My first dog came from a friend of a friend whose bitch got loose when she was in heat. The three subsequent dogs all came from shelters.
Of the many, many cats we’ve had, all but one have been strays who wandered by and decided to stick around. The one who wasn’t was originally a barn cat who we brought back from the country because a relative thought she might one (she didn’t). Oddly, the barn cat was the most “urbanized” cat we’ve ever had: She mostly preferred to be indoors, and only hunted invisible vermin.
We’ve had assorted hamsters that I imagine came from pet stores, because I don’t think there’s any other source for hamsters. We also briefly had a field mouse that we rescued from a cousin’s snake, but that didn’t work out well at all.
I think we briefly had some sort of bird, but I can’t remember anything about it. And I’m not even counting the goldfish.
Cat - dropped off in the neighborhood - current
Cat - animal shelter - current
Dog - animal shelter - current
all the following have passed on
Cat - came in a truck at work
Cat - born under the dock at work
Cat - adopted to socialize another cat from home litter
Cat - let at 7 days old in a box in a neighbors driveway - he knew I was looking for a cat and offered
Dog - animal shelter
Dog - found roaming the parking lot at work
Cat - dropped off at a friends house
Cat - climbed in my husband’s work truck (we were dating at the time)
Cat - adopted from someone who found her on the side of the road
I had a tenant who was a dog walker/trainer. I told her, if you ever come across a hypo-allergenic dog who needs a home, let me know. (My live-in GF is highly allergic, but we both wanted a dog.) Several years after she (the former tenant) moved across town, she calls me up. A client of hers had acquired two Bichon Frises, but found that they were too much to handle and he was willing to give one up. So after a brief “intervew” with the nine-month old pup, we adopted him. We changed his name from “Jasper” (which he never responded to) to the much better “Martini.” We’ve been a happy family for five years now.
Both current dogs - Malinois and Dutch Shepherd are from breeders. The Malinois I had no idea what I was getting into, and as he grew up, I realized I needed to do some serious work with him, so started training in Schutzhund. When he was injured and had to be retired from protection sports, I wanted another working dog to continue training with, so went with a Dutch Shepherd because I always wanted a brindle dog.
Previous dogs were all shelter dogs, rescues, or giveaways, all dearly loved and greatly missed, but one of the last ones was a dog with severe hip dysplasia, and I decided I wasn’t up for that heartache again. I chose working breeds from breeders who actually worked their dogs in the hope of getting a long lived and healthy companion. Probably the next dog will be a rescue, though I haven’t fallen in love with any of my fosters yet.
Sam the Dog - puppy a neighbor was going to throw away.
TailCat the Cat - kitten who was tossed and left to die at the town dump.
Midnight the Hare - from a farmer we knew.
Governor the Zebra Finch - just flew in and landed on my Dad’s shoulder. I had an old cage of my grandmother’s (she used it for birds; we didn’t use it for her ) so we kept him.
Patches the Time-Share Cat was actually a neighbors adopted stray. They would let it out every morning and it would move in with us; at night we reversed the process.
How to get a cat: (1) Decide you need cat (2) cat appears, in either front or back yard (3) feed cat (4) name cat
How to get a dog: (1) Go to Dumb Friends League “just to look” (2) uh…puppies.
Now the last one was a christmas gift from my husband, but he followed a similar procedure via a rescue organization, and it was less of an impulse whatever (“buy” does not sound right).
A Kitty that passed away: Mistermage says “Hey, there’s a hungry kitty outside” and then he leaves for the evening. Upon Mistermage’s return middle son asked “Dad, did you really tell mom there was a kitten outside?” “Yeah, why” Then from under the table “Meow!!!” “Oh, shit!”
Vaati turned out to be the sweetest gray tuxedo with fluffy fur ever. One night I had a horrible migraine so was sleeping on the couch (so as to not disturb Mistermage between throwing up and taking scalding showers). Vaati came and slept curled around my head, purring his loud motor purr, all night long.
We had to put him to sleep after his second bout with being “blocked” (urinary tract). We were prepared to pay to have a penilectomy (sp) but the vet called while he was in surgery and his whole urethral tube had split. He had to ask and I had to answer 3 times, if they could and yes, please put him to sleep.
Even with 7 pets (I don’t count the cockatoo as a pet… more like a step-child) I have friends and family calling saying “Oh, don’t you want this free kitty/puppy?” Um, no.
The vet costs of 7 animals pretty much wipes out my smiling at Mistermage money for the year. Which means, hopefully, a pc at Christmas instead of during the summer/late spring. Every other year. No, I don’t kill them… but cockatoo dust does burn them up. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Oh, and missed a number in my other post: oldest cat is at least 14… he was at least 2 when he showed up (by my and the vet’s estimate going off of build, size and teeth) and my youngest son was 2 then.
My cat was a stray found wandering around and taken in by a family in my brother’s college town. They were friends with my brother, so when he was looking around for a cat, they gave him this one because it didn’t get along well with their other animals and pretty much sat on a high perch howling all the time. Then my brother moved to new housing that didn’t allow pets, so she came to me. She’s moved cross-country three times and bounced around a lot, but she’s been with me for 5 years now and hopefully will not be changing residences again.
We don’t actually know how old she is, best guess is 8 or 9. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a cat with her history, she’s very clingy.
I can’t even begin to list all the pets I’ve had in my life. With only a few exceptions they have all been from a rescue group, shelter or stray. I’ve had cats, dogs and horses.
Exceptions:
One dog was from a neighbor whose dog who got out and got knocked up and we took one of the puppies. That was back in the 70’s before everyone spayed and neutered.
Two of my horses were purchased from individuals who could no longer keep them.
Pumpkin (cat) came from the pound (in July this year). She was found as a stray and never claimed.
Peace (cat) was found by a friend when she was a kitten. She was being raised in an alley by her half-wild mother. My friend took Peace in, intending to keep her, but through circumstances she came to stay with me for a short time in 2001 and I never gave her back.
Muffin (cat, deceased) came from a breeder, or what I would now recognise as a dodgy backyard breeder. I found her through an ad in the local paper.
The chickens came from my chicken guy. I have a chicken guy. So far we’ve acquired about 14 chickens from him over four years, though we’ve never had more than six in residence at a time (current occupancy: 5).
Hoover (dog, deceased) came from an ad in the paper for Kelpie pups going free to a good home.
Memnoch (dog, deceased) came from the pound. Discovered that dog could scale a six foot fence with ease, so no prizes for guessing how he ended up there in the first place.
I can’t count how many I had as a childhood. Dogs, cats, turtles, tarantulas, snakes, fish, birds, chickens, bunnies, rats, guinea pigs, etc. I believe all were adopted from friends or shelters.
Currently:
Aragog - Tarantula, Acanthoscurria Geniculata (Brazilian White Knee) - She is a rescue. A local pet store owner knows my history raising tarantulas, so when someone comes in with a T they don’t want she contacts me. I thought Aragog was a boy until her first molt with me, hence the male name.
Shelob - Tarantula, Grammostola Rosea (Chilean Rose Hair) - A rescue from the same breeder.
Pandora - Tarantula, Grammostola Rosea (Chilean Rose Hair) - ANOTHER rescue. She’s 15 years old, apparently. She just needed a quiet home to live out the rest of her days. She’s a grump, won’t let me anywhere near her.
Monroe “Robot” & Ares - 2 cats - These are my S/O, they came with him. Ares is the gray Tabby, and Robot is the orange Tabby. My S/O is closest to Ares, but Robot is my little cutie pie. Weirdest cat ever.
Lastly, Chester - Black Lab - He’s my hiking buddy and stalwart companion. He belonged to an Ex, but she never trained him. When we got together I trained him, and when we separated I took him with me. I’ve had him about 4 years now, but I estimate that he’s 6 or 7.
PS. I love how many rescues/adoptions I’m seeing! Nothing wrong with buying from a reputable breeder, but it’s interesting that most of you guys rescued your fur babies!
I got my older dog from a puppy rescue when he was 4 months old. Most of their puppies come from New Mexico, where people dumping litters is rampant, apparently. He was terrified and had parvo, but he grew into a lovely, healthy, neurotic sweetheart.
The younger dog came from a breed specific rescue. I had the intention of getting a full-grown dog, but they had a litter of mixed-breed puppies and I caved. He’s a happy, healthy bundle of joy.
) so we kept him.
