Another Nap Interrupted, Up Close

Bob the gray bobtail tuxedo cat has yet another nap interrupted. The sun felt warm and I was a lot closer, this time. Even though Bob has been a feral cat all of his life, he isn't really afraid of me. He might be slightly annoyed, however.

Bob is at his cutest when he stands up as tall as he can to beg for food. I wish I could get a picture of that but it only happens when I'm feeding, and my hands are kind of busy at that time. You'll just have to take my word that it's adorable.

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2015 Feral Life Calendar | Chriss Pagani art | Cat Cartoon T-shirts | Art gifts
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Bob's Cat Nap

Just a little after-breakfast snooze for Gray Bob, the semi-bobtail tux. I guess he's a pretty contented guy; I like the way he stands up at full height to beg for food from me. After all these years, he's almost tame... kind of. You wouldn't want to try to pet him, probably, but he's used to me - to the point that he will stand up at my feet to ask for food. And if I fail to notice him, he will tug at my pants leg to remind me that he's there.

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2015 Feral Life Calendar | Chriss Pagani art | Cat Cartoon T-shirts | Art gifts
dharma nature meditation

Hammie Nap

Oh, it's just Hammie the Bobtail cat again - this time I caught him napping. And he caught me taking pictures, too. He looks comfy, though.

I've been neglectful about taking pictures, lately. I've been taking some classes and have generally been busy working. This coming weekend, I will be away at a meditation seminar; very shortly I will be a certified meditation teacher, and this is all part of the process. I'm really looking forward to it, even if I have just a smidgen of guilt over the kitties: They expect a certain level of service, you know. :)

While I'm away, My sister Judy will be caring for the cats. They'll miss me, I know, but she makes a great substitute!

Light-Leak Hammie

I had some old film in a rangefinder camera that I needed to use-up, and this is what I got. I'm not sure what happened there but sometimes accidents make for interesting art. This is Hamster T "Hammie" Bobtail, looking for food, mostly. The light leak has texture from....something. I don't know. :)

By the way, did you know that the previous post - June Desktop Wallpaper, was our 800th cat pic? Yes, it's amazing.

Canon QL-17 GIII
Kodak Ektar 100 Film

Hammie The Bobtail

Yes, we do see Hammie the Bobtail quite a bit, I guess. He's very interesting, to me, because he looks more like a wild bobcat than something more domestic. He's part of the family, though. Hammie is both adorable and shy. Somewhere back in the blog, you can even find his baby pictures.

I definitely need to get out and take more pictures.

Cute Little Hammie Face

It's cute, adorable Hamster "Hammie" the Cat, brother of Lucy - both of whom are bob tails!  So he's not so little anymore, but if you poke around long enough on the blog, you might find Hammie as a kitten.

I haven't posted in a while. I've had the flu ...or something that gave me a 103 F fever for the last week and a half. It's been rough. All through that, we had cold and wind and snow and I had to do stuff anyway. I thought it was going to kill me, but I'm still here!  Anyway, sorry for not having any snow pictures. I just couldn't manage.

More Little Bunny Rabbit

I used to call her the Smart Tortie. And she is! But things changed a bit after she started becoming tame. With much effort, she came to realize that people are really okay.... she's now at least as much of a pet as she is a feral cat. And remember, this is an adult feral cat that was born wild!  I wrote about her taming in a previous post.

She's a beautiful kitty, and I love the way her little puff of a tail quivers when she is petted. And petting is a high priority for her, now!

As I said in a previous post, it's  a small victory. But we'll take anything we can get.

Petting is the best thing, ever!

To Tame A Feral Cat

The Smart Tortie, this photo was taken over the weekend with my camera phone, so the quality is not great, but it's the idea that counts. You can see some cat food here... it was a kind of lure, I suppose.

Two weeks ago, this adult feral cat had not been touched. At least, not voluntarily. She was born feral and had a natural distrust of people. This is her, from a while back.....

I called her the Smart Tortie because she was clearly curious about everything, and willing to investigate. This gave me an opportunity. Or maybe it gave her an opportunity, depending on how you look at it..

Over time, she started coming close to me at feedings, to get the maximum opportunity at food. The first time, I just brushed her back while she was concentrating on eating. This startled her and she jumped back. But she didn't go far. She went back to her food and I went back to feeding. We did that more and more.

Last Thursday, I stroked her back while she was eating and she didn't run away.  Soon, she started purring. By Friday she came to me, purring, anxious to be petted.

She really enjoyed her petting. She purred and purred...

Now, probably petting and food are at least equal priorities for this feral cat. She has learned - taught herself, really - that at least one person is okay. Now petting is something we anticipate... she leans into my hand and quivers with delight.

This morning, we touched noses for the first time.  It's a small victory, perhaps. But it is also proof that even cats born wild - adult ferals, can sometimes be tamed, under the right circumstances.

I always called her Smart Tortie because I could tell that her level of curiosity was strong. Curiosity can sometimes be dangerous for feral cats - but sometimes, it can save them.   Her little poof of a tail quivers with excitement as she is petted. I used to call her Smart Tortie.....

Now I'm calling her Little Bunny Rabbit.




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Helping:
The Feral Life 2014 | Fine Art Prints | T-Shirts, Prints, Cards

Nansen

Nan-ch'üan, which for the sake of avoiding confusion, we will pronounce as Nansen, is an orange reticulated bobtail tabby cat that has been a regular of our feral colonies for a long time. He is seldom-photographed, though, and never close-up. Mostly, he's just here for the food.

We have a few bobtails within the feral cat collection, and no two are quite the same. Nansen, for instance, has a little tail that twists back on itself, like it's tied-up. Others have different arrangements. Anyway, I think he's kind of cute.

If I don't see you between now and then, I want to wish all our feral family friends merry Christmas and happy holidays. Hope everyone stays safe and warm! 


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Helping:
The Feral Life 2014 | Fine Art Prints | T-Shirts, Prints, Cards

Hamster the Bobtail Cat

Well, we've seen Hammie on this blog quite often. He's an unusual bobtail kitty, who got the name Hamster because that's what he looked like when he was a little kitten... with those tab ears and no tail. Awww.....

Hammie is a shy yet friendly boy. He could have been a pet and had a home of his own if someone had adopted him. He's probably a bit old for that, now, but I think he's happy with his life anyway.



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Helping:
The Feral Life 2014 | Fine Art Prints | T-Shirts, Prints, Cards

Hammie Lounges on a Chair

Yes, we had Hammie the Bobtail featured here only about a week ago, but I was out today doing some work on an increasingly-rare nice day - and there was Hammie sitting on a sun chair, supervising the yard (or something like that). I thought he was cute so I had to snap his picture!

Hammie is a very handsome bobtailed boy, and he is the brother of Lucy (also a bobtail). He's actually pretty friendly. We tried to adopt him out years ago but we were unsuccessful, so now he's just used to being here with the other kitties.


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Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5

 
*** This is my last chance to mention one of our sister rescuers who has fallen on some very hard times: Lorelei did so much work in animal rescue until very recently. I don't want to belabor this point but I remember she was always doing animal transports and stuff like that. She was an angel. Then a whole lot of really bad stuff happened. It started with her husband dying suddenly. So sad. Then her house burned down and she lost her job. It's a reminder that we're all just on the edge - more than we know or care to think about. Feral friends; can you help? Some of you help me from time to time, and I love and appreciate you for that. But this time, I want you to think of Lorelei.

April Desktop Cat of The Month: Bobtail

No fooling, this beautiful bobtail feral cat is our Cat of the Month for April, and here is her desktop wallpaper calendar!

The above version is for WIDE screens. It's native size 1920 by 1080 to cover cinema displays. This size also fits 1600x900, 1366x768 - up or down in size quite a bit... basically any wide monitor size. You should pick your wallpaper based on the aspect ratio, and this one is for all the wider sizes. Now, older "wide" monitors like mine will leave a little bar at the top and bottom (mine is 1680x1050, it's an older "wide" resolution) but it will look fine - especially if you change your desktop background color to black.

We haven't forgotten the older 4:3 "TV" ratio screens either! My sister still has that, at 1280x1024 or 1024 by 768. I have an old laptop that uses this ratio, too! The one below is that standard ratio (not wide) and will work on anything from 640x480 on up!

SIMPLE WALLPAPER HOW-TO: Click on the image of your choice to see the full size version, then right-click on it (one-button Macs, use CONTROL-Click).and select "Set as Desktop Background".(Firefox) / "Set As Background" (Explorer) - This also saves the image to your computer. Using Firefox, it will usually look best if you use the options "Stretch" and a black background, like this:

The latest versions of the Chrome browser make it a little harder: Right-click and select "Save image as..." Remember where you saved the file. Then go to your desktop, right-click, select the "Desktop" tab, click "Browse" and navigate to the place where you saved this file. Select the file and click OK.


Any problems or questions? Leave a comment and we'll see if we can work it out. Or visit me on Twitter or Facebook.

Want to help? Check out the sidebar!  Give the gift of CATS! Check out my art prints for sale. T-shirts, too. All of this helps take care of the kitties.

 Thank you for being a part of our feral family.

Orange Cat And Tractor Wheel

Keeping an eye on the world, it's our own Hamster Cat - affectionately known as Hammie, the bobtail orange-ginger cat. He seems to be thinking about things. Probably, though, he is just wondering when the food is going to be served.

Hammie was rescued as a kitten, although I use that term loosely since he is still here. I adopted his rescue-sister Lucy as my own pet and we put Hammie up for adoption but there were no takers so he's stuck here. He's used to his lot in life, though, and every once in a while he even gets a good petting session.

Orange Bobtail

Trying to take a nap, wondering what I'm up to - an orange/ginger bobtailed feral cat tries to keep an eye on me, just in case. The local feral colony has quite a few short tailed, half-tailed and other odd tailed cats in it. Some of them really look like wild cats.

This particular guy stays on the periphery of the colony and hasn't been photographed too much. He shows up for meals but doesn't like to hang around. Hopefully he stays safe when wandering.

Hammie Wash

Our miniature bobcat Hammie, enjoying an after-brunch bath. Hammie is friendly to a sufficient degree to be all over this blog. You'll find many Hamster "Hammie" Cat pictures. He's a little nervous and shy around strangers but but for me he'll pose with ease.

Hammie was abandoned when he was about 4 weeks old. I rescued him and bottle-fed him. One interesting side effect of all that is that he likes having a "binky" of some kind when I pet him. Typically he'll find a convenient fold in my top and latch on to it. It's a comfort thing.

I tried to find him his own home back when he was a kitten in 2006, but you know how it is with finding homes - unfortunately. However, Hammie is contented to be here, and very used to his life at this point.

Hammie was raised with another abandoned bobtail kitten, Lucy - and she became my personal companion.

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Oh! And hurray for 100 Google Friend Connect followers!  Number 100 happens to be Thimble Sparrow Designs  ..thank you, to Etsy artist Linday of TSD and to all our extended cat family. :)   Write to me, Linday, I should send you something for being # 100! :)

Bobtail Cat In The Shade

Getting some shade, although we haven't had all that much sunny weather lately - and surrounded by some debris from the fire; it's our favorite bobtail orange/ginger cat.

I know it must be warm somewhere out there but here, in this part of the world, we're still waiting. Not that I like a lot of heat, but the cats would definitely like the rain to stop for a while. At least, rain or sun, our feral cats have someplace to go and get out of it all.

Ginger-Orange Bobtail Tabby Cat

One of several bobtails in the feral cat colony, this tom has a lovely reticulated tabby coat in orange-ginger shades. If he hadn't been born feral, he would be someone's prized pet.

If You Have An Itch ...

It's true, if you have an itch, scratch it. Advice from Hammie The Cat. A candid moment for mini bobcat Hamster, enjoying a good scratch.

If you happened to see the feeding time picture from yesterday, Hammie would have been just off camera to the right. Hammie, like many of the feral cats, has his own official spot for feeding. He expects food in a certain place ...otherwise, it must not be for him! He will wait patiently until everyone else is fed in their spots, in order for food to appear at his official dining point.

I'm not getting too many opportunities to take pictures lately; time and a ridiculously wet spring have made it difficult. I was just lucky to catch this one, as Hammie's unguarded moment gets shared with the world.

Bobcat or Hamster ...

It's none other than Hamster (Hammie) the cat, who is looking more bobcat-like than usual here. Hammie is the bobtail brother of Lucy, whom I adopted. He's a shy boy but a very handsome cat.

Hammie was up for adoption for a while, but after 4+ years it's pretty tough; he's used to being here with the feral cats.

Just as a reminder of where we've come from, I managed to dig up this old photo of Baby Hammie, recently abandoned by his cat mommy:

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Hammie Today: Film photography: Canon A2, Fuji Superia 1600
 Baby Hammie: Pocket camera, Fuji Finepix s3000

Lucy Cat in my Hovel

Just a snapshot of former feral Lucy, my personal pet, hanging out with me in my hovel ...hanging on to my camera strap.

Lucy was abandoned by her mom when she was about 4 weeks old. I heard her cries and saved her. Now she's a permanent part of my life.