Pobre gatita Kia

Kia - the regal glare  (KN)

 Five-year old Kia came to us in May 2024, and was caged in the front courtyard Hill House for her introduction to the Sanctuary. The Hill House is usually a good place to start for a cat; the two big cages are quiet and private when draped, and most of the cats who use the building as their base are not aggressive – many of them spend time in the feral area next door.

Defending her space  (BC)

Kia was not a happy camper when she arrived. All newcomer cats get their cages set up with places to hide, and she made full use of every bit of cover. Volunteers arriving to do a morning clean, or to deliver supper, were greeted by angry hissing from behind a drape, and we placed a warning sign on her door so that people would disturb her as little as possible.  She was, of course, on the Kitty Comforters’ list, but was adamant that she did not want interaction with people, so most of us could do little more than sit and talk with her, while she told us to go away!

Very spicy in her early days  (KN)

Having a cat surrendered to us because of aggression is not a new thing, of course – we have our share of cats (most of them collared) who are pretty reactive. What I think many of us had not realised was that her background probably ensured her reactivity. You see, Kia is from Mexico! As a former street cat, she was adopted by a Mexican couple, who then moved to BC. I don’t think she was a particularly nice cat with them, but it got to the point where she was aggressive to anyone arriving, and they feared that she might harm someone. So now she’s in a strange country, away from the only people she knew, and not hearing a language sound she might recognize. And we know what a difference it made to the late sweet Neko in Leukemia to hear someone speak Japanese, or for tortie Princess to hear voices in Farsi.

The look says "No closer!"  AG

Still – it is what it is, and Kia was going to have to settle.  With cage-time over – it’s usually 4-6 weeks, depending on various factors – the door was opened. Kia glowered – this cage was her space, and she did not appreciate visits from investigating felines. She remained where she was for some time, making it quite clear that nothing had changed; she didn’t want company, she hated other cats, like Greta Garbo, she “vanted to be alone”.

Do not disturb me   (BC)

Gradually she started to emerge, and initially came to claim the cat-tree or the counter-top just outside her cage. This was slightly more dangerous for volunteers – that countertop is the source of evening feeds, and we had to keep an eye on our dragon-cat, and not allow her to slash at working hands. Signs went up – obviously fueled by painful encounters – warning the unsuspecting to be very careful.

Sometimes the look is tentative rather than aggressive  (DW)

Her range began to increase; she could be found at floor level at meal-times – not competing with anyone for food, but keeping a wary eye on the activity around. The other cats have learned to give her a wide berth.  Carol Porteous, who brings special goodies for the cats she feeds, was very patient with her, and Kia became more willing to explore beyond the boundary of the window.  Her long self-imposed cage stay had meant very little exercise, and it’s hard to see the former street cat in this tubby girl with the baleful stare.

Finally venturing through the window  (CP)

When we have weekend visitors, Kia returns to her safe place, but at quieter times, she has begun to investigate the rest of the courtyard.  She has been spotted sitting beside the sink, or at the top of the steps to the Single-Wide, and occasionally even on the bench by the entry. She is still wary of contact; when I stop to speak with her she turns away and ignores me – but that’s an improvement on the hiss-and-claws encounters. She is one of the cats who just takes a long time to accept that life has changed, and that nobody is going to harm her.  

A gentler look  (KN)

If your Spanish is better than my minimal skill, go hunt her out and try talking to her – but stay out of reach of those murder mittens!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Akira Graham, Karen Nicholson, 

Carol Porteous, Debbie Wolanski

Kamloops Catz 4: No Oranges Here

Barley (KN)

With the oodles of orange cats from Kamloops, the ones who aren’t orange stand out a bit more than most tabbies usually do!  

She may not look it, but Matcha is the bravest! (KN)

Genetics, of course, with cats, are a little difficult to discern. A queen cat may accept the advances of a number of males, and have a litter of kittens that look quite different from each other. We don’t know if this is the case with the tabbies who arrived with all the orange ones, or whether there was a tabby mama responsible for producing them.

Juniper  (LBF)

Like their orange siblings, they are liable to move around together – where you find one, it’s likely that the others are not far away. Barley is the most easily distinguished – she is a pretty grey tabby, and if you look at her head you’ll sees he has a little cows-lick of hair sticking up – not quite enough to call a Mohawk!   

Shy Violet (KN)

Juniper is the darkest tabby, and the largest of them (well, almost); Matcha is the most likely to be venturing further afield, occasionally followed by his smaller buddy Violet, though Violet and Barley really prefer to cosy up out of the way of people.  

Thorne  (KN)

When small Daffodil (featured in last week's blog) came to live at the Sanctuary, she came with one more member of the colony – the biggest one! Big Thorne is like Persimmon in majesty – but there’s even more of him. He has a wonderful thick multicoloured coat; his face shows clear tabby patterns, though this coat is so abundant that it’s hard to make out just exactly what the markings are. His mane can be quite lion-like. Unfortunately, like most of the Kamloops cats, he doesn’t welcome human touch – he will tolerate it briefly, but not enough to allow anyone to groom him – so he has to have the mats trimmed out, and he may probably be another customer for a summer haircut.

Thorne (KN)

Unlike Daffodil, who has found her own "family", Thorne had no hesitation in claiming his Kamloops buddies, and now that they've moved to their summer home in Pen 5, Thorne maintains a regal presence there,

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen & Karen Nicholson

Kamloops Catz 3: Blondes Have More Fun

Goldie  (KN)

There used to be a fallacy that most orange cats were male. We now know that that percentage is considerably less – usually cited as 80% - and I would venture to say that at the Sanctuary it’s even less than that.  The gene for orange coloration is linked to the X chromosome, and males only need one copy of the gene to be orange, while females need two. Having said that, it’s clear that in some colonies, the genetic odds for orange females are much higher, and that’s certainly the case with the Kamloops colony.  

Rapunzel & Buffy  (BC)

It may not be immediately obvious, through, because some of our orange females are so pale in colour that “orange” is not the word that leaps to mind.

Buffy  (LBF)

Buffy is the darkest of these – the same sort of colour as the late Pumpkin and Walker, who I tend to describe as “champagne”.  Goldie and Rapunzel are paler still.  These three little girls prefer to base themselves out of Pen 5; when the others migrate back to the TeaRoom for winter warmth, the blondes prefer to add their body warmth to the cosy Pen 5 cabin, sharing with Adam, May and Walker, as well as with some of their non-orange family.

Rapunzel  (KN)

Buffy and Goldie are both still very shy; they will allow themselves to be watched, and are sometimes interested in wand toy play, but they would prefer to be left alone. You can sometimes pat Buffy, if you can do so without letting her see the hand; once the petting has started, she will allow herself to enjoy it for a bit, and then scoot away. Goldie is a don’t-touch-me girl. She and Rapunzel look very similar, but one step towards them will tell you which is which - Goldie backs away quickly but her buddy is a little braver. Rapunzel sports a white bib with her blond fur, and she is the only one of the three who will approach humans to solicit attention.  When she’s in the mood, she’s a total flirt – with weekend visitors as well as with volunteers.

Daffodil   (KN)

A fourth light orange cat called Daffodil is technically part of this group; she came from the original colony and was fostered in Kamloops, but it was decided that she might do better with access to her family. In fact, she has never merged back with them; she prefers to remain in the Newcomers area, and sometimes wanders over to the DoubleWide, but she never seemed to recognize the others at all, and has made her own “family” with her Newcomers buddies. That family has been hit by the passing of Pumpkin, who Daffodil loved – we’ll see who she might bond with when her mourning is over.

Daffodil  (KN)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson

Next week: Not orange!

Kamloops Catz 2: Lots of Orange

Persimmon  (JS)

In last week’s blog, the bonded cats from the Kamloops colony were introduced.  That's not to say that the other cats don't show bonds with each other;  there's a lot of crossing of groups, and assorted cuddle-puddles, but those five cats are the most consistent in their choice of company.

Persimmon  (VW)

Of the other darker orange cats, the dominant personality has to be Persimmon.  Right from the beginning, she was the brave one; though not tame, she was ready to approach us and allow contact. She’s probably the most identifiable of the long-haired oranges – the largest of them in both size and build. She exudes a matriarchal presence, though as far as we know, they’re all similar ages. She is probably also the most comfortable with being on her own.

I'm big, and I'm cute!  (KN)

Persimmon is ready to interact gently with visitors at the weekends, either from the cuddle-puddle in the Tea Room, or from a favourite perch on the cat-tree outside. She enjoys petting, and is not wary of strangers if they’re clearly cat-people.  Every now and then she will join the other cats in a wander down to Pen 5 for a little visit there, and then she’ll make her way back to her cosy bed.

Billy  (KN)

Short-haired Billy is her orange opposite.  He is something of a fraidy-cat. He prefers to avoid contact with humans, and manages by staying mainly in Pen 5, which especially in the summer becomes a playground for many of the Kamloops cats. 

Billy in his own home  (KN)

The shelves in the cabin are well-occupied, and Billy tends to be outside, sleeping in one of the straw-filled dog-kennels nearby. He is an observer rather than a participant, but can occasionally be drawn into play with a wand toy.

Cheeto looking judgemental  (KN)

The other two long-haired orange boys are Cheeto and Kumquat. Cheeto has the same sort of pointy face as dark brown Chaga – possibly they’re brothers. He’s all orange with a white tail-tip, and he has a tiny dot on his nose.  For me, Kumquat, who’s a little smaller, is “the other orange cat” – if I can’t positively ID him as one of the others, it has to be Kumquat. 

Kumquat (MW)

He’s a part-of-the-group boy, usually found in company with the other cats and often looks anxious, like Mercury (another orange boy but from a quite different colony, living in Pen 1).

There was one other orange girl – Ginger – but sadly, she passed suddenly last September.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint, Valerie Wilson, Michele Wright

Most of the other orange cats are much paler in colour, so I’ve grouped them together in next week’s blog, which I’ve called Blondes have More Fun.

Kamloops Catz 1: The Bonded Ones

Some of the Kamloops Crew  (LBF)

In 2021 we heard of a farm colony of cats near Kamloops who were threatened with eviction and/or eradication....   Sammy’s Forgotten Felines contacted us to ask, “If we trap them, can you take them?”, and Operation Kamloops was on!  

Creamsicle (MW)

Many of the smaller rescues around the province simply don’t have the resources to deal with a large number of cats at one time. Sammy’s works most often with fostering, but finding fosters for a whole colony of ferals is a big ask. A few of the cats found temporary or longer-term homes, but the initial group that was driven down from Kamloops numbered about seventeen – and many of them were orange!

Chaga  (KN)

They have appeared occasionally in this blog over the last four years – they are very photogenic, and they tend to travel together like a shoal of goldfish.  But I decided it was more than time to introduce a few of them in more detail. I needed to enlist staff help with identification – like many of the volunteers, I’m guilty of grouping “the orange cats” together, and there are several little tabbies I still struggle with identifying.  Over the next four weeks, I’m going to try to introduce the whole family.

Chaga, Chamomile, Creamsicle  (JS)

Though they tend to move around together, there are clearly two sub-groups of bonded cats.  The first is visually very obvious; pretty grey Chamomile always draws the eye, and she can usually be found either cuddling with or interacting with her buddies Chaga and Creamsicle.

Chamomile  (MW)

Chamomile looks very much like the other long-haired cats in the colony except for her colouring which is not a plain grey, but shows a lovely variety of dark and light patterns with the tabby facial markings. Chaga is a very dark brown rather than black, and slightly more pointed in face than many of the other nearby black cats. Creamsicle lives up to her name with her ice-cream bib setting off her orange fur.

Chamomile & Chaga (LBF)

The three of them – or any combination thereof – are nearly always found together. They like the table bed in the TeaRoom, and are ready to allow a little gentle contact with humans, though it’s important to read their body language, and back off when it’s a don’t-touch-me day.  They also like the courtyard crossroads, and can often be found on the ground there, showing off to visitors, and doing a lot of rub-and-snuggle with each other. They actually seem to be more comfortable with ground contact, and will interact with visitors who can show patience and gentleness.

Cheddar & Kelvin (KN)

If you find a long-haired and a short-haired cat together, the pair is usually Cheddar and Kelvin. Both belong to the “you may look, but not touch” school of thought, and love to find a tight space that they can snuggle in – one of the shelf cubbies; a basket on the counter-top; a chair on the deck of a cabin. Kelvin is braver than his short-haired brother Billy, and will allow a little contact, but he prefers Cheddar to be his comforter.

Kelvin & Cheddar  (LBF)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint, Michele Wright

Next week: More orange cats from Kamloops

Creampuff & Malibu

Siblings Creampuff & Malibu  (JS)

These two gorgeous floofs were part of a trapped group from Surrey in the fall of 2023 – a situation that was partly hoarding, partly a badly-maintained colony.  Many of the cats were semi-socialized – not so much that they could be scooped up, but not so fearful that they refused to enter well-baited traps. And several other rescues were involved in the project, so that nobody was overwhelmed by numbers.

Creampuff when she arrived (AM)

Looking at these two, it’s very likely that they are siblings, though they’re not strongly bonded. Initially Creampuff was caged in the Connor building, as was orange Cornbread;  the two of them could often be seen together on the north side of the courtyard. Malibu was a Hill House cat;  I suspect the two of them were separated because neither had been spayed/neutered, and by the time they re-encountered each other, they’d forgotten family ties.  

Malibu's markings were clearer when he was young  (AM)

At first glance they’re pretty well identical – Malibu’s ears are a little more orange, and he has white markings on his face, where Creampuff’s fur is more even.  Currently it’s easier to distinguish them;  like many of the semi-feral cats, they dislike being groomed, especially given the mats that are common in long-haired cats, and they were among the first customers that Gracelyn tackled in the salon-project.  

Malibu's lion-tail is furring out again  (BC)

Unlike Alfie, who had a complete lion-cut, these two just had a remedial cut, zeroing in on the specific problems.  Their shaved patches are in different places, and the most useful identifier is that Malibu now has a lion-tail, down to the little tuft at the end, while Creampuff still sports her beautiful plume.

Creampuff enjoys lounging on a high shelf  (BC)

Weekend visitors are always struck by these two, and we are often asked about their adoptability. They still fall in the semi-feral category, which ranges through a spectrum from “look, but don’t touch!” to “pet me, pet me!”.  Neither one of the pair comes looking for petting; they will tolerate it for a while, but they’d rather not have much contact. As cats that have lived wild, their bathroom habits are erratic; some cats settle to using litter-boxes easily, but from the mess around the courtyard in the mornings, it is clear that some do not. We could probably have adopted out orange Cornbread, but she is definitely not bathroom-trained!

Malibu  (KN)

So until either cat demonstrates a strong bond to a human, AND is seen to be a consistent litter-box user, they remain on the unadoptable list – they get to enjoy life in the front courtyard with their feline buddies, and we get to admire their beauty.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Anne Marchetti, Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint

Anya

 This week’s blog is brought to you by our Kitty Comforter Coordinator, Anne Marchetti – thank you, Anne!

Anya  (KN)

I've always felt a little excited when a new cat arrives at the Sanctuary bearing the name of a friend or relative I know. Given that a large number of cats coming to the Sanctuary are usually feral or unsocialized, however, rarely does the cat's personality match that of the human. 

Anya spread  (AM)

My given name is very plain (“Anne”) and I had little hope a cat would ever bear my name. I am of Ukrainian descent and growing up my family would often call me “Anushka” (my mother told me it meant “little Anne” but Google tells me otherwise) or “Anya”. So when a feral cat named Anya arrived in late 2022 with her sisters, Bagheera and Gwen, I was thrilled and looked forward to befriending her. The feeling, however, was not mutual and despite my best efforts Anya spurned my advances and wanted nothing to do with me. This relationship continued until she was eventually released into Pen #7 which is a small pen of mainly feral cats, most of whom still need regular medical attention.  Her sisters have blossomed; Bagheera was adopted by former RAPS volunteer Mel (along with Scooter and Owen), and there's now a human baby sister to purr to.  Gwen has not given up grumping at other cats, but is doing really well in her contacts with people, flirting with visitors at the weekend.

Early suspicion: stay out of my space!  (KN)

Initially, Anya was very unhappy in her new location; she aggressively rejected all human contact, shunned feline companionship and sandwiched herself in a tight carpeted cat enclosure. She's effectively tail-less, but we don't think she actually suffers from Manx syndrome; however, not being one to indulge in self-care, her preferred hiding place very quickly became filthy and smelly, as did she. Her anxiety was obvious to all so she was given a short course of anti-anxiety meds and since her cat enclosure was now a health hazard, it was removed and destroyed. She took up residence in another outdoor cat bed where she and her bedding were more easily accessible for cleaning. 

The Anya rump (AM)

I visited her regularly, much to her chagrin, but she tolerated me since I always arrived bearing her favourite creamy tube treats. When working with cats like Anya, it's always “two steps forward, one step back”, and that's if you're lucky. I jokingly told the other Kitty Comforters that Anya must have been a nurse in a previous life because every time she lashed out at me with her razor-sharp claws, she managed to find a vein (and I would bleed and bleed...). Over time and with regular visits from Kitty Comforters who patiently worked with her, she eventually learned to trust humans. 

Any treats for me?  (AM)

She is a completely different cat now, although she still looks like a tubby little black bear with her thick fur and nub of a tail. I look forward to our weekly visits and I think she does too - when she hears my voice in the courtyard, she comes up to the locked gate and waits for me to enter. She prances on the spot and purrs when she's happy and enjoys lots of petting. 

A more confident outlook on the world.  (KN)

I overhear many people say that she's sweet (that certainly would not have been the word to describe her even a year ago!). It warms my heart when I see her having friendly interactions with other volunteers, no more fear and anxiety for her. And now I can say I'm friends with a cat who bears my (nick)name. I adore her, but if I'm honest, I'd love her no matter what she was called.

Blog by Anne Marchetti

Photos by Anne Marchetti and Karen Nicholson