Two Tabby Toms

Henry  (BC)

It never fails to astonish me that, given all we know, people still persist in adopting cats and then don’t get them spayed or neutered!  Sure, there are enough of us who may have grown up in rural communities where colonies of barn cats were encouraged to flourish in order to take care of rodent control – but we probably know how many of those cats went missing, and didn’t live long lives. But especially in a city environment, the life of a feral cat (or a stray) is usually a short one: traffic, poison, coyotes, extreme weather, parasites – all keep life expectancy short. The RAPS trapping team keeps our fostering program well supplied, and many wild-born kittens who come to us would not have survived their first year without that rescue.

Quincy (KN)

Any reputable rescue will adopt out only with the promise of spay/neuter – that cost is built into the adoption fee – but we all know someone who knows someone whose cat has just kittened, and is ready to hand over a youngster to “a good home”.  All is well for a while – and then a young female goes on heat and all the local strays come calling, or a young male gets the urge to find his lady and before you know, he’s out the door and somewhere there’s another litter of kittens.

Henry on guard at Waldi's Hut  (KN)

In early June this year, two tabby tomcats came into our care. They came to us from Prince George, where they had been picked up by Animal Control. I’m not sure of the origin of Henry’s name; Quincy was found on Quince Street. He is the darker of the two, with clean black mackerel markings, and black lynx tips to his ears; Henry has a paler chin than his buddy, and more agouti fur to offset his markings. The Prince George Shelter assessed them as feral and knew they didn’t have long-term space for them; they could have been released to a colony (TNR) but they deserved a chance; a call went out to RAPS and they arrived with us.

Quincy preferring to watch from above  (BC)

They were caged, as all newcomers are, for an initial assessment period – they were housed on the DoubleWide deck, which is usually a quiet area. Their chubby cheeks made it pretty clear that they had both been unneutered males, and that had been remedied in Prince George, as well as initial vaccinations and some entropion surgery for Quincy. They weren't caged for long; all the necessary medical stuff had been done, and neither of them were particularly happy about the situation. Cage aggression can always make things worse; there was quite a bit of hissing and swatting, and when it came to release time, they quickly took to the cage-tops in order to remain out of reach. Because of the cages now on the DW deck, there is more hiding-space up there, and we got used to seeing the two of them vanish into the darker corners.

Henry - you may look, but not touch!  (BC)

But among the Deck cats, there are a number that have got quite used to accessing the great outdoors via the cat-door in the corner, and Henry took his cue from them, proving himself the more daring of the pair, and made his way outside. He went the length of the passageway and on into the south courtyard where he could often be found on top of Waldi’s Hut. A number of the ferals like to gather high on the roof (under the mesh) and it often looks like they’re having committee meetings there – probably plotting against the management! Henry actually preferred to perch on an adjacent storage cupboard, from where he would peer down at us, and hiss when addressed. Through the late summer, this was his favourite spot.

Happily on the deck, he says "Come pet me now!"  (BC)

But summer inevitably ends, and with the cooler days and the occasional rain, Henry needed to rethink his housing. He made his way onto the Newcomers Deck, and discovered that there were cosy beds, and places to hide, but also that the humans who passed were really not so bad after all. He has become almost aggressively friendly; his little chirp of a meow calls for attention, and he loves being petted, though I think he sometimes gets overwhelmed with sensation and reacts with a quick paw.

Quincy's first approach  (BC)

Quincy remains based on the DW deck. Initially he remained a “touch-me-and-get-smacked” boy, but there are other cats on the deck who are hanging on the cusp of sociability, and he did a lot of watching and listening. Sitting on the deck after evening feeding, I was approached by a tabby boy obviously looking for attention; initially I thought it was Rockford but this cat was a little bulkier than Rockford, and a mackerel tabby rather than a classic tabby.  Quincy was getting brave!

Warily social with the others  (BC)

All the early petting happened on the main deck, but it was not long before he followed me out, and joined the group sitting with me on the small deck outside the Tea-Room. He was cautious (with reason!) around Gwen and Treacle, who were full of tortitude, but ventured to accept tidbits from my hand, and allowed a bit of petting.

Relaxed and happy  (KN)

We think of them as Henry-and-Quincy, but I don’t think they’re actually all that close – they just happened to be flown down at the same time. Henry could look out from his home on the Newcomers Deck and see Quincy when he comes out to visit, but so far we’ve not seen them opt for any sort of “reunion”. I do think the Prince George staff were correct that these two deserved a good chance, though – it’s not often we see such friendliness (if somewhat wary!) from feral cats, and it’s likely that they both have encountered humans – perhaps as kittens – and had memories of good handling that lay under their more fearful recent experience as strays. The vets guesstimate Quincy’s age at around 3.5 years, and Henry about a year older.  Potential adopters will need to go very slowly and patiently, though – our recent experience with the adoptions-and-return of Bello and Guacamole reminds us that even for cats who appear comfortable with human contact, the fearful feral remains close to the surface.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult & Karen Nicholson