Do You Know Your Cats' History?

tarasgirl06

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
24,708
Purraise
64,893
Location
Glendale, CATifornia
Estella and Astrid (siblings) were about seven months old when their previous owners--if we can call them that--decided they had too many pets and decided to use them for target practice and mentioned the possibility of burying them alive. My daughter knew the people because of my ex-husband, so she begged me to take the cats instead. Both Astrid and Estella had not eaten in a few days by the time I got them. They were going to be my only cats.

Then came Fennimore and Willow. I know that they were born near a barn belonging to a friend of a friend. The mother and two or three other siblings disappeared and it is assumed that they were killed by coyotes based on evidence the friend found. Three kittens were saved: Fennimore, Willow, and Pip. (Pip lives with my friend.) They were feral and almost three months old. They were supposed to be the last addition to our cat family.

Tara and Simon are next. We know very little about them other than the fact that they were strays who were abandoned or lost and had been on their own for an unknown amount of time. We do not know if they knew each other before they started living on the street, but we do know that they are bonded. Simon was 8 or 9. Tara was 5 or 6. Simon was sick and near death, but was saved by Tara who broke out of her rescuer's house and led her to Simon who was collapsed under a bush. We know that Tara had at least one litter of kittens at some point based on what the vet saw. I was supposed to take Simon and Tara was supposed to stay with my friend, but we decided it was best to keep them together. (It did not hurt that Tara liked me more than she did my friend.)

Next came Evangeline (Her Royal Highness Evangeline Evayne Snow, Princess Piggy Piggy, Benevolent Ruler of All). She is another stray that was either abandoned or lost. She lived for about three years behind the restaurant where my son was a sous chef. She had several litters during those three years. The one owner adored her and fed her scraps from the kitchen, although she would not come near enough to let him pet her. He called her "Miss Kitty." The other owner, his wife, did not want her around because she had walked into the restaurant a few times during dinner service. One night, when her last litter was about four months old and gone, Evangeline came up to my son and let him pet her. He caught her and we brought her home. We know that she was seven or eight at the time and had been on her own for at least three years. She is extremely skittish and shy but is the sweetest cat ever to live. Unfortunately, she has a chronic ear infection and is partially deaf. Her ear often makes her eye infected, too. (Three different vets, countless antibiotics, and no relief for her.)

Then there was Freya. My daughter found her in the street across the road from us. She was two months old feral who was somewhat used to people. We think her mother is one of the cats in the local colony. We, along with a small group of others, take care of the colony and try to make sure they are all fixed, but sometimes a new one slips in who is already pregnant. (The possible mother is now fixed.) She is exceptionally small, although she does not have the characteristics of dwarfism.

Finally, Silas. He was four to five weeks old when he was found with his sister in an outside display at a Dollar General. I took him and the woman who actually got them out of the display took his sister. He was in very bad shape. Covered in fleas and ringworm, dehydrated, and malnourished, he was so weak that we had to wake him to feed him. We know that he had some interactions with humans because he had been burned on his left hip with a cigarette lighter (the kind found in older cars). The vet said that it was a deep burn and was about two weeks old. Her guess is that he was part of an unwanted litter or that some unethical breeder had dumped Silas and his sister.
May you be many times blessed for putting your caring into action for these precious ones. I can't comment more, because my comments would not be at all printable, regarding the devils that would even think of harming or neglecting a cat, except to say that I advocate for capital punishment for anyone wilfully harming any cat, as was law in ancient Egypt, a far more evolved society than any currently on this earth.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #22

Sonatine

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2018
Messages
514
Purraise
2,410
It's amazing, how many people have rescued their cats from terrible situations. Also terrible, I suppose, that so many cats were in terrible situations to begin with. My cats weren't so unlucky. Mischief, at least, was with a rescue pretty much from the time she was born, minus the time she spent in homes that didn't work out, so I don't think she ever experienced abuse. Even if I don't know that about Millie for sure, she acts as though she hasn't even considered that a human could injure her, even if she's not always comfortable with everyone immediately.

Someday, I might like to foster a cat (or kittens. I've never had a kitten and I'd like to change that someday!). But now's not the time; I don't have the resources or landlord approval for a third. So I'll just have to content myself with everyone else's rescue stories.
 

kashmir64

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 9, 2017
Messages
5,480
Purraise
9,888
Location
Arizona
Someday, I might like to foster a cat (or kittens. I've never had a kitten and I'd like to change that someday!). But now's not the time; I don't have the resources or landlord approval for a third. So I'll just have to content myself with everyone else's rescue stories.
Be prepared to fall in love and keep it.
 

EmersonandEvie

Mom to Evie, Emerson and Dexter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
1,691
Purraise
2,769
Location
Northeast Georgia
Evie and Emerson were purchased from a local rescue at 4 months old. They had 2 other siblings, one of which we saw several months later at the same PetSmart (we recognized his name from the discharge papers). I hope he got adopted.

Dexter was found in a hospital parking deck (Dexter...deck-ster...twisted humor in our household) and was surviving on French fries/whatever tidbits people were willing to toss to him. He was thin, had ringworm, and surprisingly few fleas. Someone had been interacting him because he sauntered right up to me, begging for food. I couldn't leave him, so I stuck him in my car. I was going to take him to the local rescue but I called my husband sobbing on the way there, talking about how I couldn't leave him. By then, DH was liking the new kitten, so he said, "let's just keep him." And the rest is history.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #27

Sonatine

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2018
Messages
514
Purraise
2,410
Be prepared to fall in love and keep it.

That's why I'm waiting to foster until I'm allowed by my landlord (or own my own place) and have the funds for it. I don't trust myself around cute cats who need a good home. Only my own awareness of my resource limitation is keeping my desire for kittens in check!
 

tabbytom

Happiness is being owned by a cat
Staff Member
Mentor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
19,672
Purraise
36,868
Location
Lion City, Singa-purr
My boy is a rescue and he was double dumped :( :angryfire:

First he was found all alone and was rescued by someone and was dumped again the minute he was brought home.

He was around 3-5 weeks old at that time, scrawny and hungry with a big open wound near his bum.

History of first dumping no one knows. Could have been dumped and abandoned by humans because of the open wound or he was born feral and got bitten or attacked when he was a kitten and was abandoned by the momma cat.

Second dumping history is I'm sure because he was discovered that he has an open wound and he was scrawny and dirty looking due to his color and the home he's supposed to be in already has a beautiful white cat and he was not allowed in :agree:

I was told that there's a kitten at the stairs landing which he was left out overnight after he was rescued and dumped again and when I approached him, he saw me and he started to meow and in his weakness, he climbed over the box and greet me as in 'My Savior and My Slave'! :lol:

I carried him and I saw the big gash and I said, you have to go to the vet and I took him in the very next day. At the clinic, the vet then asked me, "So, what are you going to do with this kitty, I told her I'm keeping him and that put a big smile on the vet's face as she supports people who rescue cats.

This is him (in protest) about to go to the vet.
IMG_1678.JPG


Home after the coming back from the vet
IMG_1685.JPG


This was taken a month back at 3 years 8 months old
IMG_8135.JPG


I'm so glad that I took him in and now he is a very happy cat :hearthrob: :redheartpump:
 
Last edited:

VinceL

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 2, 2019
Messages
222
Purraise
608
Location
Newton, NC
Lexi, our oldest was abused. She had a dislocated hip and a hole in her trachea when we adopted her from the SPCA. The SPCA had information about her that said she was about 1 year old.
Loki was given to my wife by our 2 daughters for Christmas. They adopted him from our local animal shelter. He was only about 8 weeks old.
We adopted Bonnie and Clyde together from our local Humane Society where we have done a lot of cat cuddling. We know they came from the same farm where a women tries to adopt the cats out, but if she can't keep up, she surrenders them to the Humane Society. Bonnie was 9 months old, and Clyde was 1.5 years old (we know their actual birthdates). Given they came from the same farm and their similar looks, they could be related.
 

tabbytom

Happiness is being owned by a cat
Staff Member
Mentor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
19,672
Purraise
36,868
Location
Lion City, Singa-purr
So that's how you got January, the cutest kitten?
Who could've dumped him once, let alone twice?
Yep, that's how I got him. I'm glad that he's indoors now. I've always wondered if he could have survived the first dumping or the second dumping or maybe never survived at all due to his injury since he was so weak.



Well, that's my boy
917BE631-7F86-49B8-9351-8FC80540CA0E$L0$001~photo.GIF
AA146BBB-CA9F-4267-889D-A85FE24B73EF$L0$001~photo.GIF
AFDA4298-313C-4E5B-80C2-6C3F741ACBD0$L0$001~photo.GIF
 
Last edited:

MissClouseau

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
1,733
Purraise
2,126
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Nope and I'm beyond curious. She showed up in my yard ca 2017 skinny, sneezing, runny nose, no fear of anything about humans. She wasn't a small kitten but I guess it's possible she could be 10-11 months old -- I don't trust myself I could tell between 1 y/or or older adult cat and a 11 months. Her teeth already had lots of tartar in 2018 when she saw a vet for the first time with me which makes it difficult to estimate her age but vet also guesses her to be younger than 5.

Here's the interesting part. In Turkey there are free vet clinics ran by the municipality and they spay cats too but they do that cutting a tiny piece of ear to mark she is spayed thing. A lot of private vet clinics do the same if someone takes in a stray to spay. Hima's ears are fine but she is spayed. This could mean we are wrong about her age and she's older AND also she was in a house. At least she was when she got spayed. Probably a foster house. The vet also thinks although it's not recommended, some clinics get cats spayed when they are too young, even at 2-3 months, and that maybe Hima got spayed too early. She has coronavirus, I'm also wondering if she got it in the house she was if she was in a house, or if she got it in the streets. I'm also wondering if her mother was as sweet as she is.

So many questions... :confused:
 

MissClouseau

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
1,733
Purraise
2,126
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
How is that too young? Here, if a kitten is 2 lbs. they can be spayed. However, at my local shelter, for orphaned kittens, they wait until they are 3 lbs.
They are still practically babies at 2-3 months. They don't want to sedate them and put them through the drugs and stress of operation as they are too vulnerable. It's said to be extremely rare to go into heat younger than 4 months anyway. In Turkey with kittens most vets recommend waiting until 5-6 months of age unless the kitten goes into heat earlier.
 

kashmir64

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 9, 2017
Messages
5,480
Purraise
9,888
Location
Arizona
They are still practically babies at 2-3 months. They don't want to sedate them and put them through the drugs and stress of operation as they are too vulnerable. It's said to be extremely rare to go into heat younger than 4 months anyway. In Turkey with kittens most vets recommend waiting until 5-6 months of age unless the kitten goes into heat earlier.
Here they use gas on the little ones to knock them out. I agree it's too young if you're going with full anesthesia.
 

Norachan

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
May 27, 2013
Messages
32,668
Purraise
32,854
Location
Mount Fuji, Japan
Almost all of mine are from a feral colony that I TNR'd. I got all the cute, friendly kittens adopted, kept the ones that needed a bit more work and had to release the very feral older ones back outside.

Little Boy, Toby and Fynn were all dumped outside my house as kittens. I guess people noticed that I was taking care of the feral cats and thought I'd like a few more.

Happy was found under a parked car in a supermarket car park. She could quite possibly have walked there herself, there were farms with feral cats behind the supermarket. I wasn't going to leave her there though. I borrowed a cardboard box from the supermarket, wrapped her up in my sweater and walked to the vets with her like that.

The Forest Cat is a mystery. He's obviously been someone's pet. He looks like a doll faced Persian, was already neutered and he's very tame. I found him at the side of the road in the forest and he let me pick him up, carry him back to the car and bring him home. Someone must have paid quite a lot for him, but then decided to dump him way out in the middle of nowhere. I always wonder why they didn't surrender him to a shelter for re-homing or even try to take him back to wherever they bought him from.

:dunno:

Ah well, their loss is my gain. He's been with us for almost five years now.
 

rosegold

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Feb 1, 2018
Messages
1,022
Purraise
4,338
Clove I know the most about. Her mom was a friendly-ish? street kitty who was taken in by kind shop owners to have her kittens. Clove was advertised for adoption and I snatched her up at 3.5 months old! I think she actually did have a home very briefly before me, but the guy realized he didn’t have time for her and returned her. Knowing the little firecracker she is, I’m not that surprised. ;) But she’s here to stay with me. (She’s yelling affectionately at me now as I type this!)

I wish I could find out more about Chilli’s history. She is only 5 but she has lived in several different houses with different people and cats. Poor girl has been shuffled around a lot... despite being a perfect, beautiful, very well-behaved angel of a cat! I adopted her in early 2018 from an expat couple who were leaving and couldn’t bring her with them for whatever reason. They acquired her only a year or two prior along with a gorgeous Abyssinian companion. They also added a Ragdoll kitten to the mix. Not sure what happened to the Aby and the Ragdoll but she had a lot of separation anxiety when she first came to me and the previous owner mentioned that she had been missing her kitty friends a lot. Sadly she had to mourn for our Chai kitty as well. :( But it warms my heart to see how happy she is being with Clove, and to know they will grow old together and that she’ll be with me till the end of her life. :hearthrob: Anyway—before me, before that couple, and before the person they got her from... who knows. I’m told she is purebred Norwegian Forest Cat originally from a cattery here—which is certainly plausible, considering how common/easy it is to acquire purebred (albeit poorly-bred) cats of many breeds here in Korea, even in shelters and on the streets—but at the time, I didn’t even think to ask more about it. So, I may never know where exactly she came from. But every single day I tell her in a silly voice, “I think you’re just AMAZING!” and it’s true!! ;)

As for Chai - I originally knew almost nothing about her history. Even the shelter was inconsistent with their stories about her. Just that her hurt leg was amputated and she was a feral from the streets. Later, after she passed away, I learned a lot more about her and it helped give me a lot of closure. She actually came from a small village several hours away from Seoul... a place that, coincidentally, was really close to where I was living before I moved here. It was amazing to learn that we had been so close to each other, following each other here, without even knowing it. :redheartpump: She was spotted with half her leg missing and a bone sticking out by caring local “cat moms,” and trapped and rescued by a kind soul who brought her up to Seoul for emergency treatment with the shelter here. I was actually able to connect with that rescuer over email, since I found her posts about Chai on an internet cafe. She didn’t know what had happened to Chai after leaving her with the shelter or even if she had survived the amputation. I let her know that while Chai had sadly passed away, she learned to love and trust humans and spent an amazing last few months on earth. That rescuer replied to me with so much kindness and gratitude, and then posted a memorial for Chai on the internet cafe where she had first posted about the rescue. The memorial was so wonderful with pictures I sent her of happy, healthy, socialized Chai. There were so many people I’ve never met commenting, who saw the initial posts two years prior about Chai getting rescued and getting treatment. They all remembered her, and offered condolences and lovely words. I also learned that Chai almost didn’t make it after being first picked up... she was really anemic in critical condition and wouldn’t have survived without a blood transfusion. But they found a willing person with a kitty to donate blood for her. They also held a fundraiser for her medical bills, for thousands of dollars, and amazing people came through and donated and saved her life. That was in fall 2017... then on Christmas Day 2017 I saw her picture and I knew she was mine. Visited her in January and it sealed the deal, but of course, it wasn’t so easy... she was “too wild,” they wouldn’t let me adopt her, etc... not to mention she was sick on and off so many times during the next 9 months... but I kept pursuing her, and she hung on until September 2018 and came home. Then, two and a half precious, amazing months before she left us due to FIP. Two and a half months of pure love, care, safety, joy, and peace. Who knows how Chai spent her kittenhood, and who knows what happened to her leg... but it was really comforting to learn how many other caring people had helped her along her journey and had been impacted by her sweet presence. She deserved it. :redheartpump:
 

laureen227

Darksome Duo!
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 3, 2003
Messages
19,260
Purraise
387
Location
Denton TX
Diamond (new kitty) recent rehome from a friend - & that's all I know about her. Didn't ask the friend where she came from.
I/O was found as a stray & I got her from the Humane Society when I took Cable in to have her put to sleep (she was very ill).
PNG was also adopted from the shelter, but he was found as a stray kitten (I think maybe part of a litter?). They said he was an adult, but he was a kitten, about 4 months old.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #40

Sonatine

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2018
Messages
514
Purraise
2,410
My boy is a rescue and he was double dumped :( :angryfire:


This is him (in protest) about to go to the vet.
View attachment 300506

Home after the coming back from the vet
View attachment 300507

This was taken a month back at 3 years 8 months old
View attachment 300508

I'm so glad that I took him in and now he is a very happy cat :hearthrob: :redheartpump:
Eeeee little January! He was so cute and angry when he was tiny. And he's grown into a beautiful cat!

I wish I'd seen my cats as kittens. I wonder if I can get kitten pictures of Mischief through the rescue, since they were probably involved with her from the time she was born... I'd hate to waste their time but I'm really curious.
 
Top