What a great question, and some lovely answers!
We have five rescue cats - Bertie a gorgeous ginger tom, Lulu- a peachy tortie who was found close to death with her leg trapped in her collar, Mandu - abandoned and left to starve and luckily made her way to our garden where our dog Teddy(sadly no longer with us) kept guard over her and alerted us to the fact that the poor little mite was living in our bushes, Poppy - took shelter at an old folks' home where one of the carers sprayed her with polish, poured water over her and threated to finish her off with rat poison(goodness only knows how she treats the old folk in her 'care'!), Bilbo Baggins - thrown down a rubbish chute in a block of flats when only a couple of months old.
We are also fosterers for Cats' Protection and currently have Kitkat in our pen.