Everyday life with a few Good Cats, plus anything else that comes to mind.
Just a quick note to let you know that our Good Cats now have a little store at CafePress.com. I was hoping to climb the learning curve enough to have something ready to go on Black Friday, but tonight it’s nice to be able to say that there is a 2010 calendar available now which features Caitie, Lizzie and Nicky.
More to come…
Good news about Ali, the pure white cat at Tabby’s Place. She is a very timid lady cat, and she was moved recently to a different room because one of the other cats was stealing all her food. In her new room, there are fewer cats, and none of them are aggressive, yet Ali was still hiding from everyone under a couch.
Well, recently Pat decided to donate a cat bed along with some toys that our Good Cats no longer play with. This past Friday, I took them with me and gave them to Sharon Rosenberg, the volunteer coordinator at Tabby’s Place. Sharon washed and dried the bed, then she thought of Ali’s situation and gave it to her.
As you can see below, Ali likes it. When I visited her Friday afternoon, volunteer Donna R. was already there with Ali, and whatever she was doing had put the little white cat in a very good mood. In her old room, Ali might tilt her head to accept skritches on her head and neck, but she spent most of her time huddled in a corner of a cat cubicle. This time, Ali moved a little way toward the front of her new bed when I began scratching her. It was easily the most sociable she had ever been, and it felt good to see her accepting affection without fear.
I saw this short video on the site of a French newspaper, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been shown elsewhere as one of those “World’s Best Commercials” compilation shows.
The narrator describes the overwhelming odds against:
Then, before the final image in the video, the narrator sums up by saying: “You’ve been incredibly lucky…. so far.”
Translation: “One out of 2 smokers dies of a smoking-related illness. To quit, phone 39 89.”
A day or so ago, we learned something from Freya about using Google Reader to keep up with fellow cat blogs.
We’ve subscribed to quite a few, so organizing them helps a lot. If your feed is in our reader, even if we don’t write a comment, we’re able to read your posts. So, a tip of the Good Cats’ hats to Freya for the lesson!
Here’s a link to a story from the local newspaper along with quotes from people at the library where I volunteer. Public libraries are having children improve their vocabularies and their reading skills by reading aloud to certified therapy dogs.
(There, that should prove this blog is fair and balanced when it comes to the subject of cats and d*gs! 
)
It’s often a good thing to hear how a professional does what you’re trying to do. Animal photographer Li Ward describes her working process below.
Q: In your photos, the dogs and cats seem so relaxed and playful, yet they also seem very responsive to you and the camera. How do you do this?
A: If they seem relaxed and playful, that’s because they are! I let them be whatever it is they are. I would say 80 percent of my shoots are totally candid. I’m following the animal around while it does its thing, whatever that may be.
The other 20 percent are the more posed shots, where for variety’s sake I try to get the dog or cat to sit or stand where I’d like them to.
— Li Ward, Fat Orange Cat Studio, interviewed for “Expert Tips on Photographing Your Pets,” New York Times, May 15, 2009.
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