Madonna

Madonna (KN)

The back deck of the DoubleWide trailer – now the Hauser House – is a favourite base for the feral cats who are released from their orientation cages but who are not ready to face the great outdoors.  In the majority of cases, new cats have a 4-6 week cage stay, during which they may have necessary spay/neuter surgery, receive their vaccines and any necessary boosters, and encounter humans in roles as med-staff, cleaning volunteers and Kitty Comforters. We always leave at least one drape up (sometimes two), so that the cat can hide, and we’ve usually got a pretty clear idea of whether this will be a cat who will blossom in our care, or treat us like the great enemy.

The young Madonna - hiding on top of the cupboard  (KH)

Madonna came to us in the summer of 2024.  She was a stray from Surrey, gathered up by Ken and Lisa in the process of a kitten-rescue operation. When she came in to the Adoption Centre, she managed a jail-break the same day she arrived, and it took a couple of days before the med-staff got her back inside. Sanctuary Manager Valerie took the kittens for fostering, joined by the errant mom once retrieved, and says “she was never aggressive, allowed me to fuss with her babies, though she preferred to stay in the background while her babies crawled all over me. The whole family was moved to another foster and they all stayed there for another couple of weeks. Madonna was returned just 9 days before the kittens went to the Adoption Centre”

Hiding under the ceiling   (BC)

In the Sanctuary Madonna decided that humans were Bad News. She ignored all overtures from us, and when finally released, she made her way out to the back deck to join the semi-ferals there.  One of the things that makes that space so attractive to the scared ones is that there is a shelf that runs all the way around the room, high up under the ceiling. They can stay up there, out of reach, descending only at night when there are no humans around. Ringo, Hamlet, Gwen, the College Cats and so many others – photo records show us scared cats up in the corner, clearly saying “You can’t touch me!” It became Madonna’s own place, and she spent most of her first year hiding out of the way.

Any treats for me?  (BC)

Breakthrough happened in the summer of 2025. The windows of the deck are covered with wire mesh, and through the winter months transparent plastic panels help to protect the space from rain and cold. Once the summer months get going, the plastic panels are stored up in the roof, and the mesh is open to allow light and circulation. And at the weekends, visitors arrive.  Not to the deck itself – that’s one of the areas we keep shut off to visitors so that the scared ones have somewhere to feel safe. But people pass from the back courtyard along the path to visit the New Aids cats – and where there are visitors, there are treats.

The window became her favourite weekend place (KN)

Initially this benefited just the braver cats, the ones who had learned to use the cat door and who enjoyed sitting on the little deck at the end of the passage. But word obviously spread, and there were often other cats who would sit behind the safety of the mesh and accept treats passed through. Madonna obviously thought it was worth the risk. She began sitting back from the mesh until she was sure that nobody could reach through. She attracted a lot of attention – she is very beautiful, after all – and she learned that if a treat was placed on the ledge, she could reach a lightning paw through and claim it.  Success bred success, and soon she was a regular moocher, and one of the cats that regular visitors looked for.

Still a bit suspicious   (KN)

We had a bit of a setback over the winter; the renovations in the DoubleWide meant that the cages it contained needed to be re-sited, and the DW deck got four of them. This meant more crowding for the cats, and Madonna took to hiding up on her shelf again. But with the return of warm weather, more cats were out and about, and Madonna not only returned to her window haunts, but she became braver about exploring – she can sometimes be encountered in the DoubleWide building itself, and she has started an occasional circuit, out of the cat-door, along the passageway from New Aids and in via the TeaRoom entrance. This past weekend she actually spent all afternoon outside - tucked in a corner, of course, but ready for tentative interaction with people she knew.

On the edge of flirting...   (BC)

Most feral cats don’t want any form of attention – they don’t even want you to look at them. Semi-feral cats are usually on a sliding scale from “you may look, but don’t touch!” all the way to “pet me, pet me!” Madonna is still at the feral end of that scale, but she watches us with more curiosity than fear, and she will accept the occasional treat or finger-touch. She’s not ready for petting, and she may never be truly tame, but all her body language is more relaxed than the terrified girl who arrived two years ago. Take your time, Madonna – we have all the patience you need.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Kim Howe, Karen Nicholson