Such a cute photo. I love his little tilted mustache.

Sweet story - thanks for the lift 🙂

That is such as a sweet story. Glad he stowed away with some compassionate cat lovers.

All of my current cats were carefully chosen from a shelter or foster group. I have had two strays over the years - one that friends found under their deck in December in MN. Their kids had been feeding it and the Mrs, who grew up on a farm, refused to let the kids have any pets. So one of them called me right before Christmas crying and asking if we'd take the cat in because they were going away over the holidays. I told him we couldn't bring it in because our cats might catch something from it but that we'd check on it while they were gone. Well one thing led to another - it got really cold and we moved it from their yard to our porch to a warm ride in the car to the guest bathroom. Had her until she was almost 21.

One other stray broke into our house (long story) severely injured by a collar caught under it's leg - 3 lb adult cat. I took it to the vet the morning before we got 30 inches of snow. Vet wasn't sure he could save it but said he'd do surgery for $50 if I wanted to try to find a home for it. He ended up having two surgeries and a long recovery. I was going to give him to my brother when he came for Christmas but by then I couldn't give him up. Had him until he was 19.

Since then I haven't taken in any strays because I've been filled to my capacity - three.

I love this story!

It took me a year to find the perfect kitten. Meet Pooky. I learned about her from a farmer. She was born in a barn on a pedigree goat farm. She is precious to me, I love the daylights out of her.

Pal, that is how Mia came to live with me. I was at the shelter with my roommate who was looking for a dog, and I was hanging out in the cat room gazing at a lovely white cat, like a porcelain figurine, when a sweet grey girl tapped me on the shoulder as if to say, ”what are you looking at him for? I’m the one.r”

Four times a cat came to me from a neighbor or coworker. One of them I told my coworker I’d have to return because Beau was just too rambunctious when I got home from work at night. Coworker said oh, he just needs a friend to play with, take his littermate. I’m glad Kit came to be Beau’s buddy, because Beau was the smartest cat I ever had.

I’ve had a couple of cats who chose us from the entire neighborhood. Cheddar especially was the perfect cat.

And my latest two were when one cat, one who had chosen us, died, and I’d been seeing a sign at the vet from a gal whose mother had passed away, and the two cats would have to go to the shelter if she couldn’t find a home for them. So, of course! Mocha was a blessing, a lifesaver for our son, staunchly sprawling on his lap while he found his way as a teen.

I’ve had cats choose me. Last one was born under the wrap around porch — mother (unfixed, obviously) abandoned by owners during a move — and unlike her skittish brothers, wanted to play while I was laying stepping stones.

Was that a little paw I saw from the bushes swiping at my trowel???

Ginger Maine Coon cat — the Red Peril. Never walk when you can run, never side step when you can leap over. Never leave a potential toy — leaves, pebbles, whatever - unswatted. Trees are for climbing, often. The roof is for scampering over, late at night, and long daytime naps.

Took forever to convince her to enter the house. I was to sit on the porch steps to give her my undivided attention. Eventually, later rather than sooner, she was a happy house cat.

The Red Peril! I love that for a name!

Covid hit. Peeka got cancer & passed. We were heart broken for a month. You weren't allowed to meet the cat. I saw a photo online @ The Denver Dumb Friends League had 10 cats that had come in together, housemates. I picked 2 black ones. Paid online. Drove to Denver. The worker said Ivan had been sleeping in the cattery room, he folded his cow bed around him like a TACO, put him in the carrying box. Aspen was sick in the infirmary, had a cold. Was being isolated. They'd BOTH been there 3 months! They screamed for an hour until we arrived home. They were both tiny, skeletal, sparse fur. Aspen could barely breath, his nose dripped like a faucet. His head just bobbed. He looked deformed, like he had Down syndrome. His back legs didn't hold him up. His muscles had atrophied from sitting in a tiny cage for so long. They were cold, wouldn't eat or wash themselves. Ivan was recovering from a blow to the head, hit with a broom by a worker. He had herpes sores in his mouth. Scared. One eye oozed. I kept Aspen inside my T-shirt, to keep him warm, I was afraid he'd die any minute. I ordered a weight activated heated bed for them, overnighted. Took them to a vet...then another vet, then another. They were given a Vitamin B12 shot & appetite stimulants. Finally a guy called from DDFL, asking how they were doing, I told him not so good, he told me to feed them Lysine. I'd been putting Gentamicin in Ivan's eye. 3 days & they were cured. I'd had them for weeks. THAT was 5 years ago. They are happy, healthy little guys. Never grew any bigger. The BEST little dudes EVER!

3 newborn kittens found in the trash with ants crawling on them. We kept one, and she lived 18 years. Pretty good for a bottle-fed baby.

Socks - your cat looks exactly like Julius, our first cat who lived to 20. Julius lived in the same townhouse complex and walked into our place one day as a kitten. The owners had the mom cat, a dog and a toddler and it was just too much. He was spending more and more time at our place and then they were moving and came over and asked if we wanted to keep him. There was too much activity at their place and he wasn't happy. Of course we said yes! Best cat ever.

My first cat, Sugarpuss, was one of a litter that neighbours' kids had found dumped in an empty house lot in our street. We had him for 19 years.

Next we had Tessa, "rescued" from a neglectful owner whose cat had had kittens. I told her we'd love a kitten when they were old enough, and one day she came and told us they were ready to go. DH and DD went and picked one out. She seemed awfully tiny and a few weeks later I ran into neglectful owner's (equally neglected :-( ) stepdaughter. When I asked how old the kittens were, it turned out that Tessa was only 4 weeks old when she came to us >:-(. Poor Tess passed away mysteriously when she was about 7.

Tess had a litter of kittens before we had a chance to spay her. We found homes for all but one, who we were too attached to by the time someone enquired if we had any left. Jeff was Little Cat Z, who definitely had Voom. Unfortunately when he was about 18 months old his Voom took him into the path of a car. I cried all night.

At the same time we had Motley, who had been dumped as an adult cat at the school where I was the crosswalk lady. The janitor had been feeding her on the copious leftover from the children's lunches. When the school holidays started, I took her home and we had her for another 19 years. Motley was such a chill cat, and a demon on mice. She taught Tessa, Jeff and our next cat, Mischief, how to catch mice.

After Tessa passed, we acquired Mischief from a work colleague whose adult son was looking for home for a litter of kittens his cat had presented them with. Missy was a prickly cat, more like a teenage girl. She wasn't particularly cuddly or friendly, but we loved her to bits. When she got older, she developed mast cell cancer and we spent a fair amount of money and time (the vet treating her for this was a 2 1/2 hour drive in either direction) getting her well. At about this time Motley was getting fairly elderly and was a picky eater. We were feeding her on fresh salmon, which was all she had an appetite for. The vet said that when he died, he wanted to come back as one of our cats :-D!

Motley passed at about age 21 when we were travelling in Viet Nam. We had left her with the vet to look after as she was getting fairly frail, though still happy. They called us in Hanoi, sad to tell us that she didn't wake up that morning. We had Missy for three or four years after her cancer treatment, then she too passed away.

For about a month we were catless. The house just didn't seem right, so empty, and it was weird doing the grocery shopping and not getting cat products. So I asked the vet to let me know if they had anyone looking for a home for two kittens- we wanted them to keep each other company while we were at work. We got two sisters who came home and promptly proceeded to try to wreck the place. So we named them Nadezhda (Nadia) and Ekaterina (Katya) after two of the members of Pussy Riot :-).

They're about 12 now and slowing down a little but they are the cuddliest, purringest cats we've had. Yes, we spoil them. We've just remodelled the bathroom, taking out the bathtub and putting in a shower. Katya loved to jump up onto the vanity and drink water out of the faucet. For a couple of years now she's found it difficult to jump straight up, so she would jump onto the edge of the bath then onto the counter. Since we took out the bath, we put a little cupboard in next to the vanity just so she could jump onto it to get up for a drink :-)

Nicole, thank you for your efforts and love!

The CDS, always at work! A close family member was going through a divorce and unable to take his two 6 month old kitties to his temporary place, so asked me if I could take care of them for a couple of months until he could get settled. I became so attached to them and kept dreading the day he would ask for them back. It was quite obvious to him that I had become that crazy, obsessed cat lady that he thought it best they stay with me. That was 13 years ago and they give me so much joy everyday.

they make their way into our hearts

I discovered a kitten hiding in/under the JD mower on my patio on 9/17/2024, one year ago. Heard a cry the prior night but couldn't locate the source until the next day. Named her Grayson for actress Grayson Hall of Dark Shadows fame (which I've been working through on Tubi). Vetted and spayed, she is an indoor cat so as to avoid fleas and other parasites, dogs and other critters that roam the area.

That’s a lovely story, and looking at the rest of the newsletter I am stunned at how positive and interesting all the stories are. Well done CBC and Canadians!

All three of mine were strays who "chose" me. They are living good lives. Now ages 16(?), 15, and 10.

Just yesterday I was talking to an acquaintance at her antique store. We were discussing the untimely death of a mutual friend some 10yrs. ago and how we missed her. She told me when Joan's will was read, Joan stated that anyone who adopted one of her many cats (including strays she fed), would be entitled to $1,000. Homes were found for nearly all, the remaining six were taken to a no-kill shelter where the same stipulation was made. However, the shelter said that would not be possible because of HIPPA regulations. The family even tried to work it out so that the shelter would receive the $,000 per cat instead of the adopters. OUr friend would have loved that idea. Apparently that wasn't possible either. Not sure why.

Very strange - HIPAA has nothing to do with animals.

We've always gotten our cats from the Humane Society and they all lived to be in their late teens.

Just a few weeks after Bud died at 16, a friend contacted me to ask if I'd look after a couple of her niece's cats while their house was undergoing some renovations. I said I would, gladly.

One was hugely obese, 30 lb, and was constantly purring or snoring. I didn't sleep a wink all night, honestly, she slept on my bed snoring. The other was Elliott a very large orange and white medium haired.

A couple of weeks later I got a message saying "I can keep them if I want". Who the heck does that to their pets?!?!

I said I'd keep Elliott, but not Chloe.

He is very loved, and loves getting all the attention. He's not an alpha cat at all, he's timid when someone comes, and he came from a house with 4 cats and a dog.

He was 5 when I got him, and he's now 8

Our stray Cheddar came to us in a convoluted way.

My parents were away for the winter so we checked their house every Sunday on our way home from church. So one Sunday, we we heard a ”mew” coming from a little brick-walled courtyard of sorts between the front and service doors. When we responded, Cheddar rose from the little nest she had squished in the groundcover.

I was sure she belonged to the house next door and brought it over, gave it to the dad. As I walked back across the lawn, a minute later he comes running back out to me eith the cat. Their cat was already in the house. The two cats were both black-and-white but completely different patterns, I mean completely. One mainly white, the other more than half black. His excuse ”I’m not a cat person”.

So we checked around the houses in the sparse and wooded neighborhooded, put signs up at the school, where Open House night was coming up so plenty of families would see them. Called the police deparment, put an ad in the lost and found of the paper, called all the ”lost cat” signs around town.

The odd thing was, my parents’ house was not really near much. Reservoir and interstate highway on two sides, small lake on another, fences, and houses on minimum 5 acres. Yet she wasn’t feral. She was friendly, litterbox trained, good with young children, spayed, front declawed (yes, I know, but as a vet once said to me, it can enable a cat to live with a family. It is now illegal in our state.) She was healthy, clean, and well-nourished. So she was definitely a family cat. We wondered what her story was.

My sister worked for years at a golf course several miles outside her town. Stray cats often appeared there and would stay as "residents." She brought a couple home.

The original builder/owner ("C") of her current house had a cat, Sam, that moved out with him when his wife died and he decided to live in his RV/camper on the other side of town. Sister is buddies with C's daughter and SIL who live in the neighborhood, and C was a frequent golf player at the course. C was at the course heading out for a round of golf in Nov 2021, collapsed and EMS was called. The last thing he said to sister before the ambulance left w/him was "Take care of Sam." C died. Sam went with sister back to his original home and two cat friends.

I'd bore you all to death if I recounted all the 18 cat rescues I made. But I'll pick a couple. First was a Siamese kitten I named Simon, who I actually bought for $15 from a woman in a trailer at my parents' town. She had the mother and grandmother there, and he was the last of the litter. He was the love of our lives till age 20. The most interesting one for me, an avid AT hiker, is my third cat, I got from Earl Shaffe,r the first man ever to hike the Appalachian Trail in the 40s twice, the 2000 plus miles through. At that time, I didn't know who he was, but he hiked it a third time after this cat story and then everyone knew who he was, and he was celebrated nationally and died soon after at 80. One of my favorite cats came into my yard pregnant and starving. I fed her and she disappeared only to come back thinner. I had to surreptitiously follow her to under a neighbor's porch and found her and three kittens. I brought them all to my house and later kept Nellie and he lookalike daughter and gave the two orange boys to a pet rescue group. And lastly, the alley behind my house has produced two of my now cats. In 2016, when I walked my dogs down the alley I'd see this Maine Coon lying on yards. I found out the neighbors were feeding him but he was abandoned. I picked him up, took him to my vet and he wasn't microchipped so I named him Bernie after Bernie Sanders. It was election time. He's 15 now with diabetes. And lastly, in April 2024 there was a starving cat under a shed on the next street so I brought him home, and that is Willie.

Mother and daughter, Nellie and Annie and Annie with Casey , the cat from Earl Shaffer

3katz, she didn't explain any further but I'd suspect it had to do with Joan's personal health information (altho deceased), estate and family info?? That info would have to be released to the adopters when they went to claim their money, plus maybe more hassle for the shelter in way of legal paper work. I don't know.

For some reason, Joan often expressed she didn't want her cats to go to the local humane society if something happened to her. Must have had a bad experience with them.

This reminds me of a YouTuber that I watch on YouTube TV on a regular basis. He travels the US in his car, visiting small towns and out of the way places and posts those videos (which are very interesting, by the way).

Somehow he got started noticing cats and then some his YouTube followers commented on it. Now he tries to have a Cat Sighting in each video. Corny, but addictive. When DH and I travel somewhere now, we watch for our own Cat Sighting.