Graceless '12

It's been a few months since the last Graceless Kitties post - high time for the first installment of 2012.

So here are some of our sillier (or at very least more relaxed) friends at the cat sanctuary doing what they do best. Enjoy.

 photos by Marianne

photos by Michele

photo by Ayako

photos by Phaedra

 photos by Claire

In addition to thanking the photogs credited above, thanks to the cats (Fred, Piper, Morrissey, Diablo, Ricky, Leland, Larry, Ella and others) for playing along.

Cinder

Cinder and his sister Ella were brought to RAPS when the sanctuary was in its second or third year. They were feral and skittish. Leslie says they had one or two long-haired siblings, one of whom was adopted by a volunteer.

Leslie quickly took to Cinder, "so handsome that he reminded [her] of purebred Russian Blue cats." She really made an effort to work with the youngster, hoping to tame him enough that he could be adopted. But it never really took, at least not as much as she'd hoped.

"He'd purr when I'd stroke him, but remained pretty uptight and standoffish. Ella, on the other hand, warmed up beautifully and would clamber onto my lap."

Even now, while Ella is love-me-love-me friendly and will readily purr and pose for attention, Cinder requires a quieter, more cautious approach if you want to make more contact than a fingertip to tail tip as he scoots away just out of reach. Take it slow, though, and you'll be able to get close enough to stroke his head and scratch behind his ears while he looks up at you with those large, expressive eyes.

Ella

Some cats are most comfortable with people they've come to know. This does not appear to be the case for Ella, who quite happily - and extensively - posed and generally showed off for me last September, long before I had the slightest idea who she was.

As one of the doublewide regulars, I've had a chance to get to know her a bit better since then. Not that my impression of her has much changed - though not as blatantly pushy as some of the leg-grabbers like Prince or Spike, Ella can be bit of an extrovert when she's in the mood for a little attention.

And not just with people either --
Here she is with Sterling.

With such very interactive interactions as these, I was surprised to learn from Leslie just last week that Ella came to the sanctuary as a feral. As time went by, she just slowly got tamer and tamer. And so, I suppose it could be said that Ella is a cat who's more comfortable with people she's come to know after all, although in her case it was a matter of becoming more comfortable with people in general.