Honey Bear

MW

This sweet boy is another that has come to us from a private shelter that is closing.  Normally a snowshoe Siamese like this would be much in demand, but Honey Bear has some handicaps.  He has a neurological disorder that affects his rear end, making him incontinent, as well as more liable to kidney infections.  He’s likely not more than a couple of years old - and yes, his eyes really are that blue!.

MW

We had him caged for a while when he first arrived, and he proved to be very ready for contact with humans, welcoming visitors, though occasionally getting a little over-excited. His cage needed to be cleaned several times a day, since he had no control over bladder and bowels; fortunately his stomach seems to be in good order, and his poops are easy to clean up.

Just hangin' out - MW

Since being allowed out into the general back courtyard population, he has become a little more skittish and less willing to interact with people. He’s not particularly social with other cats, though he’s quite willing to explore around his territory.

The slight awkwardness of his back legs can
be discerned in this photo - CP

Watching him move is rather like watching WobblyBob, though we don’t think their handicaps are identical. We think Bob may have had a stroke that has affected him rather like some form of cerebellar hypoplasia; he’s not very coordinated in walking, or in focusing on offered food. Honey Bear’s handicap is specifically rear end; his front end moves normally, but his back legs in walking move in high “trotting” motions. Interestingly, when he runs, he can often coordinate them.

Watching the world from his cat-tree - CP

Despite his handicap, Honey Bear loves to climb, and his favourite hiding place to chill is right at the top of a big covered cat-tree.  Volunteer Marty spends quite a bit of time with him there, offering the head-rubs he loves.

MW

Like so many of our cats, this is truly Sanctuary for Honey Bear – he would probably be considered unadoptable by other organizations and his chances of survival would be poor.  With us, he has the opportunity to make himself at home, he has the medical monitoring he needs, and he can find many humans who will love him.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Chris Peters and Michele Wright

Twin by Name

The two Lincolns share a shelf - DW

When we welcome newcomers to the Sanctuary, various things come into play with naming them.  If we know nothing of the cat in question, it’s usually up to the med staff to choose a name – preferably one that’s not already used, and one that begins with an alphabet letter that’s not too well populated.  The cat may be named after someone responsible for catching it (like Zimmer) or if it found its own way to us, it is given the name of a TV detective (Magnum, Kojak, Cagney, Watson...)

Sophia (top) & Sophie (bottom) - BC

But if it comes in to us with a name in place already, we try not to change that – we don’t know how much cats recognize their own names (though they certainly recognize voices). And so, inevitably, we have a few naming duplicates.

Orange & tabby Hannahs - MW

Our two Hannahs both live in the back courtyard.  Neither shows much interest in the other; tabby Hannah prefers people to other cats – vice versa for orange Hannah

Tabby & b/w Lucys - PH

Both our Lucy-cats are ladies of solid proportion, and again, both are back courtyard cats. Tabby Lucy would rather stay in the warmth of the laundry- or tea-room, unless the sun is out, in which case she sunbathes happily; black-and-white Lucy is usually found somewhere round the entrance gate

Cinnamon Bun Lincoln is less elegant and pushier than his long-haired "twin" - MW

The two Lincolns are Double-wide cats who occasionally visit in the back courtyard; both love human attention.  Handsome Lincoln can usually be found posing on one of the DW shelves;  Cinnamon Bun Lincoln (named for his curled tail) can be pushy when it comes to getting human attention, and is occasionally known to make his pee-mark!

Sophie/Sophie/Sophia - MW

 We have several Sophies: there’s tubby Sophie in Pen 2, who’s ready to greet all visitors; tortie Sophie in the Single-Wide; sweet Sophie of the beautiful green eyes in the Moore House – and there’s Sophia, also in the Moore House.

Calista - front (MW) - and back (BC)

Calista is not the most common name – but we have two of them, and they’re both shy. Front courtyard Calista is Renee’s sister; she has her favourite people, but tends to stay out of the way when there are too many visitors around. Back courtyard Calista is still pretty feral, but volunteer Marty has been working with her, and she’s allowing feeding, and (finally) a little petting.

WobblyBob (BC) & BellyRub Bobby (MW)

At one stage we had four or five Bobbys – the only ones now are Belly-Rub Bobby in the front courtyard, who loves everyone (but especially volunteer Chris) and Wobbly Bob in the back, who really only loves people when they have chicken in hand!

Mary SW (MW) & DW (CF)

Mary in the SingleWide is a sweetie; a former feral who has lost her shyness and enjoys attention. Her namesake in the DoubleWide is still very feral, and prefers to stay hidden up on the cage-tops.

MadMax & New Aids Max - MW

Mad Max, also in the DoubleWide, is something of a misnamed boy – neither mad-angry, or mad-crazy; Max is very shy, and wary of humans unless they have something worth hanging around for – he’s another chick-aholic. Beautiful orange/white Max in New Aids is something of a newcomers, and has not had his Neko-profile done yet – watch this space!

Princess with BFF Spike (DW) / manx Princess (MM)

I guess Princess is a fairly common name for female cats. Our royal trio in the Sanctuary includes the beautiful girl who is Spike‘s BFF and hangs about near the med cage, the little black and white manx in the Moore House – less beautiful but entirely lovable – and the elegant Princess Diva, who is the cat who walks by herself in the back courtyard.

Her Highness, Princess Diva - MW

Repeated names -  but all very individual personalities – there’s no confusing one of these cats with his/her “twin”!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Claire Fossey, Phaedra Hardman, 

Marianne Moore, Debbie Wolanski, Michele Wright

The Silent Meow

Mona - the silent meow - MM

Mona and Jinx are two long-haired girls who came to the Cat Sanctuary from another shelter this past January and, until just recently, I couldn’t tell one from the other.  Although Jinx has tabby colouring and Mona is a tortie, they’re both little, friendly and long-haired and hang out in the Front Courtyard, around or inside the little building known as Connor House.

Jinx - MM

And, they’re both darn cute, more so because they frequently do the “silent meow” thing – they look at you earnestly, their little mouths gape open and it looks like they’re meowing but with the sound turned off.  For some reason, this makes them look particularly cute and appealing.

Booster yelling - MM

Most cats have audible meows and a few, like Booster, make their presence known by yelling, loudly and persistently, to get attention so I wondered why, and how, Jinx and Mona are silent meow-ers.

Jinx the sun-worshipper - BC

Upon consulting “Dr. Google”, I found the scientific explanation of how some cats meow silently.  Apparently, the cat is actually making a sound but at a frequency which mere human beings can’t hear – we can hear up to a measly 20 kilohertz only, while cats can hear sounds of a much higher frequency than that.  So, if a silent-meowing feline wants to tell another feline to shove off, their intention is just as clear to the intruder as if it were screeched.  Okay, so that explained how they do it but didn’t tell me why.  

Mona - PH

Dr. Google goes on at length with the many reasons why cats meow, silently or otherwise – they want food, attention, to be let out and then immediately back in, are annoyed or in pain or just want to greet you.  However, if your cat makes a habit of using a silent meow to communicate with you, it’s possibly because it’s just clever and manipulative enough to know how adorable that looks and is taking full advantage of that to get what it wants.  Fluffy or Tom-Tom quickly figure out what’s going to be most effective to get their people to hop to it and do things their way. And if it works, they’ll keep doing it.

Mona dozing in the sun - BC

Dr. Google concludes by saying that if your precious cat really wants something from you and wants it now, it probably won’t hesitate to let you know, one way or another. Playing cute, for example with a silent meow if the cat do it, pretty much guarantees a positive result.

Piper hopes for a tidbit - MM

Having done the on-line research, it was time to do some practical work – a walk around the sanctuary was called for, with eyes open for silent meows.  It’s interesting how meow-free the place usually is – cats are not vocal in the way dogs are, and cat-noise is the exception rather than the rule. There are a few cats with particularly distinctive voices – Gabby lives up to his name, and Desi can be heard through the back area when he decides to talk. But yes, there are a few silent-meow-ers: Freckles is noted for her voiceless yell for chicken and cute little Orlean uses it to get attention.

Freckles sees chicken coming;  Orlean says "Pet me now!" - MW

Owners of particularly yappy cats might welcome one that meows silently but it seems to be an on again-off again thing.  Jinx and Mona can, and do, meow loudly when they want to get someone’s attention for an important message like “Feed me, now!” or “Why aren’t you picking me up?” but for sheer cuteness appeal, they can really work that silent meow.

Blog by Marianne Moore

Pictures by Brigid Coult, Phaedra Hardman, Marianne Moore, Michele Wright, 

Tom - and Elizabeth

MW

Tom came to us last year, having been brought in as a feral cat.  Among the many black cats at the Sanctuary, he is distinguished by the little flecks of white in his fur, and by his stocky build, with the chunky cheeks of the unneutered male cat.

MW

He is sponsored by long-time volunteer Elizabeth, who found him living wild near her home, fed him and eventually trapped and brought him in.  Elizabeth tells me that he was quite the lover-boy; a neighbour had a little tortie who used to escape, and at least one litter of kittens was Tom’s responsibility – three black and one white.  After Tom came into our care the little tortie had another litter – and then was surrendered to RAPS for spaying and fostering.

MW

In our care, Tom was neutered, and caged as we usually do, to give us time to assess his behaviour and his possible relationship with humans.  However, he did NOT approve of a cage. Very determinedly he found the weak spot, and bust out of jail. A second attempt to cage him had the same result, at which point we decided that he might as well join the party!

MW

And that was really all Tom wanted.  He’s not really cat-social; he chooses to avoid other cats, though he can stand up for himself if Sid or grey Gizmo get pushy. He wants his independence – in typical cat-style, he wants to make his own decisions.  T.S.Eliot would have characterized him as a Rum-Tum-Tugger - “he WILL do what he DO do – and there’s no doing anything about it!”

BC

He quite enjoys human attention – and he loves it when Elizabeth comes to visit him.  She is one of our senior volunteers, and a retired nurse; when Elizabeth has cleaned one of the back pen cabins, you know that it’s clean! Tom likes to be around her – and if she’s not about, he has taken to competing with black Ninja in the sport of sneaking past a volunteer’s legs to get into a closed pen.  He doesn’t actually want to interact with the cats in the pen – he just wants to be on the other side of the gate, and if you don’t spot him and eject him (which is part of the fun), he will be found waiting to be released whenever another volunteer comes past!

BC

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult & Michele Wright

We unexpectedly lost Tom to a lung infection, just a couple of weeks after this blog.  He wanted to be on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge....