How did you meet your cat(s)?

[CrinolineFrou]

I am rather the new to this part of mn. So may I ask how you met/found your current cat(s)?

Was it love at first sight?

Any bumps in the road?

Allergictoironing

Sometimes the seemingly terrified ones turn out to be the nicest ones. Before I was married I had a DCat named Froggie. (The shelter named her - she sounded similar to a little frog when she meowed.) Froggie was found in a live skunk trap, and was very scared when she first came to the shelter - they actually thought she was feral. Once she settled and felt safe, they discovered she was about the most affectionate cat they had. When I went to the shelter to adopt a cat, Froggie nuzzled the shelter attendant's hand. I decided then and there that she was the one She loved to sleep next to me on the bed at night. I actually had to put in a second pillow as she would take mine! She liked having her own pillow and was especially happy when I received a fleece throw as a gift - she promptly appropriated it

agnurse You are right there - both of mine are so very gentle, whereas ex-ferals are supposed to be scratchy & bitey. The only scratches I have ever received have been when I've picked them up & they've "pushed off" & caught me with claws, they have never bitten even in play, growled or hissed at me (or each other for that matter).

Boycat is still terrified of most things, but we think he may have a few issues in general when you tie that in with his thickness, clumsiness and lack of attention span. Goodness knows how he survived a year in a feral colony - we think his sister looked after him, as she seemed to do that for the first few months after they came home. Of course once they both had their paws under the table & felt safe, she stopped looking after him & now steals his treats if she can .

I agreed to rehome a cat belonging to one of my patients who had a terminal illness. She knew I was a cat lover as we had often chatted about our respective cats. By the time she asked me to take on Lottie I was cat free as my own cat had died a year earlier. She was very sensible and brought the cat to me before things got desperate so that she could see that cat was happy and settled. I wasn’t really looking to have a cat at the time but was glad I agreed as it gave her owner such peace of mind at a very difficult time.

Was fostering while trying to find the owners for 2 of my cats, the 1st one was flea ridden, skinny and undoubtedly stray. My 2nd came into the house one day and never left, put up posters and checked for microchip but nothing so that's when 1 became 2. Sadly the beginning of this year the 2nd got anti-freeze poisoning and had to have him PTS

Was the poisoning malicious? I am so sorry. That's devastating.

My oldest girl was spotted my MIL when we went to look at a rescue litter. I fell for her too, she was tiny, still is. We had her brother too but sadly he was run over a few years after we had him. The next two, were owned by a lady who was selling them through pets at home, I couldn’t find any through rescues, I had tried. Anyway, a friend and I went, just to see them, there was NO WAY we were going to leave them with this woman, she was feeding them adult cat food and not looking after them properly, I didn’t want to give her money and give her good reason to let her cat have another litter but I don’t think they would have survived where they were. Vet reckoned they were only 7-8 weeks old when we took them. They are two lovely cats, increasingly affectionate over the years. We’ve always seemed to be lucky with getting great cats. Obviously the local wildlife feel less lucky...

I adopted her from cats protection. I fell for her as soon as I saw her

DH and I are currently owned by a trio of rescues who are enjoying (we hope) their retirement with us. Out of six cats to date three have been diabetic, so we're pretty experienced at that now. DH used to be (whisper) a dog person, but has been converted

I visited my oldest when he was a teeny kitten, we took to each other right away. I picked him up a couple of weeks later and we've been inseparable since (ten years down the line).
I helped deliver my youngest and cleared his airways as he wasn't breathing. He's affectionate when it suits him but otherwise a small furry tornado of destruction and naughtiness!

14 years ago, rescued two kittens from Last Chance in Edenbridge, ginger girl, tuxedo boy. Sadly had to put my boy pts last Easter. Tilly still going strong.
Worked in an industrial estate, there were three feral young cats that I was feeding. Was being made redundant, so was leaving, felt bad leaving to fend for themselves, tried to trap, but was only sucessful with one girl, she has turned out to be very affectionate, black fluffy.
When I lost my boy last easter, decided I had room for one more rescue, ended up taking two brothers from Pussycat Lodge rescue in Essex. 18 months old now, black and white and tabby and white, only the tabby/white is in queen mothers hospital after a car accident, hopefully going to be ok, but a long journey to come.

We have five cats. The eldest 2 belong to DH so I met them the first time I visited his house but neither were used to visitors so it wasn't until we moved in together that I got to know them as they just wouldn't come anywhere near me. Both from the same breeding pair but different litters. Girl cat was easily won over but it was 6 months of sheer hell with boy cat, we were about to make steps to rehome him when suddenly he came out the other side and became the most loving cat I've ever met. It was then that I realised I really loved both of them and they were no longer DH's cats but our cats.

The middle cat is a singleton and was my cat before I got married. I really wanted a puss of my own and one night DH bought him home from work. Settled him down curled up in a pile of blankets with a heat pad underneath to keep him warm, and at 1am he woke me up meowing at the foot of my bed. He wouldn't let me put him down but was so tiny I didn't want to let him sleep in bed. I slept on the floor next to him that night and woke up with him asleep on my arm touching his nose against mine, that's when I fell in love with him. He slept in our bed every night from then on. Had a grumpy teenage phase before he got the snip and peed on me a few times in bed to tell me off for not immediately getting up and feeding him or changing his litter when he asked at 3am... otherwise he's a dream.

The youngest pair are litter mates. They're finally ready to leave their mamma in a few weeks. First saw them at 3 days old, and how can you not instantly fall in love with newborn kittens?! Obviously no bumps so far but I was holding out for a Maine Coon or a Norwegian Forest when a friends cat had an accidental pregnancy so I'm calling these 2 kittens fate.

Nope not malicious as far as I'm aware, apparently it is so easy for it to happen, if they walk through it and it gets on their paws instinctively they then clean themselves when they're home, it takes less than a teaspoon of antifreeze to be fatal he fought like a soldier though, kept him on a drip for 5 days but in the end he was too brain damaged and had complete renal failure. Worse part was when he seen me come into the room for him to be PTS he still recognised me, must of thought he was going home this was him a few days before. My lovely Gizmo x

I got mine from Cats Protection. I had waited ages as I really wanted a ginger one. When I went to view him, he was huddled at the back of a cat pen and while the lady who was rehoming him from CP was on her phone she told me to go in and say hello to him. The minute I stepped into the pen he growled, hissed and spat and backed himself so far into the corner I thought he was going to go through it into the garden.

It turned out he had been neutered, flea'd and wormed, de-matted, had his teeth cleaned and also microchipped. I think by then he'd had enough of people.

I still took him though, he was a stray and had been probably since he was a kitten but despite our initial meeting, he has turned out to be the most affectionate, loving cat I've ever had.

Missy - was abandoned as a kitten and brought in to the vets where my brother worked. He brought her home and we adopted her.
Simba - was my 21st birthday present as a tiny 8 week old kitten. He sadly died when he was only 2.

Walking round the local RSPCA centre a kitten's paw reached out through the bars. Pick me...pick me...pick me. It was love at first sight and then as a bonus we we saw his little sister sitting at the back of the cage.

My parents for many years had two cats they had got from my grandparents' farm. The mother had been killed on the highway, leaving behind 5 kittens who fortunately were old enough to be on their own. We took home two females. One of them was the runt of the litter and had been socialized for longer than the others, so she would sit between someone's feet and cry until she was picked up! Both girls lived into their teens.

Alexa, that's a lovely thing to do. That's the worry in general, of being an older pet owner, what would happen to your pets. I no longer have pets, and had cats in the past. I gained from two separate places as kittens, approx 16 months age difference) by notices outside people's houses (decades ago, don't know if people do that now) and another two year old someone didn't want. 10 year gap. All lovely with different characters and got on well. No problems with any of them only the odd illness. Still miss them.

I'd wanted a cat for ages but our flat wasn't suitable. We decided to move and I told DH that I would only consider somewhere cat friendly.

In December, a month after we moved in I saw Harry on a local rescue website and fell in love. DH said no as we were still getting settled but we could think about getting a cat after Easter as we were going away. By March Harry was still available and, being the big softy that he is, DH told me to contact the rescue and we could adopt him and forget about going away.

We had the home check and were told that someone else was going to see Harry and was very keen on him. I was gutted but started looking at other cats on the website and then I got a phone call, the person had decided on a different cat, was I still interested in Harry? We went to see him a few days later and he nipped DH and rubbed around my legs and there was no way he wasn't going to be ours! DH paid the adoption fee and we collected him a few days later.

The best birthday present I've ever had!

Alexa, that's a lovely thing to do. That's the worry in general, of being an older pet owner, what would happen to your pets.

Thank you. Her owner was a vibrant, glamorous woman who was so full of life but very tragically died at just 58. Lottie and I have bonded and I’m very fond of her. She seems to be very happy here with me. 😻

I am so sorry that happened to Gizmo. Poor boy.

We bought ours. He was on cat chat and I thought he looked to be a bright healthy kitten. He wasn’t very interested in us when we viewed him but I reasoned he would come out of his shell when we picked him up a week later.

He is a total mommies boy who is possibly the love of my life.

Snowflake turned up at our back door hungry and crying. We tried everything to trace an owner but no-one claimed him and he wasn't chipped. So he stayed with us and rules the roost!

This is such a lovely thread. I love how many people just seem to end up with a cat without really trying!

This old thread is the story of how we ended up with His Highness.

I got my first kitten after going to look at a litter of new kittens, and when we went in, there was the kitten, slightly older and the younger son's pet, but he was off to boarding school. I don't even remember seeing the smaller kittens.

After a long gap (DD1 is allergic) I got another kitten. His parents belonged to the parents of DD's school friends. They had been given the cats, assured they were all fixed and a short time later there were 2 kittens. The ginger one was snapped up, but nobody wanted the black one. He was my especial baby, brought me gifts multiple times a day, woke me from nightmares, had so much personality. He was also a dreadful rake, always out on the ran-dan and got run over just short of living with me for a year.

I was so heart broken and the house was so quiet, that I went to the local rescue and adopted very timid brothers. They didn't like cuddles until I had had them many years. I suspect if I had not taken them, they would never had been adopted. They wouldn't come out to be seen until coaxed with food, but the little pink nose, which was all I could see of either cat, sniffed me and licked my finger. I lost them both at 15 just over a year ago. Right now, we have a puppy, but I hope to get a cat(s) in the future.

LemonRedwood

We didn't intent to get Gatsby. We were visiting friends and they had two kittens they were hand rearing as the mother had rejected them. They suggested we take one. Gatsby was very friendly and purred more than his brother. So we took him home. He promptly decided that I'm his mum

I was looking for a cat when my house had visitors in the form of mice but then I had a conversation with my cousin who mentioned her friend was giving away her kitten because she didn't have enough time and it was a present from her husband .

I instantly said that I'd take her after I saw a picture of her. She was with me the next day.