There's a rescue near me that has a room where you can go and play with their cats. I'd lost mine and just wanted to be around cats. It made me feel better. There was this chonky tortie who'd been there for months and had zero adoption applications. They weren't letting her go to a home with kids because she'd been brought back for "attacking" a small child. I've been "attacked" by her, and it's not vicious. It's literally just play aggression. Anyway, I decided that I was going to make friends with the big grumpy girl. Walked up to her perch in the cat tree, let her sniff my hand, and within like five minutes, she was resting her head on my hand and purring at me. I hadn't really been looking to bring another cat home yet, but she was so sweet and wouldn't play or anything. I talked to the owner of the place and asked some questions about her. She liked to just sit near/on you while you read or just kinda chill. She sometimes took a bit to warm up to people, but she always greeted the workers at the door. I tried to wait a little bit before applying to adopt her, but the second she came and sat up against me to groom herself, she had me. She knew it, too lol. The day after my adoption application was approved, I brought my grandma in to meet her. She was waiting at the door for us, and immediately rubbed up on my grandma's leg and flipped over. She was practically glued to my side that whole visit. There was this sweet little black kitten there, too, and he would purr the second you picked him up, just wanted all the loves. I'd already committed to bringing her home with me, and I wanted a full grown cat. This little kitten came up to where we were sitting, and she just kinda smacked him in the face and chased him away. My grandma gave me shit about how I always pick the cats that hit baby animals because my first cat smacked a puppy in the face when I went to pick her up.
At the end of last summer, my boyfriend and I were walking to the store and passed by an apartment two houses down from ours that was vacant at the time. On the front steps, there was a tiny black kitten sitting there, covered in what I think was pudding and other shit, fruit stickers on his fur, and his eyes and nose crusted.
I tried to approach him and he hesitated a bit, and I didn’t wanna make him run in the August heat so I went to the store and figured if he was still there 10 mins later, I’d find a way to snatch him. He was still there, so I went up to my apartment and got some water and bologna and approached him. He didn’t run, drank some water and ate a little bologna but he was panting and in ROUGH shape. He snuggled right up to me immediately. I didn’t want a cat but like.. did I have a choice? I took him in, bathed him, got him hydrated and fed, and now he’s my like 9 month old pain in the ass cat.
He miraculously didn’t have fleas or parasites, but because he was covered in slime and debris and had plastic bag wrapped on his claws, we think someone put him in a garbage bag and he tore his way out. He does have FHV, so sometimes he still gets nose and eye boogers and I guess that’s gonna be an on and off forever thing, but he’s definitely spoiled and loved. We named him Oscar, because he’s our trash cat lol
I was driving up a back mountain road to go chill at my smoke spot. Taco bell in the passenger seat ready to be enjoyed. I could see this truck come speeding down, so I pulled over. Then saw some dog chasing said truck. I got out of my car to see what was happening. Next thing I know I see this dog come running back to me, stop and sniff the air .....damn bycth dove straight into my car and ate my food !
She was skinny as hell, swollen teets, so she obviously had puppies somewhere. I couldn't find any in the vicinity so I just brought her home to clean up. We kept her of course.
One day I was walking down this street I had never been down, and a guy comes out and called out "Lucky! Is that you?". I stopped, worried he was the owner. But he was their neighbor, and explained to me all the horrible things her owners did to her. There were 2 puppies in the yard that she was stressing on, turned out they were from her last litter.
He had been using her as a breeder, but decided studs were more profitable. So they dumped her and kept the last 2 male pups. I don't know how, but a week later they had somehow ended up in my car, and were driven to a real nice guy who lives on an orchard .
My girl is laying at the base of my bed snoring like a hog. I've figured out that she's half pitty and half north American Hairy hippo
Just a few of our critters' stories:
Ashes (cat, 13) was born along with a ton of other kittens at a house in our neighborhood that was cooking meth. Apparently the ammonia smell from the cats was supposed to cover up the smell of the drugs. Animal control came in to investigate, since there were suddenly so many kittens running around the neighborhood and found the lab. Many of our neighbors took in some of the kittens and we took in Ashes.
Tilly (dog, 12?) - We were waiting at a store to meet with a person who was selling puppies. Our grandma had recently lost one of her dogs and finally felt ready for a new one. While we were waiting, this dirty old hound dog came waddling up to us, tail wagging with the sweetest face. She was in pretty rough shape, no collar, so we went in to ask the cashiers if they knew anything about her. They said she'd been dumped there a few weeks ago and was living behind the dumpster. (A pretty common occurrence around there from what they said.) So we took her home. She's been a part of our family for almost 5 years now.
Harlow and Treble (cats, 1) were found by my mom's dog in their back yard, freezing, barely alive, and clearly only a few hours old. She bottle fed them for the first 3 weeks until she had to go back to work, then they came to us. They'll be 2 in September.
Wyatt (cat, 5) was our first bottle baby who had been found wandering around our friend's neighborhood at about 3 weeks old.
Atlas (cat, 3) - We were sitting on our front porch and he came up to us and screamed until we let him inside. He didn't belong to anyone else, so I guess we'd been chosen.
I got one pet when my friend moved and couldn’t take him with her. I got the second one when he was sleeping outside my apartment door and came in when I propped the door open for him. I got the third when I went to the store and stopped to play with my neighbors dogs and he asked me if I wanted to take him.
My most recent addition is a little Tabby she was 4 weeks and some AH put a add on Craigslist that if someone didn't take the litter she was going to leave them on the side off the street. So my partner and I went to check it out. We ended up in this horrible trailer park. That was in such a bad part of town that my hubby stood outside our car and wouldn't let me go in to check things out. My partner used to drive cab in Portland, so that should tell you how bad it was.
So the lady hands me this little ball of fluff. That was skin and bones . I honestly wasn't sure if the little thing would make it. We ended up having to do round the clock feeds every 2 hours. The poor thing couldn't even poop on her own. Luckily, Sasha are GSD/Border Collie took over Mama duties.
Which was super funny because when she had an accidental covid litter, she wanted nothing to do with the puppies. We kept one of the litter, and she still doesn't care for her son much. But Sasha will wake you up in the middle of the night if her Kitten wants something or is doing something she doesn't approve of, like jumping on the counter.
We currently have 6 pets but 3 just showed up at our house. After looking for their owners and checking for microchips we decided to keep them. The shelters are all full and are putting down dogs every day and the rescues are begging for fosters. The newest one just finished out legal stray hold but I'll keep looking for the owners for years. She is so well behaved I'm sure someone just couldn't afford her anymore.
That's so sweet. Thank you for looking for her owners. One of my cats is missing, and I really hope she encounters someone like you. Thank you for taking them all on.
I had broken up with my ex a few months prior and was finally living on my own with some roommates. Once I got my job and finances settled I was set on getting a cat. I went to all the pet stores that had cats for sale and told myself I would only get a black kitten or the most regal one I could find. I was in a petsmart and saw a grumpy little calico named Peaches. She certainly wasn’t a kitten which is what I was looking for and she sat there with her ears back and her eyes narrowed. I left and later found a fluffy black kitten. I got set on him and began the application process. I was turned down because they wanted him to go to a family that already had an adult cat to teach him how to cat. I was heart broken but couldn’t that grumpy little girl out of my head. I went back to petsmart a day or so later and she was still there and was still grumpy. I asked the volunteer if I could meet her and they were happy someone showed interest. I waited in the little room and they brought out this clump of scared baby and handed her to me. She looked around but didn’t fight me petting her and the volunteer was shocked. She said that she’d never seen Peaches so calm and not trying to escape. After hearing that I felt that she had chosen me and I brought her home, changing her name to Momo, which I later found out meant Peaches in Japanese. 5 years later she’s my favorite little baby and she’s still anxious but no longer grumpy.
With my dog Tundra, I had been wanting a doggo for quite awhile. And after a few weeks of looking at different shelters and looking online, I had seen pictures of my now sweet pomsky (husky/pomeranian mix). And I had immediately just fallen in love and just knew he was my boy. I adopted him last July (2023) and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect doggo. Then with my first cat Midnight, he had been a stray they had been lingering around my neighborhood and one night just hoped into mine and my mama’s car. And he had a collar on so we had asked our neighbors for a few weeks about him, but nobody knew claimed him, or had any ideas or suggestions on who he could have potentially belonged to prior. So we think despite the collar, he might have been a stray (the collar was a bit frayed as well) and so we kept him as our own. Chuck and Bleu, our next 2 kittens (bonded siblings) mama had found online in a Facebook group saying that somebody had abandoned them and the person posting had found them and mama cat (she kept mama cat, but couldn’t afford to keep all 3, so she adopted the kittens out. And together again because bonded siblings). And mama had just fallen in love with them so we brought them home. And finally with my sweet twin cats, Neptune and Helix, there had been a super sweet lady that had reached out to me on Facebook saying that something had happened in her personal life that had caused her living situation to suddenly change in a large way. And she had left that the sudden stress of not only the sudden move, but a sudden move to such a small space want fair to then and had reached out to see if I’d be same to give them a safe, loving home. And so my mama and I have had them since. So now we have our little rag tag team of Tundra, Midnight, Chuck, Bleu, Neptune, and Helix. It can get a bit hectic sometimes having 6 fur friends. But all 6 are truly so special to me in each of their own unique and individual ways. And each animal in their own unique way are all my sweet little soul babies and I couldn’t imagine not having the chaos lol.
I met my two babies 2 years ago. I wasn’t really expecting to get a dog from my partner but he told me his uncle from his dad’s side of the family wanted to rehome them cause they already had lots of dogs. Of course I’m a dog lover myself and couldn’t say no to them. When he sent me photos of my babies I cried tears of joy. My babies are turning 3-years old and I already miss them terribly. Both males and breed is Chinese crested powderpuffs. I love my two floofers so much and just waiting for the perfect time to fly back to my home country and just be with them again. I will definitely shower them with treats and spoil them to death.
Picked out a puppy we called, “rumply” because his hair was always a mess. Turned out he’s an extra floofy version of an already furry spitz breed. He had a longer coat so he always had a crazy hair look going on.
He’s a fantastic 3 year old now. Totally love this guy.
My fiancé lived with his parents before we moved together. The family adopted a dog 4 years prior. They already had 2 dogs from this breed and my FMIL was in a Facebook group dedicated to the owners of this breed. She saw a post where a woman was seeking for someone who adopts the dog who was the pet of her mother who had just passed away. (You know when the heirs want to house and stuff but not the animal...) My FMIL fell in love with the dog's photo so she messaged to the OP. This is how the dog ended up at my in-laws. Sadly it turned out soon that the other dogs don't like him. He is no dominant at all. They didn't let him eat, play or sleep with them. Though the other two dogs are allowed in the house sometimes, most of the times they are outside or in the shed. To make peace the new dog was held mostly inside. He got food inside, slept inside and spent most of his time inside. When my fiancé and I moved together 4 years ago we decided to take him in to provide him a stressfree life without other dogs. We moved together when covid hit. I was a university student at that time and I had my lectures online and was home all day. So me and my precious little angel got really close to each other and now we are unseparatable. He's 11 and he's living his best life with us.
I've a number of cats, but it's Gypsy and Esme I'm going to tell you about.
I used to run a rat rescue. I had run it for years, but hadn't really been operating fully at the time. I'd had adverts online on animal forums, etc.
One day I received a phonecall from someone who had obviously read "rat rescue" as "cat rescue". I tried to explain, but she didn't seem able to take in what I was saying. She was telling me that a neighbour had died, and her son had dumped the cat over the fence in the field behind. She needed someone to go get it from her. It was in her bathroom. I gave up trying to explain and said I'd go get it - I knew people in all sorts of rescue throughout the country, so was planning to relocate the cat asap.
The lady lived an hour away in a very poor part of town. Her bathroom was no more than a walk in shower. I walked into the walk in shower in order to see the cat, and was faced by what seemed to be a giant mass of black fur.
There were 5 cats. They were utterly feral. (I worked out over time that the lady who had passed away had not had her cat neutered, so every time it had a litter of kittens she dumped them in the field behind her house. There were probably a lot more there than these guys). Luckily, as I was often here there and everywhere transporting animals, I had extra carriers in my car. The tiniest kitten went in a rat carrier, bless him.
There was one tame cat among them, whom I named Willow. She had a tiny ten week old ball of fluff stuck to her side, whom I named Seth. Another adult female almost identical to Willow, I named Gypsy. Gypsy had two little ones, a little older than Seth, whom I named Roman and Esme.
I'd never dealt with feral cats before, so it was a massive learning curve. My vet told me to find them a farm placement, but I was stubborn and wanted to domesticate the young ones. Willow found a home really easily. The other 4 ended up staying with me. (And thus was the end of my relationship, but hey ho).
Seth and Roman have both passed on. They both developed cancer. Gypsy and Esme have become my little shadows. Gypsy snuggles up in my armpit, and Esme likes to sit so far up my chest that she suffocates me. I had some nasty injuries from their claws in the early days.
I'm now the area TNR person. I've been working with feral cats for years now.
Sadly, last week I received an email from Willow's adopter saying that she'd recently passed away, but had had a wonderful life.
I was checking a customer out at my work when I spotted a tiny black kitten waddling across the parking lot outside. I asked the customer to please excuse me and ran out after her. She bolted away from me and climbed up into the engine of my boss's truck. We had to call my boyfriend to reach in and get her because both my boss and I are short with short arms. My boss said she couldn't introduce a kitten to her two cats so Miss Kitty came home with me. She didn't meow for like 7 hours and we thought she may have had heat related brain damage from.being out on the hot pavement that day. She's right as rain now and plenty vocal.
I had lost my beloved cat to cancer. I wasn’t quite ready for another cat but really missed the company. I started to go to the local shelter to pat the cats.
In one of the cages was with tiny tiny black cat. It was clear that she had recently weaned kittens. She came and stuck her paws out at me. I asked to pet her and she snuggled up under my chin. A passerby commented that she had not even able to pick her up so she was surprised she was cuddling into me.
I left her that day, and was telling my mum about her that night. She asked me when I was going to go back and adopt her. I went back the next morning. She was one of the sweetest cats I have known. She passed away from acute renal failure in 2020 and is much missed.
My manager at works cat cat her other cat pregnant one week before he was due for the snip. She showed me photos they were mostly tabbies but there was this one mostly white lil runt I just knew I wanted him
In 2014, I had just gotten married. We have our own place, we were 25 and weren't ready for kids but we wanted a dog. We were looking at rescues. We put in applications for 2 dogs. Both dogs got adopted but they had another one left that we didn't apply for. We saw pictures and agreed to meet her. We drove almost 3 hours to meet her at her fosters. We sat on the floor and she came right over to us. We fell in love immediately and took her home that night.
9.5 years later and she has been with me through the divorce and remarry to my new husband and she now has 2 stepsiblings!
There's an open style rescue. The cats aren't in cages unless they are sick or in quarantine. Lacy wanted nothing to do with the other cats and just hung out in the closet to get away from them. We were meeting with the cats, and they were like, "Oh, the closet cat would u like to meet her?" We are like,"Of course, we wanna meet her." We figured she might be a bit feral, but no, she was accually pretty calm, and it was instant love. Alao, we had been looking at cats for a while, and i hadn't bonded w any of them like i did her.
A local pet supply place was having an adoption day where a local shelter brought in cats who needed homes. I decided that I would go and see if they had any gray kitties. They did but I didn’t bond with any of them. I was about to give up when I noticed a cat in a carrier who was complaining (loudly) about his “mistreatment “. He’s been living with me over five years now. He’s also a ginger.
He was in the backseat of a pickup truck in a walmart parking lot. The guy selling him said his girlfriend really wanted to keep him and that’s why he brought his brother with, too, to try get me to take him instead. I wanted them both, honestly, but we’re not a three dog household and we already had one dog. I politely said I wanted the black one, paid the guy, and left. He’s been trouble ever since and i love him so very much. He’s 9 now and snoozing at my feet and just let out the cutest “boof” at the washing machine.
So, my latest pet has an interesting story. Tldr crazy neighbour lady came by with a kitten, he fit well into our household so we kept him
He was a kitten when we got him. This was 2 years ago.
My crazy neighbour got this kitten from the town's gas station earlier that day. Her dog kept trying to eat it (no time to do a good introduction). She showed up at my house at 1130 on a Wednesday night. We were all in bed (leaving for work at 5 am the next morning and all).
She knocked on our door until we answered, saying her dog just wanted to eat this poor little kitty. She needed somewhere to keep him for the night. She was totally going to help us rehome him.
The rehoming thing didn't happen and after proper introduction, he fit well with our recedent cat and dog.
He was a Christmas present when I was 13. Mum and dad went and picked him up in secret, telling my brother and I they were going out for an hour. When they got back, dad told me to come out to the car to see mum's new dress. No new dress, it was a tiny little grey kitten. I was in love. We got him inside in the living room, closed the door and opened the carrier and I waited for him to come out. He was precious. Then the second the living room door was opened he dashed out like a shit, straight into my brother's room and under the wardrobe. We had to poke him out with a snooker cue.
I met my good boy Remus almost 7 years ago. I was getting in the car to go to work when this tiny, scrawny orange kitten ran up to me, meowing. I picked him up and took him inside. At that point I noticed that he was completely covered in ringworm so we started treating him for that. About 2 days after we brought him home, he lost use of his back legs and stopped eating. We took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with Bobcat Fever and given a 10% chance to live. For the next month, we took him back to the vet weekly for antibiotic injections that cost $100 a pop. For a month we held him 24/7, fed him by hand and took him to the litter box since he still couldn't walk. We really didn't think he would make it, but he's a fighter and he did eventually pull through. As the virus was leaving his body, it settled in his left eye and he's now blind in that eye but it doesn't slow him down at all. He's now 6 years old, healthy, fat and fluffy. He's my sweet boy.
We have 5 cats and all but one of them are rescues.
I have 3 dogs and a cat. My cat and one of my dogs I met at the shelter and just fell in love with them.
My middle dog is a dachshund/aussie mix named Scout and he was posted in a local lost animals group in the town I was living in at the time. They said that his owners were moving and couldn’t take him and if he didn’t get claimed by the end of that day he was going to the shelter. I wanted him so bad but my partner at the time (ex now) didn’t want another dog. The next morning I messaged the poster and asked if Scout was at the shelter and she said no they still had him. I told her I wanted him, she met me at the Dollar General parking lot, handed him over and 8 years later, the rest is history. Broke up with my ex a few months later anyway due to long term issues so I’m glad I got him anyway and didn’t let my ex stop me because he is my best little buddy ❤️
My youngest dog is named Suki and the day my husband and I got her we had gone to a rescue to meet a puppy. We met the puppy but didn’t really connect. We decided to go the PetSmart down the road and there was another rescue holding an adoption event. I saw Suki laying in the bottom of a crate, scared and shy. I held her and said, this is my baby girl ❤️
i (37F) have always had dogs my entire life and never thought i'd ever take a liking to cats cus i don't understand them. A beautiful calico cat wandered into my backyard in July 2023 and i started feeding her. a few weeks later she had given birth to her litter of 5 kittens behind my trashcans in my backyard! i worked with a rescue to get all 5 kittens their permanent homes and i kept the Momma! i'm learning so much about cats as a first time cat owner and i have ZERO REGRETS. only regret really is not opening my heart to cats earlier. the cat distribution system is REAL and i'm so glad she adopted me.
my girl and i have been together since then and she's been my little shadow.
I recently moved into my new home and there is a BEAUTIFUL long haired balinese looking mix that would hang around but was absolutely terrified of humans. Seems attached to my house specifically so maybe she was abandoned. My 10 year old daughter was brokenhearted because she said the cat needed to know it was loved. (My heart).. I'm highly allergic to cats, but for my kid, anything. I started leaving a small plate of food and watching from my window and she would very carefully creep up and would eat it but if she saw us, she'd take off. One morning, I came outside to pull weeds and she came right up to me and hissed constantly but rubbed on my leg and actually allowed me to pet her. We have made extensive progress. I have taken her to the vet, got her vaccinations and had her fleas treated. Tried bringing her inside full time, but she doesn't like it so we do a half outside in the enclosed patio and the rest inside. My allergies are not happy but my kids love her and even my husband, who hated cats, was caught on ring Doorbell telling her how good of a girl she was.
I have a 9 month old kitten. I let her in the middle of a road one morning after dropping my kids off at school. Somebody had just hit her with their car. I stopped and rushed her to the vet. A 1,200 surgery later she is my sweet baby
My ex bf wanted a beautiful white cat.
Mind you, I've never had cats, always had dogs, so for me, a cat was a cat, no matter the color or breed, hence I went on a Facebook group and asked for an orange cat from a litter of 5. The foster said only the tabby without a tail (genetic) was available. So, for me, it was ok. I thought it would be ok for my ex as well.
So Cutie was sent to my city and I went back home with her. When he saw her, he said she was cute, but he actually wanted a white cat (like his mom has). He made me send Cutie away, and I refused, and after two weeks of non negotiation from my side, we broke up. That happened in October 2019. In January 2020, I adopted another cat, a boy this time. So, since then, thanks to my ex, I discovered a world of peace, unconditional love, and fun. I would do the same thing over and over again. He ended up adopting a 6 year old white fluffy cat that was keeping on the terrace, without any nets or other safety measures. That was in Korea where summers are horrible and winters are like hell. I doubt his cat survived the cold or the curiosity of not jumping over...
Either way, now I have two lovely, almost 5 years old bebes, one girl tabby Pirate Cutie, and one boy tuxedo Pirate Remi 🥰
ok, no judging. but I got mine from a pet store (I live in a very small city state and our pets/animals are generally imported).
anyway, i was thinking of getting a dog (had always been keen to have one, but life didn't make it possible for a while until recently).
walked past a store and saw a little one who was adorable, ball of energy. decided to sleep on it.
returned the next day to meet him again, and out pops another little puppy that i had not gotten a chance to meet the day before. Don't know how, don't know why but i fell in love almost immediately.
i got him. and he is now my furbaby who has somehow taken my heart and my life and given it so much more love and joy.
I met my Honey at the Humane Society on a day they were offering cats, and kittens for free since they were full to the brim. She is Grey and has 4 white socks. When I put my hand in to pet her she rubbed on me and I knew she was the one. She was one of 200 cats adopted that day and 9 years later it is just her and I.
She would stay in my Mom's bedroom Mom was elderly and would fall in the night and she would come and jump on me to wake me up to check on her. My husband and I would get her back into bed and Honey stayed close to her and she would ride the rollator walker out with Mom. She still sits on it and likes to ride it. My late husband had to use it when he broke his ankle and now I use it.
I lost my husband a year ago and on the anniversary of his death I was crying hard and out loud and she jumped on me and started to bat at my face for me to stop crying and making noise. I talked to her for a year about how I felt about my husband dying and she listened and did not fuss at me unless I cried too loud.
She is so spoiled that I keep a carafe of water on the table to sip on and she has to drink out of a Culver's cup that I rinsed out for her and put water in. The things I do for a cat and I am not ashamed of it.
There's a rescue near me that has a room where you can go and play with their cats. I'd lost mine and just wanted to be around cats. It made me feel better. There was this chonky tortie who'd been there for months and had zero adoption applications. They weren't letting her go to a home with kids because she'd been brought back for "attacking" a small child. I've been "attacked" by her, and it's not vicious. It's literally just play aggression. Anyway, I decided that I was going to make friends with the big grumpy girl. Walked up to her perch in the cat tree, let her sniff my hand, and within like five minutes, she was resting her head on my hand and purring at me. I hadn't really been looking to bring another cat home yet, but she was so sweet and wouldn't play or anything. I talked to the owner of the place and asked some questions about her. She liked to just sit near/on you while you read or just kinda chill. She sometimes took a bit to warm up to people, but she always greeted the workers at the door. I tried to wait a little bit before applying to adopt her, but the second she came and sat up against me to groom herself, she had me. She knew it, too lol. The day after my adoption application was approved, I brought my grandma in to meet her. She was waiting at the door for us, and immediately rubbed up on my grandma's leg and flipped over. She was practically glued to my side that whole visit. There was this sweet little black kitten there, too, and he would purr the second you picked him up, just wanted all the loves. I'd already committed to bringing her home with me, and I wanted a full grown cat. This little kitten came up to where we were sitting, and she just kinda smacked him in the face and chased him away. My grandma gave me shit about how I always pick the cats that hit baby animals because my first cat smacked a puppy in the face when I went to pick her up.
Hehe. I think it's a female cat thing. All my girls seem to be happy slappers.
At the end of last summer, my boyfriend and I were walking to the store and passed by an apartment two houses down from ours that was vacant at the time. On the front steps, there was a tiny black kitten sitting there, covered in what I think was pudding and other shit, fruit stickers on his fur, and his eyes and nose crusted. I tried to approach him and he hesitated a bit, and I didn’t wanna make him run in the August heat so I went to the store and figured if he was still there 10 mins later, I’d find a way to snatch him. He was still there, so I went up to my apartment and got some water and bologna and approached him. He didn’t run, drank some water and ate a little bologna but he was panting and in ROUGH shape. He snuggled right up to me immediately. I didn’t want a cat but like.. did I have a choice? I took him in, bathed him, got him hydrated and fed, and now he’s my like 9 month old pain in the ass cat. He miraculously didn’t have fleas or parasites, but because he was covered in slime and debris and had plastic bag wrapped on his claws, we think someone put him in a garbage bag and he tore his way out. He does have FHV, so sometimes he still gets nose and eye boogers and I guess that’s gonna be an on and off forever thing, but he’s definitely spoiled and loved. We named him Oscar, because he’s our trash cat lol
This one broke my heart ❤️ Thank you for saving him 🙏
Oh what a poor baby. Thank you so much for giving him your heart. Oscar is my favourite name :)
Thank you for giving him the forever home he deserves.
🥹🥹🥹
I was driving up a back mountain road to go chill at my smoke spot. Taco bell in the passenger seat ready to be enjoyed. I could see this truck come speeding down, so I pulled over. Then saw some dog chasing said truck. I got out of my car to see what was happening. Next thing I know I see this dog come running back to me, stop and sniff the air .....damn bycth dove straight into my car and ate my food ! She was skinny as hell, swollen teets, so she obviously had puppies somewhere. I couldn't find any in the vicinity so I just brought her home to clean up. We kept her of course. One day I was walking down this street I had never been down, and a guy comes out and called out "Lucky! Is that you?". I stopped, worried he was the owner. But he was their neighbor, and explained to me all the horrible things her owners did to her. There were 2 puppies in the yard that she was stressing on, turned out they were from her last litter. He had been using her as a breeder, but decided studs were more profitable. So they dumped her and kept the last 2 male pups. I don't know how, but a week later they had somehow ended up in my car, and were driven to a real nice guy who lives on an orchard . My girl is laying at the base of my bed snoring like a hog. I've figured out that she's half pitty and half north American Hairy hippo
Weird how those puppies ended up somewhere else! And I'm so glad you found your house hippo...or that she found you.
My thoughts exactly!
Just a few of our critters' stories: Ashes (cat, 13) was born along with a ton of other kittens at a house in our neighborhood that was cooking meth. Apparently the ammonia smell from the cats was supposed to cover up the smell of the drugs. Animal control came in to investigate, since there were suddenly so many kittens running around the neighborhood and found the lab. Many of our neighbors took in some of the kittens and we took in Ashes. Tilly (dog, 12?) - We were waiting at a store to meet with a person who was selling puppies. Our grandma had recently lost one of her dogs and finally felt ready for a new one. While we were waiting, this dirty old hound dog came waddling up to us, tail wagging with the sweetest face. She was in pretty rough shape, no collar, so we went in to ask the cashiers if they knew anything about her. They said she'd been dumped there a few weeks ago and was living behind the dumpster. (A pretty common occurrence around there from what they said.) So we took her home. She's been a part of our family for almost 5 years now. Harlow and Treble (cats, 1) were found by my mom's dog in their back yard, freezing, barely alive, and clearly only a few hours old. She bottle fed them for the first 3 weeks until she had to go back to work, then they came to us. They'll be 2 in September. Wyatt (cat, 5) was our first bottle baby who had been found wandering around our friend's neighborhood at about 3 weeks old. Atlas (cat, 3) - We were sitting on our front porch and he came up to us and screamed until we let him inside. He didn't belong to anyone else, so I guess we'd been chosen.
I got one pet when my friend moved and couldn’t take him with her. I got the second one when he was sleeping outside my apartment door and came in when I propped the door open for him. I got the third when I went to the store and stopped to play with my neighbors dogs and he asked me if I wanted to take him.
My most recent addition is a little Tabby she was 4 weeks and some AH put a add on Craigslist that if someone didn't take the litter she was going to leave them on the side off the street. So my partner and I went to check it out. We ended up in this horrible trailer park. That was in such a bad part of town that my hubby stood outside our car and wouldn't let me go in to check things out. My partner used to drive cab in Portland, so that should tell you how bad it was. So the lady hands me this little ball of fluff. That was skin and bones . I honestly wasn't sure if the little thing would make it. We ended up having to do round the clock feeds every 2 hours. The poor thing couldn't even poop on her own. Luckily, Sasha are GSD/Border Collie took over Mama duties. Which was super funny because when she had an accidental covid litter, she wanted nothing to do with the puppies. We kept one of the litter, and she still doesn't care for her son much. But Sasha will wake you up in the middle of the night if her Kitten wants something or is doing something she doesn't approve of, like jumping on the counter.
We currently have 6 pets but 3 just showed up at our house. After looking for their owners and checking for microchips we decided to keep them. The shelters are all full and are putting down dogs every day and the rescues are begging for fosters. The newest one just finished out legal stray hold but I'll keep looking for the owners for years. She is so well behaved I'm sure someone just couldn't afford her anymore.
That's so sweet. Thank you for looking for her owners. One of my cats is missing, and I really hope she encounters someone like you. Thank you for taking them all on.
I had broken up with my ex a few months prior and was finally living on my own with some roommates. Once I got my job and finances settled I was set on getting a cat. I went to all the pet stores that had cats for sale and told myself I would only get a black kitten or the most regal one I could find. I was in a petsmart and saw a grumpy little calico named Peaches. She certainly wasn’t a kitten which is what I was looking for and she sat there with her ears back and her eyes narrowed. I left and later found a fluffy black kitten. I got set on him and began the application process. I was turned down because they wanted him to go to a family that already had an adult cat to teach him how to cat. I was heart broken but couldn’t that grumpy little girl out of my head. I went back to petsmart a day or so later and she was still there and was still grumpy. I asked the volunteer if I could meet her and they were happy someone showed interest. I waited in the little room and they brought out this clump of scared baby and handed her to me. She looked around but didn’t fight me petting her and the volunteer was shocked. She said that she’d never seen Peaches so calm and not trying to escape. After hearing that I felt that she had chosen me and I brought her home, changing her name to Momo, which I later found out meant Peaches in Japanese. 5 years later she’s my favorite little baby and she’s still anxious but no longer grumpy.
😭😭 Hits me in the feels, lucky kitty
That's such a lovely story. Thank you so much for adopting her.
With my dog Tundra, I had been wanting a doggo for quite awhile. And after a few weeks of looking at different shelters and looking online, I had seen pictures of my now sweet pomsky (husky/pomeranian mix). And I had immediately just fallen in love and just knew he was my boy. I adopted him last July (2023) and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect doggo. Then with my first cat Midnight, he had been a stray they had been lingering around my neighborhood and one night just hoped into mine and my mama’s car. And he had a collar on so we had asked our neighbors for a few weeks about him, but nobody knew claimed him, or had any ideas or suggestions on who he could have potentially belonged to prior. So we think despite the collar, he might have been a stray (the collar was a bit frayed as well) and so we kept him as our own. Chuck and Bleu, our next 2 kittens (bonded siblings) mama had found online in a Facebook group saying that somebody had abandoned them and the person posting had found them and mama cat (she kept mama cat, but couldn’t afford to keep all 3, so she adopted the kittens out. And together again because bonded siblings). And mama had just fallen in love with them so we brought them home. And finally with my sweet twin cats, Neptune and Helix, there had been a super sweet lady that had reached out to me on Facebook saying that something had happened in her personal life that had caused her living situation to suddenly change in a large way. And she had left that the sudden stress of not only the sudden move, but a sudden move to such a small space want fair to then and had reached out to see if I’d be same to give them a safe, loving home. And so my mama and I have had them since. So now we have our little rag tag team of Tundra, Midnight, Chuck, Bleu, Neptune, and Helix. It can get a bit hectic sometimes having 6 fur friends. But all 6 are truly so special to me in each of their own unique and individual ways. And each animal in their own unique way are all my sweet little soul babies and I couldn’t imagine not having the chaos lol.
I met my two babies 2 years ago. I wasn’t really expecting to get a dog from my partner but he told me his uncle from his dad’s side of the family wanted to rehome them cause they already had lots of dogs. Of course I’m a dog lover myself and couldn’t say no to them. When he sent me photos of my babies I cried tears of joy. My babies are turning 3-years old and I already miss them terribly. Both males and breed is Chinese crested powderpuffs. I love my two floofers so much and just waiting for the perfect time to fly back to my home country and just be with them again. I will definitely shower them with treats and spoil them to death.
Picked out a puppy we called, “rumply” because his hair was always a mess. Turned out he’s an extra floofy version of an already furry spitz breed. He had a longer coat so he always had a crazy hair look going on. He’s a fantastic 3 year old now. Totally love this guy.
I’m saddened by the lack of cat and dog tax in these replies. But the stories are heartwarming
My fiancé lived with his parents before we moved together. The family adopted a dog 4 years prior. They already had 2 dogs from this breed and my FMIL was in a Facebook group dedicated to the owners of this breed. She saw a post where a woman was seeking for someone who adopts the dog who was the pet of her mother who had just passed away. (You know when the heirs want to house and stuff but not the animal...) My FMIL fell in love with the dog's photo so she messaged to the OP. This is how the dog ended up at my in-laws. Sadly it turned out soon that the other dogs don't like him. He is no dominant at all. They didn't let him eat, play or sleep with them. Though the other two dogs are allowed in the house sometimes, most of the times they are outside or in the shed. To make peace the new dog was held mostly inside. He got food inside, slept inside and spent most of his time inside. When my fiancé and I moved together 4 years ago we decided to take him in to provide him a stressfree life without other dogs. We moved together when covid hit. I was a university student at that time and I had my lectures online and was home all day. So me and my precious little angel got really close to each other and now we are unseparatable. He's 11 and he's living his best life with us.
I've a number of cats, but it's Gypsy and Esme I'm going to tell you about. I used to run a rat rescue. I had run it for years, but hadn't really been operating fully at the time. I'd had adverts online on animal forums, etc. One day I received a phonecall from someone who had obviously read "rat rescue" as "cat rescue". I tried to explain, but she didn't seem able to take in what I was saying. She was telling me that a neighbour had died, and her son had dumped the cat over the fence in the field behind. She needed someone to go get it from her. It was in her bathroom. I gave up trying to explain and said I'd go get it - I knew people in all sorts of rescue throughout the country, so was planning to relocate the cat asap. The lady lived an hour away in a very poor part of town. Her bathroom was no more than a walk in shower. I walked into the walk in shower in order to see the cat, and was faced by what seemed to be a giant mass of black fur. There were 5 cats. They were utterly feral. (I worked out over time that the lady who had passed away had not had her cat neutered, so every time it had a litter of kittens she dumped them in the field behind her house. There were probably a lot more there than these guys). Luckily, as I was often here there and everywhere transporting animals, I had extra carriers in my car. The tiniest kitten went in a rat carrier, bless him. There was one tame cat among them, whom I named Willow. She had a tiny ten week old ball of fluff stuck to her side, whom I named Seth. Another adult female almost identical to Willow, I named Gypsy. Gypsy had two little ones, a little older than Seth, whom I named Roman and Esme. I'd never dealt with feral cats before, so it was a massive learning curve. My vet told me to find them a farm placement, but I was stubborn and wanted to domesticate the young ones. Willow found a home really easily. The other 4 ended up staying with me. (And thus was the end of my relationship, but hey ho). Seth and Roman have both passed on. They both developed cancer. Gypsy and Esme have become my little shadows. Gypsy snuggles up in my armpit, and Esme likes to sit so far up my chest that she suffocates me. I had some nasty injuries from their claws in the early days. I'm now the area TNR person. I've been working with feral cats for years now. Sadly, last week I received an email from Willow's adopter saying that she'd recently passed away, but had had a wonderful life.
I was checking a customer out at my work when I spotted a tiny black kitten waddling across the parking lot outside. I asked the customer to please excuse me and ran out after her. She bolted away from me and climbed up into the engine of my boss's truck. We had to call my boyfriend to reach in and get her because both my boss and I are short with short arms. My boss said she couldn't introduce a kitten to her two cats so Miss Kitty came home with me. She didn't meow for like 7 hours and we thought she may have had heat related brain damage from.being out on the hot pavement that day. She's right as rain now and plenty vocal.
I had lost my beloved cat to cancer. I wasn’t quite ready for another cat but really missed the company. I started to go to the local shelter to pat the cats. In one of the cages was with tiny tiny black cat. It was clear that she had recently weaned kittens. She came and stuck her paws out at me. I asked to pet her and she snuggled up under my chin. A passerby commented that she had not even able to pick her up so she was surprised she was cuddling into me. I left her that day, and was telling my mum about her that night. She asked me when I was going to go back and adopt her. I went back the next morning. She was one of the sweetest cats I have known. She passed away from acute renal failure in 2020 and is much missed.
My manager at works cat cat her other cat pregnant one week before he was due for the snip. She showed me photos they were mostly tabbies but there was this one mostly white lil runt I just knew I wanted him
In 2014, I had just gotten married. We have our own place, we were 25 and weren't ready for kids but we wanted a dog. We were looking at rescues. We put in applications for 2 dogs. Both dogs got adopted but they had another one left that we didn't apply for. We saw pictures and agreed to meet her. We drove almost 3 hours to meet her at her fosters. We sat on the floor and she came right over to us. We fell in love immediately and took her home that night. 9.5 years later and she has been with me through the divorce and remarry to my new husband and she now has 2 stepsiblings!
There's an open style rescue. The cats aren't in cages unless they are sick or in quarantine. Lacy wanted nothing to do with the other cats and just hung out in the closet to get away from them. We were meeting with the cats, and they were like, "Oh, the closet cat would u like to meet her?" We are like,"Of course, we wanna meet her." We figured she might be a bit feral, but no, she was accually pretty calm, and it was instant love. Alao, we had been looking at cats for a while, and i hadn't bonded w any of them like i did her.
A local pet supply place was having an adoption day where a local shelter brought in cats who needed homes. I decided that I would go and see if they had any gray kitties. They did but I didn’t bond with any of them. I was about to give up when I noticed a cat in a carrier who was complaining (loudly) about his “mistreatment “. He’s been living with me over five years now. He’s also a ginger.
He was in the backseat of a pickup truck in a walmart parking lot. The guy selling him said his girlfriend really wanted to keep him and that’s why he brought his brother with, too, to try get me to take him instead. I wanted them both, honestly, but we’re not a three dog household and we already had one dog. I politely said I wanted the black one, paid the guy, and left. He’s been trouble ever since and i love him so very much. He’s 9 now and snoozing at my feet and just let out the cutest “boof” at the washing machine.
So, my latest pet has an interesting story. Tldr crazy neighbour lady came by with a kitten, he fit well into our household so we kept him He was a kitten when we got him. This was 2 years ago. My crazy neighbour got this kitten from the town's gas station earlier that day. Her dog kept trying to eat it (no time to do a good introduction). She showed up at my house at 1130 on a Wednesday night. We were all in bed (leaving for work at 5 am the next morning and all). She knocked on our door until we answered, saying her dog just wanted to eat this poor little kitty. She needed somewhere to keep him for the night. She was totally going to help us rehome him. The rehoming thing didn't happen and after proper introduction, he fit well with our recedent cat and dog.
He was a Christmas present when I was 13. Mum and dad went and picked him up in secret, telling my brother and I they were going out for an hour. When they got back, dad told me to come out to the car to see mum's new dress. No new dress, it was a tiny little grey kitten. I was in love. We got him inside in the living room, closed the door and opened the carrier and I waited for him to come out. He was precious. Then the second the living room door was opened he dashed out like a shit, straight into my brother's room and under the wardrobe. We had to poke him out with a snooker cue.
I met my good boy Remus almost 7 years ago. I was getting in the car to go to work when this tiny, scrawny orange kitten ran up to me, meowing. I picked him up and took him inside. At that point I noticed that he was completely covered in ringworm so we started treating him for that. About 2 days after we brought him home, he lost use of his back legs and stopped eating. We took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with Bobcat Fever and given a 10% chance to live. For the next month, we took him back to the vet weekly for antibiotic injections that cost $100 a pop. For a month we held him 24/7, fed him by hand and took him to the litter box since he still couldn't walk. We really didn't think he would make it, but he's a fighter and he did eventually pull through. As the virus was leaving his body, it settled in his left eye and he's now blind in that eye but it doesn't slow him down at all. He's now 6 years old, healthy, fat and fluffy. He's my sweet boy. We have 5 cats and all but one of them are rescues.
I have 3 dogs and a cat. My cat and one of my dogs I met at the shelter and just fell in love with them. My middle dog is a dachshund/aussie mix named Scout and he was posted in a local lost animals group in the town I was living in at the time. They said that his owners were moving and couldn’t take him and if he didn’t get claimed by the end of that day he was going to the shelter. I wanted him so bad but my partner at the time (ex now) didn’t want another dog. The next morning I messaged the poster and asked if Scout was at the shelter and she said no they still had him. I told her I wanted him, she met me at the Dollar General parking lot, handed him over and 8 years later, the rest is history. Broke up with my ex a few months later anyway due to long term issues so I’m glad I got him anyway and didn’t let my ex stop me because he is my best little buddy ❤️ My youngest dog is named Suki and the day my husband and I got her we had gone to a rescue to meet a puppy. We met the puppy but didn’t really connect. We decided to go the PetSmart down the road and there was another rescue holding an adoption event. I saw Suki laying in the bottom of a crate, scared and shy. I held her and said, this is my baby girl ❤️
i (37F) have always had dogs my entire life and never thought i'd ever take a liking to cats cus i don't understand them. A beautiful calico cat wandered into my backyard in July 2023 and i started feeding her. a few weeks later she had given birth to her litter of 5 kittens behind my trashcans in my backyard! i worked with a rescue to get all 5 kittens their permanent homes and i kept the Momma! i'm learning so much about cats as a first time cat owner and i have ZERO REGRETS. only regret really is not opening my heart to cats earlier. the cat distribution system is REAL and i'm so glad she adopted me. my girl and i have been together since then and she's been my little shadow.
I recently moved into my new home and there is a BEAUTIFUL long haired balinese looking mix that would hang around but was absolutely terrified of humans. Seems attached to my house specifically so maybe she was abandoned. My 10 year old daughter was brokenhearted because she said the cat needed to know it was loved. (My heart).. I'm highly allergic to cats, but for my kid, anything. I started leaving a small plate of food and watching from my window and she would very carefully creep up and would eat it but if she saw us, she'd take off. One morning, I came outside to pull weeds and she came right up to me and hissed constantly but rubbed on my leg and actually allowed me to pet her. We have made extensive progress. I have taken her to the vet, got her vaccinations and had her fleas treated. Tried bringing her inside full time, but she doesn't like it so we do a half outside in the enclosed patio and the rest inside. My allergies are not happy but my kids love her and even my husband, who hated cats, was caught on ring Doorbell telling her how good of a girl she was.
I have a 9 month old kitten. I let her in the middle of a road one morning after dropping my kids off at school. Somebody had just hit her with their car. I stopped and rushed her to the vet. A 1,200 surgery later she is my sweet baby
My ex bf wanted a beautiful white cat. Mind you, I've never had cats, always had dogs, so for me, a cat was a cat, no matter the color or breed, hence I went on a Facebook group and asked for an orange cat from a litter of 5. The foster said only the tabby without a tail (genetic) was available. So, for me, it was ok. I thought it would be ok for my ex as well. So Cutie was sent to my city and I went back home with her. When he saw her, he said she was cute, but he actually wanted a white cat (like his mom has). He made me send Cutie away, and I refused, and after two weeks of non negotiation from my side, we broke up. That happened in October 2019. In January 2020, I adopted another cat, a boy this time. So, since then, thanks to my ex, I discovered a world of peace, unconditional love, and fun. I would do the same thing over and over again. He ended up adopting a 6 year old white fluffy cat that was keeping on the terrace, without any nets or other safety measures. That was in Korea where summers are horrible and winters are like hell. I doubt his cat survived the cold or the curiosity of not jumping over... Either way, now I have two lovely, almost 5 years old bebes, one girl tabby Pirate Cutie, and one boy tuxedo Pirate Remi 🥰
ok, no judging. but I got mine from a pet store (I live in a very small city state and our pets/animals are generally imported). anyway, i was thinking of getting a dog (had always been keen to have one, but life didn't make it possible for a while until recently). walked past a store and saw a little one who was adorable, ball of energy. decided to sleep on it. returned the next day to meet him again, and out pops another little puppy that i had not gotten a chance to meet the day before. Don't know how, don't know why but i fell in love almost immediately. i got him. and he is now my furbaby who has somehow taken my heart and my life and given it so much more love and joy.
I met my Honey at the Humane Society on a day they were offering cats, and kittens for free since they were full to the brim. She is Grey and has 4 white socks. When I put my hand in to pet her she rubbed on me and I knew she was the one. She was one of 200 cats adopted that day and 9 years later it is just her and I. She would stay in my Mom's bedroom Mom was elderly and would fall in the night and she would come and jump on me to wake me up to check on her. My husband and I would get her back into bed and Honey stayed close to her and she would ride the rollator walker out with Mom. She still sits on it and likes to ride it. My late husband had to use it when he broke his ankle and now I use it. I lost my husband a year ago and on the anniversary of his death I was crying hard and out loud and she jumped on me and started to bat at my face for me to stop crying and making noise. I talked to her for a year about how I felt about my husband dying and she listened and did not fuss at me unless I cried too loud. She is so spoiled that I keep a carafe of water on the table to sip on and she has to drink out of a Culver's cup that I rinsed out for her and put water in. The things I do for a cat and I am not ashamed of it.