A Happy Newcomer

Rockford  (KN)

Long-term Sanctuary lovers know that we have a tradition around naming cats.  If they come to us with a name, it doesn’t get changed unless there’s another cat it might get confused with. If they come to us nameless, the med staff get naming rights, sometimes random, sometimes themed – for instance, most of the Pen 5 Newton cats have fruit names.  But the big naming tradition is around the cats who find their way to us, and who are trapped in the parking lot or on the perimeter – they get given detective names. Originally they were classic TV detectives or PIs: Magnum, Colombo, Steele,  Kojak, Horatio, Cagney (though he turned out to be male, rather than female like his namesake!) Then the watchers of Law & Order /CSI/ SVU gave us Rico, Rollins, Munch & Cassidy, McCormick and Higgins. We reverted to the real classics with Sherlock & Mycroft Holmes, and we had a Watson in earlier years.

First explorations  (KH)

Sometimes these cats are clearly strays – unneutered males with battle-scars and chubby cheeks; sometimes they are younger, and we don’t know whether they have wandered or been dumped. I don’t think we’ve ever had a female detective cat – it’s mainly the males who have the urge to wander.

Such handsome classic tabby markings!  (BC)

There are trail cams set up around the Sanctuary, and every now and then there is an alert, and part of the med-staff’s duties begins to include setting up traps in favourite places.  In late May there was one of those alerts, and by early June we had been joined by a handsome dark tabby boy who was given the name of Rockford (Rockford Files in the 1970s).  Like so many newcomers, he had a very dim view of the initial caging process; getting neutered, given his vaccines, and the daily encounters for cleaning and feeding and visits from the Kitty Comforters was all greeted with hisses and swats. He was more likely to smack a tube of Churu from your hand than to eat from it, and for me, at least, he was a boy to sit with and talk to, and not one to press for petting.

Cats and their boxes....  (KH)

On schedule, Rockford was released mid-July and promptly vanished onto the DoubleWide deck – traditionally the retreat for the scared and feral newcomers. But he didn’t stay there long – within a week he was darting out to do a quick investigation before retreating back to security. His confidence increased, and before long he was approaching people and soliciting petting. He does what we call the Cricket dance (named after a beloved front courtyard cat), rising up on his back legs to push up into a petting hand.  He seems to be social with the other cats, his youth shows in his enthusiasm for wand play with the visitors and with his feline buddies.

Exhausted after an afternoon of play  (BC)

A lot of his behaviour in the cage was clearly cage aggression, to be noted if he has to be put into a carrier or a cage for any length of time in the future.  It’s still early days for Rockford, and for us to make a full assessment of him, but I would not be surprised to see him as a possible candidate for adoption when he’s more settled, especially to someone who understands the needs of a cat who’s lived outdoors, and needs stimulation and enrichment to enjoy the safe life of an indoor cat.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Kim Howe, Karen Nicholson

Rockford enjoying the sunshine  (BC)