Ten Years of Blogging

Evening conference in the back courtyard (JS)

After establishing the Neko Blog in 2009, and giving us a wealth of wonderful photos and stories about the Sanctuary inhabitants, blog founder Claire Fossey was getting swamped at work, and finding that the blog was just one thing too much.  I hated to think we might lose it – it gives us an incredible resource of information and images – and I took a deep breath and said, “I’ll do it!”. My first blog was Flat Cats in the first week of August 2014.

Selena Marchetti's wonderful picture of
Marianne Moore and her best feline friends

Claire had blogged several times a week – cameo profiles of the cats in residence. I made two decisions – that this would be a weekly blog, perhaps in a bit more depth, and that I would try to facilitate the involvement of more writers. I managed to maintain the first decision, and there’s been a blog almost every week for ten years; the second, not so much...  Our beloved Marianne Moore was a regular contributor until she was taken from us - her last blog was of SingleWide superstar Nova in the spring of 2018; Pauline Chin wrote 30 blogs over about 4 years, reflecting her particular KittyComforter loves, and various other people have offered their perspectives or been ghost-written into the blog, but most of the work has been mine.  

Karen's insightful and loving pictures have anchored many blogs   (KN)

As important as the contributing writers are the many talented photographers whose work has helped share Sanctuary life with a wider audience: Claire Fossey, Phaedra Hardman, Debbie Wolanski, Moira Langley, Michele Wright, Karen Nicholson, Lisa Brill-Friesen, Justin Saint and MANY others.  Thanks to them I have occasionally been able to minimize writing, and offer a photo-blog instead – sometimes to memorialize beloved cats, sometimes calendar out-takes, and sometimes just because everyone loves cat pictures!  In the last five years or so, the NekoBlog material was duplicated at the RAPS CatSanctuary webpage and information can be searched at both sites.

Tugboat was SOOOO loved by messy-manx Plum (KN)

Being just a little OCD (in some things, at least!) I have my blog records in a series of spreadsheets. Looking back at those first years of writing, the first thing that hits me is that almost all the “profile” cats from that first year of blogging have passed.  Living with death is part of being at the Sanctuary. Many rescues are focused on adoptions, or manage with a network of foster-families;  but most of the cats who come to the Sanctuary will spend their lives with us – because they are too feral, or have never bonded with a human, or have behaviour or health issues.

from the scared Autumn of 2013...  (PH)

...to the confident flirt of this summer  (KN)

In October 2014 I blogged an update about Autumn who actually arrived with us in the fall of 2012 as a VERY angry young mom – so she’s been with us almost 12 years.  The next names I recognized were Adam and May, in an update on the pair that first came to us in 2010; they were adults when they arrived, and fourteen years later, they are now clearly more frail, though as devoted to each other as ever. Many small rescues function largely by adopting or fostering animals out; we live with the knowledge that we will see many of our beloved cats pass in our care, and it’s a hard burden for the med staff and the long-term volunteers. 

May and Adam posed for their Valentine portrait (LBF)

But there is never any lack of cats seeking sanctuary. In the early days, we were Richmond Animal Protection Society, and almost all the cats were from this municipality. Constant realty development meant fewer places for feral cats to hide, but now the local feral cat problem of the beginning of the century that necessitated the creation of Richmond Homeless Cats has become only an occasional issue created by careless owners with unneutered pets. 

formerly feral Ranger from Haida Gwaii is now a love-bug  (KN)

Connections began building across the province with other rescues, and occasionally further afield. Now, as the Regional Animal Protection Society, it is very satisfying to know that there is such a strong network of people devoted to animal rescue; that amid all the bad-news stories in the media, there is also a core of people who make a difference in the lives of defenceless animals. Sanctuary cats have come from Haida Gwaii to Saskatchewan, from Vancouver Island to the Kootenays.

Our spicy Princess was sponsored all the way from Iran  (LBF)

We rejoice when a Sanctuary cat like little Jelly overcomes amputation to flirt her way into an adopter’s heart; we marvel when our wobbly-cat Tumbleweed determinedly struggles to visit Pen 6, knowing that he can do it safely without worrying about predators; we grieve together when we lose a beloved icon like Bossanova; we celebrate when a formerly aggressive cat like Dell finally relaxes into our love; we mop up after messy-Manxes and cats like Fido, or Ollie who refuse to use a litter-box. They are what they are, and they can take their time to change, or not, as need be – sanctuary is a place of refuge and protection without conditions attached to their residence.

Chaga, Chamomile & Creamsicle - living the good life (JS)

Founder Carol Reichert’s original vision, the hard work of our current board and staff, the love given (and inevitably the blood shed) by past and present Sanctuary medical and cleaning staff, and by hundreds of volunteers – all these have made this a very special place for many cats who would otherwise have lived short and probably terrified lives as ferals in a world that holds too many perils for cats without care.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Phaedra Hardman, Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint

Three Little Maids

Betsy, Zoey, Cleo  (BC)

Although we continue to get single cats arriving into our care, we are one of the few rescues around that can take in a group of cats together. Many of the small rescues doing excellent work around the province know that when they are unable to find fostering or adopting for ferals, or they have a full clowder to accommodate, they can call us and we will do our best. The Pen 3 group from Alberta, the Kamloops cats who have largely migrated out of Pen 6, the still-scared colony from Cranbrook College – these are all cats who have come in as ferals, and are gradually adjusting to life around humans. Some are socializing well, others would rather stay out of reach – and our setup makes that possible for as long as the cats need it.

SweetPea and Owen - happily adopted to their own homes now  (LBF)

In 2022 we took in a dozen ferals whose colony caretaker had passed. They were an unusual colony,  we were told they were ragdolls, but seemed to have much more Himalayan or Siamese in appearance. A classic Ragdoll is a large cat, usually with big blue eyes, very human-orientated, and with a fine, non-matting coat. Many of these cats were small, they had never been socialized and feared humans, and matting was definitely a problem!  Only two of them reached the point of being easily handled, and both SweetPea and Owen were adopted last year.  The others remain very wary and avoid physical contact; because they don’t allow grooming, the necessary de-matting is a matter of shaving the worst knots out under gentle sedation. 

Skye, the fourth (and shyest) little maid  (LBF)

The smallest members of this group of cats all have a sealpoint colouring, and I think of them as the Three Little Maids (for those who know their Gilbert & Sullivan operettas) despite the fact that there are actually four of them. The fourth is Skye, with a slightly mottled facial pattern and a head-tilt from a bout of vestibular disease, and she joins the larger cats in preferring to hide away from human contact.

Big-eyed Betsy   (BC)

The other three are hovering in the space between wanting attention, and still being wary. Betsy (I call her Bitsy-Betsy) is a tiny girl with enormous eyes. To be accurate, it’s the pupils that are enormous, and there may be a sight problem in Betsy’s future. Pupil dilation is normal in cats when the light is dim, or sometimes when a cat is stressed. But it’s also a sign of progressive retinal atrophy, and can lead to blindness. Currently Betsy shows no signs of visual problems; she escorts me around my Friday morning back courtyard cleaning – and it’s not just following me: she leads the way, so that I have to be careful not to trip over her. 

Betsy  (BB)

She was one of the earliest cats this summer to have her mats shaved out, and the skinny little body underneath the fur reinforced just how ragdoll-like she wasn’t!  Luckily, the med-staff who shaved her were able to keep enough fur to allow for a comb-over so she didn’t appear totally naked. She’s not really comfortable with touch, but will allow the odd brief stroke as long as she doesn’t see the hand approaching.

Zoey's regal pose is offset by the crossed eyes  (KN)

Her usual companion is her sister Zoey.  You have to be looking at Zoey from the front to distinguish her from sister 3, Cleo;  Zoey has the classic Siamese cat crossed eyes squint, called Strabismus, in which the retinas are misaligned. 

Zoey and her garden-buddy  (BC)

She is the only one of the three to allow petting; she doesn’t actually solicit it, but she will sometimes come and sit within reach, and when I reach for her, the bum goes up in happy anticipation. A couple of times I have been able to scoop her into my lap, where she remained happily for some fussing.

Cleo watching warily from a distance  (KN)

Cleo and Zoey look identical from the back – or at least, they did till a couple of weeks ago, when Cleo had her visit at the Sanctuary Salon, and had her back mats shaved. Now I can do a quick ID – at least, until the fur grows back!

A little more relaxed - specially with food on offer  (BC)

These three girls have joined the chicken crowd that gathers round when I bring out a baggie of tidbits. They don’t beg and fuss, like Calvin or Pumpkin – they just sit there and give me the eye. Unfortunately, they’re a little too ladylike to grab, and when they wait a moment to pick up the offered treat, someone else is likely to get it first. They won’t accept it from my hand yet, so I need really good aim to toss the tidbit right at their feet;  at that point all of them are capable of giving Pumpkin The Look that says, “Mine!”, and he backs off.

Zoey  (BB)

I don’t think these three are going to be the sort of cuddle-bugs that Owen turned into – but patience and persistence (and treats) will have them being more comfortable with us.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brit Burant, Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson

Quiet Days in the Leukemia Pen

Neko  (KN)

Looking back over fourteen volunteer years, it’s interesting to recall how the numbers of FeLV (feline leukemia) and FIV (feline AIDS) cats has fluctuated. We’ve always had space for both sorts of residents, but at one time we had leukemia cats in the back of the SingleWide, in the Val Jones area, as well as in the main leukemia pen (which, confusingly, was known as Old Aids), and only one pen of FIV cats; now we have more than 30 FIV cats in two pens.  Sadly, many of our leukemia cats don’t live very long – the virus is very hard on their immune systems – and we love them, knowing that we may not have them with us as long as we would like. We are learning things about the virus that we didn’t know years ago, and we hope that it will give our current leukemia cats more time.  There is no cure for FeLV, but anything that will boost their immune systems is helpful. 

Adria & Creston, now adopted  (BC)

One of the things we still don’t understand it what causes the virus to go into remission or to flare up. Cats like Ooly lived much longer in our care than some of the others – we think Ooly made it to 18 years, which is good for any cat – and we don’t know why; we can only be grateful.  Since my last leukemia cat blog the numbers of inhabitants has gone down: currently there are only six cats living there, but they all seem to be in good shape, and we hope that their health will remain strong.  We rejoiced when sassy Adria and loving Creston were adopted together by someone who understood that they would need constant oversight, and no contact with other cats. But the two were both young, and it’s wonderful to think that they have the experience of living in a home with humans of their own.

Beautiful Neptune  (KN)

We’re left with four black cats, a Siamese mix and a tabby. The four blacks are headed up by Neptune, who is probably the senior resident (if not very senior). He has been with us nearly seven years, having come from Oregon with Portia, who we lost last year. Neptune is shy until he knows you, but once he feels safe, he will come for petting and treats. 

Athena  (PC)

He is trailed devotedly by Athena, who was the only one of the MacLeod cats (arriving in 2019) to test FeLV+; Athena weaves her way around him, and bunts to get his attention. She looks like his mini-me, and you need to see them together to be certain who's who.  She’s still not very sure about wanting human petting, and is very picky about what treats she will accept.

Furgie usually looks startled   (BC)

The other two blacks are very shy as well.  Furgie came from the colony that now lives in Pen 3; the youngsters from a hoarding situation in Alberta. She’s now about 6 years old, and can be distinguished from the others by the little flecks of white on her neck and shoulders; she tends to look a little rumpled, and it always takes time and patience to get her to accept attention.

Laszlo  (KN)

The fourth one is Laszlo. who is the last of a group of leukemia cats who came to us from CatNap rescue in Nanaimo just over two years ago. As a leukemia-infected colony, the virus obviously had a good hold on their immune systems, and they have all passed in those two years, except for Laszlo who is still holding strong.  He is wary, but will accept a little petting if he accepts you. 

Athena, Laszlo, Neptune having a cage-top meeting  (JS)

The four of them integrate pretty well – Furgie and Laszlo tend to find their own corners, but every now and then there is a black cat meet-up to plan the next party.  Volunteer Justin calls it The Void.

Handsome Neko, listening to Joanne talk in Japanese  (JN)

The largest cat in the pen is Neko. Neko came to us almost five years ago, having been trapped as a Valley stray near Abbotsford. Initially he was very scared, and spent considerable time hanging out on the walkways under the roof of the outer section of the pen; in cold weather he took over the wicker basket under the heat lamp, but he was not ready to come inside for real warmth.  Gradually he has come to accept that nobody will hurt him, and began to venture indoors. 

Neko with black cat buddy  (BC)

He became more social with the other cats, enjoying cuddles and company with Boris (now gone) and Adria, and accepting attention from volunteers and Kitty Comforters. He especially enjoys it when Joanne comes and talks to him in Japanese; like Princess in the back courtyard, and her conversations in Farsi, there is something in the sound of the language he heard as a youngster that gives him comfort.

Big Dave preferring quiet alone-time on the cat tree  (BC)

The most recent addition to the Leukemia pen is Big Dave – who doesn’t look so big, when faced with Neko!  Poor Dave was obviously used to being either boss cat or the only cat, and he’s had struggles to deal with his new situation. Initially he remained mostly indoors, while the other cats came and went; Neptune in particular was not friendly, and Big Dave learned to find the corners where he could feel safe. Volunteers made a point of coming to visit for some BD time on the couch, but it took a while before he would venture past the cat-door.  With the recent heatwave, being out in the Leukemia courtyard is infinitely preferable to staying inside; cool stone floors and walkways that catch the breeze are too much to resist. However, there’s not much progress happening yet in terms of cat socializing.

Sweet anti-cat-social boy  (BC)

Big Dave will come for human attention, but he prefers to tuck himself away in a safe bed when the others are out and about.  With only six cats currently in residence, there are lots of places he can feel secure – but he would obviously feel much happier if he had the place to himself, or if, like Adria and Creston, he could score someone who would give him his own home.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Pauline Chin, Brigid Coult,
Joanne Nicholson, Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint

Sanctuary Salon

Lindor's shave-down helps him sleep cooler  (KN)

Cats are often characterized as being very clean – constantly attending to their own grooming, and occasionally sharing grooming with others. That being so, you’d think there wouldn’t be much for humans to do, to maintain that cleanliness. Let me tell you, it ain’t necessarily so!

Persimmon is a big girl - with or without floof!  (KN)

To start with, probably a third of the Sanctuary cats are long-haired. And as cat-owners will know, long-haired cats frequently need help with grooming. Those gorgeous floofy coats may look good, but run a hand over them, and you will find lumps and bumps of matted fur. Even the best-natured cats dislike having mats combed out, and when the cat in question is a feral who fears human attention, being brushed is not an option.  SweetPea (now adopted) loved petting, but her sister Curious still dislikes human contact, and when she got matted, a shave was the only possibility.

Curious still doesn't like humans  (BC)

Mats may be caused by a number of factors. The shed undercoat may become caught in the top coat. Dirt or natural oils may cause the hairs to mat. Urine or feces may create back-leg lumps. And all these factors may affect short-haired as well as long-haired ones.  Most dogs may be taken to a groomer, where they will stand while expert hands remove excess hair. This is not an option with the majority of cats, who take a dim view of being made to do anything!  So, what to do with all our matted moggies?

Jobie HATES being groomed and gets a lion cut each summer (MW)

As much as possible, prevention is a factor; most of the staff and the Kitty Comforters keep a comb or a deshedding tool tucked in a pocket, and grooming is one of the things that the KCs will offer to comfort a cat. But when there’s matting to deal with, it’s not comforting!  Scissors are not recommended; sometimes the matting goes right to the skin, and there is the risk of cutting the cat, and not just the fur. Occasionally the top part of a mat can be cut off and then the rest of it can be broken down – but that takes time and patience and a cooperative cat.

Higgins is a stray tomcat who came to us with
a number of injuries that needed shaving for treatment  (BC)

Occasionally a cat with mats is also scheduled for a dental procedure, or something that requires full sedation, and then the hospital staff can do an expert shave-job, producing a classic lion-cut.  But it’s not good practice when not essential, and the majority of the matted cats wait for a day when a couple of the Sanctuary med-staff can work together, and the cats in question are given an oral sedative that calms them somewhat without putting them out. Under these circumstances, the cut may not be totally elegant or complete – but at least the mats are out, and the cat is cool and comfortable.  

Perhaps Lindor's a little embarrassed
- but he's much cooler!   (BC)

Some of the trims are partial – most commonly the “sanitary” trims that leave the back legs free of  fur. This is especially necessary for some of the chonky cats who can’t always reach back there to clean.

Benny got a sanitary cut - no more dirty bloomers! (SL)

Other trims are minimal – Alfred is a short-haired boy, but had a couple of nasty mats on his rump just where he couldn’t reach them. For a while he was walking around with a bald patch, but the fur is growing in again.

Just one little matted patch needed a shave for Alfred  (BC)

There are a few cats that resist any attempt to make them feel comfortable. Feral Smithy has matted fur that becomes dreadlocks on a regular basis. He has been shaved before and was acutely embarrassed; mostly we leave him to cope unless we feel he’s suffering, and we’ll occasionally find what we call “Smithy’s beardy bits” in the back courtyard – as long as they’re not too tight to the skin, they will often work their way loose.

Smithy is not cooperative about grooming - or anything else  (KN)

When you find something like this lying around,
you know Smithy's shed a beardy bit!   (BC)

Now that summer weather has hit us, the staff are keeping a keen eye open for the ferals who are carrying extra fur weight around.  The Cranbrook College cats are now on the radar, but they are still not comfortable around humans, and the experience of being captured, dosed and shaved is not a pleasant one for them. Still, it’s better than carrying around lumps of fur that pull on their skin.

With a coat like this, Foster really needed a shave! (KN)

And she got it!  (KN)

The haircuts also have the added advantage of helping us identify previously identical-appearing cats. The Kamloops cats usually wander around together like a shoal of tubby goldfish – it’s really interesting to notice that some of them, like Kumquat, are really slim under all the fur that is now gone.

Kumquat is feeling much less lumpy  (KN)

Work with brushes and combs and deshedders will continue – but the shavers will continue to make summer life more bearable for the floofier cats.

An evening's cat-fluff!  (KN)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Stacey Lambert, Karen Nicholson, Michele Wright

Jelly

Jelly (AM)

The life of a cat living in the wild is often a short one, with dangers from the natural world and from humans. Even living in the cat pens with us, injuries can happen – sweet William Shakespurr, from pen 3, was found one morning with a broken leg, probably from an awkward jump, and has had a long convalescence before he could rejoin his buddies in the back courtyard. He was fortunate that we discovered his injury so soon, and that the RAPS Hospital was at hand for immediate surgery. Other cats are not so fortunate.  We have two little tripod (tri-paw’d?) cats in the feral area of the front courtyard, and in the last few months another three cats have come in with leg injuries that have necessitated amputation.

Come too close and I'll smack you!

The first of these three is a cute little tabby who came to us from Animal Allies in Alberta. RAPS has good relationships with rescues throughout the province and outside; Animal Allies was the rescue that all the Pen 3 cats came from, as the result of a major hoarding situation. In the most recent case, they rescued a mostly feral clowder from the home of an elderly man who had passed, and managed to neuter and rehome them in a rural area. Alberta weather doesn’t allow for the same set-up as our Sanctuary, and Animal Allies relies on farmcat placement when it comes to ferals.

Oh, really? You have tasty things?...

However, one of the cats turned out to have a broken leg – in fact, not so much broken as shattered – and the vets decided that it required amputation.  The question was then what to do with her – as a tripod, she would always be a bit more at risk, but she was not tame enough to foster out. They reached out to RAPS and we took her in, with the understanding that if she tamed enough, she might be adopted, but if she remained feral, she would have a permanent home with us. She came to us with the name of Sweet Pea, but with three recent Sweet Peas – one of them resident in the front courtyard – the Sanctuary staff decided that a name-change was in order. The two resident tripods are Marmalade and Chutney, and this little tabby was renamed Jelly.  

Hanging out in the courtyard  (KN)

For a while she was resident in a cage at the back of the Single Wide; a quiet place for her to recover,  but one in which she really didn’t get the human attention she really needed – and when she got it, there was mostly a lot of hissing and swatting! Then she was moved to one of the larger cages in the Connor. This was a very successful move – there were more volunteers around for interaction, and most of the Kitty Comforters would start there with her.

Playing outside the Hill House

Everyone who met Jelly fell in love with her!  Initially she would hiss and dab at a visitor, but it was less an angry hiss than a fearful one, and with every visitor who braved the greeting and persevered with petting and treats, she became more confident and more ready to trust.  Before long it was decided that her cage would be opened, and for a few days she would scurry from the space she knew towards the door and hide on a lower shelf for a bit, and then dash back “home”. But there’s lots of courage in that little body, and it wasn’t long before she was out in the main courtyard, and then making her home in the Hill House. 

"I love you too" slow blinks

Unlike Marmalade and Chutney, who hang out with the ferals in the Old Rabbit Area and who are wary of humans, Jelly is quite happy to approach someone new and chirp at them; she loves being petted, especially when she’s in her favourite bed on the table of the Hill House, where she wriggle-squirms and makes biscuits while enjoying caresses. The feral little girl who came to us has blossomed into a people-loving kitten, and I suspect there will be some competition over who may have the privilege of adopting her at some point soon!

Watch the blog for upcoming stories about our newer tripods...

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Anne Marchetti & Karen Nicholson