Shadow

Shadow is most frequently described simply as "a big black cat."

As in,

"Which one's Shadow?"

"There he is over there - the big black cat."

And indeed this direction is usually enough, Shadow being on an altogether larger scale than the multitude of other, smaller black cats wandering around the sanctuary.

Like Daisy, Shadow is a cat who came to live at the RAPS sanctuary via the SPCA. Six years ago, RAPS was asked by a volunteer who also fostered animals for the SPCA if the cat sanctuary could take in this grumpy, overweight nine year old from the SPCA's Burnaby facility. The volunteer was worried that his disinclination for the company of others, human or feline, put him in danger of being judged an unadoptable animal.

I often run into Shadow, now 15, sitting in a large comfortable chair next to the table where I prepare the evening meal for the cats in the double wide. If he still looks slightly grumpy in the photo above, it's only because he had to suffer the interruption of a perfectly good doze so the biped paparazzi could get a few shots. Check out the post on The Love Blog for perkier Shadow pics.

Shadow has a condition called "mega colon", which I confess I had to look up. An article from http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2122&aid=3471 calls it a severe form of constipation in which "... the large intestine actually becomes enlarged and filled with hard fecal material." In the majority of cases there is no clear cause, though it is more common in males of middle age and above. Shadow has had the condition for about two years and receives daily medication from RAPS' staff to control it.

All in all, he's doing pretty well for an old guy and is quite comfortable in his life at the sanctuary.