One of my main goals for 2016 was to take some photos of my cats that I am proud of.  I wrote about it on this post.  I will be honest with you, it's it's not been as easy as I thought it would be.  Cats move very quickly and some of mine our seemingly camera shy.  The above photo of my oldest named Chanel (a Himalayan Persian rescue cat) is especially camera shy so I was happy to get this shot of her.

The title of this post " Draw Me Like One of Your French Girls" was taken from the movie "The Titanic" .  This movie came out in 1997.  It's hard for me to believe it is almost a twenty-year-old movie as people still watch it a lot nowadays.

As you can see Fleur LOVES the camera.  She seems to like posing in front of flowers.  She was found in a flower bed when she was only a few weeks old almost 9 years ago.  We took her in as a foster cat around that time.  I think after nine years she will be with us for good ;)

 Here is another of my "foster" cats named Peanut.  He will be 10 years old this fall.  I'm grateful that he is not very camera shy either!

And here is peanut again while I am practicing with a new Focus type lens that I've been having a tough time learning to use:

Here are some of my very camera shy kitties.  The black one is named Princess and is about nine years old.  The Siamese looking one is named Sasha who just turned six.  The Tortoiseshell cat is named Piney.  Piney is FIV positive and about  four years old.  She is kept healthy with a fairly new drug the few people know about called T-cyte.  Many people ask me if it is expensive.  It costs us about $60 dollars each time she gets a shot which is about twice a year.  

 Here is peaches sporting her lion cut.  She is normally very fluffy so we get her groomed during the summer because it's so hot here in Florida.  Peaches is also FIV positive. We took her in more than two years ago when she was found nursing seven two week old kittens next to a dumpster.  We took her to the vet the next day and learned she was F I V positive.  Only two of the kittens tested FIV positive, but after six doses of T-cyte when they were very young they became negative.  T-cyte truly is a miracle drug in my opinion.

We don't know peaches exact age.  All of our cats are rescues so we don't know most of their exact birthdays.  The only one we know for sure is our oldest who is pictured at the top she was born in her foster home on May 29, 2004.

Lastly I will leave you photos of Elizabeth and Jasmine.  They are sisters who are approximately 10 years old.  Elizabeth, pictured first, looks like she got into my eyeliner.  They were the first foster cats that we took in.  They were very lucky to survive as they were found in a barn in the middle of the winter in Ohio.  Their mother had been stepped on by a horse.  Luckily they are happy and healthy cats now. 

I think Jasmine tries to make me feel guilty when I'm packing to go out of town :)

Thank you so much for stopping by to see my first kids.  I will continue to work on their portraits throughout 2016 and beyond.  I would love to hear your comments and advice on taking pictures of pets.  As always you can use my photo for free using my Pixabay account here.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

~Michelle

Please see this company's wonderful pet toys here:

The Natural Pet Company

Peanut loves the pink and purple jingle balls:

 
I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from Florina at "The Natural Pet Company" regarding their new company that makes wonderful and NATURAL pet toys.  She had read my blog and was wondering if I would be willing to write a post about their new toys.  I normally don't write sponsored posts - this is my first actually, but Florina had read my entire blog so I knew her e-mail was legit.  After doing some research on this company I decided that I wanted to try and help them get some publicity for these very durable, attractive, and affordable products that I will be buying more of for all of my cats and many foster kitties that come in and out of my home.  Best of all these toys are fun for the cats to play with, safe, and natural!  

As you can see Peanut and Princess were very excited about their special delivery!

The natural and as you will see irresistible catnip:  http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Quality-Catnip-Absolutely-Guarantee/dp/B00CORO4EU arrived very quickly!  I did not have to open the bag of catnip...Peanut took care of that!!!

Here are the adorable and natural items they sent my cats  =^..^=   Here is their link at Amazon: The Natural Pet Company

   Here I am playing with our newest rescue cat.  His name is Jack, a one year old Maine Coon who weighs fourteen pounds!  Maybe you can tell from the photo that he really enjoyed the cat nip ;)  

Some of the catnip spilled on the couch and there was no tearing Chanel and Peanut away from it!
Jack loved the "mouse on a string toy"!!!

Fleur and Lizzie were thrilled to have some new cat toys  to play with too!  http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Toys-Megapack-Interactive-Accessories/dp/B00CYRUIU4

Sasha and Jasmine loved the pretty pink and purple jingle balls!
Sasha wanted to play all night!  Unlike my other cats, she has endless amounts of energy!

Jasmine went to sleep cuddled up with the ball

 I didn't have the heart to take it away from her little paws and she was purring so loudly :)

Final Thoughts

The Natural Pet Company  is a new company that is creating high quality, well priced, and fun toys for cats of all ages.  The shipping is lightening fast as well!  The catnip is all natural and my cats acted and played like they were in heaven.  I will definitely be following  The Natural Pet Company on Facebook and be purchasing more of these fantastic toys for all of my cats and the many foster kitties that pass in and out of my home.  

Below is a photo of Peaches with her seven - 7 orange kittens that we found homes for this summer.

Thanks so much for stopping by and please remember to visit:

Our website: http://www.thenaturalpetcompany.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thenaturalpetcompany 

AND visit their site to try some of these amazing catastic products here:  

The Natural Pet Company

 He already likes to play.  Just like all of our other cats.  He likes the stuffed bananna toy best

He loves to be held!
We've set up a large crate with a litter box, toys, and a little bit of kitten formula which he will hopefully start drinking on his own soon :)

He is drinking KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) for newborn kittens from birth to 6 weeks.  It is best to feed newborn kittens with a bottle as opposed to a syringe so they are less likely to get milk in their lungs.  Of course mother's milk is best, but he was found all alone.  However, he seems stong and weighs 14 ounces!

We are calling him Little Peanut because he looks so similar to our four year old male cat named Peanut when he was a baby:
Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful Monday.  Take care my friends!

Michelle

The pets were all a little scared at first when we moved into our new home almost two months ago.  You see they all tend to be a little territorial and they each had a place where they seemed to feel safe and thought belonged to them at the old place.  It took them a few weeks, but now seem to love their new home and have each found some places they like just as much as in our old house.  They are not allowed out on the third floor balconys because it's way too far to the ground and there is plenty of space for them on the first and second floor balconys. 

Unfortunately, moving can be quite traumatic for pets.

As you can see from the above photo, Jasmine saw that our dining room table doesn't get enough use and decided to change that.  Peanut made the same decision about our biggest "decoration" :

Fleur is a bit of a couch potato:
Princess can be found outdoors 99% of the time.  She grew up outside.  We took her in when she was a very pregnant 8-9 month old:
Unfortunately, Lizzie likes the warmth of the cable box:
Jasmine likes to play hide and seek in the cushions as well:

Well that's not all of us, but this is photo overload so you will see the other's spots at a later date.  Thanks so much for stopping by. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Until next time. Michelle

Our cats still have the run of the house, but we wanted them to have their own room.  There is a cat door leading to the patio/pool.  More photos to come.  I am STILL working on everything...and I'm starting to think I ALWAYS will be ;)

Pool photos at night:

Fake alligator in the distance:

Thanks for stopping by.  Sending many warm thoughts to my wonderful readers in lieu of visiting you for now.  Take care everyone and I hope you are all well!!!