ezeth, i hope you know it's a pretty low move to reference another picture and then not post the ref

Don't see how its a low move at all. The original image is clearly just a stock for reference purposes. Moreover he's taking something from real life and interpreting it in his own style. If what he's doing is a low move, then every single still-life or environmental painting in the world that didn't include a photo did the same low move.

But back on topic, I like the first one more than the second personally. The second one seems a bit oversaturated to me. Also the red is transitioning too harshly and takes away from the image. Like, the amount of brown overwhelms the red so I find myself staring at the red parts when I look at it. If you could add a slight hue of green to the lighter parts, such as the back of the body and top of the paws, then I think that would make the image look nicer by reducing the amount brown and making the average hue brown instead of a reddish brown. But again, this is all just in my opinion >_>

Nice work on making the fur texture. I really like how that looks, especially on the left paw. Overall image is pretty good too.