Fresh Christmas tree, health warning please read!!

Hi,

At this time of year I try to pass this important information on, I feel it is my "duty." It is a little known health warning that came straight from the vets at our big teaching/animal hospital. Do NOT let your cat drink the water from the Christmas tree, it can be deadly. The sap from the tree is what is poisonous and that leaks in the water, and that is what the kitty drinks. My oldest cat Zack who is now 13 use to drink it when he was a young cat, and he was fine, the vet said he was very lucky. What we do is buy the "dish collars," (you know that the vet puts on the animal's neck to prevent the animal from biting their body.) at Petsmart and wrap that around the tree trunk, it makes a good "cover" for the tree stand...duct tape helps too!

I am a 10year foster mother to our local non kill cat humane society, we have a housefull of one of a kind felines and have fostered hundreds! I stopped counting at 300. Last year one kitten of mine that was adopted out got very ill from the tree water, luckily it pulled through. Another little one wasn't as lucky, he died not because of the tree water but because he ate artificial holly berries and twigs that the owner used as decoration. He was only 5 months old, died of bowl obstruction. He suffered for three days, she never took him to the vet even with all the danger signs he showed.

Anyway, please be cautious during this time of year. No tinsel, fake plants, NO Poinsettia plants, use common sense. And do not get piece of mind by thinking "well my kitty has never eaten it in the past." As you know as a cat owner they are free spirits and change their minds at any time! Do not take a chance, it isn't worth it...it only takes one time.
Thank you, have a safe holiday with your beloved furry angel.

Also, I am looking for a digital camera and am always on the look out for beautiful cat photos, especially ones taken from inside with a flash. My main problems are: All my photos always have terrible "red eye" and the time between me hitting the button and the camera taking the photo is too long with my digital, I am looking for a quicker response. I am hoping that you all could tell me what type of camera you use. Thank you very much.

Happy Holidays!
BJ

We do not decorate for Christmas no tree or anything else for that matter and there is never any plants in the house real or fake. We try to keep our home as safe as possible for our kitties.

As for cameras. I have 2 I use. One is a Fujifilm FinePix S700 and it takes lovely pictures. There is a full manual mode so you can set shutter speed for quick release. There is also a sport mode on this camera and great for catching busy moving kitties.

This is a picture I took with my Fujifilm FinePix S700. As you can see the shutter speed was fast enough to catch Vixen in mid lick.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b7...7_07040180.jpg

I also have a Nikon D80. It's a DSLR. It takes great pics but can be quite complicated. It is a semi-professional camera. Everything can be changed to capture the perfect picture from ISO to Shutter Speed to Aperture etc. So fast moving or not it is possible to get a great pic with the right set up.

Here is a picture I took with my Nikon D80.This is Vega and she was in attack mode here. She was just making a lunge at the neck strap for the camera.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b7...a/DSC_0085.jpg

Michelle

Hello BJ!

I saw you asked about cameras in a pet of the day posting; but you don't have your PMs turned on and I didn't want to put the info in that thread. So I am glad you asked again.

I bought a Canon A570 in July, my first digital and I am VERY happy with it. It has a "kids and pets" setting, among others!

You can get good info from dpreview.com on cameras, and the Canon web site lets you set up to 3 models of their cameras side by side for comparison, as well. I made a spreadsheet of the items I wanted and then started filling it in. I narrowed it down to 2 Canons. Got to where I had listed batteries. One required FOUR AA batteries, the A570 takes TWO. That ended up being the deciding factor! AFTER a lot of work, geting info from PTers, and so forth. so for me the spreadshett really did help.

Just search any threads posted by me on or after July 12th to see the pics I am getting with it. I don't get red eye, but the flash sometimes reflects off the pet's retina and they get flowing eyes like outer space aliens, he hee. ONLY SOMETIMES. Can't fix that even in photoshop! Darn.
Best wishes!
Sandie

I Have A Kodak Cx 7330 , A Gift From Koxka Of Spain, And I Find That It Does A Fantastic Job Of Catching The Found Paradise Cats.
And A Scanner From Catsindenver To Show The Old 110 And 35 Mm Photos So Everyone Can See My Cat Angels.
A Big Thank You To Both Ladies.