Picasso

(KN)

Picasso is a relative newcomer (should we call him a mewcomer?) to the Sanctuary, but he is already showing himself ready to make it his home.

"Can I come out?" (KN)

He has come to us all the way from Winnipeg, thanks to a rescuer there, and her friendship with one of our volunteers. We hear that he was found living in a garbage dump in the middle of a Manitoba winter, and it sounds as if he was lucky to be alive. Both his ears were badly frostbitten, as well as his tail, and he had a nasty genital infection. The frostbitten ears lost their tips, the tail had to be amputated, and the infection treated, though one of the consequences of the infection was that he became incontinent, and therefore unadoptable.

Watching from the edge  (LBF)

His rescuer got him on a plane with another cat making the journey to a new home, and our volunteer picked him up at the airport and brought him to us.  As usual, he was vet-checked and popped into a cage, giving him time to settle.

"Come play with me!" (KN)

Within days his fan-club was building. His face is absurdly cute, after all – those rounded ears give him a real teddy-bear quality. But for a newbie, he was quick to welcome visitors – those who cleaned his cage or fed him, the staff, and gradually a procession of volunteers, all came in to sit with him for a bit and be charmed.  When the cage was opened he was a little spooked for a few days, and then settled down to explore the Front Courtyard and make it his own. 

Loving the climbing frame (BC)

Visiting time is sometimes hard on new cats – all these strangers standing around, not all cat-savvy... but Picasso took it all in stride. When he’d had a bit too much he’d vanish into the Hill House, and half an hour later, he’d emerge and start flirting again.  He's a friendly, sweet cat, who loves to be loved. He’s one of the few cats who likes to be picked up by the people he trusts, and he relaxes completely – perhaps a little ragdoll in there? But he also likes to explore and to play - and he might never settle down as an indoor cat.

King of all he surveys (BC)

We’re still waiting to see if his former incontinence has ceased – nobody has reported damp patches after holding him, so it’s possible that his recovery has solved that problem and he might end up being adoptable. But till we’re a lot more certain of that status, he can take the opportunity of cultivating the fine art of being a Sanctuary Cat.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brigid Coult & Karen Nicholson