I live in Phoenix, AZ.
In February 2019, we saw an orange blob on the house camera feeding from the feral cat feeding bowl. *start photos top left*
I posted on the Nextdoor app “hey, is this your cat?”... no reply for about two weeks so I kept posting daily pics. Short story, I finally found his owner and she said “yep, that’s my cat.” But Sam... he just would not stop hanging around our house - day in and day out... he would get in my car, he would lay on our doormat to be sure to not miss our arrivals, and many days of watch him on the ring doorbell sitting - staring.
I finally let him in. We called him Cinnamon. And he loved his new home. LOVED. I called the owner and she said “he chose you.”
We brushed him, he really blossomed and played and slept with the other pets.
I would post funny instagram stories of “random not my cat” things and multiple Facebook posts of “look at this crazy neighbors cat.”
In November, he grew ill, so I called his owner and said “Sam is sick... I just wanted you to know.”
My husband and I took him to the vet and they gave him a few days to live... so we went through his bucket list 1. Eat tuna, 2. sit in sunny window on forbidden kitchen counter, and finally 3. lay outside under the big tree where we brought him Squeeze Up treats and bowls of ice water.
Cinnamon/Sam lasted a week - kidney failure.
Sometimes - my house, not my cat... just isn’t what it seems. I still miss that freeloading fool. *end photos bottom right* November 2019 Love couldn’t save him

Crumpet sits on my decking each and every morning and stares through the door awaiting his daily tribute.
He'll pretty much consume anything.
Biscuits, leftovers, a small child, the soul of a loved one... whatever.
All hail our super fluffy ginger overlord.

I was in such shock that I first thought one of my own was getting out! She's currently trapped in the bathroom being an adorable kitten, and tomorrow we go to the vet. My dog is already hoping we keep her
UPDATE!!! SHE HAD A CHIP!!! Her family lost her almost 2 Years Ago!!!! Mom was in TEARS. I'm so very selfishly sad, but I just made a whole family incredibly happy

For more than 20 years we’d been a dogs-only family. One day about 4 1/2 years ago, Amelia decided it was time to change that. She randomly showed up at our house, super skinny but otherwise very healthy...and then never left  We really think she was dumped, because she was SO super friendly and *completely* unafraid of people...she SPRINTED inside the house the moment we opened the door, and jumped in our laps! Now she’s living as a cat should be, rotund and lazy and happy

So about 1:00 this morning, I went outside and this cat, that is not my cat, meows, so I call it, and it comes right to me. Now first, we have dogs, lots of dogs, and 2 are neighbors’ dogs that live outside, and yet somehow, this tiny cat just strolls right up and none of the dogs even move. Second, we live in the country and we know all our neighbors and their cats, and this is not their cat. Third, when I pick her up, it’s apparent that she has had kittens recently.
So now I’m standing outside at 1:00 AM, holding this very friendly cat that has apparently been dumped at my house, and is somehow magical and able to sneak past sleeping dogs. But now I have to carry her past the 2 outside dogs and the 6 inside dogs to get her somewhere safe....
She is absolutely fine with the whole thing. Stays snuggled in my arms. Purrs. I’m not convinced that this is real, that I’m not dreaming. So I feed the magic cat and start looking for kittens. Y’all, I searched for nearly 7 straight hours. I even enlisted my Terrier mix in the hunt. (She could find baby mice in a snowstorm with earmuffs on.) I even walked the property playing kittens meowing sounds on my phone.
So this is the bad news, we live in the country and the likelihood of the babies being ok with all the predators here is slim, and she may have been dumped without them. So I am not giving up looking, but now I’ve got a potential surrogate mom cat. And y’all, I’ve bottlefed kittens and if there’s a chance for a surrogate, trust me, worth it.
I reached out to my rescue friends and managed to get her lined up to be a surrogate mom to 3 orphaned kittens before noon. Unfortunately, the vet check showed that she has a lot of parasites and she’s going to have to wait 3 days before she can meet her new babies. But the vet said she should still be able to feed the babies then. So now this cat that is not my cat is not at my house anymore, she’s getting well so she can meet the kittens that are not her kittens. Told you she was magic. And I need a nap.

The first pic is what I sent to my family asking what to do about a random cat in the apartment. I lured him back outside with a packet of salmon, and all he wanted was cuddles and to go back inside.
So yeah, that’s the story of how I got adopted. He still takes very good care of me to this day

I open the door to check out the noise and this orange baby comes walking in like ‘cool, I live here now’. I already have two cats and a large dog but this new one is walking about with no issues or fighting. I figure I’ll take him to the vet and see if he has a chip in the morning and go to bed. Flash forward to the vets office and he has a chip! Hooray!! I reach out to the owners and within 30 minutes they call me and agree to meet. I arrive with the orange baby who is currently not happy with his car ride and is now hiding in my lap while we wait for his mom. She shows up. We get out of the cars, I’m holding the kitty, we’re doing small talk, she’s reaches out to pet him. And then she pulls her hand back and says, “You know, he’s been missing for about 3 weeks. I don’t think I want him back.” And gets in her car and drives away. It was heartbreaking. So my house not my cat has become my house my cat through a very sad tale of events

This gorgeous boy ‘lives’ 3 houses down. He’s not allowed inside his house and is always outside roaming, day or night. So now ‘Carl’ enjoys the good life at ours. He will pop back to his house late afternoon, bring back a fresh chicken wing and put it in his bowl and eat it here. Absolute legend

Mittens is a stray thats fixed in our neighborhood who always runs to me when I come home, I have two insulated shelters for her outside since its cold. She gets fed 6-7 times a day between me and the old lady next door! Very loving, always jumps up on my shoulders. She’s a part of my daily routine! I always check on her multiple times a day, and 2-3 times a night to make sure she’s comfy in her shelter. I’m ordering her a collar to officially adopt her, and if I ever move she’s coming with me! Working cats need love too!

He belonged to the neighbor, but she never let him in the house, so I created a place for him in my garage. I left the windows down one night, this is what I came to the next morning.
I haven’t seen him in close to two months, when today, I see him up for adoption on a cat rescue site listed as a tripod (he recently lost a leg). They called him Sammy , which was the name of my neighbor’s cat. I’m so excited to have found him again. So, I put in an application to adopt him. Maybe he’ll actually be my cat after all

THIS is Tux! His family moved in behind us late last year & he comes to watch us through our glass door multiple times a day, for hours at a time. He waits patiently for one of my two cats to come out OR for my youngest (arm pictured) to deliberately open the screen door to let him in.

Justin is NOT a fan of cats and usually will chase or lunge at them when given the chance. Well to this little guy, it mattered not. He wouldn’t be intimidated and insisted that he and Justin would be friends. After a few weeks this was the case. Justin was won over. Then, he turned his attention to my wife and I. Gordon, as my wife named him, started stopping by the house to say hello. This progressed to stopping by for a bite to eat and a place to sleep for a couple hours. We found out that this was his MO up and down the block. He didn’t really belong to anyone, he wandered freely in and out of houses and was fed and offered places to sleep wherever.
Several months later we came home from a week away and poor Gordon was on front step of our house looking VERY ill. I took him to the vet and they told me he had a kidney issue that would require IV fluids for the next week. So dutifully Gordon and I went to the vet and they’d hook his little arm up to an IV and he’d curl up in my lap and let it happen. The vet said that she wished all her feline patients were as willing and accommodating as Gordon.
After his health scare, Gordon got back to doing what he did best and ate/slept/caroused around the neighborhood. Then in January of last year he went missing. No one in the neighborhood knew anything of his whereabouts. It was and remains an absolute crusher for me. He was the sweetest little orange guy and I’m sure that he came to me when he was sick because he knew I would help him.
I can only hope that someone said, “This cat is too awesome to live on the streets!” and took him in forever. Regardless, my heart aches knowing that I’ll likely never see him again. Gordon, I hope you’re out there curled up on someone’s couch enjoying your best life. Miss you my friend!

Tigger, month six (lol). One day in summer we left our front door open and in came Tigger. We called the number on the tag, met his real parents (one street over), and we thought that was that. Wrong! Tigger comes over twice a day minimum, sleeps over, the whole bit. We are HIS pets