to ask has anyone ever had an unusually strong bond with an animal?

[Zulor]

I don't mean your typical cat/dog/gerbil, but please feel free to tell me about those.

Mine was with a sheep! I hand reared her (i.e. bottle fed her) since she was a small lamb as her mother had rejected her.

Over the years, she was a very friendly sheep and would look into the garden (field was surrounding the garden) and I'd feed her bread.

Time wore on, she went on to have lambs of her own etc. I had been away for years travelling. My dad was out in the field and I was out in the back garden chatting and suddenly, my Dad says, she made a bolt for the fence! So she rocks up and I feed her bread.

It's unusual in that I'd have reared other pet lambs but once they become mothers, they don't want to know you and just behave like the flock, but this particular sheep just seemed to adore me and remembered my voice years later!

I know you can have close bonds with animals you're in constant contact with, but any unusual bonds to share?

I had to have Dbunny PTS today because of a brain tumour, but he would sit at my feet whilst I worked in the conservatory and when I took him to the vets I could just tell he was done. Absolutely awful as he was so young - his brother is an aloof little shit

A couple of horses, and a cockerell, apart from my lovely cats of course.

The elder horse befriended saved me from the random attack of another mare. I had spent a lot of time with both of their foals, but one day she was spooked and charged me. My horse barged her out of the way and kept kicking and butting her away until I was safely out of reach. Her foal would spend hours with me - I wonder sometimes if she'd recognize me if we met again (as I say, semi wild).

Then there was my cockerell. Anyone who's had hens knows that cockerells don't take kindly to each other, so after this one was abandoned as a chick, I hand reared him and defended him from the dominant birds until it was his turn. As such he preferred my company to the hens, and would follow me around for treats. I was heartbroken when he was killed by a fox. I knew it was too early to let them out in the morning, I try not to blame my mum these years later!

When they were both about they'd hang out with me - the foal and the cockerell!

Earlier this year I found a baby bird - I thought it was dead. It was in the hot summer & the bird was exposed. It opened its eyes weakly & I decided to take it home.

After internet research on foods, we started to feed it & nurse it. It recovered within a week although remained a dodgy flyer.

He completely fell in love with my dad.

He would sit on his head, snuggle in his hands and watch tv with him. He would chirrup in many different ways - talking, shouting, excitable, tired out and sighing sometimes! He was such a complete little personality.

One day his chirruping had been a bit intense but my dad came home. The bird sat on his hand, sighed, snuggled & passed away

I’m not overly attached to animals and especially birds but I cried all evening when he died. It was a true honour to see nature so close, it is beyond beautiful x

@Kismetjayn that was honestly the loveliest story I’ve read all year. Thank you for sharing x

I bought a dog as a family pet. To get the kids to come out on walks etc.

I liked her well enough, she was a sweet dog but didn’t love her or anything.

Last year I got diagnosed with cancer. when I first found out I was sat crying at the table and she jumped up so high to sit on my lap. She knew I was upset. All throughout my time off she was such good company. She really calmed down and would lay with me and curl up in bed. Taking her out for walks really encouraged me to get fresh air and feel well again.

I love that little bugger now 😊

My DD is a bit of a dr.doolittle type! I used to keep chickens and got a few chicks for easter. One totally bonded with my then 3 year old DD. The chicks who had lived in a run next to the Rayburn, were eventually put out with the rest of the flock. Each night as the rest of the chooks took themselves off to their coop, this one hen would come bombing it up the garden and sit on the kitchen windowsill tapping the glass until we let her in. DD and the hen would watch the CBeebies bedtime story together, until we carried her back to the coop. Sadly, a fox attack saw the end of the poor hen. I’ve lost many many hens to foxes but we all cried buckets over DD’s special friend

There's a man who lives near us got arrested because of his unusual strong bond with a horse, I'll say no more

She’s also got this cat who lives in her room Got the cat from someone giving her away free on gumtree. I couldn’t bare to think of where she might end up, so ended up giving her a home. She can be quite vicious - but has never laid a claw on DD. She’s very wary of people, but throws herself at DD for cuddles (it’s really intense!). She will only eat in DD’s room, will only sleep on her bed, and when DD goes to her dad’s, the cat goes out and I don’t see her at all the entire time no matter how much I call. As soon as she hears DD’s voice when she comes home (literally the second the car door opens) the cat comes flying round the corner or out of a bush somewhere. It’s very sweet! They adore each other.

My cat. I was never a cat person but kept attracting them
So I went to see one at cats protection. He turned up in a woman's garden about, she fed him and he lived in a broken greenhouse. She died and CPL took him in. He came to me with FIV and cat flu. Long story short he didn't have FIV, and the cat flu was a tooth embedded in his nose (vet said I was lucky he wasn't aggressive as it would have been so painful)

Anyway he strolled out the carrier, looked at me and sat in my lap. Is incredibly bonded and these are a couple of photos from the first few weeks
I left him for 36hrs to have spinal surgery and when I came home he sat at my feet and said "MAMA"
Even cats protection have commented how ridiculous he is with me

My boy cat (I have 3 and love them all). He has got me through some really rough times when I left a bad relationship. He has a good sense of my mood, it’s weird but I absolutely adore the gorgeous (naughty) little sod and I think he does me!

OH and I have both had numerous cats over the years. Loved them all. Current cat though, is in a league of his own.
He's the only cat I have had that is trainable in that he seems to get a reward from pleasing, rather than food.
He acts more like a well trained dog to be honest, perfect recall, walks to heel on and off lead, sits on command.
I haven't really had to teach him, he just seems to demonstrate these behaviours on his own and all I do is re-enforce with praise and strokes.
He's waiting at the door when I come home, follows me everywhere...
I love this cat so much. I picked him at the rescue centre because he was deemed unadoptable because he was nervous, black and hissed at everyone!!

DH has a cat that used to walk him to school and waited for him to come home. She also recognised their car and waited under it after she'd gone missing while staying with another relative in another town.

She also went and fetched his mum when there was a small fire in his bedroom. She was an amazing cat.

I did with a gerbil, I always had him out in my room and he would come and snuggle up to me when I was reading a book on my bed.

@Ollivander84

The way he's looking at you! That is pure adoration, so adorable

I call it his gazing
His favourite thing in the whole world is to just gaze at me. It's a bit freaky when you wake up at 4am to find a pair of eyes blinking adoringly at you

I love animals (more than most humans, TBH) and have had some amazing companions over the years, but my dad had a truly special gift.

He was forever rescuing injured or orphaned beasties, but the one that sticks in my mind was a young fledgling crow that he found and hand-reared.

'Corbie' grew up well and strong and returned to the wild in time, but used to come back and visit my dad, coming to his call, taking treats from his hand and allowing strokes (ONLY from dad, though, no other humans allowed!). This went on for a good four or five years until we assumed he or she had passed on.

Some adorable stories. It's an amazing feeling when an animal just takes to you for some reason. It's like, there are no pretences, they just like you for whatever reason. And they ask for nothing in return.

Ollivander84

That picture is the dictionary definition of true love.

Those eyes😍

Oh...so many animals over the years. I had a very close bond with my pony as a teenager. I was a bit of a loner in those days and preferred to spend my time down at the stables. We spent hours together and he was such a character. Then one day my mum decided she couldn't afford to keep him any more and sold him. I was devastated for months and months.
My last cat that I'd had for 10 years was PTS in 2012 and I still really miss him. He was such a beautiful cat and I absolutely adored him. He did tricks, kept me company when working from home, had conversations with me, would fetch his brush so that I would groom him. He'd used up all of his 9 lives in various ways and in the end he got a nasal tumour and had to be euthanised. Our current cat is a typical tortie and treats every human with the disdain that they deserve. She quite likes my eldest daughter though, but I'm the only one whose lap she will deign to sit on. She treats my husband with utter contempt, it's quite funny to see!

I hate spiders but there is one that lives behind the plug socket near my kitchen bin and eats all the little fruit flies that come to buzz around it. It's unusual for me not to kill spiders on sight but this one has been living in my kitchen for months now.

I love my dog very much and it's completely mutual. We are velcroed together and I work from home because I couldn't be away from him for any amount of time. When I have a bath he lies beside it and comes to the toilet with me. He gives me "the look" when it's our bedtime. But he has a lie in most mornings.

My ex husband found a black labrador wandering outside his house, he had a collar but no tag, as it is a busy road he took him inside, rang all the lost dog registers, the police & local vets but he hadn't been reported missing, he hadn't a microchip. He decided to keep him & had him chipped & vaccinated, he is a well behaved dog, took very little training & is very faithful & loving. My DS is autistic & loves animals, from the first day he met Bob as he is named now, he fell in love with him, whenever he isn't at school & is at his dad's Bob never leaves his side, he sits watching Xbox games for hours, sleeps cuddled up to DS, helps tidy his room by picking up DS clothes & puts them on his bed, sits in the bathroom while he is on the toilet or in the shower, sits with his head over DS shoulder when he is reading, he falls asleep with his head in DS lap when he has his late afternoon nap, he sits at the door when it is time for DS to arrive. He is about 11 now & I dread to think about what will happen when the day comes for him to go over rainbow bridge, it will break everyone's heart. He came into my ex husband's life when he had been very ill, he has MS & Bob goes out for his walks trotting at the side of his electric wheelchair, he stays at his side when he falls until help arrives, ex husband admits that he has given him a reason to get up in a morning & has helped him to get to know so many people on their morning walks.

An amazing cat!

After a period of illness I felt I needed to get a job, preferably away from people, and I set up a dog care business. It was going swimmingly well, honestly within 6 weeks I had no more availability for 6 months- bust was really not the word.

I’d had a request to look after a boxer, I said no. I’d not really known any boxers, then I was asked to look after another about a month later. I accepted an invite to go and meet him, and from that moment he was really mine. I was supposed to be meeting the owner, but I sat on the floor with this dog for two hours, just fussing and loving him.
Before him we had all sorts of rules, but he was my baby, he stayed with us for weeks at a time, would go back to his dad for a day and come back for a few weeks.

I went nowhere without him, he would get in the car with his seatbelt and he would manage to get it off to get in the passenger side of the car and that’s how he travelled for the next year, my DD, and my DH travelled in the back whilst he sat beside lt upright in his doggy seatbelt in the front. If we were eating steak, so would he.
He slept at my feet, he sat at my feet as I went to the toilet. We were given notice to leave when I was looking after him, as we left the old house in December he wore my cape tied around him whilst I stood in a T shirt. He was truly one of the family. He was aging and the stairs became too much for him so he went back to his dad and his wife, he lived the next 8 months really happy, until he died. I made the 3 hour travel to see him one last time and the last time he ever stood up was to greet me. He knew how loved he was

Some lovely stories and that photo of the cat gazing at its owner is beautiful but Kismetjayn's little vole's story really moved me. So nice.