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!

Brothers

Last Friday I had the opportunity of photographing two young cats. The foster mom named them Bowie and Prince. They are a gorgeous pair, and I enjoyed every minute of our time together.

Bowie and Prince

Bowie’s eyes are of different colors: one green, and one bright blue (he’s well named!).

Bowie up close

Prince is just as charming with his green eyes.

Prince

If you are interested in being owned by these two wonderful kitties, please contact Friends of Rescue at info@forrescue.net

A week matters!

Most of the time when I work with Friends of Rescue I get one chance to photograph a foster. I see them once, photograph them, deliver the images… and I never see them again. And most of the time that is good, because it means they get adopted! But earlier this month I had the chance to see two brothers 8 days apart. The tan and white one is called Macaroni; the other one is Ace. It is always amazing to see how much they can grow in just eight days. For more information on these two adorable fosters, please contact info@forrescue.net.

Taken on February 24, 2017.
Taken on March 3rd, 2017.
Ace
Macaroni

2016 Favorites

Another year gone… 2016 is part of our past. It’s been several months since I posted entries in this blog. Life is complicated, and the best intentions won’t keep us on the path we thought we wanted to follow…

Fortunately, while I did not manage to keep up with my writing, I did find time to photograph more of Friends of Rescue’s fosters. I am happy to report that I worked with 182 felines, 70 canines, and one mini horse. But this was just a fraction of the animals FOR rescued. By year’s end FOR reported that they had rescued 1,004 animals… and then in the last week of the year they saved 30 more. Bravo!

These are some of the faces I met in 2016. Some were adopted locally, some moved out of the TN Valley, and some did not make it… but will be remembered with love forever.

Here’s to 2017 and new beginnings!

A New Experience

I have always stated that my work with Friends of Rescue (FOR) was easy compared to what foster families do every day. This past week I confirmed my comments by joining the rescue efforts from the “other side”.

Two Saturdays ago, a neighbor told us that she had seen a kitten among the flower beds near our condominium. Sure enough, my spouse and I easily found a light orange kitten, about six weeks old, between buildings. While it did not let us get too close, it did not run away when we offered food and water. A second neighbor saw us and mentioned that he’d seen the kitten a few days earlier. However, the kitten ran away after he gave it some food. We talked to some of our FOR friends, who offered guidance on how we could trap the kitten. As we tried to get closer to it, offering more food, we noticed that a second kitten was watching us from a distance! This one was smaller than the orange kitten, with gray and white fur. To make a long story short, a few hours later we had captured them and brought them inside. We placed them together in a big carrier with food, water, and a litter box overnight. Though we searched the area, no additional kittens were found, and there was no sign of a mother cat.

The next morning, we carefully evaluated our new charges. We carefully worked with them (using gloves at first) to judge their reactions. After we deemed that they could be safely handled, without biting and scratching, we gave them baths. These were definitely not feral kittens! We reported our interactions to FOR, offered to cover the initial costs for their care, and to keep them for the mandatory Huntsville Animal Services in-home stray hold period. An experienced foster parent would take care of them until they are adopted.

It has been a while since we’ve had kittens in our household, and working with them was fun. Even knowing that they were going to be at a great foster mom’s home, letting them go was harder than I thought. I hope to see them again before they find their forever home (hopefully together), and update their images to help with their adoption. A very lucky family will take two wonderful kittens home.

By the way, their foster mom has named them Picasso (white/gray kitten) and Degas (orange kitten). They should be ready for adoption in a few weeks. Inquiries can be sent to info@forrescue.net.

FOR Sessions: May thru August 2016

Time flies, even when we are not having fun. These past four months have been very busy. And while I have not been able to regularly contribute to Friends of Rescue’s (FOR) efforts, I have photographed more than 80 fosters! Some have been adopted since I worked with them; some are still waiting to meet their forever families. And, sadly, some have died after capturing a part of our hearts. All of them received the best loving care that could be given, and were not alone when they left us.

If you are searching for a pet, please consider adopting a rescued dog/cat. You can also contribute time and money to the rescue groups in your community. There are always animals in need, and your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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