Albi

Albi was trapped as a stray by a woman in Richmond who brought him to RAPS in June of 2012.

He was very shy at first, but Leslie's been working with him. She says if she passes by where he's sleeping on a chair, she'll reach out and stroke him a bit. Through interactions like this, Albi has slowly stopped running away when approached. Recently, he even let Leslie rub his tummy.

Ginti

Ginti is a feral mama who was trapped by Carol and recently brought to the cat sanctuary. Her kittens went to the No. 5 Rd. shelter when they were old enough to adopt.

Ginti now lives in the same pen as Lillian and Amelia Earheart. She may think about making friends with them later, but for now she's focused on taking full advantage of the excellent hiding places that her pen has to offer.

She's not comfortable enough with people to let us get within touching range, but she is willing to be photographed in her bush (the photos above were actually taken on two different days). When presented with food, she's also brave enough to venture out to eat it while there's still a human in the vicinity. Perhaps she'll consider letting us be her friends yet.

Amelia Earheart

Amelia Earheart came to the RAPS sanctuary as a feral youngster with her sister Willow. Both were frightened of humans, but while Willow would climb like a spider along the mesh in the Teens area to get away, Amelia Earheart would express her fright with ears flattened defensively sideways -- what some call "airplane ears."

Later, both cats were moved to the BC Packers pen in the back yard. Willow made good progress and is now willing to accept strokes from human friends. Ann had been working on taming both siblings together, but this work was interrupted by Amelia Earheart's daring escape under the fence and into the neighbouring pen. This pen is home to ferals even shier than she is, and she seemed to be much happier there, so RAPS staff decided to let her stay where she was.

Amelia Earheart still runs away and stares from a safe distance if approached by a human, but seems quite content with her cat friends. Here she is with Lillian.

Lillian

This pretty longhair tortie girl is named Lillian. Around 10 years old, she's one of the original cats living in the far right back pen at the sanctuary.

one of the pens where our shy ferals live

Lillian is feral and never did get all that comfortable with people. She will allow photographs, though, if approached slowly, quietly, and not too close.

Zebra

Zebra is a feral cat trapped at same the place we got Wesley and Holland. He just arrived last month and is so far not too delighted about the prospect of getting to know us.

As there's no way to explain to him that the that the place he'd been hanging around is no longer safe and that he'll be fed and cared for at the sanctuary, we'll just have to let him settle in at his own pace.

Wesley

Wesley is thought to be the brother of Holland. Both cats were trapped near the home of a woman who'd been putting out food for stray and feral cats in her neighborhood until she passed away and the cats had to be relocated.

When Holland was trapped, Wesley stayed by her cage and didn't want to leave her. He was too frightened stick around when RAPS people came too close, though, and it took them some time to trap him. Eventually, they were successful and the two cats were reunited at the sanctuary.

Wesley and Holland

Only around a year old, Wesley can apparently be friendly with people he's had a chance to get used to. I'm unfortunately not one of them (yet), and so my photos tend to show a less than happy boy,

Holland

A woman fed feral cats from her home for many years. When she passed away not long ago, the property was sold. I believe the house was even scheduled to be demolished. In any case, the cats were going to lose both their caregiver and their safe haven. RAPS was asked to trap the cats and provide them with a safe place to live.

Holland was trapped and brought to the cat sanctuary at the end of May. She's very scared of people, but seems to be settling in well. She's quite young, thought to have been born sometime last year.

It surely helps that Holland doesn't have to settle in alone - RAPS staff have put her in a cage together with Wesley, another cat from the same place. The two are very close and are thought to be siblings.

Summer weather hits the cat sanctuary

Summer weather has arrived! Here's how some of the sanctuary cats are responding to the heat.

Update: Katie

Great news - Katie from the 5 Road Pen is being adopted and will be going to her forever home tomorrow.
The lady she's going home with adopted a semi-feral cat from the sanctuary some years ago, so she'll understand that Katie might take a little while to relax and settle in.

We'll miss seeing you at the sanctuary, Katie, but wish you every happiness in your new home!