Cat rescue - Zima & family

In Qatar, we have a lot of sad animal cases, if you follow some of the rescue groups you would pull your hair out and not know where to start! Personally, I try to stick to TNR (Trap Neuter Return) as that is about prevention but of course, working on the streets means you come across cases who need help and numerous dumped pets. This latest case though I didn't find on the streets but saw on a popular Qatar facebook page...should never look at them!

                                           

Zima's Story

Zima was abandoned by her owner, the owner moved away leaving Zima behind at the house where she had been living. The people who were sharing the property didn’t want a cat and they certainly didn’t want a cat who then gave birth to three kittens! They put an advert on a Facebook site offering the kittens for free – literally just go and pick one up, as if they were toys! The kittens were only about a 1 week old and still feeding from mum; as these are cute Persian kittens plus offered for free, loads of people responded saying they wanted a kitten and would go and get one. I read the post with horror seeing the photographs showing newly born kittens and quickly responded saying the kittens were far too young to give away, the person replied saying they were giving them away because they couldn’t afford to feed them, at which point I offered to bring them food but please not to give the kittens away.

A heart-breaking visit to the family to give the food saw the reality of where mum and kittens were living and how they were really not wanted; mum looked so sad and was so so thin but such a good mum, her kittens looked healthy and she was very protective of them hiding them under a kitchen cabinet to try and keep them safe. I was devastated to have to leave them there but had nowhere to take them having my own cats and a new rescue at home.

Following a sleepless night worrying about them I received a text message the next day from the people saying they simply couldn’t keep them, unfortunately, the food hadn’t bought the family time. I desperately contacted a fellow cat rescuer asking if she could help find a foster home but I literally needed it in the next few hours! She performed a miracle and found a wonderful foster home for the whole family. Now that they had somewhere safe to go I drove across town to collect the family, on arrival there it was almost like the mother cat knew help had finally come, on placing the carrier down mother cat calmly walked in it and sat down, as if she sensed a better life was just around the corner.

A visit to the vet confirmed that the kittens were all in good health but mum was in a very poor state.  

                                             

She had a vitamin injection but couldn’t be vaccinated because she was just too weak. It was also discovered she has hardly any teeth, therefore must have been really struggling to eat at all. However, they were given the all clear to move into the foster home. Thankfully she also tested negative for FIV.

Zima (Slavic for winter), as she was named by her foster mum, and her family moved into 5-star accommodation! Their very own room with fleece blankets and soft food that mum could eat. They must have thought they had landed in paradise!

             

Paradise is where they still are but the next challenge is finding good homes for them and covering all the veterinary costs of 4 cats - spaying, vaccination, antibiotics, worming etc.  Good homes in Qatar are hard to come by and that is putting it mildly. A lot of rescuers ship abroad to America or the UK in the search for forever homes, an extremely expensive option! I hope it won't come to that, divorce will be in the air soon as my long-suffering husband hears about the next cat rescue problem but we just can't ignore the plight of the animals around us and help where we can.

A happy update - all three kittens have been adopted by Canadian families, lucky babies will one day end up in Canada, a far cry from where they started life. Mum is getting her happy ending too and flying to America.

On the drawing board - Bebe

                            

Look at this stunning photo of such a gorgeous cat! Bebe's owner is a photographer (have a look at her portfolio kerrysellers.myportfolio.com), so I have been spoiled with this photograph - actually slightly worried I can do justice to this the amazing shot! Sadly Bebe passed away recently, so her owner is having the portrait done in her memory.

A friend of mine, who is a pastel "human" portrait artist, once told me she always adds the eyes first so that she has someone to talk to whilst working on a portrait,  I have done the same here before starting work on his amazing coat.

                               

Was just about to post these when had to stop to mop up the floor, Qatar experienced a full-on thunder-storm, the art room windows proved not to be equipped for such unusual amounts of rain, hence the mopping!

Anyway, back at the desk and back to the art.  At the moment overemphasizing all his markings, will probably have to soften some slightly later but liking the powerful feel he is portraying, makes me think of the larger members of the cat family.

            

             

Have now completed all the basics, moving onto the refinement.

                                          

I think I am finished but I will leave him on the easel to analyse a bit more before scanning him. I also always get my husband to have a look (good to get a fresh set of eyes to view it) but for him, it is actually a no-win situation, if he criticizes it I get defensive but I do actually value his opinion, sorry hubby!

                                   

Below is the final scanned image of Bebe.

                       

On the drawing board - Baxter & Barley

Christmas present. Look at this amazing photo of Baxter! The client persevered with her photography (and my fussiness) and managed to get this great shot! Such a wonderful expression and great lighting. A good clear reference photo makes all the difference and this one is a pleasure to work from.  Whilst I get started on Baxter's portrait, the client is trying for more shots of Barley, as they aren't her dogs she is doing a great job of undercover photography!

Below is the initial sketch of Baxter, more to come once I have completed all the basics. At the moment just getting the main details and fur direction in.

Starting to add more depth of shadow.

                                         

Working on the final detail, just realised I need to do his disk!

                                        

The finished scanned image.

 

Client kindly sent me a photograph of Baxter framed, love her choice of frame.

                                       

Well another wonderful photo, this time of Barley, the client really has got the photography side down now! Love the enquiring look. Below is the initial sketch.

                                                        

Pretty intense few days working on Barley, the reality is that Christmas is looming........ Am working on getting all the basics in place, adding light, shade and structure.

                                    

Continuing to add the basics.

 

Slowly but surely. From an artists point of view, Barley is easier than Baxter because he has some 'white bits', black animals are notoriously difficult and you have to rely on good lighting. Barley's white sections instantly give interest to a drawing and make him unique.

Now at the final detail stage, my favourite part!

A day of analysing and putting the final touches to Barley. Below is a scanned image of the final portrait - is his expression dreaming of running through the fields, or his dinner?

                                                  

Cat rescue - tiny souls

At the moment we are living in Kuwait, where there are sadly never ending problems with stray animals, dumped animals and cruelty cases. It is very frustrating and makes you feel so helpless in face of the enormity of the situation, it will unfortunately take time before any major improvements are seen. I could write pages on this subject alone but the aim of this post is to tell the tale of two tiny Arabian Mau's who my husband rescued in Kuwait, whilst my daughter and I were on holiday in the UK.

                                                                     

On his morning jog, he found a tiny tabby kitten in the middle of the road, literally pulling himself along (he was so young, he couldn't even walk properly yet). My husband did the right thing (I trained him well), he found the kittens litter mate in a nearby bush, and placed the tabby back, in the hope that mum would return; a lot of people don't realise that the females leave their kittens whilst they go out searching for food, they only return to feed them. Often people pick up what they think are abandoned kittens but if they are in quite good shape, mum probably just left them temporarily. Anyway, unfortunately in this case, mum didn't return; in Kuwait the way they control the animal population is by poisoning, so mum might have gone that unfortunate route, or else could have got run over, but the main point was, she wasn't coming back.

                                                                    

So into our spare bathroom they went. At this stage they were probably only about a week old, so the hard work started with the round the clock bottle feeds, my husband had taken on a project! Thankfully he knew what he was doing, as our cats were found down a storm drain in the Philippines when they were just a few days old, tied in a plastic bag, sometimes you have to wonder about mankind!

                                                                     

Well the new babies are now about 7 weeks and slowly gaining strength.They have had their first trip to the vet for vaccinations, something they didn't enjoy at all, well who can blame them really! Now we have the massive challenge of finding them a forever home. Unfortunately there is a severe lack of good homes for animals in Kuwait, we might even have to ship them to the UK or the USA in the search for the perfect home for them, a very expensive option.

In the meantime, they are growing steadily, even though they now look quite big in the latest photo, they are still only tiny babies and weigh about 1 pound each! I hope the perfect home is out there for them, the search is now on!

                                                     

Fast forward a few months and unfortunately as predicted, no good home in Kuwait has been found. However, through a few amazing people, they should be on a flight to America soon to start their new life. It will be so sad to say goodbye (quite a few tears have already been shed) but wonderful for them to get this opportunity, plus our older cats will be so happy to have their peaceful life back.

 

Below are some photos of how they look now, quite the posers! I hope their new forever home, will love them as much as we do.

 

                                                  

 Latest update: they are now living in America with their new family - happy endings are sometimes possible!

                                                 

            

Hanging on

                                               

This adorable little monkey I photographed in Baguio in the Philippines. Unfortunately he was being kept as a pet and was on a long chain tied to the post that he is clinging to. At the time, Baguio was hosting a garden show/competition and somebody seemed to think he enhanced the look of their garden - as I expect you can tell, I am totally against keeping wild animals as pets!

In any case, even though this photograph doesn't hold good memories for me, I do love the depth of emotion in his eyes. I always strife to show emotion in my drawings, therefore I wanted to attempt this one. My husband in the background is saying " A frightened monkey, Denise no one will buy it"! However instead of being commercial, it is more important for me to draw what moves me, so a worried monkey it is!

Have now worked for a few hours on the sketch, am working from top left down. I am going to continue trying to get the face part more detailed before moving onto the rest. So far so good, quite liking the look at the moment, still lots of work to do on the eyes though.

                                                    

Have now worked every area to get the basic structure. Now comes for me the best part, putting him on the easel, stepping back and working from a distance. At this stage I refine the light and shade to start to unify the drawing.

                                                            

Here he is, the finished little monkey. I am so sorry I couldn't help him escape the situation he was in.