Friday, March 29, 2024
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Daily Photo: Hug Your Cat Day

The first photo: look sweet.
The first photo: look sweet.

Today is hug your cat day, and while that’s something I do every day I had something special planned for today: Since the kittens will be leaving soon I was going to hold all of them, somehow, and have a group photo. But I forgot!

Second photo: look extra sweet.
Second photo: look extra sweet.

But I remembered these photos I’d taken of Charm and me just days after she came here to show what a nice kitty she was. Charm is technically not my cat, but while she’s here as my foster she’s the next best thing to being mine, and what better thing could I do to promote her adoption than show everyone what a nice cat she is? Here she’d been pretty neglected for a few years and then outright abandoned, but we grabbed her and her kittens for no apparent reason (to her) and I, a total stranger until a few days before, stuffed them all into my little bathroom, and some cats outside the door were not afraid to hide their disapproval.

Third photo: No, not that one!
Third photo: No, not that one!

And yet I picked her up and laid her on my shoulder and chest and leaned back a bit, and she stayed there, relaxed, cheek to cheek with me, and looked in the mirror like a good girl.

Fourth photo: When is she going to be done?
Fourth photo: When is she going to be done?

And of course I have to take several photos. The funny part is how her expression changes through the course of the photos—read the captions. What a good girl!

The fifth photo: Please make her stop.
The fifth photo: Please make her stop.

Charm actually has at least one person interested in adopting her! But whatever happens, I want everyone to know what a sweet girl she is. Her kittens are cute and playful but they are going to grow up and grow into their personalities. This is who Charm is today, and likely who she will always be, so you know what you’re getting.

And just so the boss doesn’t get mad at me, here’s a couple of photos of us from previous years.

woman and black cat
Mimi and Me

Am I going a little overboard with this? I don’t think so—I actually hug my cats frequently enough, not so much they are uncomfortable but enough that they know, if they just put up with me for a few seconds, it will all be over. It’s just something humans seem to have to do, just like Mewsette has to lick my nose and Sunshine has to gnaw on my knuckles and each of them has their little affectionate habit, I will now and then pick up one of my cats and hug them. Aside from that, I really don’t pick them up very often at all, although they walk and lie all over me and all over what I’m doing.

But Mimi, now, I hug Mimi at least once a day, and she acts annoyed and tries to harden herself against it, but she is purring the entire time. In the photo above, she’s rubbing her face all over my camera, my little feline model who knows the camera is her friend, and she’s kneading my arm.

Below, I took these photos in the bathroom mirror, and it was so hard to line up me and Mimi and the camera, so I had a lot of them. I thought Mimi looked pretty sweet here. It was grainy to begin with, so it reminded me of one of those photos of a little girl—ha, me!—and her cat. But sometimes that’s the way I feel with my cats, just as I did when I really was a little girl with my first cat, and I hope I feel that way with all my cats.

woman with black cat
Two little girls.

Wouldn’t you adopt her if you had a chance? Remember, Mimi is not a kitten—she is about nine years old, and she didn’t come to me until she was at least three years old, so always give those adult kitties another look.

And because this is my month to celebrate tortie girls I’ve also got to add my former boss and me.

Bernadette kazmarski with cookie.
Me and Cookie! Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2011, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Yes, hugging Cookie and giving her a scratch on the chin, just the way she liked it!

In August 2011 when I was promoting Great Rescues Calendar and Gift Book the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an article in the South/West edition about me and my artwork, Carnegie Artist Creates Calendar of Cats. I’m in my local paper often enough, but not often in the Pittsburgh paper, and never with a photo! I had plenty of cats with me that morning last September, especially Cookie, of course. Cookie was always with me anywhere I was in the house and would naturally be with me in my studio, and she was also very social and loved greeting guests. She got herself up on my drafting table and work table and kept walking back and forth from me to the photographer, typical Cookie cuteness.

I knew where Cookie and I were headed in the next few months, and a photo of her and me in my studio would just be too precious; I am always the photographer so there are very few photos of me with my cats. Cookie always sat on my lap but never liked to be held but she doesn’t look too upset in this photo, just me and Cookie, and in the background the portrait of Georgie I was working on at the time.

The kids wandered in and out, but Mimi stayed, and while the photographer was leaning down to photograph Cookie and me, Mimi stood up with her paws on his shoulder as if she was looking into his viewfinder. Missed that photo, but we had a good laugh! A wonderful memory all around.

I checked back with the Post-Gazette and purchased permission on the photo. Here is how the photographer captioned the photo:

Vaughn Wallace/Post-Gazette: Bernadette E. Kazmarski is the author of the “Great Rescues Calendar and Gift Book,” a desk calendar featuring her portraits of rescued cats. Kazmarski donates a portion of the proceeds to various animal rescue organizations. Photographed in her home studio on September 19, 2011, with her 19-year-old tortoiseshell, Cookie. PUBLISHED CAPTION: Vaughn Wallace/Post-Gazette: Bernadette Kazmarski, an animal portrait artist who created Great Rescues, a calendar that features portraits of cats, in her home studio in Carnegie with her 19-year-old cat, Cookie.

Photo of Bernadette with 19-year-old Cookie and portrait of Georgie, courtesy the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Copyright © Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2012, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.


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© 2015 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Weekly schedule of features:
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Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

10 thoughts on “Daily Photo: Hug Your Cat Day

  • ya noe how thiz izza BURD FREE zone…heer in trout towne….
    well, itza hug free zone two….unless itz uz …huggin de perch… thatz
    on R plates ~~~ 🙂

    heerz two a righteye flounder kinda week oh end ! ♥♥♥

    Reply
    • For most of my life I was never one for picking my cats up and especially not hugging them because they didn’t like it. Now, however, it seems to be a different story.

      Reply
  • bluemoonalone

    What cute pics of you and Charm..I love the expressions on her face and the captions..I hope some loving person will take her home..The picture of you and Mimi (Two Little Girls) is so nice..I know what you mean by feeling like you did as a little girl with your first cat..It only took that first one for me to fall in love with cats forever..

    Reply
    • Blumoonalone, she is a really nice kitty, and she and some human are going to be very happy with each other.

      Reply
  • These are lovely photos! Charm is purrfectly named! I hope she finds the purrfect home! x

    Reply
    • Thank you, Austin–believe it or not, it was the people who neglected and abandoned her who named her that!

      Reply
  • Fantastic pics 🙂
    You and the kitties look so nice 🙂
    Purrs Georgia and Julie,
    Treasure and JJ

    Reply
  • kittiesblue

    What wonderful photos. We love seeing all these photos of hugging, especially as we get a chance to meet some of the humans as well. Thanks for sharing. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

    Reply
    • I especially like to promote Charm for adoption–an affectionate kitty is what people always want! And yes, we get to see each other!

      Reply

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