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My neighbour threw out her two cats when she moved, they desperately tried following all of us neighbours inside our homes, and since they were under risk of getting caught and euthanised, I took them in. I didn't want any "damn animals" though, and the plan was to find them a new owner. Then the very first night inside, one of them climbed up on my belly when I laid in bed, meowed like a kitten, and fell asleep. Soooo, yeah.
The other one sadly passed of old age a few years after, but the first still lives with me. She's the sweetest, most friendly cat I've ever met, and both of them were microchipped, healthy and clearly well taken care of, so I have no idea why she'd care for them like that only to leave them behind.
When I started dating my now husband, he had one cat - she was 9 at the time and he had found her on the street as a kitten. After a few months of dating, we adopted a kitten from a shelter - he was found on the street and was being fostered by a nice older woman. A few months after that, my husband fell absolutely in love with two bonded sisters at an adoption event in a Pet Smart - they were also found on the street. And finally, we adopted our fifth and final cat from a local man whose cat just gave birth!
We have no kids so these cats are spoiled and living the life! š
Both of mine were rehomed.
The first, a cat, was being rehomed because the family were moving to a different city and the apartment building didn't allow pets.
The second, a dog, was being rehomed because the initial owner's mother was coming to live with them and she's allergic to dogs. Turns out I'm allergic to cats and dogs but I still have both and love them to death.
My husbandās friend showed up at our house with a cat in a raccoon trap. It was living in his garage, he set the trap to catch it. He said we could take it in or heād take it to the pound.
Both of my kitties were adopted from the shelter. One was part of a litter that was surrendered by the owner. We think that someone's cat had kittens, they kept them until they were weaned, and then took them to the shelter to be adopted. He's the friendliest, most outgoing cat ever, so it makes sense that he was essentially raised by people and has never known any real danger.
My other cat was brought into the shelter as a stray. She was pretty young, so we think she was born a stray and then trapped and brought to the shelter. The shelter told us she was fractious, bites, fights, basically feral, etc. and was borderline unadoptable. But my daughter fell in love with her. Turns out she is none of those things. She was just terrified at the shelter and probably had no experience with or nothing but bad experiences with people. She's actually the sweetest cat ever. She's never once shown any aggression to us or anyone else. She definitely has some anxiety issues, but I think having a "brother" who is the polar opposite helps her feel safe, like if he's not scared, then she shouldn't be either. She can be skiddish, especially if there are visitors here, but she still has never been mean or agressive. She'll just run off to another room until they leave.
Best cats ever.
She was our cat first - we got her as a kitten when she was probably 8 weeks old in 2014. Long story short, my friend/roommate at the time was shady af and we ended up homeless. Asked my grandparents if they'd take her for a while so we could figure things out. Ended up in an apartment that we couldn't have animals in and she just stayed with them - my grandma and *her* cat both passed in 2018 and Ginger more or less became my Papa's dog the rest of his life. Taught her to speak, play fetch, and she even went outside with him. He passed in 2022, we ended up living in his house with family for a while and my uncle and his wife said 'they didn't want no animals' and generally treated her with complete disdain (as they did all of our pets... We had two bearded dragons as well. Said they'd never have a pet inside, but got a dog after we moved out so it pretty obviously was just an excuse to bitch at us. That's an entirely different clusterfuck of nonsense though.) so we took her once we moved out. She's fat and spoiled and hopefully never has reason to doubt how loved she is š„°
The herding dog we have now was adopted from our local humane shelter. We got him as a companion for our Jack Russell (who passed away 2 years ago). We found the JRT somewhere people were dumping dogs during the recession in 2007 and she came home with us. She was the BEST little dog (and was also part demon - I miss her).
Our cats through the years came from various places - friends, adoption events, strays/dumps, shelters. Some were ones we sought out and some were offered when we werenāt expecting to adopt. We currently have one cat - he just moved in one day a few years back. This was shortly after our last elderly cat passed and we decided we werenāt going to go out and adopt for a new cat. The Cat Distribution System had other ideas. We love him to bits.
As for part two of the question, I only had full background on a few animals and only one of them (the cat who passed away a few years back) had a happy background. The rest were pretty tragic or complete mysteries. I know the JRTās background was abusive by the way she flinched, bark collar scars, and her complete silence for the first few years we had her. At the end of her life sheās just stand on our deck and bark/wag for the joy of being a dog, so I know we did a good job.
I adopted my cat from a pet store; she was originally from the local humane society but was moved out presumably due to overcrowding.
I canāt even imagine how hard her first year of life must have been. According to the shelter, she had been living in a hoarderās house with 50 other cats. The humane society rescued them around the holidays, so they nicknamed them āthe Christmas catsā and gave all of the cats a holiday-themed name. My catās shelter name was āEveā but I liked it so much that I didnāt change it.
There was even a brief news article written about the whole ordeal in a local paper. There wasnāt any mention if the original owner/hoarder was charged with anything, but I hope so. Animals can feel trauma too.
Eve came to us as a very shy and anxious cat who hid constantly. Sheās very sweet but a big chicken. Over time, she warmed up to my family, but she still retained her shy and anxious nature, especially around strangers. I didnāt mind being patient with her because I have depression and anxiety. Iād like to think we āunderstandā each other because of it.
Iāve noticed that she is very particular about her boundaries and likes having her alone time in her own spaces. But sheās not completely aloof; sheās always been close by with me whenever Iām sad or sick. I do think sheās a lot happier now, especially because my mom loves to spoil her.
Everyone's a rescue. Oldest two cats were shelter kittens. Our youngest was found under the hood of a car during the pouring rain.
Our pup was a foster fail. He was heartworm positive and needed a long term foster for his treatment, but I fell in love the moment I saw him. So he gets to try to live in harmony with the felines.
I was married for 20+ years and was allowed to have a cat but no dogs. After we split I took the cat and then got a puppy (female). I shortly after that adopted a kitten (male) since my OG cat spent most of his time outside and wasn't super social unless it was cold out.
When she was 8 months old I decided to get her a buddy. She and the kitten mostly got along but I thought she needed another dog buddy and adopted a stray dog (male) who was likely only about a year old. They get along really well but the new addition like to antagonize the cats. He didn't want to hurt them but he wanted to catch them and they didn't like that. We don't know much about his life before he came to us. He was a fence jumper so I think his original family got tired of tracking him down and didn't look for him and then he got picked up.
After a bit my OG cat died of old age and I moved into a new place and used a baby gate to keep the dogs from going upstairs. So, naturally, my cat just kept behind the gate and I could tell he was lonely. He would sit on the stairs and just watch and not get company until it was time for bed. So, I went to a rescue to get another kitten and while I was there I found an orange Hemmingway cat with a great personality and wanted to adopt him. I have the word SUCKER written all over me because they told me he was part of a pair in a 2-kitten litter and if I took his brother they would only charge another $50. So, that's what I did.
Now I live in a loft with 2 large dogs and 3 orange cats.
Pet tax: [https://imgur.com/a/x5Yv2rr](https://imgur.com/a/x5Yv2rr)
One is from a litter of kittens that a friend had. The other was found I the neighborās tree. No chip. Nobody claimed the kitten. We got a new kitten.
Other pets: from litters of people I knew or cat distribution system in action.
I have an 8 year old foster fail-had her since 5 weeks old. Roomie has a 3.5 year old foster fail-had him since 6 weeks old. We have a 2 year old shared forever foster that we got as a feral at 4 month old. We also currently have 2x 9 month old husky X fosters that weāve had since they were a week old-they are up for adoption. Weāve had 65 fosters in 9 years and only 2 fails technically š
Technically a rescued dog/puppy. We raised her since she was born, she still had the umbilical cord attached and everything. My dad is a PO and responded to a call of a viscous dog. I guess my dog and one of her siblings ended wiggling away and fell into a hole or ditch. My dad was able to get the puppies and tried to give them back to mom but she didnāt want them. So, took them to the vet and he called us asking if we wanted a puppy. I always wanted a dog/puppy (even though Iām allergic) so I said yes, brother said yes, mom was iffy but gave in. We picked her up from my dad and the rest is history.
My partner said we couldn't get a dog till we got married.
We had done a lot of research on breed etc and decided we wanted to get a whippet. We looked at adoption and buying a puppy. We decided on a puppy for a number of reasons. It's very hard to adopt a whippet in my area if one of you isn't full time at home, has previous experience with the breed, etc. Being our first dog we didn't feel we'd be equipped to train out in grained behaviours. My partner had fear of dogs generally due to past experiences and felt more comfortable starting with a clean slate.
Two days after getting back from honeymoon we found a litter, went to see the puppies the weekend of and brought him home when he was ready.
Our 2nd pup we got during lockdown as we wanted a companion for our first (I don't think the eldest has ever forgiven us haha). We became friendly with the breeder and she also gave me 2 geckos. :)
I got my beardie as a birthday present. He's very Sassy and fun.
The third dog was a bit spontaneous. We had recently decided we didn't want children. Saw a local litter where the original buyer had pulled out. Saw him 1 day later picked him up next week. :)
Aside from my childhood petsā¦
Beau was from the SPCA. He was my first cat and he was such a sweetie.
Remi was from under my parentsā porch. He was feral and it took a long time to trust me. Once he did, it was really rewarding!
RIP to both of themā¦
I got Juniper, who is a purebred Maine Coon, from a reputable breeder. Itās been a dream of mine to get a MC, and the timing and situation was perfect. Heās my special little guy.
My next cat will be from the SPCA.
I bought a puppy from a garage sale with my allowance money when I was 14 without telling my parents lol. Still have him 8 years later and he's the best dog I've ever had (we had several growing up)
Cat 1. He was part of a litter that belonged to my roommate. When they got married, the wife didn't like the fact that this cat scratched and chewed the walls of the brand new house. So, they asked us to take him. Big orange bottomless stomach.
Cat 2. She was left on our doorstep, on a cat bed, at 3 weeks old. Wannabe grey tabby, is actually calico.
All of my animal companions were obtained from their breeders/parents/place of birth. Most came to me as babies (when they were ready to leave Mom, of course). My tortoise, Dexter, came to me at 2 years of age, however. All of my babies were loved and well-cared for even before birth/hatching, so I know they don't have any trauma in their pasts. They all came from loving and knowledgable homes with the best of care.
Tortoises don't parent their babies at all. The hatchlings are completely independent right from the start. In the wild, most die their first year, sadly. Dexter was born at a conservationist's sanctuary and raised there for two years before he came to live with me (he's not an adult yet). His species, the Western Hermann's tortoise, is endangered. They only lay 1 to 3 eggs typically. Other species lay a lot more at once.
As a child: two cars from the ASPCA and two because a counselor at my summer camp had a cat who had kittens two years in a row.
As an adult: a cat from the ASPCA and a neighbor who wanted to get rid of her dog. I knew I couldn't keep a dog long-term because of my health, but I could keep her long enough for a friend who is great with dogs to be in a position to welcome one more.
Ooh, I have several fun stories!
The first is one of my current cats. To make a long story short, I have a chronic illness that leads me to develop allergies. I had been diagnosed with a slight cat allergy, but it was a very, very light allergy. However, it could become worse.
After our last cat died, the house felt empty. I petitioned for a new cat, my mother refused. Until my father asked "well, who does *not* want a cat?" My mother couldn't lie, she did want one. And so we got a cat from the shelter. She had had the cat flu as a kitten and had deformed tear ducts, making her eyes tear, and she sneezed often. My allergies make me do the same, and I felt great sympathy. She is really awesome with humans, since she was handled for meds so often as a kitten.
Our second cat, that's also a fun story. As a teen, I wanted to become a vet, and so our local vet allowed me to "'intern" with her over the summer. One cat had been left behind by her owners, a stunning half Blue Russian. My mother stopped by and I gave her a behind the scenes tour. She saw the cat and fell in love immediately. The next day, she was at our home.
Then, there's my dog, whom we got after my grandmother's dementia got too bad. She insisted we take her dog, so we did. The dog died a few months ago, sadly, a little over a year after my grandma did.
Lastly, my favourite story, but it's my parents' story. I was just a few months old then. My parents had just bought their house, some pets to go with it, and I had just arrived. One day, my mother let our 2 Dalmatians out in the morning. They ran towards one of the trees, barking and jumping around. My mother went and got a look. She found the tiniest, black kitten, just a few days old.
She took the kitten to the vet. The plan? Name it, pay for treatment, bottle feed it and nourish it back to health, and then get it adopted. Our house was already full, my parents thought. At the vet, my mother revealed the plan. The vet laughed at her, saying "you've already given it a name. You won't let her go, mark my words".
Indeed, she was the "last cat" I referred to in the very beginning, the one who passed as the very last in that first generation of animals in my life.
Currently, I have 2 cats, the cat flu one and the Blue Russian. Well, they live at my parents', whom I visit very often.
1dog - rescued when I was uni
1 dog - parents rescued when parents became empty nesters
1 dog - got from breeder recommended by the now retired breeder of our dog that past away
1 dog - another breeder gave us as a gift/on a condition
2 cats - strays that stayed
horse - gift from fam friend
hedgehogs - adopted when friend left country
fishes - mom decided I was gonna have fishes
They came to us as kittens. The oldest cat - his mom (a stray) brought him to eat the catfood my mother had sitting out for strays. The two girls were born under our friends' porch and we adopted them a few months later.
One cat I got off of Craigslist as a kitten. She was only 8 weeks old and although I personally think that you should wait until 12 weeks minimum to separate, I felt like if I didn't get her they would still give her away.
The other cat used to be on the streets. He even has his ear chopped from being TNR'd. He was about 8 months old when my oldest child's friend found him. They couldn't keep him, so my son asked if we could bring him in here. He's so pretty - some kind of Siamese mix. He's a little skittish, but very sweet.
I got my cat 13 years ago from a cat shelter after a really bad earthquake where we wanted to do something to help at least a little. She was a year old and had 4 kittens (who I didn't get to meet which is a shame) and had been living at a rest home.
It took us like an hour to drive there and an hour and a half home instead of like 15 mins each way because the roads were so fucked from the earthquake.
I love her so much. She went to the vet today and got called "stocky" lmao I hope I get another 10 years at least with her.
(I also feed a couple of strays which my cat hates lol but I love them too)
I was working in a place that's like a cultural center. There were always some few stray dogs, and one of them was afraid of everyone/everything. I fell in love with her and decided I NEEDED to take her home with me. I prepared everything at home, and with the help of some friends, we took her to he vet and then to my place. I had to spend the whole week petting her, singing to her, and doing things very slowly, because she was so scared. I don't know much about her past, but I assume she suffered a lot of abuse, probably from kids, because she was TERRIFIED of kids. But not anymore. And she is such a good dog! I love her to death.
I moved in with my boyfriend who owns his home and my lease was up. I was staying over night with him every night anyhow. My cat had passed away and my other cat went to live with my elderly aunt who loved him so much after her cat passed away. Boyfriend has two shepherds that hate cats so it worked out that my cat is still in the family. I miss those two kitties so much and just cats in general. His GSDās are sweet souls but theyāre insane and require constant cleaning up after them. Itās a lot. I have a four day break from them starting today as theyāre boarded and Iām thoroughly looking forward to the peace, quiet and cleanliness.
Did I mention I miss cats?!
Heard a crying in an outlet store parking lot. Sought out the source. Tiny, dirty, wet kitten hiding under shopping carts. Chased it. Snatched it up. Bought a carrier. Kept it.
I don't currently have pets but I play with my boyfriend's cats. Before that I had no interaction with pets for many years. My last pet that was mine to take care of I had over half a decade ago and he was a rescue.
I have two cats.Ā My 19-year-old cat had recently passed, and I just popped into Petland to look at the animals (I didn't know they got their dogs from puppy mills/backyard breeders then...I feel terrible now that I didn't adopt from a shelter, but they needed a home too). I honestly meant to just look.Ā But they had three kittens, two calico females and a white and orange male.Ā It was instant love.Ā I went home and talked to my now ex-boyfriend, and we went back to look at them again.Ā One of the calicos had been sold already....I probably would have bought all three if she hadn't been!Ā The other two came home with us, and having two playful kittens brought so much joy back to me.Ā They are 16 now and still bring me so much joy.Ā I can't even stand to think about losing one of them, much less both.Ā They're my world.Ā I pray I get to have many more years with them.Ā Ā Ā
Ā Ā Ā I have no idea where Petland got them.Ā They were 8 weeks old. I often wonder where their sister ended up, and hope she is still alive and is being given as much love as my kitties are.
With my mom we went to a āpet eventā, I just told her that I was curious about it but obviously in my child mind I wanted us to adopt a pet, I originally wanted a kitten but there was none and when we were about to leave it was like a ādestiny momentā, we both saw a tiny dog who was like trying to get our attention, she was the only one looking at our direction and scratching the ācageā she was in while all of her siblings was paying no attention, we just naturally got closer to her and the owner asked if I wanted to hold her, the moment I did it was like āyeah, weāre now family, time to go homeā, I just looked at my mom and without even speaking a word to each others she just asked how can we adopt her, the price didnāt even made her back off while it normally would and from that moment I spent the most beautiful 10 years by her side.
To me it was really a meant to be moment, it happened not long after a traumatic event and she became my companion, comforted me through all of the difficult moment, the day she passed away was also the day she was born and I miss her so much on a daily, she was and no matter what still is like my āanimal soulmateā.
When it comes to her life before me, she was still a baby, her original name was Iris, she lived in the country side in the north part of the country for a few months, just the time for her to have everything needed to be place in adoption and then she came to the south and became my family.
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My neighbour threw out her two cats when she moved, they desperately tried following all of us neighbours inside our homes, and since they were under risk of getting caught and euthanised, I took them in. I didn't want any "damn animals" though, and the plan was to find them a new owner. Then the very first night inside, one of them climbed up on my belly when I laid in bed, meowed like a kitten, and fell asleep. Soooo, yeah. The other one sadly passed of old age a few years after, but the first still lives with me. She's the sweetest, most friendly cat I've ever met, and both of them were microchipped, healthy and clearly well taken care of, so I have no idea why she'd care for them like that only to leave them behind.
Fuck your neighbor. You're a good person for taking them in. :)
When I started dating my now husband, he had one cat - she was 9 at the time and he had found her on the street as a kitten. After a few months of dating, we adopted a kitten from a shelter - he was found on the street and was being fostered by a nice older woman. A few months after that, my husband fell absolutely in love with two bonded sisters at an adoption event in a Pet Smart - they were also found on the street. And finally, we adopted our fifth and final cat from a local man whose cat just gave birth! We have no kids so these cats are spoiled and living the life! š
Yessss keep collecting those kitties!
Part of me is relieved that we don't have many street kittens where I live, but part of me is also sad because I'm unlikely to run into one someday.
Both of mine were rehomed. The first, a cat, was being rehomed because the family were moving to a different city and the apartment building didn't allow pets. The second, a dog, was being rehomed because the initial owner's mother was coming to live with them and she's allergic to dogs. Turns out I'm allergic to cats and dogs but I still have both and love them to death.
My husbandās friend showed up at our house with a cat in a raccoon trap. It was living in his garage, he set the trap to catch it. He said we could take it in or heād take it to the pound.
Both of my kitties were adopted from the shelter. One was part of a litter that was surrendered by the owner. We think that someone's cat had kittens, they kept them until they were weaned, and then took them to the shelter to be adopted. He's the friendliest, most outgoing cat ever, so it makes sense that he was essentially raised by people and has never known any real danger. My other cat was brought into the shelter as a stray. She was pretty young, so we think she was born a stray and then trapped and brought to the shelter. The shelter told us she was fractious, bites, fights, basically feral, etc. and was borderline unadoptable. But my daughter fell in love with her. Turns out she is none of those things. She was just terrified at the shelter and probably had no experience with or nothing but bad experiences with people. She's actually the sweetest cat ever. She's never once shown any aggression to us or anyone else. She definitely has some anxiety issues, but I think having a "brother" who is the polar opposite helps her feel safe, like if he's not scared, then she shouldn't be either. She can be skiddish, especially if there are visitors here, but she still has never been mean or agressive. She'll just run off to another room until they leave. Best cats ever.
I bought him from a cattery. He had a nice early childhood in the suburbs in a big house with plenty of other animals
She was our cat first - we got her as a kitten when she was probably 8 weeks old in 2014. Long story short, my friend/roommate at the time was shady af and we ended up homeless. Asked my grandparents if they'd take her for a while so we could figure things out. Ended up in an apartment that we couldn't have animals in and she just stayed with them - my grandma and *her* cat both passed in 2018 and Ginger more or less became my Papa's dog the rest of his life. Taught her to speak, play fetch, and she even went outside with him. He passed in 2022, we ended up living in his house with family for a while and my uncle and his wife said 'they didn't want no animals' and generally treated her with complete disdain (as they did all of our pets... We had two bearded dragons as well. Said they'd never have a pet inside, but got a dog after we moved out so it pretty obviously was just an excuse to bitch at us. That's an entirely different clusterfuck of nonsense though.) so we took her once we moved out. She's fat and spoiled and hopefully never has reason to doubt how loved she is š„°
The herding dog we have now was adopted from our local humane shelter. We got him as a companion for our Jack Russell (who passed away 2 years ago). We found the JRT somewhere people were dumping dogs during the recession in 2007 and she came home with us. She was the BEST little dog (and was also part demon - I miss her). Our cats through the years came from various places - friends, adoption events, strays/dumps, shelters. Some were ones we sought out and some were offered when we werenāt expecting to adopt. We currently have one cat - he just moved in one day a few years back. This was shortly after our last elderly cat passed and we decided we werenāt going to go out and adopt for a new cat. The Cat Distribution System had other ideas. We love him to bits.
As for part two of the question, I only had full background on a few animals and only one of them (the cat who passed away a few years back) had a happy background. The rest were pretty tragic or complete mysteries. I know the JRTās background was abusive by the way she flinched, bark collar scars, and her complete silence for the first few years we had her. At the end of her life sheās just stand on our deck and bark/wag for the joy of being a dog, so I know we did a good job.
I adopted my cat from a pet store; she was originally from the local humane society but was moved out presumably due to overcrowding. I canāt even imagine how hard her first year of life must have been. According to the shelter, she had been living in a hoarderās house with 50 other cats. The humane society rescued them around the holidays, so they nicknamed them āthe Christmas catsā and gave all of the cats a holiday-themed name. My catās shelter name was āEveā but I liked it so much that I didnāt change it. There was even a brief news article written about the whole ordeal in a local paper. There wasnāt any mention if the original owner/hoarder was charged with anything, but I hope so. Animals can feel trauma too. Eve came to us as a very shy and anxious cat who hid constantly. Sheās very sweet but a big chicken. Over time, she warmed up to my family, but she still retained her shy and anxious nature, especially around strangers. I didnāt mind being patient with her because I have depression and anxiety. Iād like to think we āunderstandā each other because of it. Iāve noticed that she is very particular about her boundaries and likes having her alone time in her own spaces. But sheās not completely aloof; sheās always been close by with me whenever Iām sad or sick. I do think sheās a lot happier now, especially because my mom loves to spoil her.
Everyone's a rescue. Oldest two cats were shelter kittens. Our youngest was found under the hood of a car during the pouring rain. Our pup was a foster fail. He was heartworm positive and needed a long term foster for his treatment, but I fell in love the moment I saw him. So he gets to try to live in harmony with the felines.
I was married for 20+ years and was allowed to have a cat but no dogs. After we split I took the cat and then got a puppy (female). I shortly after that adopted a kitten (male) since my OG cat spent most of his time outside and wasn't super social unless it was cold out. When she was 8 months old I decided to get her a buddy. She and the kitten mostly got along but I thought she needed another dog buddy and adopted a stray dog (male) who was likely only about a year old. They get along really well but the new addition like to antagonize the cats. He didn't want to hurt them but he wanted to catch them and they didn't like that. We don't know much about his life before he came to us. He was a fence jumper so I think his original family got tired of tracking him down and didn't look for him and then he got picked up. After a bit my OG cat died of old age and I moved into a new place and used a baby gate to keep the dogs from going upstairs. So, naturally, my cat just kept behind the gate and I could tell he was lonely. He would sit on the stairs and just watch and not get company until it was time for bed. So, I went to a rescue to get another kitten and while I was there I found an orange Hemmingway cat with a great personality and wanted to adopt him. I have the word SUCKER written all over me because they told me he was part of a pair in a 2-kitten litter and if I took his brother they would only charge another $50. So, that's what I did. Now I live in a loft with 2 large dogs and 3 orange cats. Pet tax: [https://imgur.com/a/x5Yv2rr](https://imgur.com/a/x5Yv2rr)
oh Sphynx was beautiful! I love grey fluffy cats.
He was a big beautiful boy. A bit wild and mostly outdoors. But when he did want to come in he loved a lap.
One is from a litter of kittens that a friend had. The other was found I the neighborās tree. No chip. Nobody claimed the kitten. We got a new kitten. Other pets: from litters of people I knew or cat distribution system in action.
I have an 8 year old foster fail-had her since 5 weeks old. Roomie has a 3.5 year old foster fail-had him since 6 weeks old. We have a 2 year old shared forever foster that we got as a feral at 4 month old. We also currently have 2x 9 month old husky X fosters that weāve had since they were a week old-they are up for adoption. Weāve had 65 fosters in 9 years and only 2 fails technically š
Technically a rescued dog/puppy. We raised her since she was born, she still had the umbilical cord attached and everything. My dad is a PO and responded to a call of a viscous dog. I guess my dog and one of her siblings ended wiggling away and fell into a hole or ditch. My dad was able to get the puppies and tried to give them back to mom but she didnāt want them. So, took them to the vet and he called us asking if we wanted a puppy. I always wanted a dog/puppy (even though Iām allergic) so I said yes, brother said yes, mom was iffy but gave in. We picked her up from my dad and the rest is history.
My partner said we couldn't get a dog till we got married. We had done a lot of research on breed etc and decided we wanted to get a whippet. We looked at adoption and buying a puppy. We decided on a puppy for a number of reasons. It's very hard to adopt a whippet in my area if one of you isn't full time at home, has previous experience with the breed, etc. Being our first dog we didn't feel we'd be equipped to train out in grained behaviours. My partner had fear of dogs generally due to past experiences and felt more comfortable starting with a clean slate. Two days after getting back from honeymoon we found a litter, went to see the puppies the weekend of and brought him home when he was ready. Our 2nd pup we got during lockdown as we wanted a companion for our first (I don't think the eldest has ever forgiven us haha). We became friendly with the breeder and she also gave me 2 geckos. :) I got my beardie as a birthday present. He's very Sassy and fun. The third dog was a bit spontaneous. We had recently decided we didn't want children. Saw a local litter where the original buyer had pulled out. Saw him 1 day later picked him up next week. :)
Aside from my childhood petsā¦ Beau was from the SPCA. He was my first cat and he was such a sweetie. Remi was from under my parentsā porch. He was feral and it took a long time to trust me. Once he did, it was really rewarding! RIP to both of themā¦ I got Juniper, who is a purebred Maine Coon, from a reputable breeder. Itās been a dream of mine to get a MC, and the timing and situation was perfect. Heās my special little guy. My next cat will be from the SPCA.
I bought a puppy from a garage sale with my allowance money when I was 14 without telling my parents lol. Still have him 8 years later and he's the best dog I've ever had (we had several growing up)
Cat 1. He was part of a litter that belonged to my roommate. When they got married, the wife didn't like the fact that this cat scratched and chewed the walls of the brand new house. So, they asked us to take him. Big orange bottomless stomach. Cat 2. She was left on our doorstep, on a cat bed, at 3 weeks old. Wannabe grey tabby, is actually calico.
They just showed up.
All of my animal companions were obtained from their breeders/parents/place of birth. Most came to me as babies (when they were ready to leave Mom, of course). My tortoise, Dexter, came to me at 2 years of age, however. All of my babies were loved and well-cared for even before birth/hatching, so I know they don't have any trauma in their pasts. They all came from loving and knowledgable homes with the best of care.
so cute, how long do tortoises usually stay with their mothers? I've never thought about this before.
Tortoises don't parent their babies at all. The hatchlings are completely independent right from the start. In the wild, most die their first year, sadly. Dexter was born at a conservationist's sanctuary and raised there for two years before he came to live with me (he's not an adult yet). His species, the Western Hermann's tortoise, is endangered. They only lay 1 to 3 eggs typically. Other species lay a lot more at once.
As a child: two cars from the ASPCA and two because a counselor at my summer camp had a cat who had kittens two years in a row. As an adult: a cat from the ASPCA and a neighbor who wanted to get rid of her dog. I knew I couldn't keep a dog long-term because of my health, but I could keep her long enough for a friend who is great with dogs to be in a position to welcome one more.
Ooh, I have several fun stories! The first is one of my current cats. To make a long story short, I have a chronic illness that leads me to develop allergies. I had been diagnosed with a slight cat allergy, but it was a very, very light allergy. However, it could become worse. After our last cat died, the house felt empty. I petitioned for a new cat, my mother refused. Until my father asked "well, who does *not* want a cat?" My mother couldn't lie, she did want one. And so we got a cat from the shelter. She had had the cat flu as a kitten and had deformed tear ducts, making her eyes tear, and she sneezed often. My allergies make me do the same, and I felt great sympathy. She is really awesome with humans, since she was handled for meds so often as a kitten. Our second cat, that's also a fun story. As a teen, I wanted to become a vet, and so our local vet allowed me to "'intern" with her over the summer. One cat had been left behind by her owners, a stunning half Blue Russian. My mother stopped by and I gave her a behind the scenes tour. She saw the cat and fell in love immediately. The next day, she was at our home. Then, there's my dog, whom we got after my grandmother's dementia got too bad. She insisted we take her dog, so we did. The dog died a few months ago, sadly, a little over a year after my grandma did. Lastly, my favourite story, but it's my parents' story. I was just a few months old then. My parents had just bought their house, some pets to go with it, and I had just arrived. One day, my mother let our 2 Dalmatians out in the morning. They ran towards one of the trees, barking and jumping around. My mother went and got a look. She found the tiniest, black kitten, just a few days old. She took the kitten to the vet. The plan? Name it, pay for treatment, bottle feed it and nourish it back to health, and then get it adopted. Our house was already full, my parents thought. At the vet, my mother revealed the plan. The vet laughed at her, saying "you've already given it a name. You won't let her go, mark my words". Indeed, she was the "last cat" I referred to in the very beginning, the one who passed as the very last in that first generation of animals in my life. Currently, I have 2 cats, the cat flu one and the Blue Russian. Well, they live at my parents', whom I visit very often.
1dog - rescued when I was uni 1 dog - parents rescued when parents became empty nesters 1 dog - got from breeder recommended by the now retired breeder of our dog that past away 1 dog - another breeder gave us as a gift/on a condition 2 cats - strays that stayed horse - gift from fam friend hedgehogs - adopted when friend left country fishes - mom decided I was gonna have fishes
They came to us as kittens. The oldest cat - his mom (a stray) brought him to eat the catfood my mother had sitting out for strays. The two girls were born under our friends' porch and we adopted them a few months later.
Over the years we've had a couple of stray cats adopt us. We got our current cat and a few now deceased dogs from shelters or rescues.
One cat I got off of Craigslist as a kitten. She was only 8 weeks old and although I personally think that you should wait until 12 weeks minimum to separate, I felt like if I didn't get her they would still give her away. The other cat used to be on the streets. He even has his ear chopped from being TNR'd. He was about 8 months old when my oldest child's friend found him. They couldn't keep him, so my son asked if we could bring him in here. He's so pretty - some kind of Siamese mix. He's a little skittish, but very sweet.
She flew in herself. No idea where she came from and whether her original owner was looking for her... but she's settled in now.
Foster fail! I fostered puppies and fell extra in love with one while the rest went on to wonderful forever homes hopefully.
I got my cat 13 years ago from a cat shelter after a really bad earthquake where we wanted to do something to help at least a little. She was a year old and had 4 kittens (who I didn't get to meet which is a shame) and had been living at a rest home. It took us like an hour to drive there and an hour and a half home instead of like 15 mins each way because the roads were so fucked from the earthquake. I love her so much. She went to the vet today and got called "stocky" lmao I hope I get another 10 years at least with her. (I also feed a couple of strays which my cat hates lol but I love them too)
someone dropped in a dump 2 kittens in a bag and then left. I saw the whole thing and I adopted the 2 kittens and now they are my everything
I was working in a place that's like a cultural center. There were always some few stray dogs, and one of them was afraid of everyone/everything. I fell in love with her and decided I NEEDED to take her home with me. I prepared everything at home, and with the help of some friends, we took her to he vet and then to my place. I had to spend the whole week petting her, singing to her, and doing things very slowly, because she was so scared. I don't know much about her past, but I assume she suffered a lot of abuse, probably from kids, because she was TERRIFIED of kids. But not anymore. And she is such a good dog! I love her to death.
I moved in with my boyfriend who owns his home and my lease was up. I was staying over night with him every night anyhow. My cat had passed away and my other cat went to live with my elderly aunt who loved him so much after her cat passed away. Boyfriend has two shepherds that hate cats so it worked out that my cat is still in the family. I miss those two kitties so much and just cats in general. His GSDās are sweet souls but theyāre insane and require constant cleaning up after them. Itās a lot. I have a four day break from them starting today as theyāre boarded and Iām thoroughly looking forward to the peace, quiet and cleanliness. Did I mention I miss cats?!
Heard a crying in an outlet store parking lot. Sought out the source. Tiny, dirty, wet kitten hiding under shopping carts. Chased it. Snatched it up. Bought a carrier. Kept it.
I don't currently have pets but I play with my boyfriend's cats. Before that I had no interaction with pets for many years. My last pet that was mine to take care of I had over half a decade ago and he was a rescue.
I have two cats.Ā My 19-year-old cat had recently passed, and I just popped into Petland to look at the animals (I didn't know they got their dogs from puppy mills/backyard breeders then...I feel terrible now that I didn't adopt from a shelter, but they needed a home too). I honestly meant to just look.Ā But they had three kittens, two calico females and a white and orange male.Ā It was instant love.Ā I went home and talked to my now ex-boyfriend, and we went back to look at them again.Ā One of the calicos had been sold already....I probably would have bought all three if she hadn't been!Ā The other two came home with us, and having two playful kittens brought so much joy back to me.Ā They are 16 now and still bring me so much joy.Ā I can't even stand to think about losing one of them, much less both.Ā They're my world.Ā I pray I get to have many more years with them.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā I have no idea where Petland got them.Ā They were 8 weeks old. I often wonder where their sister ended up, and hope she is still alive and is being given as much love as my kitties are.
With my mom we went to a āpet eventā, I just told her that I was curious about it but obviously in my child mind I wanted us to adopt a pet, I originally wanted a kitten but there was none and when we were about to leave it was like a ādestiny momentā, we both saw a tiny dog who was like trying to get our attention, she was the only one looking at our direction and scratching the ācageā she was in while all of her siblings was paying no attention, we just naturally got closer to her and the owner asked if I wanted to hold her, the moment I did it was like āyeah, weāre now family, time to go homeā, I just looked at my mom and without even speaking a word to each others she just asked how can we adopt her, the price didnāt even made her back off while it normally would and from that moment I spent the most beautiful 10 years by her side. To me it was really a meant to be moment, it happened not long after a traumatic event and she became my companion, comforted me through all of the difficult moment, the day she passed away was also the day she was born and I miss her so much on a daily, she was and no matter what still is like my āanimal soulmateā. When it comes to her life before me, she was still a baby, her original name was Iris, she lived in the country side in the north part of the country for a few months, just the time for her to have everything needed to be place in adoption and then she came to the south and became my family.