Wobbly Bob

Who would ever think that Bob would be a popular name for a cat? But we’ve had several Bobs at the Sanctuary: there was Snotty Bob, with his permanent cold; quiet short-tailed Bobby in the Old Aids; we still have Belly-Rub Bobby in the front courtyard, and if you are very quiet you might occasionally see Wobbly Bob in the back.

 MW

Back courtyard Bob came to us as so many cats did 10 or so years ago – development was hitting Blundell Road between Garden City and No 4 Road, and long-standing houses were being torn down to make way for townhouse developments. An elderly man was feeding a colony of ferals in his back yard, and when he moved out, the developer turned to Richmond Homeless Cats, and Carol arrived with her traps.  There were about 10 cats trapped from that site, and they all came to us – mostly black and white “cow cats” and brown tabbies. The last to be trapped was a ragdoll cross who was whisked away by med-staff Leslie, and named Clooney.
Darla, from that group, has her own blog entry, and had her own fans, but most of the others remained quite shy. They included Sonny and Cher, Bob and Marley (do we hear a theme here?), Harmony, Cookies ‘n’ Cream, Molly and a couple of others.

PH

Bob was actually one of the first to venture out and express interest in contact with humans.  But at some time in the years he’s been with us, he had some sort of neurological episode that leaves him very unsteady on his legs. Bob’s quite a long cat, and when startled, it sometimes looks like his front end wants to go one direction and his back legs in another. This unsteadiness has understandably left him feeling vulnerable, and his former friendliness has changed to a skittish wariness.

BC

Chicken to the rescue! – he’s fairly food-motivated, and when chicken is being handed out, I am sometimes aware of Bob sneaking up behind me. He’s happier not making eye contact, but he no longer runs away when that happens, and he will actually approach closely enough that he can take food from the hand. 

BC

Life must be a pretty scary prospect for poor Bob, but I think he’s learning again that humans are his friends, and that touch is possible. We just need to encourage volunteers and visitors to move gently around him and to let him know that he’s in a place of safety.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Phaedra Hardman and Michele Wright

Pumpkin

This is Pumpkin, a remarkably handsome orange boy who came to us in October 2015.  We don’t know much of his history, but he definitely appeared semi-feral when he arrived.  He’s so beautiful and so interesting, that we’re really hoping he’ll tame up.

MW

When he first arrived, he was pretty alarmed whenever anyone would come in his cage, and would do the usual hissing and swatting to deter visitors.  He would bite and scratch if you tried to touch him.  And interestingly, if you offered him a treat, he would reach up and whack it out of your hand quite aggressively before he would eat it. 

 BC

But RAPS volunteers are not easily deterred.  I found him mesmerizing from the start and was determined to get to know him better.  I spent a lot of time in his cage, and we ended up playing “chicken” a lot of the time:  I would try to sneak my hand towards him soooooo slowly that he would not notice; he would try to stay awake and alert long enough to catch me at it and chomp my hand.  I like to think I got good at this.  I did even manage to get my hand just under his tummy one day, while he rolled his eyes and went back to sleep.  But I got my share of bites and scratches too.

PH

When he was let out of his cage, he was much harder to get at.  He found himself a spot in the room behind the double-wide, on the platform at the top of the stairs, under the heat lamp.  That suited me because there’s a mattress up there and it’s pretty warm and cozy.  I like to kitty-comfort lying down.  So I spent a lot of time up there with him too, tossing him treats and trying to get him to let me pet him.  I discovered he’s very food-motivated and I would chat with him and toss him treats, which he loved.  Through painstaking effort, I used the treats to lure him closer, and eventually got him to take food out of my hand.  I never did manage to pet him though – he was pretty determined about that.

ML

When the spring came and the weather got nicer, the back door to that room was left open one day and he found his way outside into the courtyard.  He seemed pleased and surprised as he explored this new area in his own alert and cautious way.  And he settled himself on the outer edge of the ring of cats out there, prowling the perimeter in the hopes of getting some stray treats.

MW

Since then, he seems to be gradually relaxing and trusting more, gently teasing the hopes of those of us who want to be best buds with him.  There was the day that Brigid was feeding him chicken and said to me – look, he doesn’t have to shake his food to kill it before he eats it any more.  Another day, I managed to rub his chin and he didn’t even seem to really mind although he looked pretty confused.  And last week, he seemed to have let his guard down and blended into the middle of the group of other cats, his body language relaxed and almost nonchalant.  He still looks completely indignant and surprised when I try to stroke his head, but he doesn’t try to take my hand off any more. 

ML

He’s such a stunner that I’m hoping he’ll tame up enough that we can give him the full tummy rub one day.  Stay tuned.

 MW

Blog by Moira Langley

Photos by Brigid Coult, Phaedra Hardman, Moira Langley, Michele Wright

The Volunteer/Cat relationship - Lee and June

June and Lee have been coming to the Sanctuary since 2010.
Lee writes:
We had heard about RAPS via the newspaper and June used to send donations when they were Richmond Homeless Cats. We came as visitors one Sunday, and loved this place immensely. As we are "cat crazy gals", we made ourselves a promise to start volunteering once we were both retired. This happened in 2013 & we have been visiting there ever since.

Angel and Kes

In our other life, we have 6 very special kitties of our own. Two are now senior kitties (16 next month) with health care needs. "Angel" has seizures & "Kes" our Snowshoe Siamese has been fighting kidney disease. When we are not doing kitty care we enjoy some other activities. We both enjoy the pool & June does the aqua-fit while I do my own deep water running. We both pole walk & learned the technique from a Nordic pole walking group we joined.

Lee loved sweet Jamaica in the Moore House

We have a regular Tuesday afternoon at the Sanctuary, where we go kitty-comforting in ten areas.  We start at the back pens. June likes to visit her sponsor kitty Careen in pen 5, and I go see Schatze, OJ, Pebbles & Sandy in pen 4. Then we go on to the new kitties in Pen 6, followed by the Moore trailer together & then New Aids.

Harry loved his cuddles with Lee

We then go into single-wide where June visits the kitties. I go into the leukemia room to visit with Smoochie and Bear; I miss my dear Harry and Mindy dreadfully. I head for the Hill House and Connor House to see which kitties are caged, and sit with them. June spends the rest of her time in Old Aids.

June gets lots of love from the cats

We love all the kitties at the Sanctuary and I especially like to look for the black cats. Buddy who lived in New Aids won me over a long-time ago. I was somewhat hesitant around black cats as had a bad experience many years ago. This dear boy who has since passed away helped me so much to feel comfortable and at ease with black kitties. They need love too and should not be overlooked.

Black cats need grooming, too!

When I finish in Hill House & Connor House I spend some time out in the front courtyard. We've recently lost dear Wonderful Wobbly Paulo but life goes on with more loving kitties surrounding me. They head butt, purr and are so happy for the attention. They return my love so willingly and sometimes my lap is not big enough!

Back courtyard - A. Vandenbrink

Our hope for the Sanctuary is that it will continue to thrive under our CEO Eyal's guidance. We read his detailed report in full and his plans for RAPS are commendable. He has a lot of interesting and good ideas. If a donor stepped forward with a large donation I would say buy the property RAPS sits on asap. If the Sanctuary were to lose their lease it would be tragic, and all the cats would be in jeopardy. That would be our number one priority.

Blog by Lee Turner, (ed. BJC)

Photos by June Price, Lee Turner & A Vandenbrink

Rookie

Rookie came to us through long-term volunteers Barb and Waldi Trotzki. They have been associated with RAPS since before it existed as Richmond Homeless Cats, and their own collection of cats at home also includes strays that have discovered a place of safety. Their house backs onto a green belt with a lot of wildlife – prime hunting ground for a cat who finds itself in the great outdoors.

BT

Barb says:
Rookie came to us in the winter of 2012/13 as an apparent stray.  He tried to adopt us over the next two years, succeeding somewhat, in that we fed him, provided a place to sleep and shelter in bad weather, but our four male cats were not welcoming.  We called him Rookie, as the newest member of the crew.

BT

Rookie tried hard to boss his way into the family, and not being neutered, he was always looking for a confrontation with our other cats and there were numerous fights, some with injuries. He was friendly with both Waldi and I, let us pet him a little, but became quite excited quickly and did not hesitate to land a scratch or two, but always coming back and trying to move in. We liked him for his spirit and beauty and arranged for our house sitter to feed him when we were away.

BT

Then in 2014, just two days before we were going on a lengthy holiday he came limping into the yard.  We took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a torn ligament.  It meant either $1800 for surgery or six weeks cage rest. It was a good time to have him neutered and Leslie offered to board him in the Sanctuary, and as it turned out, a sanctuary it was for him. 

MW

Six weeks of rest, and Rookie was back in form. He was put into Pen 5, which has a nice group of cats, many of whom had come from the 5 Road Shelter after having gone unadopted for some time. Rookie settled in well – though he didn’t seem to be particularly close to any of the other cats, and he was often found in his favourite corner near the gate. He was always ready to welcome Barb and Waldi when they came to feed and clean up the back pens, or just to visit, and he had a serious fan-club among the other volunteers who worked in the back pens.

MW

Recently we have opened up Pen 5, and Rookie was among the first to venture out. With immense confidence, he has investigated the area, made his presence known to other cats, and generally established his territory

BC

Barb says:
He is so sweet now, not the tough tomcat he used to be, I can pick him up, carry him around, he learned to purr, and is totally happy there. We hear from other volunteers that he comes when called by his name and follows people around. We sponsor him, feeling a bit guilty about having surrendered him, but it was the best thing that could have happened to him.

SG-K

Blog by Brigid Coult & Barb Trotzki

Photos by Brigid Coult, Shoval Gamliel-Kumar, Barbara Trotzki, Michele Wright

An addendum from Chris Peters:

It was a very hot afternoon and Rookie was just snoozing like he'd been out late the night before and just couldn't quite get all the way through the door before passing out...