Dusty (II)

 photo by Kim

Dusty was trapped around two years ago with her kittens, all pretty tabbies like their mom. The kittens lived in the Kitten Trailer until they'd all had their shots and could be adopted out. Dusty, a feral and therefore unsuitable for adoption, remained at the sanctuary.

photo by Kim

She's still shy, as is to be expected from a feral, but is slowly getting more comfortable around humans. She also has her cat friends. In particular, I'm told she loves black longhair Leo and is campaigning to be his girlfriend.

I was introduced to Dusty by fellow volunteer Kim, who's discovered that over time this feral kitty has felt less of a need to hiss when approached and may even allow a fingertip to be extended towards her before scooting away.

photo by Kim

Although Dusty wouldn't let me come quite close enough to be in danger of touching her, I was permitted to take quite a few pictures without making her feel threatened. And when Kim and I were standing nearby, talking about her, Dusty couldn't seem to resist the beginnings of a little tail-in-the-air showing off before making a show of getting away from us, almost as if saying, "Look at me - I'm running away. I'm going to run away from you now."
Dusty, methinks thou dost protest too much.

Let sleeping cats lie

photo by Brigid

Why let sleeping cats lie? Because, for some of them, if they wake up and catch you calling them cute as a little buttercup while they snoozed, furry belly exposed and paws in the air, you may be in trouble.
Trust me. I know.

With the warm weather comes an increased likelihood that cats at the sanctuary can be found sprawled in any manner of cute-as-a-buttercup (or sometimes just plain strange) poses as they rest to save up energy for more napping later.
Here's a sampling.

 Jenny

photo by Michele

 Max

photo by Michele

 Ziggy

photo by Michele

 Georgie

photo by Phaedra

 Fred

photo by Ayako

 Gunther

photo by Ayako

 Morrissey

photo by Brigid 

 Savannah

 Latte

 Faline

Patterson

Jinx

When feral sister and brother Mindy and Jinx came to the sanctuary, Mindy seemed to at least want to be tame. Jinx wasn't so sure.

Leslie says he could be quite vicious when he first arrived. He was such a brat, in fact, that he earned himself the name of Jinx.

Over time, he did become tame but will still revert to feral if put in a position where he feels cornered. When I first encountered him sitting on one of the benches along the edge of the front courtyard, he was uncomfortable enough with only a choice of left or right escape route that he wouldn't let me touch him without running away.

 

Meet him out in the open though, and he's a whole different kitty. There, it was all I could do to get a picture of him with all the purring, rubbing and weaving around my ankles.

Dickens

Dickens is a gentle fellow recently brought to my attention by Brigid, who described him as a sweetie who looks like a tubby version of Jake but with Gunther's sad, solemn expression.

Dickens was given the name of Loco when he arrived at the sanctuary last year. He had been trapped with some wild cats, so it was assumed he was wild like the rest of them. It was immediately obvious, however, that "Loco" wasn't exactly wild and crazy as his name suggested. He would even meow for attention from his cage.

 photo by Brigid

Brigid decided the name Loco just didn't suit him: "He needed something more old-fashioned and solid." And so she gave him the name of Dickens. For me, this evokes characters from Victorian era literature, but Leslie offered another, more immediate interpretation: "He's cute as the Dickens." 
I couldn't agree more.

photo by Brigid

"He's fairly shy until he feels safe with you;" she says. "Then he's quite happy to be a lap-cat for a bit."

photo by Brigid

Aldo

Earlier this week, Karen introduced me to a grey shorthair named Aldo.

photo by Karen

Aldo was surrendered some years ago to the No. 5 Rd. shelter along with another cat. The other cat was adopted but Aldo wasn't, and so he was brought to the sanctuary to live.

Like Nelson, he doesn't put himself forward for attention and so is one of those cats who people just don't notice. Over the years, he seems to have resigned himself to this life. But resigned does not mean disinterested: Aldo loves any show of attention and affection given to him.

Karen remembers him as a round little thing when he came in, but these days he's much thinner. Clearly, this boy needs a little love! He won't come to you, but if you seek him out, he'll be delighted.

Melvin

A lady had been feeding this stray tabby for a time before bringing her into the No. 5 Rd. shelter. When "Melanie" was taken to the vet to be spayed, two interesting pieces of information were discovered: Melanie was in fact a neutered male and he was FIV positive.

And so he, with his name amended to the more gender-appropriate "Melvin," was brought to the cat sanctuary to live.

When I met him on Monday evening, he'd only been released from his cage in the New AIDS building hours before. And he was already quite ready to settle in.

Larry

Like Cozy, Larry is one of those cats who's so friendly and relaxed now that it's hard to believe he was a wild and crazy thing when he came in.
 

Geri, a RAPS volunteer at the time, brought Larry in as a stray. He acted feral with such vicious abandon that people were scared of him when he was living in a cage in the Connor. He was so bad that some volunteers were afraid to go to the beast's lair to scoop his litter box.

Over time, Larry calmed down and started to like people. By the time I met him, he'd gotten so laid back and friendly that it's hard to imagine him being any other way.