Is The Cat You Have The One You Expected?

[Neko-chan's mama]

For those of you who bought or adopted your cat, is it what you expected? When we went to the shelter, we were really looking for an adult cat. Kitten season was just beginning and we hoped to free up space for the kittens that would soon come in. Unfortunately, none of the adult cats clicked with us. We were about to leave to go to another shelter, and this little kitten was looking right at us and have a little mew. After a few minutes of playing and cuddling, we were in love. Though caring for a kitten is tough,I wouldn't change it for anything.

 

[weebeasties]

We had gone to the shelter to adopt a certain kitten that I had fallen in love with the week before. Unfortunately, the shelter had deemed him too sickly to be adopted out. They had surrendered him to a rescue who were going to foster him until he was well, and then adopt him out in the future.
I was broken-hearted as I left the shelter, as I felt I already had a bond with the sick kitten. As I walked away, a little paw shot out of a cage and snagged my shirt. As I looked into his eyes, there was something about him...
I was in a daze as I adopted him. This wasn't the kitten I had come for, but I couldn't leave without him. I was still a bit in shock on the drive home, but in about 1 second after removing him from his carrier, I was in LOVE. He is amazing! Our bond is so close. We have had him a little over a year now and I can't imagine life without him. The amount of joy he has brought to our home is immeasurable. We are so lucky to have him in our life.

 

[mightyboosh]

Oliver turned out to be vastly more than I could have hoped for. I bought him when he was ten yrs and it was love at first sight. He then became my little pal and soul-cat. He smothers me with cuddles and love.
My other two are loved dearly but I have to admit that Oliver took it to a new level.

 

[vince]

Went to get cats at the shelter twice with the idea of getting a black one. Each time, I came back with a brown tabby. I didn't really have a choice with the orange one. Her mom deserted her under my car.

 

[will2002]

Usually the cats that my wife and I care for adopt us. They just kind of "show up", so we just accept them as they are. I will say I have never been disappointed in their individual personalities. Each one has been different, and each one has brought much joy and happiness into our lives. I wouldn't take a million dollars for any one of them...and that's the truth!

 

[DreamerRose]

Neither of my cats were what I expected. I went to the Humane Society to find a lap cat. None of the cats in the cat room seemed especially friendly except for one elderly queen who was very frightened. While I was waiting for them to bring her out, a black cat hopped up on a cat tree and fell asleep. The receptionist said he was very well socialized, so I picked him up and he started purring. He was the only cat there who purred, so I adopted him. I got him home, and did his personality ever change. He wouldn't let me hold him and ran away when I tried to pet him. I was very disappointed.

Almost a year later, at the vet's, a cat from another rescue caught my eye. She was so pretty - tortie with white paws and socks. I went home and thought about it a lot, but in the end, went back and adopted her. I sequestered her from Mingo, but he was fascinated and stayed just outside her door until I let her out. A few days later, she hopped into my lap, smiling and purring. Here was the lap cat I wanted! What a surprise that was.

Mingo loved having a playmate, and in time, he copied her behavior, climbing into my lap and seeking affection. He is a very active companion now and quite chatty, a lot of fun to have.

Neither cat was what I expected, but they turned out to be just what I wanted. I love them both.

 

[kittyluv387]

I did hand pick my first kitty benny, who is a black kitty. He is everything I hoped for. We have a very strong bond. He is energetic and loves me so much. He's a brat as well. My other orange boy Nemo was at first not what I wanted. I took him in because I felt that it was a duty. He was friendly enough and was an adult stray at my apartment complex. I would see and feed him regularly. After I took him in he was calm and reserved. He didn't seek attention but appreciated any attention he did receive. After years of my consistent love and attention he came around and is now a cuddly teddy bear. He's still very calm. I came back home from a trip recently and he was just obsessed about snuggling with me all day the day after I got back. I think he turned into the kitty I wanted too.

 

[esco98]

My cat was a stray who found me and decided that I would be his mom. He’s honestly exceeded my expectations and I wouldn’t trade him for anything. I had 4 cats growing up and they all just found their way to my family one way or another but we never went out to adopt them. A few months ago I did go to a shelter and I had my eyes on to specific cats but we just didn’t click and the one cat I did click with was in the process of being adopted by another family, which definitely makes me happy!

 

[aliceneko]

When I adopted Toffee and Fudge, they were certainly not what I expected to get - I hadn't thought of adopting ginger cats and was ideally wanting to get a tabby or black cat, but Toffee and Fudge were the first kittens I saw at the shelter and instantly fell in love with them. They have made me fall more in love with orange cats and I can't imagine life without them.

 

[Purr-fect]

Did not expect to adopt arnold or greg and did not expect arnold to be soooo bonded to me.

After our elderly female cat, Motu, passed away, we wanted to adopt two adult or elderly cats, whose owners were no longer able to care for them. We wanted the cats that no one else wanted and we were going to treat them like royalty, in a great home, on a large lot. These cats were going to win the lottery!

Daily I scoured the pet ads, looking for those two special cats. I had been in contact with someone who was feeding strays and wanted a home for the cats. But when I tried to contact him, I got no reply.

I kept looking for the two cats no one would adopt: the two that would spend the rest of their lives in cages at a shelter or were to be to sleep.

I saw the ad for greg and arnold, but did not reply. They did not need me. They were beautiful brothers and being given away for free. They would not remain without a new owner for long.

But a few weeks latter the ad was still posted. Out of curiosity I replied to the ad and asked why they had not been taken. In my mind they did not need me. It was more of a curiosity email than an interest in adopting them.

After a few back and forth emails the owner invited us to see the "boys". The family had never named the cats.

When we got to the house, the smell of cat pee hit us when we walked thru the front door. My wife and I had agreed that if the home smelt that way we would not take the cat(s) as we hate that smell and dont want a cat spraying in the house. But then I noticed the litter boxes. They were filthy. I could not blame the cats for the smell.

We went upstairs and met the boys. They were huge! Even at only 1and a 1/2 years old they were 16 and 19 lbs. Our little motu had weighed 8 lbs on a good day and was down to 4 lbs when she passed. We joked that the couch the cats were on looked like a love seat under them.

And they were long haired. Ive never had a long haired cat and knew from past experience, I might be very allergic. Long haired cats were not on our list.

Arnold jumped down and went a sat in a chair in the far corner of the room. He glared at us. I wanted to introduce myself and pet him, but he was simply too big and menacing. I did not want to fight with him, especially in front of the family who were so kind to invite us into their home. I left him alone.

But greg (who we latter named as the short form of "gregarious") went straight to my wife.

She picked this monster sized cat up in her arms and that was that. Frankly, arnold sort of came along as part of the package, as we would not separate them.

Instead of senior cats, we got young cats.

Instead of short haired cats we got very fluffly long haired cats

Instead of normal sized cats we got monsters, now 20 and 23 lbs.

We took arnold when he was not friendly.

We took cats that really did not need us to adopt them. (Although the reason they had not been adopted was because no one wanted both cats. Guess which one the probably wanted)

As it turned out arnold and I are inseparable. We share the same pillow at night. His head next to mine..... none of this "foot of the bed thing for him" I roll over in bed and he comes around and flops down in front of me again, spooning, arching his head back to rub against my chin, over and over again, at 2am 3am 4am.....Ive loved all our cats, but there is something about our relationship.....

Greg remains deeply attached to my wife and gives her a level of affection I will never see from him, which is ok, im happy for them. (as I type this, arnold is trying to climb into my lap).

Like forest gump said....."life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get".

Here are our "chocolates" laying on the dining room table.

 

[kittyluv387]

Did not expect to adopt arnold or greg and did not expect arnold to be soooo bonded to me.

After our elderly female cat, Motu, passed away, we wanted to adopt two adult or elderly cats, whose owners were no longer able to care for them. We wanted the cats that no one else wanted and we were going to treat them like royalty, in a great home, on a large lot. These cats were going to win the lottery!

Daily I scoured the pet ads, looking for those two special cats. I had been in contact with someone who was feeding strays and wanted a home for the cats. But when I tried to contact him, I got no reply.

I kept looking for the two cats no one would adopt: the two that would spend the rest of their lives in cages at a shelter or were to be to sleep.

I saw the ad for greg and arnold, but did not reply. They did not need me. They were beautiful brothers and being given away for free. They would not remain without a new owner for long.

But a few weeks latter the ad was still posted. Out of curiosity I replied to the ad and asked why they had not been taken. In my mind they did not need me. It was more of a curiosity email than an interest in adopting them.

After a few back and forth emails the owner invited us to see the "boys". The family had never named the cats.

When we got to the house, the smell of cat pee hit us when we walked thru the front door. My wife and I had agreed that if the home smelt that way we would not take the cat(s) as we hate that smell and dont want a cat spraying in the house. But then I noticed the litter boxes. They were filthy. I could not blame the cats for the smell.

We went upstairs and met the boys. They were huge! Even at only 1and a 1/2 years old they were 16 and 19 lbs. Our little motu had weighed 8 lbs on a good day and was down to 4 lbs when she passed. We joked that the couch the cats were on looked like a love seat under them.

And they were long haired. Ive never had a long haired cat and knew from past experience, I might be very allergic. Long haired cats were not on our list.

Arnold jumped down and went a sat in a chair in the far corner of the room. He glared at us. I wanted to introduce myself and pet him, but he was simply too big and menacing. I did not want to fight with him, especially in front of the family who were so kind to invite us into their home. I left him alone.

But greg (who we latter named as the short form of "gregarious") went straight to my wife.

She picked this monster sized cat up in her arms and that was that. Frankly, arnold sort of came along as part of the package, as we would not separate them.

Instead of senior cats, we got young cats.

Instead of short haired cats we got very fluffly long haired cats

Instead of normal sized cats we got monsters, now 20 and 23 lbs.

We took arnold when he was not friendly.

We took cats that really did not need us to adopt them. (Although the reason they had not been adopted was because no one wanted both cats. Guess which one the probably wanted)

As it turned out arnold and I are inseparable. We share the same pillow at night. His head next to mine..... none of this "foot of the bed thing for him" I roll over in bed and he comes around and flops down in front of me again, spooning, arching his head back to rub against my chin, over and over again, at 2am 3am 4am.....Ive loved all our cats, but there is something about our relationship.....

Greg remains deeply attached to my wife and gives her a level of affection I will never see from him, which is ok, im hahappy for them. (as I type this, arnold is trying to climb into my lap).

Like forest gump said....."life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get".

Here are our "chocolates" laying on the dining room table.View attachment 293893

They did need you and your wife! A family that cannot keep up with the litter cannot take good care of cat.

 

[mightyboosh]

Did not expect to adopt arnold or greg and did not expect arnold to be soooo bonded to me.

After our elderly female cat, Motu, passed away, we wanted to adopt two adult or elderly cats, whose owners were no longer able to care for them. We wanted the cats that no one else wanted and we were going to treat them like royalty, in a great home, on a large lot. These cats were going to win the lottery!

Daily I scoured the pet ads, looking for those two special cats. I had been in contact with someone who was feeding strays and wanted a home for the cats. But when I tried to contact him, I got no reply.

I kept looking for the two cats no one would adopt: the two that would spend the rest of their lives in cages at a shelter or were to be to sleep.

I saw the ad for greg and arnold, but did not reply. They did not need me. They were beautiful brothers and being given away for free. They would not remain without a new owner for long.

But a few weeks latter the ad was still posted. Out of curiosity I replied to the ad and asked why they had not been taken. In my mind they did not need me. It was more of a curiosity email than an interest in adopting them.

After a few back and forth emails the owner invited us to see the "boys". The family had never named the cats.

When we got to the house, the smell of cat pee hit us when we walked thru the front door. My wife and I had agreed that if the home smelt that way we would not take the cat(s) as we hate that smell and dont want a cat spraying in the house. But then I noticed the litter boxes. They were filthy. I could not blame the cats for the smell.

We went upstairs and met the boys. They were huge! Even at only 1and a 1/2 years old they were 16 and 19 lbs. Our little motu had weighed 8 lbs on a good day and was down to 4 lbs when she passed. We joked that the couch the cats were on looked like a love seat under them.

And they were long haired. Ive never had a long haired cat and knew from past experience, I might be very allergic. Long haired cats were not on our list.

Arnold jumped down and went a sat in a chair in the far corner of the room. He glared at us. I wanted to introduce myself and pet him, but he was simply too big and menacing. I did not want to fight with him, especially in front of the family who were so kind to invite us into their home. I left him alone.

But greg (who we latter named as the short form of "gregarious") went straight to my wife.

She picked this monster sized cat up in her arms and that was that. Frankly, arnold sort of came along as part of the package, as we would not separate them.

Instead of senior cats, we got young cats.

Instead of short haired cats we got very fluffly long haired cats

Instead of normal sized cats we got monsters, now 20 and 23 lbs.

We took arnold when he was not friendly.

We took cats that really did not need us to adopt them. (Although the reason they had not been adopted was because no one wanted both cats. Guess which one the probably wanted)

As it turned out arnold and I are inseparable. We share the same pillow at night. His head next to mine..... none of this "foot of the bed thing for him" I roll over in bed and he comes around and flops down in front of me again, spooning, arching his head back to rub against my chin, over and over again, at 2am 3am 4am.....Ive loved all our cats, but there is something about our relationship.....

Greg remains deeply attached to my wife and gives her a level of affection I will never see from him, which is ok, im happy for them. (as I type this, arnold is trying to climb into my lap).

Like forest gump said....."life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get".

Here are our "chocolates" laying on the dining room table.View attachment 293893

Brilliant stuff. Lucky for you I wasn't around, I'd have beaten you to them.

 

[Purr-fect]

Brilliant stuff. Lucky for you I wasn't around, I'd have beaten you to them.

And if Oliver ever needs a home.........or Chubchub or Betty.

 

[susanm9006]

No, Willow isn’t what I expected at all. After my girl Murphy died I went to the shelter to look at senior adult cats. I assumed I would find a cat that had been in a loving home and through circumstances ended up in a county shelter. But there was this one year old cat, with a surrender, a failed adoption and 30 days at the shelter after that. Definitely the clock was ticking. She clearly was terrified of people but it seemed to me to be more the situation she was in rather than not being socialized and I knew I could give her the quiet supportive home she needed.
She ended up being much less socialized than I expected and we have had a long road to her accepting human contact. But while it has been eight years she still inches forward in becoming less fearful and more accepting of my attention. Last week I got my very first head butt. Just to my arm and when I wasn’t looking but A big milestone.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

I loved reading everyone's rescue stories! I guess I kind of wanted one of my own. I sometimes feel a little guilty for not getting an adult...everyone wants cute little kittens. I'd get another in a heartbeat if our landlord hadn't said only one.

 

[jcat]

I wasn't planning on adopting when we got Mowgli. Our previous cat had died, so I took his food to the local shelter on a Saturday afternoon and sort of got pushed into adopting him, because they knew I 1) was a sucker for black cats and 2) had experience with cats that hated other cats. That was the end of waiting a couple of months for two Norwegian Forest kittens.

He instantly made himself at home and is everything we could ask for in a cat.

 

[NY cat man]

The funny thing is, after we lost Velcro, Michele didn't want any more cats- didn't want to have to deal with the pain. And then a feral showed up with her kittens, and all disappeared but one, who was a clinger, so we named him Burdock, now aged 8. A year later, it was a repeat, and she became Prancer. Another year, and Digger, Stretch, and Bashful joined us. We had decided that 5 was more than enough, but another cat, a female TNR showed up 2 years ago and decided that this was the place for her. We provided food and water and shelter for her, but during this last winter, she finally came inside for keeps, and became Miss Eleanor.
Are any of them what we expected? As they were ferals, we weren't sure what to expect, but what we have received from them more than outweighs the time and effort we have put into them.

 

[Sonatine]

Nope! For both my resident cat and the one coming home with me on Monday, I had my eye on a different kitty, who was adopted by someone else before I could come in. Then, I watched the cat cafe's live kitty cam (a wonderful invention, by the way; 24/7 footage of 20-40 cats just being cats) and had a few others in mind... none of which were the ones that I picked in the end.

Amelia never showed up on the cat cam because she was always hanging out in the litter room where it was quieter. I thought I was getting a quiet, sweet cat, and while she is sweet, she's also a firecracker and definitely not quiet! But she's the cat I didn't know I needed in every way

For my new kitty, I was a little bummed that the cat I was wanting got adopted (she'd been there for almost two months so I figured I'd have a few days to come in and do the application). But I was determined to still stay positive; after all, it's the cat that chooses the person. During both of my visits to the cafe to find a cat that would be good for me, the staff mentioned the cat I ended up choosing, saying that she was weird but great and that she might be good for me. They didn't steer me wrong when I chose Amelia (wouldn't have even known she was there if they hadn't told me to look in the litter room), so I gave the new kitty a chance. Haven't taken her home yet so I can't say if it was the right choice yet, but I sure hope so!

 

[Jem]

Well I'm not sure if I got the cats I expected but I definitely got the cats I hoped for.
After all three of our cats passed away at the end of last year (all different reasons) We knew that we would want more, but were just waiting till it felt right. Our last of the three passed away near the mid/end of November 2018, And on December 30th, as we were both off for Christmas holidays, decided to go to the shelter and see what happened.
So here we are, in this huge converted house, with over a hundred cats needing homes. We were obviously not going home empty handed!
The first kitty who caught our attention was a chubby little girl named Charlie, but because we wanted multiple cats, she would not have been a good fit for us. I still think of her, but thankfully she has since found a home.
Then there was Bynx, he found us right off the hop and did not leave us alone, he followed us around as we went from room to room meeting all the kitties, and even pawed and meowed for us under the doors of the quarantine rooms when we went in. We decided very quickly that he would be coming home with us, so the next step was to find him a compatible brother or sister.
That's where Chester comes in. We did not see Chester until we were halfway thru our introductions, but he, after we petted him and gave him a treat, started to follows us around as well. So now both Bynx and Chester are at our heels and they both seemed to get along very well also, bumping and playing together as they tried to get our attention. We found Bynx's brother.
But our shelter, knowing who we were and how we treat our kitties, showed us Lily. This depressed and withdrawn, 5 lb, 2 year old tabby with giant sad eyes. She honestly seemed to have given up on life. They did not think she would make it in the shelter environment. We fell in love and could not bare to leave this creature there to wither away.
So we got three cats in one day!
Bynx is the perfect cat, he's playful and friendly, and greets everyone at the door. He's just so laid back and has an amazing temperament. He made our home his within hours and adjusted faster than any cat I've ever had.
Chester was a little more shy, but it only took a day for him to settle in and start his shenanigans with his brother. We unfortunately could not bring him home on that first day because he had just started to show symptoms of ring worm, so the shelter kept him for a month and treated him before releasing him to us. We were worried about introductions but as I said it took only a day for him to settle, and Bynx was only interested in being his friend from the first second. He does have some shyness with strangers but once you have his trust he loves affection and playtime. He's also my beggar of all things food!
Lily, has flourished in our care and has even started to play with her brothers. But what is so sweet is how gentile they are with her compared to when they play with each other. She is sweet and affectionate and has only minimal timid tendencies, but every single day she does something new that shows her trust in us. It's fantastic!
So, in all, we took our time and tried to be selective that they would be compatible, even though, ultimately, they chose us. And we always hoped that they would be happy in our home, but we could not be any more grateful as to how perfect they all are, and how much they help each other and learn from each other.
Sorry that was a long post...but I love my new family! There are so many other details about them that I would love to share but maybe I should just write book instead!

 

[kosame]

Late response but I didn't expect Theo! He's a lot more shy than I thought but I adore him!
Drove 4 hours to pick him up, expecting a slightly more outgoing kitty! Alas, twas not the case but I fell in love and while I'm fairly certain he's not super fond of me yet, I love him with all my heart <3