Princess

Princess first came to my attention by doing this:

photo provided by Michele

Ages ago I looked after a golden retriever who used to sit this way, but I'd never seen a cat do it. Leslie tells me that "Princess is one of just 3 cats at the sanctuary who can lie with their legs straight out behind them."
So - very unusual! Cat yoga, anyone?

While not as assertively or determinedly friendly as some cats at the sanctuary (i.e. not so likely to climb up your leg like Sadie or give you a hug like Leonard), Princess does seem to like people and is certainly amenable to being stroked now and again. I was surprised to find out that she wasn't tame when she was brought to RAPS.

Princess and Groucho

From Leslie:

"Princess came to us as a young feral who was part of a household of around 30 cats and kittens. The woman who'd kept all those cats was forced to move from her rental house in Vancouver when the owner decided to sell it. We named the little tabby with the bushy tail Princess because of her delicate beauty.  It took about one year for her to learn to trust us and now she's completely tame."

Princess and Squirrel

Morgan (Fairchild)

Morgan has the kind of curly tail you'd expect to see in some breeds of dog but rarely in a cat.

photo provided by Michele

When she came to RAPS about a year ago, there was already a Morgan living at the sanctuary. The fact that this other Morgan was of the male persuasion led many to refer to curly tailed Morgan as a boy as well, a problem elegantly solved by some by lengthening her name to Morgan Fairchild after the actress, who is also a blonde.

Morgan Fairchild

From Leslie, here's the scoop on cat Morgan:

"Morgan was surrendered to RAPS because of inappropriate urinating. I've never seen her do any such thing (but that doesn't mean much). When she first came to the sanctuary, she hid beneath her blankets. She seems to like people a lot, but wishes all the other cats would take a hike. For awhile, she was defensively aggressive with them. She's gradually becoming more tolerant."

photo provided by RAPS

Good-bye, Zulu

I'm sorry to have to report that we lost Zulu, our vociferous Bengal, last night. I heard from Debbie that "he passed in his sleep while cuddling with his buddies."

photo taken November 30, 2009

Although he did seem to look skinnier than ever when I saw him last week, it never quite clicked that we might be due to lose him so soon. I guess it never does. Even as recently as Saturday I'm told he was up to his usual old tricks and managed to steal a sizable portion of Ann's hamburger.

Zulu of old

photo provided by RAPS

We loved you Zulu, for better and for worse, for meow and for mooch. Your voice, for so long heard from one end of the sanctuary to the other, will continue to ring in the ears - and the hearts - of all those who knew you.

Zulu & friends

photo provided by Michele

Ranjit

Ranjit was given his name by RAPS founder Carol Reichert, who named him in honour of our vet.

Ranjit is a friendly cat who must have a little Mario in him, as he's got a few devoted followers of his own. According to Leslie:

"It’s my perception that timid, semi-feral boy cats are drawn to Ranjit. Cats like black and white Domino. Maybe it’s because he’s so big and they believe he’ll protect them (or, they think they can hide behind him). Come to think of it, most of the boys who love Mario are timid ferals. Confident, tame boys don’t follow him around."

He's also fond of children. Debbie says,

"He likes to sit with little girls. I remember a little girl from church coming out one day and she was only five or six, and he jumped into her lap and her was bigger than she was; he totally filled her lap."

Updated November 29, 2010: Sadly, after experiencing deteriorating health in recent months, Ranjit has now left us.

Mika

Debbie introduced me to Mika the other day, pointing out a tiny, wide-eyed black cat who "looks like she has icing dusted on the tops of her ears."

She went on to tell me a sad little story that's hard to imagine looking at spunky Mika bobbing and weaving between us as she makes a bid for our undivided attention.

"She came from the girl who used to be the receptionist at [the] 5 Road [shelter]. This was a cat that was living outside of her place and she had kittens. As young as she is, she had five kittens. ...She's less than a year. She was just a baby, having babies.... And two of them didn't make it, and one was taken by a coyote, so I think there were two kittens left and they both were adopted. And she [the receptionist] wasn't able to keep her because she was moving, so she brought her in here and she's really become a favorite."

Personality-wise, Debbie describes Mika as "very hyper, but she's cute as can be."

Leslie seconds this:

"Hyper is correct, but she's also quite aggressive with the other cats in her building. Smacks them around. It's a good thing she's so darned cute and loves having her tummy rubbed. It's also probably a good thing that she's so small, so she likely doesn't do too much damage to her victims."

Updated September 29, 2010: Mika has been adopted!

Soprano

I was first introduced to Soprano as a good-looking and spirited tabby who was - and is - a particular favorite of fellow volunteer Shannon.

Not having previously met any cats called Soprano, I was curious where her name had come from. Two theories sprung to mind:

cat sings soprano 

drawing by Claire

...or

The Sopranos 

ears and whiskers by Claire

After hearing Shannon's greeting of "Soprano girl!" answered with numerous enthusiastic exclamations of "mraowr!!", I began to suspect my first guess may be the correct one. It was.
Soprano is a talkative girl who knows how to project.

Soprano is fond of sitting on top of the fridge, leaning over the edge to be as close as possible to passers-by who might talk with her, feed her chicken or exchange headbutts. If on your own you don't stray close enough for her to ram her tabby "M" into your forehead, she will attempt to entice you to come nearer by waving a paw in your general direction.

Hard to argue with a paw like that.

Neko's Sing Along Blog

OK, technically "write along," but that's just not as punchy a title, is it?
Anyway - the Neko Files welcomes you to leave comments and share anecdotes or ask questions about your favorite feature felines!

This blog is currently set up to allow anonymous comments, saving you from having to create an ID just so you can leave a comment. For anyone who's wanted to leave a comment but had trouble (and I know this applies to at least one of you), here are a few easy steps to follow.

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Leo and Daphne...
... were going to leave a comment, but they got distracted by licking themselves