Where'd You Get Your Cat?

[SoDesuKa]

I have two. One was a gift from my daughter. The other I got on Craigslist as a companion for the first one. They don't get along, because the second cat, the female, is very bossy. Occasionally he'll get assertive but for the most part she gets her way.

I love them both.

[fizzgig]

1. i was only supposed to have them a year

my bestiest friend went to germany in sept. 06 for what was supposed to be a year-long study abroad, but she's still there and the fur monsters are still here. that's ok, though, i love those fur monsters.

[Lasher]

2. He came wandering by here, starving, and jumped up in the window.

I believe we were his last hope and I think he knew it. It took us years and lots of cash to get him straightened up. Didn't want a cat but I didn't have much of a choice. That was about 5 years ago. He is healthy and happy now, and a treasured member of the family. Here's my pal:



Edit: He is a male tri-color, which is rare, I'm told.

[SoDesuKa]

6. Look at that Grin

His lucky day to have found you! And he knows it.

[provis99]

76. heh. He's a buddy, all right.

[Lasher]

82. Very perceptive of you.

That is actually his name, Buddy.

[LeftyMom]

3. Let's see...

1. Adopted at the pet store.
2. Abandoned as a kitten in my dad's garage.
3. Abandoned as a kitten in a box behind a thrift shop (I found all the kittens homes but one was sent back to me because the adopter had allergies, and I decided to keep her because my son had grown attached.)
4. I'm catsitting until further notice because her person lost his apartment.

[murielm99]

4. Someone left her in a box in my neighbor's yard.

She has been with us for nearly fourteen years now.

[Lucinda]

5. One is from PETCO, one came from a family member, and we aren't

really sure which planet the third one comes from.

He's definitely an alien though... He LOOKS like a cat, but they clearly had no information about how a cat behaves, so we were on to him pretty early. He showed up a couple of winters ago and started living in a large flowerpot on my porch. He snores, grunts, "whoops" instead of meows, is as strong as a bear, isn't afraid of any other living creature, and his density to body size is way out of whack. I can not move him when he doesn't want to be moved. Lead weight.

We love them all. Most days. :)

[SoDesuKa]

7. Most Days

Yeah, I know what you mean by "most days." Some days the cats don't make any effort to be lovable. Other days they'll work my belly with their paws, purring like mad.

[LaurenG]

8. A friend whose friend picked them up at the Pikes Peak Animal Shelter

or Pikes Peak humane society as its called. Mine were sisters. I love them.

[Betty88]

9. Emily walked up to my partner and said "you take me home"

I had just gotten home from work when Mrs 88 called and said come down to Carrol st and 4th ave right now, she would not tell me why.

So I put my shoes back on and walked a few blocks to find her standing next to a skinny filthy little orange cat. When I got closer the cat ran up to me and started talking it was like, "she said its ok, you pick me up now." Mrs. 88 said she was coming off the subway when this cat walked up to her and started to chat. We picked her up and that was that.




not skinny anymore

The other two my mom located and sent our way

[fizzgig]

42. what a great story :)

and a beautiful girl!

[Aerows]

60. LOL "Not Skinny Anymore"

I seem to have a furry thumb. They come in skinny and turn out as fat as Newt Gingrich.

Luckily, they are far more candid, faithful, and honest :rofl:

[zanana1]

10. Our cats showed up at our back door.

We leave dry food out on our back porch for strays, so naturally we took a few of them in. (Five, to be exact). One died two years ago and we still miss him. The others have been with us for a long time now. The funny thing is,four of them are pure black, so people think we "collect" black cats! They're all wonderful, but expensive to feed and I'm afraid we don't take them to the vet as often as we should. We've always figured they were better off under our roof with good food, affection and refuge from our cold NH winters.

[zanana1]

11. They came to our back door.

We gave them dry food, but didn't let them come inside. We foolishly thought we could keep doing this and not feel like monsters. Once the weather gets cold, they always come inside because we can't sleep at night. We've had to bring a few to the animal shelter (no kill), but we have three inside cats and two "barn" cats who simply won't come inside. The funny thing is, four of them are pure black, so people think we "collect" black cats!

[mockmonkey]

12. Cats...

The first one "Cinnamon" lived with my Partner's Dad. He wasn't taking care of her and she got injured. Unbreakable collars are bad news. He couldn't get her to take her pills so he asked my Partner to take her for two weeks and we never gave her back.

The second one, "Patches" was my Partner's cat so when we got a bigger place we took her in.

Number three is "Pie" she was living with my Partner's Mom and she was reclusive and skinny needed a trip to the Vet. We kept her and got her weight up and is no longer hiding all the time.

Four is "Kerry", our landlord found a kitten abandoned by another tenant and asked if we wanted her. It was 2004 and Kerry is named after John Kerry. She is the most loved cat here.

The others we got in bunches. There was a cat living under our steps and we tried to catch her but instead we kept catching her kittens.

"Lucius", "Candy" and "Titus" were the first batch.

"Jake", "Harvey" and "StinkerButt" were the second batch.

"Captain" was the last of her kittens that we caught.

I spent a lot of time out on the porch in the Winter feeding the Mother cat and trying to make her feel safe around me. I laid down on the porch and let her sniff my hand and eventually got her to let me pet her.

One day I put some milk in a bowl and left the door opened and laid on the floor and coaxed her into the house and closed the door and she has adapted very well inside. No more freezing Winter weather and sharing her home under the stairs with the opossum. She is named "MamaKatt" now, we used to call her "Outdoor Kitty" but happily that changed.

Number thirteen and the LAST one. A Black Kitten named "Salem." Someone at work had one of their farm cats give birth to some kittens and there was a black female and we always wanted a black cat.

Thirteen cats is a lot of work. Most of them get a trip to the vet in February, two or three at a time with two of them due in August.

Last night I changed 160 pounds of cat litter.

We've caught other cats in our trap. Most of them were young and litter box trained and they went to other people. I have only seen one stray cat around here in the last two years.

I hate to think that we are the "Crazy Cat People" on the block but it's pretty close and when we go to the pet store we still like to look (just look) at the cats that are up for adoption.

[AngryOldDem]

16. It's so hard to "just look."

One day when we had the dog at the pet store for obedience training, I made the huge mistake of lingering at the humane society adoption site. Almost came home with another cat. I feel so bad when I walk away from things like that, but you do have to use common sense about such things -- for the cat, if not anything else.

[kimi]

51. Wow, I am impressed!

You are doing a wonderful thing, and thank you. Not a thing wrong with being "Crazy Cat People" - if there were more in this world, there might not be a NEED for so many of us.

I have 6, and I still like to look at the ones at the store, too. :)

Kudos to you and your Partner.

[provis99]

77. Cats are like potato chips...You can't have just one!

[meow2u3]

13. I picked up one as a stray

The other is her kitten. That's the legal explanation.

In reality, Ruby found me when she was a stray. Max was born into the family a tiny kitten who grew to be a biiig boy; the same can't be said about his littermates, who've gone to new homes when they were 7 weeks old. These two kitties are inseparable and do practically everything together, so much so that I have to put them in the same cat crate when I travel with them (everybody say 'awwww').

Max is a friendly kitty who likes attention from adults, yet is not exactly warm towards kids. He'll walk up to strangers and ask for a petting, but the humans are scared of him because of his size. That changes when I tell them he's just a big baby.

Ruby's literally a scaredy cat until she gets to know you; then she's a cuddly lap cat who loves to be petted and picked up.

[AngryOldDem]

14. She was a stray.

Ironically, she started hanging out at the homeless shelter, where I was working in 2007. I never cared much for cats until I met Pepper. She was the friendliest, most loving feline I'd ever seen (especially for a Tortie, which I understand is not an especially affectionate breed). She started showing up in late summer and we'd feed her. She got to know us by sight, and whenever we went out the back door, wherever she was, she'd come running. (We're not sure how she came to us -- I think she was dumped by the river by somebody who just didn't want her anymore.)

That fall we found out she was pregnant. We set up a big cardboard box for her to nest in, and I will never forget the night she gave birth. She let us stay with her and we watched her kits (3) be born. Almost from the get-go she trusted them with us. Eventually the kittens got adopted out (and I hope to VERY good homes, because they were technically still too young to be on their own). During that time we bandied around what would happen to Pepper once the weather got cold. When it did finally turn, I convinced my family to take her in.

She's been here ever since, and has developed quite the 'tude :-) except with my older son, who **she's** adopted (she's asleep with him right now on his bed). Last year we also got a Dachshund puppy, and that's basically been a love-hate relationship. Heidi, the dog, needs to learn to not tutch the but. We guess she is about five, and she is developing some health issues (a slight heart murmur and a skin condition that comes and goes).

Pepper has been one darned nice little cat. Giving her a good home she deserves has been one of the best things I've ever done.

[Skittles]

74. seems like lots of people don't like cats - until they do

it's always that special kitty that sways them :D

[meow2u3]

81. That was my little sister when she was a kid

She always loved kittens but disliked grown cats--until back in 1981, when I got my, or should I say, my mom's cat, Bonaparte (he thought he was Napoleon Bonaparte!). In fact, even the neighborhood cat haters loved him. What I think changed her mind about this cat is the fact that I had him neutered when he was 8 months old, preventing him from spraying everywhere and stinking the apartment and the inevitable tomcat fights and tomcatting that come with keeping your cat intact.

My younger sister, who's now 41, used to say about cats: "Love'em when they're little; just don't let'em grow up" until Bonaparte. I think the reason she didn't like grown cats is that all our cats before him were unneutered males, not exactly the best pets. My advice: have your pets spayed or neutered, preferably before they reach puberty.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Many years ago the people in the neighboring apartment moved out and abandoned

a tom, female, and a litter of 4 kittens. We took two of the bebbies. Pretzel died last year, but we still have Pickles. (The brunette on the right.)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. I got Milo and Jeoffry at a shelter, and Pixie was a farm kitten.

[rug]

18. The first one from a shelter.

The second one from a friend.

The third and fourth were born here.

The fifth, sixth and seventh from two different shelters at three different times.

The eighth is from the same lttter as the third and fourth. We gave him away but he walked back over.

[kedrys]

19. Mine are all rescues

It all started with Ms Marble, a kitty who loitered near the mailbox and noticed when I was coming by to check my mail and started following me. When she turned up pregnant, I adopted her, gave her a home, and arranged to have all her kittens adopted by good homes. She was with me until her passing at age 14.

Caesar was given to me by a friend whose mom wouldn't let him keep the tiny tabby he found under his house. Caesar helped raise the other kitties (see below), and lived to see age 16. He passed away the day after his birthday, the last Labor day (2007) we spent in the States before escaping to Canada.

Evie, Socrates and Plato's mom was a little calico we followed around so we could adopt her, once it became obvious she was pregnant. The little shit kids down the street grabbed her and hid her (the rethugs next door hated cats and knew we were looking for her). One of the kids rang our doorbell when one of the kittens died in his house and he didn't know what to do. We went over there and got Plato and Socrates out of there - both on the brink of death from flea anemia - and found Evie under a cinderblock the next day. They just turned 10 on April 6, and are very happy to be Canadian. :)

Quark and Neutrino were made indoor cats on two separate occasions. We put their dad, Imhotep, into the vet hospital while we went on vacation because he got bit, and we had him neutered at the same time. When we came back from vacation, Quark (aka Dave the White) looked like he'd tried to hold down his dad's turf and got sliced by every other cat in the neighborhood. We got Imhotep back and put Quark with the vet (snip snip). Right after he got his surgery, the vet called and asked us to come get him because the vet's was invaded by fleas, and they were discharging all the kitties who could go home. Of course, we couldn't put him back outside, so we brought him in - 6 weeks later I bought him his own bowl because it became obvious we weren't going to put him back out. He still visited with his sister and his dad across the glass patio door.

When we moved to Houston's west side, we grabbed Imhotep and Neutrino. When we decided to bolt to Canada, there was no question that the 6 kitties were coming with us. We drove, they flew. Imhotep passed away 3 years ago next month at age 14ish. Quark and Neutrino just turned 9 two weeks ago. They are also very happy to be Canadian kitties. :)

[JitterbugPerfume]

20. my 16 yr old Tansy was a stray

and my maine coon mix cats , Lilith Ashlee and Cat-Mandu were rescue cats

[hobbit709]

21. I had one of the neighbor's cats come in the dog door once.

It couldn't leave fast enough when it realized the house was occupied by dogs.

[WillParkinson]

22. All of ours are shelter adoptions...

And a huge part of the family.

[Angry Dragon]

23. My closet

[madinmaryland]

24. One from a DUer, one from the shelter, and one from a woman who

rescues pregnant female cats (we adopted one of the babies).

[nolabear]

25. Got Bunny from a lady on Craigslist. It was clear she wasn't what she was advertised to be.

The ad said "Pixie Bob/Manx cross. What she was was a skinny, astoundingly flea-ridden tailless grey kitten with a bad attitude. Woman had a "Well we live in the country and they're outdoor cats" attitude which pretty much translated to "yeah, we never paid them any mind but thought we could get some money." I, of course, couldn't bear it and paid the too-much money.

She was too little to put any flea stuff on so before I'd let her in the house I sat with her for two or three hours (no kidding) outside, with a flea comb and a pan of water and comebed, and combed, and combed. She fought me at first but after a while she must have decided I was her mother, because she's been my absolute baby ever since. She rules the two dogs, plays with the little one as if she's another dog and runs the big one out of his bed.

Didn't know what to name her until I showed her to my son's then-girlfriend. She took one look at this little grey thing with no tail and said "It's a BUNNY!"

Bunny she is. I got up this morning and Bunny had stolen a plum off the counter and left teeth marks all over it. Las night it was a bag of cherries. Summer with Bunny is always an adventure in stone fruit, to which she is addicted!

Love me some Bunny.

[sakabatou]

26. Local shelter

[MrMickeysMom]

27. Mickey...

... and Mallory (yes, they were named after characters in "Natural Born Killers") were left by their momma on a roof-top when one of those big San Antonio storms caused instant flooding. Momma was never found after that storm, but a fellow walking his dog noticed them (the dog kept barking and looking at the roof). So, M&M were taken in by a few of the people I worked with, since they had dogs and cats. While they tended to them in another house, they were forced on a momma kitty who had just weaned her kits, so they could continue to nurse (so tiny, they were). Mallory was so full of fleas during that time (4 weeks old) that she had some seizures. I think that's why she's not "quite" there, like her rascal brother, Mr. Mickey. Mallory does two things: loves you to death and drools while doing it. She has a big fear factor, and is pushed around from time to time by her brother, Mr. Mickey, who goes into the penalty box for his antics. He gets 5 minutes for high pawing and roughing. He apologizes and promises to be good afterwards.

I love the shit out of them... literally. I have to give the boy stool softeners now...

14 plus years later, they are the only survivors of our once 4 cat family, who always are taken in by the humane society, or a story like Mickey and Mallory's.

Meow.

[petronius]

28. One from the shelter, one from the street...

[graywarrior]

29. Someone at DU posted a picture of him and his siblings

I got him from some cool people who live in Orlando.

[madmom]

30. From a no kill feline shelter. We had a momma to be kittie "adopt" us around

Christmas one year (she was hanging around our garage looking for food and shelter from the cold, probably a place to have her babies) and we didn't have the room for more than one kittie, so we took her to the shelter and adopted one that was already neutered. She was adopted as were all her kitties, so she did get a good Christmas present. :woohoo:

[pink-o]

31. I adopted my Bombay kitty from the no-kill shelter in Potrero Hill

right here:

http://www.sfspca.org/adoptions/shelter-hours-location

But she has since moved to Sonoma, because when my mother died I gave her to my dad, who stayed in the house. Kitty has basically taken over,and she used to hide from me every time I'd visit...I guess she thought I was gonna bring her back to the 'hood. She's very spoiled and very demanding and Dad just enables her.

The shelter gives the animals a good life: I remember the Chronicle once wrote an article that the dogs and cats lived better than a lot of people in the city. But my cat now has the life of Riley.

Everyone should adopt their pets from the shelter. I've had pure-bred dogs before but I'll never go back to a breeder when there are so many good pets waiting to go home with us!

[mucifer]

32. the city pound.

[backwoodsbob]

33. first one

was one of the kids 14th birthday presents.He had bugged and bugged for a cat so we decided at 14 he was old enough to handle a pet responsibly..and he has.She picked him at the local shelter.

Number two is my kind of cat.Someone brought a box of kittens to where my wife works and she couldn't say no and brought home a weird looking white and tabby mix male.We didn't find out till after we got attached to him that the reason he never seemed quite *right* was that the litter came from a feral.

He is my champ.NOTHING messes with him including the horsedog buddy.He has brought home live snakes,squirrels..and once brought a live full grown rabbit into the house.His favorite play activity is to climb on the kitchen cabinets and divebomb the dogs as they walk by

[Rob H.]

34. Mewtopia in Memphis

I was looking on Petfinder.com for a Siamese or Siamese mix cat, and they had a young female that they'd named 'Bleu.' A cleaning lady who worked at an extended-stay motel brought her in after her owners left her behind when they checked out.

One look into these baby blues was all it took, and she (now Summer, but also Honeybun and a host of other nicknames) came home to live with me not long after. She started out with stripes on her legs, face, and tail, and no stripes on her body but now she has them all over--I call her my slow-motion weretabby. :silly:

[shanti]

35. i also have two

a solid black cat from the pound (m-7), and a dilute calico, who was given to me by a coworker (f-8). got them as kittens and they were fixed shortly afterward. i wanted them to be opposite sex as i'd heard that it works out better that way, and it has. (the female is in my profile pic).

my boy is clearly the alpha cat and is fearless. my girl is sweet and timid and defers to him. when he comes inside after one of his backyard jaunts (she rarely steps foot outside, and only then for a minute), she will clean his head. he never cleans hers! love my cats!

[Blasphemer]

36. She was a stray kitten

I passed her on the way to the grocery store and decided I would take her home if I passed her again on my way home. She was there waiting for me as I rounded the corner home so I became a mom that day.

[LiberalEsto]

37. From the New Brunswick NJ animal shelter

Someone in my daughter's dorm talked her into adopting the 2 sister kitties, and she brought them home to us. They're 8 years old.

[GoCubsGo]

38. She was dumped as a kitten.

Somebody dumped her at my old boss' hunt club. I took her so she wouldn't meet the fate of other abandoned animals that get dumped in the rural areas here. They get shot. I had two others at the time. The first was abandoned with her previous owner's roommate. The woman for whom the term "dumb blonde" was coined moved and never came back for her. Lucky for my cat, because this twit wound up a meth-head who had a child she couldn't take care of, either. I got my other kitty from a co-worker, whose friend's cat had kittens. I wanted to get a companion for my first cat. She never cared for him, either. They pretty much tolerated each other. But, he WAS a bit of a terror when he was a kitten. I miss them both terribly. Had to euthanize the Terror Boy back in May. He would be 17 later this month had he made it that long.

[soleiri]

39. My garage

When we moved into our house my then husband insisted that our 3 indoor/outdoor cats become strictly outdoor cats. We set up food, water and beds in the garage and removed the grate from a vent near the side door so they could go outside. We lost one cat, and then another, and then the husband. By this time we only had 1 outdoor cat, lil Girl. But of course with food outside, we were bound to attract other cats (and skunks).
We caught Bella swiping some of the cat food. She ran into the wall of the garage and we found 4 kits.
We took them all in the house and we still have all of them (Ed, Eddy, Sarah and DeeDee) 7 years later.
Any attempt to get Lil Girl to come inside had failed, she was happier outside. So we still attracted cats. Another mama cat, Twilight had kittens (Storm and Cloudcover) in our garage, we trapped them and got them fixed.
By this time, Lil girl was ready to come inside, we later lost her to cancer.
Another cat (Skye) had kittens in our garage, 2 of them died and we brought the mama and one surviving kit (Elphie) into the house.
Then we found a black long hair kitty (Sammy) in our garage after a rainstorm. We thought for sure he was a pregnant female given our track record.

but yeah, I still look at shelter cats at petsmart.

[The Big Vetolski]

40. The city pound for my entire adult life. I've nearly always had cats,

and the ones with the best dispositions always came from the pound. Our last two were less than one year and over ten, both of which we got from the pound after poisoned Chinese-made cat food killed our last pair. These two are great--no biting, no scratching and they purr a lot.

[lynne]

41. Cat found us -

- showed up on our deck frightened to death and half starved. Took a while to get her to trust us enough to come inside. She's definitely our cat now.

[femmocrat]

43. From the city pound. No kidding.

We got a dog and the caretaker threw in a couple of kittens. All for ten bucks!

[LynneSin]

44. The question isn't where you got your cat - it's where your cat got you

We don't adopt cats

Cats adopt us

[Skittles]

45. one from the pound

the other I trapped in a feral trap I ordered over the internet :D

[begin_within]

46. He adopted me

He was my next-door-neighbor's cat, then she got a mean dog and the cat wouldn't go in her house any more. He was on the verge of becoming a feral cat, so I started feeding him and paying a lot of attention to him, and little by little he chose me to be his human.

[Skittles]

73. awwwwww

totally cool! :D

[hifiguy]

47. My two cats both came from Feline Rescue

- a no-kill shelter in St. Paul. When my dear Max passed last summer I went back for another adult kitty and I love my Butch - a huge, goofy Turkish Van - as dearly as I loved Max. :loveya:

[Aerows]

48. What do you give to a lonely soul?

Another lonely soul. I was very sick when I met Roma. She was near starvation.

I have 2 cats, but the one that is my best friend of any animal is Roma. She weighed about the same as a leaf when she jumped into my lap. Her friend "Pinky" had been coming by screaming for food, and she was small, so I started feeding her friend. Roma showed up one day, a skeleton, and Pinky, batted her away from the food bowl.

I kept feeding Pinky, until one day, Roma, thin as a rail on a diet leaped into my lap when I so much as crouched down, as if pleading to let her eat.

I did. I picked her up, put her on the picnic table, and gave her an entire meal by herself. I had a parade of dead things in tribute at the door for my kindness (NOTE: I was touched. She practically committed genocide on a mole population and left enough mice that she didn't eat herself though she was starving for her to survive a week. It's not like she didn't eat mice - I've seen her eat one, crunching bones and all, and I'm not eager to see it again. The point was the breadth of her gift to me.

I have given Roma good meals, taken her inside when the storms were bad, and treated her like part of the family. She is literally the most awesome cat I've ever had. Nothing quite eclipses the fact of what she was willing to give up for me. She's plain incredible.

I attribute it to where I was in my life when I met her. I refer to her as my gift. What you give to a lonely, lost soul is another lonely lost soul. They grow together. She will always be a gift to me.

[hifiguy]

49. What a lovely story.

Our furry friends truly can make us whole. :hug:

[Aerows]

50. Roma

Has made me a better person, and she is without doubt, one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given.

She's just a plain old cat, with an amazing impact on my life, and a great heart :)

/>

[kimi]

52. That is a really sweet story

I like that very much. You and Roma are both so fortunate in each other. :)

[Aerows]

54. Better pic of her :)

/>

[hifiguy]

59. What a beautiful kitty!

Complete with little white boots. :loveya:

[Aerows]

61. I can't help it

I absolutely adore her. She has so much personality, it's a wonder how I functioned without her.

Then again, she's so friendly we took her to a place where there was a pond with fish, and we probably should be chastised because... yeah, the predictable happened - bad foresight there. LOL. I've never felt a mix of such joy at seeing a pet so happy and so much horror at the havoc she had wreaked at the same time. :(

She won't be invited back, and well, it was kind of hilarious :rofl:

[Aerows]

66. Thank you

I love her dearly. Her looks are secondary to her sweet personality (towards family) and her intelligence. She follows everyone in the family around just to see what they are doing unless she is inside (thus following what they are doing).

She "hunts" us, and plays a hunting game, too. If you run around the house outside just out of reach, she will literally chase you, playing "tag" until you are breathless.

She's really good for getting you back into running LOL. I did kind of teach her that since my Maine Coon did it too, and she wasn't very receptive to fetch like he was. Tag seems to be her game, though, far more than my Maine Coon's was. He liked to play it inside - she is willing to run around the entire house to pounce on you, and running into the neighbor's yard doesn't seem to deter her a bit.

It's quite cute :). She's helping me get back into shape.

[Aerows]

57. I am the one that was given the gift

I will never forget it, either. I'm well now, but I don't think I'll ever be "well" enough to get over what she did for me when I was sick. She's a clown, and never fails to make me smile. She has a vaunted place in the house now. She's a clawed kitty, but she doesn't claw the leather furniture.

She pretty much is an exception to every rule. She gets let out, then howls at the door like a little dog to be let in.

I'm dealing with the transition from her being an outdoor/indoor kitty (which I said I'd never have) to her being an indoor/outdoor kitty (which I never even considered). She's like a small dog needing to be let out, except this small dog gets on the roof sometimes until she's "done" LOL.

[kimi]

53. The senior cat now is from Petsmart

She's really my son's cat, she doesn't tolerate other living creatures well.

The next 2 are from a Norwegian Forest Cat cattery in West Virginia - male and female littermates who are fur-machines and both have health issues but are adored.

The next 3 are all reformed tomcats who I either trapped or enticed into the house from our old neighborhood back in Maryland. Lounge lizards now, all of them, really. They just kept showing up for feedings and I couldn't bear to leave them outside in the wintertime, although with one I tried because he hated to be inside - I set up a big house for him that I put into an all-weather tent and locked it at night so the raccoons wouldn't get at him, but in the end, old Bear came in and now gets daily tummy-rubs on demand. There have been other strays and adoptees through the years as well, most found me rather than the other way around.

[applegrove]

55. I always used to stop in at the pet store when I'd go to the mall. One time they

had these black kittens. I went home and thought about it and decided my Monster deserved a companion and I knew he liked kittens. So I went back. They no longer had the male I was thinking of adopting so I adopted Twilight instead. They got along great for 7 years. She's all over me these days as we just lost Monster. I'm sure we'll settle into a new routine soon.

[Brigid]

56. I have two.

I got Brigid from a veteranarian six years ago. I got Patrick from the local shelter a year and a half ago. Brigid is the boss. :)

[hay rick]

58. Strays.

We take them in as kittens and they become part of the family. Current roster (all fixed males):

Buddy- about 16 now. We think somebody turned him out or dumped him. He was less than 1 when he showed up. He's a sylvester cat, very vocal, and very high maintenance. Currently give him B-12 shots and thyroid pills.

Slugger. About 14. Tabby. Stubby little legs like his feral mom. Loves to be brushed and play with the kitty tease. Diabetic but easy to give shots.

Petey- aka Petey Sweetie aka Peetie Pie. About 4. Was named Petey by neighbor because face looked like Our Gang dog. Irresponsible neighbor lost interest and Petey moved in with us. He's a huge long-haired black and white cat (looks like a Gateway cow) with a very sweet, low-key disposition- hence the nicknames. His hair feels like silk...

[GReedDiamond]

62. I was working at a garment handpainting factory...

...in Vernon, CA, a total industrialized city just southeast of Downtown Los Angeles.

Vernon is all warehouses, factories, train tracks and big trucks.

One day, a very cute and friendly kitten simply walked into the factory and hung out with a co-worker and myself in the "art room."

This kitty would show up every day and hang out with us until we left at night. We'd put him back outside in the parking lot, and the next day he'd come back and join us in the art room. This went on for about a month or so, and we had also started taking him home over the weekend, my co-worker one weekend, I'd take him home the next. I finally went back to the factory on a Monday and told my co-worker that I had decided to keep him at my house. Kitty now had a house to live in, a nice back yard with trees to lay under, and old garage to hide in, etc. Not to mention regular food to eat and clean water to drink.

He's the greatest cat in the world (in my opinion!), and he's been with us now for over twelve years.

He is now an indoor only cat, although he does get to go out with supervision in the fenced-in back yard where we moved just over a year ago.

Here is Chibi:

[Dappleganger]

64. That face!!!

And, we have a bearded dragon named Chibi.

[GReedDiamond]

65. He's very handsome, and he's got a ton of purrsonality...

...got a pic of your Chibi?

[Dappleganger]

63. We just got another kitten...

the lady whose home our daughter cleans found a small kitten on July 4 outside of a little market in St. Augustine, we call him Monkey. Our other cats are both over ten, one we brought from VA. He's a huge Maine Coon cat and is named Pickles. He was abandoned on a friend's farm and we took him (he's amazing). The other kitty is a long-haired calico named Zoe who came from the humane society. She had been adopted out before but they returned her when she got sick. They gave her a round of antibiotics and the rest is history, and of course she's been perfectly healthy.

[Withywindle]

67. A shelter

2006-2007 were awful years for me. My beloved cat Marlowe died while I was out of the country and couldn't even say goodbye; my longtime partner told me it was over (speak for yourself, bucko), so when our lease was up I had to find a new place; the company I'd worked for since Clinton's first term got sold, was circling the drain, and I was laid off...you get the idea. Shit on a stick.


After I'd been in my new place alone for a year, I realized I needed and was ready to bring in the appliance that matters most in a household--the purrer/meowser.


At the shelter, I wasn't chosen by the cuddlers or the snugglers. I was chosen by the wicked little shredder, because even though she yowled and hissed when I approached, I could actually get her to play, which no one else had so far. She'd been there for 4 months. We bonded. I argued for her hard enough to convince the staff (and I think they kind of rushed me through the interview process before I got a chance to change my mind.)

Her adoption fee (which included spaying, shots, microchip, and bag of cat food) was the best $65 I ever spent. Where else could you get THIS MUCH MISCHIEF for that price?

[csziggy]

68. The current one - from the Animal Shelter

He was part of a litter a feral female cat had under somebody's house trailer in a neighboring county. The guy trapped the kittens and turned them into his local shelter. That shelter has few adoptions and the one in this county sometimes has more than they do adoptable animals so they have a deal to "share" animals.

When I adopted Tashi, he was tiny and the vet thought he was only about five or six weeks old. Now he weighs about ten pounds and he's a tough little kitty.

I've had pets found on the side of the road, dropped off here at the farm and from the Animal Shelter. I bought one cat from a pet shop that had a litter dropped off at their door. He cost a whole $5.

[BiggJawn]

69. Showed up at the side door on the 4th of July

Just a handful of fluff, never figured out if he was a walk-away from somebody or a dumpee.

And the outside cats (3) hang around because they like the accommodations.

[WCGreen]

70. three from the local cafe....

and the fourth when it wandered into a Friends house...

[Canuckistanian]

71. One from a shelter. The other found in a relative's backyard.

They don't get along either, but they tolerate each other.

[mwdem]

72. Adopted from a local shelter.

She was maybe 3 years old, already spayed and declawed. The owners gave her up when they moved. That was 10 years ago, and I love my crazy Maine Coon!

[provis99]

75. The three I have wandered into my yard.

There was a drug dealer (an in-law, no less, I found out) who lived three houses down, and he had dozens of unneutered cats running all over his property. three of them eventually wandered over to my place, so I kept them. The in-law eventually went to jail, and I never found out what happened to the other kitties; probably the SPCA had to put them to sleep.:(

[annonymous]

78. My cats were all strays that showed up at our house

One of the females recently died. She was the first to show up. She started hanging out in our backyard and eventually got bold enough to come in. Our male cat did the same but we ended up having to trap him so we could get him neutered. Our last cat came to us as a kitten mewing at our front door. She bonded to our male cat. This last cat is a bit of a problem because she doesn't really like people.

[yellerpup]

79. Adopted two mature cats from a no-kill shelter.

Penny was 5 & Jake was 3. Wonderful animals and great friends! Although the male is 3 times the female's size, she kicks butt when he offends her. (Like stepping on the rug that is 'hers')

[Graybeard]

80. Bide-A-Wee

The Bide-A-Wee is a wonderful shelter here in NYC. The well being of the animal is always first and foremost. Before adoption you must be interviewed. In considering my age and lifestyle they talked me out of adopting a kitten in favor of an older cat. It was a perfect match. Pepper and I enjoyed many happy years together.

www.bideawee.org
.
.
.

[Orsino]

83. All strays or hand-me-downs. n/t

[JackDragna]

84. Front door.

So I'm out the door early one morning to go to work and there's a tiny kitten laying there, mewing its head off. I'm torn what to do, since I had a roommate at the time and had no idea how he'd take to the cat. So, I put it in a cardboard box and leave it outside with some food and water, thinking mama might come and get 'em. Well, I come back from work and the kitten's still there, meowing its head off at me. So, I brought him inside and decided to let him stick around. He's a jerk who bites my feet, rubs my face when I'm trying to sleep and generally gets into things. Cats. Hmmph.

Funny story: about a week after I had 'em, mama finally did come to the front window, meowing her head off. At that point, however, kitten was much better off not living outside. I've since found out mama is kind of the mascot of the apartment complex and is pretty well cared for, at least for being a feral cat. Makes me feel better.

Friggin' cat, showing up on my door. Nearly four years old now. I'll kick 'em out any day now for all the stupid stuff he does. Any day. Yessiree.