Over the Bridge in 2023

Pandora - December - LBF

Pandora came to us in bad shape, but she had
nearly two years of greatly improved health with us before her aging body had had enough.

The Sanctuary is a place where we celebrate life – specifically, the lives of many cats who, in other circumstances, would have been euthanized for being unadoptable.  Many ferals have come through our hands, and though some have eventually accepted human attention, others have remained feral for much of their lives. Adopters shy away from taking cats with FIV or FeLV, diabetes or kidney disease – and we rejoice that we have been able to give them shelter and treatment. We have partnered with rescues in other places, and taken groups of cats that a smaller organization may not be able to house.

Dango - June - KN

Dango came to us from Alberta in 2019, and joined the New Aids pen; earlier this year he was relocated to the Val Jones pen so that his renal diet could be closely monitored.

But because many of our cats are with us through much of their lives, we are, time and time again, with them for their deaths. Sometimes they are unexpected, as in cancer, or FIP.  Sometimes we watch the gradual aging of a beloved friend, and know that their time is come. Many cats hide their ill-health, and occasionally we will find them already passed; most of them are taken by a staff-member to the hospital, where they will pass gently, held by loving hands.

Kiwi - December - MW

Kiwi came from the same shelter as Dango;

we lost her to FIP, which is a random mutation of an otherwise standard feline coronavirus.

The turn of the year is a time when we look back over the past twelve months, and remember more than fifty of the furry friends who have “crossed the Rainbow Bridge”. So once again, this is less a blog, and more a photo-essay that may bring smiles and tears and memories and love of some very special cats. We can't feature them all, but here are a dozen of those who have gone ahead of us.

Tugboat - February - MW

Much beloved by all, Tugboat became very frail in his last year,
and was cuddled and comforted by humans and cats alike.

Sprint - December & Shaggy - July;  LBF

Little Sprint was a junkyard cat, very shy, and with health problems; 
Shaggy was one of the last of the “oldies” from the former Moore House.

Sara Lee - March - KN

Sara Lee had lived here for most of her 21-odd years.
Easily identified by her bi-coloured eyes and her smoke coat, she was a fixture at the coffee table, where she toured from one lap to another.

CB Lincoln - February - MW

Cinnamon Bun Lincoln was named for his curled tail,
and known for his tendency to pee on anything/anyone he wanted to claim.

Little Orange - October - KN

One-eyed Little Orange was loved by volunteers and visitors alike,
and is greatly missed by his friend Allison who visited him every week.
He’s reunited with his girlfriend, shy Merilee.

Stella - February - MW

Stella was a regal presence in the Tea-Room and the breezeway; 
she liked to sit high up and reach down a paw to those seeking her attention.

Bossanova - August - KN

Bossanova evolved from a shy boy hiding high on a shelf
to a cat who would hover hopefully, looking for treats and attention.

Jazz - September - KN

Jazz was the doorkeeper for the Single-Wide.

Originally collared as a signal that she was a reactive cat,

she came to enjoy the attention she got, and demanded that everyone stop on the way in to pet her.

Pancake - March - KN

Pancake was the son of Autumn, in the front Courtyard;
he proved too shy to be adopted, and returned to us to make his life
with his cat friends in the DoubleWide.

Tara - October - KN

Tara remained a scared feral most of her life with us,
only allowing contact in the last months when she was confused and forgetting that she was scared.

Hamlet - August - KN

Hamlet came to us as a feral, but soon developed a presence
 as a benevolent Godfather on the DW deck.

Rainbow over the Sanctuary - BC

Blog by Brigid Coult

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

Pen 7 shy ones

Clementine  (KN)

For as long as I’ve volunteered at the Sanctuary, Pen 7 has been the home for a bunch of very shy cats, known as the Barn Cats.  Initially they were a colony who had been doing pest control at a farm south of Steveston Highway; like a lot of colonies without supervision, their numbers got out of control and Richmond Homeless Cats (as RAPS was at that time) stepped in. Not only were there too many of them, but there was also inbreeding going on, and it was time to end the cycle.  In the end, there were about a dozen of them brought to the Sanctuary in 2008, and Pen 7 became a closed one.

Barncats enjoying treats

They were definitely a feral bunch, but because their pen was so much smaller than the other feral pens, they had to get used to humans popping in and out on them. Most of them never really tamed up, though a few of them became friendly with select visitors. The genetic quirks caused by inbreeding produced a number of curly tails, and, more seriously, some vision problems, so the med staff kept a careful eye on them. 

Rodan loved and was loved...  (KN)

I realised recently that they’d never been blogged either by Claire, who set up the Neko Blog, or by me; for most of us, I think they were just an anonymous collection of little cats who didn’t want much in the way of attention. There were exceptions; I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t love one-eyed Rodan, whose cage-stays had acclimated him to human contact.

Clementine   (MW)

Most of them have passed now – the only “originals” left are Jethro and Clementine. Orange Jethro is still very shy, and he has vision problems. He’s ready to emerge when food is on offer, but not to be touched. Clementine can often be found at the gate when treats are being handed out in the courtyard; she allows touch, but doesn’t really enjoy it.  She is very vocal about not being left out when it comes to food, but when the gate is opened, she doesn’t venture past the threshold. “Escape” is not an issue with the Pen 7 cats; they have their safe territory and don’t want to move beyond it.  

Jethro & SweetTart  (LBF)

These two were joined by SweetTart, one of the Candy Cats who was originally in Pen 6, but showed a fascination with the neighbouring barn cats and was glad to move in with them. On the other side, Pen 8 had also had a largely feral component, and when we opened it to the courtyard, and brought the Kootenay cats into pen 8, we also moved Hailey in with the barn cats. Hailey and her family had come from a colony Carol Reichert trapped at a cement plant;  Hailey’s best buddy Johnny had passed not long before, and Hailey was glad to be back in a restricted area.  Neither Hailey nor SweetTart are as keen on chicken tidbits as Clementine is, but they frequently hang around when goodies are on offer.

Hailey is still very cautious   (KN)

The other current residents of Pen 7 belong to the don’t-see-me variety of ferals. Anya and Buttons keep themselves in the warmth and comfort of the cabin, and don’t venture out at all. In the summer, Anya lived under the drapes covering a cat-tree on the porch, and she wouldn’t even come down to use the litter box at the bottom – the cat-tree finally had to be thrown out because it was impossible to clean it properly. Now she’s safely in the dark of the cabin, she’s using the litterbox there, which is much more pleasant for all concerned! Anya and Buttons get checked each day by the med staff; mostly we don’t disturb them in their preferred hiding places, and all their movement is under cover of the dark.

Anya is not keen on human company  (KN)

As with Pen 4, weekend visitors have no access to these cats – though some of the KittyComforters visit them regularly, just sitting quietly with them, and reminding them that they’re safe here, and humans really aren’t as scary as they think.

Blog by Brigid Coult

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

The Pirate is a Pussy-Cat

Gordo (AM)

The SingleWide has been feeling quite empty in the last while – we lost all the “Egg-farm cats”; we’re missing Shaggy and Jimmy and Bossanova and so many others...  So it was good to welcome several newcomers in the summer months. I had mentioned McGregor in last week’s blog, but sadly, we unexpectedly lost him this week. 

Gordo  (BC)

The other newcomer in the SingleWide is a chonky boy called Gordo who came to us from Kamloops. He’s not been at his most beautiful with us; he had some medical problems when he arrived that resulted in surgery – there may have been some trauma causing them. His right eye showed entropion, with the eyelid turning inwards so that the eyelashes rubbed painfully against the eyeball. That’s a relatively straightforward surgery (though fiddly); what was not so straightforward was a complex TECA (total ear canal ablation) surgery on the same side. It was a lot for him to deal with, and he battled through it with the courage of his namesake, Gord Downie.

Big boy.... (JN)

Gordo now looks a bit like a pirate, with a crumpled haematoma ear and shaved on one side of his head. Because of his black colouring, he appears one-eyed, though he has in fact kept the sight in his right eye, He’s had a hard time being confined to a cage and coping with a cone of shame, and with limited visitors; now he’s out of prison and making himself at home. He reminds me of junkyard cat Bill in New Aids – but an entirely amiable version of Bill, who is not always friendly with other cats. 

Sitting in "pet me!" pose  (AG)

Gordo looks as if he’s had a rough life, but it’s not been a long one - he’s actually only about two years old.  Initially he presented himself as a serious cat, and was probably dealing with some physical discomfort, but it has become obvious that he loves attention from people. Through all of his cage time we tried to keep up with visits, and now that he’s no longer handicapped by the cone, and free of confinement, he’s ready to explore and to interact as much as the other SingleWide cats allow. He has appropriated Blaze’s favourite shelf for his exclusive use, and she’s been persuaded to relocate.

Come play with me!  (AG)

He loves to play - he will roll around and grab with his big mittens. In the cage he would happily come up for some lap time; now that he’s out and about, there’s a bit more competition for a lap, and he backs away from confrontation with Whiskers, who has appointed himself Top Cat. Gordo is a sweetheart; there's no nastiness at all about him, and though he's not a beautiful cat, he's very endearing, and it would be wonderful to find him a home where he can be loved.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Akira Graham, Anne Marchetti, Joanne Nicholson

Deelia

Part of the work of the Kitty Comforters is to spend time with the caged cats – new, or medicated, or post-surgery.  But another important part of our work is to identify the feral cats who may be hesitating about whether they can trust us or not. Some have very good reasons to he untrusting.

Shy Deelia - BC

Deelia came to us earlier this year with a group from Kamloops, sent by Sammy’s Forgotten Felines. Sammy’s works particularly with colonies of feral cats who may be in some danger – whether from natural causes or human ones. The group that arrived consisted of two young mothers and a group of kittens; the folks at Sammy’s thought it was likely that the younger mom was the daughter of the older one. 

Getting closer...  (BC)

However, there was more to the transfer than simply getting kittens to safety. The Kamloops rescue was concerned about the senior mom’s condition, and X-rays confirmed that someone had been using cats for target practice, and Deelia had pellets in her body. Once she was in our care, the RAPS Animal Hospital took her in for removal of the pellets; we don’t know how long it had been since she’d been shot, and we hope that there are no long-term concerns over lead poisoning.  The kittens – as most kittens are! - were very cute, and quickly adopted, as was the younger mom, Lydia.  Not surprisingly, Deelia was not so trusting and therefore came to the Sanctuary, where she could take her time in deciding her comfort level around humans.

Watching at a careful distance  (KN)

She has largely made her home on the south side of the front courtyard; she can sometimes be found in the Old Rabbit Area, and sometimes under the bed-box pile. Her sweet face carries a worried expression, and she’s not at all sure that she likes proximity with humans.  But sitting quietly in the closed ORA, she will often poke her head out to see if there are treats on offer, and once again, bribery becomes a useful socialization tool. 

A little face-off with Solar over a tidbit  (BC)

In the dimmer light of the ORA, she’s easily confused with grey Solar at first sight, but is smaller and rounder in face. Solar is not afraid to approach us for handouts, but Deelia hovers at a distance initially and it takes quiet and patience to tempt her closer. When she emerges into the daylight it can be seen that she is actually not grey, but a very dilute tortie – the black colouring is all grey and the orange is a lovely peachy colour – and she lacks some of the underlying tabby markings of her grey “brother”.  Like shy Bricklyn, she is very fond of chicken-bits, and is beginning to hold her own with the other pushy cats. She’s not quite ready for petting yet, but an outstretched hand gets a paw-tap with no aggressiveness, and she is happy to sit and share slow blinks. 

Deelia's markings show through  (BC)

We’ve got all the patience in the world for you, Deelia – and we hope you can learn that some humans can be trusted.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult & Karen Nicholson