Mark Twain and I

In the last couple of years, I've taken photographs of hundreds of cats and dogs for the Metro Animal Services website, although today only two of the photos on the web are mine: Ralphie, the shepherd/ retriever mix and Aria, the Persian. I'll be updating other photos when I go in next week. http://www.metroanimalservices.org/Want_search_pets.htm


I've tried my best to keep these dear creatures at emotional arms length, but to no avail. As I've mentioned before, 2013 found us bringing both a dog, Charlie, and a kitten, Tot, into our family.

I've always been a cat lover and only recently become a dog lover, so it's not surprising that this article from Healthy Pet magazine caught my eye. I'm also a fan of Mark Twain.

Scratch the surface of Mark Twain's life and his love for animals of the feline persuasion is evident. In his words: "I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course."

Twain held cats in such high regard he once noted, "If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat." But of all people he viewed cat lovers in a fonder light, writing, "When a man (I'm sure he means women too!) loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction."

I'm so glad to know that Twain would have been my friend and Tot's too. :-)

Foster Care for Cats and Kittens

Who could help but love this little guy? Three months old and full of fun and curiosity, he grabbed my heart strings the first time I took his photo on October 2nd at the Metro Animal Services shelter in Puyallup. www.metroanimalservices.org/ I'm there frequently as a volunteer photographer to take photos of the cats and dogs for the shelter's website. (There has been the occasional rabbit and one memorable day - a turkey!)

In the last couple years, there haven't been too many animals who "hooked" me right away. Charlie, our MaltiPoo, did that when I met him in January and he's now a member of our family. Perhaps with this one, it was because he reminded me of our beloved cat who died about a year ago.

 

So it was painful to see "Calvin 2" last Saturday at the shelter's open house. He had contracted the feline respiratory illness which tends to spread rapidly once one of the cat's gets it. This little fuzz ball was sneezing and his eyes were watering. By today when I stopped by, he had stopped eating. 

 

I know a lot of the volunteers and other rescue organizations provide foster care for animals from the shelter when there are too many for the shelter or, as in this case, the animal needs some special care. I told myself that it wouldn't work for us to provide foster care because we already have three other rescued animals, a Siamese cat, Riley; and our two dogs, Charlie and Bella, the lab/greyhound mix. (As I'm typing Riley is curled up in my lap :-))

 

But in talking to long-time volunteers, Dian and Chris, who provide foster care, I was convinced (easily I might add) that I could take care of the little guy in my downstairs bathroom. So guess who came to dinner?! And yes, he's even eating the canned kitten food I bought. I heated it briefly in the microwave and because it smells to high heaven, he could actually smell it and he scarfed down half a can. He's drinking water too. All good signs.

 

What a lover! He has a huge purr motor and loves to be scratched and held. He is quarantined away from Riley, so our home boy doesn't get sick too. There's also a towel at the bottom of the door, so the two cats don't play footsie and Scott will just have to make an appointment to use the downstairs bathroom for the next week or so. I only have outdoor shoots instead of in the studio in the next couple weeks, so we should be able to get Calvin 2 back to health and available for adoption in 10 days or so. Know anyone looking for love? They'll certainly get it from this little guy. On the other hand, if you or anyone you know is interested in providing foster care, the shelter is always looking for volunteers. You can call 253-841-5595 for more information.