DIY Cat Condo

Since we've joined forces with Small Tails Best Friend Rescue, we've become one of the foster homes for many of the cats & kittens brought into the rescue.  A lot of them have come in extremely young, some with their mamas and some without.  They are bottle fed or nursed in one of the Small Tails founders' homes until they are old enough to come to The Cattery.  This is the addition we've made at our house so that we were able to house more cats and older kittens until they can go to their forever homes.  We've had quite a few come through here, and most of them are now living with their new families.
One of the cats' favorite parts of The Cattery is the cat condo.  Here's how we made it with very little money and a lot of elbow grease...

So, I saw this entertainment center on the side of the road one day...

and I pictured it being something in The Cattery.  Somewhere they could climb, relax & play.

So, my wonderful dad picked it up for me while I was at work, and my fabulous husband got to work.

We had an old rug from the house that would be perfect.

 We bought some sisal rope for scratching posts.

With help from a few friends, we moved it to their outdoor area, attached to The Cattery.  Now they have an amazing cat condo that they love to lounge on, run around on, climb and scratch on.  

Exciting news and upcoming changes...

We have some exciting things happening here!  We are happy to announce that we have officially joined Small Tails Best Friend Rescue as part of the rescue!  We will be helping plan events, fostering animals, and helping all around to manage the rescue with them.  We are super excited for this opportunity to help them help animals in even more ways!  We'll still be photographing animals available for adoption to help get the word out and get them into their forever homes, as well.
We have our first batch of kittens in to start off kitten season.  *Side note: Please remember to spay and neuter your pets!  Kitten season is not a good thing- shelters are inundated with kittens and pregnant cats because Spring is a natural mating season and there are SO many cats out there who are allowed to roam and are not spayed or neutered.*  Small Tails has pulled 2 pregnant cats, 3 cats with their litters of kittens, and 10 babies with no mama relinquished with them, 6 needing to be bottle fed around the clock.  Right now, we (at Pawsitive Images) have one mama, Stormy, with her 2 babies, Thunder and Lightening, in our garage, in a cozy little nook (they are pictured, below).  We are working on turning our old, large chicken coop into a cattery- so we'll be able to house cats and kittens that are old enough to move out and be together.

 #adoptdontshop

 #milkdrunk

We've also built a wonderful cat condo out of an old entertainment center we found on the side of the road!  Score!  A fantastic, huge, kitty condo built for maybe $20 and some hard work.  That's what I call a bargain.  Rescuing animals is not usually quite the bargain, though, so don't forget to stop on over at Small Tails Donations Page and donate what you can!  Every little bit helps us help animals!

Studio Set Up

We're starting to experiment with a studio set up as well as on location shoots of animals available for adoption.  This way we can take photos indoors when the weather or lighting is less than ideal.  We can also photograph animals that may be more difficult to contain in an outdoor setting, like birds, small animals (guinea pigs, hamsters), new born puppies or kittens, etc.  It will give us more options all around.  We could also do shoots of pets with their human family members (outside as well as indoors).
The lighting isn't quite where we want it to be yet, but for now it's a nice alternative to an outdoor shoot when needed.
Here are some of our very first test shots of our favorite test subjects, Charlie and Stag.

 Charlie always makes a handsome model.

 Then Stag tries his hand at studio modeling, and does a fantastic job.

 They both needed just a bit of help and motivation. ; )

 Then we got some human family members involved.  

I have had the honor of partnering up with a local rescue, Small Tails Best Friend Rescue, to take photos of their lovely animals in search of their forever homes.  We're learning as we go, but it is such a wonderful experience and all around fun time.  Although I want to take all of them home with me...I'll have to settle for helping them put their best face forward in searching for the right home for them.  Here are some of our first shoot together.

I'm Alison, a thirty-something, married, mother of two girls, with a passion for animals of all kinds.  My family adopted our goofy, lovable dog {Charlie} from a local shelter.  It breaks my heart to know there are countless animals out there being mistreated {to say the least} and I would love more than anything to help even one animal find a loving forever home.  Think adoption first.  Find a local animal shelter or animal rescue... don't buy your next pet... rescue him/her!