PET HAVEN INC OF MINNESOTA

This link, Petfinder.org and the picture below, goes to the Pet Haven PetFinder.org free page. There you will find repeat pictures and bios of our cats, but you can also see our dogs.
PLEASE return back here for
indepth CAT information!

Some Miscellaneous Ramblings about
Hairballs.com, Cats, Cat Art, Cat Photography, and Cat Rescue...

I first registered Hairballs.com years ago in early 1997-- wow that was before the web was the major influential tool it is today. I wasn't sure what I would do with the name, I just knew I had to get something catchy that described cats. I'd been doing cat photography for a few years at that time -- you may have seen any number of my cat pictures in Cat Fancy Magazine, Cats Magazine, Animal Watch, or other cat related publications.

Click on the tabby kitten picture (above-right) to see the cat art print "Violet",
a black & white digitally hand-colored style kitten art.

I was just beginning to merge into cat art and fine art photography in '97, so of course I had cats 'on the brain' (and under my feet) all the time. It wasn't unusual for our house (my husband and I) to have up to a dozen or more cats. I had been involved with Pet Haven Inc of Minnesota for about 6 years and had already designed their Cat Rescue website, a perfect way for me to use some of my cat art and cat pictures from my photography. The only domain we had then was our graphic design business site "SampsonDesign.com". So I posted both the Pet Haven Cats Rescue site and another site about cats my husband and I both worked on "The Cats Voice" under the graphics domain.

Originally the Cats Voice was to be an informative collection of cat information and fun things. It too along with the Pet Haven Cats Rescue site was originally was posted on our Graphic Design domain name. After creating the Cats Voice was when we realized how much time is involved in the ongoing maintenance of any website, especially an information site like Cats Voice that should constantly be updated with new information about cats, kittens, cat care, cat health, events about cats, all those important issues to keep it fresh. Its a BIG job and it has gone a lot slower than I had planned. My intentions for In Depth: Living with Claws, is to have a new 'In Depth' series about cats every few months or bi-annually. I have a whole list of cat issues and files full of information about cats and kittens, not to mention the 10+ years of cat rescue and fostering experience that can share with others. I really enjoy writing about cats, but my passion is doing cat art and cat photography.

This cat picture (above-right) is my Charlie.
You can see him in my Cat Art Print "Oops! Wheres that toy?".

The picture below is one of my favorite cat art prints titled "Kitten Flavors".
Click on it and it will take you to the Hairballs.com Cat Art Prints pages.

Most of my models for my cat art and cat photography are foster cats through the cats rescue division of Pet Haven Inc. of Minnesota. Many of the fosters at that time were kittens, oh what fun to take kitten pictures -- they never sit still. I also rescued a few outside of the group -- but then found these cats great homes through Pet Haven.

Many people giggle when they read my cat art business card, "HAIRBALLS.COM CAT ART"... they look at it, then they look at it again and start giggling, its so cute to see adults giggle. Even if the person isn't that fond of cats (gasp) they still giggle. Quite often they ask me how I every got that cat related domain name since it seems like almost everything is taken these days. Well thats the secret -- I got Hairballs.com 6 years ago. With cats in mind I brainstormed for several months with my husband trying to think of a cool cat related term that would catch peoples attention especially people that loved cats. Occasionally someone will comment that's kinda gross, but if you love cats and have cats in your home then 'hairballs' is more funny than anything else. We are a little careful not to say it to loud when we're eating at a restaurant though. After all, not everyone is in to cats or cat art and wouldn't necessarily understand the context of its use.

Now one more word about 'hairballs', it can be a serious problem for some cats, though not usually, so I don't want to make a complete joke out of it. But as with anything funny, it needs to be taken with the good nature its intended.

I really don't know how other cat artists start their careers, but I'll bet you a bag of cat food that they were never without at least one cat living in their home. I know a couple of other current cat artists -- their passion for cats is as deep as mine and with that their cat art continues to grow as I hope mine will.

Wow, have I learned a lot about the web and cats since the 90's! Not only has my Cat Art and Cat Photography improved and developed, so has my skills as a webmaster AND hopefully my writing skills -- I DO know I can type a lot faster now;-)

to be continued...someday....