History Main / FromStrayToPet

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. The latter applies far more to dogs than to cats and domestic birds (such as pigeons). 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.

** The hyper-vigilance Haru acquired while on the streets results in her being a little hostile towards the more smothering displays of affection coming from humans, notably the youngest siblings of Subaru's childhood friend and Subaru's ManChild editor who loves cats, but married a woman who's allergic to them.

* The conclusion of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' has the dog Bolt reunited with the girl Penny, but includes his entourage as well: a hamster named Rhino who left a trailer park to answer the CallToAdventure, and a cat named Mittens, who, during an AccidentalPublicConfession, recounts "They pack up all their stuff, and all their love, and leave their declawed cat behind to fend for herself." The whole trio get adopted into Penny's new country home.

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

* In the first of ''Literature/TheFamousFive'' books, George reveals that she found Timmy on the moors when he was a puppy, and she made a pet of him.

* In ''Three From Prostokvashino'', Fjodor meets the (talking) stray cat Matroskin (it's somewhat of a family name) and wants to take him in as a pet. Similarly, Sharik the dog is supposed to be a stray initially. However, by the time all three live in Prostokvashino, they are treated as equals rather than pets.

* The more pet-like Anime/{{Pokemon}} can come off as this, but almost none as strongly as Litten. It was rather fierce toward Ash (and pretty much everyone but Moani the fruit stand owner), not wanting to leave its surrogate Stoutland parent. Once the elderly dog died and the kitten had a day to work through its grief, it accepted Ash's offer to be "adopted" into his team.

* The conclusion of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' has the dog Bolt reunited with the girl Penny, but includes his entourage as well: a hamster named Rhino who left a trailer park to answer the CallToAdventure, and a cat named Mittens, who, during an AccidentalPublicConfession, recounts "They pack up all their stuff, and all their love, and leave their declawed cat behind to fend for herself." The whole trio get adopted into Penny's new country home.

** ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'' ends with the Tramp being adopted into his mate Lady's family and the two [[BabiesEverAfter having puppies together]].

* ''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.

* 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.)
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode “Pool Hopping”, Garnet and Steven 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]].

A person finds a dog or cat on its own and decides to keep it. Occasionally the dog will be someone else's who got loose, however usually they're a stray.

* The more petlike Anime/{{Pokemon}} can come off as this, but almost none as strongly as Litten. It was rather fierce toward Ash (and pretty much everyone but Moani the fruit stand owner), not wanting to leave its surrogate Stoutland parent. Once the elderly dog died and the kitten had a day to work through its grief, it accepted Ash's offer to be "adopted" into his team.

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. The latter applies far more to dogs than to cats and domestic birds (such as pigeons). 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.

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

* The finale of ''Animation/AKittenNamedWoof'' ends with both Woof and his best friend the puppy being 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 there in the process.

* ''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:

** One of Haru's siblings also ends up becoming this, and is named Hachi by his new owners.
* The more petlike Anime/{{Pokemon}} can come off as this, but almost none as strongly than Litten. It was rather fierce toward Ash (and pretty much everyone but Moani the fruit stand owner), not wanting to leave its surrogate Stoutland parent. Once the elderly dog died and the kitten had a day to work through its grief, it accepted Ash's offer to be "adopted" into his team.

** Mary in "The Wind," who goes from stray to pet and back to stray.

* Thomas O'Malley from ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' is a stray cat who helps a pet molly and her kittens get back home. In the end he ends up being taken in as well.

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

* During ''Film/{{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.
* Subverted in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MenAtArms''. Due to his assistance in the case, amongst the Watch's requested rewards is a lovely home for Gaspode the Wonder Dog. The next time we see him he's shooting down the street [[HatesBaths shedding soapy water]], while complaining that his flea collection is ''ruined''.

** 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]].
* Creator/BeverlyCleary's book ''Ribsy'' recounts how Henry Huggins's dog Ribsy got out of the family car at a shopping center, and ended up with another family with five daughters. The girls tried to bathe Ribsy, and made him reek of violet-scented soap. Ribsy escaped their clutches and wandered the town until finding a boy with a ball, who snuck Ribsy into his apartment building to feed him. The boy's irritable mother forbids the dog, and Ribsy is left stray again. It's an EarnYourHappyEnding story.

** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' begins with the protagonist going from the city to their recently-deceased fathers farm. When you arrive you end up finding two puppies: a Beagle looking dog (the classic ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' dog) and a Shiba Inu. Takakura only lets you keep one but says he will find the other a home in the city. Unlike in other ''Harvest Moon'' games, the dog is for aesthetic value and doesn't help with the farm animals. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Beta]] [[DummiedOut screenshots]] show them herding however in the final game they can't.

* 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 there in the process.

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* 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 there in the process.
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** Also the story of many animals in shelters who were found as strays.

* Subverted in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MenAtArms''. Due to his assistance in the case, amongst the Watch's requested rewards is a lovely home for Gaspode the Wonder Dog. The next time we see him he's shooting down the street shedding soapy water, while complaining that his flea collection is ''ruined''.

* Subverted in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel, Literature/MenAtArms''. Due to his assistance in the case, amongst the Watch's requested rewards is a lovely home for Gaspode the Wonder Dog. The next time we see him he's shooting down the street shedding soapy water, while complaining that his flea collection is ''ruined''.

* Chi from ''Manga/ChisSweetHome'' is a stray kitten adopted by a family.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Zig-zagged ordinarily.
** Mittens, who goes from stray to pet to stray to pet.
** Blaze, who goes back and forth from stray to pet several times, ending up as a stray.
** Mary, who goes from stray to pet and back to stray.

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/LadyAndTheTramp https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ladytramp.png]]]]

* Thomas O'Malley from ''Disney/TheAristocats'' is a stray cat who helps a pet molly and her kittens get back home. In the end he ends up being taken in as well.

* The conclusion of Disney's ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'' has the dog Bolt reunited with the girl Penny, but includes his entourage as well: a hamster named Rhino who left a trailer park to answer the CallToAdventure, and a cat named Mittens, who, during an AccidentalPublicConfession, recounts "They pack up all their stuff, and all their love, and leave their declawed cat behind to fend for herself." The whole trio get adopted into Penny's new country home.
* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp'':
** ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp'' ends with the Tramp being adopted into his mate Lady's family and the two [[BabiesEverAfter having puppies together]].
** At the end of ''Disney/LadyAndTheTrampIIScampsAdventure'', Angel is taken in by Scamp's family much like Tramp was several months prior.