How did you meet your feline overlords?

[Utterbunkum]

I am loving reading about all the lovely cats. I know I am new here, and this has probably been done, but I would love to know how you came to share your lives with your current friends with fur?
My DH and I met Oliver at a rescue centre, aged 3 (him, not us). The poor little man was found living rough on the streets, covered in ticks and fleas and with a nasty leg infection. They called him Oliver after Oliver Twist because of his ragged state.

When we first saw him, he had lost most of one of his back trouser legs due to infection. His little bare leg looked like raw chicken. One toe had been amputated. His fur was patchy following extensive tick removal, but his tail was an enormous brush of soft fur. His eyes were bright yellow, and he paced around us like a lord after a bit of a hiss for greeting.
We fell in love and took him home, where he spent 24 hours under a chair, before clinging to us like a limpet, moving from lap to lap (we both WFH then).
10 years later, he lives like a king, cheeky, demanding, cuddly when he wants. He will steal your seat if you move for a minute, but loves a warm lap. We wouldn't be without him.

First cat was brought to me by friends after my dog died very suddenly. They found her on a building site, she needed a home and I needed a pet.
Second cat was being given away on Facebook by a friend of a friend.
Third cat, I had a police officer friend who raided a flat for drugs, he ended up taking their cat with him as it was in such a sorry state. He was coming round to mine for tea, brought the kitten. At the end of the evening he went home and the kitten had moved in.
Fourth and fifth cats
We were reeled in by some pretty little ginger and white kittens on the rescue's website. We rang and they invited us in the same day.
As soon as they got there they said that we couldn't have the pretty kittens as I worked full time but I could have a consolation prize slightly older black kitten because nobody really wants them.
I felt so sorry for the little black rejects that I took them both.

Our 3 fur babies were neglected by the previous owner. She had about 30 ferrets, three dogs and six cats when she moved in 😳😳 3 of the cats found their way to our house over time. The fourth one is slightly feral and very hissy.....but still welcome

My gorgeous boy stayed behind when my neighbours moved. They did try to retrieve him but every single day he would return to my garden.
Eventually realised he was living in a bush outside my house, going hungry and had fleas 😞
During a horrible storm one night I decided enough was enough, brought him in, messaged my old neighbours and the rest is history. Edward is now absolutely adored and lives a life of luxury.
(NEVER liked a cat in my life until my gorgeous fluffball).

After decades of yearning, I finally had a local job (i.e. no travelling, and not 90 mins commute across London) where I wasn't expected to do about 3 hours unpaid overtime every evening, so could have cats. I knew I wanted indoor only cats, I found it heartbreaking enough when friends or relatives cats went missing or run over, & virtually every rescue said must have outdoor space. I also knew I didn't want kittens but adult cats.

Found a independent but large rescue with a good reputation & went down with DSis to have a look. There were LOADS of cats there, and we were sitting in the office trying to decide which 2 of 4 various cats would pair best together when DSis said "I think you need to go back & look at those black ferals again". They had been part of a feral colony rescues a year earlier & all the others had been re-homes, but nobody had wanted a pair of bonded adult black cats who were extremely shy. Went to have another quick look, and this small, elegant paw reached out of the huddled pair and was laid gently on the back of my hand - I was completely lost.

Took me 6 months before I could touch the (much bolder) girl, and over a yar to touch the boy. But he became a total cuddle monster despite having a few "issues" (clumsy, thick as shit, terrified of almost everything, attention span of a pissed gnat), and it broke my heart having to have him PTS due to illness at only 8. So I went back to the same rescue as you can't really have an only indoor cat when you go out to work every day, & found Girlcat a toyboy about 3 years old.

He had been found wandering the streets as a scrawny stray, just skin & bone, not chipped and not neutered. Met him about 5 months later & he's glossy, thick coat. pompom free, and a bit of a chonk. Still nervous 8 months later, but he & Girlcat get on very well which is the important thing, and lets me stroke him as long as he's eating at the time.

Our old cat got hit by a car and after 6 days I couldn’t bear the house being empty, so we got little cat from a local rescue. They told me little cat was a real cuddle bug. Little cat has never once sat on my lap in the 10 years since we bought her home. The following year we went back and got big cat as I missed cuddles. Big cat is a total cuddler, so I am very happy. Little and big get on very well and have never fought with each other even when we introduced them 🥰

Found ours as a starving feral kitten in a ditch, dd1 heard him crying as she walked past. It took us 5 days to catch him! Later found out local charity had caught a feral cat and her litter a couple of days before so presume he was missed

As a vet I have to stay strong otherwise I would have hundreds of cats. However, the most recent 3 I acquired and who currently rule my home are:
Tuti abandoned probably due to her skin condition now control with diet pedigree Siberian trace via her chipped. Previous owner did not respond to any contact.
M&M dumped at 7 weeks old on the practice doorstep not certain why as they are fit and healthy. Only the black one is agoraphobic.

@Lonecatwithkitten I can imagine in your profession it must be hard not to take every stray /unwanted cat home.

This thread has highlighted the very worst in people, with some of the stories of neglect and abandonment, but also the very best in people, taking in the lost, the abandoned, the never-owned. For every total w*er that does the crap stuff, there's a whole lot of people who care, very deeply, for their animals, rescued or not.
It's great to see all the 😺 love here. I have enjoyed reading all the stories immensely.

💕💕🐱🐾🐾💕💕

A school mum friend fosters for a cat rescue. Invited me round for a coffee with ulterior motives. Latest foster was all over me like a rash and that was that. She's 10 now

Your cat is so adorable OP.
I e had 10 mostly sob stories and feral I. A suckered for. The latest one arrived 2 years ago. I opened the door and my son was standing there with this little jet black kitten. He said can you have her mum my neighbour's cat had these kittens and can't find homes for them because they are black.
Can I have her indeed, he knows me too well. Two years later she is this cheeky monster. He found good homes for every single one of them.

We have a small DD and most rescue centres wouldn't consider us but one finally called us out of the blue.

We don't know much about her background other than she was found, not claimed and had a bad leg. She's about to turn 2 and is the weirdest cat I've ever had. Absolutely indifferent to us the majority of the time, spends hours roaming the area and has friends (cat flaps) all over the place. She's very very tolerant of DD but I'm hoping she becomes more of a lap cat as she gets older.

Manager at work asked “anyone want a black kitten?” I said “I’ll have it”. That was almost 7 years ago. He’s now one of the loves of my life x

Little cat - spoke to the rescue and asked if they had a cat that could live with dogs and they dropped her off the next day (we've had lots of dealings with them)
Middle cat - the rescue rang and asked if we could take a very feral kitten.
Big cat - stray who turned up and adopted us

@Gettingbysomehow Thank you, I will tell him you said that! Yours is also adorable. In fact, all the piccies are adorable. I have yet to see a cat I didn't go gooey over. OK maybe those ones with no fur take a little more getting used to, but still...

@kirinm look at the little toe beans! TBF our last cat never did laps, but she always liked to be near to us. Just not ON us. Yours might change over time, when she's older and it's a cold night and your lap is nice and warm.
They've all got their own foibles, haven't they?

I bought my first cats on gumtree 😬 We had 15 wonderful years together. Second cats I hoped to do a rescue but DC wanted a specific colour so I gave in and bought a pair from Pets4homes, I insisted they be 12 weeks before they were separated from mum. It’s worked out fine.

Our overlords came from Cats Protection after they were dumped in a hold-all with their brother, before they were even weaned. It's amazing that they survived - they were hand-reared by a lovely volunteer who then passed them to us. I would have taken all three but their brother was already reserved when we saw them.

People really are crap sometimes 🙄

I like to think they have had a great life with us though (they are 10 now) - they sleep on my sons bed every night, get to roam around the countryside all day and often pop into neighbours gardens for a fuss (luckily our neighbours welcome them) and watch TV on laps every evening. What more could a cat want 😊

Bad really because I bought him off Gumtree from a guy who was leaving the country. He was to his credit a very nice guy who spent a lot of time and emails on whether his cat would be happy with me.

11 years on and the cat is my boon companion. I can see why the guy cared so much. The cat is one of those "people cats" and very special.

@Springwillcome you still rescued your cats, you saved them from being potentially bought by someone who abandoned them later.

@bombastix I bet he was heartbroken, it must be so hard to have to do that.

I paid 25 quid for the cat and the guy brought the cat to my home. He wanted to check it out. Did him credit and yes he was upset when he left.

The cat is special. I have had lots of cats. This one is the best. All the others were very lovely but this one is just special.

and this small, elegant paw reached out of the huddled pair and was laid gently on the back of my hand - I was completely lost

Aww this sentence brings a little lump to my throat . its like they know they have 10 seconds to make their first impression and they make it count .

When we went to rescue to get a male guinea-pig ( and sadly there are no shortage of male guinea pigs) he was handed to me , I put him on my shoulder before I handed him to DD . He did a really weird thing stretching his back legs straight down . I said "Oh, DD ... leg " and he had made his mark (his legs were fine he was just an odd-bod ).

I’d been about to start the process of adopting when a sign went up in a local business offering free kittens. I’m in a nice bit of a “bad” bit of London & the idea of what might happen to those kittens redirected me to a guy who was staying in his childhood home to care for his dad on top of working three jobs - & who’d got home one day to discover surprise!kittens from a neighbour’s cat on his bed. In the loft. Loft, not loft conversion - there were floorboards down & furniture up there, but it was still reached by a ladder.

I first saw the BalletCats when they were about 5 or 6 weeks old - & just being weaned onto the cheapest adult food available. The guy really couldn’t afford to feed 6 kittens + a cat (neighbour was taking line that they were in his house, they were his problem) & their litter trays were baking sheets thinly spread with litter.

I collected them when they were 8 weeks old, the weekend of the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. They weren’t used to human interaction; nor to the idea food would happen regularly so they could eat a whole meal & more would be provided within a few hours. I picked them up in the evening & for the first evening, just left them to themselves in the kitchen. Next day I took them to the vet (undersized, undernourished, but basically ok) then we hung out together in the kitchen. Day 3 the kittens & I moved to the sitting room where they were running over me & napping at the other end of the 2-seater sofa; day 4 they progressed to climbing all over me & then napping on me.

Black cat is still very wary of strangers, whereas blond cat will come & check out any visitors to the house. Both, for choice, sleep on me: blond cat on my front, & black cat on my legs - they also like snuggling up together whether or not I’m available.

Aww, Ebony and Ivory! What are their names?