Pet Lovers

[Annabellethecat66]

So, I just sitting here with you ladies on the computer and looked over at Bill the cat (asleep next to me).

He's orange.  Katie the cat is black and white long hair.  They are the only 2 cats I ever picked.

All of my many other cats just found me.  They showed up at my house.  I took them in, had them neutered or spayed.

I tried to keep all of them in the house.  It worked with some, but Jack and Fabio (Bo) liked to play outside during the day and came in at night or if I'd be going out late at night.  I'd call them and they came running.

Anyway, I wasn't going to adopt anymore cats after I had 4 of them die within a short period of time.

After maybe 2 months my friend (the Vet's nurse) came over and said, "This is it.  Throw your clothes on, bring the carriers, let's go, we're getting some cats today".

So I did.  The only thing I knew for sure was I didn't want just one cat, it had to be at least 2.

Bill was sticking his paws out of the cages.  He had so much personality.  A lot of people were looking at him, laughing and playing with him.

I quickly went over to the adoption lady and said, "Could I adopt him?"  I was afraid someone else would want him.

Oh!  I also knew I didn't want a kitten because they're easy to get adopted.  I wanted older cats.  I wanted some that would be harder to adopt because of their ages.  Bill and Katie were supposed to be 7 years old, but I know Katie is younger and Bill might be slightly younger.

So, that's the story of how I adopted Bill and Katie.

After I brought them home.  I sent a gift card so their adopted parents could use it for cat food for others and I sent them a gift card so they could enjoy a dinner out on me.

It's been 8 years now.  I just had both of them to the Vets for their checkups (complete bloodwork, shots, tooth checkup).  Katie (once again) had some bad teeth.  She (once again) had to have a big tooth pulled.  Vet said it was really bad.

Bill's teeth are good for now but in a few months I should get his teeth cleaned.

Animals are expensive.  Just the bloodwork, shots and Katie's teeth cleaned it cost me $1,600.

My middle daughter grew up with cats.  I had one cat (Fabio) who still 'sprayed' after I had him neutered.  My point is this daughter informed me last night she found a tiny kitten, brought it in and STILL has not had it neutered.  It's now about 8 months old.

I told her she'd better hop to it or that cat is going to spray.  My grandma had a saying, "Hard heads make soft a@ses.

[Goldengate8361]

@Annabellethecat66 You are clearly a saint. And we all know that cats are really angels from heaven sent to earth to teach us about love, right? Bless you for being a good cat mom. I am currently blessed with 5 exceptional angel cats!

[eddyandme]

I don't have any kitties, @Annabellethecat66 .

But I believe we adopt the furbabies that have been sent to us - it's been predetermined by God Who directs His angels to bring the furbabies into our lives..  It's part of our lifetime contract we've made before we came down to this planet.

And, I've found, though they need us, we, at first unknowingly, need them just as much.

So, whether they're young, old, handicapped, lonely, whatever, it all boils down to what's meant to be will be.  And, they're a special gift from God!

[Annabellethecat66]

@Goldengate8361 Thank you for your kind words.  I'd definitely say you are an angel.

It takes patience to be mom or Dad to cats.  I think a lot of people don't like cats because a cat mom or dad learns very quickly everything pertaining to THEM happens on THEIR time.  Right?

It's crazy what we have to do to get Katie to the Vets.  My daughter and I had to trick her to get her into a bedroom so that my friend (the Vet's nurse) could come by when we were asleep at 6:00 in the morning and take the two cats to the Vets.

I came by and picked up Bill in the afternoon, but Katie stayed there until afternoon of the next day.  We figured we could never trick her again, so the next morning the Vet put on his dental hat and pulled Katie's big (equivalent to our wisdom teeth) tooth.  It was rotten down to the roots.  It got that way in about 8 months.

It's had been about 8 months since I'd had her in there to get another tooth pulled.  She just has bad teeth.  

They both eat soft food.  Bill's is prescription food.  But to clean his teeth he gets a little of the prescription that's hard.  But he won't drink much water so we limit the hard food.  They think it's a treat.  I measure it by using  a large spoon.  The minute they hear the spoon rattle, they're in the kitchen.  So funny because it's actually just a hard food version of Bill's prescription soft food!

But, again, the problem is Katie doesn't chew the little round hard food...the cat swallows them whole!  So it doesn't do her teeth any good.  Bill chews them up.

I started throwing them on the carpet when I was getting ready to leave the house.  I get a spoonfull of it and kinda toss it.  They run to eat it.  It gets Bill out from under my feet so I don't fall over him.

He likes to show me he's the boss by walking in front of me so slow it looks like so motion.  Sometimes he'll zig zag down the hallway (think how you'd 'fake' someone out by going the opposite way).  Not with Bill in charge..I think he can see from the back of his head!  Ha!

Phew!  I'm more long-winded on here even more today than usual.  My daughter is sitting in the room with the TV and me doing cross stitch.  She said, "Mom what are you saying so much to those ladies".

She has one more week here then she has to go back to her house and her furbaby.

I'm so lucky to have a daughter who is willing to come and leave her dog at home with her boyfriend.  She's been here for months, then went home for a few weeks and then flew back.  

I'm getting my master bathroom 'redone', she's here to see to it that th people do the right thing.  I have always dealt with the workers, but anymore I have to lay down in the middle of th day.

It's taking forever for them to start, she'll probably be back home by the time they start..Ugh!

[MarthaStewardess]

The two I have now, I didn't pick.  They picked me, as they were both strays.

[Kachina624]

Absolutely not; I picked them because they were available when I was ready to adopt and they needed a forever home.

[Sooner]

One of mine was a gift from God.

I had wanted a kitten for my birthday and my lying mother kept telling me she simply could not find a kitten anywhere.  And it was in the spring.

So I said I was going to pray for a kitten.

THE DAY of my birthday mother went out to hang out clothes then came back in the back door with a funny look on her face and said "If God wants you to have a kitten, I'm not going to stop it."

The neighbor's cat, which nobody suspected was going to have kittens, had kittens that morning in our dog house!  I got my pick of the littler!  

[Marp]

I almost always have something particular in mind when looking to adopt but every single time it is the furbaby that picks me not me picking a fur baby.

Wouldn't change that if I could.  They just know I am meant to be their human and they have never been wrong.

[candys mine]

I had to think about it for a minute.  We Always had dogs.  I never chose any of them.  Everybody else just brought them home.  I ended up with the three cats. One was a kitten from a friend who had a friend who's cat had kittens.  The next was a kitten from the Vet.  She tracked me down on a Sunday  saying she had a Kitten for me.  Tiny little thing,  brought to her by the kids at the playground with a great big chunk of skin missing from her scruff.  The last one I actually picked.  I wanted a kitten for the now yearling girl with the healed up scruff. 

A can now safely say that it would depend on the individual animal.  If we "clicked".  Doesn't have to be abjet adoration.  just a look or a motion or an aura, something a bit more esoteric than a feeling.  

I AM Partial to calico's and torties and cats with poly paws.  Both females were of the tri colour type.  One of them and the Boy both were polydactyl.  That is just how it worked out...

I guess I'd maybe start with a breed or type in mind but as they say "subject to change withouut notice." 

[sometimesQVCaddict]

All of mine have been rescues.  My current family is 3 kitties ----- I have 2 siblings who were found abandoned at just a few days old with their eyes still shut!  There were 6, I ended up keeping 2 & found homes for the rest.  They just celebrated their 16th birthday this summer!! My third was rescued off the streets by a shelter & she 'picked me' when I had absolutely no reason or desire for wanting a kitty that particular day I got her! She is almost 12.  Love them all to bits!