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'm actually tearing up at these stories .

Came on here to say my ferret; so lovely to read others saying the same. I felt so honoured that he trusted me and we had such fun together. We have had many different types of pets over the years but he stole my heart and I miss him.

And the little vole story, bless it.

I worked at a vets when I left school at 16, local dog warden brought in a stray dog who'd been hit by a car. He had cuts and bruises and a split cornea so was with us for a while.

Every time I went into the kennel room he would go wild, hurling himself at the bars and wagging frantically. I assumed he was like that whenever anyone went in but was told he never bothered when other staff went in. I walked him, played with him etc and the inevitable happened, I totally fell for him. Begged my mum to have him but she said no, I was gutted but gave up trying to persuade her.

Few days later she'd mulled it over and changed her mind, I was over the moon. She came to meet me the day he was well enough to come home and we took him home on the bus, walked down our road from the bus stop with him pulling in front (he was awful on a lead and pretty much walked on his hind legs, head in the air) and automatically turned into our driveway with no 'steering' from us. No idea how he knew where we going, no way he was following a scent or anything as his nose couldn't have been any further away from the pavement!

Needless to say he made himself at home very quickly and remained that way for 11 years til we lost him aged 13. I always felt he knew he was my dog, even before I did He had lots of issues to begin with, his injured eye had to be removed eventually, after several attempts to save it, and it was far from straightforward so he really went through it but he was so stoic and brave, just seemed grateful he was with us and being looked after. My mum adored him (despite her initial reluctance) and we still talk about him often, he was special and obviously meant to be with us.

Does anyone remember Christian the lion? There is a YouTube video of him seeing his previous owners after he is grown up and has been in the wild for a year. This 200lb lion leapt into his arms like a little cub.

OMG I WANT A VOLE!

And yes, i was thinking of that Christian the lion video - it's incredible..

I always cry at the Christian lion video, i wonder how he got on in the end. They went back twice.

I always felt my horse & I knew each other pretty well. She knew the sound of my car when I arrived at the yard, would only start banging the door when I arrived. She could tell it was me walking even when I was quite a distance away across another field & would call out. Wouldn't let other horses near me in the field (I never gave her treats so it wasn't that!).
Once she really moved me. She'd been ridden by various people throughout her life and always behaved normally. I was riding in the school and another rider suggested we swap horses for a bit for fun. We duly swapped over and started riding. My mare charged across the school at the horse I was riding with her teeth bared and tried to attack him. She'd never done anything like it in her life & my friend said she wanted to get the other horse away from me. I thought it was nonsense when she said that but then i couldn't think of any other explanation.
The day I had to have her PTS I took annual leave from work and my boss asked if I could come in for the afternoon once it was done as they were busy. Jesus I could hardly stand up let alone function normally. Some people have no idea!

You'd want to see my Dad and his sheepdog. The dog struts beside him staring adoringly up at him, waiting to be instructed what to do. The dog doesn't like anyone else and needs to be locked up say if my dd is coming over. But talk about one man and his dog! If any of you have ever seen the programme, it's a very boring programme that used to be on BBC2 I think about trainers and dogs herding sheep. My grandad used to come down to ours every Sunday to watch it as he trained the dogs. He has since passed.

But it's amazing the control the farmer has over the dog.

The film Babe, is about the same thing.

When I lived at my Godfather I often went for a walk and in a paddock (I think it's called) there was a horse. He would come over and see me when he saw me standing there . I would stroke him.

Godfather and horse conjures up another memory for me........

I had a dwarf hamster who was incredibly shy and a little aggressive toward others but we had an incredible bond from the moment we met.
Every night he would climbup his cage and chew on the bars untill I put my hand it for him to climb onto. We'd walk around the house together with him snuggled up in my hand, even sleeping sometimes
If he ran off in his ball I could call him and he's return to my side and just sit.
He would always look for comfort and protection from me even when he fell off my hand trying to get a peanut he just reached up to me and then held my shirt for an hour while I stroked him.
We had many little quirks like that. Even when he was dying from an infection the vet said the she'd never seen anything like it before as normally they bite when ill but he just wanted to be held by me
I still miss him everyday

I have always loved animals all my life...nearly 70 years and have always bonded within minutes with my pets, and been totally in love with them, so am incredibly upset and shocked to find my feelings for my rescue cat so negative.Have had him 2 long hard years and it doesn't get any easier.
Suppose my point is in answer to the original question I only wish i did have a bond

My darling old pony I always had a special relationship with - I had him since I was 8 years old (I'm now almost 30)

He knew I was pregnant before I did - one day he just kept following me around the field trying to touch my belly with his nose. He was the most excitable bouncy horse to ride, but while I was pregnant he was as quiet as a mouse, even on the parts of our ride where he'd normally get really excited.

The day after I gave birth I went to see him, and the first thing he did was butt me in the stomach - he clearly knew he didn't need to be careful anymore!

Sadly he died earlier this week at the grand old age of 30 and I'm utterly devastated - I'll never ever feel the same about another horse 🙈🙈