Who picked whom?

[catnapper]

I was thinking about cats and how they come to live with their hoomans.

Some people search for their perfect pet, others just happen upon them when a new pet wasn't even planned. So which was it for you?

I'm posting a poll with this and I know the majority of you have mulptiple pets, so I'll try to make it work for everyone!

[catcrazylady]

I have a house full and I never looked for any of them but I'm so glad they found me!http://petoftheday.com/talk/images/our_smilies/biggrin.gif

[Pam]

I picked "most found me." Bella is the only one that I really went on a search for. I found her at a breeder about an hour away after looking for a couple of weeks.

I came upon Ripley totally by chance at a shelter. I was there with my daughter so she could turn in some paperwork for a kitty that she had adopted. We walked through the kennel just "to see." Within a half hour of spotting Ripley I was filling out an application and he was mine about a week later (no one claimed him....can you believe that?)

Trevor was smuggled into my home late one night by my son. He had been bought by his friend for his grandmother (as sort of a replacement for her cat who had died). The grandmother was not ready for another cat so my son decided Trevor should be ours rather than go back to the pet shop. ;)

Andy was spotted by my mother at the garage sale of a friend. Once again, I was not looking for another pet but I got the call to come down (50 mile trip) and just "take a look" at this little cutie pie. On the trip back I had a new traveling buddy - a one pound white kitten. :)

[smokey the elder]

All of the above...?:p :D

My SO rescued Moby. Diva came from the rescue group I work with now. Pixel was a stray feral I trapped and tried (and failed) to tame. Diamond and TicTac picked me. Smokey the Younger was a kitten from Diamond's last litter. Bosun is a failed foster.

[Dan Holder]

This is a military town. Young soldiers get their own apartment or house for the first time in their life, and they have to have pets. And when they leave a few months or years later, they say "Nice knowing you, little friend", and drive away. Mine all wandered up or were picked up.

[nibblets]

I went to the shelter looking for a dog...while I was there, Buddy picked me.
We went to look at kitties for adoption...Julie and my son picked each other.

My RB cocker spaniel, Woody, chose me. I was going to take his brother. I was talking to the woman who owned his momma and I noticed Woody go to the momma dog and nuzzle her, then he came over and sat on my foot like 'OK I'm ready!'...I had no choice but to take him.
My RB tuxie, Oly, was the smallest in the litter so I thought he would stay small. I thought he would be a good apartment cat...He started growing and growing ... He turned out to be a huge lovable sweetie and a great apartment cat.

[catnapper]

D'oh! I forgot to post how my boys came to me!

My Aunt's cat, Petunia, had a litter. We went to a party at her house one weekend, and she said that the person who wanted him had backed out. Hubby said, NO NO NO NO, but to EVERYONE'S surprise, said yes as we were leaving! He said, "please make sure you get the girl cat. All males I've ever had have been sprayers." We grabbed what we thought was the girl, but oopsie, we grabbed the boy. I think he sucked everything in so that he could come home with us ;)

As for Pouncer, we had accidentally found a kitten we wanted. We were NOT in the market for another pet, but this little thing was so sweet. We put out papers for him but they called us later and said we couldn't adopt him due to health issues. The next Saturday, we went back to Petco for another adoption event - since even though we weren't in the market for another cat, we had our hearts set on a new cat in our lives. I spoke to the rescue before going that Saturday and brought both my daughters; we were determiend to get an older cat and rescue him. Well, none of the adult cats said anything to me, except one who couldn't be homed with other cats. There was Jen's Mickey, but he was too scared, and there was a mama tabby and her daughter (which my daughter wanted) and a little black baby with a white diamond on the forehead (which my other daughter wanted.) Then there was Pouncer. I never even gave the other cats a second look once I saw him. It was love at first sight. I sat on pins and needles for a week until the adoption was approved and Jen gave her favorite foster kitten to me!!!

[Craftlady]

All found us :)

[prechrswife]

I really needed to be able to pick two options, but I picked the closest one--"Most picked me." Saphirah actually came with my husband. We went looking for a kitten at the animal shelter when Chloe picked me out. Samson moved in under our house. Now he lives in the house, so he definitely picked us.:D

[catlady1945]

We picked one. two picked us. We bought Louis at the pet shop; Ginger turned on the charm when she saw us at the Humane Society; and Krissy was a stray who picked us to stay with.

[catmandu]

Nugget , Roscoe and Elizabeth were Porchers , and Found me! Michael ,and JJJ3 came from my Brother! Princess came from Help a Furr Friend! Rocca , BJ , and John Hancock , came from a Catttery , as they had behaviour Problems! Precious came from Animal Rescue! Sam , and Diane came from a broken home Moose came from a custmer , where I worked , and My aunt rescued BoBo , and gave her , to me!

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

Ally just "arrived" in my garden one day. Our house was on a busy road, and there were no other kittens or Momma Cat around, PLUS we had REALLY hugh walls, so I think she was dumped over the wall! My son heard her crying, and my Hubby allowed us to keep her "for a few days" until we could find a home for her!!

Connor was "Pet of the Week" several times on our local Radio show, and still didn t get adopted. I was worried time was running out for him, and I popped into the shelter "just for a look"......that was the beginning of a long and tense wait, and eventually with the help and prayers of everyone here on Pet Talk, Connor came homé with us!!

[Randi]

I'm not sure what to vote on this one.

Fister was born in our backyard and lived there for the first year. Then, we slowly enticed him up in our flat and he stayed for longer and longer periods until he finally took over our bed. :D He hardly ever goes down anymore. :)

[jazzcat]

I found all of mine.

Ripley came a neighbor of my sister and my niece picked him out for me once I had convinced hubby to let me have one.

I got both Jazz and Scout from a rescue group that runs an adoption center in a local pet shop. In Jazz's case I really wanted another kitten but she had already been adopted when I got back with hubby but the lady who ran the place put Jazz in my husbands arms and said to give her a try for a few days - that was the end of that.

I got Disney from our county shelter.

[trayi52]

Both of my dogs, I searched for. The cats sort of just found us, I guess that is what you would call it. :)

[boscibo]

Cats - Bo was a Christmas gift from my sister.

Abby was rescued from a guy who didn't want her anymore, and had put her outside (she was in heat).

Hanna definitely found me. I have told the story here before, I was biking and she approached me when I was taking a rest. She was skinny and very sick.

Dogs - Bandit came from my vet, he and his siblings were found outdoors, abandoned in a State Park on a very cold Feb. day. The people who found him brought him to my vet's, I adopted him 2 months later.

Rocky and Gandy came with my SO, they were his dogs.

Pepper, my horse, I bought. I hadn't had a horse for four years, and it was time for me to get another. I've had her the longest, 18 years.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I voted that 1/2 found me and 1/2 I searched for.

I went to the Humane Society to hopefully adopt a cat. Since I didn't see any cats that appealed to me inside the main building, I went out to another building where the strays are kept. I was looking at a large black cat and I held him. The lady and I were going back inside to look up more info on him when I saw a grey paw reach out to me. It was my soon to be Storm. I decided to hold him before we went back inside. It was love at first sight. He had picked me to be his new mom.:)

Storm needed a buddy so I decided to adopt another cat. I adopted an orange male cat but things didn't work out so I had to return him. I ended up adopting my RB Pepper from a rescue organization at Petco. I picked him because he was the friendliest and he purred the loudest too. I guess we kind of picked each other.:)

I really wanted a young male orange cat and I thought I wanted a young kitten but it wasn't quite kitten season yet. I left my name and number at several rescue organizations. A lady called me and told me that they had a 6 month old orange male and then she asked me if I really wanted to go through the kitten stage again. I agreed that I really didn't want to and said I'd go look at the orangie. It was love at first sight. Sunny was shaking and seemed very scared of me so I guess I picked him. He tuned out to be 8 months old instead of 6 but that was fine with me.:)

After my Pepper passed away, I knew I was going to be adopting another male cat. I also wanted a short haired young male cat and again thought about adopting a kitten. I was shopping at Pet Club and I saw a flyer with info about a rescue organization. I found their website and fell in love with Cirrus's picture. I went to see him a couple days later and even though he wasn't very friendly towards me I knew that he had the potential of being a loving cat since he had bonded with the lady who visited him every day. He was also much larger than I had expected. I adopted him the same day. So I again picked him.:)

I was at a Cat Show and the Humane Society was there. I quickly looked at all of the cats and was relieved that there weren't any kittens to tempt me. Later on they introduced all of the cats and told us their stories. When they brought out Sky, I thought he was a very interesting looking cat. He was shaved at the time because his long fur had matted. A man was very interested in him so I was happy and I thought he found a good forever home. Later that day, I found out that he was still there. I picked him up and looked into his light blue eyes and fell in love with him and also with his personality. I guess we both found each other that day.:)

I'm just very happy that I was able to find all of my wonderful loving furkids.:D

[davidpizzica]

I was the winner in the "Nikki looking for an owner contest" I was realy depressed just after I had to put my poor Thai to sleep. I decided to to look for another kitty. I went into Petco and Cat Sense had some cats for adoption. I looked and they said "would you like to hold Nikki?" I said yes. I intended to be there for 5 minutes, but wound up holding her for an hour and a half!! They kept telling me that she was so shy around everyone, but as soon as started to hold her, the bonding started. Now I Volunteer with Cat Sense.

[CatMama78]

We, my live-in boyfriend and I decided to adopt a couple of kittens. I've always loved dogs and he's always loved cats. Now I consider myself an animal lover, so I agreed cats were better suited for apartment living. We decided two would be best so they would not be lonely when we were gone. We went to the local no kill shelter, Operation Kindness, and I immediately fell in love with Oreo. We had our hearts set on a boy and a girl, but sadly someone had adopted Ori's sister earlier (he was very sad about it). All the other kitties we would pick out of their cage hissed at him, so I would put them back. Then they came in with a newly bathed, wet Wilber and he was the only one who did not hiss at Oreo, and of course he was extra cute so we picked him too. So long for the idea of one boy and one girl.

That night, Oreo was the hissy one, and I was somewhat worried. They also fought all night and I cried cause I thought they didn't like each other, understand I had NEVER owned a cat before, lol, and didn't realize what to expect. The first few days were a little rocky, but within two weeks, I no longer had most of my heart as these two stole it away. I've never looked back and I've never made a better decision than to adopt these guys. They truly, truly have made my life a thousand percent better and hopefully I've improved theirs :).

[catlover4ever]

I voted for the 1/2 and 1/2.

My family started with Tigger and her RB brother Tony. When I got married I wanted to have at least one cat in my house so when I heard that a lady at the bank I did business with had 2 tigers I asked if I could get the 2 of them. So the family officially started with Tigger and Tony (yes Tigger was named after Winnie the Pooh and Tony was after Tony the Tiger from Fosted Flakes).

The rest of the family found me. Smokey was thrown away in a garbage can and my friend rescued him and I adopted him from her. Tucker was abandoned around my area in the winter of 96. Mystic showed up on my back doorstep on a winter day in 2000 and Abner....well, he decided to make friends with a neighbors dog and he followed the dog to my house one day and never left.

My other RB babies, Cleo and Tobias found me as well.

[aly]

I still haven't been able to actively look for any of my animals. They all found me :)