RAPS is short for Regional Animal Protection Society, a registered charity and operator of a sanctuary which houses and cares for nearly 500 homeless or abandoned cats in Richmond, BC, Canada. The Neko Files is a celebration of the sanctuary and all those who live and work there.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Digby

Digby headed up a blog entry last fall titled Meowvember – mostly due to his prominent ‘tache!
PH
This handsome tuxedo gentleman came to us in the spring, almost a year ago, having been picked up as a stray Richmond street cat. He came to us in company with Licorice, though the two were not trapped together.  An unaltered male, Digby bore the scars of life on the streets – bites and scratches, a bloody ear, a bad case of fleas. He spent the first few weeks at the City Shelter, but having proved himself to be a pee-er, he was transferred to the Sanctuary.
BC
In common with all our new cats, he was popped into a cage to give him time to acclimate to new surroundings.  He was to be a back courtyard cat – having been a wanderer, it’s often better to allow such cats to have space to roam a bit – so his cage was in the Double-Wide. Early visitors reported a generally good attitude from him, though he was easily over-stimulated and could only take so much handling before swatting or biting. Many of our Kitty Comforters are prepared to spend a good chunk of time sitting in a cage and just talking to a cat like this;  touch can always wait till the cat is truly comfortable.
DW
By the time Digby was released, he was more than ready to take in the surroundings. His neutering hadn’t done a lot to change his tom-cat-in-charge attitude; he was quite ready to throw his weight around if he felt he could get away with it, and on more than one attention he was caught beating up on some unlucky victim who happened to get in his way – earning a time-out period for himself.
With the sunny weather Digby discovered the gardens and obviously felt less surrounded by other challenging cats; he was more ready to laze around and enjoy himself, and other cats felt able to give him a wide berth.  Human visitors were more attractive to him, and his whole attitude relaxed. 
MW
Though the colder days of fall and winter have kept him and the other cats mostly indoors, the return of springlike weather has found Digby basking in the sunshine, and enjoying life at the Sanctuary – infinitely preferable to his former life on the street.
MD


Blog by Brigid Coult
Photos by Brigid Coult, Melanie Draper, Phaedra Hardman, 
Debbie Wolanski, Michele Wright

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