Big, Black & Beautiful

 Not long ago we opened Pen 6 to allow all the “god” cats – (Aphrodite, Atlas, Juno, Athena, Mercury) – to explore a bigger world. Many of them have relocated to Pen 1, but I now find there are lots of little black cats in the back courtyard that I find hard to identify quickly.

No, you may not have this chair! - MW

There’s never any problem in identifying Cole! He’s probably among the largest of the cats – and I mean large in length and leg, not in tubbiness. He came to us a few years ago with a pretty uncertain temperament and I blogged about him in February 2019.  

Soaking up the sun - KN

He’s become a much more mellow cat in the intervening couple of years. He is still largely a loner, and it is beneath him to interact with the other cats, though he’s not aggressive like Jasper or Gizmo – he just ignores them.  He still claims the clean laundry shelves as his favourite bedding, and we continue to work around him there.

Towels are the best bed - KN

Occasionally he can be found at the entrance gate, but now it’s less about gate-busting, and more about soliciting attention. There is a lot of leg-rubbing and he will quite often put his paws up and ask to be lifted.  Carrying Cole around is no light weight, and I prefer to sit with him in the breezeway, and allow him to do face-rubs – something I wouldn’t have tried two years ago. He is active in his attention – he not a cat who collapses on the lap and relaxes – when he’s finished head-bonks and rubs, he lets you know, and is off to find his laundry-corner.

Let me be...   MW

His title as Big Black Cat is challenged by another boy on the Double-Wide Deck. Denzel is a relative newcomer, arriving from the City Shelter before it closed. 

Top step is a favourite seat - LBF

It is possible that he was just dumped off in the parking lot there – we don’t know just when he arrived. He hung around for a good while, but didn’t allow himself to be trapped, so the staff made sure he had food and kept an eye on him.  Finally something tempted him too much, and the trap did its work. He came to the Sanctuary, and joined the semi-feral boys in the “red light area” at the back of the Double-Wide trailer.

Staying out of reach - LBF

Initially Denzel was very wary – staying out of reach or hiding behind the big mattress. But gradually he came to realize that nobody was out to hurt him, and that other cats were coming to us for petting and treats. He became braver, though he’s not ventured into lap-sitting, and he holds back when Chester claims the lap – Chester can be aggressive, and Denzel’s not about to challenge him. 

Handsome - and he knows it - BC

He's an active boy - it's not always easy to get pictures of him, because he won't keep still!  He still prefers to stay at platform level rather than at the floor, but he loves when people come and sit there with him and Hamlet, who also loves attention. Like Cole, he is a big solid boy, and he is a champion head-bonker; when Denzel tells you he loves you, you really feel it!  

Exploring at floor level - KN

In spite of his initial wary behaviour, it’s likely that he was a stray (or a dumped cat) rather than a feral; he has certainly grown to be a people cat, and though he’s not ventured through the building to the courtyard, his preference for the indoor surroundings may make him a more adoptable cat in the long run.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson, Michele Wright

Shy Winston

This big boy came to us late fall of last year.  He was brought in to the City Shelter as a stray, but acted pretty aggressive, and was transferred to our care.  It was noted that he had not been neutered, so that was quickly taken care of, and Winston’s tomcat days were done.

During his cage-stay he was visited by the Kitty Comforters, who found that rather than being aggressive with us, he was very shy, but not feral-reactive. Many ferals don’t like contact with humans, and react with aggression. A stray who has known human attention but lived as a feral may shrink from contact, but the reaction tends to be fear rather than aggression; something in them knows that humans can mean good things.  Winston hid in his box, but allowed touch, and eventually emerged to permit some petting.

It’s always a hard decision for the med staff to know when to release a cat. We don’t want to keep them caged indefinitely, but there have been many cats who were touchable in a cage, and then hid from contact. One of my sponsor cats, Sylar, is like that – caged, he hisses, but allows contact (and enjoys it, from the bum-in-air reaction) – out of the cage, he doesn’t want to get closer than ten feet or so. So we were concerned about how Winston would react to freedom.

Winston quickly managed to make his way out of the Double-Wide trailer and into the courtyard, mostly basing himself in the Newcomers area. We call it Newcomers because it’s quieter, and offers less chance of dealing with scary humans, so many of the newly-released cats spend some time there.  Sadly, Winston is one of those cats who really is a pussycat – he carried a big label around that said “Bully Me!”. And our resident bullies – Jasper, Chester and Gizmo (particularly the latter) did just that.  Winston found a few hidey-holes where he could retreat, and occasionally vanished down to the bushes at the back of Pen 2, but he preferred to be in warmth and comfort.

KN

In the late spring, the decision was made to open pen 8, the pen where Smithy, Splotch and their feral buddies lived. A procession of cats visited in and out of the gate; interestingly the ferals relaxed quite noticeably with all this new company, and dared to venture outside, though maintaining their base there.  At some stage, Winston discovered this area, and now he can often be found in “his” box, still shy, but approachable and ready to accept petting. I'm never sure whether it's the name or the voice, but like Skittles and Bossanova, Winston is a cat who will often come when I call, and he's now starting to put paws on my lap (though not yet ready to sit and relax there).

The corner he has chosen was largely the territory of feral Magpie, who is not entirely happy with human attention, but who obviously enjoys the company of his new buddy enough that he will tolerate us in the vicinity.

Magpie & Winston

If you’re at the Sanctuary, please come and introduce yourself to this gentle boy with the muscular body and broad cheeks of a former tomcat, and the wariness of a cat who has not always had gentle handling from humans. Gradually we’re changing his mind.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult & Karen Nicholson

Five from Five Road: 2 - Chester

This is the second in a series of stories about five cats who were recently transferred to the Cat Sanctuary from the Richmond City Shelter because they were considered unadoptable.  Chester was believed to be unadoptable because he appeared so unfriendly - scratching, biting or otherwise showing signs of aggression towards his caregivers there.  For a cat like Chester, who was known to be someone’s pet at one time, that kind of behaviour is a defensive one, the result of stress, fear and mistrust.   Fortunately, in a non-threatening environment and shown gentle love, such cats can become affectionate again, and Chester’s now well on his way there.   But he had to use up a few of his nine lives first!     

We don’t always know what trials and misadventures cats experience before they come to RAPS but, thanks to his rescuer, we know some of what Chester had to go through.  It’s a wonder that he trusts any of us at all, and the fact that he’s a pretty nice boy despite all he’s been through is quite remarkable.  His owners had kept Chester outside, allowing him into their house only during feeding time.  Doesn’t sound like a loving environment for a cat, does it?  To make matters worse,  when Chester’s family  moved, they left him outside to fend for himself permanently!  Fortunately, Sharon, a volunteer at RAPS City Shelter, lived nearby and, seeing how Chester’d been treated, she’d been keeping an eye on him all along.  Unable to take him in herself when she realized that he’d been left behind, she started putting  food out for him.  He’d gracefully run along the top of her fence to enjoy his meal but wasn’t going to let her get too close.  On one occasion, Sharon spotted poor Chester cowering under a shrub, being attacked by crows. She was able to chase the crows away and Chester carried on, still homeless.

By the time his people had been gone for about a week, Chester had established a twice-a-day feeding schedule at Sharon’s place and she’d often see him lounging around in her back yard.  But, one evening, he didn't show up for dinner.  Sharon walked around the neighbourhood, calling his name and rattling the treat bag, but no Chester, not then or the next day.  She worried that he may have become trapped in the empty house next door and contacted the agent, who didn’t seem very concerned until Sharon  suggested that a cat pooping or even dying inside the empty house wouldn’t improve its appeal to potential buyers.  That got her inside the house but, even after an extensive search, she couldn’t find Chester.  By this time, it had been three days since she last saw him. She persuaded the agent to leave an upstairs window in the house open just in case he had been hiding too well inside.  Sharon’s persistence paid off – she kept a close eye on that window and, when she had just about given up ever seeing him again, Chester popped out of it and onto the roof of the house! He was so weak, he wobbled with every step. His rescuer, in happy tears,  climbed up onto the balcony with his food dish and he managed to get to it.  It took less than a minute for the food to disappear.  She ran home for more and by the time she came out of her home, he was waiting on her back porch for seconds!  A few days later, she was able to capture him and get him to RAPS City Shelter.  
Soon after his arrival there, after some necessary medical interventions, Chester developed a very bad cold, wouldn’t eat and was losing weight.  Despite his severely weakened state, no one could get near him without leather gauntlets. He must have been so angry and frightened by everything that had happened to him.   Fortunately, the medications he was on began to take effect and he regained his health.

However, by this time, he’d established a reputation as aggressive and therefore unadoptable so off to the Sanctuary he went.  After just a few weeks there, Chester has shown himself to be quite lovable although, not surprisingly, a little wary of people he doesn’t know.  He prefers to hang out on top of the cages in the double-wide trailer or in the back courtyard and enjoys a good ear rub and cuddle if someone takes the time to make contact with him and gain his trust.   He was especially happy to see Sharon, his guardian angel, when she visited recently for a happy reunion.  Let’s hope our Chester finally gets to live happily ever after and doesn’t have to use up any more of his nine lives! 

 

Blog by Marianne Moore
Pictures by Michele Wright and Marianne Moore