RAPS is short for Regional Animal Protection Society, a registered charity and operator of a sanctuary which houses and cares for nearly 500 homeless or abandoned cats in Richmond, BC, Canada. The Neko Files is a celebration of the sanctuary and all those who live and work there.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Emmy

photo provided by RAPS
Emmy gets her name from her beautiful emerald eyes.


She's a friendly cat of the kind who's difficult to photograph on account of all the cheerful wriggling she does as she shows off. As a result, while we did enjoy a good play and cuddle, in most of my shots she's upside down or out of focus. Here are a couple of the better ones:



Update August 14, 2011: To our surprise and sadness, we lost out "green-eyed goddess" this weekend to sudden heart failure. It happened too fast for most of us to be able to say good-bye, but there's no doubt that this girl knew she was loved.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Leonard

 photo provided by RAPS

Leonard: our resident "hug muffin."

A story from Leslie (first published in The Love Blog in July 2009):
"A favorite sanctuary cat, Leonard, is guaranteed to hug the chest of just about everyone who picks him up. When he was just 2 years old, Leonard was surrendered to RAPS by a woman who claimed he had bitten her. We were astonished to hear that, and still don't believe it, because Leonard has never been anything but gentle in all the years we have known him. It's possible that the woman was simply creating an excuse for giving up her cat, or that she did something to cause a reaction from him. Leonard is a much-loved and spoiled boy at RAPS. He was recently diagnosed with heart disease and receives daily medication. We know he is feeling well and enjoying his life. Last week he was seen racing down our rear courtyard and up the tree!"
As Leslie says, it's really hard to picture Leonard biting anyone without cause. Actually it's not so easy to picture him getting nippy with cause. He's such an easy going guy, and as Love Blogger Barbara writes, "sooooo full of LOVE."

photo provided by Michele
photo provided by Michele


Updated March 21, 2010:
When I came for my shift last Monday, Leonard wasn't to be found in any of his usual places. I was told he wasn't very well and was in another building. I didn't get a chance to visit him that night and felt bad about it, so I came back a couple of evenings later and made a point of seeking him out. I found him sitting, apparently comfortable enough, on a shelf. But no hug was forthcoming. No purr, and really nothing more than passing interest.

Leonard left us on Saturday. For the whole of his life with RAPS, he was loved by many and loved everyone back in return. We'll be missing his hugs for a long time to come.

Leonard, February 2010

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Barbie

I’ve written about FIV cats HubertFergus and Annie. With Fergus, I noted that to look at him, you’d never know there was anything wrong with him.

Barbie, an FIV positive stray trapped a number of years ago at a RAPS feeding site in North Richmond, has more of the ravaged appearance that people probably expect from an animal with feline immunodeficiency virus.

photo provided by Michele


Still, the fact that she’s been living happily at the sanctuary for the past 8 years or so shows that this little girl’s got staying power. Lisa has described her as a cat who “has done extremely well at the shelter” and Leslie referred to her as “one of our most beloved FIV positive cats....” Both very true.

photo provided by Michele

So few shelters are equipped to take in and care for cats like Barbie that all who've met and grown fond of her can't help but feel thankful that she's been able to find sanctuary here. You can see her in the photos above, out enjoying the sun. The first two shots were even taken by two different people (Michele and myself) on two different days. And yet there's Barbie, nose in the air, enjoying the attention of her visitors and the sun's rays.

photo provided by Michele

Check out Barbie's Story in The Love Blog for more details on how she came to be at the RAPS sanctuary and on FIV positive cats in general.


Update January 28, 2010: Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Barbie girl today. She was loved and knew she was loved. She will be missed.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Spot

At the sanctuary can be found friendly tame cats, skittish feral cats, tame cats who occasionally forget they’re supposed to like humans (I'm talking to you, Baby), and feral cats who gradually forget to be scared. Spot is one of the latter.


photo provided by RAPS

“Of all the feral kittens we have tamed,” says the text accompanying his photo on in the sanctuary gallery page, “Spot turned out the best by far. He likes to climb onto our backs and snuggle.”

He also likes to participate in the international cat sports of Sunbathing...


photo provided by Michele

... and Finding Oddball Places to Nap.


photo provide by RAPS


Although Spot's name makes sense in terms of his markings, I thought most people are probably more used to coming across this name as a classic dog name. So I hit Google to check and discovered an amusing pop culture reference...

- any Trekkies lurking about out there will be way ahead of me already -


Apparently, the character Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation had a cat named Spot which was featured in a number of episodes. Yes. There's even a section on his Wikipedia page.



Even more entertaining, there exists poem by Data addressed to said cat. I suspect our Spot would quibble with the idea that a cat is "not sentient", but other than that he'd probably take the tribute in the spirit meant.

"Ode to Spot"

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature, 
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature; 
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses 
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.    
 
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations, 
A singular development of cat communications 
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection 
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection. 
 
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents; 
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance. 
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion, 
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion. 
 
O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display 
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array. 
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend, 
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Baby

photo provided by Michele
I have two contradictory first impressions of Baby, one audio and one visual, that stick with me even now.

1 – Ann’s cheerful exclamation from an adjoining room: “BAAY-bee!”
2 – Me looking in to see what the fuss is about and finding a fluffy orange cat occupying the bathroom sink with an emphatic scowl


That kind of sums up Baby. He’s one of the cats featured in a RAPS blog entry from June of this year titled “Dr. Jeckyll and Mr (or Ms) Hyde Cats at the RAPS Cat Sanctuary.”

From that blog:

“Baby’s owners not only abandoned him at a boarding kennel, but they’d left a collar on him that was way too tight. No wonder he’s a grouch sometimes! With his long, ginger fur and sweet face, Baby is a very handsome cat but don’t be fooled – he has been known to give a nasty scratch to the shins of innocent passers-by. However, now that he knows he can trust us, Baby is becoming more friendly and much less unpredictable. He loves ear rubs and gentle petting, at least for a while. No collar for him though – never again, we promise!”
See also: Baby's story from The Love Blog


Ann seems to have good luck accessing his sweeter side, but Shannon and I aren’t so sure what we can expect from him on those days when he chooses to wander into the trailer where we’re doing our evening feeding and scooping. Even while I was taking his picture, he sat there looking at me, alternately going “meow?”… “grrrrrrrr”… “meow?”… “grrrrrrrr”…


So I get the Jeckyll & Hyde reference to be sure, and yet - 

Why is it that whenever I look at this picture...














... the image that first comes to mind is Brando's Colonel Kurtz in Apolcalypse Now?






Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Vita

I used to joke about writing a book called Cats Who Stare and People Who Love Them...

Vita would be the ideal poster girl for this sort of thing.


photo provided by RAPS

The caption next to her picture in the RAPS sanctuary gallery says: "I'm painfully shy. You can look but, don't touch or I'll disappear."



She's apparently better now than she used to be. Before, anything within a meter or more was too close for Vita's comfort. These days, I can reach out almost to her curious nose before she wheels around and takes off. Shannon's also found a way around the no-touch rule: a scary hand filled with food doesn't count as a scary hand in the Vitaverse.


Monday, November 2, 2009

Pearl

Pearl is a recent addition to the sanctuary. The words "a sweet, starved young adult" written on the sign outside her cage suggest her story is a sad one.



She came in as an unneutered stray, too thin to be spayed right away and too thin for anyone to be able to tell that she was pregnant with one little baby... which sadly couldn't be saved.

There's a reason that one thing animal welfare groups can all agree on is the importance of spaying/neutering. As a page on the subject from the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association says, "Pet owners must take responsibility for their companion animals by having them spayed or neutered." It goes on to talk about the various misfortunes that can befall an unsterilized pet, even one intended to be kept indoors, and ends with a reminder that "The safety of both male and female animals is dramatically increased if they are spayed or neutered."



On a happier note, Pearl is now doing very well. She really does have a sweet personality and spent much of my visit with her this evening upside down and purring. With this, her beautiful blue eyes, her luxurious coat and her young age, we've every confidence that she'll be adopted into a nice home very soon after the shelter staff have got her healthy enough to let her go.