Ten Years of Blogging

Evening conference in the back courtyard (JS)

After establishing the Neko Blog in 2009, and giving us a wealth of wonderful photos and stories about the Sanctuary inhabitants, blog founder Claire Fossey was getting swamped at work, and finding that the blog was just one thing too much.  I hated to think we might lose it – it gives us an incredible resource of information and images – and I took a deep breath and said, “I’ll do it!”. My first blog was Flat Cats in the first week of August 2014.

Selena Marchetti's wonderful picture of
Marianne Moore and her best feline friends

Claire had blogged several times a week – cameo profiles of the cats in residence. I made two decisions – that this would be a weekly blog, perhaps in a bit more depth, and that I would try to facilitate the involvement of more writers. I managed to maintain the first decision, and there’s been a blog almost every week for ten years; the second, not so much...  Our beloved Marianne Moore was a regular contributor until she was taken from us - her last blog was of SingleWide superstar Nova in the spring of 2018; Pauline Chin wrote 30 blogs over about 4 years, reflecting her particular KittyComforter loves, and various other people have offered their perspectives or been ghost-written into the blog, but most of the work has been mine.  

Karen's insightful and loving pictures have anchored many blogs   (KN)

As important as the contributing writers are the many talented photographers whose work has helped share Sanctuary life with a wider audience: Claire Fossey, Phaedra Hardman, Debbie Wolanski, Moira Langley, Michele Wright, Karen Nicholson, Lisa Brill-Friesen, Justin Saint and MANY others.  Thanks to them I have occasionally been able to minimize writing, and offer a photo-blog instead – sometimes to memorialize beloved cats, sometimes calendar out-takes, and sometimes just because everyone loves cat pictures!  In the last five years or so, the NekoBlog material was duplicated at the RAPS CatSanctuary webpage and information can be searched at both sites.

Tugboat was SOOOO loved by messy-manx Plum (KN)

Being just a little OCD (in some things, at least!) I have my blog records in a series of spreadsheets. Looking back at those first years of writing, the first thing that hits me is that almost all the “profile” cats from that first year of blogging have passed.  Living with death is part of being at the Sanctuary. Many rescues are focused on adoptions, or manage with a network of foster-families;  but most of the cats who come to the Sanctuary will spend their lives with us – because they are too feral, or have never bonded with a human, or have behaviour or health issues.

from the scared Autumn of 2013...  (PH)

...to the confident flirt of this summer  (KN)

In October 2014 I blogged an update about Autumn who actually arrived with us in the fall of 2012 as a VERY angry young mom – so she’s been with us almost 12 years.  The next names I recognized were Adam and May, in an update on the pair that first came to us in 2010; they were adults when they arrived, and fourteen years later, they are now clearly more frail, though as devoted to each other as ever. Many small rescues function largely by adopting or fostering animals out; we live with the knowledge that we will see many of our beloved cats pass in our care, and it’s a hard burden for the med staff and the long-term volunteers. 

May and Adam posed for their Valentine portrait (LBF)

But there is never any lack of cats seeking sanctuary. In the early days, we were Richmond Animal Protection Society, and almost all the cats were from this municipality. Constant realty development meant fewer places for feral cats to hide, but now the local feral cat problem of the beginning of the century that necessitated the creation of Richmond Homeless Cats has become only an occasional issue created by careless owners with unneutered pets. 

formerly feral Ranger from Haida Gwaii is now a love-bug  (KN)

Connections began building across the province with other rescues, and occasionally further afield. Now, as the Regional Animal Protection Society, it is very satisfying to know that there is such a strong network of people devoted to animal rescue; that amid all the bad-news stories in the media, there is also a core of people who make a difference in the lives of defenceless animals. Sanctuary cats have come from Haida Gwaii to Saskatchewan, from Vancouver Island to the Kootenays.

Our spicy Princess was sponsored all the way from Iran  (LBF)

We rejoice when a Sanctuary cat like little Jelly overcomes amputation to flirt her way into an adopter’s heart; we marvel when our wobbly-cat Tumbleweed determinedly struggles to visit Pen 6, knowing that he can do it safely without worrying about predators; we grieve together when we lose a beloved icon like Bossanova; we celebrate when a formerly aggressive cat like Dell finally relaxes into our love; we mop up after messy-Manxes and cats like Fido, or Ollie who refuse to use a litter-box. They are what they are, and they can take their time to change, or not, as need be – sanctuary is a place of refuge and protection without conditions attached to their residence.

Chaga, Chamomile & Creamsicle - living the good life (JS)

Founder Carol Reichert’s original vision, the hard work of our current board and staff, the love given (and inevitably the blood shed) by past and present Sanctuary medical and cleaning staff, and by hundreds of volunteers – all these have made this a very special place for many cats who would otherwise have lived short and probably terrified lives as ferals in a world that holds too many perils for cats without care.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Phaedra Hardman, Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint