Since old man Belzak passed on I do not have all of his barn cats reproducing & finding my property more appealing than his. At one point I had 16 in the garage. I lived to trap, neuter & house. They all have passed on now & I have one tuxedo boyo who just decided to stay after eyeing my bird feeders hungrily. He now has a orange hazard tape wrapped color with 3 bells & is named Zoot Suit. Has yet to catch any birds but the plethora of chipmunks have been reduced. People dump unwanted pets here in rural Wisconsin. I hate them. Not the pets. The jerks that would dump a pet. They dump children don't they?

Our two were acquired from SISCA. Brothers. Pretty skittish as kittens. But now they're fine.

Poor kitty. I'm happy that she has a great home now.

I did have a cat that showed up on my door step practically skin and bones. It was winter and the tips of her ears were severely frost bitten. I brought her in and gave her food and water. I took her to the vet and other than her current condition she was in really good health. Her ear tips did fall off but she was still a pretty cute cat. She liked to sit on my shoulder.

My Sophie was (I believe) abandoned by previous humans before she came to me, pregnant and starving. We thought she was about 4 months old because she was so growth-stunted. My wonderful vet said she was closer to a year old. We had to do a kitty abortion, sadly, because none of them would have survived. But she had none of the usual diseases so we took her home to fatten her up. 15 years later she is still my bestest furriend!!!

My three Oriental Shorthairs were from a hoarding situation in which there were about 30 mostly sickly cats in a motel room.

My senior kitty came a from a litter from a stray. I found homes for the others.

My cats always find me. Spike and Fiona lived next door where they were poorly kept. I kept putting out water for them. Was a mama and four kittens. The lady next door told me they were moving and would I help catch the cats so she could take them to the shelter. I said never mind, I would take care of them. I found mama and two of the kittens homes and kept two. Mama was tame but I had to work to get the kittens socialized. Total lap cats now.

Most of my cats throughout my life have just shown up and claimed me.

All my cats have been rescued.
I picked up Cleo when I was driving through a downtown parking garage and she ran in front of me. I had cat food in the back of the car and she immediately began wolfing it down. She weighed 6 lbs and was pregnant I found out when I took her to the vet. She got treated for parasites and had her 4 kittens safely in a home. She still has the survival instinct in her and runs the household.

All my pets were rescues.

Oldest to youngest:

Heath was found in a Package store dumpster in a box with his siblings - all kittens. I think it was February?

Rainey was dumped into Downtown traffic at about 8 weeks old with her two siblings (she had a stress coat).

Rasputin (Raz) - was a barn cat taken in by a shelter - he still doesn't let me pick him up because his only association with being picked up was shots and other medical treatments. He's a black cat and the woman at the rescue really did not think he'd ever be adopted because he was an adult and skittish. He does however now lap sit like a champion. Took him a year and a half to figure it out.
Built like a refrigerator!

I'm glad you found each other.

Mneme was taken from a feral cat community at a farm in Iowa. I was staying at the farm, a B&B, and this sickly kitten was on a chair on the porch where I had my morning coffee. She was barely breathing, eyes and nose pasted with mucus. I asked the owner of the farm, Nadine, about taking care of the cats, she said "survival of the fittest, I put food out for them, but other than that, no. They stay around to keep the snakes and raccoons out of the cornfields." I had just broken up with a Veterinarian, and could not see this poor thing suffer. A trip into town, antibiotics, then bought a carrier for the trip home to Denver. It took about six months and several treatments to get her back to health, as well as feeding her cat milk formula for the first couple of weeks. The feral was strong, as she grew, she certainly was wild in behavior. All of that is past now, and she has been one of my companions for ten years.