Okay. Most folks are gonna hate this one, as there's not really a whole lot of anything earth-shattering here. This was one that I'm putting it up for all those artists out there who want something for reference as far as fore-quarters reference for cat anatomy, upsidedown though it might be.

This is Drifter, my eldest son, and he's having a lazy afternoon, and is actually getting a bit upset with me that I'm taking pictures when I should be paying attention to him, darnit!

What I like about this photo is that it really shows nicely all the shoulder musculature - and even shoulder blade - in Drifter's right shoulder, and he's flexing the claws of his left forepaw just a little bit, so the muscles in his left foreleg are quite visible. They're actually always like that, claw-flex or not, but this pic really shows it off nicely.

The other thing of noteworthy comment is the size of his paws. So here's a feline trivia comment for everyone out there: forepaws are bigger than hind-paws. In this case, Drifter got into the forepaw line twice. For reference, the chain-link in the pic is 2-inch (5cm) squares, and you can see that Drifter's forepaws are easily two-squares wide. That's really big for a 130-lb kitty! He looked totally silly as a kitten, and quite literally never grew into them.

I should also note that most folks might find the paws to look a little odd in the flat position that they are. But in truth, this is the real thing, folks! Drifter is 100% intact, and has all 18-claws still in his possession! I'm looking for a reference pic for claws still, but that will come eventually. That probably brings up my next cat trivia item for the day: Cats only have dewclaws on the forepaws, not the rear. So that means they have five claws for each forepaw, but only four claws on each rear, so only 18 claws (not 20 like is commonly believed) total. :) Part two of that is that the dewclaws are the biggest, being about 30% larger than the others. So imagine on something like a tiger, they're just...huge.

So overall, I think the artists interested in total "realism" and "anatomical accuracy" will find this picture fascinating. For me, it's just more showing off of my beloved son, Drifter! In any case, I hope everyone finds something to like about it.

This picture was taken 01-Jul-03. The image was taken with a Canon EOS 10D and the EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM lens. The original was taken at full frame of 3072x2048x24b, ISO eqv 400, 1/60 shutter, f/4.5. This image was cropped and shrunken down for space conservation.

Disclaimer: I hate to have to put this on here, but the pic is copyright me. Please do not distribute, copy, alter, etc, without my permission. Having said all that, feel free to download and use it for your own inspiration.