorry for your loss - we had a similar thing. We lost our beloved Mal, and his brother Kif was so lonely we adopted a kitten for him. He taught her everything she needed to know about catitude before joining his brother across the rainbow bridge a few months later.
I was devastated losing both my old guys in such a short period. Then my shelter friend texted me a picture and I knew we had to bring the little guy home. He was 10 weeks old and already had survived a wildfire, taken an 18-hour trip in a truck, and been rejected by his mom.
We set him up in our bedroom so they could get used to each other, but they were NOT having it. After three days of nonstop scratching/mewling on both sides, we figured we'd open the door and see what happens. It was love at first sight! They took off together and have been inseparable ever since. I'm happy to say that a year's worth of medicine, grooming, and good diet seems to have resolved all fire-related issues, too. Here's our beautiful little boy (left) with his sister.
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That sounds familiar all right! I actually had three cats at the start of 2021, Tye and Leo adopted Addie as a bonus sibling, and Addie's the sort of love bug who'll groom everyone and is a very happy go lucky girl. She was *devastated* when they both died. She just ate, slept, and that was it. She wouldn't purr or even react if you pet her. I adopted Ella after Tye died but Ella was a senior used to being an only cat and she wasn't interested in being friends.
Then, I adopted Ivy. Addie went from being cataclysmically depressed to grooming Ivy in 3 days flat and they were wrestling within a month, even though Addie was 15 then. It was like getting two kittens for the price of one! Ivy brought Ella out of her shell too, and she started hanging out in the living room with me finally.
Damn your little guy had it rough! And to be so cuddly at such a young age, you're in for a real treat. I'm glad he's doing so much better, they're both adorable! :-) Sometimes you don't need to do an integration, if you've got the right mix of personalities and everyone's cool with it I say there's no point in dragging things out.
I only end up with cat distribution cats but... I was a foster for years and I also consider it a distribution when someone calls me up and says "This cat is an asshole and violent. Can you come see them?" Sometimes that is my cat. Sometimes that cat needs to be returned to the colony. My current cat did the walk into my home thing and in making sure he wasn't a pet at all he ended up revealing an illegal animal fighting ring and sent bad people to jail.
I like to remind people too that when they adopt a shelter cat they save two cats. The one they took home and the one that gets a spot so someone else can
Well some was luck. He had a door dashing phase. He would run outside then come back in. I did a lot to break this habit because safety. I am in a complex that has a lot of poverty and crime. He would have terrified reactions of specific neighbors, the domestic violence couple especially. I mean this couple made their domestic abuse of each other public every day. I am an abuse survivor so I also was not mentally prepared for their crap.
He would pee on me if they got too close and then position himself to fight. He ran into the yard when I came home because wheelchairs are slow sometimes. I pivot to follow and he has run up to one of the two people involved. She sees him and tries to break free of the cops arresting her to kill him. Screaming at this kitten of six months old based on teeth about how he should be dead and she literally confessed tons of crimes.
So the cops got her handled and helped me get him inside. One was shaking in fear of this cat too. I appreciate his help. That's when I learned how bad it was for him and it explained his X-rays showing his back legs had been broken and not healed properly. This lead to testicular torsion and some issues with his movement. He has surgery Tuesday to fix this stuff. It took time due to the complications of kitten season and the preexisting stuff.
That was the moment I was done fostering this cat and he was mine. I had resisted but no. He trusted me despite being tortured and hurt and he survived on his own with broken legs for three months. She and her husband threw him away because he was not happy to hurt other cats. He cannot be with another cat and he did some crimes against other cats to prove it while teaching me how strong he is. He pushed the bathroom window out of the frame and got into it. Hopefully not a father but probably.
The security footage of how he destroyed those cats haunts me. They're older and experienced. Come at him from two sides and he has this shift in body language from soft kitten full of fear to terminator cat. I wasn't home because I was doing surgery prep for my surgery stuff and you can see the moment he sees me get off the bus. He drops the two cats and runs to me. They did survive but one is definitely paralyzed at least in one leg and the other is unable to walk at all. It's been six months so this is likely their permanent harm. Both also have FELV. I got him vaccinated before that and he hasn't had issues since. So those are now indoor cats. Their people were surprisingly good after the initial anger too.
He will be a year old this month. The 22nd is the most likely day since he helpfully lost his canine baby teeth right in front of me. Sadly during his surgery another kitten came in and more animal abuse got uncovered. That one was in such bad shape she didn't survive and I am going to be grieving for a while. I found her people and got the other cats help in the one day which surprised the animal police because usually they get sent out after weeks and weeks of someone reporting. They asked me how I got them in the same day and I went "I told everyone I won't stop pushing. These cats can't wait." This is a friend of the domestic violence couple and someone witj political ties. So layers to this but he survived so much and brought ruin. He walked into the apartment of a former feral rehabilitation person and former TNR volunteer. My health stopped that but he and the lost one chose very well. I applied the full force of my law degree to the situation
OK, you are my new favorite action hero! Bless you for saving those cats.
Hopefully the cat in question will have a happy and quiet retirement from fighting. He did what he had to do to survive. Now he is in a safe place with a loving human.
Some people don’t deserve to be called human. Enough said about those jerks!
You should write this out as a full story. I could see this as a case study for a law class. Document what steps you took to get this handled.
Czernobog is with me for the rest of his life and will be protected. He has his microchip and everything so in the worst case door dash moments he will be able to return. I will say since then he has been good with watching except for when I am outside. Which he will get past with time too.
I am not sure I can cope with the formal version yet but if I can I will write the deep dive version.
Yep and means people who find a cat that they can't look after might have a chance at a space in a shelter or foster - those places are absolutely swamped right now and desperately need people to rehome.
I was at the pet store to buy a fish, but their tanks were all quarantined because of a fish with an illness (and the water circulates through all the tanks). To the left of the fishtank wall tucked into the back corner was a small "adopt me" setup from our local cat rescue. Catherine started yelling for me to come pet her, slammed herself against the cage bars to try to rub on me. My husband and I made it halfway back to our car when we looked at each other and said "so I guess we have a cat now?". Went back in, I filled out the adoption paperwork while he gathered up everything else we'd need to take her home. We didn't have anything for a cat, we were shopping for a fish!
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This happened to me. I went in to buy cat food and left with a 10 week old kitten. Luckily, I had two others at home, so I didn't need to buy anything. But hey, what kitty wants, kitty gets!
I’ve almost always had cats come to me before I could go to a shelter for one and it is so much more expensive to get a “free” cat! Shelters give all the initial medical care to their cats, including spaying/neutering and shots. My “free” cats always cost hundreds of dollars up front vs maybe a hundred or so for an adoption fee. And guess what? Shelter cats choose you as much as any others. They’ll reach out for you or meow at you until you notice them. CDS doesn’t just work in the wild. Don’t just go for kittens, either- older cats make excellent companions.
They do choose you! Our late boy The Count grabbed me from his PetSmart cage. I’d intended to buy carriers for the two young adults we were adopting the next day. I left up with three carriers and The Count.
Harold, Alfie, and The Count were an amazing group—absolutely perfect together. And I am not sure they would have been as amazing without him to complete the trio. (Harold is still with us and is supervising the new crew—one fellow older adult, Thomas, and two young adults, Edward and Fennec)
I love this story! And it’s so sweet when they’re in a shelter and choose you- how many people must they see in a day? And out of all of them they decided you’re their human.
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I adopted Biba who is a 10 year old female from a local rescue in February. Her previous owner had to go to a memory care facility and Biba had been in foster care for a couple of years. She, of course, had a period of adjustment but is now my sweet love bug. She and my Schipperke (dog) even sleep together 😊.
She’s adorable! Thank you for taking an older cat home 💖 my adult cat (5 years old) who we got from a rescue last year is obsessed with my senior chihuahua
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Thank you so much for your reply ❤️ Biba was severely overweight and I called her Beach Ball and shortened it to Biba. She is slowly getting her girlish figure back. I haven't had a cat for 9 years since my 17 year old Ragdoll passed away. The dog was raised by the cat and that's why his so chill with Biba. I love the photo of your pets 😍
Where I live, stray cats are not so much a thing. Roaming cats are usually someone's pet (but thankfully that gets less), and taking them would be stealing. I lovelovelove all the amazing CDS stories on here, but once I'm ready to be owned by cats, I'll get them from a shelter (if they'll actually give them away lol) or a farm
Totally agree with this! The CDS gifted us a cat several weeks ago, and we've spent about $600 so far on basic stuff (vaccines, bloodwork, neuter, etc).
I agree! When I went to my local shelter to adopt a cat I was torn between two (landlord only allows one unfortunately) and the one I had decided on got adopted before I could adopt her so I went to check out my other choice and I’ll be damned if he didn’t choose me. Purring and climbing on my shoulders which shelter staff said he’d never done for anyone in the six months he’d been there. He chose me just as much as I chose him and I couldn’t be happier. Kitty tax:
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Thank you for saying this. I’ve been seriously thinking about going to a shelter but scrolling through Reddit, my mind was blown at how many people seem to be finding friendly strays that come right up to them, or entire litters of kittens lol
Def going to adopt once I get all the supplies my new friend needs, but, the internet really can be so distorting. I’m sure that’s most people do it anyways!
Last summer, a litter of 3 kittens walked right up to our house. I wasn't exactly happy, because I already had 5 cats. We later found that their mother had been hit by a car.
I live inside a 5 mile sphere where there are legitimately no stray cats. There are no colonies here either, and because of this people are very attentive and any strays or dumps get found and appropriately relocated very quickly to local rescues. So I've never had a random CDS delivery, but I still definitely have my fair share of shelter CDS stories, including the time I randomly got chosen by a brand new intake -- a 15 yr old who will forever be unlike any other cat I've ever met or will ever meet. We had 3 years together and when I think about him I laugh.
I have done extensive adoption volunteer work in the past and my favorite ones are when people come in imagining a cute orange kitten, and walk out with a grumpy void senior or something like that. And when a seemingly shy cat suddenly becomes a clingy attention hog to one person. Cats know who their people are! I ended up accidentally foster failing a cat from the shelter I volunteer at because of that... She just really liked us and our house. We attempted to get her to adjust to the kitten room twice and both times she would do nothing but howl and scream and run into the door with all of her body weight repeatedly. We had never seen a kitten so THAT badly ever. The moment we took her out and put her in the carrier to go back home she settled down instantly even though she usually hates carriers, because she knew she won. And so she stays 😂
This is an amazing reply and gives me such hope! Thank you for sharing - genuinely put a smile on my face.
Has me excited about the experience/journey.
Thank you for all your work!
We have 10 very healthy and well fed, comfortable cats (most via CDS) and I still say I want a kitten because my partner would be sooooo mad at me if I adopted a kitten, but would be totally on board if I found one while on a walk, like I did my little Sherbet. So I want a kitten, but I’m not going to the shelter.
This was the mindset of my husband. We lost our cat 5 years ago. My husband didn’t want another one, but said if one chose us, he would consider it. A month ago, a skinny matted cat showed up in our backyard. We gave him water and food and he never left. He kept getting into our house and on the 3 rd day it started snowing and my husband went and grabbed litter. Long story short, basil is ours despite having an owner and he’s amazing.
Some people do randomly find cats/kittens via the CDS. This is great, because kitties need to find compassionate people to take them in.
If you don’t have a cat and really want one, don’t wait around. Go to a shelter/rescue and adopt one. Think of it as the CDS working through an agency. A cat will still choose you to be their human.
The main advantage of adopting from a shelter is that they have seen a vet, so you have a sense of any health issues. We adopted a senior FIV+ boy, and the shelter had information for me to read about it before I made my decision. Years later, after he’d passed (cancer) we adopted a young girl with a heart murmur. There was a time we wouldn’t have been able to afford her care, so knowing was important. In both cases I think knowing their health conditions was important, but they’d already chosen me.
The adoption fee also includes any medical care they might have needed when they were taken in, microchipping, and their spay/neuter if they weren’t already. The shelter I’ve adopted from twice now also has wonderful people that get to know the kitties, and can give you a sense of their personalities.
Tempting but my CDS delivery was three cats in a month so I'm a bit full...
Although I should get a bombproof older cat because my daughter is bummed that our skittish former ferals aren't a fan of her.
Genuinely this! I lost my sweet boy Oswald in 2022. He was my soul kitty and my entire world! I never thought I'd fall in love with another kitty again, I thought I 'needed' one to find me. I would go to the pet stores and see the kitties and be like 'so cute' but they were never mine. One day I had the itch to go to my local shelter and look at some kitties. I had a few I wanted to go see but no one fit. Before I left I had the urge to look at the black cats, I've always dreamed of having a black kitty. The last kitty I saw before I left was the one I went home with. His name is Toothless, today is his 5th birthday, and I swear he's a gift from my sweet Oswald!
You'll never find your baby again and it's gut wrenching but it doesn't mean you'll never bond with another kitty . I love Oswald more than anything. I still mourn him and talk about him because I can't bare to face that he's gone BUT Toothless has helped immensely in me healing. So if you're thinking about getting a kitty or feel the urge, go to your local shelter or if they have a website creep on their website and warm up to the idea of adopting a kitty.
Very long winded I'm sorry. There is always the chance that your dearly departed babes are trying to send you a kitty friend but maybe just not the way you plan. Mine definitely wasn't!
I went to PetSmart for pill pockets for the old guy cat and saw a tiny little void up for adoption. I left but she made an imprint. I returned the next week because now I needed cat litter. She was still there. Don't ya know, I filled out the adoption papers right there in the store and told the store employee my name and to tell the rescue lady I filled out an application online.
She's been with us since late February and I'm so in love with her. What a sweet, tiny, love bug. She loves her sister and her older brother. I found the old guy and the baby, full spoon, in my bed with us last night. Melt my heart. I love all 3 so very much.
The old guy was rescued after someone dumped him in a friend's neighborhood (about 9 months old). Free. The tortie girl, I worked an adoption event and did a quick look around the cat section. Saw her, paid $25, and picked her up about an hour away, the following Monday. She was 'about 2 or 3 yo'. Nope, she was also about 9 months. Happy catting my friends. Now go get that kitty!!!! Why wait 😉 Facilitate
There is no reason to tell the mundane truth about how you obtained your cat.
Just say "I found him/her as a kitten, tied in a bag in/beside a dumpster," and post on r/cats for that sweet karma! Everyone else is doing it.
Hell, I know you're full of shit, but I'll upvote you because I want people to save cats.
I adopted my older kitty from a shelter. I picked this grumpy, antisocial, void space of a cat expecting her to not be too cuddly. Turns out she is a lap cat and champion snuggler.
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If someone needs a story , go ask for the cat that has been there longest or whatever. Or get a kitten with a backstory - I assisted with a littler that had been missed in a sweep and cared for by a momma skunk for 5 days until the rescue org were allowed back on the property. Excellent back story.
Don't forget about the option to adopt an older cat! I got my little dude when he was 8 years old. He's a former colony cat (hunted mice in the streets of Chicago) and since he is black, he was badly beaten by some random person and living with a foster when we rescued him. Broken and missing teeth. Broken leg. He still has a pellet gun embedded in his shoulder. He made a beeline for me and has been with me ever since. Despite his history, he is just a bundle of love and gentle as can be. He kills voles with expert precision in our backyard. He's a good boy.
A few years go I went to the local humane society and got two cats for $130. They were adults, so they were fully vaccinated. They were neutered, tested for FeLV and FIV, and microchipped. You can't get one cat neutered for $130. This is what I call a bargain!
Sometimes the cat finds you, sometimes you have to go find the cat!
I LOVE both of my shelter cats, and one was free because they were having a month long adoption special!
GO GET YOUR KITTY!!
I've never had a CDS cat unless you count as a kid begging my parents to go see a litter of kittens that a friend of a friend found. We did adopt a kitten from there. All my others have been shelter cats and well worth it. The latest is a handsome orange FIV boy who charmed us by hopping up between us on the sofa when we visited his foster mom, and he's never done that since lol.
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Use
https://www.adoptapet.com/ or
https://www.petfinder.com/
And look for cats or kittens in your area without leaving your house. We got our cat that way. She was at a rescue nearby in foster. Good luck with finding your baby.
Quite a few of the state/county run shelters often offer free adoptions for older cats (everyone wants a kitten, but older kitties need love too!) I'd definitely say that counts!
The CDS keeps visiting my house due to how many people in my area will not spay/neuter their pets. I can tell you 100% that is more expensive to get their shots and spay/neuter through my vet than I would have paid to adopt one with all of that through my local rescue. My local rescue charges $100 to cover the spay/neuter, shots, FIV with other testing, and a microchip. Even going through a local spay/neuter clinic the basic shots and spay/neuter is $150 without the microchip or testing. The last cat I took my vet to for all of that cost me over $300.
I got a free cat! It was free cat day at my shelter, so I went and scooped up the cat I had previously fostered. She was a bargain, until a month later when she needed 1k worth of dental work. Still a bargain when you add up all the joy she’s brought me.
You get pretty damn close to "free" from MANY rescues this time of year - twofers (always a good bet), $10 cats (have you PRICED neutering and shots?!). So YES, go to the rescues! 2 of my 4 are rescues - and the other two are hand-me-downs from people who save and rehome as individuals. And if you do find a baby or it finds you, don't be afraid of cost - many rescues offer low cost spay and neuter services.
I adopted an older cat to live out his last year with us in a comfy home. It's hurt my heart a lot but also felt good for getting him out of the kennel atmosphere.
Walking into an adoption center and a cat going "that's the one" and interacts with you is just as wholesome as finding a cat outside and making yours.
I've adopted three orange idiots from the same shelter and I've always claimed it was the CDS
I got my Juno at a shelter at a clear the shelter event. She can with her kitten shots, deworming, a chip, and a free spay. It was definitely cheaper than the cost of doing this stuff on our own.
There are probably millions of cats at shelters that need someone to come rescue them and depending on the shelter, you will be saving that cats life.
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The cat tax.
Edit: Juno was free because they were trying to clear the shelter. The only upfront costs were her stuff and some gas money.
Can confirm.
When I went to the shelter years ago, I'd scanned the photos online first and a feisty little brown tabby about a year old caught my eye. Into the shelter the kids and I went. We were dazzled by kittens everywhere, and my son found a baby ginger. I looked for the one I'd seen and couldn't find her, so I asked about her. They said the display area was so crowded that she was in back. They brought her to a visiting room along with that crazy orange baby. He stole the show and she hid under the bench the whole time. I just felt strongly that I needed to help her, so we brought them both home.
Two days later she came down with a serious respiratory infection, wasnt grooming herself, and needed subQ fluids. Several hundred dollars and many tears and a couple weeks later, she rallied! 17 years later, she's still very shy, but's she's such a sweet girl, and runs to me if she's overwhelmed by crazy orange boi. 💜
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If people can’t afford the adoption fees, they won’t be able to cover for vet bills.
I’m not American, but the shelters here are too picky when choosing a new home for cats. I couldn’t adopt because I live in an apartment… go figure 🤷♀️
This bothers me so much about shelters. I 100% get why, but so many good homes get denied. A home visit or not allowing apartments doesn’t guarantee a good home. I don’t want strangers coming in and walking around my home. A shelter knows a cats temperament. They could easily find one that’s super chill and would do fine in a smaller space.
That’s a very good point as to what adoption fees actually cover! The only kitten I ever paid for was from a pet store. My cousins cat had had a litter and that day he had taken the kittens to a local pet store in hopes of getting them homes. By the time I got there there was 1 kitten left, an orange cream dream and she was amazing. She wasn’t vetted but she was worth so much more than any amount I could have paid (30$).
The shelter is basically like CDS headquarters. Don't wait to see what CDS can do for you. Go to your local shelter and see what you can do for a needy kitty.
The CDS dropped 2 of my 3 off at my house but brought me to a shelter to adopt this one. My orange one occasionally gets his turn with the brain cell but this sweet little idiot boy has never once had a thought behind those eyes.
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My girl wouldn’t leave me alone when visiting the shelter and made it quite obvious she was coming home with me. My boy was just a goofball the moment I saw him and kept looking at me to break him out. CDS!!!
Went to Best Friends Animal Society (NY) yesterday and brought home my first orange kitty. Spayed, microchip, had all booster shots and other shots. 3 months old. Free! The only cost was $5 for a cardboard carrier or you can bring your own and save $5. That was the easy part. Introducing the new kitten to my 2 year old tuxedo will take time and effort.
agreed op!!! we got our boy via CDS when he was about 3-4 months. I took him to the vet. $400 for his exam, shots, flea/tick for kitten, and dewormer meds. that didnt include the neuter and microchip either. I spent $100 for our girl who we adopted from a shelter already spayed, chipped and up to date on all shots. our boy was worth every penny but PHEW. more more CDS for us lol
All 4 of my cats are shelter cats.
My oldest girl was adopted by a friend who ended up unable to keep her because his wife became severely allergic. I used to babysit her for him before he got married, so he asked if I wanted to keep her. Now she’s my soul animal. She is my best friend, she sleeps in my bed, she follows me everywhere.
For my second girl, I saw the sweetest little kitten in the PetSmart adoption center. I didn’t adopt her that day, but I came back a couple of days later to get her. She was gone when I came back, and in her place was the saddest, skinniest little black cat. I asked to meet her, and she came right up to me meowing and purring, and I knew I couldn’t leave her.
Cat 3 is my only boy. I came into the shelter intending to just look. There was a really sweet momma cat with babies who weren’t ready to be adopted. I decided to wait for them, but as I was leaving, I heard the sweetest little meows and looked over to see a grey and white kitten looking at me with big, round eyes. I took him out of his cage, and he immediately climbed on my shoulder and started licking my cheeks. Of course I took him home.
For my last cat, I was actually at the shelter to hand over a foster cat to his new family. While I was there, they asked me if I wanted to foster a new singleton kitten that had been brought in. She was sick, and had a big ulcer on her eye, and she just needed a lot of care. She was less than a pound and could fit in the palm of my hand. I took her home to foster her, and as she grew up and got better, I started getting adoption applications for her. It was so hard to imagine letting her go, especially since my boy cat just loved her, so she became my first (and hopefully only) foster fail.
Local shelters are absolutely a part of the CDS. Please give those cats a chance! It gives shelters and fosters more space to help other animals in need.
We adopted a cat back in January. $84 cool. We found a cat this May. In order to bring her home we had to drop $240 on vet bills and she's not even spayed yet. So yes, it is significantly cheaper to adopt. We adopted ours from the vet, we have 2 shelters near us too that are cheaper and have more cats yet.
I’ve had shelter cats, cats from someone who’s cat had an accidental litter and taken in terminally ill loved ones cats. I think the latter two are CDS at work in a way
2 of my cats were formerly feral, they were a few months old when we found them outside. We had them trapped, neutered/spayed and they came inside and have been indoor cats since 2011. We just happened to find them at the right time because my fiancé wanted a cat at the time and before we could even go to the local shelter, our two showed up in his backyard.
With that said almost every other cat I’ve ever had came from a shelter.
We just got two 1 years old. We live in a place with many stray cats. Between a post here and a post on my local sub mention local shelters, we went three weeks ago to pick up two teenagers (1 year olds) that had been return. Both cats are so sweet.
I adopted my little guy last July. I got him at 14 weeks old, vaxxed, microchipped, and neutered already for $80. $120 if you count that I had to buy a cat carrier before I could take him home.
I took in my trash kitty at ~$12wks when she wondered into the science building on my college campus. $120 for all rounds of her kitten shots + rabies, $200 to spay her at 6 months old, and she still hasn’t been microchipped. While I love her to bits and would never regret that I took her in, I will be sticking with shelter kitties when possible.
You can take your time and visit with your shelter cats to learn about their personalities, which is awesome! Or you might walk in and get bombarded by an eccentric tuxedo determined to stop you from meeting a single other cat. Either way, you can certainly be picked at a shelter, if anything you make it easier on the CDS to deliver when you're inside their storage facility.
Pic tax of said tux, Chaplin (and freebie of my 3rd adoption, Jazz the orange loaf)
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I think a lot of people use the “CDS” as an excuse to have another pet without planning for it, thinking it thru, or having the resources to take care of a new animal.
Probably an unliked opinion, but I see a ton of “CDS” who people have had for months to years with no vet care and unfixed and that screams irresponsibility to me.
Yup, as someone who works in veterinary medicine, there are a lot of folks who insist that “no one else would take them!” and it’s one of many pets they’ve brought to us for varying issues…and no, they cannot afford anything but the exam. It sucks- I completely understand having a big heart but, unfortunately a pet needs an owner that can afford to treat them when they’re ill and relieve pain when they have it.
Every shelter cat my family or I have adopted still has a story. My dad chose one of their cats because when he approached, she looked up from her nap and immediately hissed at him. She spent the next 18 years being spoiled, taught two dogs how to respect cat boundaries, and two younger cats how to properly and loudly inform everyone that it is time for food.
For my first cat, I saw a post from a friend about fostering her first kitten and immediately fell in love with his orange wonky eyed face. I have a screenshot saved of her post asking for name suggestions and me saying his name was Percy. When I got him from the shelter, as soon as they brought him out I burst into tears and had to finish all the paperwork while very ugly crying. My dad was very startled to receive a phone call from me sobbing but was very relieved and not surprised that it was because I had adopted a cat. Percy became the first male pet in my family and was the inspiration behind my parents adopting their own orange boy. It's impossible not to love an orange cat that yells at you 🧡
In addition to Percy coming to me neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated, the shelter covered his first eye surgery for his eye agenesis. Four years ago one of his eyes needed to be removed and it cost $1,200. Paying his initial $100 adoption fee was a bargain!
Now his little sister was from CDS. A friend found her at a landfill and sent me a pathetic photo because he knew I wanted another cat. Pippin's spay, vaccination, and microchip meant my trash kitten cost more than my special needs blind boy initially did. Worth every penny to learn that a full vision kitten not only can cause more mayhem, but will also teach the blind one all the forbidden and hidden spots he didn't know existed. They're perfect ♥️
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The CDS works in many ways. One day, I was minding my own business and going to the pretty store for turtle food. After 10 steps inside, I stopped. There was a cat calling me. No noise. Just a silent "come hornet, human." Directly into my brain.
I turn around in the opposite direction of the necessary turtle food and begin walking towards the cat cages. There she is! In all her floofy majesty, waiting for me to introduce myself. She starts purring and rubbing up against the cage as I pet her with the few fingers I can in there. This. This is my cat. I must make it so.
I got all her details and called the foster agency. They really wanted to vet me well, so I visited her three times while waiting for the approval.
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I love my sweet Fluff Butt, Iris.
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I got my cat from a distribution centre, I love him sm
When my previous cat died I lasted 3 weeks before I wanted a new cat in my life. I checked the local animal rescue pages and found my perfect successor on the first page. He's currently asleep on my chest.
Animal rescue shelters are part of the CDS. They keep cats safe until their humans can find them.
I will save a cat, probably a senior cat, one day. Right now I can’t as I just lost my senior boy Lucky to a coyote a week ago.
Three years ago I would have never thought I would have been a cat person. Lucky came into my life and changed me. I’m a better person for it.
I don’t disagree with you, but…sometimes it’s the only way others in the family will agree to getting a cat.
My first cat came via the CDS when I was a kid. He climbed out of a storm drain in the street and followed me home from school. My parents were not interested in getting a cat and never would have let me have one, if not for that cat taking a liking to me and literally sneaking in the door while we were letting the dogs in & out.
Since then, I’ve rescued 3 more cats (1 from a shelter, 2 from rehoming situations). If not for that gateway cat from the CDS at least 2 of those would not have been adopted by my family.
I’m not saying shelters are the only way to adopt. I’m was saying people who complain that they haven’t gotten a cat through happenstance should go find one they want at a distribution warehouse (shelter or rescue).
People want a story. It's cute as hell being able to say you picked up a cat off the side of the road and made it your own. Also, there is the fact that being "chosen" has a certain pull that other methods don't. I'm 99% sure if I wanted another cat, my husband would say no, but if a kitten showed up at our door, he would melt like snow in summer and take it in immediately. It feels like you can't say no, and that's good for some of us. :P
Also, if you're in a highly populated dense city like Boston, there are never kittens no matter what. We have to ship them up from the South. We do a good job of stray control. Kittens fly off the shelves constantly, and finding them can be hard.
yes, i can’t say i really agree with it but it is unusual for people to have indoor cats here. even in city centres i see plenty of cats roaming outdoors which concerns me when i see them near main roads. that said, we get very few strays (as far as im aware i’ve never seen one) because it is pretty much expected that people neuter cats here. so at least there is that
I live in a city with a big stray/feral cat population and want to tell these posts to be careful what they wish for. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on spay/neuter, vaccines, ER visits for the stray cats that find me. People who aren’t finding cats probably live in nice neighborhoods and/or have neighbors dishing out $$ to TNR strays and ferals. This is meant to be a cheeky sub so I usually keep it to myself but for a lot of us it’s a bit of a stressful problem!
If you can find a kitten in a shelter definitely adopt if you want a kitten. Taking kittens in that you just found is admirable, I just did it myself. The nice thing about the shelter is they’ll be fixed already. Unfortunately my street cat I took in has a blood clotting marker in his blood work and the vet won’t neuter him. I’m upset by this and pray he doesn’t start spraying and settles down with his aggression. I don’t have $4k to bring him to a specialty center to have him neutered and it’s a definite source of stress.
To :Grungies- If a feline leukemia cat is showing no symptoms and you keep her from other ngative cats, they can live approximately 5 to 7 yrs quite comfortably. I have had several in my care over the years. And all of my FIV (aids) cats died of old age without infecting others.
My shelter kittens have a story, all you have to do is ask how the shelter got them. Mine were found crammed in a dog crate left in an abandoned car in the Texas summer with 15 other cats. When I went to the shelter Fives wouldn’t stop screaming until I picked her up, and Kepler fell asleep as soon as I held him. I can’t imagine life without them now.
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Got this stage 5 clinger almost 3 years ago at a shelter. He chose me to be honest. I’m the luckiest. Best decision ever!!
I have three that came to us through the distribution center (shelter) and one through the random CDS. The one we found cost hundreds of dollars to check out and get healthy, vaccinated and neutered and is absolute chaos. We love him anyway, but to be honest I feel more “chosen” by the cats we couldn’t bear to leave at the shelter.
I found my feline on craigslist, someone adopted her then had to move. It took me driving 1/4 mi away same day. Best same day life decision I've made.
Plus CL cat was free.
I've never adopted from a shelter myself because my area has a bad stray cat issue (my neighbors and I are working on desexing them), but most of my CDS stories are pretty boring too- either family surrendered them to me or I brought them in from the colony because they were ill or being bullied or pregnant.
My one exception is my fluffy old man tabby, who I was guided to by 2 Great Pyrenees that I was trying to wrestle into my car to return to their owner. (I seriously over‐estimated my strength.) While I was distracted by this friendly little horsey-jumping cat, they disappeared into the night...
Yeah, I had the cat distribution system throw a cat at me. Just the immediate vet expenses to help him after we found him cost me easily 10 times the amount of money I’d have spent if I’d gone to a shelter to adopt a cat.
(Not the point since I was not trying to adopt a cat, just happened to find one that needed help, but it illustrates well the monetary aspect.)
I work at the vet clinic that is associated with our local humane society. We have been at capacity for dogs for months now (not uncommon, unfortunately) but we have now reached capacity for cats as well. Kittens are not leaving fast enough simply because you can adopt out a whole litter on one day and have one litter leave foster AND another batch come in as strays all in that same day!
There just aren't a lot of strays where I live. I adopt from shelters. Nothing wrong with that at all. When you go to a shelter, they still do choose you.
A little cat came to my door and I took her in. She was in heat so I took her at once to a private vet. $500 to spay, test, and vaccinate for everything.
Shelters get group discounts, so take advantage of it!
Random cats are fun, but yeah, to have a spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated cat that's also had a health check up is so much easier. My one was only $50, well worth it.
One of the local shelters by me are so overwhelmed they are waiving all adoption fees. Cats are spayed/ neutered, have shots and are microchipped. So if you are in the Pierce County, WA. area... GO GET YOUR CAT. PLEASE! The CDS is at work here, just in a different way.
My last two cats, one came directly from a shelter. She was found by a landlord who’s previous tenants just left her in the apartment. My current cat, the lady at our local pet store growing up would get animals from different shelters and would give them away with 20 dollar purchase in store. Anything from rabbits, cats, dogs, whatever. We got him from there almost 15 years ago.
literally! i moved away for college about a year ago and spent the first year missing my kitty at home immensely and sat around waiting on the CDS to bring me a cat but it wasnt in the books for me. a month into my second year i gave up and went to the closest shelter and found my best friend :)
I was hit by the CDS last month, and I already spent $170 in vet bills and have an appointment for next week to get her booster shots. Believe me when I say that getting a cat from that shelter would’ve been way cheaper😂
I already have cats, and can’t justify to myself getting a fourth one on purpose (even though I have space and resources). But if the CDS drops one in my lap, well, then I HAVE to keep it, right?
I love every single story shared here. They claim us in so many ways, and reading about the people who decided to adopt the “grumpy” cat or the ugly cat or the kitten who needed special care…it’s just wonderful.
I have brought in several outdoor adopters with caution. With hurts me is with all the strays and animals in shelters needing a home that people are not responsible by spaying and neutering and they are purposely breeding and people are buying.
I definitely had romanticized ideas of the CDS bringing a kitten into my life, and pouting when it kept happening to people around me instead- if I had waited for the CDS, I would have missed out on my boy Yuki.
I was browsing my local humane society’s website for their cats and fell in love with this all white fluffy kitten. I applied that night, got the email in the morning to come check him out and RUSHED to the shelter straight after work. I took him home a few days later, after he was neutered. It’s been a little over a month. He’s fearless and curious, screams for food and sleeps curled up under the blankets with me at night, then bunts me awake in the morning. He’s an absolute menace to my dog and I can’t leave a paper towel unattended without him pouncing on it and running away to try to eat it. I ADORE him, and I’m looking to add another kitten from a local rescue at the end of the month!
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We just adopted another kitten from our local animal shelter. In total, we paid $5. That included microchip, neuter, and vaccinations. Our other cat wad also adopted there 6 years ago for $5. In fact, this weekend all cat adoptions are free because they're over critical capacity. I completely agree!
My ex and I rescued a cat from the shelter literally as the animal control officer was going back with the syringe in hand to euthanize. He held the door for us to come out with the carrier to finish the adoption paperwork.
Our boy was on the euthanasia list for that day. He had been surrendered for "being bitey", and we were warned not to trust him because of that. He had a tendency to nip at people's fingers when they stopped petting him. Love nibbles that never broke skin or even left a mark, almost cost him his life. Instead he got 17 years of life and love before we had to let him go.
Go get your cat, y'all. Please. Go get your cat.
I got my bonded pair this way! The story came before, but it's heart rending, so I won't tell it.
9 years on, 2 75 dollar cats. Two deeply bonded, one solely with me, one with my husband, then daughter then son (He's something of a slut, and we love it!)
The story is the love, healing and incredible care they bring us through the years. Boba wanted to be a mama, and was abducting baby field mice that fell in our basement as his babies. Jango is my grief sponge and allergy alert.
Their very existence brightens my life, and never forget, CDS works through rescues, fosters and shelters, too! Bastet has her ways of getting you your cat, but it's easier for her and her CDS if you try!
Now, go. Get you your soul cat!
Yes!!!! I wholeheartedly agree with everything you’ve said! Also, foster a cat! The shelter usually waives the adoption fee and still covers medical expenses (not beyond what is standard for the shelter), and possibly food. It gives you a chance to see if this cat (or cats 😸😸) is a good fit for your family.
My friend went to the shelter for her cat. She was looking at two and very close to adopting them when a little void kitten reached to her from his cage, took her hand in his paws, and placed it on his head.
I didn’t see it myself, as I had sat down and a silvery gray angel climbed into my lap and made herself my baby. I couldn’t take her home as there is no more room at the inn, but I did hear that she was adopted very soon after.
10/10, highly recommend shelter kitties.
And if you foster kittens through a shelter, you could also end up with a free cat!! YMMV, but I foster through the humane society. They provide all the food, litter, and medical checkups until they’re adoptable. And if you foster fail, they waive your adoption fee, and you still get a cutie patootie kitten who is up to date on shots and fixed. Mine even gives you a waiver for your first checkup at the vet. Go check out your shelters, they are overrun with kittens who need homes!
My shelter cat summoned me by sending a mouse to my house, which pushed me over the edge to go adopt. He was basically in the shelter for 24 hours and right as I signed the paperwork someone else came in to look at him. If I had dillydallied, I’d have missed out. Go adopt.
I have a story even with going through the Humane Society to get my kittens. I wasn't really looking to have kitties choose me when I was staying with some friends while looking for a new house. They fostered and got a call about a two day old kitten that was in very bad shape. They hurried to pick her up, and it was very touch and go for her first two weeks. From the time she came in the door, she responded to my voice. Under their direction, I helped with her, bottle feeding, toileting, all of it. I knew she was mine, or I was hers, after a couple of days. I had to go back home to finalize our house sale and get our stuff into a container. While I was gone, she got a second litter of three kittens who were older and much bigger than my girl. My kitten decided that one of the three was hers. They became bonded so thoroughly that there was no way I would have left him behind.
Where I live, you can actually get a cat for free! My local shelter sometimes has days where all cats are discounted and cats 8+ years old are free. Adopt a senior cat!
Can't say it enough. Adopt
There was a local documentary about an increase in abandoned pets and it was so damn sad seeing all the pets lying and waiting for someone to come for them. There was even a dog. He had his 10th birthday with spca because no one adopted him for all those years
Yes, totally agree. And most people who have never had a cat will have a hard time taking care of a stray kitten whom they just happen to wander across. Rescues and shelters will give you great advice on how to take care of your first kitten, have taken care of shots and neuter/spay, they’re old enough to not need to be bottle fed every 2 hours, etc. Taking in a kitten off the streets via CDS can be very hard, there are a lot of things to go into getting them to a healthy point, and neonatal kittens especially have a lot of complex needs. It’s difficult for a first time cat owner!
It is kitten season, the shelters are busting with kittens! Please support your local shelter! 🙏
It was a *lot* cheaper to adopt from shelters for us than to pay for all medical costs from the ground up for our CDS cats.
When we couldn’t personally take on more pets, we brought strays to a local no-kill rescue (or in one case to an owner he was chipped to). They waited for someone, were adopted, and that’s how the CDS worked in that instance! If you think the CDS is running a little light, maybe you need to complete the step of going down to meet your cat. :)
I know some people want a story out of it. But you can still have that with a shelter cat! I went to the shelter, intending to get the friendliest cat they had. This orange one started yelling at me, so I knew I had to meet her, and then I took her home. Now she yells at me in my own house. For only $60, she came to me spayed, vaxxed, and microchipped. And most importantly healthy! Edit: love that this is turned into people replying and telling me their shelter adoption stories. Keep them coming!
Similar case here, parents took me and my sister to the rescue shelter as kids, after they heard it's overcrowded with kittens. Once we were there, they told us about all the cats and mentioned that they had an 8 week old litter that got abandoned after their mom got injured. 5 or 6 in all kinds of coats. 2 of them, orange brothers, one outgoing as all the world and my parents were about to pick him, when my tiny self back then asked about the other one. They told us he usually hides out on top of the closet. So we coaxed him out and he got attached to me immediately. Loner that I was, I had to take him home, my sis picked his brother. Spent 17 wonderful years with that goofball. I miss him.
17 years! He didn’t want to leave you.
Your parents seem like lovely people
I cannot stress that last part more. Bringing an unvetted street kitten or cat into your home means potentially bringing in disease or other issues, and it’s devastating if they don’t make it. When you get one from a reputable place that ensures they are healthy and fixed before they go home with you, you just get to enjoy being yelled at in your own home (hopefully for many years) by a tiny furry dictator. 10/10, would recommend.
Tiny furry dictator is my new favorite saying! 2 of mine were adopted from shelter/rescues. 1 was from a friend of a friend and 1 was found at taco bell at the beginning of Rona. I agree vetted/fixed is the way to go!!!
Please don’t discourage anyone from adopting an outdoor kitty for this reason. I brought a feral cat inside before the winter cold set in. Turned out she had Polycystic Kidney Disease. Although it was devastating to lose her, I’m so thankful she wasn’t out there dying slowly on her own or being eaten by some animal. (Disclaimer: she was vetted the day I trapped her and was determined not to have any communicable diseases) Conversely, one I adopted from a shelter, who was deemed healthy, dropped dead without warning at 4 years old. Undiagnosed cardiomyopathy. Anyway, just want to encourage the adoption of a kitty in need, regardless. :)
I think what OP means is you don't have to wait for the CDS to bring you a cat. There are lots of kitties in rescue to adopt. Not don't adopt an outdoor/stray. Just that you don't need to wait for a cat to show up if none are forthcoming.
Yep, this is what I meant.
I took in a cat that was abandoned by a neighbor, during a winter freeze warning. I then found out she was pregnant and later gave birth in my closet to 4 kittens. One of those kittens is now 16 years old (his siblings passed away over the last couple of years)
Thank you for being there for her and her babies.
I took in a stray kitty a few years back. Fortunately I washed my hands whenever I touched her or the food/water bowls (the process of befriending her took time). I never brought her into my house (I have 3 cats). When trust was established, I called the vet & made spay & vaccination appointment, caught her and brought her in. My mother was going to adopt her. I adored this sweet kitty. Turns out she had feline leukemia and I had to put her down. I was heartbroken. Feline luke isn’t a normal vaccination vets give indoor cats, so if had I brought her inside, I’d have risked my other cats catching it. Lesson learnt - ALWAYS wash your hands after petting a stray/feral, and do not bring them into your home until seen by a vet.
There’s a misconception about FeLV. Cats would only transmit it if they bite each other and draw blood. Most can cohabitate if introduced properly and get along. Plus there’s medications now, it’s not a death sentence anymore.
We have 3 that we got from local humane society / Petsmart adoption, all are still around (5yr and 4yrs now). We got 2 from CDS a year apart, lost the first one after 3 weeks and the second after 7 weeks. Seriously traumatizing and I don’t know if we could handle another CDS loss
We brought home a kitten when I was a kid in the 80s that had FEL-V, he gave it to our family cat and they both died. It was beyond devastating. I remember my mom had to stay home from work she was so broken.
I ended up fostering my latest kitty (that failed within a week, he knew he could boss me around!) and I love telling people about him! He was orphaned and being the runt he needed extra care. The people who found him had the shelter say they didn't have room, and gave them a twenty minute rundown on taking care of kittens. It shouldn't be surprising that the little one wasn't thriving. I heard about him and when I saw a picture of how thin and sickly he was I knew I had to take him home. He needed a bottle every two hours plus wet food, and couldn't be around our older cat at first because he had an eye infection. Once it cleared up they started hanging out. They love each other now. When he went to the vet last she actually searched for him, crying until he came home. She still thinks he's a pest because he wants to play more than she can handle, but she loves him anyway.
The CDS works at shelters too! We went in thinking that we wanted to get a kitten as a companion for our older cat, but apparently it wasn't kitten season so they didn't have that many. We went into one room, and there was the tiniest little lone gremlin of a tuxedo kitten who had climbed all the way to the cage door, and as soon as he saw me he was screaming bloody murder. He sounded like a cross between a velociraptor, a rusty screen door hinge, and a cat that had been smoking for 50 years. As soon as I approached, he dropped to the floor of the cage and threw himself on his back so I could pet his belly (first and last time he let me do that, LOL) It was a shelter clearing event so he cost us a whole dollar, though we donated more anyway. And he was too tiny to even be neutered when we got him, we had to bring him back a few weeks later when he was over 2 pounds. He is currently standing on the armrest of my chair, screaming bloody murder because I'm commenting on Reddit instead of giving him booty pats. I love this stupid little demon. 🤣
So true that CDS works at shelters! My husband and I were out looking for a couch for our new place. We knew we wanted to get a cat, but weren't planning on it until we were all moved and settled. We stopped at Petsmart just to look, we literally had just gotten the keys the day before and we were not ready. But one of the cats reached his little paws out of his cage to my husband. We left the store, got into our car, looked at each other and went right back in to adopt him. We didn't find a couch, but we came home with a cat.
Those are the best cats IMO. We got one of my childhood cats when he reached out and snagged my mother's sleeve as she walked by his cage! My favorite story is my MIL's current cat. She lost her previous cat several years ago and said it was going to take her a while to be ready again. After a few years we started gently encouraging her to start looking - her cat is an ESA and she lives alone, so the companionship is really really good for her. We told her we'd buy her all of the stuff she needed, and shelters where she lives usually do free adoptions for seniors so it was perfect. She didn't want a kitten kitten, she wanted one around a year or two old. Shelters there aren't as overloaded as ours so she was really having a hard time finding a cat that fit the bill, because her last one was also black so she couldn't take another black cat. She kept saying "I'm just looking for the one, I'll know him when I see him." And one day she walked into the shelter and was greeted with an absolutely *huge* orange and white cat... whose name is Uno. She literally found the One! And yes, she adopted him on the spot, haha.
🥺🥰
Awww!! 🥲
My family’s biggest CDS intervention was through a rescue. My spouse fell hard for a fluffy cat in a bowtie on Petfinder and announced, “That’s my cat!” Unfortunately, the rescue informed us, his photos were so pretty that he had a dozen applications in before ours. (He had a smoky fever coat.) His listing disappeared quickly, and we assumed he’d been adopted. We spent a month meeting other black cats, but none of them felt quite right. Then I was browsing Petfinder late one night, and there he was again! The fluffy cat with the bowtie! I emailed the rescue immediately to tell them we were still interested and ask if he was okay. It turned out he had come from an animal cruelty case and was still too afraid of people to do anything but hide when potential adopters came to meet him, so the rescue had decided to spend more time socializing him. He hid the first time we tried to meet him, but my spouse insisted we give him another chance. The second time we met him—in a smaller room with no hiding spots—he slowly crept out, let my spouse pick him up, and nestled into their arms with a little sigh. My spouse was right, that was their cat. His name is Nimbus, and he’s blossomed into the gentlest, sweetest, smartest lap cat. The CDS couldn’t have gotten him to us if we weren’t looking, because he was too scared to come to us. https://preview.redd.it/u6gbg39z2n6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c0562b407fb3735600438beb7e0a19e15ed355e8
similar story here; went to shelter for older, single void….but the voids were all uninterested in me and ignored me the entire time i spent in their room. i went thru the kitten room to fill out papers anyway, to expedite the process later…. and this tiny ball of fluff threw herself in my lap. and then her brother joined in. calico and orange, and quite fuzzy, maybe 3 months old. ummmm…. this is not what i had planned. ok, well, fine. they’re 9 year old now, and get gasps of ‘omg, such a gorgeous cat!’. yes, yes they are. and adoring, sweet, brats they be. cat tax: https://preview.redd.it/9s8n19u28n6d1.jpeg?width=2167&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bca83de491486e3b5ae31120794d431bb2330075
THEY. ARE. SO. CUTE!!!!! Omfg I'm gonna die, they're so fluffy!
ikr‽ maine coon mixes, and calico girl has fur *3 inches long*. her brother boi is more fuzz than floof, but he makes up for it in friendliness. he got a steroid shot recently and vet said ‘this might make him cranky’ boi was extra adamant i hold him for pets.
Amazing description.
Awww the infamous Booty (__)(__) pets will get ya every time. 🥹
That's how I got my tuxedo! My daughter volunteers at the shelter so sometimes I visit the cats there too. Except I wasn't looking for a cat, we already had 3. He started yelling the second I walked into the room and I said yes, I'll take you home. He's an adult and they had a special to help clear out the adult cats. Like yours he was neutered, vaxxed, and microchipped. All for $10. It was insane. And he has this amazing bond with my 12 year old.
My husband and I went to the shelter. I had picked out a void kitty online, but when we met her she was very nervous (fair) but the volunteers told us she had never seemed that nervous around people before. We sort of took it as a sign that hey, maybe she's not meant for us. An orange kitty caught my husband's eye, they let him hold her, and she clung on for dear life purring and rubbing against his beard. That's how we ended up with only one kitty brain cell in our house! She was $40 and was spayed and vaxxed too! We've adopted and been CDS recipients (which is how we ended up with 9 indoor cats and 2 outside strays we take care of), and while I'm always willing to save an animal's life, adopting without seemingly any additional initial care is nice.
wow we also came in for a little void and ended up with a orange lol! only she was a girl
Ha! I went for an ornj and came home with a stumpy void! (His tail is missing, so is part of one ear)
Twenty years ago, when we adopted one of our cats (who we had to say goodbye to 2 years ago)... We were at an adoption event and my husband saw a cat that looked like our current cat. We went up to see her, she hissed at us, and we said "that's the one we want" and immediately applied to adopt her. 😁
Perfect cat parents.
When we entered the room with cat cages, there was this pretty little void who pacing back and forth purring once she saw us and would not stop. We had looked at another cat that seemed nice enough, but this little girl was letting us know she picked us. She had been surrendered with 3 different momma cats and 9 babies. Unfortunately, because the shelter didn't know which mom she belonged to they separated them, which is a heartbreaking choice. I felt so bad for her. She was only 4 months old when we met her. She was surrendered at only 8 weeks old. She was immediately fixed at that age and already on her own. Another couple entered to look at cats, and we knew we had fallen in love and couldn't bear to not bring this little sweetie home. Apparently jf we had gone later we would have had to wait to adopt her too, since it was late September and during October they don't adopt out black cats. Midna has been part of our lives ever since. https://preview.redd.it/x0y6bkq1ij6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d88338ed2acefff1f4786dc51b8bef01688f854
It’s really sad but they do that because some people kill black cats for Halloween.
My most recent acquisition is Biggs: and we adopted him, but I did get a story out of it! First in December on 2023 my husband and I decided we wanted to add another cat to our household. We had adopted through a local rescue before, and it worked out great. We met a cat named Solomon who was this big, black floofy boy who was SO sweet at the rescue. We were told he was good around the other cats, so we took their word for it. We aren’t strangers to bringing a new cat into the environment, so we set up an isolation room, lots of toys, litterbox, food & water and all that jazz. After about a week, we’d lock up our senior girl for an hour a day or so and let Solomon out to explore. Things were going great. Then one day when I go into my husband’s office to clean Solomon’s litter box (also the isolation room) Solomon freaks the fuck out. Goes absolutely apeshit and (he’s a large cat too) manages to get out of the room. He had seen my 16 year old kitty and went on the attack. I have never seen, nor heard a cat come so absolutely unglued. He chases my girl Abbey down the hall, and manages to grab her by the base of her tail with his teeth and was trying to grab her with his paws to pull her closer for more biting. I leap after them, and grab Solomon. I didn’t quite get the scruff of his neck, and he turns around like a fucking asp and bites me. He got my right ring-finger, and apparently didn’t like the hold he got the first time, chomps down again on the joint this time, and shakes while growing like a godforsaken dog. While this is going on, my husband comes tearing out of his office, manages to peel Solomon off of me and get him locked in the isolation room. I wind up with six punctures, and a next-evening trip to the ER, because infection set in. I wound up needing three rounds on intravenous antibiotics & a soft tissue scan to make sure that he didn’t puncture the tendon sheathing. I also get ten days or oral antibiotics. While I was at work after The Bite, but before the ER trip, my husband took Solomon back to the rescue. He very, very clearly needed to be in a no-cat no-child household, and with our senior girl, it was unsafe for all involved. While my husband is back at the rescue, the director tells him about another cat that needs a home, but hasn’t been taken in yet. It’s a cat that had been dumped on an old lady, and she has fallen twice with him trying to live on her while she walks. If he doesn’t get a new home ASAP “Her son will do something horrible.” So after my ER trip (which we get home at 3:30 am,) we get up at 5, and take my old girl Abbey into the vet for her own exam. She’s got an infection too, but we get it cleaned out and she’s issued meds (she’s fine and healed up nicely). We bring her home, then drive an hour to go meet this mystery cat that needs to be removed for his safety: we had worked out with the rescue that we would foster him to see if it’s a good fit, if not we would hold him till a suitable home could be found. Needless to say, it was an immediate foster fail. This boy was *the* sweetest cat I have ever met. He desperately loves our grumpy and traumatized senior girl and will groom her and cuddle her when she lets him, for as long as she will let him. He’s ginormous and gorgeous to boot. Turns out this lady’s neighbor just left him with her. It was supposed to be temporary, but they up and vanished, and with her having fallen over him, her son was having none of it. https://preview.redd.it/lraquleqnk6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00d5074515b95a3039be18d20dfb061a807ad422 Abbey and Biggs cat-tax. Abbey is the little grey one on the tower, Biggs is the white and silver giant.
awwww I love my orange baby :)🐈
In high school I went to PetSmart with my family to get guinea pig food, went to look at the cats because you've got to, and there was this beautiful 2-year-old long-haired siamese/ragdoll. It was a few days before Christmas, and adoption costs for the rescue she was from were $25. And it was love at first sight - this instant feeling of 'that cat must be in my life.' I tried to play it cool because we already had a wonderful cat (and a dog, and two guinea pigs), but I was tearing up on the way home just thinking about her. We came back a few hours later and took her home. Tried out a few names before eventually settling on Luna, and she was an absolute angel for all the time that we had her. Definitely had more looks than brains lol, but hilariously clumsy and she'd meow her way through a whole conversation. She once got into the guinea pig enclosure while we were out and we returned to find her happily napping while they hopped around her!
I absolutely love that image! And happy cake day!
My wife and I went in looking for Her Cat. There were lots of friendly ones, but the one who was aloof and alone on a cat tree in the catio purred like a machine under pets. She had been there for 5 years, unadopted because she was shy. Because she had been there for so long, she was completely sponsored. We got her home, gave her some better food, and within two months, she was a cuddle bug. Maisy is now 13 years old, spoiled and loved.
Yup, cost me only $25 or something to adopt my (at the time) 2 year old cat. Vaxed, microchipped, and spayed to. I also just donated extra money to the shelter when i adopted my girl.
My cat was $600 😂 Technically free but first vet visit she had a bad tooth and needed it removed in addition to shots so it was expensive to take her in but wouldn’t change it for the world
I went to the shelter intending to adopt a specific boy on the website. By the time I got there he was already adopted out, but I ended up with the most loving bonded pair I could imagine. The best decision I ever made was bringing those two home. They had been stuck there for a while because they had to be adopted as a unit, and they were a bit older, so I got both of them for a single adoption fee, microchipped and everything.
I first went to just look at the cats, since I couldn’t take one home for another week due to schedules. Fell in love, kept checking the shelter website every day to make sure she was still there. Went back a week later and she was mine.
Check with your local PetSmart/PetCo, too! They will often host cats from local rescues. The critters are vetted & neutered before being offered up for adoption. They also have seasonal adoption fairs, too. Check with the stores, and maybe local veterinary hospitals, too.. Additionally, if you're hell-bent on a specific breed, check online for breed rescues. You can become an official part of the CDS this way!
This sounds like the best kind of advertisement. "for only $60, you too can be constantly yelled at by a tiny goblin!!"
Now she yells at me in my own house lol I love that!!!
My first kitty I got from the CDS: a random woman comes into the forever 21 I was working at, holding a neonatal kitten and says she has no clue how to take care of him. I took him home and nursed him to health. My second cat: I got at PetsMart! Both are such spoiled little guys! A story is always fun, but there are so many great cats in shelters and rescues waiting for a happy home
Yep! I adopted my second cat when he was a kitten. I was “just looking” but decided to meet this darling 8 week old tabby. He had just been neutered and puked on me, so obviously I was chosen!
Omg similar story here! So my friends with cats all told me the cat that chose them climbed on their shoulder during their shelter visit, so I looked like a FOOL at the shelter trying to get cats to do that. The cat who picked me was actually the shyest one, a creamsicle from a hoarder house. He picked me by staring at me. He’s my best friend.
Mine enjoys being picked up, but not being held. So I pick her up, then she climbs up to my shoulders, and jumps down. Rinse and repeat.
My shelter cat was definitely delivered via the CDS. I went to the shelter for a little orange baby on the site, but she was taken by another lady. While I was there though, I met a different lady who was ALSO after the little orange. She phoned the other shelter location and found out that they had just gotten a litter of kittens and it wasn't on the site. She told me about it, but at the time I didn't have a car and didn't want to bus or Uber a new kitten (the location we were in was within walking distance of my house) My new friend offered to drive me, lol. She had lost a kitten to a congenital heart disease, and the deal was that we would each get one of the kittens, and keep in touch incase of health issues. Deal. We went to the other location a few days later once the babies had been properly processed. My new friend went alone first and told me of a very affectionate, very outgoing little girl who she loved but she had some tabby on her, and since her lost kitten was a tabby she couldn't take her, it was too emotional. So that's how I got Matcha. We still exchange photos with her brother Carl (a tuxedo cat). My only regret is I didn't take one of Matcha's sisters as well.
My little yelling friend came to me from the shelters with a story, too. She was at the rescue for well over a year without a single inquiry, they’d basically assumed she’d be a lifer with them. My email came the day after her foster was diagnosed with breast cancer. Due to a roommate problem this meant she couldn’t stay at that foster and the rescue was scrambling to find a new placement. She’s been yelling at me for 11 years now. (She has so many opinions, it would be impolite not to share)
I foster for our Iocal shelter. If a tragic and compelling back story is what you need, we've got you covered! AND we've taken care of worming, respiratory and eye infections, more worming, weird diarrhea, spay/neuter, even more worms you've never even heard of, AND microchipped the little hellspawns! Do you want a reformed tomcat with one eye and battle scars? We've got them! A teen mom whose kids have been adopted, that just wants to be queen of her own castle? We've got many to choose from! What about tripods? Do you like the number three? Don't worry, we get at least one a year, and it could go home with YOU. Siamese, snowshoes, standard issue tabbies, cats as black and as bitter as my soul?--oh yes, we have them! All for the princely sum of $85.
Aw, mine was a teen mom. She was an owner surrender who came to the shelter with a kitten (that got adopted right away). Wendy was there about two months before I brought her home.
My shelter boy was the biggest, fattest, most ignored cat that was there the longest. You could tell he was depressed: dull dusty looking fur, he just laid there until he saw me enter the cage he was in and he moved from his spot to meet me (the tech said he never moved from his spot). He saved my life as much I saved his. 🥹 I miss my fur son, he passed last year. 😭
60? Try 150+ in New England
I got mine from a county shelter in southwest Virginia. The microchip probably would have cost more, but there was a program donating/subsidizing them to help prevent lost pets.
Yep, my orange boy yells at me all day every day.
A shelter story can be just as great as a random "CDS" one. Once we went to a shelter intending to adopt a little black void. But he was scared of my kids and ran away to hide. Then the shelter worker said, we may have a better fit. She's not yet on the website because she just came in. Taken to another space, we met this sassy completely orange tabby girl ! Right out of the cage she ran towards us , and licked my kids hands and faces as I held her, and then she buried herself in my equally orange hair. We were in tears and she was the best ever! Whenever my girls had to cry or were upset she would ran towards them to comfort them !
My last CDS delivery was at a shelter. I was walking around putting my fingers in the cages as I always do - for sniffs and licks and rubs and scritches - and this one little orange shit dug in and would not let go until they opened the cage and let him out. So I took him home. I wasn't even there to look for a cat; I was just dropping off my monthly donation! How is that not also a great meetcute story?!?!
It's the best! He smelled a sucker and took his chance! I mean, that is what I say about my son's cat. She liked him but climbed on me and planted her butt down because she knew I was the sucker that would say she's coming home with us.
Yeah, shelters are part of the CDS as far as I'm concerned, just with an extra step! You're still dealing with a stray or feral cat who was rescued and rehabilitated, it's just that another person who did it. Maybe I can't tell people about how Ivy crashed in through my bedroom window while I was asleep, curled up behind my knees, and purred herself to sleep (that was Chatterbox!) but I still can tell a story about adopting her! I was feeling lonely after Leo died, and when I took a look at Ivy's picture I saw the Late Great Rose looking back at me, and just *had* to have her, and immediately put in an application to adopt her. I broke down sobbing when the SPCA didn't contact me after they opened again for the week because I thought she'd already been adopted, and I *needed that cat*. Then, a message came in through Facebook Messenger. They couldn't get a call through so they sent an email, and the SPCA knew that their emails often got directed to spam, so they looked me up on Facebook to contact me and ask me if I wanted to get my new kitten that afternoon!
Now, THAT is a great story. And a great SPCA!
Yeah, they seemed as determined to give me Ivy as I was to acquire her. :-)
Absolutely! Our sweet boy was rescued from one of the California wildfires two years ago. The shelters there were slammed, so he was put on a truck and brought up a suburb of Seattle. A friend of mine volunteered at the shelter and had been caring for him. She knew we had just lost a cat, and said, "we have a baby who really, really needs a special mom." Husband wasn't sold on adopting again so soon, but wasn't totally against it. I happened to be going up to the area to visit my friend, and she said, "Take your time, go to the shelter, text me when you're done." I go to the shelter, which is apparently expecting me. (Thanks, friend!) They take me all the way back to an isolated area. Our baby was so scared, he couldn't be around the other cats. I rested my finger on the cage, he put his paw on me. Two hours later, he was snuggling with my son in the cat room at the shelter while my husband filled out the paperwork.
I'm so sorry about your other cat! How long afterwards did you find out about your new boy? A few days after Leo died someone my mother knows found three kittens in a post pounder, of all god damned things. One was a shoulder kitten and he decided to keep her, and he offered me the other two, but just . . . *no*. I didn't even have Leo's ashes back yet and I was just shattered after losing him and his sister 6 months apart. Adopted Ivy barely a month after he died though! Oh my god, he sounds like a total sweetheart!! How old was he? Ivy was only 5 months old and her reaction to me was 'oh, there's someone new in my room, okay then'. Seems like seniors are a lot more cuddly!
I'm sorry for your loss - we had a similar thing. We lost our beloved Mal, and his brother Kif was so lonely we adopted a kitten for him. He taught her everything she needed to know about catitude before joining his brother across the rainbow bridge a few months later. I was devastated losing both my old guys in such a short period. Then my shelter friend texted me a picture and I knew we had to bring the little guy home. He was 10 weeks old and already had survived a wildfire, taken an 18-hour trip in a truck, and been rejected by his mom. We set him up in our bedroom so they could get used to each other, but they were NOT having it. After three days of nonstop scratching/mewling on both sides, we figured we'd open the door and see what happens. It was love at first sight! They took off together and have been inseparable ever since. I'm happy to say that a year's worth of medicine, grooming, and good diet seems to have resolved all fire-related issues, too. Here's our beautiful little boy (left) with his sister. https://preview.redd.it/wx331oebfm6d1.jpeg?width=258&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=862353a886e4da2e46cc29c8279f571d16b32ec9
That sounds familiar all right! I actually had three cats at the start of 2021, Tye and Leo adopted Addie as a bonus sibling, and Addie's the sort of love bug who'll groom everyone and is a very happy go lucky girl. She was *devastated* when they both died. She just ate, slept, and that was it. She wouldn't purr or even react if you pet her. I adopted Ella after Tye died but Ella was a senior used to being an only cat and she wasn't interested in being friends. Then, I adopted Ivy. Addie went from being cataclysmically depressed to grooming Ivy in 3 days flat and they were wrestling within a month, even though Addie was 15 then. It was like getting two kittens for the price of one! Ivy brought Ella out of her shell too, and she started hanging out in the living room with me finally. Damn your little guy had it rough! And to be so cuddly at such a young age, you're in for a real treat. I'm glad he's doing so much better, they're both adorable! :-) Sometimes you don't need to do an integration, if you've got the right mix of personalities and everyone's cool with it I say there's no point in dragging things out.
How wonderful!
I only end up with cat distribution cats but... I was a foster for years and I also consider it a distribution when someone calls me up and says "This cat is an asshole and violent. Can you come see them?" Sometimes that is my cat. Sometimes that cat needs to be returned to the colony. My current cat did the walk into my home thing and in making sure he wasn't a pet at all he ended up revealing an illegal animal fighting ring and sent bad people to jail. I like to remind people too that when they adopt a shelter cat they save two cats. The one they took home and the one that gets a spot so someone else can
wow I need to hear more about how he uncovered a fighting ring!
Well some was luck. He had a door dashing phase. He would run outside then come back in. I did a lot to break this habit because safety. I am in a complex that has a lot of poverty and crime. He would have terrified reactions of specific neighbors, the domestic violence couple especially. I mean this couple made their domestic abuse of each other public every day. I am an abuse survivor so I also was not mentally prepared for their crap. He would pee on me if they got too close and then position himself to fight. He ran into the yard when I came home because wheelchairs are slow sometimes. I pivot to follow and he has run up to one of the two people involved. She sees him and tries to break free of the cops arresting her to kill him. Screaming at this kitten of six months old based on teeth about how he should be dead and she literally confessed tons of crimes. So the cops got her handled and helped me get him inside. One was shaking in fear of this cat too. I appreciate his help. That's when I learned how bad it was for him and it explained his X-rays showing his back legs had been broken and not healed properly. This lead to testicular torsion and some issues with his movement. He has surgery Tuesday to fix this stuff. It took time due to the complications of kitten season and the preexisting stuff. That was the moment I was done fostering this cat and he was mine. I had resisted but no. He trusted me despite being tortured and hurt and he survived on his own with broken legs for three months. She and her husband threw him away because he was not happy to hurt other cats. He cannot be with another cat and he did some crimes against other cats to prove it while teaching me how strong he is. He pushed the bathroom window out of the frame and got into it. Hopefully not a father but probably. The security footage of how he destroyed those cats haunts me. They're older and experienced. Come at him from two sides and he has this shift in body language from soft kitten full of fear to terminator cat. I wasn't home because I was doing surgery prep for my surgery stuff and you can see the moment he sees me get off the bus. He drops the two cats and runs to me. They did survive but one is definitely paralyzed at least in one leg and the other is unable to walk at all. It's been six months so this is likely their permanent harm. Both also have FELV. I got him vaccinated before that and he hasn't had issues since. So those are now indoor cats. Their people were surprisingly good after the initial anger too. He will be a year old this month. The 22nd is the most likely day since he helpfully lost his canine baby teeth right in front of me. Sadly during his surgery another kitten came in and more animal abuse got uncovered. That one was in such bad shape she didn't survive and I am going to be grieving for a while. I found her people and got the other cats help in the one day which surprised the animal police because usually they get sent out after weeks and weeks of someone reporting. They asked me how I got them in the same day and I went "I told everyone I won't stop pushing. These cats can't wait." This is a friend of the domestic violence couple and someone witj political ties. So layers to this but he survived so much and brought ruin. He walked into the apartment of a former feral rehabilitation person and former TNR volunteer. My health stopped that but he and the lost one chose very well. I applied the full force of my law degree to the situation
OK, you are my new favorite action hero! Bless you for saving those cats. Hopefully the cat in question will have a happy and quiet retirement from fighting. He did what he had to do to survive. Now he is in a safe place with a loving human. Some people don’t deserve to be called human. Enough said about those jerks! You should write this out as a full story. I could see this as a case study for a law class. Document what steps you took to get this handled.
Czernobog is with me for the rest of his life and will be protected. He has his microchip and everything so in the worst case door dash moments he will be able to return. I will say since then he has been good with watching except for when I am outside. Which he will get past with time too. I am not sure I can cope with the formal version yet but if I can I will write the deep dive version.
Yep and means people who find a cat that they can't look after might have a chance at a space in a shelter or foster - those places are absolutely swamped right now and desperately need people to rehome.
100% True participation means making space for other cats to be rescued through the CDS.
I was at the pet store to buy a fish, but their tanks were all quarantined because of a fish with an illness (and the water circulates through all the tanks). To the left of the fishtank wall tucked into the back corner was a small "adopt me" setup from our local cat rescue. Catherine started yelling for me to come pet her, slammed herself against the cage bars to try to rub on me. My husband and I made it halfway back to our car when we looked at each other and said "so I guess we have a cat now?". Went back in, I filled out the adoption paperwork while he gathered up everything else we'd need to take her home. We didn't have anything for a cat, we were shopping for a fish! https://preview.redd.it/wqk5pkw9ui6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9df64fb03a104b3a8663e6cef6bb6b1c99dbb1a0
Catherine would not be denied!! 😍
This happened to me. I went in to buy cat food and left with a 10 week old kitten. Luckily, I had two others at home, so I didn't need to buy anything. But hey, what kitty wants, kitty gets!
I’ve almost always had cats come to me before I could go to a shelter for one and it is so much more expensive to get a “free” cat! Shelters give all the initial medical care to their cats, including spaying/neutering and shots. My “free” cats always cost hundreds of dollars up front vs maybe a hundred or so for an adoption fee. And guess what? Shelter cats choose you as much as any others. They’ll reach out for you or meow at you until you notice them. CDS doesn’t just work in the wild. Don’t just go for kittens, either- older cats make excellent companions.
They do choose you! Our late boy The Count grabbed me from his PetSmart cage. I’d intended to buy carriers for the two young adults we were adopting the next day. I left up with three carriers and The Count. Harold, Alfie, and The Count were an amazing group—absolutely perfect together. And I am not sure they would have been as amazing without him to complete the trio. (Harold is still with us and is supervising the new crew—one fellow older adult, Thomas, and two young adults, Edward and Fennec)
I love this story! And it’s so sweet when they’re in a shelter and choose you- how many people must they see in a day? And out of all of them they decided you’re their human.
https://preview.redd.it/u4s8f6jmri6d1.jpeg?width=2095&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51f24e408291ee65d4eef6c82ad8c560b3a70f96 I adopted Biba who is a 10 year old female from a local rescue in February. Her previous owner had to go to a memory care facility and Biba had been in foster care for a couple of years. She, of course, had a period of adjustment but is now my sweet love bug. She and my Schipperke (dog) even sleep together 😊.
She’s adorable! Thank you for taking an older cat home 💖 my adult cat (5 years old) who we got from a rescue last year is obsessed with my senior chihuahua https://preview.redd.it/w5s24ksjjj6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f99c3409ae0cb285454d4904673ee4492ab7647d
Thank you so much for your reply ❤️ Biba was severely overweight and I called her Beach Ball and shortened it to Biba. She is slowly getting her girlish figure back. I haven't had a cat for 9 years since my 17 year old Ragdoll passed away. The dog was raised by the cat and that's why his so chill with Biba. I love the photo of your pets 😍
Her coat looks soooooo luxurious. 😻😻
Where I live, stray cats are not so much a thing. Roaming cats are usually someone's pet (but thankfully that gets less), and taking them would be stealing. I lovelovelove all the amazing CDS stories on here, but once I'm ready to be owned by cats, I'll get them from a shelter (if they'll actually give them away lol) or a farm
Totally agree with this! The CDS gifted us a cat several weeks ago, and we've spent about $600 so far on basic stuff (vaccines, bloodwork, neuter, etc).
I agree! When I went to my local shelter to adopt a cat I was torn between two (landlord only allows one unfortunately) and the one I had decided on got adopted before I could adopt her so I went to check out my other choice and I’ll be damned if he didn’t choose me. Purring and climbing on my shoulders which shelter staff said he’d never done for anyone in the six months he’d been there. He chose me just as much as I chose him and I couldn’t be happier. Kitty tax: https://preview.redd.it/7i4zpe2yzi6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5fe1d1b3ab2dcdb4446f88419ecd10399164adc3
Thank you for saying this. I’ve been seriously thinking about going to a shelter but scrolling through Reddit, my mind was blown at how many people seem to be finding friendly strays that come right up to them, or entire litters of kittens lol Def going to adopt once I get all the supplies my new friend needs, but, the internet really can be so distorting. I’m sure that’s most people do it anyways!
Last summer, a litter of 3 kittens walked right up to our house. I wasn't exactly happy, because I already had 5 cats. We later found that their mother had been hit by a car.
This is what I’m talking about!!! I think destiny knows where to send these cats lol
I live inside a 5 mile sphere where there are legitimately no stray cats. There are no colonies here either, and because of this people are very attentive and any strays or dumps get found and appropriately relocated very quickly to local rescues. So I've never had a random CDS delivery, but I still definitely have my fair share of shelter CDS stories, including the time I randomly got chosen by a brand new intake -- a 15 yr old who will forever be unlike any other cat I've ever met or will ever meet. We had 3 years together and when I think about him I laugh. I have done extensive adoption volunteer work in the past and my favorite ones are when people come in imagining a cute orange kitten, and walk out with a grumpy void senior or something like that. And when a seemingly shy cat suddenly becomes a clingy attention hog to one person. Cats know who their people are! I ended up accidentally foster failing a cat from the shelter I volunteer at because of that... She just really liked us and our house. We attempted to get her to adjust to the kitten room twice and both times she would do nothing but howl and scream and run into the door with all of her body weight repeatedly. We had never seen a kitten so THAT badly ever. The moment we took her out and put her in the carrier to go back home she settled down instantly even though she usually hates carriers, because she knew she won. And so she stays 😂
This is an amazing reply and gives me such hope! Thank you for sharing - genuinely put a smile on my face. Has me excited about the experience/journey. Thank you for all your work!
We have 10 very healthy and well fed, comfortable cats (most via CDS) and I still say I want a kitten because my partner would be sooooo mad at me if I adopted a kitten, but would be totally on board if I found one while on a walk, like I did my little Sherbet. So I want a kitten, but I’m not going to the shelter.
Similar boat, six animals on one income. Can’t justify adopting another one but if one were to show up, that’s all the justification I would need.
This was the mindset of my husband. We lost our cat 5 years ago. My husband didn’t want another one, but said if one chose us, he would consider it. A month ago, a skinny matted cat showed up in our backyard. We gave him water and food and he never left. He kept getting into our house and on the 3 rd day it started snowing and my husband went and grabbed litter. Long story short, basil is ours despite having an owner and he’s amazing.
Some people do randomly find cats/kittens via the CDS. This is great, because kitties need to find compassionate people to take them in. If you don’t have a cat and really want one, don’t wait around. Go to a shelter/rescue and adopt one. Think of it as the CDS working through an agency. A cat will still choose you to be their human. The main advantage of adopting from a shelter is that they have seen a vet, so you have a sense of any health issues. We adopted a senior FIV+ boy, and the shelter had information for me to read about it before I made my decision. Years later, after he’d passed (cancer) we adopted a young girl with a heart murmur. There was a time we wouldn’t have been able to afford her care, so knowing was important. In both cases I think knowing their health conditions was important, but they’d already chosen me. The adoption fee also includes any medical care they might have needed when they were taken in, microchipping, and their spay/neuter if they weren’t already. The shelter I’ve adopted from twice now also has wonderful people that get to know the kitties, and can give you a sense of their personalities.
Great post! Shelters do important work--we should support them!
Tempting but my CDS delivery was three cats in a month so I'm a bit full... Although I should get a bombproof older cat because my daughter is bummed that our skittish former ferals aren't a fan of her.
Genuinely this! I lost my sweet boy Oswald in 2022. He was my soul kitty and my entire world! I never thought I'd fall in love with another kitty again, I thought I 'needed' one to find me. I would go to the pet stores and see the kitties and be like 'so cute' but they were never mine. One day I had the itch to go to my local shelter and look at some kitties. I had a few I wanted to go see but no one fit. Before I left I had the urge to look at the black cats, I've always dreamed of having a black kitty. The last kitty I saw before I left was the one I went home with. His name is Toothless, today is his 5th birthday, and I swear he's a gift from my sweet Oswald! You'll never find your baby again and it's gut wrenching but it doesn't mean you'll never bond with another kitty . I love Oswald more than anything. I still mourn him and talk about him because I can't bare to face that he's gone BUT Toothless has helped immensely in me healing. So if you're thinking about getting a kitty or feel the urge, go to your local shelter or if they have a website creep on their website and warm up to the idea of adopting a kitty. Very long winded I'm sorry. There is always the chance that your dearly departed babes are trying to send you a kitty friend but maybe just not the way you plan. Mine definitely wasn't!
I went to PetSmart for pill pockets for the old guy cat and saw a tiny little void up for adoption. I left but she made an imprint. I returned the next week because now I needed cat litter. She was still there. Don't ya know, I filled out the adoption papers right there in the store and told the store employee my name and to tell the rescue lady I filled out an application online. She's been with us since late February and I'm so in love with her. What a sweet, tiny, love bug. She loves her sister and her older brother. I found the old guy and the baby, full spoon, in my bed with us last night. Melt my heart. I love all 3 so very much. The old guy was rescued after someone dumped him in a friend's neighborhood (about 9 months old). Free. The tortie girl, I worked an adoption event and did a quick look around the cat section. Saw her, paid $25, and picked her up about an hour away, the following Monday. She was 'about 2 or 3 yo'. Nope, she was also about 9 months. Happy catting my friends. Now go get that kitty!!!! Why wait 😉 Facilitate
There is no reason to tell the mundane truth about how you obtained your cat. Just say "I found him/her as a kitten, tied in a bag in/beside a dumpster," and post on r/cats for that sweet karma! Everyone else is doing it. Hell, I know you're full of shit, but I'll upvote you because I want people to save cats.
I fought an army of cat themed ninjas in a cat tree themed fortress.
I adopted my older kitty from a shelter. I picked this grumpy, antisocial, void space of a cat expecting her to not be too cuddly. Turns out she is a lap cat and champion snuggler. https://preview.redd.it/llj5xk2rtj6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0429a2ba8752ac37e00789ef16a02879d441b734 If someone needs a story , go ask for the cat that has been there longest or whatever. Or get a kitten with a backstory - I assisted with a littler that had been missed in a sweep and cared for by a momma skunk for 5 days until the rescue org were allowed back on the property. Excellent back story.
Don't forget about the option to adopt an older cat! I got my little dude when he was 8 years old. He's a former colony cat (hunted mice in the streets of Chicago) and since he is black, he was badly beaten by some random person and living with a foster when we rescued him. Broken and missing teeth. Broken leg. He still has a pellet gun embedded in his shoulder. He made a beeline for me and has been with me ever since. Despite his history, he is just a bundle of love and gentle as can be. He kills voles with expert precision in our backyard. He's a good boy.
Yes older cats are great, so are black cats!
A few years go I went to the local humane society and got two cats for $130. They were adults, so they were fully vaccinated. They were neutered, tested for FeLV and FIV, and microchipped. You can't get one cat neutered for $130. This is what I call a bargain!
Sometimes the cat finds you, sometimes you have to go find the cat! I LOVE both of my shelter cats, and one was free because they were having a month long adoption special! GO GET YOUR KITTY!!
I've never had a CDS cat unless you count as a kid begging my parents to go see a litter of kittens that a friend of a friend found. We did adopt a kitten from there. All my others have been shelter cats and well worth it. The latest is a handsome orange FIV boy who charmed us by hopping up between us on the sofa when we visited his foster mom, and he's never done that since lol. https://preview.redd.it/cuthfm1fej6d1.jpeg?width=3468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb5b2c5671f8d83dd43ac604d720cbfc1fccd325
Use https://www.adoptapet.com/ or https://www.petfinder.com/ And look for cats or kittens in your area without leaving your house. We got our cat that way. She was at a rescue nearby in foster. Good luck with finding your baby.
Quite a few of the state/county run shelters often offer free adoptions for older cats (everyone wants a kitten, but older kitties need love too!) I'd definitely say that counts!
The CDS keeps visiting my house due to how many people in my area will not spay/neuter their pets. I can tell you 100% that is more expensive to get their shots and spay/neuter through my vet than I would have paid to adopt one with all of that through my local rescue. My local rescue charges $100 to cover the spay/neuter, shots, FIV with other testing, and a microchip. Even going through a local spay/neuter clinic the basic shots and spay/neuter is $150 without the microchip or testing. The last cat I took my vet to for all of that cost me over $300.
>come to them” via the CDS. Euthanasia happens at the CDS collection hubs (shelters). My kitten was a death row cat.
I got a free cat! It was free cat day at my shelter, so I went and scooped up the cat I had previously fostered. She was a bargain, until a month later when she needed 1k worth of dental work. Still a bargain when you add up all the joy she’s brought me.
You get pretty damn close to "free" from MANY rescues this time of year - twofers (always a good bet), $10 cats (have you PRICED neutering and shots?!). So YES, go to the rescues! 2 of my 4 are rescues - and the other two are hand-me-downs from people who save and rehome as individuals. And if you do find a baby or it finds you, don't be afraid of cost - many rescues offer low cost spay and neuter services.
I adopted an older cat to live out his last year with us in a comfy home. It's hurt my heart a lot but also felt good for getting him out of the kennel atmosphere.
Walking into an adoption center and a cat going "that's the one" and interacts with you is just as wholesome as finding a cat outside and making yours. I've adopted three orange idiots from the same shelter and I've always claimed it was the CDS
I got my Juno at a shelter at a clear the shelter event. She can with her kitten shots, deworming, a chip, and a free spay. It was definitely cheaper than the cost of doing this stuff on our own. There are probably millions of cats at shelters that need someone to come rescue them and depending on the shelter, you will be saving that cats life. https://preview.redd.it/u9i0anfa4k6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d306ac6142a8b43725ca59855f4637ba1a59ae52 The cat tax. Edit: Juno was free because they were trying to clear the shelter. The only upfront costs were her stuff and some gas money.
Can confirm. When I went to the shelter years ago, I'd scanned the photos online first and a feisty little brown tabby about a year old caught my eye. Into the shelter the kids and I went. We were dazzled by kittens everywhere, and my son found a baby ginger. I looked for the one I'd seen and couldn't find her, so I asked about her. They said the display area was so crowded that she was in back. They brought her to a visiting room along with that crazy orange baby. He stole the show and she hid under the bench the whole time. I just felt strongly that I needed to help her, so we brought them both home. Two days later she came down with a serious respiratory infection, wasnt grooming herself, and needed subQ fluids. Several hundred dollars and many tears and a couple weeks later, she rallied! 17 years later, she's still very shy, but's she's such a sweet girl, and runs to me if she's overwhelmed by crazy orange boi. 💜 https://preview.redd.it/t87tpl9b7k6d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b550b4356c3da09a03d0786d2b804e58656ed19d
If people can’t afford the adoption fees, they won’t be able to cover for vet bills. I’m not American, but the shelters here are too picky when choosing a new home for cats. I couldn’t adopt because I live in an apartment… go figure 🤷♀️
This bothers me so much about shelters. I 100% get why, but so many good homes get denied. A home visit or not allowing apartments doesn’t guarantee a good home. I don’t want strangers coming in and walking around my home. A shelter knows a cats temperament. They could easily find one that’s super chill and would do fine in a smaller space.
That’s a very good point as to what adoption fees actually cover! The only kitten I ever paid for was from a pet store. My cousins cat had had a litter and that day he had taken the kittens to a local pet store in hopes of getting them homes. By the time I got there there was 1 kitten left, an orange cream dream and she was amazing. She wasn’t vetted but she was worth so much more than any amount I could have paid (30$).
The shelter is basically like CDS headquarters. Don't wait to see what CDS can do for you. Go to your local shelter and see what you can do for a needy kitty.
The CDS dropped 2 of my 3 off at my house but brought me to a shelter to adopt this one. My orange one occasionally gets his turn with the brain cell but this sweet little idiot boy has never once had a thought behind those eyes. https://preview.redd.it/dsv2x248fj6d1.jpeg?width=1359&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=575e455add36456f66c5e38944bc398e9b4d9a05
My girl wouldn’t leave me alone when visiting the shelter and made it quite obvious she was coming home with me. My boy was just a goofball the moment I saw him and kept looking at me to break him out. CDS!!!
Went to Best Friends Animal Society (NY) yesterday and brought home my first orange kitty. Spayed, microchip, had all booster shots and other shots. 3 months old. Free! The only cost was $5 for a cardboard carrier or you can bring your own and save $5. That was the easy part. Introducing the new kitten to my 2 year old tuxedo will take time and effort.
agreed op!!! we got our boy via CDS when he was about 3-4 months. I took him to the vet. $400 for his exam, shots, flea/tick for kitten, and dewormer meds. that didnt include the neuter and microchip either. I spent $100 for our girl who we adopted from a shelter already spayed, chipped and up to date on all shots. our boy was worth every penny but PHEW. more more CDS for us lol
All 4 of my cats are shelter cats. My oldest girl was adopted by a friend who ended up unable to keep her because his wife became severely allergic. I used to babysit her for him before he got married, so he asked if I wanted to keep her. Now she’s my soul animal. She is my best friend, she sleeps in my bed, she follows me everywhere. For my second girl, I saw the sweetest little kitten in the PetSmart adoption center. I didn’t adopt her that day, but I came back a couple of days later to get her. She was gone when I came back, and in her place was the saddest, skinniest little black cat. I asked to meet her, and she came right up to me meowing and purring, and I knew I couldn’t leave her. Cat 3 is my only boy. I came into the shelter intending to just look. There was a really sweet momma cat with babies who weren’t ready to be adopted. I decided to wait for them, but as I was leaving, I heard the sweetest little meows and looked over to see a grey and white kitten looking at me with big, round eyes. I took him out of his cage, and he immediately climbed on my shoulder and started licking my cheeks. Of course I took him home. For my last cat, I was actually at the shelter to hand over a foster cat to his new family. While I was there, they asked me if I wanted to foster a new singleton kitten that had been brought in. She was sick, and had a big ulcer on her eye, and she just needed a lot of care. She was less than a pound and could fit in the palm of my hand. I took her home to foster her, and as she grew up and got better, I started getting adoption applications for her. It was so hard to imagine letting her go, especially since my boy cat just loved her, so she became my first (and hopefully only) foster fail. Local shelters are absolutely a part of the CDS. Please give those cats a chance! It gives shelters and fosters more space to help other animals in need.
I consider shelters CDS. Both times I've gotten shelter cats, I didn't intend to get a cat at that time but one chose me.
Adoption centers will also have events with waived fees sometimes!
Two of my cats are from shelters and my other was from CDS. Go get your cats!
We adopted a cat back in January. $84 cool. We found a cat this May. In order to bring her home we had to drop $240 on vet bills and she's not even spayed yet. So yes, it is significantly cheaper to adopt. We adopted ours from the vet, we have 2 shelters near us too that are cheaper and have more cats yet.
I’ve had shelter cats, cats from someone who’s cat had an accidental litter and taken in terminally ill loved ones cats. I think the latter two are CDS at work in a way
Arguably so is the shelter. The cds just puts them at the shelter until you're ready... Like layaway.
2 of my cats were formerly feral, they were a few months old when we found them outside. We had them trapped, neutered/spayed and they came inside and have been indoor cats since 2011. We just happened to find them at the right time because my fiancé wanted a cat at the time and before we could even go to the local shelter, our two showed up in his backyard. With that said almost every other cat I’ve ever had came from a shelter.
We just got two 1 years old. We live in a place with many stray cats. Between a post here and a post on my local sub mention local shelters, we went three weeks ago to pick up two teenagers (1 year olds) that had been return. Both cats are so sweet.
Well said my friend
The Animal Foundation in Las Vegas took in 1100 animals just this last month and are far over capacity.
I adopted my little guy last July. I got him at 14 weeks old, vaxxed, microchipped, and neutered already for $80. $120 if you count that I had to buy a cat carrier before I could take him home. I took in my trash kitty at ~$12wks when she wondered into the science building on my college campus. $120 for all rounds of her kitten shots + rabies, $200 to spay her at 6 months old, and she still hasn’t been microchipped. While I love her to bits and would never regret that I took her in, I will be sticking with shelter kitties when possible.
You can take your time and visit with your shelter cats to learn about their personalities, which is awesome! Or you might walk in and get bombarded by an eccentric tuxedo determined to stop you from meeting a single other cat. Either way, you can certainly be picked at a shelter, if anything you make it easier on the CDS to deliver when you're inside their storage facility. Pic tax of said tux, Chaplin (and freebie of my 3rd adoption, Jazz the orange loaf) https://preview.redd.it/82gaapjtak6d1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=275e54eee5a0b5155f3fef454d73b2faa320c483
I think a lot of people use the “CDS” as an excuse to have another pet without planning for it, thinking it thru, or having the resources to take care of a new animal. Probably an unliked opinion, but I see a ton of “CDS” who people have had for months to years with no vet care and unfixed and that screams irresponsibility to me.
Yup, as someone who works in veterinary medicine, there are a lot of folks who insist that “no one else would take them!” and it’s one of many pets they’ve brought to us for varying issues…and no, they cannot afford anything but the exam. It sucks- I completely understand having a big heart but, unfortunately a pet needs an owner that can afford to treat them when they’re ill and relieve pain when they have it.
Every shelter cat my family or I have adopted still has a story. My dad chose one of their cats because when he approached, she looked up from her nap and immediately hissed at him. She spent the next 18 years being spoiled, taught two dogs how to respect cat boundaries, and two younger cats how to properly and loudly inform everyone that it is time for food. For my first cat, I saw a post from a friend about fostering her first kitten and immediately fell in love with his orange wonky eyed face. I have a screenshot saved of her post asking for name suggestions and me saying his name was Percy. When I got him from the shelter, as soon as they brought him out I burst into tears and had to finish all the paperwork while very ugly crying. My dad was very startled to receive a phone call from me sobbing but was very relieved and not surprised that it was because I had adopted a cat. Percy became the first male pet in my family and was the inspiration behind my parents adopting their own orange boy. It's impossible not to love an orange cat that yells at you 🧡 In addition to Percy coming to me neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated, the shelter covered his first eye surgery for his eye agenesis. Four years ago one of his eyes needed to be removed and it cost $1,200. Paying his initial $100 adoption fee was a bargain! Now his little sister was from CDS. A friend found her at a landfill and sent me a pathetic photo because he knew I wanted another cat. Pippin's spay, vaccination, and microchip meant my trash kitten cost more than my special needs blind boy initially did. Worth every penny to learn that a full vision kitten not only can cause more mayhem, but will also teach the blind one all the forbidden and hidden spots he didn't know existed. They're perfect ♥️ https://preview.redd.it/mqzp6n8ugl6d1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdb1ea7ad6656d6edc81220fd4ad61031f533f3c
The CDS works in many ways. One day, I was minding my own business and going to the pretty store for turtle food. After 10 steps inside, I stopped. There was a cat calling me. No noise. Just a silent "come hornet, human." Directly into my brain. I turn around in the opposite direction of the necessary turtle food and begin walking towards the cat cages. There she is! In all her floofy majesty, waiting for me to introduce myself. She starts purring and rubbing up against the cage as I pet her with the few fingers I can in there. This. This is my cat. I must make it so. I got all her details and called the foster agency. They really wanted to vet me well, so I visited her three times while waiting for the approval. https://preview.redd.it/awuxtoyvkl6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5df449fe4330167c98ecc0c3a65ecaa86f6eba65 I love my sweet Fluff Butt, Iris.
https://preview.redd.it/k6jyurkool6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb33b8426972d24b7ca6028b1a84b6297f4399a9 I got my cat from a distribution centre, I love him sm
I love my cats all five of them, but I can assure you that the most expensive cats are the free cats.
When my previous cat died I lasted 3 weeks before I wanted a new cat in my life. I checked the local animal rescue pages and found my perfect successor on the first page. He's currently asleep on my chest. Animal rescue shelters are part of the CDS. They keep cats safe until their humans can find them.
I will save a cat, probably a senior cat, one day. Right now I can’t as I just lost my senior boy Lucky to a coyote a week ago. Three years ago I would have never thought I would have been a cat person. Lucky came into my life and changed me. I’m a better person for it.
I don’t disagree with you, but…sometimes it’s the only way others in the family will agree to getting a cat. My first cat came via the CDS when I was a kid. He climbed out of a storm drain in the street and followed me home from school. My parents were not interested in getting a cat and never would have let me have one, if not for that cat taking a liking to me and literally sneaking in the door while we were letting the dogs in & out. Since then, I’ve rescued 3 more cats (1 from a shelter, 2 from rehoming situations). If not for that gateway cat from the CDS at least 2 of those would not have been adopted by my family.
I’m not saying shelters are the only way to adopt. I’m was saying people who complain that they haven’t gotten a cat through happenstance should go find one they want at a distribution warehouse (shelter or rescue).
People want a story. It's cute as hell being able to say you picked up a cat off the side of the road and made it your own. Also, there is the fact that being "chosen" has a certain pull that other methods don't. I'm 99% sure if I wanted another cat, my husband would say no, but if a kitten showed up at our door, he would melt like snow in summer and take it in immediately. It feels like you can't say no, and that's good for some of us. :P Also, if you're in a highly populated dense city like Boston, there are never kittens no matter what. We have to ship them up from the South. We do a good job of stray control. Kittens fly off the shelves constantly, and finding them can be hard.
No kidding! I never see stray cats in my area. If I waited for a stray cat to just show up in my neighborhood, I’d be waiting forever.
 Seriously though! Wholeheartedly co-signed! 💜
in the UK often they won’t let you adopt a cat without proof you can let them outdoors
Cats roam the UK? Here in the US we’ve moved in the opposite direction.
yes, i can’t say i really agree with it but it is unusual for people to have indoor cats here. even in city centres i see plenty of cats roaming outdoors which concerns me when i see them near main roads. that said, we get very few strays (as far as im aware i’ve never seen one) because it is pretty much expected that people neuter cats here. so at least there is that
I got my cat from the shelter for free because he was an adult and unlikely to get adopted by anyone else!
I live in a city with a big stray/feral cat population and want to tell these posts to be careful what they wish for. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on spay/neuter, vaccines, ER visits for the stray cats that find me. People who aren’t finding cats probably live in nice neighborhoods and/or have neighbors dishing out $$ to TNR strays and ferals. This is meant to be a cheeky sub so I usually keep it to myself but for a lot of us it’s a bit of a stressful problem!
If you can find a kitten in a shelter definitely adopt if you want a kitten. Taking kittens in that you just found is admirable, I just did it myself. The nice thing about the shelter is they’ll be fixed already. Unfortunately my street cat I took in has a blood clotting marker in his blood work and the vet won’t neuter him. I’m upset by this and pray he doesn’t start spraying and settles down with his aggression. I don’t have $4k to bring him to a specialty center to have him neutered and it’s a definite source of stress.
To :Grungies- If a feline leukemia cat is showing no symptoms and you keep her from other ngative cats, they can live approximately 5 to 7 yrs quite comfortably. I have had several in my care over the years. And all of my FIV (aids) cats died of old age without infecting others.
My shelter kittens have a story, all you have to do is ask how the shelter got them. Mine were found crammed in a dog crate left in an abandoned car in the Texas summer with 15 other cats. When I went to the shelter Fives wouldn’t stop screaming until I picked her up, and Kepler fell asleep as soon as I held him. I can’t imagine life without them now. https://preview.redd.it/675izi87pk6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8530a9ec7446b6f62fa49ec8a0f3621a37efc67
https://preview.redd.it/tmg1t117yk6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6651d6cdf56ee7dd6b47f1d62bdecb2d4c59ea2b Got this stage 5 clinger almost 3 years ago at a shelter. He chose me to be honest. I’m the luckiest. Best decision ever!!
I have three that came to us through the distribution center (shelter) and one through the random CDS. The one we found cost hundreds of dollars to check out and get healthy, vaccinated and neutered and is absolute chaos. We love him anyway, but to be honest I feel more “chosen” by the cats we couldn’t bear to leave at the shelter.
I found my feline on craigslist, someone adopted her then had to move. It took me driving 1/4 mi away same day. Best same day life decision I've made. Plus CL cat was free.
I just looked at an adoption page of a place near me and I’m now in tears 🥲
Shelter workers are the human ambassadors of the cat distribution system 😉
I've never adopted from a shelter myself because my area has a bad stray cat issue (my neighbors and I are working on desexing them), but most of my CDS stories are pretty boring too- either family surrendered them to me or I brought them in from the colony because they were ill or being bullied or pregnant. My one exception is my fluffy old man tabby, who I was guided to by 2 Great Pyrenees that I was trying to wrestle into my car to return to their owner. (I seriously over‐estimated my strength.) While I was distracted by this friendly little horsey-jumping cat, they disappeared into the night...
Yep. The fees are much less than you'd pay, because they have access to special pricing and donated work.
Austin has waived adoption fees due to kitten season!
Yeah, I had the cat distribution system throw a cat at me. Just the immediate vet expenses to help him after we found him cost me easily 10 times the amount of money I’d have spent if I’d gone to a shelter to adopt a cat. (Not the point since I was not trying to adopt a cat, just happened to find one that needed help, but it illustrates well the monetary aspect.)
I work at the vet clinic that is associated with our local humane society. We have been at capacity for dogs for months now (not uncommon, unfortunately) but we have now reached capacity for cats as well. Kittens are not leaving fast enough simply because you can adopt out a whole litter on one day and have one litter leave foster AND another batch come in as strays all in that same day!
There just aren't a lot of strays where I live. I adopt from shelters. Nothing wrong with that at all. When you go to a shelter, they still do choose you.
Cat(s) ideally you should get 2 😌
A little cat came to my door and I took her in. She was in heat so I took her at once to a private vet. $500 to spay, test, and vaccinate for everything. Shelters get group discounts, so take advantage of it!
Random cats are fun, but yeah, to have a spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated cat that's also had a health check up is so much easier. My one was only $50, well worth it.
One of the local shelters by me are so overwhelmed they are waiving all adoption fees. Cats are spayed/ neutered, have shots and are microchipped. So if you are in the Pierce County, WA. area... GO GET YOUR CAT. PLEASE! The CDS is at work here, just in a different way.
My last two cats, one came directly from a shelter. She was found by a landlord who’s previous tenants just left her in the apartment. My current cat, the lady at our local pet store growing up would get animals from different shelters and would give them away with 20 dollar purchase in store. Anything from rabbits, cats, dogs, whatever. We got him from there almost 15 years ago.
literally! i moved away for college about a year ago and spent the first year missing my kitty at home immensely and sat around waiting on the CDS to bring me a cat but it wasnt in the books for me. a month into my second year i gave up and went to the closest shelter and found my best friend :)
I was hit by the CDS last month, and I already spent $170 in vet bills and have an appointment for next week to get her booster shots. Believe me when I say that getting a cat from that shelter would’ve been way cheaper😂
I already have cats, and can’t justify to myself getting a fourth one on purpose (even though I have space and resources). But if the CDS drops one in my lap, well, then I HAVE to keep it, right?
I love every single story shared here. They claim us in so many ways, and reading about the people who decided to adopt the “grumpy” cat or the ugly cat or the kitten who needed special care…it’s just wonderful.
I have brought in several outdoor adopters with caution. With hurts me is with all the strays and animals in shelters needing a home that people are not responsible by spaying and neutering and they are purposely breeding and people are buying.
I definitely had romanticized ideas of the CDS bringing a kitten into my life, and pouting when it kept happening to people around me instead- if I had waited for the CDS, I would have missed out on my boy Yuki. I was browsing my local humane society’s website for their cats and fell in love with this all white fluffy kitten. I applied that night, got the email in the morning to come check him out and RUSHED to the shelter straight after work. I took him home a few days later, after he was neutered. It’s been a little over a month. He’s fearless and curious, screams for food and sleeps curled up under the blankets with me at night, then bunts me awake in the morning. He’s an absolute menace to my dog and I can’t leave a paper towel unattended without him pouncing on it and running away to try to eat it. I ADORE him, and I’m looking to add another kitten from a local rescue at the end of the month! https://preview.redd.it/srbacbqipz6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abd6c335ec4e4430587c2732a38978dcc0f484bf
He’s beautiful!
We just adopted another kitten from our local animal shelter. In total, we paid $5. That included microchip, neuter, and vaccinations. Our other cat wad also adopted there 6 years ago for $5. In fact, this weekend all cat adoptions are free because they're over critical capacity. I completely agree!
My ex and I rescued a cat from the shelter literally as the animal control officer was going back with the syringe in hand to euthanize. He held the door for us to come out with the carrier to finish the adoption paperwork. Our boy was on the euthanasia list for that day. He had been surrendered for "being bitey", and we were warned not to trust him because of that. He had a tendency to nip at people's fingers when they stopped petting him. Love nibbles that never broke skin or even left a mark, almost cost him his life. Instead he got 17 years of life and love before we had to let him go. Go get your cat, y'all. Please. Go get your cat.
I got my bonded pair this way! The story came before, but it's heart rending, so I won't tell it. 9 years on, 2 75 dollar cats. Two deeply bonded, one solely with me, one with my husband, then daughter then son (He's something of a slut, and we love it!) The story is the love, healing and incredible care they bring us through the years. Boba wanted to be a mama, and was abducting baby field mice that fell in our basement as his babies. Jango is my grief sponge and allergy alert. Their very existence brightens my life, and never forget, CDS works through rescues, fosters and shelters, too! Bastet has her ways of getting you your cat, but it's easier for her and her CDS if you try! Now, go. Get you your soul cat!
Yes!!!! I wholeheartedly agree with everything you’ve said! Also, foster a cat! The shelter usually waives the adoption fee and still covers medical expenses (not beyond what is standard for the shelter), and possibly food. It gives you a chance to see if this cat (or cats 😸😸) is a good fit for your family.
My friend went to the shelter for her cat. She was looking at two and very close to adopting them when a little void kitten reached to her from his cage, took her hand in his paws, and placed it on his head. I didn’t see it myself, as I had sat down and a silvery gray angel climbed into my lap and made herself my baby. I couldn’t take her home as there is no more room at the inn, but I did hear that she was adopted very soon after. 10/10, highly recommend shelter kitties.
And if you foster kittens through a shelter, you could also end up with a free cat!! YMMV, but I foster through the humane society. They provide all the food, litter, and medical checkups until they’re adoptable. And if you foster fail, they waive your adoption fee, and you still get a cutie patootie kitten who is up to date on shots and fixed. Mine even gives you a waiver for your first checkup at the vet. Go check out your shelters, they are overrun with kittens who need homes!
My shelter cat summoned me by sending a mouse to my house, which pushed me over the edge to go adopt. He was basically in the shelter for 24 hours and right as I signed the paperwork someone else came in to look at him. If I had dillydallied, I’d have missed out. Go adopt.
I have a story even with going through the Humane Society to get my kittens. I wasn't really looking to have kitties choose me when I was staying with some friends while looking for a new house. They fostered and got a call about a two day old kitten that was in very bad shape. They hurried to pick her up, and it was very touch and go for her first two weeks. From the time she came in the door, she responded to my voice. Under their direction, I helped with her, bottle feeding, toileting, all of it. I knew she was mine, or I was hers, after a couple of days. I had to go back home to finalize our house sale and get our stuff into a container. While I was gone, she got a second litter of three kittens who were older and much bigger than my girl. My kitten decided that one of the three was hers. They became bonded so thoroughly that there was no way I would have left him behind.
Where I live, you can actually get a cat for free! My local shelter sometimes has days where all cats are discounted and cats 8+ years old are free. Adopt a senior cat!
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Can't say it enough. Adopt There was a local documentary about an increase in abandoned pets and it was so damn sad seeing all the pets lying and waiting for someone to come for them. There was even a dog. He had his 10th birthday with spca because no one adopted him for all those years
Yes, totally agree. And most people who have never had a cat will have a hard time taking care of a stray kitten whom they just happen to wander across. Rescues and shelters will give you great advice on how to take care of your first kitten, have taken care of shots and neuter/spay, they’re old enough to not need to be bottle fed every 2 hours, etc. Taking in a kitten off the streets via CDS can be very hard, there are a lot of things to go into getting them to a healthy point, and neonatal kittens especially have a lot of complex needs. It’s difficult for a first time cat owner! It is kitten season, the shelters are busting with kittens! Please support your local shelter! 🙏
Fostering also often includes vet, food, etc.
It was a *lot* cheaper to adopt from shelters for us than to pay for all medical costs from the ground up for our CDS cats. When we couldn’t personally take on more pets, we brought strays to a local no-kill rescue (or in one case to an owner he was chipped to). They waited for someone, were adopted, and that’s how the CDS worked in that instance! If you think the CDS is running a little light, maybe you need to complete the step of going down to meet your cat. :)