Cat Photography For Everyone
Marjorie 
I found an old flash drive with lots of images and information on it. I hope to add to this post over coming months as I unearth some of the fun ones. Today I’d love to share an image of Harvey from 2015.
Regular readers will know how much Harvey means to the family and to me. He was (and remains) a regular attendee at Twitter’s #Nipclub as HarveyButtonNZ. You can see in this photograph he still has his ear tips. Isn’t he the most handsome of cats?
I have assembled a series of images that show the journey of Miranda, our tuxedo cat. She went from near fatal arrow injury to a position of growing strength and confidence after her arrow attack on 21st September 2023. I call her Mirna Victix (a female victor) The vet called her tough, and we feel we have to agree. Our resilient cat is a lucky survivor of an evil deed.
I have not shown the image of Miranda with the arrow from the crossbow in place as this would distress everyone far too much. The aim of this post (and little photo/video snippet) is to record her journey towards recovery and health. The series is a combination of smartphone and DSLR images because sometimes one was what I was holding at the time! It tells a story though and this is what matters.
The first image shows Miranda wrapped in blankets on her way to our local vet surgery from the After Hours Emergency Vet Surgery.
The emergency service is based at Ngauranga Gorge on the road out of Wellington. She is heavily sedated and, thankfully the arrow wounds have been stitched up and she has been gently cleaned.
Miranda was quiet all the way to our local vet surgery where she was transferred to the kitten incubator to raise her temperature and see if she would be well enough to be taken home. Our local vet gave Miranda a thorough examination and read the extensive notes from Dr. Sally at the emergency vets.
Miranda was pronounced recovered enough to be brought home at the end of a day at our local vets and she was fitted with a locally made protective collar to prevent her nibbling at her stitches. Below you can see the shaved area where her hair was removed. I know she was grumpty but, for us as panicked pet parents, seeing her looking so cute lifted our spirits a little.
After a week of recovery with her collar on, Miranda was allowed to have it removed and she celebrated with some small pieces of smoked New Zealand salmon. We were able to send this cat photo to the emergency vets who were pleased with her progress. You can see the shaved patches from her surgery on her front paws. They look so pale and dramatic.
As Miranda gained her strength she was able to climb on to the sofa and permitted us to give her a snuggle. The image below is one of those terrible photos I always tell you to keep, no matter how blurry it is. It is a precious memory of Miranda on the road to recovery. Her eyes still look slightly spaced out as she had a patch of Fentanyl attached to her tail as a slow release painkiller.
Miranda slowly gained strength. She has been allowed to walk around the house to gain mobility and, on this day jumped up on to my chair, then my sewing table to help me finish a block of the month quilt from Quilters Lane (an online quilting store here in New Zealand). If you look beside Miranda you can see the swatches of quilt fabric on a printed sheet.
This fun photographs show our little survivor is gaining more strength and confidence by the day. She is at the top of our favourite cat tree the Monkee Tree, which is made here in New Zealand. The platforms are quite wide so she is able to sit comfortably and look down at me!
Our girl is recovering. She is a bit weak in one leg but confident enough to climb the low trees in the garden and enjoy a walk through the grass. Here you can still see the fur that is growing back on her front right leg and the shaved area on her back is looking slightly blacker! The dreadful wounds she suffered have healed and almost disappeared into her fur!
I hope you enjoy these images of Miranda enjoying Spring.
I shot a series of photographs of Toulouse near the edge of our garden. The wooden fence has a lovely texture that contrasts with his fur and his bright eyes shine as he plots his adventure. Please enjoy this short photo essay that captures a tabby’s character.
This tabby’s explorations look even more dramatic in black and white so, as the photographs were shot on my DSLR in Camera RAW I was able to convert them all to monochrome so that you can see Toulouse’s curiosity and his splendid ticked tabby coat.
Our intrepid tabby has our garden as his playground but he can, if he needs to, make an energetic leap to reach new heights.
Take a look at this next photograph. Toulouse looks upwards calculating the distance as he tenses his muscles.
He measures the distance ready to spring.
In a flash (yes my camera missed it!) and a dash, he makes the leap to the top of the wooden fence with ease. His fearless leap nearly made me drop by camera. I admit I thought he was going to fall but, he’s a cat and he did no such thing.
As the tabby figure perches up on the high post he looks around pondering his next step. Should he explore the neighbouring shed? Or, should he visit the chickens next door?
The chickens it is!
Off the tabby prowls to visit his friends next door!
If you hate the idea of sharpening your cat’s out-of-focus fur, try a filter. Computer and smartphone filters can transform a slightly fuzzy photo and create a fun image that you would love to share on social media. Let me tell you why filters can transform a photo.
These are all Photoshop Camera (PS) treatments of a cute and slightly fuzzy image of Toulouse. PS isno longer available but your favoirite filters will make magic too.
Toulouse is our adventuresome tabby who takes a great photo, just like your cat. You can see the difference each filter makes to the same image.
Each filter has a name e.g. Artful, Night Shift, Glowing and Grit (black and white) so you can remember your favourites easily. I have chosen Artful for this sample with an extra discovery at the bottom of the post.
Number 1 under Artful gives an almost watercolour paper texture to the portrait of Toulouse with each subsequent filter shafting the way it looks in subtle ways. The one thing you can say is, there will be a filter you will love.
My other favourite lenses at the moment in the app for you to try are:
Real cyanotypes are a photographic printing process with chemicals used to create a blue image. Using the chemicals is fiddly and you need to be very careful preparing paper and fabric to print on to, so discovering that there was a filter that did a lot of the hard work for me was exciting.
The snapshot, below, was cropped to remove a lot of garden and focus on Toulouse as he stalks the fence. There are four filters in this lens, each gives a different light or dark treatment.
Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints.The process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide
Wikipedia
I am working on an eBook to send out to mailing list members at Dash Kitten. It’s fun to put together and will be a good read but there’s a lot of work involved. I managed a selfie of Miranda though!
Some of the tools that the app offers are a big step up from simple filters that switch your cat photo’s general look. They need a bit more skill than you would expect but you can create a cat photo you will be proud of and share it from your own phone.
My original Snapseed post is here.
When I visited America to attend Blogpaws® I spent time with friend Savannah and her Mom and Dad. I met young Sage who was the ‘new kid on the block’ and a happy addition to the Paw Tracks family.
When Savvy reported on the latest antics of Sage it was with a touch of exasperation that transformed into affection over the course of time. Sage’s sudden loss is a real blow as she was greatly loved by her dad. You can read about Sage here, and see Anne’s lovely collage of images of one of the most lovely black cats.
I am including this simple and beautiful tribute from Ann and June at Zoolatry who has captured the simple grace of a black cat and a touch of TKS personality.
Today’s post is not about us, although I will add a photo of Miranda at the end so you can see she is doing OK and shouting to be let out of cage rest. Today’s post is about our friend and blogging colleague Brian Frum. The Power of the Paw worked for Miranda, now we need it for Brian.
Our links to Brian and his family go back a long way in online terms. I remember back in 2015 with the help of a host of wonderful friends (including the generous Melissa) we successfully fundraised for Bootsie and the surgery he might need to save him from a life of constant pain.
Today I want everyone to send their best love to this finest and most supportive of friends.
Brian and his family are a big part of the vibrant and busy pet community and also part of the great site the Cat Blogosphere. Brian’s family report, as you know, on the events and adventures with their family and you know there is mischief and smiles (especially from Simon) and reports on the feral family they care for (with movies!)
Please drop by Brian’s page with love for them all. I don’t mind if you don’t comment here, your support for Miranda has been so kind, now we need to support the Frum family.
Special Note about Last Week
Many of you would not have even seen the blog because our Host Rochen.com servers went down for a few days. Although this was tough for us, our Host has been rock solid with us over ten years and we are staying with them – no question too silly, no query to small for their help desk to answer and answer quickly. Sorry for the interupted service but they have been moving mountains to get everyone back online and we are here.
A black cat can be a frustrating dark blob but with sunlight (or some welcome brightness!) magic can happen. See what I mean in this post.
This week’s selfie portraits are of Miranda. She is recovering after her attack by an idiot with a crossbow and arrow and now has several vet visits under her kitty ‘belt’.
As you can see, she is looking perkier and more engaged. Unfortunately, she decided to nibble at her stitches yesterday so she has a soft cotton collar to stop this.The itching is not a bad thing, it means she is healing but, healing makes cats (and humans) itchy so the we need to stop the nibbling!
Miranda has been dosed with an antibiotic and kept pain free by Meloxicam with (believe it or not) a Fentanyl patch on her tail. The same substance that is a human plague in the United States is a successful healing medication for cats here in New Zealand.
It has worked. For the past week Miranda has begun to heal and remain relaxed with no pain. She is now on doses of just the Meloxicam and antibiotics.
It is still a day by day monitoring regime but, thanks to her vets and the support of her many online friends Miranda is doing OK so far. Thank you everyone.
I have been asked to let Miranda’s friends know what happened after she was hit by an arrow. Thankfully she survived but Friday 21st of September is not a day we, as a family, want to relive again.
It is only when a cat almost slips through your fingers you realise how much they really matter to you.
I heard a couple of cat cries early, around 5.30 a.m. but did not realise what had happened until I went and checked outside.
Miranda was hidden beneath a large tangled bush. When I moved it out of the way I went still with shock. I realised she had a ‘stick’ near her shoulder. When I examined it, as carefully as I could, the stick turned out to be an arrow that was stuck through her body.
I raised my voice a little to cat dad Paul who had appeared in the doorway. I spoke as calmly as I could so I didn’t stress Miranda. “Get dressed, get the car out. We need to go to the After Hours Vet.”
Between us we lifted Miranda from the bushy foliage as gently as we could and carried her into the car. We laid her carefully on blankets. Then we were off like lightning to the emergency vet, known locally as the ‘After Hours Vet’. We telephoned ahead to let them know to expect us and gave them an idea of why we were coming.
No time to wash or brush hair, we just threw on clothes and drove.
The veterinary staff were ready and, thankfully, there was no-one else ahead of us when we arrived. The calm and friendly staff whisked Miranda into the back for an assessment and immediate urgent treatment. Their calm attitude made a huge difference to us as worried cat parents. It seems Miranda’s body temperature was dangerously low and she had lost a lot of blood so their first priority was to warm her up and give her strong pain relief.
We were told she would be going into surgery after her blood pressure increased and she would need a blood transfusion. I have added a note about the transfusion below because it is something I knew nothing about but it could save the life of another cat whose owner reads Miranda’s story.
Dr Sally, came out and gave us her initial assessment.
Miranda was touch and go. Arrow wound survival depends where the arrow goes in, what damage it does and if it can be removed safely. We nodded and tried to ask sensible questions. Then Dr. Sally said she would need to take x-rays (you can see one of them above) to see where the arrow had travelled before operating.
This was a ‘did you know?’ moment, because we had no idea this was possible, and you might not know either.
We were told to go home and return to the After Hours surgery closing time (9 a.m.) to collect Miranda for transfer to our own local vet. Here in Wellington, New Zealand the After Hours surgery works overnight, not during the day.
When we returned from home we were told that Miranda had come through her surgery successfully. Dr Sally explained the surgery they had performed as well as showing us an x-ray of the arrow in place which had been taken after Miranda was anaesthetised.
The arrow had entered the front of her shoulder, travelled along nicking the top of her collarbone (scapula) and clipping the tops of several of the bones on top of her spine (vertebrae). She had been unbelievably lucky and the vet had been able to take the arrow out safely.
Miranda was transported to our own vets and placed in their kitten incubator, the thought made me smile on a stressful day. Dr Alix said she would be resting at a cosy C28/(F82) and they would monitor her throughout the day before deciding if she needed to stay overnight or if she could come home to us.
Thankfully after a very long and traumatic day the vet told us Miranda could come home. The vet surgery believed she was strong enough to cope with cage rest at home. She had strong pain killers that we would administer twice a day.
Miranda had been shaved while at the After Hours surgery. She looks dramatically ‘punky’ from her front shoulder across her back, different from our tuxedo girl’s usual confident and sleek black and white self. On the positive side, we saw her first sign of recovery when she hissed at Toulouse as he passed her crate. (Toulouse teases her when they are out in the garden and she hadn’t forgotten him.)
While we waited for Miranda to come out of surgery I informed my local lost and found pets group on Facebook. I gave a general area of the attack’s location to warn as many people as possible.
I have also been updating the After Hours vets about Miranda’s progress as dealing with the event must have been as traumatic for them as it was for us. I was able to tell them that alongside her pain relief she had managed to eat a portion of smoked salmon her first morning. It didn’t not take her long to start planning her break out from cage rest.
Everyone knows how amazing their vets can be when put to the test and I know others will have stories similar to Miranda’s. So everyone will empathise with our gratitude for Miranda’s recovery. I am deeply grateful to Dr Sally and Sam at the After Hours Vets, and Dr Alix and the staff at Valley Cottage Vets here in Stokes Valley for their kindness and care, and their continued interest in Miranda.
I want to end on a positive note. Miranda is home, on the road to recovery and being spoiled. She will get the best of care and the insurance (thankfully) covers a large portion of the bill.
Let me finish with a photograph of our girl in her summer prime.
I have to share this lucky capture of our neighbour Taz! A scritch scratch from cat dad Paul brings out a purr of kitty pleasure from our friend. It certainly makes me smile.
The weather has been unseasonably warm here this weekend and we were able to sit out on the front deck weeks ahead of when we usually start doing so.
Also, the builders were not working across the back fence on Saturday so we made the most of the quiet time. Of course I took my camera out as well as a glass of wine and a good book. This may not be the purrfect cat capture but it gets a cute and sleepy look.
I also need to confess the day was not an entirely idle one of sitting in the sun. We worked in the garden and cleared some of the raised beds with a bit of help from the cats before they decided it was too warm and they went to nap in the shade.
On Friday we had to take our car to a specialist mender in another suburb. We went for a walk around Naenae suburb while they took a look to see what work needed doing. As it was a chance to see a new part of the Hutt Valley I took my camera along too.
Paul commented that this is an excellent view of the Hutt Valley where we live. The flat and fertile lowland greenery of gardens and playing fields contrasts with the sweeping valley sides; much of which is filled with houses as some people pay a fortune for a view (but sometimes not so much garden).
