Reef

Reef

Reef is one of several cats who has come to us from another shelter that was unable to get him adopted.  Like Bello, he was trapped and neutered, but was so fearful that potential adopters were unwilling to consider him.  He came into our care, caged in the Connor building while we gave him a chance to get used to the people and the smells and the other cats. There, he was very vocal, letting us know very clearly that he wanted out of there!  Volunteers and Kitty Comforters visited him, but some cats just hate cages – no matter that ours are much larger than most commercial ones – and Reef couldn’t wait to get out.

Don't bug me...

Release day came, and Reef didn’t hang around long. He quickly discovered that most of the shyer cats prefer to hang out in the Old Rabbit Area, and that there are lots of places where he can hide behind a drape or in an upper-level basket. And there he would probably have remained, if not for Carol Porteous.

Climbing down onto Carol's lap

Carol is a favourite with many of the front courtyard cats – actually, she’s a favourite everywhere she goes! – but she is usually on shift for feeding in the front, and the cats gather at the gate as she arrives. Like former volunteer Lori (now living in Alberta) she brings both freshly cooked chicken and fish, and some of the tastiest of the commercial catfoods. She has a particular gift with the very shy ones, and it’s thanks to her that I have begun to know little tripod Chutney, and Reef.

Leg-rubs

She calls him Reefie, and his head immediately pops up from the basket where he’s hiding. Within a couple of minutes, he makes his way to her, climbing down from her shoulder to her lap, and then weaving around her legs.  Because he is so confident in her presence, he is also comfortable with me, and before long I have a new lap-sitter.

Under the heat-lamp

Reef is about 5 years old, and a skinny boy; possibly life in the wild has left its mark, and it will be good to see if we can get a little more condition on him.  My guess is that he is actually a stray rather than a feral, and is now remembering what it is like to have humans giving him some love.  It’s heart-warming to see how handsome Bello, in the back courtyard, has blossomed – to the point that he’s now wearing his “adoptable” bandanna at the weekends.  Reef is still a bit too wary for that, but when there are few people around I can call his name and he will emerge and offer leg-rubs, and then lap-time. 

Watching us from above

It doesn’t take much to spook him, and there are other cats like Cuddles and Westin who get a bit jealous (Westin demonstrates his jealousy by sitting on my feet!), but every encounter makes him a little more confident.  He’s not ready yet to go further than the doorway, but he’s made such progress in the last while that I am confident that our patience will eventually be rewarded by a cat who is no longer “too feral to adopt”.

Blog & photos by Brigid Coult