Gone in 2018 - but still loved

Merlin (Jan) was a resident of the leukemia area   (MW)

One of the things that always seems to come with a New Year is a retrospective of the one just past – and inevitably that includes recollections of the big personalities and celebrities who have died during the year.

Jake (Aug) waiting anxiously for visitor attention   (MW)

At the Sanctuary we try to focus on the positive – to think of the love that has been shared with our cats, and of the fact that many of them have lived longer and healthier lives with us than they might otherwise have done.

Gunther (Feb) was one of our sad-eyed tabbies     (MW)

But we grieve their passing, even when we know that that final trip to the vet is the most loving gift we can give them at the end.  And that journey is always made with a loving hand to ease the last moments and let them know just how much we cared for them.

Romeo (Jan) liked to be in the tea-room where he might beg human food.   (DW)

There are many conversations full of memories – remembering Romeo and the Timbits, Splotch and his shift from feral to lover, Gregory and how bonded he was with our beloved Dell....

Abby (June) was a small cat with a big personality  (MW)

Here are just a few of the friends we lost in the past year.

Orange Daniel (Oct) is greatly missed by his buddy Cloverleaf    (MW)

Bengal Jinx (Feb) was surrendered for peeing - but we loved her  (MD)

Front courtyard Jinx (Dec) loved her sunbathing    (MD)

Handsome Simba (Aug)  took every opportunity to snuggle  (PH)

Kiddie (Nov) has gone to be with his sister Sadie    (MW)

Bonnie Boy (Nov) knew how handsome he was!   (MW)

Emo Pickles' (Sept) flattened ears belied his loving nature   (PH)

Sweet Peppercorn (Oct) loved to have attention from humans   (MW)

We don’t have a finite amount of love to share – every cat that walks into our hearts leaves a little bit of itself there, but there is still much love to be given to the newcomers who continue to come into our care.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Melanie Draper, Phaedra Hardman, Debbie Wolanski, Michele Wright

The Feline Sedins are not retiring from the Sanctuary!

Back in 2006, RAPS founder Carol Reichert trapped two handsome ginger boys under an east Richmond shed, and brought them to the Sanctuary.  And what else can you do with a pair like this other than name them for the Canucks' most famous redheads!

Henrik

Daniel and Henrik (feline version) were a pretty feral pair, and joined the rest of the front courtyard crowd of cats who prefer to steer clear of humans. The majority of those cats hang out in what’s known as the old Rabbit Area, where the shelves are all covered, giving lots of secure hiding spaces for the wary inhabitants.

Henrik hiding

In the years around their arrival the Sanctuary was particularly busy;  there was a big influx of cats who were displaced by construction around the city, and more and more places where feral cats had been hiding out were either no longer available to them, or the human caretakers felt that cats would be safer elsewhere.  Photos from round 2006-2008 make it clear that we were swamped with feline residents, and it was very easy for cats like these two to vanish into anonymity.

Daniel 

By the beginning of the second decade the tide was turning, prompted mainly by an ageing population. Cats who had arrived in the early years of the Sanctuary as mature adults were beginning to fail, and many were lost to the inevitable onset of kidney disease, cancer and other conditions.  Sad as this was, it meant that many cats who had previously managed to stay invisible were now being tracked, both for their health and for possible socializing. A blood test during a vet check showed that Henrik had tested positive for feline leukemia.

Henrik

This was the period in which the Val Jones corner of the courtyard was cordoned off and attached to the Old Aids area, housing the leukemia cats. Henrik was settled there, and made himself at home with friends like Esme, Mocha, Savannah and GusGus.  All have now passed, but Henrik is still in good condition – the virus has affected his immune system in the form of mouth ulcers, and they can be treated with medication, though that in turn causes him to put on weight (and he is NOT a small cat!)

Daniel & Cloverleaf

Classic Daniel cuddle-puddle

His brother Daniel has continued living with the other ferals.  He is more sociable than Henrik, and usually has a buddy or two (or three) following him around, head-butting and snuggling happily.  Cloverleaf is usually the favoured friend, but Sarah, Jamie, or newcomer Figaro also like to be in on the action, either out in the courtyard or in the Hill House.  In the last while Daniel has also become more sociable with people;  Henrik continues shy, though he will accept attention when offered – especially when treats are part of the package.

Daniel & Sarah

Our two ginger brothers are beloved inhabitants of the front area of the Sanctuary; Henrik’s life is a little quieter these days, but Daniel shows no sign of retiring from action.

Blog by Brigid Coult

All photos by Michele Wright

 

 

October 2018: Sadly, we lost Daniel to acute anaemia quite suddenly. His friends - human and feline - miss him!

Best Buds - Chimo & PawPaw

Chimo & PawPaw - MW

People who are not cat people will tell you that cats are non-social, aloof – “if you want a friend, get a dog”, they will say... Cat-people know that cats are as varied as people – some are introverts, loving their own company, living life on their own terms – but others enjoy being around both people and other cats.  And nowhere do we see that more clearly than at the Cat Sanctuary.

Snuggling together: Babylon & Presley - MW

We have our share of “typical” cats – the ones I call the Garbo Cats (“I vant to be alone...”) - Leland and Timmy in the front courtyard, Blue,  Jingles and Emery in the back.  But we also have the cat-magnets – our dear departed Mario and Salty never went anywhere without their devoted followers, and Daniel in the front courtyard always has the company of Cloverleaf, Jamie or Figaro

Daniel & Cloverleaf - MW

For some cats, the presence of others is a strain, best expressed in a degree of aggression, and we now have have some of those cats, like Mindy and Spades, in a quieter area, where they will feel less challenged.  But for the most part, the majority of the cats get on very well – and in some places, “get on” goes to a whole new level.

Chimo - MW

Chimo came to us with a reputation for aggression.  His back-story will fill you in on his progress from an aggravating cat who had never learned to play nicely, to a mellow boy who rolls over to invite petting (belly-rubs, though welcomed by implication in his posture, are still too risky).  He has established the north-south wing of the back courtyard as his turf, and generally hangs out in what we call “Waldi’s Hut”, sharing space with other quiet cats: Morticia, Dusty, Quinn, and others who don’t usually welcome human attention.

Chimo - BL

PawPaw was one of the first cats to come to us from the closing shelter on the Sunshine Coast, and was part of the group established in Pen 6. Some of those cats have gone on to adoption through the 5 Road City Shelter, others are still with us. PawPaw has remained with us because he is diabetic, and needs monitoring for insulin.

PawPaw - MW

As the group settled into Sanctuary life, the pen was opened, and some of its inhabitants ventured out. Cats like Blue and Simba, full of confidence, claimed their own spaces; others, like Faith and PawPaw, preferred to stay in Pen 6 on familiar turf. But we can’t afford to keep all the pens as open ones, and with a new group coming in from another shelter, we had to evict the inhabitants in order to prepare the pen for the newcomers. Faith finally settled herself in the TeaRoom. PawPaw moved to the other end of the wing and discovered Waldi’s Hut and Chimo.

These two boys are almost always together. They snuggle and head-butt, and they both enjoy visitors (especially those bearing chicken)

Chimo is perhaps the more generally social of the two (and the more food-motivated), but together on their own shelf they will tune out the presence of Morticia and others, and revel in each other’s company.  Obviously deeply bonded now, they welcome attention from volunteers and visitors in a way that reminds me of the cats in Pen 5 – May and Adam, Rudolph and Salish – the cats that we tend to think of as pairs

Life is better when you have a friend!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Boris Lin and Michele Wright

Jamie

There are certain areas where you can usually meet certain cats.  Jamie is a boundary cat!

MW

The Hill House is something of a cat co-op, with lots of beds and plenty of shared space. Often you can go straight to a specific bed when you want to find Faline, for instance, and Treacle always had her own little corner. Other cats will migrate from bed to bed, and there is often a puddle of mutual adoration on the top of the trolley that divides the room.

MD

The trolley also abuts the window into what we call the Old Rabbit Area (it’s a long time since there were any rabbits there!) which is usually the home for the feral cats. In contrast to the open beds in the Hill House, this area has all its shelves draped with sheets in the summer and with blankets in the winter, so that timid or shy cats can find a space to hide.

MW

Jamie can’t quite make up his mind where he belongs. Sometimes he’s tucked in a basket with the other ferals, other times he’s rubbing and bunting and purring with the other cats in the Hill House – especially when food is in the offing.  For some time he’s been a very shy cat, but the last year or so has seen great progress, and Jamie has some devoted human fans who always spend time with him.

MW

Leslie tells me that he came to the Sanctuary in 2008 when Carol Reichert trapped a mama cat, who was named Caroline, and her three babies. Mama-cat disapproved of the whole thing, and excavated her way out via a vent in the Hill House (which has since been securely blocked). Two of the three kittens were recovered, but Caroline and baby III made a clean getaway.

MW

Jamie was named for Leslie’s daughter Jaime, and initially it was thought he was a she, but the inevitable vet-check straightened that out and the spelling was adjusted.  Jamie’s sister is the pretty little grey and white Janine, who was featured in the 2015 calendar.

Janine - MW

The love-puddle in the Hill House is usually led by ginger boy Daniel, who seems to be very popular. A variety of other cats get into it – tabby Cloverleaf, black Shady, grey Sarah. But Jamie is always there in the middle of the action, and accepts caresses from cats and humans alike with great enthusiasm.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Melanie Draper and Michele Wright; video by Carol Porteous

The 2017 Calendar's Coming!

As we’ve done for the last five years, a selection of the Sanctuary cats will be featured in a calendar,  – this year, it will appear on 22 October at our fall pub-night fundraiser  and, for the first time, will be accompanied by a dog edition from the City Shelter.

And as always, it was hard to make a selection of pictures, and inevitably, to say no to this or that one. I always try to choose a variety of cats – so I’m looking for a black cat, a calico, a tabby, a grey, a pair, a group... and so on. We made the decision to allow some new photos of cats who had been featured in previous years, but not of any cat who appeared in the 2016 calendar.

Here are some of the pictures that just missed being selected – not because they were less worthy in any way, but because they just didn’t fit with the sequence that emerged.

Albi - the first of a series of orange boys on the shortlist!

Boomer - in New Aids

MiuMiu was going to be our January 2018 cat
- but she may just possibly be adopted!

The light on our lovely Rudolph makes this a wonderful photo
 - but he's already in another picture!

Ian Tom sent us a couple of lovely photos.
This is Autumn, who was featured in the 2016 calendar

We discussed making this the cover - but decided that
being stared at with horror by a feral was not a welcoming image!

Buddy has the most beautiful eyes!
He's another one on the verge of adoption...

Henrik was on the cover of the 2015 calendar.
This is his brother Daniel, another of the orange guys on our list

The calendar will be available at the Sanctuary, the Shelter, the Thrift Store, and at several other venues around the city - for more information check the RAPS webpage  

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Ian Tom and Michele Wright

Be My Kitty Valentine

Every new cat in the Sanctuary is spayed or neutered (speutered) before being released into the general population. There will be no kittens born here!
That being said, there is much to be argued in the theory that love, in cats as in humans, has very little to do with the reproductive organs.  I wrote a couple of weeks ago about some of the “just good friends” who can often be found nose-to-nose. This week’s cats, however, go beyond “just good friends”; these are cats who are deeply bonded, and who are frequently found in each other’s company – twining tails, mutually grooming, and cuddled together in a box or a basket.

Adam & May - BC

These two beauties in Pen 5 came to us from the 5 Road Shelter when it was over-running with kittens a few years ago. They would be wonderful companions in a quiet home – but they would need to go together.

Sara Lee & Kiddie - DW

Both Sara Lee and Kiddie came here with siblings, but they are much more interested in each other. They are often found just inside the door of the double-wide.

Sarah Paylan & Presley - DW

This is a new romance in the single-wide. The newly-named Sarah Paylan has taken up with shy Presley; we hope she can get him to be more outgoing.

Jax & Eleanor - MW

These two devoted lady-cats live in the single-wide

Marilee & Little Orange  DW

Feral little Marilee is still reluctant to be touched by human hands – but when cuddling with her protector, Little Orange, she’s much more relaxed

Spike & Princess - DW

These two sweeties can frequently be found nestled together on the shelf just outside the med-cage.

Sid & Pancake - BC

Feline "bromance" is alive and well.  When Sid was recently caged for healing from dental treatment, Pancake was so unhappy to be apart from his buddy that we finally caged them together.

Cloverleaf & Daniel - BC

On the feral side of the front courtyard these two handsome boys are often a pair; Daniel (named for Daniel Sedin) is friendly; Cloverleaf is still fairly wary of people.

Dell & Gregory - BC

The formerly ferocious Dell is now the complete lap-cat in his own safe sanctuary pen. He is rarely seen without his sidekick Gregory, and when a lap is offered, they both want to be on it simultaneously.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Pictures by Brigid Coult, Debbie Wolanski and Michele Wright