Nikki Sixx-Toes - an update

Nikki Sixx-Toes  (KN)

Volunteer Bev has been with RAPS for years, and spends a lot of her time in the Single-Wide building. Her own cats (Twinks & Scooter) are adopted from the Sanctuary. She’s a regular evening feeder, and has been the Saturday host for visitors to the SingleWide (we’re now open on Sundays only for the winter months). Bev knew and loved many of the cats that have now passed; the Dryer Gang, Bossanova and Mr Pink, little Nova and many others. So when she came to me with a request for a Nikki-blog, it was something I was glad to indulge in.

Nikki living feral, when he first came to us (BC)

Actually, there was a Nikki-blog already in place – but it dated from more than five years ago. Nikki came to us from the Semiahmoo reserve; he and Annie, who came with him, were both feral and began their lives with us in one of the feral pens. Unfortunately, Nikki proved to be diabetic, and monitoring and medicating him turned out to be almost impossible. He had to be netted and caged so that his blood sugars could be kept even – and in the end, he took to the caged life with great enthusiasm, learning to love the attention and the extra food that came with the insulin.

Big paws! (BC)

I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was, but he was named for Nikki Sixx, the drummer in Mötley Crüe –  our boy is Nikki Sixx-Toes. If you’ve not already met him, the first thing people notice is a wonderful pair of front paws that look like mittens. And like all good rock stars, he has his groupie – black Shadow adores him.

With girlfriend Shadow   (KN)

She has mellowed quite a bit from when she first attached herself to him; we had to be quite careful because she was initially inclined to attack people who got too close to him. And when diabetes means insulin injections and the accompanying food twice a day, we had to beware of the guard-cat.

Such a sweet face  (KH)

These days both Nikki and Shadow are getting on, and prefer to lounge about; Shadow thinks attacking people takes too much energy. She will come and “make nice” on the couch, especially if chicken is on offer, but petting needs to be her idea, and she still has razor paws. Nikki is very mellow – once he emerged from his cage back in 2020, he’s showed himself to be pretty easy-going, and now loves to come up for lap-time. Most of the year the two of them make their home on the back deck; as the weather gets colder they claim the heat lamp. Nikki may eventually move indoors; Shadow is less enthusiastic about that – or about encountering the other cats – but has a good floofy coat to protect herself.

Visiting indoors   (KH)

Bev tells me that Nikki is a favourite with visitors, as he enjoys every lap that comes his way. She was especially struck by his behaviour with an autistic girl who sometimes visits; they tend to come late in the afternoon, because she is loud and semi-verbal; she loves the cats, and both Bev and Kate monitor her carefully so the she doesn’t scare them.  She adores Nikki, and wants him on her lap.  

Gotta keep those toes in condition!  (KH)

Bev says “He never bites, scratches or hisses – maybe Shadow is doing his share. He loves chicken and treats. He is so easy to handle – I lifted him down from the shelf yesterday as the autistic girl always wants him, and he sat with her for ages. She squeezes him and snuggles; I watch nervously but he never minds.  When she left I moved him to the next lap and so on. Shadow sometimes jumps up beside him when he’s on a lap but she doesn’t get nasty when he’s such a calm companion.”  

Paws ticked under  (KH)

As always, when blogging a SingleWide resident, I had to go to Kim for photos – she comes every Monday on scoop-shift, and spends a lot of time with her SW loves. She says about Nikki: It’s funny to think that he was once a spicy feral boy. Nikki and I have lap time together every week after I finish my tasks. We usually sit on the couch on the porch, but if Nikki feels like I’m taking too long, he takes matters into his own hands (paws?) by coming inside and climbing on my lap wherever I am. Shadow always supervises our visits since she’s his #1 lady. She used to watch from afar but now joins us on the couch and accepts pets too. He is the sweetest, most patient boy and has such a gentle energy about him. No matter what’s going on beforehand, I always feel more at peace after a Nikki cuddle. 

Such a sweet old man... 

Blog by Brigid Coult, with Bev Wright & Kim Howe

Photos by Brigid Coult, Kim Howe, Karen Nicholson