Our cat (Meave. That’s her over there <) just turned up at our house one night
and stayed. (4th June, 2009 iirc)
For which we are very grateful.
Of the three, I know one (or within a week, anyway).
My boy cat was a trapped feral and estimated at age 3 when he was trapped. He became mine at age 8. I celebrate the birthday listed by the shelter, which is 3 years before the day he was trapped.
My girl cat was, I think, born in an animal control facility. She came to the shelter with her mom and siblings when she was a week old. At the time, I worked in the kitten room, so I’ve known her since before her eyes were open. She was brokebrained from the beginning, though, and so never got adopted. She became mine around age 5. So her shelter-listed birthday might be off by a couple days, but it’s pretty close.
My dog? I have no clue. When she was young, she was picked up by animal control after being shot. She survived and recovered, obviously, and they estimated her age at somewhere between 8 months and 3 years. Which… is quite a range. She was adopted then and then returned to the rescue 9 years later and moved in with me. Her actual birthdate is a complete mystery, as is her precise age, and her original records are sort of patchy and complicated between animal control, the veterinary hospital, and the rescue. We’ll celebrate her “Gotcha Day” when it comes.
When I bring a new dog to the vet, they determine (approximately) how old they are and set their birth date to that day. Ernie’s birthday is June 15, 2006 (he’s 15) and Harley’s birthday is December something 2006 (he’s 14) - I’d have to look at his papers to remember the actual date. We don’t celebrate doggie birthdays.
I have had cats whose birthdays were known to me because I watched their mother give birth to them (my beloved Mao was one) on 2 March 1991.
My current two, Tina & Leon, I only have an approximate date of 15 March 2010.
And others (Bubeleh, Heidi, Lucky, D.D., Geisel, Graham, etc.) I had no idea at all.
cake day I know my cat’s DOB because she was first surrendered to the shelter at 7 weeks of age. A year and a half later, the people who adopted her couldn’t take her with them when they moved, and after far too long at that shelter, she picked me and we have been together ever since. In fact, her Gotcha Day was the day after her second birthday.
Aw, thanks. It’s my pet message board’s birthday.
For our current cat, Jacket Potato, we got the date of birth from the people we bought him from. It’s not officially documented, but why would they lie?
For Kalmar, whom we had before, we were told the birth month but not an exact date, as his mother was a barn cat and one day she just brought the kittens into the house.
I like to get a little fancy with cat birthdays; I make a miniature layer cake of the best wet foods, take photos, and might buy a new toy as well. I’m not great at remembering birthdays, human or animal, but I don’t think anybody minds if we accidentally celebrate a little later.
Is an animal considered a bastard if their birth parents are unmarried or is it the owners? We got Kalmar when we moved in together without being married; we used to joke that he was our bastard, but he was actually the world’s sweetest cat. Potato, on the other hand, is very much a bastard in his mind, even though we got him long after we married (but not in church, maybe that’s why).
Our cat had papers when we got him, and his birthday was 9/11/2001. 
Only very roughly. Nibbler (RIP) was a street rescue, but I had her when she lost her milk teeth. Which I had no idea about, and didn’t even recognize as teeth originally (what are these weird rocks on the carpet?). But it localized her birthday to about a month. That was within range of my own birthday, so I just called them the same.
For most of my adult life I had kittens who were either born to a cat I had or one a friend had so I knew their birthdays. Or they were young enough that I could approximate. And I always celebrated them with a new toy and treats. The two I have now, though, are rescues. The vet estimated each of them at about 2-3 years on their first visit. So I think Summer is around 9 and Trei is around 7. I tried to assign them birthdays but I always forgot when they were. Lately Trei had been scratching the ottoman in the living room. On my birthday a couple weeks ago, I bought a new cat tree/scratching post for them. I thought it was funny giving them a present on my birthday and decided that we should all celebrate our birthdays together. So now a tradition has been born.
I have not known the birth date of any pet I’ve had. All were rescues, shelter drop offs or just abandoned. Two cats and on my fourth dog.
Heck I don’t even know my daughter’s birth date. SHE was a foundling as well. Abandoned at a train station.
My sister knows the birthdate of her elder cat, Binx, and celebrates it every year by taking the day off and getting him a big can of tuna, a present, and I think this year she even got a number candle.
Don’t know if she knows the birthdate of her youngest cat, Kestra. She just got her.
Our previous two dachshunds came from rescue, but they were picked up from the Bakersfield pound, who had no other information about them at all. We picked them up from the rescue on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, so we set their bday as Mother’s Day. It was a different date each year, but it was easy to remember. The rescue thought they were one to two years old, but the vet thought they were more like three to four.
Max, our current rescue, came from an established family, but was surrendered to rescue as a result of a cascade of issues. But we know his exact birthday!
Generally, unless we were there, we only knew down to the week, as we’d get them from someone. One was a rescue, so we didn’t know anything, really, and celebrated her foundling day.
Right now, we at one point knew Reese’s birthweek, but that information has been lost. We’re actually unsure what year we got him, which feels really bad. To be fair, both I and my sister were sure of how old he is—we just don’t agree. I tend to say we got him in 2006.
I don’t know the exact birth date of my twin black cats, as they had been found under a friend’s trailer. However, based on the estimated age (three weeks) that the vet gave me when I had them checked out I assigned them my late mother’s birth date.
Absolutely, yes, my beloved Bernese Mountain Dog Bernie was born on May 10, and we celebrated his birthday every year. Normally not with a party, although sometimes his best friend Ella the German Shepherd would come for a visit and to share the treats. He would also typically get a present, such as a squeaky toy.
Here are some notes I made on a typical Bernie birthday to remind me in subsequent years:
Walk and run in the park (no ball or Frisbee playing – he doesn’t move so fast any more, and never did get interested in fetching!)
Le dinner:
-
Two bacon-wrapped filet mignons, lightly seasoned with garlic and Montreal steak spice, grilled on the barbecue just rare, sliced over kibble
-
Cheeseburger with onions and ketchup
-
Soy-sesame marinated grilled chicken on kibble
-
Chilled spring water in a side dish
Le snack:
-
Schneider’s herbed liverwurst on “VPC Australian Crackerthins” water crackers
-
German Cambanzola on the same water crackers
-
Bowl of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream
Late-night snack followed by one more run, out on the smaller park across the street, followed by cheddar cheese slices and spring water for refreshment.
My pet cat’s birthdate is unknown. The shelter I adopted her from guessed she was about a year old and the vet I took her to shortly afterward for a free check-up agreed with that assessment. She grew a little bit but remains a relatively small cat. She’s probably somewhere between 7 and 8 right now.
I don’t even celebrate my own birthday so it’s just as well I don’t know hers.
We just have approximate dates for our three cats (adopted or rescued as kittens with rough age guesstimates).