Della and Peony (and Perry and Perkins, too)

Cats come to us in various ways. Most commonly they are owner-surrenders – sometimes for good reasons, sometime for unfortunate ones, sometimes for no real reason we can see. Often they are trapped as ferals and occasionally those cats may turn out to be very tame (and therefor probably strays) and if lucky, find a new home.  If they are young enough they can sometimes be socialised by one of our fosterers. The RAPS Shelter is always ready to take in kittens and try to help them, which is why it was so frustrating to have someone just dump a group of kittens near us. Very few places in Richmond are safe for young kittens, because of coyotes, raccoons, traffic, etc – and by the time these little ones had been discovered, we had no way of knowing whether the whole litter had survived, or how many had been lost.  Perry and Perkins were part of this litter, and were joined by Peony and Della who were trapped at a nearby recycling plant where there is a colony of feral cats which we are trying to trap before we get too far into the fall.

Perkins & Perry



  Della and Peony

These four youngsters have recently been moved from an area that is off-limits to visitors into one of the trailers where they can see and be seen by more people.  They shared their previous “pad” with six other young cats who had also been trapped roaming free in Richmond.  Most of the kittens arrived at the sanctuary directly from the trapping sites but these four had been fostered for a while in the homes of volunteers before being transferred to the cat sanctuary.  

  Perry

Perkins

The two boys, Perry and Perkins, were already outgoing and quite brave almost immediately upon arrival at the Sanctuary, but not so with the girls.

Peony

Neither of them wanted anything to do with us when they first arrived but, with lots of gentle loving, Peony’s now become a little sweetie who trusts us enough to even allow tummy rubs!  Della, for some reason, is lagging behind the others in her acceptance of a human touch.

Della

She’ll tolerate a little bit of petting but only if her three best friends are close by, which they always are. 

Perry, Peony, Perkins & Della - MM

All four of them, typical of “teenager cats”, are playful and enjoy hanging out and playing together,  either running through the tunnel in their cage, enjoying a friendly game of batting a ball around or (their favourite) chasing a laser light.  When you’re visiting the sanctuary, ask to be introduced to these four youngsters.  

Blog by Marianne Moore (with Brigid Coult)

Photos by Michele Wright and Marianne Moore

Footnote: Sadly, we lost Della quite suddenly; the other three all "graduated" with honours, and have been adopted to their own homes.