Cute. Damn Cute.

OMG I just love the picture of Tiki running for dinner Fabulous

VERY Cute. DOUBLE Damn Cute!

What a gorgeous kitty, and really lucky you've taken such good care of her!

She's such a little snugglebug! You're pictures are outstanding! The quality and the composition! What kind of camera are you using?

Thanks all.

Re: cameras

I believe they were all taken with one of three cameras:

Canon S230 point-and-shoot
Canon G2 or G3 point-and-shoot
Nikon D1X pro digital 35mm SLR

For the first two, I try to shoot in available light. For the last, I try to point my external flash at the ceiling, and bounce the light so I don't get harsh shadows. To do that, you need to pump the power up on it a bit to compensate for the fact that you're not shooting direct flash.

The ontario SPCA is holding a photo contest for their 2005 calandar. You should enter some of your cute kitty.

She's such a little snugglebug!

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Snugglebug? Nahhhhh....



WHO'S going to the VET???

Awesome pictures. I should hire you to take some of my "snugglebug"

Looks like I can start a side business....

I should go to Hollywood, maybe I can be "Pet Photographer to the Stars."

(there's probably good money in that)

VEEEERRY cool pics! Especially love the one of her racing around the corner for food.

Oh, just caught the last two, OMG that shot of her in the lampshade is priceless!

I think "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" is my favotite. She is so adorable....but she'll never take the place of Kanga And never Emmers. Never ever ever Emmers!!

That was her plastic cone, after her spaying.

She had one as a kitten for her eye ulcer, but since no standard cones would fit her, they had to make one out of X-ray film:

Beautiful photos, you could do the "Tiki 2004 Calendar" with them. How old is she now? She looks like a very happy, loved kitty.

Totally addicted to that little fur ball now. You can't cut off my pictures of her!!!

Originally posted by Scott77777
That was her plastic cone, after her spaying.

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Very cool makeshift cone! The cone is aka 'lampshade', aka e-collar, aka torture device. Also had one on Pixie after her spay, she was the only one trying to bite her wound.....it barely fit on her, she was so tiny.

She's about six months I believe.

THE STORY

The back story is that she was a feral kitten. Our apartment complex has been full of feral cats. At first there was a lot of talk, "they're wild, there's nothing you can do." I used to come out at night and keep tabs on them...look for them, try and make sure they were OK. Their mother would escort the kittens to food at night.

One day we saw Tiki -- clearly the runt of the litter -- stumbling behind her mother in the parking lot and sneezing from an upper respiratory infection. She was probably three to four weeks old. You couldn't really approach them, so there wasn't much to do. They stayed on top of an abandoned building behind our complex.

Well, a few days later I came outside and saw her under the wheel of a car. I wasn't close, but I didn't want her to get run over. So I went up to move her, and my girlfriend and I talked about whether she'd be OK. (i.e., "they're feral and she'll move if someone comes out," etc...). I hesitated, assuming she'd just run anyway if someone came out, but my girlfriend reinforced my concern and suggested I try to move her or shoo her away from the car.

Well, I went over to her and saw that she was in REALLY bad shape. Much worse than what I could see from far away. Ants all over. Her eye was sealed shut. She was basically lying on her side on the pavement in 95-degree heat. Her mother was nowhere to be found - probably abandoned her or she couldn't keep up.

I went back inside and got a towel. Suprisingly, when I threw it on top of her, she tried to run (I never would have credited her with that much energy). There is a section of two fences between our complex and another one, and she went straight for it. If she made it between the two fences, which are full of roots, pipes and weeds, I'd never get her.

So I literally jumped on top of her.

Well, I found I had a very sick kitten. So sick, that I was terrified to go near her, because I thought I'd infect our cat. We thought we'd have to put her to sleep. We had a bit of an emotional moment when I said, "You know what? If Snowball survived, this cat will survive, too." Snowball was a childhood cat that I had who was run over by a bunch of cars as a tiny kitten while she sat in the middle of the road with her eyes sealed shut. She wasn't hit, but she was in sorry shape. So I invoked the survival of Snowball for Tiki. Maybe by posting these pictures, someone will invoke the story of Tiki to save (and have hope for) another cat.

We called around and no one would take her in a timely way. My girlfriend got very sad and upset at how difficult it was to find someone who would take a feral kitten (it was a Friday, everyone was booked, and they don't want to get stuck with a sick kitten during kitten season). We were able to get an appointment with our vet and after some meds and a few weeks of TLC, Tiki was on her way back to health. She's the best.

This picture was from those original days - if I remember correctly, this was AFTER she spent a day or two at the vet...after she had been cleaned up.

So you can guess what she looked like before.



That brought us to her older siblings, seen in this thread:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...2&pagenumber=4

As you can see, they also had eye infections...my girlfriend and I cared for these three kittens while my mother took over with Tiki. If there's any credit to be given for her recovery, it was certainly a team effort and my girlfriend and mother deserve a lot of thanks. (And Tiki the wonder cat).




The moral of the story is that you should never hesitate to help an animal - or to think you can help, if that's your instinct. Even if you think "they'll be OK." If your gut has you concerned, act on it.

Tiki has given us about 100x what we've given her in return.

Originally posted by Scott77777
Brocken -

Most of my shots are with a D1X, though I do shoot with various Canon point-and-shoots.

Whenever possible, I try to bounce my flash off of the ceiling to soften the light (creating a big white diffuser from the ceiling) or I try to use natural light and keep the camera steady.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I use the Canon S400 as a pocket camera, and I have the old Canon D30 plus some basic lenses for projects. Usually, I would rather push ISO up to 400 or 1600 and get noisy shots than use flash.

I've bookmarked this thread to reference your posts as good tips on pet photography. Look forward to more of your shots.

P.S. Is that a Longhorns cap the young lady is wearing in the "Snugglebug" shot?

That is a great story. You can see why she loves you so much.

Scott, that is an awesome thing you did for those kittens! I also went through a similar thing with my Roxy, the vet didn't think she would survive, but luckily he was wrong!
(she is an amazing happy healthy torti now!)

Thanks for all the camera info!

and I especially like the picture of you and Tiki, something about men with kittens is just so darn cute!

keep up the amazing job and talent! more pics more pics!!!

Thanks.

Well, I've gotten her to flush the toilet, now if I can just get her to put the seat up before she pees....







(Shot with a Canon S230 point-and-shoot, flash off, holding it very still to compensate for the long shutter speed. Light was through a frosted glass bathroom window)

Re: Longhorns....hmmmm...yes, it might be, though we're New Yorkers....hmmmm...I'll have to ask.