KC Afternoon

Shy Vonda  (BC)

One of the joys of volunteering at the Sanctuary is that once the shift is done (sometimes, even while the shift is in progress) there is time to interact with feline friends, to pet and to play, to treat and to groom. Even the hard-working staff will take time out when cats ask for attention. But just to ensure that it’s not just the extroverts that get attention, Anne coordinates the team of Kitty Comforters, and we have a list of cats we need to watch for, as well as spending time with the caged ones.

Bricklyn - you may look, but not touch... (KN)

My usual Kitty Comforter shift is on Thursday afternoon. I tend to miss the Adoption Centre possibility when I know there are cats with whom I need to spend time – the kittens need socializing, but everyone that goes in there ends up playing with kittens!  Last Thursday I headed right for the Connor building;  I had done the feed-&-scoop shift the previous Monday, and there had been seven cats in cages there, mostly being very vocal about unfair imprisonment! By Thursday, things were quieter. 

Leo  (KN)

Blond Leo was one of the noisiest on Monday; caged for a gut problem, he's now out. He could probably do with being on a special diet, but for an outdoor cat at the Sanctuary, that’s impossible. Currently he's spending his time sitting outside his friend Caleb's cage. Caleb is caged for an asthmatic problem and the med staff are trying to see how his medication can be sorted so that he's more comfortable. New boy Maverick had left his cage and gone to hide somewhere – we’ll need to track him down and find where he’s gone to ground, so that we can coax him out.  

Autumn being noisy  (BC)

Pretty Autumn has been having mouth problems. She was very vocal from her cage, but dealing quite well with food as long as it was well watered down. She's now out., and still being very vocal!  Bricklyn is in for some TLC. She's an elderly lady and pretty fragile; she’s not actually very keen on the offered TLC unless it involves chicken – and that, preferably when we can’t be seen.

Frank  (BC)

Frank is our new one, a very pretty gray and white boy. He's very friendly and vocal and eager to get out; he's probably got another couple of weeks in the cage, so visiting with him has to be about climbing into the cage with him.  Big Celine was caged on Monday so we could check her litter box. She's very happy to be out now, but throwing her weight around with old Vesper. She leaves us in no doubt that she's the dominant female in the room.

Kia - regal and smacky!  (BC)

I moved on to the Hill House where I visited with Kia and Vonda. Kia is still fairly unfriendly. She allowed me to pat her very briefly and then the paw started coming up to smack me. Vonda is still caged. She's spending a lot of time in her cave underneath the chair and is very shy. However, she likes chicken, so that gives us a bargaining tool.   
I made a short visit to the Val Jones pen, where Jim, Magnus, Merrin and Minuet shared a patch of sunlight, and decided that they wanted its warmth more than attention from me!

Tubby boys Mojo & Licorice   (BC)

In the SingleWide there was no one caged in the main building, but in the office room in the back I spent some time, as I do regularly, with Mojo and Licorice. These two big boys are kept separate so that we can monitor their food intake. There is a cage in the office which is currently the home of newcomer, stubby-tailed Darjeeling. She is acutely allergic to many types of food and is on a restricted diet. She really needs a home where she can be a solo cat.

Darjeeling has a forbidding stare!  (BC)

It’s all too easy to spend time in the SingleWide, but the main room cats get a lot of attention, and despite constant begging for treats and laps, they’re not high on my regular Thursday priority list. I headed over to the DoubleWide, where we have the greatest number of caged cats, because of access to the med staff. Sierra has had dental surgery, and her neighbour Skye is waiting for it, so both needed little more than reassurance, and a little coaxing to eat some wet food. 

Skye's mouth hurts...  (BC)

Root Beer has been having a good time outside - 
as long as it lasted...   (KN)

Grumpy Root Beer is caged for some time out. Shortly after I wrote his blog, the med staff moved him from the Front Courtyard to the Back to give him more room to roam.  Though he has found a few quiet corners he likes, he does NOT like other cats, and he picks fights not only with the ones who can also be aggressive, but with some of the more timid cats. There is probably some discussion around medication, but nobody really wants that to be necessary. He was OK with my presence in the cage, and with the sound of a voice, but he let me know very clearly that he did not want physical contact, even at back-scratcher length, and when he got grumbly, I let him be.

Newcomer, Burt Reynolds  (BC)

Newbie Madonna does not want to be seen, nor black Keno, and Charlotte used some very rude language when I came to her cage, so I moved on to handsome tuxedo Burt Reynolds.  Burt came in labelled as a feral, but it didn’t take long before he was allowing petting, and even rolling over to show his tummy, so there may have been human contact in his past. He’s been on a wet-food only diet, with possible mouth problems, but gobbles his food at mealtimes, and is always ready for second helpings. Without knowing much about his background, I would say that he certainly has signs of food insecurity, and when I offered chicken without enough caution, I wasn’t prepared to be grabbed with sharp claws; not from nastiness or fear – just anxious to get at the food.

Guacamole getting braver  (BC)

Having mopped myself up, and band-aided as necessary, I took a little time in the back courtyard with “my” boys – shy grey Sylar and tabby Quinn, the increasingly approachable trio of Betsy, Zoey and Cleo, and the pushy ones: Pumpkin, Walker, Jasper, Lindor, & Cassidy. Both Sylar and Quinn will take food from my hand, but are easily deterred by the pushy crew.  Our new tripod Guacamole is getting braver and closer, but is not seriously food motivated – or if he is, I’ve not found the right bribe yet. Old Clementine in Pen 7 sees that the others are gathering for treats, and is vocal in claiming her share of the goodies at the gate. 

Clementine - "where's my share?"  (KN)

I know as I end my KC afternoon that the feeding team is arriving soon, and that nobody will waste away before dinner is served!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult  Karen Nicholson

Pen 7 shy ones

Clementine  (KN)

For as long as I’ve volunteered at the Sanctuary, Pen 7 has been the home for a bunch of very shy cats, known as the Barn Cats.  Initially they were a colony who had been doing pest control at a farm south of Steveston Highway; like a lot of colonies without supervision, their numbers got out of control and Richmond Homeless Cats (as RAPS was at that time) stepped in. Not only were there too many of them, but there was also inbreeding going on, and it was time to end the cycle.  In the end, there were about a dozen of them brought to the Sanctuary in 2008, and Pen 7 became a closed one.

Barncats enjoying treats

They were definitely a feral bunch, but because their pen was so much smaller than the other feral pens, they had to get used to humans popping in and out on them. Most of them never really tamed up, though a few of them became friendly with select visitors. The genetic quirks caused by inbreeding produced a number of curly tails, and, more seriously, some vision problems, so the med staff kept a careful eye on them. 

Rodan loved and was loved...  (KN)

I realised recently that they’d never been blogged either by Claire, who set up the Neko Blog, or by me; for most of us, I think they were just an anonymous collection of little cats who didn’t want much in the way of attention. There were exceptions; I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t love one-eyed Rodan, whose cage-stays had acclimated him to human contact.

Clementine   (MW)

Most of them have passed now – the only “originals” left are Jethro and Clementine. Orange Jethro is still very shy, and he has vision problems. He’s ready to emerge when food is on offer, but not to be touched. Clementine can often be found at the gate when treats are being handed out in the courtyard; she allows touch, but doesn’t really enjoy it.  She is very vocal about not being left out when it comes to food, but when the gate is opened, she doesn’t venture past the threshold. “Escape” is not an issue with the Pen 7 cats; they have their safe territory and don’t want to move beyond it.  

Jethro & SweetTart  (LBF)

These two were joined by SweetTart, one of the Candy Cats who was originally in Pen 6, but showed a fascination with the neighbouring barn cats and was glad to move in with them. On the other side, Pen 8 had also had a largely feral component, and when we opened it to the courtyard, and brought the Kootenay cats into pen 8, we also moved Hailey in with the barn cats. Hailey and her family had come from a colony Carol Reichert trapped at a cement plant;  Hailey’s best buddy Johnny had passed not long before, and Hailey was glad to be back in a restricted area.  Neither Hailey nor SweetTart are as keen on chicken tidbits as Clementine is, but they frequently hang around when goodies are on offer.

Hailey is still very cautious   (KN)

The other current residents of Pen 7 belong to the don’t-see-me variety of ferals. Anya and Buttons keep themselves in the warmth and comfort of the cabin, and don’t venture out at all. In the summer, Anya lived under the drapes covering a cat-tree on the porch, and she wouldn’t even come down to use the litter box at the bottom – the cat-tree finally had to be thrown out because it was impossible to clean it properly. Now she’s safely in the dark of the cabin, she’s using the litterbox there, which is much more pleasant for all concerned! Anya and Buttons get checked each day by the med staff; mostly we don’t disturb them in their preferred hiding places, and all their movement is under cover of the dark.

Anya is not keen on human company  (KN)

As with Pen 4, weekend visitors have no access to these cats – though some of the KittyComforters visit them regularly, just sitting quietly with them, and reminding them that they’re safe here, and humans really aren’t as scary as they think.

Blog by Brigid Coult

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