Spud

Spud Buddy - new to the Connor  (AM)

A lot of our kittens in the last year, mostly trapped by Ken and Lisa, have come from Surrey and Langley, where the feral cat problem is a continuous struggle for rescue organizations.  But we still have cats coming to us from closer to home.  Four of them arrived this past June – listed as “owner surrender” with the owner moving out of town, but I think there was also a litter of kittens found at that site under a bush, so there may have been elements of hoarding; certainly there was carelessness.

Watching activity in the room (JS)

The four cats came in to the Adoption Centre with the names of Meg, Brian, Lois and Buddy – the first two were adopted out very quickly; Lois is still in the AC, but we hope will go soon. Buddy was renamed Spud (we’ve had a number of Buddy-cats) and he had been largely an outdoors cat; he did not handle AC life well – he was very fearful, and cage life was very stressful for him. It was decided that he might do better in the Sanctuary and he was transferred to the Connor building. 

Solemn boy  (BC)

It took very little time for Kitty Comforter coordinator Anne Marchetti to fall in love with him and alert the KC team to give him some extra attention, and Spud handled living in the larger cages of the Connor much better than the Adoption area – and positively blossomed when allowed access to the courtyard.

Waiting by the gate for visitors  (AM)

Spud is a medium sized tabby boy with a proportionately large head - possibly a late-neuter. He has added himself to the greeting team, and can often be encountered at the gate, looking for attention. We were concerned about his health initially; he has a rather stiff-legged walk and was occasionally observed to be limping – cage rest did little other than frustrate him, but when the vets checked him, he was found to have bone spurs, and there’s little to be done about that other than pain meds when needed.  Spud’s probably no more than four years old, so if there’s osteoarthritis involved, as is common, it’s not age-related but possibly genetic.

Enjoying the winter sun  (KH)

He looks like a very serious little cat, but he loves attention from humans, and likes to come up for lap-time with the right people. In fact, the lap is less the target than the chest – Spud is one of those cats who prefers to be held upright, with his head at face-level. And that in turn requires an awareness of his body-language;  he is very happy to be petted until suddenly he isn’t... I suspect that his rear end is sensitive, and too much stimulation is painful. 

Come sit with me?  (KH)

Spud is OK with a few cats around him, but when the crowd gathers, he takes himself out of the way until things are quiet again. He tolerates other peaceful cats like Reef, but we have recently been joined by more assertive ones like Mayday and Sparrow (blogs to come) and Spud prefers to avoid them. Unlike them, he’s not strongly food motivated, and prefers a quiet one-one-one with his favourite people.

Spud  (AM)

Watch for this sweet boy when you visit, and make the most of a little Spuddle-cuddle time!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Kim Howe, Anne Marchetti & Justin Saint

Reef

Reef

Reef is one of several cats who has come to us from another shelter that was unable to get him adopted.  Like Bello, he was trapped and neutered, but was so fearful that potential adopters were unwilling to consider him.  He came into our care, caged in the Connor building while we gave him a chance to get used to the people and the smells and the other cats. There, he was very vocal, letting us know very clearly that he wanted out of there!  Volunteers and Kitty Comforters visited him, but some cats just hate cages – no matter that ours are much larger than most commercial ones – and Reef couldn’t wait to get out.

Don't bug me...

Release day came, and Reef didn’t hang around long. He quickly discovered that most of the shyer cats prefer to hang out in the Old Rabbit Area, and that there are lots of places where he can hide behind a drape or in an upper-level basket. And there he would probably have remained, if not for Carol Porteous.

Climbing down onto Carol's lap

Carol is a favourite with many of the front courtyard cats – actually, she’s a favourite everywhere she goes! – but she is usually on shift for feeding in the front, and the cats gather at the gate as she arrives. Like former volunteer Lori (now living in Alberta) she brings both freshly cooked chicken and fish, and some of the tastiest of the commercial catfoods. She has a particular gift with the very shy ones, and it’s thanks to her that I have begun to know little tripod Chutney, and Reef.

Leg-rubs

She calls him Reefie, and his head immediately pops up from the basket where he’s hiding. Within a couple of minutes, he makes his way to her, climbing down from her shoulder to her lap, and then weaving around her legs.  Because he is so confident in her presence, he is also comfortable with me, and before long I have a new lap-sitter.

Under the heat-lamp

Reef is about 5 years old, and a skinny boy; possibly life in the wild has left its mark, and it will be good to see if we can get a little more condition on him.  My guess is that he is actually a stray rather than a feral, and is now remembering what it is like to have humans giving him some love.  It’s heart-warming to see how handsome Bello, in the back courtyard, has blossomed – to the point that he’s now wearing his “adoptable” bandanna at the weekends.  Reef is still a bit too wary for that, but when there are few people around I can call his name and he will emerge and offer leg-rubs, and then lap-time. 

Watching us from above

It doesn’t take much to spook him, and there are other cats like Cuddles and Westin who get a bit jealous (Westin demonstrates his jealousy by sitting on my feet!), but every encounter makes him a little more confident.  He’s not ready yet to go further than the doorway, but he’s made such progress in the last while that I am confident that our patience will eventually be rewarded by a cat who is no longer “too feral to adopt”.

Blog & photos by Brigid Coult