n my parents bookshelf sits a dusty stack of photo albums that visually chronicle the lives of my family up until about 2011 when Instagram started doing it for us.
In the very early editions of these albums, when my brother was four years old and I was just a toddler, thereβs a very unusual third wheel in almost every photo. An enormous black Great Dane. I can remember looking at these photos as an adult and thinking how odd it was that my family had once owned a dog that was the size of a teenager when the only dog weβve had since then was a rat masquerading as a Mini Fox Terrier. Also my fatherΒ is not terribly fond of big dogs so I couldnβt figure out what on earth possessed them to get a Great Dane.
Turns out, the dog came with the house we lived in. My parents bought a small cottage in northern New South Wales in the early 80s and when they moved in with their two tiny children in tow, the dog was there. Her name was Jenny and she just lived at the house. So my parents took care of her for the year or two that we lived there.
I asked my parents what happened to Jenny when we moved to Canberra circa 1986 and my dad said that she stayed with the house. The next owner was more than happy for her to stay. Although my parents grew quite fond of her, the thought of driving a giant farm dog to Canberra to live in sub-zero temperatures just seemed cruel, so Jenny stayed with her house and allowed another family to move in and live with her. She owned the house and simply let humans come and live there with her for a while.
A friend of mine told me another beautiful story about a friend of hers who was hanging out the washing on her birthday one year and out of no where this little parrot flew out of the sky, landed on her hand as she was pegging up a t-shirt, wandered down her arm and snuggled into her neck. The woman tried to find the owner but no one claimed him so she just kept him. Sheβs now of those awesome bird people, who just always has a bird on her shoulder and they absolutely love each other. He just flew out of the sky and went βYep! I pick you!β and theyβve been together ever since.
I was having drinks with a few friends last week and we all started sharing our accidental pet stories and they made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside that I just had to ask my readers to share their furry tales.
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Have you ever had an accidental pet? Or has an animal ever adopted you?
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34 Comments
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Yes, our neighbour moved from Perth to Melbourne and had her daughter move in with her dog and cat to take care of her apartment and cat called Pepsi. He didn’t take too kindly to that arrangement, even though the other cat was his brother and decided to go looking around the street for better options.
He was living in our roof and front yard for a good month and we suspected he was homeless not knowing the background. We took him to the vet and found the microchip was blank, so we opened our home while the vet searched for the owners. When they finally touched base we suggested that he share houses and let him decide where he wanted to be.
He is a gorgeous ragdoll and the neigbour’s daughter also recently moved on with her animals and left Pepsi behind in our care, he was spending 99% of his time with us and occasionally inviting his brother over. I’m not a cat person but I just love him. I think it was the whole homeless angle when we first met. lol
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Oh my god I love Ragdolls! I’d totally keep a rag doll they’re delicious!
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As a child we moved to a new housing estate that had no fences (to begin with), our neighbour’s labrador Sally became a community dog and when their marriage broke up and they went their separate ways…Sally officially became ours. She was a brilliant dog and we loved her endlessly until she passed at 15. We never had a dog before her and have never had such a big dog since but I do believe she taught our family that we ARE dog people as we’ve had dogs ever since! RIP Sally!
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Oh my goodness I love that story! It always makes me sad for the people who gave up their pets though… I’m not sure I’d be able to do it.
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Love these!
Three years ago, my friend was looking to sublet out her ridiculously cheap Newtown 2-bedder but was having issues finding someone because the place came with her cranky 10 year old cat Batman.
Around the same time, my brother had just broken up with his girlfriend and was living at home, feeling pretty down about the whole thing.
I decided it was all meant to be so my brother and I moved in with Batman, who quickly became the best part of our day and my brother’s best buddy
I’ve since moved out but my bro still lives there with Batman and sends me daily photos when I can’t visit each week!-
Oh I love that story! A cat wouldn’t turn me off renting a house ever. It would make me want to rent it even more!
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Aww what lovely stories π
My grandparents are constantly adopted by cats. We joke that it’s because my grandfather is too stubborn to actually adopt one himself, despite loving animals. He gets to keep believing he doesn’t really have pets, but the truth is, he ALWAYS has a cat to play with and love.-
Oh that’s so cute! I have a friend who is pretty grumpy around animals but they just love him – I think some people just have an animal vibe.
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Why yes, funny you should ask! We inherited a guinea pig with the house my parents bought when I was 6, his name was Henny and he was the most neglected guinea pig ever until we arrived and gave him the best life for his remaining years. He ended up living a pretty long (and happy!) life, so it all worked out in the end.
We also inherited a cat (that we named Ramona after the tv show/books that no-one else seems to remember) in New Zealand, it was the neighbourhood stray & fell in love with my mum but would only eat dog food and was kinda viscous, so Ramona stayed in NZ with some neighbours when we moved to Melbourne…-
Oh I love that! It’s funny with ‘borrowed’ pets they seem to keep getting passed around! π
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Ramona Quimby? I loved those books!
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Yes! Ramona Quimby! No-one ever remembers the tv show (I think maybe it was Canadian?) and only a few people seem to know the books, but they were a huge part of my childhood!
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There’s something so incredibly special about animals, isn’t there? They know how to love and they know who to love.
The day we went to pick out our dog, we had first pick from the two puppies available: one was a docile, sweet looking munchkin and the other was a rambunctious, tiny little pocket rocket who was running around like a lunatic. We looked at the little lunatic and looked at one another. I said, “Amalfi?” and my husband said, “Yep!” …and that’s how that funny little fluffball came into our lives. x-
So Amalfi was the lunatic? π I can’t WAIT to meet him!!!! YAY!
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When we came back to Australia we wanted to get a Siamese cat. We drove down to a breeder in Picton and there were kittens everywhere. While my sister was looking at the kittens trying to choose one came up to her, started meowing, jumped up into her arms and started purring. My sister gave her to my mother while she looked at a couple of other kittens and she happily stayed there until we decided we should take her home. So while we bought her we always felt she chose us. When she died nearly 16 years later we just didn’t have the heart to go out and get other cat because she was irreplaceable.
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Oh my god I nearly cried reading that! My family had a cat pick us as well! She was a right madam but we loved her. I think it’s very special getting picked by an animal.
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That actually reminds me! My mum went to look at a persian cat when I was a kid looking to adopt it and when she got there the cat acted like a total dick and wasn’t very nice but there was another moggy cat there who came up to mum and started nuzzling her and mum decided to take her home instead and we had her for about 15 years. She actually turned out to be a total bitch but we loved her!
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These stories made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, nice one Smaggle π
When we were at the shelter looking at cats I was cooing over this adorable kitten called Tom who I was desperate to take home. Then someone started tugging on my skirt and I looked down and it was a ginger cat who was a lot bigger than the other kittens but every time I tried to look at the other cats he would come over and tug at my skirt. We took him home, called him Butters, and he is the biggest dick of a cat I’ve ever known. And he hates everyone but my partners father. After we took him home he ended up in kitty ICU (turns out he was actually dying from cat flu and that was the only reason he “picked” me, because he saw me as a sure thing trip to the vets all expenses paid!). These days he throws himself at people and claws them when they enter the kitchen to bully them into giving him turkey slices from the crisper, beats up the other cat, and demands to be fed at 6am on the dot – regardless of whether if its a Saturday morning. We brought home the wrong cat…
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Oh my goodness that’s awful! And kind of hilarious… my auntie and uncle have a special needs cat. She attacks people all the time. She kind of likes my uncle, tolerates my auntie and despises everyone else, even my mum who is the biggest cat person in the world. It’s kind of funny when pets are dicks though. π
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When I was travelling I moved into a shared flat in Edinburgh where the last occupant had “Done a runner”. When I brought my backpack in, the room was empty except for a bucket on the floor. I walked over and found a Goldfish in it. They had taken the tank and everything and just left this sad Goldfish in a bucket. So before I had even unpacked my things I went to the nearest pet store and bought a tank, some fish related things and a friend for he/she. I called them Kid A and Kid B, I was going through a big Radiohead phase.
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Oh my god that is the best story ever. What butt heads for not taking the fish! Especially in Edinburgh – they could have been frozen block of ice if you didn’t get there in time. How long did they live for?
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Not yet – but we have adopted 2 cats from the RSPCA but that’s a long story as we had to give one back π Actually now that I think of it – Kitty Kat adopted us when I was about 12 in NZ, a ginger moggy who sadly died of skin cancer, bloody NZ and its crappy ozone layer!
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Oh how sad for you! That’s the same in Australia. My grandparents have never had a cat with ears.
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These stories warm the cockles of my heart, they really do! I am so desperate for a dog, having one adopt me would be like a dream come true.
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We’re desperate for a dog too! But we’ve got so much travel and stuff coming up that we just can’t justify it. As soon as we can though we will!
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My daughter’s electrician BF was doing some work at a rental house after tenants vacated. A beautiful ridgeback mastiff cross followed him all over the house. The owner said tenants moved out a week before and just left the dog behind. BF shared his lunch with the dog, cos he is kind hearted. Then the owner asked him if he wanted the dog, otherwise he would have to take him to the pound. BF said he’d think about it. He packed up his truck and when he got in driver’s seat, dog was sitting up in passenger seat all ready to go – decision made! X
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OH MY GOD!!!! That’s the best story ever! I love it. My dad’s a plumber so I can totally see that happening!
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sure – might inspire someone!
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Can I share this on Facebook? I just love it!
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My mastiff cross stalked me for three weeks (actually she was stalking Yoshi, the Japanese backpacker who worked with me); one early morning, I dragged her off the highway where she was about to go under the wheels of a B-double, and discovered she was a stray, and not from the farm next door. Yoshi was going back to Japan, so I took her home. It was three weeks after I had to have my beautiful but grumpy cattle-dog put down, and 20 days after I swore I was through with dogs.
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Wow it seems like mastiffs just pick people like that! Gorgeous!
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Back in the days we only have one indoor cat who Mum would only allow out on a leash during the day.
Then over one very cood winter, our cat was having a staring contest with the window over the period of 2 weeks . Eventually we discovered a stray kitten was outside. The original plan was keep her outside with her own setup as it was decided we don’t want another cat…
Forward a week, I returned from a week away and found the said kitten curled up and snooze without a care in the world on the couchSide note : when we took her to the vet to get desex….. we bumped into another kitten looks exactly the same,we suspected they are siblings. ..
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All but one of our animals have been strays. My father use to work for Algas many years ago. On one of his deliveries he came across a White Tibetan Terrier, really neglected. Turned out the son hated the dog, it belonged to his mother. The dog would sit and eat at the table. Benji (I was in love with the movie & books) was going blind in one eye & needed the other removed. He was with us for another 7 years. We got a pure bred one to keep Benji company called Khan, he lived under my bed and growled every time I entered my room.
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I always wanted to be adopted by a pet but it hasn’t happened (yet).
However, I firmly believe my adopted dog was meant for us and us for him. After going through the wringer with some different pet rescue groups- I stumbled across a photo of 6 month old cattle dog pup that was all limbs and stories of hardship. I wrote a long email basically detailing all the reasons we shouldn’t have a cattle dog ( Melbourne inner suburbs etc etc). I received a reply “I think you should meet him”.He is my heart.
