How Did Your Cat Choose You?

[Ram Keswani]

Can you tell us the story about how you got your cat, or your cat got you. Thank You.

 

[kittypa]

I love telling this story.

June 17 2016, Little Figgy here came flying out of the engine compartment of my wife's car at Jiffy Lube. She bounced off a couple walls and doors and ended up hiding under a motor oil recycling tank. She spent most of the day there. She was a feral kitten. kittyma went home and brought back a small trap. By the time I got off work that afternoon they had successfully trapped her. We went back to the Jiffy Lube and they handed us this. She was covered with oil, and she was really mad.

We took her to the vet and got her a checkup and a bath. She was still really mad.

We brought her home and fixed up the front bedroom for her. She was still really mad.

We spent a lot of time with her, whether she liked it or not. After four days she would come out and eat with us in the room. Dang she was cute.

After ten days we were able to pet her. She was ours. This is what she looks like now. She is a beautiful kitty.

 

[neely]

This is what she looks like now. She is a beautiful kitty.

That's an understatement, she is absolutely gorgeous! Love the story how she came into your life too.

 

[abyeb]

In the health section of the sign on Charlie's cage at the shelter, it said that lately they observed that his paw was swollen and he didn't seem able to climb the side of the cage (which all the other kittens were doing). Nevertheless, when I walked by, he climbed up the side of the cage (they were stacked, and he was in the top level) to my eye-level with an expression saying, "please take me home". July 26, 2009 was Charlie's adoption day.

 

[muffy]

My 8 cats all came to me from my feral colony. I was friendly with their mother and when they became old enough to eat food she brought them into my yard to wean them. I was able to tame them and got them to come into my house where they stayed for up to 18 years.

Muffy

 

[MoochNNoodles]

DH and I adopted our 2 from a local shelter 12 years ago. DH was in the military at the time and getting ready to deploy again. I hadn't handled being alone for months at a time very well the previous deployment (or the one before that; despite being a military brat myself). So even though he is allergic to cats my mother talked to him and confirmed what he had been thinking; we needed to get me a cat. My last childhood cat passed away 3 weeks after we got married. I missed having cats so much I would play with the little orange kitten help icon in Word.

So we got some supplies and went to the shelter. I walked in the cat room and Mooch and Noodles were cuddled in the back of their kennel and it happened to be the very same spot one of my mother's cats had been when we met her there the year before. We were only planning on getting one cat; but when we heard they were the last of their litter we had to take them both. Best decision ever! They kept each other company and out of trouble a lot as kittens! And they were definitely a good distraction for me while DH was away!

What a beauty!

 

[kittypa]

Part II

About three and a half months after Little Figgy bounced into our lives, I stepped out the door one morning and found two kittens behind some bushes in front of the house. I'm certain that they were from the same parents as Little Figgy. By this time I had seen the mama and papa kitties hanging around. Of course I had to pick them up and take them in.

I wasn't prepared to have two more cats in the house, so I created temporary housing for them in our bedroom. A large dog crate with a small patio would have to do until I could find them homes.

A sad part of the story was mama kitty. When we took Figgy in and she (Figgy) was raising hell in the front bedroom, mama would hear her and come up on the porch and call back. This went on for a couple nights and it was heartbreaking. It was also hard to sleep with that going on all night. I would have to chase her away which made me feel horrible. After a few days when Figgy quieted down she gave up. After I found the two kittens she sat at the place I found them for three days, waiting for them to come back. It was heartbreaking again to see. Soon I was able to successfully TNR poor mama kitty. This was all about a year ago now, and I am happy to say she is doing well. I see her around every day. She's a beautiful DLH tortie. Here is a recent photo of her acting like she owns the place.

Back to the kittens. We tried to find homes for them. Really tried. Seriously. They quickly started to outgrow their quarters, so I started putting them in the bathroom during the day. They grew more, so I would put them in the bigger bathroom during the day and the smaller one at night. Eventually I had to deal with the reality that I had two more cats, so I started introducing them to Figgy and Checkers (Checkers will be another post) and that went well. Everyone gets along. Their names are Peko and Bootsy and they are great kitties.

 

[kittypa]

Last but not least is our old girl Checkers. She is about 15 years old now. She was abandoned by a neighbor at my last residence. She has been such a good sport about having three new kitties in her house over the last year. At her age she was perfectly happy having peace, and everything to herself. She was a little testy with Figgy at first, but nothing serious. Figgy was very persistent in making friends since she didn't have a litter mate to grow up and play with.

 

[Kieka]

We found Nightfury in a box when we went to visit the shelter. We weren't planning on getting a kitten; I just wanted to drop off some cat food. But I didn't realize it was a holiday and they were closed. We saw a box outside the door and inside were two little kittens. The little black one wasn't moving any and didn't respond when we picked up the box. After rushing for some KMR and bottles we somehow got him through the night.

Over the next few weeks he barely left my Moms side and to this day he stays with her always.

Link saved me as much as I saved him. I was in a bad place. I told my Mom I wanted to get a hamster or something small that was mine to care for. She said she thought a cat would be better. I looked around and couldn't find one that really clicked. I saw a lot of cute cats and kittens, but there never was that feeling of connection. Then I heard about a little one who needed a new home. They said he was 8 weeks old but he was closer to 5 weeks. Since his Mom was already gone I went ahead and took him home. Within the first 24 hours I realized how much attention he needed. He was a huge character and even though he can be a brat he is my little man always.

Rocket was literally dropped on my front door. The neighbor fed local ferals and lived watching the kittens. I was talking to her, trying to convince her to spay/neuter, and saw Rocket at 6 weeks old running around. I commented that she was cute. Two months later the neighbor knocked on my door that she had caught "my" kitten. The neighbor thought that Link was her dad (he is neutered) and since I liked her I would want her. She was fully feral because the neighbor never interacted with any of the kittens, just fed moms and babies. The neighbors sons frequently scared the cats by purposely making loud sudden movements towards them if they noticed them. I didn't want a third cat and was worried about how the boys would accept her. I worked on getring her to the point where she could be handled and finding her a home. But when the moment came to take her to the new home I just couldn't. I spent 6 months getting her socialized slowly going from a crate to a room to some of the house to the whole house. She now is a lap lover with me but she still is skittish around other people. It also turns out she was the piece missing from our family. Link loves playing with her sister and Fury loves to cuddle with her. The boys always seemed to just be sharing the home before she came along; now they are a true family with her holding them together.

I think that the best cats are the ones who happen into our lives.

 

[jcat]

Eight days after our last cat succumbed to heart disease, I went to the local shelter to drop off food and play with the kitties. They knew I was a sucker for black cats and showed me a couple. Mowgli was very open and friendly, so he came home with me and made himself right at home. Afterwards we found that he was shy with strangers, but he never considered us strangers.

 

[Elfilou]

I bought my cat from a breeder (would never again, from now on I'll always rescue or rehome). Either way, I was looking on the internet and fell for a white kitten. However, when I went to look at the kittens at their home it was a different kitten, a calico, who stole my heart.

The white kitten got pressed into my arms but tried to squirm away and didn't pay attention to me. His sibling though, the calico, was curious as to who I was. I remember her looking me in the eyes and remember the way she tried to get me to play with her. She looked like the rebel of the litter, with her Halloween colours. I knew she was mine, and I was hers.

Not a good story, not a sad story - but meeting her is a special memory to me.

 

[Winchester]

I have to tell you my Mollipop story (I know, you older guys already know this, but the newer ones don't).

Rick and I had taken BooBoo and his sister, Ms. Pepe to the vet for geriatric check-ups. Nancy, the receptionist, told me that a mama cat had given birth to five kittens and did I want to see them? (I had lost Banshee, the feline love of my life about six months prior to that and Nancy knew that I was really hurting from her death.) No. Yes. No. Yes. No. OK, yes. So she and I went back to the room and there was Mama and the babies.

She put two boys in my arms. They were squirmy and fussing and didn't really care that I was holding them. I gave them back and she gave me Molli. And there she sat, in my arms, just staring at me with those big blue kitten-eyes. She didn't make a peep; she just sat and stared. I was lost and I just stared back at her. And then she crawled up on my shoulder and perched. The doctor was in the room; he told Nancy, "I think that little girl just found her Mama!" And so it was.

I left the room and Rick and I took Boo and Pepe in for their exams. As we paid the vet bill, Nancy asked me about the kitten. I said, "I can't." And we left. After we left, the vet walked over to Nancy and said, "Put Pam down for that girl; she'll call us tomorrow about her." And that's exactly what happened.

She was too young to come home, so for 3-4 nights every week, I'd go down to the vet around 6:30 and they'd bring the kitten out to me. We'd sit in the appointment room with her in my arms and I'd talk to her. I'd tell her about my day and she'd purr on my shoulder. Sometimes she'd come out and just sleep in my arms. It got to when it was around 6:30 or so, the staff said, Molli would start to fuss; she knew I was coming!

She didn't have a name yet and I was wracking my brain and waiting for her to tell me. One night, I was taking a load of laundry down to the basement and I was singing, "Lollipop, lollipop, oh lolly-lolly pop!" and it came out, "Mollipop, Mollipop.....". I stopped dead and said, "OMGosh, she's Mollipop!" I immediately called down to the vet and when Nancy answered the phone, I said, "Her name is Mollipop!"

Mollipop wasn't supposed to leave the vet until she was eight weeks old. Well, one night (it wasn't a night that I was supposed to be with her at the vet), Nancy called me and said, "Pam, c'mon down and pick Mollipop up tomorrow! She's really starting to fuss now when you don't visit and the doctor said she can go home."

I took off the work the next day and Mollipop became a member of our family. There was never much of an introductory period with Molli and the rest of the RugCats. Our cats have always taken well to kittens and they put up with a lot when there's a kitten in the house.

The first picture of Molli and me; she has always loved to perch over my shoulder, right from the beginning. This was taken at the vet's office. She was about 4 weeks old. I love her little cream-colored front paw.

Mollipop at about eight months old. She turned into a beautiful RugCat!

Molli today......

When Mollipop first joined the family, she became a RugCat (the collective name for our kitty clan). But after Tabby came in the house, followed a year later by Muffin, the three girls became the Three Meowsketeers.

We have one RugCat yet from the original RugCat clan (Ms. Pepe). Amber Louise came in as a RugCat, but she wasn't one of the original RugCats. The Three Meowsketeers are Mollipop, Tabby, and Muffin. And then there's The Beast (Jackie, who is a beagle).

 

[scraggles]

My little man first came to me late one night during a bad storm a year and a bit ago. He was petrified, crying out and starving but, as I'm vegetarian, I had nothing in the house to feed him. I felt so awful. When I saw him a week or so later on my back wall I thought he must, in fact, be a neighbour's cat that had just been wandering that night.

A little while after that I went out to my back garden early one morning, when little man jumped up from under a garden bench where he had been sleeping on a sheet of cardboard. He was in a pitiful state, had lost even more weight and seemed to have a bad cut on his ear. I had to wait a few hours for shops to open so that I could run up and get some cat food.

Because I rent I wasn't sure if I could keep him. Anyway, I'd always been a dog person and had thought that if ever I were in a position to have a pet it would be a pup. I fed him for about a week when I realised I'd have to make a decision about him, also his ear wasn't healing so that needed looking after. I rang our local animal shelter, it was my intention at that stage to maybe hand him over to them. When I spoke to the shelter they told me that to have his ear looked at by them, I would have to “surrender” the cat to them. There was something about that word that really just did not sit well with me. When I asked questions about that word, what would happen to this cat if I handed him over, if I'd have any rights to keep in contact and see if he'd been adopted etc. etc., all answers that were given to me seemed to be really vague... They did tell me, though, that they could lend me a carrier either way as I was getting worried about his ear.

I rang a local vet and they told me that I could bring him down to them and they'd give him a check-up, they'd also be able to check for a chip. I decided to bring him to the vet. There he was given a general once over, an antibiotic for his ear, and a picture taken for the lost and found pages. The picture below is of what he looked like around that time and what he looks like now. There is pretty much exactly one year between those two photos.

A month after that initial vet visit, when no-one had come forward for Scraggles, I began allowing myself call him “my” cat. I bought him proper cat bowls rather that the old dishes I'd be using, booked him in to get neutered/chipped and started reading up on cat care. Scraggles had found a home.

 

[daisyd]

Lovely stories ! Same if heard mine however never owned a cat , knew anything about them however decided to get a kitten (as you do, not). Wanted a grey colour one to go with the furniture as whenever I'd seen cats they just seemed to lie there .. went on Gumtree (I had no idea where to one then) made my partner at the time drive me to Essex to collect the kitten (advertised as grey and litter trained). Got to a house stinking of 'pot' and guy who answered knew nothing about a kitten, then a teenager walked out took a tiny ball of fluff out of the sleeve of her dressing gown and handed it to my partner . The tiny fluff has the kitten who took a bite and scratched my partner , he handed her back and said 'are they supposed to do that?'. The teenager answered she doesn't like being cold . I thought I can't leave this kitten here so we have the girl £60 and left with the kitten in a coat we had lying in the back of the car . She settled straightaway although was a nightmare until 2 months ago when she Finally stopped attacking for no reason . She turns one in two weeks .

My beautiful Essex girl at 7 weeks old and last week posing

 

[Blakeney Green]

In their order of arrival...

Zephyr and I found each other at the local animal shelter when I was still in school and he was just a tiny kitten. They had a ton of adorable kittens at the shelter, and I wasn't sure how I was going to pick, but my then-roommate handed me Zephyr and he started nuzzling into me and purring really loudly, almost like he was saying he wanted me to take him home. So of course, I had to.

This was baby Zephyr:



This is current Zephyr:



He was the only kitten I've adopted. My other three were adult kitties.

I'd actually had Maisie for three and a half years already when he decided to choose me. He had been abandoned when his original owners moved, and he was found when one of my co-workers bought the house. They couldn't keep him due to severe allergies, but they wanted to find him a good home and they knew I was looking to get a second cat. Maisie was not happy about living with me. He had decided that humans were untrustworthy and not worth getting attached to, but he really liked Zephyr, so we just sort of co-existed in my house for several years. Then one night, I woke up to the feeling of kitty kisses on my fingers, and I realized it was Maisie - and I thought it was a weird dream. But he did it again the next night, and after that it was like a switch had flipped and he decided to be my cat. He just had to be sure first that I wasn't going to abandon him. He's very bonded with me now.



I moved back to the United States with Zephyr and Maisie and started volunteering as a cat socializer for the county animal shelter (where I now work.) I got really attached to Bentley; he'd been at the shelter his whole life because he had some chronic health issues and no adopters had wanted to take that on, but he was very sweet and friendly. Unfortunately Bentley did not live very long, but he was a wonderful pet while I had him.



About a year after adopting Bentley, I decided to take Cullen home from the shelter as a foster. He had done really well working with me and for some reason he had liked me from the start, but he wasn't good with other people and I thought I could get him to be more social if I fostered him in my home. It turned out that Cullen is really a one person cat and he just did not take to other people even in a home environment, so I became a "foster failure" and decided to just keep him.

This is Cullen hiding in the bathtub on his first day being fostered.



And that's how I got my feline family.

 

[Winchester]

You know, I have really enjoyed reading these stories. It's amazing how our kids find us. And how they go from being these adorable little babies to beautiful adults. Thanks for taking part in the thread and my thanks to R Ram Keswani for starting it.

But we haven't read how R Ram Keswani got kitties! And I'd be very interested to read your story, too.

 

[foxxycat]

wow such lovely stories!!! I love reading how everyone get's their cats.

Honeybee came to me in Jan 23 2013. It was a wintery day I got told by a coworker that his friends mom had a stray cat hanging around and that they were trying to find a home for her for the past 3 months. He said she's a beautiful calico and very friendly. Said she sits on the lady's lap. So I said I can't bring another in.

I had Floey and Pumpkin face. We lost Flash in October and I was really hurting..he said just try it. So that day I went home to tell Jon about the cat. He said he feels bad and maybe we should just bring her home. It was a Tuesday night. We went to sleep that night to think about it. The next morning they forecast a huge blizzard to barrel down on us. So I made the executive decision to go get her that night. I told Jon I can't have her living under 2 feet of snow and possibly die from cold. It was cold at night then...so I called my friend and asked him to come get me.

I got the cat carrier and off we went to the old lady's house. We got there and she said the cats outside. She opened the door and this long hair fuzzy orange cat came running in. She was very quiet and ladylike. She wasn't noisy. The lady sat down and this cat Jumped up on her lap..I really wanted her...she has these mesmerizing green eyes I never seen before..in fact almost matching my green eyes. It was love at first sight. I sat and pet her-she was soft as rabbit hair.



Then we put her in the carrier and she FOUGHT hard to not go in-Claws, teeth- howling I was so scared she was going to be alpha B cat. We finally got her in there then the pitiful cries-omg. I almost said no leave her here but my friend just said don't worry she will be ok.

So in the car I kept calling her "honey" because she screamed at the top of her lungs-I felt so bad- and I said what will we name her? He said call her Honey! She cried and it broke my heart but I wasn't sure how she would take the car ride-my other cats love car rides but didn't know if she would flip out..then I said "Honeybee!" Because it looked like she had bee stripes on her back.

The funny part is I had the master bathroom set up to keep her in there overnight. Told Jon don't let her out. We put the cage down in the living room. He said no she will roam and be fine. I was scared because we didn't know anything about her-diseases-fixed or anything- so he opened the door and she slinked out-not a meow or anything..he crawled around on the floor after her-he fell in love with her too.

So I said good bye to my friend and made her a dish of wet food-she ate the entire bowl and found out what eating with gusto meant. She wore her food and made a mess..then when she was done she walked into the living room and jumped up on Jon and layed down to take a nap..like she lived here all along. She never hid. Never got ticky with the other cats although she did growl at them. Pumps hid and Floey hissed back at her.

She didn't act like a typical scared cat. She was the sweetest cat-slept on us at night and still growled at the other cats but they tolerated her. She has moved in and now teases Jon all the time-jumps out to claw him or jump up and bite him if he ignores her...she's a brat but we love her.

Pumpkin face came to me in 2003. Sept/Oct time. She was a kitten. They claim she was 14 weeks and I think she was more like 8 weeks. I was searching Pet finder for a kitten. I had Floey and wanted to get her a friend. I worked a lot of hours and didn't want Floey to be lonely. So this ad was in a small town I had originally looked at to rent an apartment-the funny part is-I now live in that town where we adopted her from=so weird! She was tiny and fit in my hand. Back then we rented a mobile home. I had Floey who was only with me for a couple of years. I kept pumpkin in the cat carrier all night because Floey hissed at her and I was afraid she would hurt her. all night long all I heard was loud purring from the cage. She was very scared of people.

When Jon first came over-he lay down on the floor and tried to coax her out from under the recliner-he spent probably a few hours on and off talking to her, petting her. She came out finally. She was the friendly little kitten who hated laps. She would sit next to you and purr but don't put her on top of you.

To this day she is Not a lap cat but loves brushes and pets. Floey taught her how to play and they had a heck of a time destroying the house when I was at work. It wasn't unusual to come home and find the house with stuff all over the floors and knocked over. I remember Floey teaching her how to ride the scatter rug into the cabinets. She would show her how to run and jump onto the rug-which would go sailing across the floor and crash into the cabinets-I to this day have no clue why they did this but it was the funniest thing to watch! oh and chasing toys, balls, mice, crumpled paper across the floor.

Through the years Pumps never got used to people. Hides under the bed when people come over. unlike Honeybee who comes out to see what's going on. Floey was not shy either-she was my dogcat. She greeted anyone who came to the door- Sadly Floey has left us last summer but she and Pumps grew up together and it wasn't unusual to see them hanging out-they were not buddies but they got along.

here's Floey grooming pumps-the one time ever.




Pumpkin face-also a calico:



Honeybee's eyes



I wasn't looking for a cat when I got honeybee but I was when I got Pumpkin face and before that Floey. There are times they just "show up" and we let em in and they warm our hearts.

 

[Winchester]

OMGosh, Honeybee's eyes are simply gorgeous! And so soft-looking. I swear you can tell what kind of kitty it is just by looking at their eyes. That is one very sweet little girl.

 

[foxxycat]

Thank you Winchester. Yeah she's half sassy and half sweet girl. This morning she was half blinking at me and meowing softly on her window perch- usually I open the window for her to do her morning business outside but this morning it was too dark so I kept saying no but then she would "meow" softly hoping to change my mind. She knows how to be sweet to get something. Her latest is to sit by Jon's feet-stare at him. Then jump up and bite him. Hahaha. She's wanting treats and that's what she does when it's "treat" time. Or she jumps up and if he's sitting up-she winds herself around and around walking on his lap on his food or papers to fluff her tail in his face..it's the funniest thing..and of course the soft meows.

She is a sweet girl but watch out-she can get P off in a flash and not afraid to claw/bite. Luckily I don't have to fish her out under the bed in the morning anymore to give her her puffs. Now she jumps up into her window in the kitchen which makes it easier for me to grab her for the meds. And of course her tuna slop as that's the only way I can get her supplements into her without resorting to syringing which she doesn't mind. Both girls are sweet-Pumps is the easiest cat to medicate in the world. Honeybee is harder but she will tolerate it. Floey was her own girl-she wouldn't let anyone pill her-not even the vets. I do love Honeybee's eyes.

 

[sargon]

The story of how I ended up choosing a Siamese in general is rather more intersting than "I got her from a breeder and drove her home."

My parents had three of cats (all fairly closely related) a number of years back. One was Lilly, who was a dilute tourtisehell (absolutely lovely fur that had a lot of "pink"), and I always was impressed at what a gentle cat he was.. she always had excellent claw control and was just very gentle and easy to handle. She also had a lot of Siamese (or possibly colorpoint shorthair) in her background, so I always associated her beauty and easy handling with that Siamese heritage.

The second was XOX, who had enough Siamse that he looked like a nearly breed perfect traditional seal point (one vet refused to believe my mother that he was a mixed breed,.) He was super affectionate and loved to sleep with his person ( my father, in his case), and very gentle. he would often strut about and meow until one of would say, " I know, you're very pretty.", at which point he'd seem satisfied and quiet down for a bit, which was rather endearing, all told.

The last one was Willow, who was super intelligent, super stubborn, super playful and full of personality. She would try and open doors various ways (she was fond of trying to jar them open by smashing into them over and over, which did work, at times), but if she failed to open the door she'd camp at it and dart through, waiting patiently for hours to acheive her goal. She could hold a grudge, considered the dog her pet (she'd order the black lab around, and at one point made the lab switch beds with her, which was hilarious...), played hide and seek with my aunt, and was one of the coolest cats Id' seen. She was quite a handful, but was worth it.

So, having seen those three cats, all very Siamese, and all really great cats in their way, I knew that was what I wanted, and in general I got it.. Freya has very good claw control, is as smart and almost as stubborn and as much of a handful as willow was, and is pretty and as talkative ( more-so, tbh) than xox, as well as fond of sleeping against me as he was his person.