Rescue – Mayra's Photography Blog

Out of practice!

It’s been a long time between updates, but I have also reduced the number of sessions conducted with Friends of Rescue. I have missed working with feline fosters, and jumped right in when asked to photograph four kittens and two young mother cats.

I must admit that, as I drove to the foster home, I wondered if I would be able to capture their images, or if I would be so out of practice that it would not work. Thankfully, the session subjects were napping, and were also willing to indulge the “visitor with the black box”. We all had a good time… at least I hope they did. I certainly enjoyed it! Here are some of the images we made together.

I want to make a point that should be obvious, but can easily be forgotten: foster families are amazing. They offer their homes, and dedicate time to give the animals a place to feel safe, learn to trust, recover from illness and, sometimes, neglect. Foster parents work hard to give their charges the chance to find homes and families of their own. It is always hard to let the fosters go when adoptions finally happen. Tears are shed as the new families drive away. It is not easy to go thru heartache on a regular basis, but a happy ending (adoption) opens space again for new fosters.

Mr. Dude is a cool cat!

In the past three weeks I’ve been able to interact with a very cool cat. Friends of Rescue (FOR) volunteers call him “Mr. Dude”. He’s a very friendly cat, and is constantly searching for attention. In fact, he can be very difficult to photograph because he’s always trying to get really close!

Mr. Dude is a big kitty, so be ready to stay put for a while if he manages to get on your lap.

He rarely takes no for an answer, and will remind you he also needs time with you…

If you are looking for an affectionate kitty, and would like to meet Mr. Dude, please contact FOR at info@forrescue.net.

What are they looking for?

Cats are always curious, and it can be entertaining to see how they interact with their surroundings. There is a constant in their behavior that I keep seeing during photography sessions in FOR’s Oakwood Avenue office: they want to know what is going on in the other room, and find out who is out there… Big cats,

young/small cats,

slightly older cats,

just wait, and you’ll see them do this. You’d think they know the holidays are here, and that Santa might visit.

On the other hand, they might just be wondering if the voice they hear in the other room belongs to the person that will adopt them. If you are searching for a feline (or canine) companion, please consider FOR fosters. Their website has information on current fosters, and also on how to help them continue rescuing abandoned dogs and cats of all ages.

A year goes by…

December, the last month of the year. 2018 is almost gone. It has been a busy year, but my blog was not updated. Here is a summary of what went on:

The time I dedicated to photographing fosters with FOR was reduced. But this non-profit continues to save lives, and makes a big difference for animals and humans alike. There are still too many dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens that need help. It is heartbreaking to know that so many are still euthanized, but every life saved deserves to be celebrated. FOR volunteers are amazing!
My husband and I teamed up with FOR to work with feral cats. As a result, three young feral sisters were spayed, and brought to their new home in January. They spent a month in a cage, being fed and taken care of by a single caretaker so they could get used to their new territory, and (hopefully) start trusting the human that took care of them. They were released in early February, and a small group of volunteers continues to take turns providing food, and water, and keeping watch for sightings of the newly released members of the community. These days we have daily interactions with two of the original three cats, and hope the third one is still in the area (just not willing to interact with us). A separate entry will chronicle the evolution of this part of our lives, and the ups and downs of this rewarding experience.
Patches, one of my two indoor cats, had a medical crisis. He was diagnosed with heart disease in 2016. In March he had severe complications that descended into “heart failure“. His lungs accumulated fluid, making it difficult to breathe. Our vet contacted a specialist in Nashville, TN, and after removing part of the fluid we drove north late in the afternoon. Patches spent 36 hours in an “oxygen tent”, and the vet clinic’s staff stabilized him and saved his life. Almost nine months later, he has a “new normal” life. Medications keep him going, and we drive him to Nashville every three months for evaluation.

It’s time to look back, be thankful for our experiences, mourn our losses, and look forward to the next year. I intend to write about this in the next three weeks. I hope you will find it useful!

It’s been a long time…

2017 is long gone, and January 2018 is well on its way. It is always good to look back, evaluate what was accomplished, and decide what to do in the coming days. I was happy to see that I worked with many Friends of Rescue’s fosters and foster families. Of course, this is but a fraction of the 1,337 cats and dogs of all ages that they rescued last year, but every bit helps. You can follow their work through their FaceBook page or their web page. If you would like to join forces with this wonderful group, please reach out to them at info@forrescue.net.

Overcoming shyness

Two weeks ago, a Friends of Rescue’s foster parent asked me to photograph one of her foster kitties. She was very shy, and kept moving from one hiding place to another. This behavior was making it very difficult to photograph her to show her to potential adopters. I told her we would do our best… because in these cases I deploy a secret weapon: my husband. J is very patient, and is definitely a cat person. And he would be able to pay attention to this cat while I photographed other fosters that would visit the FOR office for their imaging sessions.

Our shy cat’s name is Brea, and true to the previous description, she was hiding when we arrived. As we approached her hiding place, we saw a gray/white streak run away from the area. After following her to a second room, we had our first good look at her,just as she ran under a chair.

She was curious about us, but not used to dealing with strangers.

By then my scheduled foster arrived, and I had to leave the room. But every few minutes I would sneak back into the room where J and Brea were getting to know each other. It was fun to see the transformation: from tentative appreciation,

to enjoying the attention,

then leaning into J’s hand.

By the end of my other session, Brea was thoroughly enjoying her time with her new friend.

And I was finally able to capture a relaxed image that shows her pretty self.

Mission accomplished!

If you are interested in meeting Brea, or any of FOR’s fosters, please visit their website or email them at info@forrescue.net.

So many kittens!

On Sunday, August 6th, Friends of Rescue (FOR) held the second of this summer’s “kitten parties”. The public was invited to meet and play with foster kittens in the FOR office (213 Oakwood Avenue NW, Huntsville, AL) between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM, and start the adoption process if they found a kitten (or two) that they wanted to bring home. Donations to the non-profit group were also gladly accepted during the event hours.

Foster parents were encouraged to bring the kittens before the opening of the event. But like any parent knows, the best planned trip can be delayed… and most kittens showed up around 12:55 PM. We had planned to take an initial image of each kitten, and make a list with the name and frame number for future reference… well, we could not keep up with the arrivals. Thank goodness for the second part of the plan: placing paper collars with the kitten’s name to facilitate identification in case someone wanted to adopt. This helped us continue to take images and write down frame numbers well into the event. I missed the names of four fosters, but the gallery below shows the 32 kittens that came to the event.

FOR expects to have one more kitten party in September. I intend to be there with plenty of memory cards to gather photographs that can be used during their adoption process. If any of these kittens catches your eye, please contact info@forrescue.net and ask if he/she is still available!

Character!

Last Friday we had nine kittens to photograph for Friends of Rescue (FOR). It is fun, but you have to keep track of your surroundings. I’m always glad to have other volunteers around. It’s easy to loose track of kittens underfoot!

The last one of the afternoon was Podrick, a tabby with striking patterns on his fur.

He is quite a character, and was inspecting every inch of the studio. He was ready to check out the humans too.

Since he was not ready to settle down, his foster mom brought a toy that kept him busy for a while.

He definitely wanted that toy!

He finally decided to take a break, and it was good to see him relax.

I hope he will find a forever home soon. But I’m glad we spent time together. If you are interested in meeting Podrick, please contact FOR at info@forrescue.net.

Sadness and Hope

Animal rescue involves time and devotion. And, never doubt it, it is hard work. Volunteers do their best to save as many homeless pets as they can, nursing them back to health, teaching them to trust humans, and finding them loving homes. Along the way, each dog/cat makes his/her way into our hearts. And while it is hard to let them go when they are adopted, we can only save new ones if we move current fosters to forever homes.

It is rare for me to see fosters multiple times, and that is as it should be. If I see them several times it means they have not been adopted. But every once in a while I get to see them just as they arrive to foster care, and observe how they change as they receive the care of foster families. This was the case of four kittens I met for the first time in mid-May. They had just been brought to a temporary safe house after being found together without a momma cat. They were scared, and huddled together as far away from the enclosure door as they could.

When I saw them again two weeks later, they were getting comfortable with people coming in and out of the room where they were staying, and while not coming to greet us they were not running away.

I was thrilled to see three of them again the first Sunday of July. Loving care shows in the way they moved among humans during the Friends of Rescue (FOR) kitten party. Here they are: Sally,

Spot,

and Charlotte.

Sadly, the fourth sister (Bella, the kitten with a black nose) died after I saw her in late May. The sadness felt by her loss is tempered by the hope felt for her sisters’ future. I will remember them all, and am glad to have met them. These three sisters are still available for adoption. If you are interested in them or any of FOR’s fosters, please email them at info@forrescue.net.

FOR Kitten Party #1

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I continue volunteering with Friends of Rescue (FOR; info@forrescue.net), but I have not been able to photograph as many fosters as I wanted to. Kitten season started late, but it’s now hitting the TN Valley with a vengeance. Shelters have been flooded with pregnant cats and mothers with newborn litters. Rescue groups can’t keep up, and it is hard to know that you can’t save them all.

Enter the All American Kittens event held on July 2nd. Foster families brought their foster kittens to the FOR Oakwood Avenue office to play with other fosters, and to give the public the opportunity to meet several kittens at once. I was lucky enough to spend some time in the room with them, and I’m posting the images of some of those present. It was a lot of fun, and some adoption applications were completed (fingers crossed for adoptions!). Congratulations to the organizers and foster families that made this event possible!

There will be two more kitten parties during the summer. I will post details as soon as I find out. But in the mean time, take a look at these faces, and please consider helping FOR and other local rescue groups. They make a difference every day, but they need our help!