Humans started to tame animals more than 15,000 years ago and today it’s hard to imagine a world without pets. They fill us with joy and happiness. In addition, if the owner didn’t just buy, but saved the 4-legged friend from starving on the street, owning this pet will be complemented by an onslaught of thankfulness and adoration.

We at Bright Side admire those people who made the decision to adopt homeless cats, dogs, and birds and became a family for them. And we can continue endlessly looking at how our pets transform with the help of their owners’ tender attitude.

“From a small sad caterpillar to a mischievous, ubiquitous, loved, and spoiled cat. This is Stephan.”

“Now he conspires together with our first dog.”

“This is Utah. She was about to be put down when I saved her. She was 13 years old then — she’s turning 19 soon.”

“This is Shelley, I adopted her from the street when she was 1.5 months. She was very scared of people.”

“I’ve had him for 10 years already. We have meals together, he gnaws my phone, my wallpaper, and my furniture, and sleeps on my leg.”

“My beautiful girl Charlie — only got 6 months with her (14 years old) but it was worth every second.”

“She was screaming at me and my daughter, ‘Stop, please, and let me live with you,’ when she was running after us on the street. We heard her.”

“My sweet Remi Mae, she was full-term pregnant and 2 weeks from delivery. Came to me and had 10 healthy puppies, who all went to a rescue. Now she is the sweetest couch potato.”

“I went out to check but didn’t find anyone. I got back into the car and saw a funny sweet kitty sitting near my bag. It’s been 2 years since we started to live together.”

“We are the happy owners of a dog from a shelter.”

“The Pontiff of our home. I have no idea what would’ve happened to this little kitten if we hadn’t met him.”

“He is the best thing that happened to us in a foreign country.”

“We got her from a shelter 3 years ago. The difference between the photos is 2 weeks.”

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“Arwyn is 9 years old today. We found her with her siblings behind our chicken coop in the woods. Hand-raised and living a life of luxury.”

“Sugar was the worst case of matting I had ever seen. Found her running down my street. A friend and I spent 3 hours grooming her to reveal the spunkiest little girl.”

“That cat disappeared 2 weeks later, but we kept the kittens with us.”

“Roger was found on the streets of Kentucky before being rescued and brought up to Minnesota. During his journey up here, he lost all of the hair on his ears from stress (left).”

“One year ago, Jake was found underneath a car, alone, and half-frozen. He was 4 weeks old and his mom was gone.”

“3 of them ran away, but this one stayed with us, lied on my kid’s feet, and fell asleep. He’s been living with us for 8 years and is the chief of our house.”

“The Siamese cat was picked up by my husband near the fence of some fancy house. He was meowing so much that he almost lost his voice.”

The striped cat was saved from being attacked by dogs. I put him on my chest and asked him, “Sweetheart, where did you come from?” He spread his legs out on me, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. It was obvious whose cat he was from then on.

Do you have pets at home? How did you find them?