3 Strays

The last couple of days have been busy. Chanthee, my neighbor and I caught 3 ragged (but beautiful) strays yesterday, and brought them down to be tested/neutered/spayed this morning. The adoption group seems really good at finding good homes quickly for cats - and these three are imminently adoptable. They are all surprisingly friendly. My guess is that they had been house cats until they were let go into the streets...(usually when the boys start spraying, they get kicked out). The various supers in the neighborhood were feeding them and we can verify that they were living on top of an HVAC unit at a local funeral home.

I did not delete any of their scratches/marks because I felt that it was more true to life. I also tried to capture their surroundings as much as possible - in my own (LOL, admittedly very weak) homage to the photos one often sees of feral cats in Greece. Most of the shots were taken hand-held at ISO 3200. Anyway, without further adieu - I bring you Hudson, Cleo and Cesar (in that order). I did not delete any of their scratches/marks because I felt that it was more true to life.

Wonderful images, terrific story and applause to you both for your efforts in saving these wonderful animals. Kudos!

These are all wonderful but I *LOVE* the perspective in #3

Thanks Julie and Peggy for the feedback. I went to the shelter group last night and Hudson (the orange) went straight into a foster home. Cesar and Cleo will be going to a joint home together - they are telling me today.

It was interesting to me that they picked the two to go together as that is exactly how I would have handled it. They need a little TLC and are much shyer than Hudson. LOL, it was embarrassingly easy to get him into the crate. The other two took some serious time to cajole. They were just hungry and ultimately took the bait.

I am glad they tested negative for FIV/FeLV. I was moderately concerned as to how to handle the next steps.

James

Very nice work on all accounts.

I'm with Julie on #3. That one really stands out for me.

I take it these were done before they were wrangled into the crates?

With the urban surroundings, I bet these would be good candidates for some grungy type textures / treatments

Nice work James. And nice photos. Hudson looks like he might have been getting more than his share of the handouts. If you can mouth a soft high pitched 'silent' whistle, that can sometimes get both ears to the camera. Great job on the head shot of Cesar...black fur is tough to photograph.

So glad to hear they found homes already! Really nice photos, like Julie I really like #3, he's really "king of the hill", and I like the setting on #4 also.

Diana

Hey Preston,

LOL, it was very clear that Hudson was getting his handouts. He is a full sized guy. The super and his mother who lived next door had been putting food out for the three of them. I appreciate the tip on the ears. Next time. :P

James

Hey Diana,

Thanks for the kind words. They don't have homes yet, just foster homes. However, it is definitely a good start.

James

Hi Everyone,

I have an update. Apparently Cesar was not fostered with the other cats. Chanthee and I stopped to visit him on Sunday. They are working on getting him a foster - but he is definitely miserable and limited as he is stuck in a medium sized cage. We are going to put up some flyers to see if we can help get him a home.

James

Things continue to be up and down for Cesar. We thought we had a foster for him as of Sunday, but that wound up being short lived. As a result, Chanthee and I gave the shelter agency some flyers with photographs featuring just Cesar.

I got word last night that they may have a possible foster. The trick has been the snow storm that has been hitting NYC. The City is pretty much still (LOL, except us. We are getting prepared to drive downtown to drop off our stuff for the show).

James