how did your pets "pick" you?

[charlie and algernon]

The shelter I went to let's all the cats run around freely in the cat room, so I was going around playing with them, trying to find a "match" so to speak. Then I started petting Esther and she immediately raised her butt up, lol, prompting the volunteers to say she must really trust you. So I put Esther's name down on my application, handed it in and went home. This shelter also makes you come back for a brief interview, basically asking what things you have set for the cat, how much time you'll be home, etc. After the interview, I go back into the cat room to see Esther and immediately she peaks out from behind a door way, runs over to me and starts loudly purring, butt up in the air, of course, lol. A year later, she's my best bud.

[fizzgig]

1. my two didn't necessarily pick me, but i knew them well before they came to live with me

my best friend left them with me when she moved to germany four years ago, but i spent a couple of years getting to know them and they loved me. my fat cat can be really sketchy with new people, but she'd come hang out with me when i visited.

nearly all the cats we had when i was growing up picked us. sure, we got a few from friends who had kittens and a few of ours had litters, but all the rest were strays. it seems they just knew they'd find a good home with us.

[LynneSin]

2. Abbott picked me because he though I could give him someplace safe.

He was a former housecat that was 'left behind' when his first owners moved. So I was the first nice lady who was nice to him and he latched on to me.

Evita did not picked me - I definately picked her. Evita was too medicated from just having her operation to be fixed to realize what was happening to her. But she was so cute I couldn't resist her. She is evil reincarnate but we have made a pack over these 6 years. I won't pet her until she deems fit (maybe 15 minutes out of the day) and she wont' kill me while I sleep.

[Rosie1223]

3. She rode home in the engine of my husband's pickup

The truck is so loud that he didn't hear the kitten yowls the entire 12 mile trip until he parked in our driveway. We couldn't see her anywhere under the hood but after about 45 minutes a yellow kitten appeared and latched onto my oldest daughter. She's been with us ever since.

She still gets a little nervous in the garage, though.

[TZ]

4. Mine were found wandering in a friends back yard

But when I went to the garage to see them the other neighbor had already taken them to the vet much to my friends displeasure.
I went to the vet and they were feral little creatures but when she picked up Smokie she started purring immediately and as I held her she was purring. Her sister Sophie was scared but didn't struggle when I held her. They both were sooo quiet on the ride home..AND they fell asleep in the car! LOL...now they hate the car and fuss big time.

[mikeytherat]

5. Quick rundown:

Hannah:
Walked up to me while I was under the car (replacing exhaust) and said, "Meow. I need a home."

Tate:
Trapped on a buddy's horse farm.

Charlie:
Snatched from the middle of a bridge during morning rush hour.

Weird Harold:
Walked up to us at the shelter and plopped down in my lap.

mikey_the_rat

[Orsino]

6. Mine are all strays or hand-me-downs.

Sometimes they cross our paths, or we are simply moved by their stories.

[Bertha Venation]

7. Word of meowth.

It gets around.

"Hey, have you been to that little house up on the hill? They say there are always warm beds in the garage -- and you can get in because they cut out a little door! And there's water in there, too. And if you let the people see you, they put out food.

"I heard a rumor that someone just waltzed right INTO THE HOUSE one day and decided to stay! It must really be something in there. Think you could do it . . . ?"

[MorningGlow]

8. Quite decisively

;)

Mr. MG and I got our first when some coworkers of ours said they had been feeding a 6-month-old orange tabby on their back deck but couldn't invite it in because they already had a cat that wouldn't take kindly to an addition. After work one evening, we went to their neighborhood to see if we could spot the tabby. Yeahhh Dilbert came out of nowhere, plopped in the middle of the driveway, and showed us his belly. I think he wanted us to take him home. So we did.

Second kitty, Jasmine, was mine. I had mentioned how I wanted a black familiar (o how cliche), and when Mr. MG was off work one day he went to PetCo, which had cats from a nearby vet/adoption. He called me at work and said to check out the black female there. I went over at lunch and saw...two black females (separate cages). I had no idea which one he meant. I looked at the first one and...she hissed at me. Ooookay. The second one seemed much friendlier, so I had the clerk take her out of the cage. She rolled over in my arms till she was on her back like a baby and started playing with my hair. I took her home that night. (She's now impeding my typing by lying on my neck.)

Third kitty, Clover...well...honestly, she didn't want us and we didn't want her, but she was literally starving to death as a stray (she was 3 years old and 4 lbs.) so we took her in. It's been chaos and stealth pooping (everywhere but in the litter boxes) ever since. x( But hey, she's part of the family. And besides, nobody else would put up with her shit (literally). So we're stuck with her.
:rofl:

[Arugula Latte]

9. Well ...

# 1. She and her (now deceased) brother were chosen for me by a lady who found homes for animals. They were flea & mite infested little kittens from a Virginia barn. She's almost 17.

# 2. Showed up on our porch as a starving little kitten, yowling his heart out. Boy, did he pick the right porch! :)

# 3. Shelter kitten. Walked right over to us, practically demanded we take him home. We did.

#4. Bunny who showed up in our yard. Someone dumped him, I'm sure. Sweet little guy. I didn't want the coyotes to eat him.

[Pool Hall Ace]

10. Out of a litter of seven,

there were only two available males left. The first one walked over to me, plopped into my lap, put his head on my boobs, and let out a big sigh.

That was all she wrote.

[charlie and algernon]

11. aww

cat sighs are the best

[Pool Hall Ace]

12. Oops! I forgot to mention that this pet is a dog.

But I would love to have a kitty some day. I've babysat them, and they are sweet!

My dachshund will have *nothing* to do with cats, however. :D

[Brigid]

24. My Brigid was at the vet's office . . .

when I took may Hamlet when his body suddenly began to shut down due to kidney disease. He had to be euthanized. Brigid was in a little pen in the waiting area. She was a little black furball with big orange eyes, about 3 months old. One of the vet techs found her on the street, and said she saw someone kick her. She was still there a few weeks later when I took my other cat Ophelia for her shots. The little girl was still there, so I took her home. She's four now. I really wasn't planning to get another cat so soon, but I'm glad I did. She rubbing on my hand right now, wanting to be petted. :)

[mikeytherat]

13. Only listed the kitties upthread. Now, about the 35 ferrets we had:

Purchased four (saved from awful pet stores) - Bert, Ernie, Beanbag and Sox. The other 31 came along over the years, mostly when people grew tired of them or realized how expensive ferret surgeries are.

mikey_the_rat

[Arugula Latte]

15. I'm curious how you deal w/ 35 ferrets ...

Do you have a room of cages, or ... ?

Good for you for helping them!

[mikeytherat]

16. The entire finished basement was The Ferret Domain.

They had the run of the basement, and we set it up with tunnels and toys, lots of sleeping areas, and multiple feeding and waste stations. It was set up so the cats could get in and out without the ferrets escaping (all of the cats loved playing with the ferrets - one cat, Tate, usually slept with them). We had seven huge cages for when they needed to be contained, but most of the time they ran free.

We've been ferret-less for about five years now, but it was a real hoot when we had them.


Some of the brood


The Ferret Domain

mikey_the_rat

[Arugula Latte]

19. Oh my gosh ... That is so cool. Looks like they had a nice life.

Can you imagine if someone went down there without knowing you had 35 ferrets? :rofl:

[deucemagnet]

14. He met me at my front door looking to get in like he belonged there.

And boy, was he hungry! As of the 13th of this month, it will be eight years. He has been a very happy and affectionate cat right from the start.

[Love Bug]

17. I stuck my head in the cat room at PetSmart and said, "Hello kitties!"

and she started talking to me. In fact, she put up a real bitch-fest, complaining about the indignity of being stuck in a cage on the BOTTOM row and how I needed to take her home, like right now. All of the other cats that day just looked at me or not and pretty much didn't care about my presence. I wasn't even thinking about getting another cat since I had two already, but after I left I couldn't get her out of my mind. I went back the next day and adopted her, and 11 years later, Gabby (well named, she) is still part of my life. My other two cats took to her right away and they were buddies for the rest of their lives.

[BlueIris]

18. 8 out of 10 showed up hungry and cold on the back porch.

As for the other two, one was born here and the other was rescued from a fruit stand.

[KG]

20. both my min-pins were guys needing a home.

my psycho ex g/f brought Rocky home as ploy to get something she wanted.




a few months after Rocky ran away, a friend heard there was a min-pin looking for a home and thought of me - enter Jet.



both goggies were informal adoptions, little guys needing a home. i'd never had a dog before.

[meow2u3]

21. Ruby ran up to me after she was kicked out on the streets

When Ruby was a kitten, she spotted me when I was coming home from a shopping trip. She immediately jumped up on my lap, purring and giving me headbonks. Every day for two weeks, I sat outside my house when she spotted me and wouldn't leave me alone. I was sad that I had to let her go when I went back into the house for the night. The reason I was reluctant to bring her in was that my house didn't allow pets, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. I eventually relented and brought her into my home; she hasn't left my side since.

As for Maximus (Max), he's Ruby's kitten, born into the family. He not only was Ruby's favorite, but he also hogged my attention when he was a little kitten, hardly letting his 2 sisters pick them up and pet them. I had no real choice but to adopt out the girls and to keep him not only because he picked me, but also because he's Ruby's favorite. So I'm stuck with a boy who grew to be a giant cat who eats me out of house and home.

[livetohike]

22. I saw a picture of Cindy on-line as I was looking at puppies

in shelters in LA county. She was at the South-Central LA shelter. We drove 100 miles to get there when the doors opened on a Saturday morning. She was in the first run with three other puppies and I saw her right away. When the kennel attendant brought her out, I bounced a tennis ball in front of her and she caught it on the first bounce! She was just eight weeks old. She looked right into my eyes and I was hooked :-).

One month later, we found Murphy at a San Diego County shelter which was about one mile from where my husband worked. We both went there on his lunch hour and saw Murphy in a run with one other puppy. Murphy was biting the other puppy, trying to get her to play. I knelt down and told him to stop it! He looked right at me for a second and continued harrassing her. When the attendant brought him out to meet us, he jumped onto my lap and licked my face. He was eight weeks old. So we had two puppies in the house. (what were we thinking?)

They are 6.5 years old now and still play like puppies. I can't imagine life without them.

Cindy:


Murphy:

[bluedigger]

23. Her usual Clever Plan That Cannot Fail.

She sensed that I was looking to get a dog, and had her current, unsatisfactory, human servants post her pictures on the petfinders site. Sure enough, a few days later, I found her while browsing the site at work. (On a break, of course.) I passed the qualifying round, and then went to meet her. She puked on my feet, and we sealed the deal.

[BuelahWitch]

25. My current kitty was brought to me

we lucked out in that it was basically love at first site for both of us.
However I found my former kitty, Angel, at the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter. My dear Persian Boo had passed away about three weeks before, and at the time I wasn't going to get another pet. But one Saturday afternoon in November I drove past the shelter and thought I should go in. I definitely wanted an older cat, as Boo was 13 and I was just used to older kitties.

I basically wanted a cat to pick me, because I felt that was the best way. It was around feeding time at the shelter and they weren't paying much attention. As I turned a corner I heard a "mew" and saw this beautiful white cat with big blue eyes staring at me. I inquired about her at the desk and they came to let her out of the cage so that we could interact. I sat down and the lady put her on my lap. She snuggled next to me and purred and purred. Well, I knew that was my kitty. The woman told me that there was a possibility that the cat was deaf, and when she clapped her hands behind her head kitty did not react. I didn't care, knowing that it would all work out.

The Shelter sent Angel to a local vet be spade and I picked her up on Thanksgiving morning. When I brought her home, my Mother (who was living with me) just adored her and the feeling was mutual. Angel reacted to all the new, strange noises, which proved she wasn't deaf at all (indeed she was my ears for many years, as I have a hearing loss in my right ear). Angel and I were together for over 10 years. She moved with me from Utah to Kansas. She was such a perfect cat I didn't know if I should take another after she passed away, but then this silly little tabbico of mine came along and I knew I had to give her a home.

[NMDemDist2]

26. mine came with the new house in NewMexico

she was only a few weeks old, but tiny and hungry, too small to compete next door with the big cats. she just stayed on the porch out front no matter how often i'd take her back to 'her house'

then she figured out the dog door and the rest is history......

here's a pic from that first week, she was so little, but would follow me around like a dog from the first day she saw me. hubby says i have "sucker for kitteh' tattooed on my forehead in the invisible neon letters only cats can see :rofl:




and here she is all grown up

[Flaxbee]

27. all but one (and all of them are cats) were strays who

showed up and said "Hey, you look cool / nice / like a sucker, take me in!"

Clarisse, The Evil Calico, I got from a shelter that set up on weekends at Union Square in Manhattan. I was leaning over to check out the big gray male cat in the cage below her when she reached through her cage and grabbed my hair. That was it.

[rurallib]

28. The current crop:

Nate - we went to the shelter. He meowed right as soon as we walked in the cage room. I wanted a cat that made some noise. When we went into the acquaintance room he strutted and mewled just like he was being interviewed. he was in.
Molly -the shelter was having a twofer so as we looked for one more this sad little chocolate kitty gave some really sad eyes. I saw from her tag that she had been there over a year. She needed a home.
Tammy - the little terror showed up on my daughters doorstep. She already had a houseful of cats. She tried to find the owner to no avail, so she called her soft hearted dad.

[Rob H.]

29. I was looking on petfinder.com for Siamese cats

and found one at a local cat rescue where they let the cats have the run of the shelter. I drove over to meet her and when I sat down on the floor, Indian-style, she climbed up into my lap, curled up into a little ball, and started purring like crazy. She came home with me about a week later and I've been spoiling her rotten ever since. :)

[emilyg]

30. My kitties are all strays that

showed up at my door.

[LoveMyCali]

31. I got my first cat

Cato when a friend who worked in a vets office called me at work and said "there's a 3 week old kitten on the table and they are going to put to sleep right now if you don't take her. Do you want her?" Come on, who could say no?

Cato was my baby for nearly 18 years after that, then I found my current beast Cali.

My sister and niece talked me into going to PetSmart with them so my niece could get gerbils, this was only about 6 months after Cato had died and I really wasn't looking for another cat but as luck would have it, it was a pet adoption weekend at PetSmart. Cali is a big beautiful ragdoll with amazing blue eyes that he hypnotized me with to tell me that he wasn't a shelter cat and he didn't belong there. To further melt my cold heart there was a sign on his cage that said "My dad was deployed to Iraq and was devastated to leave me. Can I come sleep on your bed?"
I still tried to ignore him but my sister talked me into asking one of the SPCA volunteers to take him out of the cage and he laid his giant-mutant cat head in my hand. I realized I had no choice but to adopt this cat when I noticed a couple looking through the window at him and thought hey, quit looking at my cat!
I filled out the papers right then and there.

[Maraya1969]

32. I swear this is the truth. I was driving down a street in my neighborhood

in the night and this cat was laying in the road. I pulled up pretty close to see if he would move and he wouldn't. So I got out of the car and he came right over to me. I picked him up and he was snuggly and sweet. Then this coupled came over and said that the people who "had" him recklessly bred them and the kids hurt them. So of course I took him home.

I named him Prince Harry because he is red and thinks this is Buckingham Palace and I am his servant. He has started playing with the dogs and the other day I saw him climb on Peanut and lick her ears and her face! Sometimes he gets right up in my neck
and purrs when I am sleeping.

What a gift the Universe gave me!

(no spell check cause he just jumped on the keyboard)

[distantearlywarning]

33. It was time to get kittens, we had just bought a new house

I spent several months looking at all the kittens in my area on Petfinder, but didn't see any that seemed right for us.

One day I came across the pictures of two 8-week old brothers, listed as a tuxedo Maine Coon mix and a tabby Maine Coon mix, and something just "clicked". They were both looking right at the camera in this solemn way, and they were both so cute and dignified for being such tiny little fuzzballs. It was the only pics I'd seen all summer where it seemed like "someone was home" behind the kitty eyes (don't know how to describe it any other way, but they looked like people, not just kitties).

They were from a shelter 1 hour north of us. So I called the shelter and told them we would come up the next day to see the kittens. We went up there, and the shelter lady took the little tabby one (Tybalt) out of the cage and handed him to my husband. The first thing the little fuzzybutt did was start purring the loudest purr I've ever heard out of a tiny kitten, turn himself over in my husband's hands so his little tummy was up in the air, lean against his chest, and start batting at his hair with his tiny little paws. My husband instantly melted into a puddle of goo, and that was that.

As we were filling out the paperwork, a freepery type woman and three very loud noisy boys came in the door and were very disappointed to hear that the kittens they were interested in had just been adopted by another nice couple (us). :evilgrin:

They both wanted to be held and purred the entire way home in the car. I think they knew that they'd found their people, just like we'd found our beasties.

It's been 2.5 years since then, and they are the huge, fluffy, eccentric loves of my life. I absolutely adore them, and the feeling is mutual, I think.

Interestingly, even though Tybalt took so well to my husband that first day, he actually ended up picking me for his human, and his brother is very attached to my husband (no, we didn't make those choices - that was all their doing, very early on in our relationship - we didn't get a vote). I had surgery last week, and Tybalt spent literally every moment attached to my side during my first few days of recovery, especially when my husband was asleep or not at home. He absolutely knew that I was unwell, and was doing everything in his power to care for me in the only way he knew how to do so. He slept on my feet all night long, and if I got up to pace or visit the bathroom, he got up too and sat near me wherever I was until I returned to bed. I have never had such a faithful and loyal companion as this cat, and I feel privileged to be able to spend this part of my life with him. He's an unusual cat - although I understand that this sort of behavior is not that uncommon in Maine Coons (sometimes called the dogs of the cat world).

[Skittles]

34. I had have my 14 year old black male cat put to sleep

ten days later I went to the pound..."just to look'....then it became well if I get anything it won't be a black male cat...but a tiny black male kitten locked eyes on me and never let go- it was like he willed me to check him out.....and take him home....that cat Clancy is now 11 years old,
.

I kept seeing a homeless longhair tuxedo kitty at my apt complex but I could not catch and eventually he was injured,skinny, no fur on his feet or tail.....so I ordered a feral cat trap over the internet and trapped him........320 vet bucks later he is mine! He is a holy terror who I love very much!