Ducky's Gotcha Day Story

I was adopted February 13, 2010. Sort of an early Valentine's Day and Purrthday prezzie for mum. She came by one Caturday. Looked at a few kitties, but I was the only one she asked to play with. So I did my best to impress her. Guess I did OK, cuz soon the shelter peoples were putting me in a PTU and off I went with mum.

This is my second home. My first home didn't want me anymore and I ranned away. When I was found they didn't want me back. So I am now wanted and loved, more than I ever could have imagined.

You can go here to read my whole long story!

Our Gotcha Day Stories by Spyro and the Gang

 Spyro:  We aren't all members of the club yet, but we are all tabbies and Mom will join us all up eventually.  All of our Gotcha Day stories really begin with Herman because without him, none of us would be here, so I'll start with him.  Mom was sad and lonely and wanted a cat, but wasn't sure she was ready for one yet.  Then she saw a picture of Herman on a bulletin board with a notice saying that he was a sad and lonely kitty who nobody wanted to adopt because he was FIV+ and FeLV+.  Mom researched his diseases and decided that she could handle his care and adopted him. If Herman had let Mom know that he wanted to stay an only cat, Emma, Oja and I would never have been adopted.  However, Herman let Mom know that he wanted kitty company, so when the phone call came about Emma, she acted immediately and brought her home.  When the phone call came about me, Mom acted immediately again.  My family had decided that they didn't want me any more and took me to the County Shelter, who notified Friends of the Shelter, who notified Mom that I was at the shelter and needed a home as soon as possible or they were going to send me to the Rainbow Bridge for being FeLV+.  The nice man at the shelter offered to show Mom the papers my before family filled out to give me up, but Mom didn't want to know why they didn't want me any more.  She didn't care.  Whatever it was, she could handle it.

Mom put me in the safe room, but I didn't want to stay.  The very first picture Mom took of me was my asking to be let out of the safe room to meet Herman.  We were buddies at first sight.  I have been the greeter cat ever since.  I am always the first kitty to make friends with the newcomers.

 Oja:  This is the first picture Mom took of me.  I am in the safe room, getting ready to jump up in her lap.  Nobody knows where I came from.  The city shelter in Espanola has an drop box for people too embarrassed to admit that they are getting rid of their kitty.  I was dumped in the box one night and the shelter people tested me and spayed me and gave me my shots, then called Friends of the Shelter in Los Alamos, where Mom lives and told them about me.  The person they talked to was Herman's foster Mom and she called our Mom who came and got me that same day.  Wherever I had been it was BAD.  I was terrified and clung to Mom for dear life whenever she came into the safe room for days.  I stayed in the safe room for a month, though Herman came in to visit me daily.  I hissed at him every time and Mom put him out again.  When I finally came out to stay, I still hissed at Herman and Spyro whenever I saw them.  Very gradually I became good friends with both of them, especially Herman.  We would cuddle together and groom each other for hours.  I even started kitty wrestling with Spyro, though not with Herman.  He was just to  big for me to want to wrestle him.

 Rocio:  The first picture Mom took of me isn't very good and you can't see my face, so this is a later one.  In January Mom got a call from Felines & Friends New Mexico saying that Austin's and my foster parent was going to college and couldn't foster us any more.  We needed a foster home and fast.  Mom thought about it for a couple of days, then agreed.  The only reason she hesitated was because Oja doesn't like boycats and she thought twice about inflicting two more of us on her.  We moved into the safe room, but wanted out immediately.  We had seen that there was a lot more house and other kitties to meet, so Mom let us out.  We befriended Spyro immediately, but Oja hissed and hissed at us.  By February, Mom decided  to adopt up permanently because we were so bonded to each other and she couldn't bear the thought of us being adopted separately.  Spyro was also so fond of us that to let someone else adopt us would break his heart again, because he was already heart-broken over Herman's going to the Bridge.  Mom couldn't stand that idea either.  Our adoption was made official in March.  Unfortunately, Austin ran off to the Bridge in April and broke my heart anyway.  I was really glad that I had Spyro when that happened.

 Bambino:  This is a much better picture of me than the first one Mom took.  When Mom emailed Felines & Friends to tell them about Austin, they told her in their reply that I had been waiting for a home for months.  Actually I was the original choice to pair with Rocio, but Austin came along just then and they were only four days apart in age, while I am a month younger.  My Mom said that she would love to have me come and live with her.  I was found as a tiny kitten wandering down a busy street in Santa Fe by my foster Mom, who is a vet tech with other animals, including another cat.  She brought me home with her and cared for me until I was old enough to be fixed.  That's when she discovered that I was FeLV+ and I spent most of the next few months mostly in a play pen, so I wouldn't infect the other cat.  I was delighted to have a whole room to myself, but I wanted out the first day.  It was scarier out there than I expected.  There was a friendly cat, Spyro, but there were two other cats who hissed at me.  I stayed in the safe room for two whole days, then I wanted out to stay.  When Rocio saw how much fun Spyro and I were having together, he stopped hissing at me and joined in the fun.  Oja has mostly stopped hissing at me, but she isn't my friend, either.

Jose:  I am camera shy and don't like to look at the camera, so this is the best picture Mom has of me so far.  A few weeks after Mom told Felines & Friends that she wanted to adopt Bambino, they emailed her about me.  I was in the Santa Fe City Shelter and was doomed unless I found a foster home immediately.  The only other possible foster home was an elderly lady in Albuquerque who already had a houseful.  Mom said the more the merrier and here I am.  I was found wandering around the streets of Santa Fe and picked up by Animal Control.  No one claimed me, so here I am as a foster.  Mom thinks she might officially adopt me, too, if Oja warms up to me and makes friends.  I spent an hour in the safe room, then wanted out to meet the other kitties I had seen upon arrival in my carrier.  I slunk around the living room the first night, just watching and staying under the furniture, out of the way.  The next day, I started playing THoE with the others, except for Oja.  Now I wrestle with Spyro a little, but mostly play chase.  Oja tolerates me near her now and can get really personal smelling me.  I gave her a little whap for that once, because she has a cold wet nose and I am sensitive back there.

Tabitha's Gotcha Story

Me now.

You just heard from my brother from another litter Woody from Cats of Wildcat Woods.   Now it is my turn.

My mom Lily had me outdoors in her second litter during the fall of 2006. My bean Mom had tried to catch Lily before she got pregnant again with another litter but it didn't happen. She caught all the cats in the litter before me and brought them inside before we were all born. She was afraid the first litter would disperse throughout the neighborhood and she wouldn't be able to catch them to spay and neuter them.

Me with Twospot and Only

We (Only, Two Spot, Smidge and me) were born under the house in the crawlspace. I was very feisty. Mom bean picked me up when we came up to eat on the deck and I just hissed and spit at her even tho I was just a tiny ball of fur at 6-8 weeks old! She wasn't sure we were all done nursing and didn't want Lily to go into heat again so she left us outside with her for a little longer hoping to catch us all together.

We spent the next few months lounging on the back deck, playing with toys Mom bean left out and living a very nice life. Mom bean was going to be moving to another town and wanted to take us all with her. Mom bean had TNR'd the other feral cats and let them live out their lives in the yard but this time was different. She asked everybody but none of the neighbors would take on the responsibility of feeding and caring for us if she left us behind to live outdoors. She couldn't do that.

We had gotten very used to her by now but still wouldn't let her pet us. She would prop open the porch door and stand inside and we would come in to explore. Only and Two Spot either were dumber or smarter than us (not sure which) but she caught them first by closing the door while they were busy exploring and they were caught on the porch. We got all upset at first but then went back to life as usual.

One day Mom bean put Only in a carrier in the porch and opened the door for us to see. Even Lily went inside to see what was going on. Smidge and I followed Mom Lily and Mom bean closed the porch door! We were inside but not very happy. It took Pop and Mom beans hours to catch us all and put us safely in one small room so we could get used to them and being inside.

We all got moved to the new place and all my litter mates and Lily live with me in a cool shelter the beans made for us. Their house is smaller here than the old one so they converted the workshop and carport into a indoor playroom and screen porch for us to live in. We have all sorts of shelves and chairs to sit on and they spend lots of time out here with us. Pop bean uses the workshop - we gave him a small corner of it to putter around in.

Me with Only and Twospot all growed up.

Woody's Gotcha Story

Me out on the deck

 
Hey!  I am Woody from Cats of Wildcat Woods.  My cat mom is Lily and she was one wild smart feral.  No one could catch her so she had three litters before they got her spayed.  I am kinda glad cuz I would not be here if they had!

Me and one of my brothers.

Lily had already had her third litter and those kittens were real small, living under the deck on our human's house.  My human Mom was scared Norm, Snowball and Sam  would all wander off before she could get us fixed.  She had already taken in my sister Georgie.

So long story short,  she put a dog kennel cage on the deck with lots of food and treats in it.  What we did not know was that she also had tied a string to the cage door and was holding the other end!  All three of us went inside the cage to nom on the yummy food.  BAM! The cage door shut and were went nuts!  Mom managed to lock the door before any of us got out.

Me now seven years later.

We all got fixed (I didn't think I was broken!) and now all live together with our mom cat Lily in a safe forever home.

Gotcha Day for Grace & two babies

Like Timmy, Grace's gotcha-day story is pretty much tied up in her "how I got my name" story, so we'll tell you about who else has the same gotcha day in the same forever home ... two of her four babies!!

Grace had four tiny babies, and all five of them were rescued and housed by Deb and ML ~ and then Grace's blog was begun, to advertise that she and her babies needed forever homes.

Brutus (the BIGGEST of the kittens) and Marigold (the smallest of the kittens) were immediately claimed by Rose in New Jersey. 

Grace was immediately claimed by Marilynn in Texas ... but she couldn't get those other two kittens off her mind. So guess what? She took MommaGrace AND the two middle kittens, Pete and Foster. Gotcha Day itself was June 6, 2006 ... a wonderfully fun-filled day!!

 Baby Pete, at about 6 weeks; he was re-named Audace.

Baby Foster; he was re-named Ruse!

And here are some places to see them when they were just beginning to grow up and still hung out with their momma!

Sept 2006 <~~click here

My Gotcha Story

The first photos of Oui Oui.

Years ago, I was a tiny kitten in a scary place with cages and loud, noisy cats and dogs.  For a while my brothers and sisters were there, but they left one by one, then I was all alone.  I hollered and yelled cause I didn't like it.  A man put his finger in my cage and I tried to hold on but couldn't.  So I yelled some more, but no one came.  A girl looked in.  I was still yelling when a little later a lady looked in.  She had a person open the cage and she held me and scratched me.  I could hear her heart and it sounded good, so I purred and purred.  She was showing everyone what a nice kitty I was, but no one looked and the man was following, telling people I was a bad scratching kitty!  She told the man it was only cause I was lonely and he shouldn't have pulled his finger away.  But still no one was interested in me, so the lady got mad and said she'd "take" me.

A couple days later I went home with the girl who looked in and the lady.  I was SO HAPPY!  When they let me out of the cage, I ranned and ranned all around the room for 15 minutes cause it felt so good!  I did stop to look at some toys, but then I ranned some more while they laughed at me the whole time.  But I didn't care.  The lady wanted to call me Jubilee, and the girl insisted my name be Sweet Pea (Oui Oui is only my nickname).  The lady, who was now the mom, and The Girl laughed cause they were there at the loud scary place to help The Girl's granny find a dog, so this is also the story of how they helped find granny's dog.

Thanks to everyone who posted!

We just love reading Gotcha Stories.

Purrs,

Your Furriend Oui Oui

TwinkletoeTails