New Cards - Available online & at Got Craft

Haven't posted in a while, but I have been doing cat-related things!

The most important news is that I have coordinated the printing of new cards this year to sell & raise funds for rescue groups!

This year it's a set of 4 for Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue with the most adorable kitten + martini glasses taken by Tanja. And two featuring Katie's Place residents - a reprint of the very popular white Nicole card, and a new one featuring a handsome tuxedo boy, Damon (photo by Cindy Hughes)

The cards are available online at my etsy shop and I will be selling them at the best Vancouver craft fair there is - Got Craft on Dec 13 and 14.  All proceeds from the VOKRA cards go to VOKRA and ditto for Katie's Place.

I'm really hoping to sell a boatload and hand over a big pile of cash to help make a happy end of year for these amazing volunteer-run rescue groups.

Please buy a few cards and/or share the link with your friends.  Any support is appreciated!

Cindy is Amazing

Cindy posted the first batch of photos from our trip to Katie's Place and they are luminous and lovely.

Check out her gallery here: http://muddylove.pixieset.com/katiesplace/ 

I could look at her photos all day long.  Doesn't she make you want to take all these cats home?

I'm thinking about turning a few of these into cards to sell as a fundraiser again this year - but deciding which ones will be tough.

If you need photos done - check out Muddy Love Pet Photography.  Cindy also does people photos. You won't regret it.

Back At Katie's Place

Hello!  Hiatus is over - time to get back to business. And by business I mean getting awesome photos of shelter cats so you can't resist them and adopt them into your loving homes.

I've been back in Vancouver for a few months now and finally got myself out to Katie's Place!  The always wonderful Cindy Hughes of Muddy Love Pet Photography went with me and took a ton a photos; I can't wait to see them.  Remember this stunning photo?

While we wait to see Cindy's pro photos, you will have to make do with my photo of Panda interrupted mid-bath, which I think is pretty adorable.

So many wonderful cats at Katie's Place. I wish I could bring them home with me. Maybe you can?

Cats of Europe, Cont

I'm still in Europe, having a lovely time. Still photographing pretty much every cat I come across (I don't see many in Poland, actually).

Including this friendly guy we met at a train museum. I snuggled him for a bit.



And this guy who wasn't so keen on snuggling but was still pretty.


I miss my cats a lot. Looking forward to that part of getting home in a few months. And visiting the rescues - hoping all the cats I know found homes while I was away!

Cats of Europe

While I'm sad not to be in Vancouver, helping find homes for shelter animals, I'm making the most of my time in Europe. My partner and I went on a road trip for most of June - down to Croatia and Albania and swinging by Romania on our way back - it was very interesting. We met a few cats on our way (in Croatia mostly) and I couldn't resist taking photos of them! I'm missing my cats very much, so I turn into a bit of a crazy person when I see a cat now.

I've started a set on my flickr page for the cat photos I'm taking on my travels - I suspect there will be more! 

In more Vancouver-centric news - Vancouver rescue groups have been flooded with cats from two big rescue operations. If you are inclined and able to donate to support them, now would be a very good time!

New Feature Cat

Copenhagen cat.

I'm in Poland!  We've successfully relocated to Poland (here until early 2014, then back to Vancouver) and despite the language barrier, it's nice living here; I've always wanted to live in an old European town centre, and here we're literally two short blocks away from the beautiful giant central plaza. If it would just stop raining, it would be great!  (You can follow my adventures on my personal blog: www.burritowest.ca)

The only downside to this European adventure - we had to leave our two cats in Vancouver. You can probably guess how hard that was for me. We were so lucky to find a friend who was willing to take both our cats in and foster them for the year we're away; I will never be able to thank her enough for this. Knowing they are in good hands and are loved makes a world of difference.  Still, being without cat is weird - it's quiet and empty and seems like such a waste of an apartment. (We're traveling too much to even foster temporarily while here.)

Juliette

I'm scheming up ways to get out to the animal shelter here, maybe to take some photos, but the language barrier is a bit of a problem (and convincing them that I'm not a wingnut). Still, I have hopes!  In the meantime, I try to pet every cat I see in the street (not many so far), and get mopey about missing our cats.  I may just move into Katie's Place for a few days when I return to cuddle as may cats as possible. :)

To keep you amused - I've changed up the Feature Cat.  I met Juliette the first time I went to Katie's Place with Cindy - she has these sad eyes that follow you around but she doesn't like to compete with all the other cats to get your attention, so we didn't see much of her. The second time, she came out for me and was adorable. She seems perfect - I can only attribute the fact that she hasn't been adopted to the fact that she is black and a bit shy, both things that mean you tend to get overlooked in a shelter. Poor girl - she needs to learn to strut her stuff a bit more!

Do the Photos Help?

This is a question many of the foster parents ask as the photographers and I are crawling around their floors trying to get a good shot.  It's a hard question to answer.  I think we all know on some level that good photos on an online profile can help to attract attention which can lead to more/faster adoptions - but it's a difficult thing to prove.

There is one very tangible example now, however.

One of the first photo shoots I did with my friend, Ben Johnson, was for HomeFinders Animal Rescue.  There was one cat, Azlan - a beautiful one-eyed boy who had been found living behind a bar on Main St. He had lost his eye and had his fur shaved but was still very dignified.  Ben took beautiful photos of him.  We all fell in love.  When we sent the first batch of photos to Hilly at HomeFinders, she replied that the photos of Azlan made her tear up because she had been trying to show people what a wonderful, beautiful cat he was but her dimly-lit basement photos just didn't convey it.... and Ben's did, in spades.

To know we could make a rescuer happy like that was a win in my books.  Azlan is a senior cat, with health issues, so, not an easy guy to find a home for - but he did get adopted! We found out later that his adopter saw this photo of him and fell in love. So photos do matter!

Azlan is now in a great home and is loved to bits, just as he should be.  And, his adopter just used Ben's photo as inspiration for a tattoo. That's a pretty powerful, lasting image.

For the most part we have to go on our hunch that beautiful photos help animals find homes, but every now and then it's good to hear very definitively that it's true!

Here's a blurb from Azlan's new person:

Pictures are powerful, be they for a piece of furniture, a place to live or a fuzzy companion.

When I was dreaming of adopting a cat after 17 years, as I was buying a place where I could finally have one, I looked over many pets on Petfinders.com and found Azlan. The photo with his paw outstretched towards the camera as if to say "love me" I kept coming back to again and again. I didn't care that he was a senior cat or missing an eye. I was actually looking for an adult or senior to adopt. His thyroid issue was a concern but once I asked about taking him in as a foster and met him for the first time it was instant love for both of us..

Since then, I've adopted this snuggly boy and cured his thyroid condition, but I was hit with the news of his third stage kidney failure. This was found after the 2nd round of post thyroid procedure blood tests. 

I had already a tattoo scheduled but I decided to make a change to one of Azlan.

Once again, I kept thinking about the picture that first drew me to him. Luckily I have a friend who knows an extremely talented artist, Carlos Vanst, and he was able to transform the photo into a very detailed tribute. Azlan is still with me but hard to say for how long. When it comes time to let him go, all I will have to do reach down and put my hand on the paw that will often poke at me to feed or pet 
him, and remember the best kitty I've ever had.

My thanks to Ben Johnson for capturing the moment in the photo.