Thanksgiving for Cats

Shy Malibu   (KN)

Back in the fall, Lisa and Ken spent quite a bit of time patiently watching traps.  

Can we trust you?   (LBF)

There are generally two circumstances in which trapping needs to be done. The first is when we discover a colony of cats who are producing kittens – and it only takes a couple of unfixed females, and we suddenly have a flood of felines. The fall colony was discovered in an industrial area – not a safe place for kittens – and it was important that they were brought in before kitten season extended itself yet again.

Truffle in his hideaway   (BC)

The second is when we discover a situation in which a colony is being claimed and “maintained” – but not really...  too many cats living freely inside and out, not enough food so they’re annoying the neighbours, in danger from traffic and predators. In this case it was largely a human hoarding problem, and a mental health one – and the best Ken and Lisa could do was to get cats to safety wherever possible. Other rescues were involved here, and RAPS has played our part in solving the problem.

Hissy Creampuff is calmer now  (BC)

In the first situation, trapping is largely a matter of time and patience; food resources for the cats are limited, and food offered is tempting, and brings them into the trap.  In the second situation, the trappers were handicapped by well-meaning neighbours (and probably the “owner” herself) who were feeding a variety of (not always cat-food) things, and causing the cats to turn their noses up at the food in the traps because they weren’t hungry.

Misty & Windy safe in fosterage  (LBF)

Patience and persistence usually wins, though. Through October, lots of little black kittens from the industrial area have come through the care of fosterers to the Adoption Centre and on to their own homes. They were initially given Thanksgiving names like Cranberry, Stuffing, and Turkey – and then moved on to other fall names: Hayride, Windy, Stormy, Misty, Moonlight... Foster-moms have been very busy, and are now taking that last painful step of sending their beloved kittens on to better things - a process made easier by the fact that Lisa takes wonderful kitten pictures!

Caramel's babies   (LBF)

One of this collection of hoarded cats ended up being whisked away and into fosterage. Pretty Caramel really wanted attention, and got plenty of it while she awaited the birth of her kittens.  With all that handling, she will probably go to the adoption centre with her babies when they are ready to find their own homes. Their sweetness is reflected in their names: Sundae, Donut, SugarCookie, Shortbread, ButterTart and CandyCane.

Misty & Windy have extra toebeans!  (LBF)

The cats from the hoarding situation are mostly adult, semi-feral or very shy, and have needed time to settle down at the Sanctuary.  Many of them also acquired food names: Cornbread, Truffle, Tater, Creampuff, Tamale...  A few non-food names also snuck in – beautiful Malibu can be confused with Creampuff as they bound across the front Courtyard until you see Malibu’s markings clearly.  Tater is doing no bounding – she is very shy and spends most of the time hiding behind the drapes in the ORA.

Creampuff & Cornbread  (LBF)

Cornbread is probably the youngest of the group, and loves attention but is easily over-stimulated. Her jumping and running rapidly changes to smacking, and it’s important to read her body language.  My own favourite among these cats is Truffle; he’s a handsome lynx-point who hangs out now in the yellow-door shed, but who is happy to emerge and visit with a human.  I think, as with many of this group, he prefers the crepuscular pattern of morning and evening; when I arrived early one morning last week, he and Cornbread were playing near the gate, and were ready for some fussing and attention; when I left, late morning, he’d retreated to his hidey-hole.

Cornbread loves to play   (BC)

Tamale is not very social; he hovers between the Hill House and the ORA, putting himself wherever the humans are not. Karen managed to get this wonderful picture of him with a distance lens; usually if he sees us around, he hides. But he’s interested; often I’ll be visiting in the ORA and look up to see him peering through the window from the Hill House.

Tamale  (KN)

With all these cats, we’re dealing with a mixture of ferals and strays. The ferals will probably remain wary, and appreciative of all the many hiding places we offer them;  the strays know about human contact and we hope that patience will eventually bring them around. Whichever way it turns, we are thankful for their presence with us, and grateful for all Lisa and Ken’s trapping efforts.  Thanksgiving is not just for one time of year!

Blog by Brigid Coult

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