August 01, 2005

Alley Cats. Teh cute. Teh flash.

It's selling a book, but hey, you don't have to buy it, just look at the pretty kitties. Goddam freeloaders.

posted by kitfisto 18 years ago
  • What a charming link!
  • These cats are filthy just like you.
  • Who are you, and what have you done with the real quidnunc?
  • I love filthy pussy, that's right.
  • Ok, you made me cry. In the computer lab. In front of my classmates. *sniff*
  • Yeah, perhaps I should have mentioned, it's a bit sad sometimes too. At least it hasn't got 'Bright Eyes' playing over it (one of my trigger songs anyway).
  • The pictures are great stuff, and the site is well done. The cats, indeed, are Teh Cute. But some of the comments are just...too much. "Razor, killed by a coyote while defending his family"?? I don't doubt they could have watched a fight. I don't doubt that there could have been a coyote in the city. But a wild male cat defending his kittens--I don't think so.
  • Yeah, I caught that too. I wonder what city it is? I also kind of felt like, well, you've won their trust, they let you come close enough for pictures, so now at least for gods' sake get them some shots & get them fixed! Otherwise, well, let's not romanticize the feral cats in alleys. Rabies, anyone? And "A pair of breeding cats, which can have two or more litters per year, can exponentially produce 420,000 offspring over a seven-year period." from the feral cats website. That's a lot of sad little kittens in alleys.
  • Meeeeeem'ries, all alone in the moooooooooonliiiight.... (Okay, it was cute)
  • Touching exploitation. Did the authors do anything to actually help their subject cats beyond feeding them to help get photos? I see no mention of this. Perhaps I missed something?
  • Merchandising Opportunities: Post Cards Bookmarks Calendars Stationery Note Cards Journals Recipe Books Mmhhh... alley cat casserole...
  • Gothy et al: I didn't mean to call a total down on the book, just to point out that there was a bit of romantic wistfulness going on here. As far as getting them all fixed, you could throw a couple thousand dollars into that, and hardly make a dent. Maybe, just maybe, this book will do some good and get some folks to help a cat or three. Perhaps we should suggest to them that they donate a percent of the profits from the merchandise to the local shelter for neutering and spaying? That should go well with them if we mention that it's advertising as well as good merchandising policy. Hmmmm, I believe I shall head on over to that site and do dat.
  • Deja-vu! Back when I had an Olympus camera, I used to post on the DPReview Olympus forum, where Knox, the photographer first posted and these photos for comments (around May of 2003). I found the old thread about this, before a book was even in consideration and here's what they had to say: feral cat thread So they were feeding them, taking them to the vet and trying to find homes for them. Where my parents live, there's a very big feral cat problem, and it's heartbreaking. I photograped some of them after feeding them (my mother is probably still confused as to why her cat food all disappeared). Discarded is the best shot I got, but it's nothing compared to what Knox and Streetkid got. Oh, I also got some friends of mine who live near my parents to contact a local animal group who go and spay and neuter ferals, so hopefully, some poor kitties will get some relief. Stupid humans.
  • Good stuff, IndignantBlink, and that's a lovely picture you took.
  • Cute but... those aren't alley cats. They're models pretending to be alley cats.
  • We have a relatively small abandoned cat problem where I live. I've adopted four of them in the last 2 years or so, but it's been building up. I suspect that after the next breeding season, we'll have another cat that wants to move in, then again in late spring. And we don't encourage them to join our family. They have to be obviously starving before we feed them. I've only managed to find a home for one of the strays, since most of them are adolescents. But, four seems like the most we can handle (that includes the street cat I picked up 10 years ago.) On the other hand, we don't have an ASPCA here, and Animal Control will kill them really quickly. I really don't know what to do.
  • I wrote about a donation of funds to sara. My email to that address came back....
  • Well if we're going to ruin a perfectly exploitative post about kitties by actually wanting to take care of them, UK monkeys can give the Cats Protection League some money. 'S'wot I do.
  • Absolutely fascinating, Lara! Talk about taking advantage of natural resources.