Visiting Colony Cats

Last month, I had the opportunity to photograph the cats at Colony Cats for their pet-finder feature on their website.  I was so excited to see all the kitties, especially Panther (here's my last post about her).  It ended up being a crazy morning - at the last minute, the Bachsters had to come with me, and we had to drive across town on a very snowy morning.  Colony Cats was short a few cleaning volunteers that day, so things were also hectic for them.  But, it all turned out well, even better than expected.

First, the Bachsters loved spending time with all the cats.  They all sat on the floor and were bombarded by cats lining up to sit in their laps.  When one cat got off a lap, another cat got right on.  And sometimes, a second cat tried to squeeze on a lap!  There were cats everywhere, and they were so happy to be getting snuggles and laps......

  
I love the cat-tail-photobomb in this shot:

And, we did see Panther!  I think she recognized us, because she actually jumped on my back as I was bending down to take a shot of another cat.  We all pet her and gave her lots of love, and then she walked off to go take a nap.  Even though we couldn't confirm it was her because it was too hard to see the name on her collar, we knew it was her.  A little lovey, a little aloof.......yep, that's the Panther we know and love.

I can't believe I missed getting a picture of her though! (a very good reason to go back and visit her again, yes?).  However, I did get lots of pics of the many, many cats that reside there.  Here are a few of my favorites:

This cat's name is Smitty, I think.  DD and Little Dude both spent lots of time snuggling with him:

There were a lot of black cats there - I especially like this shot of this Panther-look-alike:

This cat reminds me of my parents' long-gone cat, Luigi:

After about an hour or so, DD's eyes started getting red and watery.  Even though none of us has cat allergies, being in such a small space with so many cats started to have its effect on her.  Before we left, we visited the retail shop next door to take a few pictures of the kittens there.  Can I tell you how difficult it is to take a good picture of a kitten?  They were non-stop!  Thankfully, this little one held still long enough for me to get a shot:

If you are in the Central Ohio area and love cats, do stop by Colony Cats.  It's so visiting the cats, and they really love all the attention.  I'm a little worried that next time we visit, I might be too tempted to adopt Panther!

-Cheryl