Feeeeet!

Freya's feet   (MW)

 If you are reading this blog, you are probably one of the many people who uses social media to indulge in your feline addiction.
We post pictures of our own cats, our friends’ cats, cat-memes, famous cats like Cole & Marmalade or Maru.  If we are lucky enough to be associated with a shelter or a cat sanctuary, our cell-phones are loaded with images. Kittens and seniors, feel-good stories and sad tales of abandonment, all touch our emotions. 
And one of the never-fail images is of FEET.

Bentley paw over nose  (KN)

Paws, to be exact.  Poofy paws, usually, with claws discreetly hidden.  Poofy on the top, and with a variety of patterned toe-beans below.

Claws are useful for Plum to grab a treat  (KN)

Human feet are definitely not so interesting. Nobody wants to look at pictures of cattle or horses’ feet – impressive though they may be. Dogs – well, perhaps some of them.  But cats’ feet almost always get an “Awww” response.

Jasper demonstrates the pile of paws pose  (KN)

Cats are DIGITIGRADE – meaning they walk on their toes. This is why it is so cruel to declaw a cat – you’re taking away the top joint of the toe, and everything is more uncomfortable without it.  Many declawed cats will end up in a shelter or a sanctuary because they hate to use a litter-box – it hurts their feet. And many will lose muscle tone because they don’t like to move around so much, and are unable to give their muscles a real workout without digging their claws into something.

Akiva has no claws - but he still needs to clean between his toes  (KN)

On a hot day, they can often be found with pads exposed – when you have a fur coat, paws may be the only place you can cool off by sweating.

Lindor cooling off, with all paws exposed  (MW)

Cats use their paws for much more than just walking. They climb (sometimes having to return backwards down a tree); they dig (with luck, mostly in the litter-box), they leave scent markings for other cats to decode, they fight other cats (especially Jasper and Gizmo), they swat unwary humans, they wash up with velvet paws, and then extend their toes so they can clean between them.

Mr Binx clean-up time  (KN)

Our Sanctuary cats give us a wonderful collection of feet to admire

Alexandria is one of our very active cats, and her flexible paws are often used for climbing.

Alexandria offers the Vulcan salute  (KN)

Jackie-O is also a climber, possibly made easier by an extra “thumb” on her front paws

Jackie O's paw  (KN)

Extra thumbs help to hang on   (MW)

We have several polydactyl cats at the Sanctuary. Raymond in Val Jones, Christina Aguilera in the Front Courtyard, and NikkiSixxToes in the Single-Wide all have more than their share of toes.

NikkiSixxToes could also be called Bigfoot   (KN)

A glass table-top in Pen 3 is an irresistible tool for getting feet pictures from another angle

The models on top  (LBF)

paws from below  (LBF)

This dark tortie girl was named for her blond toes!

Toes  (EW)

Sometimes we call them “murder mittens” – but often when you see them like this, the cat is usually asking for attention

Kiefer's velvet paws reaching through from the Single-Wide (KN)

Winston says "Reach out and touch me!" (KN)

And of course, there is nothing we like better than to have a purring pile of fur in the lap, and the sensation of being kneaded gently as the paws show how much we are loved!

Roe loves a lap!  (JS)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill Friesen, Brigid Coult, 

Karen Nicholson, Justin Saint, Erica Warren, Michele Wright

Alexandria

Alexandria - KN

One of the big Sanctuary Events of last summer was the arrival of more than 40 cats and kittens into our care, mainly thanks to the efforts of Leslie and the med staff.  The initial story was told in the blog entry Can there be such a thing as Too Many Kittens?

Kitten pile - LL

As we move into 2020, things are settling down. Most of the youngest kittens have been socialized and adopted out; some of the older ones – likely unneutered strays rather than ferals – are making themselves comfortable in the Val Jones pen with the friendlier FIV+ cats.  Pen 6 is still the home of a group of charming but very wary teens;  their progress will be encouraged by our cat whisperers, but at the moment it’s arms-length contact only – though they’re certainly displaying curiosity.

Aphrodite - KN

The young queen Juno - LBF

One of the reasons the feral colony ballooned so quickly is that young females come into heat at as little as 4-6 months, and once kittens start producing kittens the only way to curb it is to trap and neuter them all.  We have our share of small female cats in the Sanctuary who are often mistaken by visitors for kittens, and we have to explain that when a young malnourished female gives birth to a litter, she may never make her full adult size, because all her resources go to nurturing her offspring.

Little Simone and her big boy Bantam - MW

One of the trapped cats turned out to be a pregnant mama like this. Alexandria surprised everyone at the shelter when she suddenly gave birth to four or five kittens.  Probably because she was so young, some of the kittens didn’t survive, but she and the two living ones went into fosterage with one of our most experienced kitten nurturers. She proved to be a good mother – almost too good, because she was very protective of her babies, and very hard to handle.  Once they were independent, she was spayed and re-settled at the Sanctuary – as a feral, she was not a candidate for adoption, though both her kittens were adopted.

Alexandria - LBF

With no more kittens to protect, Alexandria was more amenable to advances from the Kitty Comforters. Once released from her cage, she was quick to explore and to socialize with other cats.

Alexandria has no sense of personal space;
Moxie is tolerant - KN

Among other little black cats, it’s easy to distinguish her by her distinctive chest and toe marking – which proved useful, when her exploring took the form of tree-climbing!

Satisfaction, once she's up! - KN

She’s pretty fearless, and a challenge to Gizmo, who’s the other serious tree-climber. Neither one will be particularly happy when the tree has to be felled – unfortunately, it’s not in healthy shape, and needs to be replaced.  We will need to bear in mind the need for some sort of climbing frame to replace it!

"I'm higher than you!" - KN

As for relationships with humans – she likes to play with wand toys, but she’s not much into a lot of petting, though Leslie says she will approach for nose-touches.  She has all the time she needs to decide when and if she is ready to trust us.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Leslie Landa, Karen Nicholson, Michele Wright