Let's play "how our kitties chose us"

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Sarah and Buzz

Sarah and Buzz

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Judy's post today (thread titled "my avatar) got me to wondering: how did you all come to share your lives with your kitties? I love stories, and I especially love stories about how furbabies and beans come together. You can share the story of your sugarkitty, or other furbabies you have, or all of the above. :) Can't wait to hear the great tales (tails? :lol: )!
 
Mine were all from the shelter where I was volunteering at the time. I fostered most of them. I couldn't find homes for them right away, and then got so attached I decided to adopt them all and stop looking. I fostered a few others that I did find good homes for, but most stayed with me, and then I stopped fostering when it was more than I could handle (9 cats was my limit! though I briefly I had 10 I think at one point, but one got adopted quickly).

All but Pippa and Trixie (GA) were in the sick or quarantine room, which much of the time meant they would be PTS since it was a lot harder to get people's attention and get willing adopters in those rooms. Tiki (GA) had playfully scratched someone, and by law had to be quarantined for rabies issues, which at that shelter was usually a death sentence, even though she obviously was not rabid, just wanted someone to play with her! She was one of those who would stick her paws through the cage door to try to grab you as you went by - how could I resist? :)

Bix, Noora, Seiji (GA) and O.T. (GA) were siblings (12 wks old at the time) in the sick room. They were "in the pocket", meaning their paperwork had been taken out of the adoptions notebook and put in the notebook's front pocket, meaning they would be PTS the next day if they did not get applications that day.

They all stole my heart. :) Lots of others too, had I the capacity to take on more.
 
roflmao! boy did you ask for it. LOL!! here goes

Kitty (GA)--the only cat i actually sought after moving to california, sort of. one of my sister's co workers had a cat that had kittens and my sister picked out Kitty for me. she was 6 weeks old when i got her and lost her at the age of 18

Spazzie (GA), Psycho, Sweetie, Le Pew, Gizmo (GA)--we were in the garage one night back when we lived here in xxxx. suddenly there was a noise overhead in the attic of the garage. think fingernails on cardboard. scared the crap out of me. had fiance pull a box down then we argued over who was going to open it 'cause who knows what might jump out of us. he got a broom and reached over and popped the box open. something shreiked and flew out of the box and back up in the attic. once we picked ourselves up off the floor we realized there was noise coming from the box still so we creeped over to see and lo and behold there were a bunch of kittens. deduction told us that the thing that flew out was probably the mother cat. spent the night in the garage and coaxed her down and got her to eat and as time went on we kept all the babies. Mama took off one day cause the kittens were bigger than her and i was stupid and didn't know better about getting her spayed quicker.

Tiger & Smokey--i was supposed to babysit them for 2 weeks for a friend while he looked for a new apartment to live in where he could have cats. that was about 10 years ago!! after about 2 years the guy reappeared and officially told me they were mine. HA! like he would have gotten them back.

Baby Kitty--stray cat in my neighborhood that came around from time to time. got the name 'cause she was so tiny.

Boogers, Yoda, Jr--Baby Kitty's babies that she buried in my backyard. apparently she thought they were poop? who knows but we took them in and got Baby Kitty spayed and they all became part of our family. Boogers was the only one adopted out and then came back 3 1/2 years later due to adoptee's stupidity and laziness.

Mommie Kitty, Mousie, Fuzzie--Mommie Kitty lived at a body shop near our business and had Mousie & Fuzzie. She brought them to us when she couldn't feed them. seriously. one night i felt like someone was staring at me and i looked up and there she was, outside staring at me. i went out to see her and damn if she didn't have two babies with her. fed them leftovers from our lunch. then she brought them around every night there on out. about 4 months later, Mousie ventured up a tree for the first time and fell out trying to come down. she landed on asphalt and had a tweeked leg. trapped her & took her to the vet. took so long to heal she became a house cat. Two days after taking Mousie home, Fuzzie sauntered into the shop crying and he became the shop cat. Mommie Kitty reappeared some time later dragging a leg. we trapped her, took her to the vet, and due to the injury she became another house cat.

Girlfriend--idiot neighbor lost their house and left their cat behind

Dude & Giggles--found them in our boat along with two others whom Sherry (& Squirt) adopted. nobody wants these two so looks like they're mind for good.

is that all of them? let me go back and count

OMG! I forgot Stinky!--friend calls one night. they are leaving on vacation but they found a little cat in their engine after they started it and heard a knocking noise. :o yes, bring him to me. turns out the poor guy was hurt so i took him to the vet and he came out of it a bit more "special" than he was before he got in the engine so he went home with us too.

ok, that's it now. unless you count the strays that come around. there was Mr for a year or more but recently disappeared and we have Missy Littles these days. she's a bit skittish but by far not a mean cat so trying to decide what to do about her.
 
Joanna & Bix said:
Mine were all from the shelter where I was volunteering at the time. I fostered most of them. I couldn't find homes for them right away, and then got so attached I decided to adopt them all and stop looking. I fostered a few others that I did find good homes for, but most stayed with me, and then I stopped fostering when it was more than I could handle (9 cats was my limit! though I briefly I had 10 I think at one point, but one got adopted quickly).

All but Pippa and Trixie (GA) were in the sick or quarantine room, which much of the time meant they would be PTS since it was a lot harder to get people's attention and get willing adopters in those rooms. Tiki (GA) had playfully scratched someone, and by law had to be quarantined for rabies issues, which at that shelter was usually a death sentence, even though she obviously was not rabid, just wanted someone to play with her! She was one of those who would stick her paws through the cage door to try to grab you as you went by - how could I resist? :)

Bix, Noora, Seiji (GA) and O.T. (GA) were siblings (12 wks old at the time) in the sick room. They were "in the pocket", meaning their paperwork had been taken out of the adoptions notebook and put in the notebook's front pocket, meaning they would be PTS the next day if they did not get applications that day.

They all stole my heart. :) Lots of others too, had I the capacity to take on more.
Click to expand...

Awww, what wonderful lives you have given those "throwaway" kitties! And what good timing on Bixie and his siblings. Poor Tiki, just wanting to play and being isolated because of it. :( Laws are laws, I know, but that's so sad.

You are a great bean for doing so much for these kitties, and I know they gave you much in return. <3
 
Cindy + Mousie said:
roflmao! boy did you ask for it. LOL!! here goes

Kitty (GA)--the only cat i actually sought after moving to california, sort of. one of my sister's co workers had a cat that had kittens and my sister picked out Kitty for me. she was 6 weeks old when i got her and lost her at the age of 18

Spazzie (GA), Psycho, Sweetie, Le Pew, Gizmo (GA)--we were in the garage one night back when we lived here in Yorba Linda. suddenly there was a noise overhead in the attic of the garage. think fingernails on cardboard. scared the crap out of me. had fiance pull a box down then we argued over who was going to open it 'cause who knows what might jump out of us. he got a broom and reached over and popped the box open. something shreiked and flew out of the box and back up in the attic. once we picked ourselves up off the floor we realized there was noise coming from the box still so we creeped over to see and lo and behold there were a bunch of kittens. deduction told us that the thing that flew out was probably the mother cat. spent the night in the garage and coaxed her down and got her to eat and as time went on we kept all the babies. Mama took off one day cause the kittens were bigger than her and i was stupid and didn't know better about getting her spayed quicker.

Tiger & Smokey--i was supposed to babysit them for 2 weeks for a friend while he looked for a new apartment to live in where he could have cats. that was about 10 years ago!! after about 2 years the guy reappeared and officially told me they were mine. HA! like he would have gotten them back.

Baby Kitty--stray cat in my neighborhood that came around from time to time. got the name 'cause she was so tiny.

Boogers, Yoda, Jr--Baby Kitty's babies that she buried in my backyard. apparently she thought they were poop? who knows but we took them in and got Baby Kitty spayed and they all became part of our family. Boogers was the only one adopted out and then came back 3 1/2 years later due to adoptee's stupidity and laziness.

Mommie Kitty, Mousie, Fuzzie--Mommie Kitty lived at a body shop near our business and had Mousie & Fuzzie. She brought them to us when she couldn't feed them. seriously. one night i felt like someone was staring at me and i looked up and there she was, outside staring at me. i went out to see her and damn if she didn't have two babies with her. fed them leftovers from our lunch. then she brought them around every night there on out. about 4 months later, Mousie ventured up a tree for the first time and fell out trying to come down. she landed on asphalt and had a tweeked leg. trapped her & took her to the vet. took so long to heal she became a house cat. Two days after taking Mousie home, Fuzzie sauntered into the shop crying and he became the shop cat. Mommie Kitty reappeared some time later dragging a leg. we trapped her, took her to the vet, and due to the injury she became another house cat.

Girlfriend--idiot neighbor lost their house and left their cat behind

Dude & Giggles--found them in our boat along with two others whom Sherry (& Squirt) adopted. nobody wants these two so looks like they're mind for good.

is that all of them? let me go back and count

OMG! I forgot Stinky!--friend calls one night. they are leaving on vacation but they found a little cat in their engine after they started it and heard a knocking noise. :o yes, bring him to me. turns out the poor guy was hurt so i took him to the vet and he came out of it a bit more "special" than he was before he got in the engine so he went home with us too.

ok, that's it now. unless you count the strays that come around. there was Mr for a year or more but recently disappeared and we have Missy Littles these days. she's a bit skittish but by far not a mean cat so trying to decide what to do about her.
Click to expand...

Wow, I am exhausted just reading about all your kitties! :D I love some of their names, particularly Dude and Giggles. They are all great stories and show what a big heart you have. You probably don't even have to pay for heat, between living in CA and having all those furry heaters around. ;)
 
Short answer:
I got him from his mom on the farm.

Long answer:
I got H from his mom - a patched tabby Maine Coon Champion [I showed her back in the day]. I got mom from Chicago. Dad was a silver Maine Coon. H was born on the farm in Indiana in mom's second of litters - five boys. Three stayed with our family, the other two went to a wonderful couple in Chicago.

H_litter.jpg

Aren't they too cute? Since mom was a patched tabby, each litter was like this - a bunch of Easter eggs.

Here's another pic of H [all grown up] caught snoozing [just for kicks]
H_snoozing.jpg


I didn't have any pics of mom around here to scan....

We also adopted many stray and barn cats that found their way to the farm. When you live on a farm, cats just have this way of showing up. And we kept a number of kitties from mom's other litters.
 
Gator & H said:
Short answer:
I got him from his mom on the farm.

Long answer:
I got H from his mom - a patched tabby Main Coon Champion [I showed her back in the day]. I got mom from Chicago. Dad was a silver Maine Coon. H was born on the farm in Indiana in mom's second of litters - five boys. Three stayed with our family, the other two went to a wonderful couple in Chicago.

H_litter.jpg

Aren't they too cute? Since mom was a patched tabby, each litter was like this - a bunch of Easter eggs.

Here's another pic of H [all grown up] caught snoozing [just for kicks]
H_snoozing.jpg


I didn't have any pics of mom around here to scan....

We also adopted many stray and barn cats that found their way to the farm. When you live on a farm, cats just have this way of showing up. And we kept a number of kitties from mom's other litters.
Click to expand...

I love your avatar pic and the story! :) I can't see either of the pictures within your post, though. I only see a word "Image" where I assume a photo is supposed to be. Ooooh, ok, I just copied the URL listed there into a browser and was able to access it that way. What adorable kittens!! I especially like the orange one on the left. He/she looks like, "What? I'm just lying here in this pile, sweet and innocent" but I bet that kitty was about to lay the smack down on someone. ;) Which one in that photo is H, do you know?

H has a magnificent coat and a very regal demeanor, like Judy's Squamee. He is quite marvelous. :) Thank you for sharing the pics and the story.
 
Well that stinks that you can't see the pics. I put them on my server, I hope it's not blocking everyone but me.
Sarah and Buzz said:
Which one in that photo is H, do you know?
Click to expand...
Yes he is the brown one. The one on the bottom right.
 
I got Spice from Petsmart adoption center. I swore I would only have 1 cat and when i saw spice and held her she fell asleep in my hand and started purring. Later I found out she was abandoned at a closed down Kmart sleeping under cardboard boxes and hunting birds to survive. I think she was only 12 weeks old or something like that.

Diva my 15 year old cat I got from my sister for my 23rd bday.

And Squeeky showed up on my doorstep 2 years ago and fell asleep in my flower pot and never left. A week later she became part of the family.
 
Joanna, you have a big heart taking all those kitties in at once. They are all lucky to have you.

Cindy, you are amazing! You also have big heart to have all of those kitties. I am in the presence of greatness with both of you here.

Gator, those kittens are so cute, it's a wonder you didn't adopt them all. And H is adorable. Thanks for sharing the stories & pics.

Dave, it is great that you also have so many cats. It's hard to just have one. Spice is a cutie too.

As for my kitties, almost 17 years ago, my ex-DH (was current at the time) came home with this black kitten on his shoulder. He had found him in an alley behind the nursing home he worked at. Blackie was a loving cat that welcomed all animals to our home. To this day you can drop him in anyone's lap and he'll curl up and be happy.

2 years ago, we adopted Bitsy. We had lost our other cats and Blackie was alone with our dog. A friend was keeping her in her garage while she looked for a home for her.

1 1/2 years ago, we adopted Josie & Charlie. My friend Anne, died suddenly of cancer, and they were her kitties.

What great stories from everyone. Thank you for sharing.
 
Oh these stories are great!

My whole life we had cats, so many over the years I can't remeber them all. We also had horses,dogs rabbits, guinea pigs, iguanas, and mice.

When I got married and my husband (now Ex) we had a dairy farm, there were always cats around, some were friendly, some more feral. I ended up getting the cat from a doctor who's daughter had gone away to school and the cat was not friendly with anyone. She was a Russian blue and they even gave us the papers for her. She was very unfriendly and I turned her out with the barn cats she was quite prosperous and gave us babies every spring (she became known as Old grey kitty). The males almost never stayed around and the females came and went, moved to neighbors farms, came back. Cats were important for controlling the mice population, and we hardly ever fed them anything but scraps. Every offspring from OG Ktiiy was just like her grey with green eyes.

Trouble (GA) was just a kitten when I found him trapped and hanging by his back leg in a net on the back of a hay wagon. Took him to the vet and he had his leg amputated. After that my Ex insisted on calling him Tripod :razz: Most of the barn cats were just called Mietze (Kitty in German) Trouble became an indoor outdoor cat and was very freindly. He was around about 4 years then dissappeared, we heard from a neighbor that he thinks he was hit by a car.

Foxy (?GA) was another of OG Kittys babies who had her first kittens when she was still a baby herself. I think there was 2 but one day I heard a horrible crying in the silo and found a little black and white tuxedo kitty who was no bigger than a mouse. He was starving and Foxy had almost no milk and was afraid of him. I took him in the house and fed him with a tiny bottle. That was 5 years ago. His name is Socks.

Socks- grew to be a good sized cat, I had him neutered and he has been a house cat ever since I found him. 1 cat was enough for me then one day the following spring......

Spooky- I heard something in the back room in the house where we keep wood. I thought it was a bird, but it kept on peeping. Behind an old shelf I saw a pair of green eyes and something was hissing at me. We also have martins and weasels so I wasn't keen on reaching my hand back there. I got some thick gloves and pulled out one very dirty angry and scared black kitten with green eyes. It was another of Foxy's babies. They were up in the hay and he had fallen through the celing down behind the shelf. Took him the house and cleaned him up, gave him eye drops for an infection and was ready to throw him back out. He became attached to Socks and I couldn't do it. For a month I thought he was a she :roll: Ended up getting him fixed as well and he became the 2nd house cat and a sugar kitty. I am a big X-files fan so Spooky is named after Spooky Mulder (Special agent Fox Mulder). I suppose if I ever had a orange cat I would name her Scully :cool:

My Ex still lives on the farm I moved after we divorced about 5km away. He has downsized alot (milk isn't making any money nowadays) there are hardly any cats at the farm now. Most have moved on, Old Grey Kitty (who was probably about 15 years old) became friendly over the last 2 years. Last winter we found her dead in the barn. She had a long life for a barn cat, she had gotten pretty thin in her last year, we think she had proably had cancer or something. After Spooky she didn't have any more kittens that we know of.
 
Great kitty stories, Monique! It sounds like lots of kitties have been lucky to have you looking after them. :) I am still in awe of Socks and Spooky being toilet trained, too!

Thanks for sharing; these stories are warming my heart. :)
 
Such great stories & pics!!!! Amazing how few have been "selected" through a formal adoption process, etc. As Sarah titled it I guess... how they chose us!

Sarah, am I blanking out, or did you start the thread and then keep quiet on YOUR furries' stories? C'mon girl, we are waiting!!! :lol:
 
I will share tonight, I promise! I've had a busy day of errands and trying to enjoy the nice weather (although it's cloudy) and am getting ready to run out again, but I will have plenty of time tonight. :)
 
Well, mine won't be as long as Cindy's :mrgreen:

Tucker.. my dear sweet love. I should probably start with Sam actually.

Sam.. was going to a health food store (don't know why!!!) and they had an adoption bus out front. My niece just got a house and really wanted a kitten so I went in to look at the kittens. Sam was there, this huge Orange main coone mix, all of 18 pounds at the time. He took up the whole cage and I lifted him up and fell in love within moments. That was back in 2004 I believe. He is now the mayor of our house, what a love. Sam was from a hoarding situation, over 40 cats and the lady passed away.

Tucker.. went to an animal rescue flea market, proceeds to go to rescue orgs, another adoption bus. My sister was not fast enough to grab me and stop me. I walked in and saw Tucker and my heart dropped. He reminded me of Sam, sitting in this bus during a heat wave in July looking miserable, just lying there unable to lift his head. I had to have him, but he was already adopted, I left my number and got a call the very next day that the adoption fell through. They drove him to my house that day, Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm. He was rescued on May 11, 2005, found by Trumbull police behind a grocery taped up in a box. Terrible thing to do to a cat.

Lilly Grace.. the love that changed my life. As many folks know I found here on FDMB, Peggy and Mickey posted about a crippled cat, Jojo posted that it was probably CH and I was feeling the need, my father in law had just passed away. Lilly Grace was named Misty at the time, her mom, Grace, passed away. I know LG would still be in the loving care of Grace today if she could be. So, since I had a Misty already (also adopted off of FDMB from Claire75) I changed her name but wanted to add Grace to it, for her first mom. LG has taught me so much about disabilities and about how to live life no matter what obstacles you face. She really changed both DH and myself.

Gett.. son to Spunky(GA), brother to Keesha(GA) and Trouble(GA). DH and I adopted our first cat together, Spunky, from the Humane Society, his son picked her out. We did not know she was pregnant, kept the whole family. Best move EVER. I love my dear Mr. Jebson, the Gebbster, Gebby, he has lots of names. He is sweet and gets along with all my cats. He never cared for too many people, he used to be very shy. He's coming out of his shell now. He loves Lilly Grace and he's the only cat that she will rub heads with, the others she bosses around. Gett is the alpha cat without being rude about it.

Angel Kitty.. my first foster family, her and her two kittens, the kittens were adopted but she was older and I fell in love with her. That may change if she continues with trying to remove my hair from head each night like she's been doing. I guess it tastes good!

And of course Mr. Darcy.. do I need to explain how I got him? AKA Frisky posted by Venita. He's such a sweet little man. He's cuddly and soft and wonderful and I can't wait to watch him come into his own and get to the know his personality as he becomes more comfortable.
 
Lucy came to an Australia Day party when I was in grad school. She walked in like she owned the place, this tiny little kitten with a tail twice the length (and width!) of her body, held straight up in the air. People were feeding her all kinds of crappy food and I'd had enough to drink that I felt like I had to rescue her (even though she was having a great time). Turned out she was living under a dumpster and spending her days going from apartment to apartment begging for food and some snuggles. My Aussie friends had named her wombat, due to her love on burrowing.

So I found a box and we went home. She slept for the next 48 hours and then took over my life. She loves other cats when they are outside, but does not allow them around me without a fight.
 
Awww, Jennifer and Terri, what awesome stories! I am seriously loving these tales, they are wonderful. :) Thank you everyone for sharing, it's great.

We got Buzz and Cricket from a friend of a friend. These people were moving from a house in Atlanta to an apartment in Maine. They had 6 cats and 1 dog, and they couldn't keep all of them. Dave and I had been talking about getting a pet but we were both working full time and living in an apartment. We didn't feel it was fair to get a doggie (my ex had Cassie at the time) so we turned to kitties. I had never had pets growing up (except a goldfish) so this was a first for me. We sort of thought we wanted older cats because we didn't really have the time to devote to a kitten. We wanted two so they could keep each other company, and we preferred that they were already spayed/neutered. I looked at the shelters but then all of a sudden, here comes this couple who needed to get rid of some kitties for their move. I thought it was perfect that there were 2, they were adults, already fixed, and even front declawed. So we met the guy at a gas station off of the interstate one cold night in Novermber, and there we became Buzz and Cricket's beans. They were so good, even at first when they must have been scared. Buzz sat on my lap for 2 hours that night and we bonded. Ever since, she has always been my kitty more than Dave's. Cricket is a lover and wants to meet everyone that comes to the house. ;) Buzz and Cricket were already named and we opted not to change their names. I think Buzz is sort of a stupid name for a female kitty, but it is what it is. ;) Everyone thinks she is male just by the name.

A few years after that, I decided that I wanted to have the kitten experience. We looked in the paper and some guy was trying to get rid of kittens from his mama kitty. We went and what a wreck! Filthy apartment, gross-looking guy, it was a mess. There were two siblings left, an orange male and a female brown/grey/white/orange. The boy definitely stole my heart, but we decided to go with the female because we thought it would be easier since we already had a male. We were clueless, really. Since Buzz and Cricket were named for Disney characters (Buzz Lightyear and Jiminy Cricket), we thought about sticking with that theme but we couldn't come up with a good name. If we would have gotten her brother the orange kitty, we would have named him Nemo. However, we named her Eve because her mama's name was Christmas.
 
In April 1995, I went to a shelter to pick out a cat and GA Jasmine picked me instead. She kept rubbing her face on the cage door to get to me and made her nose bleed. We had her til Oct 2003 when she died of cancer.

We lived in an apt that okayed us to have one cat (lease said none but we got permission for one)... well one morning, we heard Jasmine (above) hissing at the door. We found a little black cat (wasn't quite a kitten anymore, but not full grown either- an adolescent) on the other side, who ran right in. We tried to find his owner, thinking he must have lived in our building. We went door to door but couldn't find an owner. We did hear from a friend that he belonged to a friend of a friend and returned him. Only he kept coming back... he walked across town to get to us, over busy roads! I was NOT pleased with these people that he kept getting out and could've died. So I decided the last time that I was not going to give him back. As it turns out, this friend said that her friend decided "they didn't want a cat afterall". That made me so mad. Remember we were not allowed to have 2 cats though. So I went to the landlord and pretty much begged him... and somehow he did allow it. Guess I was lucky. We still have him now. He is turning 15, was dx FD in Aug 2008 and now is OTJ.

When Jasmine died of cancer, I saw an ad in the paper for kittens. I wish I could've rescued them all. They came from a horrible place and they were not in good shape at all. I took one (named her Bella), and it was earlier than I normally would've because I wanted to get her out of there. She was so skinny, had fleas, worms, diarrhea.. she was really sick. I remember a day she was falling over when she walked, I thought that was it, that she wasnt going to make it. She had food sensitivites and I had to find food that would work for her, between multiple store bands and prescription food. She made it, she is still a little skinny, I think because of her bad start, and still has somewhat of a sensitive tummy today but much much better. No diarrhea ever, and she only very occasionally throws up. Civvie.

Right after we got her, my mom told me that her vet had 2 kittens that were found in someone's barn. They found someone to take one but not the other. He was soooo cute and I caved and took him in. My daughter was only 2 at the time and liked the Wiggles TV show and wanted to name him "Greg" after one of the Wiggles guys, then went with Wiggles instead. FD dx Aug 2008.

The 2 kittens we had gotten (Bella and Wiggles) were not fixed soon enough and had 4 kittens. We kept one and combined their names to name him Mr Biggles. He is a civvie. (My best friend took 2 sisters and my MIL took the last one.)

We were up to 4, which I thought was my limit... Then in Jan 2009, I read on FDMB about an orange FD cat named Toby that was to be put to sleep the next day if he was not rescued. So I took him in as a foster until he could find a home. He was supposed to go to Florida, but that person changed her mind, and I ended up keeping him. He was dx as Acro in April 2009. Now we have 5 and the inn in full!!!! :)
 
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