I remember one of my mom's friends told me about what happened to her dog. The woman had a small dog, a Yorkie perhaps, and she needed to go on a business trip for a few days. She asked her mother to care for the dog in her absence, to which the mother agreed. When the woman returned home and went to get her dog, the dog wasn't with the mother. When asked about the dog's whereabouts, the mother said that she had the dog put to sleep because it vomited on her carpet. Un-fucking-believable! I can't believe the woman still spoke to her mother after that - I would have disowned my mother had she done something so awful to my pets.
Speaking of dogs, my mom picked up what we believe to be an abandoned dog about seven about six years ago. The dog was just strolling down the street and when my mom spotted her, she had a security guard help call the dog over before it got run over. My mom loaded the dog into the car, and the dog didn't make a sound the whole way back home. The dog is a beautiful American Eskimo dog, and I can't imagine she was just a stray - someone had to have abandoned her. My mom fell right in love with this pup, and we didn't even bother trying to locate any owners.
As far as other strays, all the cats I've ever owned were strays - two of my kitties now came from the litter of a stray. I say "stray" because the real owner never really took good care of the cats. Didn't have any of them spayed or neutered, and she must not have fed them because most of them came to my grandma's house, where we always left food and water out for them. My aunt would use her money to have some of these cats fixed so they would stop spraying the yard and stop having kittens, and over the years, the same aunt has taken in many of this irresponsible woman's cats. and the woman doesn't even notice when her cats have gone missing. It makes me sick to see people being so irresponsible for their animals, but my aunt is so cool for giving these cats a good home. I've known most of her cats for years (save for her few newer ones), and they feel like family.
That brings up another point...despite what idiots think, animals ARE family members, not just animals; it's fine to dump a dog or cat or rabbit off on the side of the road to be left and be eaten, but it's wrong and immoral to leave your child somewhere...pff. My kitties are my children, and I know the house would seem empty without my 3 cats. When I lost my oldest cat last summer, I was devastated, and even now, almost a year later, the house still feels like there's something missing from it.