Tom Cat

Tom cat is one of ten cats that lived together with their adoring owner who unfortunately had to give them up to RAPS due to health reasons. All ten cats arrived at the sanctuary in April and were given private time in the Val Jones house to acclimatize to their new home.

Two weeks ago I was fortunate to arrive at the shelter in time for their grand release into the general population. It wasn't so much as a release as an opening of the door. As I peered into the door of Val Jones house I saw nine sets of cat eyes peering cautiously back at me clearly not ready to come out of their safe place.

The exception was Tom Cat who was out and about nearly as soon as the door opened strutting around like he owned the place. He is a big, black, almost demonic looking cat who can be distinguished by his ragged left ear which seems to add an image of thuggery to this tough looking cat.

There's no doubt Tom cat is the dominant cat of the group and will likely hold that position out in the general population. In less than an hour of his release he stalked over to our fierce Jerry and started little fracas to which Jerry, a cat who never backs down from a good fight, scuttled away in disgrace.

Towards me, Tom Cat seemed quite a congenial though he took his time. When I arrived a week later to see how Tom cat was doing, he was laying like a king on the cool cement ground outside of the Val Jones house and upon seeing me he raced over for some pets and to rub himself against me marking me as his own.

Tiger

A lot of the feral cats living at the sanctuary like to hang out in the back pens. So when I'm visiting one of my tamer friends out there, I'm used to seeing a lot of fleeting furry shapes. When I saw this face peering at me from a window on Monday evening, I was sure he'd zip off the moment I came too close.

While he proved to indeed be a little shy on first contact, he surprised me by also being undeniably friendly.

Not only did he allow me to pet him, but it seemed like no time before he was leaning out of the window towards me, kneading the air with his paws, and luxuriating in chin rubs.

I later found out from Leslie that his name is Tiger. He's the son of a feral cat named Barbara who lives in one of the far back pens. Volunteers Barbara and Waldie had fostered the wild mom and her kittens Tiger, Owl, Pussycat, and Panther.

Gabby

I'd heard Gabby's name mentioned a number of times in the past, but only had a chance to start getting to know him a bit this week.

Leslie tamed him as a kitten and became his sponsor. I have a feeling his name was inspired by his cheerfully vocal personality. Leslie's description of him as fluffy, yakky and precious seems pretty apt.

He was enjoying the warm summer evening with a snooze outside when I found him on Monday, but didn't at all mind perking up to enjoy some pats. He thought being stroked was such a nice idea that he climbed down from his perch and proceed to trail around after me going "mrah mrah mrah".

Only when one of his cat friends appear and start trying to wash and cuddle him did he stop and settle down.

Mad Max

Like Little Lizzie, Mad Max was trapped at the Gun Club as a wild kitten.

Since I gather Mad Max's name was inspired by his behaviour, it sounds like he was a very wild kitten indeed. These days he's calmed down and will accept, sometimes even welcome, a little human attention.

He's still pretty wary of people though, and so may allow some pats one time and then flee the next if you come on too strong. It seems he's more comfortable with his cat friends, often hanging out with Jett and other ferals.

Little Lizzie

Little Lizzie was trapped as a wild kitten at the Gun Club in Richmond, one of a number of cats who've come from there over the years.

If you notice a resemblance between this tortie girl and Lizzie from Wednesday's post, you're not alone. Little Lizzie got her name because her markings reminded Leslie so much of the older tortie's.

Little Lizzie has remained wild and is still likely to take flight if you get too close or even look at her for too long.

In further contrast to the other Lizzie who likes people but doesn't care for cats, Little Lizzie seems to feel quite comfortable hanging out with a cat buddy or two.

Little Lizzie and Phoenix

Lizzie

Lizzie came to the sanctuary at the age of about seven, having been surrendered for peeing.

The adjustment was not an easy one for her, and it took about a year before she'd let people at RAPS touch her. She was hyper anxious and would scream if she so much as saw a hand coming toward her. Leslie says people used to shout out to anyone at the sanctuary who might have heard the noise that nobody was hurting anybody.

Lizzie's mellowed out a lot since then, turning into a very friendly cat. Friendly with humans, anyway. She's not a fan of the other cats and has no problem telling them so.

 

Darla

Darla came from the same group as Leslie's cat Clooney. Darla and Clooney were trapped in 2006 along with more than a dozen other cats when the houses they'd been living around were due to be torn down by a developer.

While elusive Clooney was the last to be trapped, Darla was the first. From what Gaye says, it sounds like Darla made RAPS staff work for it, though, seemingly teasing them by appearing near the cage they were watching from a distance but never quite going in.

These days Darla is comfortable enough in her life at the sanctuary, although Leslie says that not enough people notice her, and so they're not aware she's friendly and would really like to have some attention.

You may have to seek Darla out, since she's not one to take the initiative herself (at least not with people she doesn't know well, not yet), but it's well worth it. As you can see from the photos below, she really does enjoy a little human interaction.