Steady Sweetness

Huey  (MW)

Huey was one of the cats I met in my early days at the Sanctuary. He had come in with his “sister” Hannah from a situation in which their owner had moved and was no longer able to keep them with her. Both cats (and several others we’d had from her) were originally ferals, tamed by her determination and love. 

Donni and her fan-club; Huey gets groomed  (BC)

Following their arrival at the Sanctuary, she visited them weekly, bringing treats and grooming tools, and giving her love to a big fan-club of felines. Huey and Hannah were always front and centre in the crowd.   Donni died in 2013, and over the following few years, the population of “her” cats gradually aged out. Hannah, who loved people (and particularly loved leaping on them) was adopted out; quiet Huey remained with us.

Venturing on the occasional outing  (KN)

He has a stumpy little rump-tail – whether a manx-style mutation or the result of an accident, I don’t know. He tends to be very much a Double-Wide cat, with occasional ventures into the courtyard. Huey loves attention, with no strings attached – he’s not particularly interested in treats, he just wants to know that you’re paying attention to him. 

Stop scooping and talk to me   (KN)

He is quite often found on the Double-Wide couch; he likes to be petted, but he’s not a lap-cat, preferring to remain within touching reach. Especially favoured people get leaned on – and drooled on, as well. 

Couch cuddles   (DJ)

Huey is recognized as a supervisor around the cleaning crew; he will follow the person scooping litter-boxes from cage to cage, making sure that the job is done properly. He appears to like people more than other cats; you’ll occasionally see a little interchange with another loner, but mostly he’s the Cat Who Walks By Himself.

Sharing a little loner advice with Ringo   (LBF)

If you’re used to being in another area of the Sanctuary, please make time to spend with this sweet boy. His beautiful eyes will thank you for the effort.

(KN)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brigid Coult, 

Daphne Jorgenson, Karen Nicholson, Michele Wright

Oodles of Orange

Billy, Buffy, Kumquat (LBF)

Pen 6 has become an important area of transition at the Cat Sanctuary. It’s a fairly small pen, but right at the beginning of the back pen complex – so there is lots of activity around.  Five years ago it was designated as the home for a colony of cats who had come to us from a Sunshine Coast shelter that was closing. We remember those cats with love – especially sweet Simba, and PawPaw

Simba and PawPaw (MW)

As they acclimated, or were moved to other areas, or adopted, we were able to move them out, close the pen for a clean-out, and prepare it for the Candy Cats’ arrival in the fall of 2017. With the exception of sweet Skittles, who has passed, these cats are still with us.  No orange cats in this bunch – the closest we have is the hint of gold in the agouti colouring of shy Hershey.

Hershey (LBF)

Two years later, the Candy Cats were moved out to make room for another influx of cats when RAPS trapped a total of nearly 60 cats and kittens from one colony.  Most of the kittens were fostered and adopted, but we had a group of teens who were too old to tame easily.  Most of them were black or tortie, but orange Mercury proved to be a very shy twin for Sprocket, living in the back courtyard.

Mercury (LBF)

These cats were very skittish for some time and it wasn’t until the following year that the determined work of the Kitty Comforters began to pay off. Most of them have relocated to Pen 1, and will likely remain semi-feral, and wary, but Aphrodite, the boldest of them, has found her own home where she can be tortie queen.

Aphrodite (KN)

And now Pen 6 is full again – and this time it’s an influx of (mostly) orange kitties from outside Kamloops, from a situation where TNR was needed, but in the end, the rescue felt that the cats really needed rescuing – and so they have ended up in our care.

Kelvin & Billy (LBF)

For the first few weeks there were just seven of them – Persimmon, Kumquat, Billy, Kelvin, Buffy, Goldie and a lone tabby, Juniper.  

Persimmon (KN)

Persimmon is the bravest of them, coming to investigate a visitor, talking and flirting. She’s something of a show-off on the shelf along the front wall.   Where Persimmon is, Kumquat is not far behind. Though he’s not ready for me to touch him, I know he’s allowed ear scritches from other volunteers. Kelvin will come and sit beside me, as long as I don’t reach out.  

Goldie, Kumquat & Billy (KN)

The others are all still very wary; they can be touched when they're tucked away in their cabin beds, but they now prefer to take cover in the many hiding places we’ve left in the pen. They particularly like the playhouse in the southeast corner of the pen, and are equally charmed by the prospect of playing on the tarp that protects the playhouse roof

Buffy (and Kelvin) camping on the tarp (KN)

They have just been joined by another five from the same colony: Cheddar, Creamsicle, Chamomile, Barley and Chaga (two more oranges, two greys and a black) - more introductions to follow in a subsequent blog!
We're all looking forward to getting to know them better as they become more relaxed in their new home.

Persimmon is already relaxed! (VW)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Karen Nicholson, Valerie Wilson, Michele Wright

Hello, Cuddles

Cuddles? Is that your real name?

Cuddles   (KN)

Your sign says “surrendered for aggression”.  Quite a conundrum.  

Seasoned cat handlers always know to proceed with caution.  Animals-love-me type individuals insist on reaching for petting immediately.

PC

On first impression, she looks like a bright-eyed tuxedo cat waiting attentively for visitors.  After entering, she’s over eager for physical contact.  She’ll want pets, even nudging your hand for them.  Sit back for a moment and she will body rub everything in the vicinity.  Even the litter box!  A brief brushing is welcome, too.  Sometimes, she’ll even give a happy tail shake.  (The same shake some other cats make wet sprinkles with.  Thankfully, hers is dry.) 

So far, it seems the latter group won.

KN

At this point, Cuddles will either face the door or jump into the tree.  Now is the ideal time to entice her with toys, grass, or a treat.  Beef flavours and liquid foods are her preference.  Once satisfied, she’ll groom and hop to the top of the tree for a nap.

Here’s the strange part: Touch her again and there’s a 75% chance you’ll get hissed at.  Persist and you’ll get swatted.  I’ve spoken to a few people and she consistently gives the same reactions.  The cautious group was right.  The latter group can pick their pride off the floor and leave.  You can still use a toy to pacify her.

Feather toys are the best  (PC)

She desires human attention and plenty of playtime.  Toys hold her attention for 5-10 minutes.  In a way, she’s a large kitten who needs to flex her hunting skills and relieve her cat instincts.  If the prey is your hand… well, good luck.

Cuddles gets over-stimulated from physical touch easily.  An analogy to over-petting a cat would be rubbing your hands together.  Doing it briefly can be comfortable or soothing.  Continuously rub your hands and they will get hot and irritating.  The threshold is different for everyone, and any number of reasons could be the cause. Cuddles growls and goes on high alert if she sees any nearby cats. Competition and lack of resources can turn sweet cats into sourpusses.  

An unwelcome visitor (PC)

If a feral hisses from a distance, we think it’s a normal “stay away!” sign.  If a cat hisses in breathing distance, it’s considered extra offensive, even though the intended meaning is the same.  A misinterpretation on reading cat body language, and hissing became the efficient means of telling humans “no”.

All these habits make her hard to befriend. I feel her dream is to have a human who understands her, spoils her with cat luxuries, and stands at her beck and call.  After all, Cuddles won’t chase you out like other aggressive cats, nor wedge herself in a corner.

Cuddles "playing cute"  (PC)

While it’s too easy to blame problems on the victim who can’t speak up, or in this case, the cat, it’s actually quite difficult to unlearn things.  An average human takes 2-3 times longer to ditch an unwanted habit than to learn it.  With cats, it takes months, even years.  Cuddles is learning our routines here. There is a race against time on our part, as we have to make her feel confident enough so she doesn’t feel threatened by other cats when it’s release time.  She’s already brave to interact with strangers and the items we gift her.  We just have to keep up the momentum, so she can finally be happy and cuddly. 

Blog by Pauline Chin

Photos by Pauline Chin & Karen Nicholson

Adopted!

 For many years, the Cat Sanctuary has been a home for cats that could find no other home.  

Not adopted: Beautiful Ollie just pees wherever he wants.... (KN)

Sometimes this was because they were feral, or very easily spooked; sometimes because they had been surrendered to us for bad bathroom habits; sometimes because they had health issues – but, for the most part, they came to us when they had waited too long in the City Shelter, or a shelter somewhere else, and space had become an issue.

Not adopted: Portia is both semi-feral and leukemia-positive (MW)

Things have changed. The single biggest issue has been that in this pandemic year, people confined largely to their homes have been looking for animal company, and not only the RAPS shelter, but other rescues have been finding it much easier to find adopters. So without the constant inflow of “unadoptable” cats, our numbers have been reducing.

Not adopted: Kin is a feral who prefers to stay well out of reach   (MW)

Sanctuary philosophy has been changing too. From having had a pretty hard-line “these cats are unadoptable” approach, we have increasingly been moving cats into homes.  Initially, this has been largely to staff and volunteers – the people who already know the cats in question, and are aware of potential issues and what may be done.  Because we had early bad experiences with adopting out shy semi-ferals (see Jenny's story), there was a reluctance to do so – but when the semi-ferals in question already know and trust their adopter, and that adopter is alert to the problems, we have seen some marked successes.

Larkin & Peony are now Scooter & Twinks
- and very happy!  (BJ)

Sanctuary cats are not for novice cat-owners, and the usual RAPS adoption requirements about no outdoor access are more important than ever for cats who have been used to a lot of Sanctuary freedom.  I hope that in the course of the next few months we may hear occasional reports from adopters about cats who have moved to a new home and settled in.  For now, here are a few of our happily-rehomed feline alumni:

Horatio (KN)

Horatio, former feral, finally decided that humans were OK, and that one of our med-staff was the best of the best!  She had given palliative home-care time to angry Frankie who couldn’t handle other cats; when Frankie’s heart-condition at last got the better of her, Horatio became her next home-cat, and he is ecstatic! 

Earl Grey (LBF) and Puma (KN)

We have worried about our seniors, as the Moore House has been gradually emptied in preparation for removal. Some of them have settled happily into life in the Single-Wide, but we were delighted when Earl Grey found a home, and even more delighted when his adopter returned to take Puma to join his buddy. The two old guys are happily settled together without other cats to bug them.

Leona claims the couch  (ACA)

Little Leona shared pen 6 with our McLeod clan of cats – but never really belonged with them. Almost always a loner, she waited by the gate for attention – both wanting it and dreading it. We finally moved her into the Double-Wide so that all the staff and volunteers working there would have a chance to help her get used to being petted. One of our volunteers fell in love with her, and now reports that Leona has settled very happily in her own home.

Darius & Mischa  (JB)

We are missing Darius these days, but are so pleased that another of our med-staff has taken him home. Former Sanctuary cat Mischa was already with her, and we hear that he has taken Darius under his wing and shown him around his new digs; the two of them have settled very happily together. Both are cats that spent a lot of time outside at the Sanctuary, and the ‘catio’ is a favourite place for the boys.

Her Majesty Queen Smokey is very comfortable
in her new digs (DJ)

Anyone working in the Moore House in the last couple of years has had to tiptoe around Smokey – a very angry grey girl who didn’t like either cats or people.  One of our volunteers was sure there was more than just “I hate everyone” going on, and has consistently made time for Smokey, establishing her boundaries, and spending extra time with her. Following the loss of her beloved Otis, she has offered Smokey a home, and is turning her into a lap-cat. We are so excited to hear the progress that is being made. Lots of patience and love...

There are a few other Sanctuary cats who have made their way to our Adoption Centre – for more information on who's available there, please check https://www.rapsbc.com/raps-adoption-centre/

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Ana Carolina Albuquerque, Jess Breitkreitz, Lisa Brill-Friesen, 

Bev Johnston, Daphne Jorgenson, Karen Nicholson, Michele Wright