History Main / FromStrayToPet

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''RWBY'' oneshot ''Fanfic/HumbleBeginnings'', Taiyang found Zwei as a puppy on the streets and took him in.

* The finale of ''Animation/AKittenNamedWoof'' ends with both Woof and his best friend the puppy are adopted by two children in the city. In prior episodes the house they live in seems occupied, but we hardly see the owners and the final episode hints that they left, abandoning the animals living their in the process.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Strips]]

[[folder: Film -- Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron'': Spirit was born a feral Mustang but gets taken in by humans. He refuses to be tamed but eventually befriends a human. He is ultimately let back into the wild at the end of the film.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}''. Despite saving the children and sireing puppies with Jenna, Balto is still a street dog in the sequel ''WesternAnimation/BaltoIIWolfQuest''. The historical Balto was also not an example, but for a different reason--he was bred as a championship sled dog.

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''Goodbye, My Lady'' is about a fourteen year old boy who finds a stray Basenji and keeps her as his hunting dog.

[[folder: Literature]]

* Subverted at the start of ''Literature/WhereTheRedFernGrows''. The protagonist finds a hound dog being attacked by other strays and saves him. He gives him some food, washes him, and gives him a place to sleep for the night but lets him go the next day. He assumes since the dog had a collar and his paw looked like he had been walking for a long time, he was trying to find his way home.
* Kit Kittredge from the ''Literature/AmericanGirl'' series adopts a stray Basset Hound in ''Happy Birthday, Kit!'', whom she [[IronicName ironically named]] Grace for her clumsiness. This sub-plot was also used in the LiveActionAdaptation of Kit's book series.

* During ''Literature/{{Chocolat}}'', Guillaume loses his [[LivingEmotionalCrutch beloved]] dog Charly to disease, and is so heartbroken he swears he'll never get another pet...until the BittersweetEnding, where his friends notice a stray puppy hanging around him. He feeds it, but insists that it's not his pet. Vianne just smiles.

* Used repeatedly in ''Literature/ADogsLife'':
** Squirrel and her brother Bone are caught by a couple as puppies. The people however took them on a whim and weren't ready for one un-trained puppy, nevermind two. They end up abandoning them at a mall. Squirrel ends up with a permanent shoulder injury from being thrown out the car.
** Bone ends up taken in by two women who see him get thrown out the car. Squirrel ends up left behind because they don't want two dogs and don't think she's as cute as Bone. Squirrel tries throughout her life to locate Bone [[spoiler:but she never does]].
** After [[spoiler:Squirrel's friend Moon gets hit by a car and dies]], Squirrel is adopted by a family. They however don't keep dogs permanently. They keep dogs while at they're summer home then abandon them when they leave. Squirrel, now named "Daisy", is made to sleep in the garage and isn't allowed indoors. For the first few days she's played with however eventually her owners start ignoring her. Eventually they forget to feed her, causing her to start hunting again. By the end of the summer they go home without Squirrel.
** One winter, a now elderly Squirrel takes refuge in a shed. She is found by an eighty year old woman named Susan who gives her food. Squirrel is reluctant to take it at first but eventually gives in. She ends up coming inside with the women, gets renamed "Addie", [[spoiler:and the book ends with her living with her new owner]].
* ''Literature/TailchasersSong'': Played with Tailchaser. He was saved from death by humans. He sleeps in a bed on their porch and eats from their food, however he doesn't actually seem to be their pet. He's still a feral cat instead of an outside cat.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* Your pet in ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' is a stray found by Marnie. She'll ask if you want to adopt them.
* Diamond Dog from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' starts as a stray puppy lost in the wilderness. You can send him back to [[HomeBase Mother Base]] and have Ocelot train him as an AttackAnimal.
* Every ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game (except for ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'') has a stray dog named "Dogmeat" as a possible companion.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* Brian Griffin from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' was a stray talking dog found by Peter and he adopted him into their family.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiritRidingFree'', this is Spirit (child of the one from ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron'' above). First he was a wild herd leader; then he met the main character and made friends with her, and now he's basically her pet. (Although she does have his barn stall set up so he can leave whenever he wants.)

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'':

In real life, it is not advised to interact with stray (and especially feral) animals due to a risk of them having diseases or because they might harm you. This applies far more to dogs than to cats and pigeons as dogs are more inherently and realistically dangerous and capable of killing a human, whereas the other two, the more avoidant of conflict and relatively harmless cats and the although unwary of humans and disease carrying in high-concentrations but mostly harmless pigeons, aren't.

Compare to RagsToRiches and RecruitedFromTheGutter for humans. The inversion is APetIntoTheWild. May be done via AbandonedPetInABox.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiritRidingFree'', this is Spirit (child of the one from ''Film/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron'' above). First he was a wild herd leader; then he met the main character and made friends with her, and now he's basically her pet. (Although she does have his barn stall set up so he can leave whenever he wants.)

* ''Manga/MyRoommateIsACat'': Explores somes of the consequences of this, though both cat (Haru) and owner (Subaru) are lucky enough that the worse possible ones didn't actually happen:

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}''. Despite saving the children and sireing puppies with Jenna, Balto is still a street dog in the sequel ''WesternAnimation/BaltoIIWolfQuest''. Note that the historical Balto was ''not'' an example--he was bred as a championship sled dog.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}''. Despite saving the children and sireing puppies with Jenna, Balto is still a street dog in the sequel ''WesternAnimation/BaltoIIWolfQuest''.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}''. Despite saving their children and sireing puppies with Jenna, Balto is still a street dog in the sequels.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Tramp: from street-smart rebel to family dog in the span of 75 minutes!]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Tramp: from street-smart rogue to family dog in the span of 75 minutes!]]

PetsVsStrays is not always, but is very often involved in such stories.

In real life, it is not advised to interact with stray (and especially feral) animals due to a risk of them having diseases or because they might harm you. This applies far more to dogs than to cats and pigeons as dogs are more inherently and realistically dangerous and capable of killing a human, whereas the other two, the more avoidant of conflict and relatively harmless cats and the unwary and disease carrying in high-concentrations but mostly harmless pigeons, aren't.

StraysVsPets is often involved in such stories.

In real life, it is not advised to interact with stray (and especially feral) animals due to a risk of them having diseases or because they might harm you.

* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Sakaki adopts the Iriomote mountain cat she befriended on the school trip to Okinawa after it becomes orphaned and treks across the country in search of her.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode ''Pool Hopping'', Garnet and Steve find seemingly abandoned feral kittens and save them. They give them to an animal shelter, though they adopt the one-eyed kitten and name her [[OneSteveLimit Cat Steven]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode ''Pool Hopping'', Garnet and Steve find seemingly abandoned feral kittens and save them. They give them to an animal shelter.

Compare to RagsToRiches and RecruitedFromTheGutter for humans. The inversion is APetIntoTheWild.

** One of the pet you can adopt in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonSaveTheHomeland'' is a stray cat.

* ''Manga/GingaNagareboshiGin'' inverts this trope. Gin runs off several episodes in.

Compare to RagsToRiches and RecruitedFromTheGutter for humans.

* Both inverted and played straight in ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron'':
** Spirit was born a feral Mustang but gets taken in by humans. He refuses to be tamed but eventually befriends a human. He is ultimately let back into the wild at the end of the film.
** Spirit's love interest, Rain, was born a pet horse however is released into the wild with Spirit at the end.

* Both played straight and inverted in ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** Mostly inverted: The main character, Firestar, started as a "kittypet" named Rusty who ran off and was adopted into [=ThunderClan=]. He also brought his nephew, Cloudtail, to [=ThunderClan=] as a kit. [[spoiler:Firestar's half-brother]] Scourge was originally a kittypet named Tiny, who fled his home after his sister taunted him that any kits unwanted by humans are thrown in the river. Sasha's owner went to a nursing home, and when she realized he wasn't coming back, she became a rogue; Purdy, similarly, took to the streets after his owner died. Millie left her home to help Graystripe find [=ThunderClan=] and join it herself. Daisy and her kits were farm cats, but when the humans took away Floss' kits, Daisy brought them to [=ThunderClan=] where they could be safe. About half of New [=SkyClan=] were also kittypets that left their homes to join the Clan. Violet's kits were born as kittypets, but they dreamed of becoming warriors, and Violet had Ravenpaw bring them to the modern [=SkyClan=]. Several cats, such as Cloudpaw and Graystripe, end up "kidnapped" by twolegs but later escape back to the wild.
** Played straight: Violet was born in [=BloodClan=], but when she was badly injured by her brothers, Barley took her to live with Fuzz, whose owner was a veterinarian. Pinestar, a leader of [=ThunderClan=], left the Clan to live out the rest of his [[CatsHaveNineLives final life]] as a kittypet. A few of the last remaining members of Old [=SkyClan=] became kittypets when the Clan finally split up. In ''Dawn of the Clans'', after Turtle Tail realizes her feelings for Gray Wing are unrequited, she joins her friend Bumble as a kittypet (later goes back to the forest, however.)
* Inverted in ''Windrusher''. The titular "Windrusher" was a pet cat named Tony whose owners abandoned him.
* Inverted in ''Literature/TheCallOfTheWild''. Buck is a sled-dog who acts increasingly more wild until he joins a wolf pack.

* Inverted in ''Literature/VarjakPaw'' when Varjak, a kitten who's barely been out of his house and was raised on high class cat foods, is forced to leave his home and venture into the streets to rescue his family. He has a [[FishOutOfWater hard time at first]] but ironically he is the only cat around who learns how to hunt (the strays scavenge off humans).