Oooooh.... double Spooky!

At the Sanctuary we actually have not just one, but two cats with the suitably Halloween-ish name of Spooky!

Spooky is not sure she wants to be disturbed  -  BC

The front courtyard has at least 8-9 little black cats with few features that distinguish them.  Our cat-savvy med-staff seem to be able to tell them apart, and it was from med-staff Molly that I heard of Spooky in the Connor building.  She’s a pretty shy girl, preferring to live on the top of the cages with her longer-haired buddy Layla, with whom she arrived from a hoarding situation.

Feeling safer with a buddy at hand - BC

A lot of the floor-level black cats in the area are more substantial in size – Slim should really be renamed Chunky! - Winnie has lost a lot of weight in the last year or so, but is still a solid cat. Spooky is about the same size as Shady, who prefers to base herself with the cuddle-puddle in the papasan chair outside the Single-Wide. Mostly Spooky places herself out of reach, but occasionally she can be found curled in a basket, and will accept attention.

Ready to accept a little petting - BC

Molly told me that Spooky is a pretty messy drinker, and walks away with water all over her face. But a visit from Karen leads us to think that Spooky has more in common with Shady than just colour and size. Shady LOVES to be petted, and gets so excited that she drools all over her petter.  Karen coaxed Spooky into accepting petting, and this drooly mouth was the result.

"Love you so much; you make my mouth water!" - KN

Another distinguishing feature is the colour of Spooky’s beautiful pale green eyes – almost blue-green.

Note the little droplets on her face....  MS

The other Spooky lives in the back courtyard.

Spooky loves to sit IN things - DW

She came to us, having been dumped in a carrier, and with no explanation, at the door of a cat-boarding facility. They, of course, brought her to the Shelter at No 5 Road, where she was checked out and found to carry an identifying tattoo.  Tattoos and microchips are useful tools for finding the original homes of stray animals – IF the original owner keeps the identification up to date. In Spooky’s case the tattoo information gave us her name, but nothing that helped us find an owner.

Hanging out at the top of Newcomers steps  -  MW

Because she was not in great health, she was transferred to the Sanctuary where she had quiet cage time to recover, and careful medical supervision.  The health concerns continued; she suffered from eye infections and respiratory problems.  When planning for the 2019 Calendar, I turned down a lovely photo of her, because I was afraid she might not last through the year.

Spooky was a candidate for Miss April - MW

I’m very glad to see that I was wrong!  Spooky usually hangs our around the Newcomers area, though she has recently been seen more frequently in the Double-Wide.  She is a variety of Manx called a Stubby (Manx cats are categorized by tail length from no tail at all [a Rumpy] through Riser / Stumpy / Stubby / Longy); her tail is about half normal length.  Most cat faces look serious in repose (feline "resting-bitch-face"?) - Spooky's fur colouring around her mouth often makes her look as if she is smiling.

Dappled light on her fur makes her look almost a dilute...   MW

From having been a wary and stand-offish girl when she came to us, she has become more social. She’s not much of a fan of other cats, though not actively hostile, but she has become increasingly friendly with people, occasionally joining the table-top visitors at coffee-time – if there’s not too much feline competition.

The table is a favourite site if there's a box or basket  -  MW

There’s actually nothing scary about either cat; nothing that leads us to discover why they received their names.  But they make the perfect pair of subjects for a Halloween blog!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson, Molly Sjerdal, Debbie Wolanski, Michele Wright