The Missouri Cats

Clover & MonMon - mother and son  (BC)

Most groups of cats that come into our care do so as a result of a crisis situation – hoarding, or an existing colony being evicted. We had a variant of that in the summer of 2025, when Mandy travelled to Texas to bring back a group of cats who had been a bequest to us under the terms of the owner’s will – she had researched to find them all a good home, discovered us, and left money for their care. I introduced them that fall: first, the ones who were housed in the SingleWide, and then the group in the Front Courtyard.

Liko is still wary  (AC)

More recently we’ve had another colony come to us under similar circumstances. This group is already well travelled – they had actually originated in Hawaii but the family relocated to Missouri. A second long journey to BC, and new surroundings left them all feeling pretty disoriented. The back of the SingleWide was cleared for them – while the DoubleWide was being gutted and refurbished last year, the med-staff relocated to the small office at the back, and it had also functioned as a temporary ward for some of “the Newts” to recover from upper respiratory infections during the winter. Now it became a home for the Missouri cats.

Juju prefers to stay high up, out of the way (AC)

Initially all they wanted was places in which to hide, and KittyComforter visits to them were mostly about quiet talk, offering treats, and not pushing them too quickly into interaction with us. Family bonds are strong here. The matriarch is Clover (originally Chloe, but renamed so as not to confuse her with the Chloe living next door). Clover started out as feral, and remains wary – she would rather not have humans around, but tolerates us as long as she is with one of her youngsters.

Latte - with Liko hiding behind  (AA) 

Her four are MonMon, Juju, Liko and Latte. Juju and Latte (orange and white/orange) are both very wary and prefer to hide away, high on one of the shelves or on a cage-top. Liko is calico, and gradually becoming more accepting of our presence. Big MonMon (orange/white) is a mama’s boy, but also the most social of the four; he likes play, loves treats, but has only so much patience with petting – he’d rather be cuddled up with Clover.

Emma is not shy! (KH)

The other sibling group (not quite so bonded) comprises Scooter (M), Cora (F) and Emma (F). Scooter and Cora are both big tabby cats, but they are shy, and need lots of time and patience; their sister Emma is much more social, and loves to have attention from visitors.

Kimba (KH) and Bruno (AC)

Unrelated, as far as we know, are Kimba and Bruno. Light brown tabby Kimba is Mr Social – both with people and with cats; he loves play, petting and treats in any combination!  Bruno is less well known to most of us; he’s been in a cage for medical attention, but now he’s out, he’s making up for lost time - exploring and interacting happily.

MonMon (BC)

This week has seen a step forward for many of the group; their area of the SingleWide has been opened, and they are starting to explore. Not surprisingly, it’s Kimba and Bruno who have taken the lead in investigating; more surprisingly, shy Abby-the-tabby has taken a liking to Kimba and started following him around. We do need to keep an eye on things – Oscar and Winston persist in claiming the “new”(to them) area with copious amounts of pee, and there’s a lot of extra cleaning happening! And BeeBoo, who is generally anti-cat and anti-human, is objecting to the invasion of “her” deck area and needs a little time-out while everybody adjusts.

Mama Clover (BC)

Obviously, the shyer cats will probably do best remaining in the quiet of the SingleWide, while staff may be ready to consider homes for the more social ones. But, as we have discovered with Bello, Guacamole and Gwen, all of whom were adopted and have now returned to us, cats with feral roots may easily revert to that behaviour unless they feel a bond with their adopter. Both cats and humans will be taking time to feel settled before any relocation happens.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Alicia Almeida, Andy Chiu, Brigid Coult & Kim Howe