Holland

A woman fed feral cats from her home for many years. When she passed away not long ago, the property was sold. I believe the house was even scheduled to be demolished. In any case, the cats were going to lose both their caregiver and their safe haven. RAPS was asked to trap the cats and provide them with a safe place to live.

Holland was trapped and brought to the cat sanctuary at the end of May. She's very scared of people, but seems to be settling in well. She's quite young, thought to have been born sometime last year.

It surely helps that Holland doesn't have to settle in alone - RAPS staff have put her in a cage together with Wesley, another cat from the same place. The two are very close and are thought to be siblings.

Summer weather hits the cat sanctuary

Summer weather has arrived! Here's how some of the sanctuary cats are responding to the heat.

Update: Katie

Great news - Katie from the 5 Road Pen is being adopted and will be going to her forever home tomorrow.
The lady she's going home with adopted a semi-feral cat from the sanctuary some years ago, so she'll understand that Katie might take a little while to relax and settle in.

We'll miss seeing you at the sanctuary, Katie, but wish you every happiness in your new home!

Graceless kitties of June

It's been brought to my attention that we're long overdue for a "graceless kitties" post. The cats must have heard about this too, as they've generally been refusing to be silly for my camera.

Here are a few shots I did manage to get with, as always, a little help from some friends.

Booster

Chip

Greyson

Grubby
photo by Phaedra

Val and Harry
photo by Ed

Olivia

Olivia came to the RAPS cat sanctuary via the No. 5 Rd. shelter two and a half years ago. As a senior cat, Olivia's chances of adoption weren't great: Many people, unfortunately, don't want to take on an older pet. It's too bad, because Olivia is an absolute sweetheart.

Olivia loves to be visited and responds to any attention with great pleasure. Leslie says she used to be more outgoing, but has become less so over time. She still loves company and cuddles as much as ever, but has become less likely to seek them out on her own. Olivia is missing her pats: Let's all make an effort to visit her in the kitten/gericatrics trailer and spend some time with her.

cat sanctuary music video!

For a different way of sharing the always entertaining cats living at the sanctuary, I decided to shoot some video. As a number of my RAPS friends know, making music is another thing I like to do...
And so it seemed to me a great idea to create not just a video with the cats, but a music video with the cats.

I recorded a cover of Ingrid Michaelson's The Way I Am, chosen because the cats take us just we are, just as we do for them.
Some of you have seen this already. For those who haven't -- enjoy!

Click on the image below for the embedded player, or click here to watch from the YouTube page.

Here are some of the cats featured in the video:

Yoda

Lucy

Selma

Orlean

Squeakers
(with Orlean still wriggling in the background)

Mario and Nelly

Logan

Marilee

Foxy

Booster

Ziggy Girl

Cookie

Note: There will only be one blog post this week -- the video was lots of fun to do, but really took it out of me!

Buster

I was a little nervous about meeting Buster after reading the sign on the door to his private, no-other-cats-allowed room at the sanctuary: "very upset, aggressive 10-year-old male." Many cats are upset to find themselves suddenly in a shelter, but it seems that Buster had the aggression before that -- it was the reason he was surrendered.

Fortunately, another note has been added to the sign on Buster's door, saying that he can be nice and does enjoy a few pats.... provided they're just around his head and not done for too long.

He did indeed enjoy a few pats from me and purred when I held out my hand for him to rub his face against. I wasn't sure what he'd think of my big camera, so to be safe I held it out for him to inspect before trying to take his photo. He responded by rubbing his face against the lens while continuing to purr.

Apparently he doesn't much like the smell of other cats on his visitors. I was a bit nervous, then, when he hopped down from his bed, and started sniffing my ankles and feet with great intensity. Luckily, he wasn't overly offended by whoever he smelled there, and so I was spared the angry growling.