It's strange, because I always thought that I would buy my pets when I became wealthy, and though I haven't made it to the wealthy portion of my life just yet, I never did get to buy my pets (one day I shall though!).
I current have six "fur-bearing" animals; two dogs, four cats (and then two fish).
The fish don't really have any special backstory other than my in-laws bought four Guppies for my son, they had several young (that I sold) but because I was new to the whole fish experience and still learning, they didn't make it the year. Instead, they died one by one. However, it all came with some practice put into it and I found myself ready for my own fish. So far, the two that I have currently have made it for the past ... six to four years? I've a Black Khuli Loach that has been around since the Guppies six years ago (he's "died" so many times that I no longer worry about him when he hasn't shown up in the tank) and an Albino Corydora Catfish for roughly four years now.
Now, the dogs and cats have a special story of their own each (technically one doesn't but /shrugs). Starting from oldest to youngest, there are: Kisa (c), Autumn (c), Piper (c), Gunner (d), Delta (d), and Harley (c).
Kisa was a stray born kitten. A woman next door to my Dad's ex-girlfriend had a stray cat that she was taking care of and she ended up pregnant. He surprised us with her, but I think he was mostly lonely because we only saw him on the weekends. She spent a week without a name because we couldn't think of one and mostly called her kitty. Eventually, we named her Kisa, which is Russian for kitten. Currently, she is eight and will be nine in March. Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/EtPQtbz.jpg
Autumn was the first special story. We were all sitting outside and heard a kitten meowing across the street in someone's yard. I went over there to go get her and heard the owners inside talking about leaving her there and she will eventually leave. She was kicked out of her home at four months old, it was cruel. We later heard a rumor that they had taken a mom and her litter and dumped them a few streets away and had forgotten her, but we never found the truth of this. It took a bit of persuading, but my sister and I got him to ask them about her and they happily gave her to us. Her skin was black with flea dirt and when we bathed her, they swarmed her entire face. She even had worms, which isn't uncommon when it comes down to such an infestation. She is also eight and will be nine in August. Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/qSifqjv.jpg
Piper was also an abusive case, but ten times worse. She was adopted by her old family because they wanted a dog but couldn't adopt the dog without adopting the cat with him. The family cared about her but the kids didn't know how to properly play with her and the mother worked too often. The only exception to them was the father - who would hit her and let the dog chase her. I met her per them going to Cedar Point and paying me to feed her and the dog, as well as bathroom and such. When I went over, I pulled out her food and such, but no cat came so I went looking for her. She was glued to a ledge upstairs in the stairwell and refused to move, so I had to carry her downstairs. Beforehand, I had searched for her in the basement, and instead of finding her, I found a litter box that probably hadn't been changed in a month. There was trail pile of dirty litter outside of it even. I had pet her for a bit, spent time with her, made sure she had everything and then went home.
When they came home, I mentioned how cute she was and instantly, he asked me if I wanted her. I was taken-aback and explained that I couldn't because I was living at my mom's house and it was her rule that we have no more animals (I'd already had Autumn and Kisa due to some issues that my Dad ran into with his own life, and then Gunner). He continued for about four months after that to ask me to take her, even though I kept telling him the same thing. Eventually, my husband and I were fighting about moving to his parents home due to them going away for a while. I was against it 100000%, but told him that I would go if I could take the cat. Took a bit, but thankfully he said yes. When I got her, I asked for her vet papers and such, but they couldn't locate it. I asked for her age; she said about four, he said about seven. After looking at her teeth (which I found she had several front teeth missing), we put her somewhere in between. She was probably ... two, maybe three pounds and could only eat soft foods for the first few weeks. When bringing her home, she hid in the basement in between several boxes and pretended not to exist. I'd have to spend five minutes coaxing her out for food and she had no idea how to properly use her litter box. Even play was unknown to her, and I had to have Kisa with me and play with her just to show Piper how it was done. We moved the next month again, back into the same house we'd been in, and her past owners neighbor informed us that the kids would beat her with toys and grab her inappropriately whenever she was around. He also confirmed that the father would beat her and allow the dog to chase her. She used to be named "Whiskers", to which we changed to Piper obviously.
One day, he asked about her and wanted the kids to see her. I was reluctant but said "Sure, you can see Piper.", to whom he'd ask who and then correct me as if she were still his cat and say "No, her name is Whiskers." The moment I brought her near enough to see them, she flipped out and clawed out of my arms and hid somewhere in our house. It wasn't so much the kids that she was afraid of, but I don't think I have to explain who exactly it was she had been running from. One of the kids didn't care so much, but the youngest was obviously hurt so we invited her inside and let her pet Piper, to which Piper didn't mind. Anyways, since then, she's been super happy, loving and playful and has quite the personality. She is roughly between seven to nine years old and has a "birthday" in October. Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/Zr2B5Fr.jpg
Gunner we got as a puppy from a friend of a friend whose dog had "gotten out and had puppies" (quotes because they had an intact male who my dog shows many similarities to). My sister was getting the dog, not me but I had accompanied them when it came time to pick out the puppy. As she was thinking of names, I jokingly said Gunner, a name that I'd liked recently because of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie having a zombie with a similar name. I was surprised that she chose the name, as we didn't have much to agree on back then. She did great with him, but eventually her social life took priority and well ... he was left home for days with us while she spent several nights in a row at her friends house (the term everyone would use for her was house-hopping). Finally, my Mom and I became fed up with having to care for a dog that wasn't ours and we suggested that she either give the dog to someone or that I was given the dog. She was offended and there was a fight, but after a few hours her boyfriend at the time talked her into it because she hadn't really spent time with the dog the last few months and she found out that she was pregnant. He was probably ten months old then, but now he is five years old and will be six in May. He is also a black Lab/Shepherd/Husky mix. Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/M1emby3.jpg
Delta was found just after we moved back into my mom's house, so about a month after we got Piper. The idea was to find her family and then, if that didn't happen, rehome her. Basically, we found her and another dog roaming our street. Luckily, I was able to close her off into an abandoned houses backyard, but the other dog was attacked by someone else's dog and both ran off down the street with others behind them. I spent roughly two hours trying to catch her, she's a survivalist and never uses the same trick more than once. Whenever I would try to catch her a specific way, she would dodge it and make sure that she wasn't found in that position again. Eventually though, we got her. We separated her from mine and my mother's dog because we weren't sure how she was with other dogs and looked for her owners for a month. She would growl at men, had food aggression but was great on a leash. I thought perhaps she was someone's dog and I still would like to think that, but after a month of no answers, we decided to find a No Kill shelter and take her there. The thing is, my husband had grown attached to her without me knowing really until the day that we decided to take her in. She is a sweet-heart really, and gave us funny faces and would stick herself between our seats just to be close to us. He pet her the whole way there and then told me to stay in the car, with the dog, and that he was going to go and see if they had room. I knew they did cause I had talked to them previously, but he still insisted that I stay in the car. He then came out fifteen minutes later and said they didn't. So I suggested other shelters, but he would tell me no, cause they were "all closed". My husband isn't much of an animal kind of guy and doesn't know shelter times, honestly. But whatever helps him to sleep at night. xD We asked my mom if we could keep her and we've had her since. She just turned five and will be six in September, and is a Shepherd/Collie mix. (the day we were going to take her to the shelter) --> Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/iLpTpuC.jpg
And finally, Harley. She is the youngest and the last animal that came into our home. We were going to the gas station for some snacks and something to drink in late September, and there was a cat sitting on the stations window. When we went in, I asked them about her and the cashier said she had been sitting there for two days, just popped up out of nowhere. At first, my husband said no because ... well ^^^^^. But she was eager to go with someone and jumped into our car. He told me to put her back so reluctantly, I did. I did not leave without a fight though and convinced him that it would only be until we either find her owners or a new home for her. That was the plan. There was no other routes, but it didn't end up that way. We had just bought a house but hadn't moved in yet, so we were going to let her sleep there for a few days. When we went back to get her, we didn't see her, so my husband went into the station to get cigarettes because he'd forgotten them previously. I probably looked crazy because I started calling for her. There was a meow, a loud banging noise, and she came running from the dumpster to me. She smelled horrible obviously, so we cleaned up what we though was a white and gray cat and found a pure white cat instead. xD Again, just like with Delta, we looked for her owners for a month (my personal limit of stray hold) and found none and named her Harley for the moment because of how loudly she would purr (like a Harley Davidson, though Harley Quinn was an initial though). What really sealed the deal though - my husband was trying to fix the dryer. He looked away for a moment and then shut it. Nothing in it, it just wasn't drying. Then he turned it on and after a few seconds, it started to make a banging noise. So he stopped it, opened it, and was horrified to see her inside but thankfully okay. My husband felt so guilty and horrible that she became his cat and I ended up with the constant anxiety of checking the dryer whenever I have start it before going bed @.@ (at least someone won). But she is a lovely little trip who loves to sleep everywhere and anywhere (we found her sleeping on some boxes in the trash can just the other day, she's so weird). She is three and will be four in October, so next month. Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/HTcVr3N.jpg
This took soooo long to write. xD However, I love sharing their stories so I guess it makes up for it. Thankfully, we haven't had the notion to bring in another animal since getting Harley and I've decided on not getting anymore entirely until all of their times have come.
BUT in the future, I want a Husky and a Savannah F1. xD