Creston and Banff

From Kitty Comforter Pauline Chin:

Creston & Banff

This pair journeyed all the way from Alberta where they lived in a hoarder’s house with many other animals.  Being leukemia kitties, they had no place to go, so it’s off to the Sanctuary to join the FeLV+ cats and their playground.

Creston

Cats from hoarder homes are mystery packages.  We don’t know what sort of handling, or socialization they’ve had, surprising triggers, or what their of opinion of humans is.  The least we can hope for is a clean bill of health or fast recovery.  Personality quirks are bonus discoveries.

Zanda

Walleyed Creston looks a tad rough around the edges, like the late Zanda.  Despite that, this boy has an unusually cuddly personality.  During the first 2 weeks, he spent his time camping in his tent.  He could be seen randomly gobbling down wet food or treats.  Sometimes, he greeted humans with hisses.  He acts cautious initially because he doesn’t know if your hands are going to poke and prod him or pet him.  Once he’s sure of the latter, he’ll push his head into your hand and insist on head scratches.  

Creston’s quirk is to go roly-poly and nearly tumble off the shelf while being petted.  I can’t tell if he’s looking for the most comfortable spot or if he gets enjoyment out of rolling around, making funny poses.  When he purrs, his front half vibrates.  If he doesn’t want you touching his soft belly, he’ll politely nudge your hand away with his back feet.  No claws involved.

I spent a couple minutes removing a mat from his tail.  Not once did he protest, nor whip his head around like other cats and hiss, “what are you doing, human?!”  Of course, I let him sniff test the mat to see if he was familiar with it.

Every new item in Creston’s cage warrants a sniff, but there’s a lack of engagement in toys.  Perhaps he’s not familiar with playtime?  The other cats will gladly demonstrate the joy of toys for him once he’s out of the cage. 

Banff

Across the way is Banff.  He has a very clean and bright appearance.  Most orange cats have a white muzzle.  Banff’s muzzle is orange and he reminds me of Baby, late Queen of the Moore House.  He still retains his curious kitten looks. Whip out a new toy and watch his eyes grow into saucers.

Banff and his toys

You can often hear toy balls rattling and little feet bouncing around.  He’ll hurry to the front to check out toys and then shy away when your hand starts moving.  He’s touchable, but you have to be sneaky with the petting - using a wand in one hand and petting with the other.  The challenge now is to get him used to touch before his release day.  It would be a tragedy for a youngster like him to spend his time hiding in a corner of the playground.  Quite the opposite of Creston!

Daphne (now adopted)

I predict he’ll be another Daphne - shy in the first month and an attention hog thereafter.  He’s also fond of treats.  It wouldn't be surprising if he started asking for them regularly.  

Anything for me?

Banff has an odd habit of vocalizing when we’re interacting with other cats - they're a mixture of wind-up chirps, coos, meeps, and rolling meows.  Yet, when we turn towards him, he goes silent.  

Banff exploring

The med staff have decided that it's time to let these two face the wider world of the Leukemia kitties, and perhaps make some new friends. 

happy together

Those of us who devoted time to socializing this pint-sized panther and tiny tiger are eager to have them roam their new kingdom.  They’re far from feral and enjoy interactions.  Two quirky new kitties are more than welcome here.

Blog and all photos by Pauline Chin

Kilo & Daphne

Kilo & Daphne - LBF

Old Aids (aka the Leukemia area) received quite a number of new residents this year. Grey and white Daphne came in during the spring. Long-haired tuxedo Cooper arrived, was caged briefly and was adopted within a week of release.  Short-haired Kilo arrived in the summer and appears to be a tuxedo, but on closer inspection has smoke tabby markings. Spry siblings Domino and Banshee were transferred over from the side room of the Moore House, and very shortly afterwards adopted. All were youngsters, and very lovable additions to the FeLV playground.

Kilo on the catwalks - PC

Kilo is a friendly boy with a happy outlook on life.  His pastimes include: exploring the catwalks and staring out the window, in hopes of grabbing attention, playing with or without the other cats, being held, and sneaking onto your back if you’re next to his perch.  He’s another oddball feline who likes being picked up and carried - most of the time.  With winter on the way, he makes a wonderful cuddle buddy and hand-warmer.

Enjoying the sun - PH

Initially, Daphne was known to be skittish, but super playful.  Now, she’s part of the door dasher club.  Want to be her favourite?  Bring her toy offerings.  Daphne’s hobbies include: testing out every toy in the room, looming behind you when you’re sitting on a chair, mooching for treats, giving humans leg rubs, and giving every cat a body rub, whether they want it or not.

Queen of all she surveys - PC

You’ll notice both cats bravely hover around for treats.  Daphne might even push her way to the front!  Most new cats stay wary and remain furthest from the treat dispensing hands. I have yet to find food they don’t like.  Maybe some duck or lamb?  And be sure to bring enough for everyone!

Come play with me....   MW

Playtime is always a thrill for Leukemia kitties!  Being young, Kilo and Daphne will try anything.  Wands, balls, catnip, crinkle toys, crumpled paper… they’ll chase and pounce on everything that moves!  As far as playfulness goes, Kilo competes with Daphne on who gets first dibs on new toys.  Smoochie might join in the fun, although he prefers one-on-one time.  (He’s a wise, older gentleman.)  While Kilo will share toys with other cats, Daphne prefers to keep them to herself.  Her favourite colour seems to be pink and she won’t hesitate to snatch those toys and carry them off.

With a favourite toy - PC

When visiting the new cats, it's only fair to devote time to the long-time regulars Smoochie, Bear, and Dexter.  It would be upsetting if they see the new guys stealing attention away from them.  Being keen observers, Bear and Dexter will make very loud complaints that your ears won’t soon forget.  Twenty or thirty minutes of visiting time is plenty to enough to spread around to the dozen plus cats.  We want everyone to be in good spirits, since stress is detrimental to their health. It's a good place to make a new friend or two.  Perhaps there’s room in your home and heart for a FeLV+ kitty?

Blog by Pauline Chin

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Pauline Chin, 

Phaedra Hardman, Michele Wright

Birdie (II)

Birdie came to the cat sanctuary via Carol after spending some time at the No. 5 Rd. shelter. There, while he'd shown himself to be a nice boy as far as people were concerned, he just wasn't getting along with the other cats. This tended not to show him in the most positive light to potential adopters.

He's mellowed a bit now, with time and with more space to move around in. Still, when a couple of cats saw I was dispensing cuddles and tried to muscle in on what had been Birdie's cuddle time, he was quick chase each off with a light smack. But then my cat Daphne still does that to her own son when he tries to barge on her cat/human quality time, so I can hardly hold this against Birdie. He just loves the human love too much to share.

June 2017:  After years living at the Sanctuary,
Birdie is happy to report that he has his own home now!

Leo Blog

On a light note, here's a new weekly blog I'm trying out featuring the adventures of my supremely goofy adopted cat, Leo, with appearances by his beloved mom, Daphne. It will be largely in comic form plus a few photos and videos.

Enjoy.

http://leoleocat.wordpress.com/

Happy Anniversary, Claire, Daphne & Leo

In addition to being Canada Day, tomorrow marks one year in my first pet friendly apartment, and one year since I brought two cats from the sanctuary home to live with me.

It's been fun getting to know each other over the past year. And it's interesting, when bringing home adult cats, how some personality traits show up right away, while others only really manifest once they've gotten to know you to their satisfaction. Here's a brief retrospective of our first year:

July 2009

Leo searches for hiding spots in the cardboard jungle; 

Daphne felt at home from the first

Summer 2009

Leo finds potted plants to be good company 

and likes to sit as close as possible

Autumn 2009

Bought for the cats: 1 stuffed rat from Ikea

Bought for the human: 1 Ikea lamp in small box

The rat gets moved around the apartment from time to time, 
but it's the box they love and I still haven't been permitted to recyle.

Autumn 2009

The first cats I've lived with who actually care for each other

rather than simply living under a truce of mutual toleration.

December 2009

Leo has come to love me, but he worships his mom. 

He is still distraught if he has to be without her for even a few moments.

December 2009

Spending Christmas at my parents' in Victoria meant bringing the furry family with me.

Leo hated the car and yowled as long as it was in motion, but felt safe in the room set aside for them at my parents' place. Daphne was ready to move in. When we got home, I was sure they'd be traumatized by so much as the sight of their carriers. They quickly proved me wrong by climbing right in.

January 2009

Cat vs. Marmot: Daphne shows her "Olympic spirit"

January 2010

Leo prefers to eat with his hands

April 2010

Daphne sitting pretty. She loves lounging on the cat tree 
by my third floor window and watching passers by. 

Greyson

Greyson is a recent arrival at the shelter. Gaye, one of our animal care workers, brought him in at the beginning of the month after seeing him hanging around her neighborhood for a while.

Although he's tame, suddenly coming into contact with hundreds of strange cats in a strange new environment can be a pretty overwhelming, so Greyson's got a cage to himself in the double wide trailer for now.

And yes, like Hubert and Winston, this boy has a big head.

Ann now has a theory about me:

drawing by Claire

"Claire likes big-headed cats!" she says to Shannon in the sort of cheerfully triumphant playground voice we all must have some residual memories of from school.
Narrowly avoiding a knee-jerk "I do not!", I only manage to protest that it's just because Ann keeps pointing them out to me and they keep turning out to be cute.
Lame, but true.

It's easy to love and admire handsome cats like Leonard or beauties like Daphne, but I (and I'm quite sure I'm not alone) can't help but have a soft spot as well for the ones with some little quirk that sets them apart: raggedy Chance, curly tailed and obliviously crippled Lincoln, alternately shy and goofy Leo... just to name a few.

A note on the use of cages

The c-word. This is a touchy one when looking at animal shelters.
I'm talking about cages.

I remember once as a child I begged my dad to take me to the local animal shelter to see the cats only to be faced with a bank of small, mewling cages. An especially desperate cat reaching through the bars to try and touch me led to my having to flee in tears. I still find it an upsetting episode.

Imagine how the cats felt.

A July piece in The Examiner on the San Francisco SPCA quotes Shelter Medicine Department director Dr. Jennifer Scarlett:

“Keeping large numbers of animals healthy and being mindful of each has always been an issue for me personally,” Scarlett said. “The traditional shelter environment in particular is extremely stressful for cats. They are small and so it’s easy to cram them into a small space. Unlike dogs, they don’t make a fuss, yet when you put them in a cage the size of an oven, they shut down. Also in a small space, cats are forced to exist right next to their litter boxes, which is contrary to their fastidious nature, not to mention, they unable to do normal cat things – stretch, walk, play and rest comfortably.”

Given that this is the sort of image that the word "cage" can evoke in relation to animal shelters, I've been reluctant to use it when talking about the RAPS sanctuary for fear of giving a wrong impression of the place. Perhaps I should explain.

The vast majority of the cats at the sanctuary are free to wander as they will around various parts of the complex.

If any of these cat should become ill, they are moved to a cage for observation and treatment, then let out again as soon as they are well enough.

Newcomers are given a cage to give them time to adjust to their new environment without having to deal with hundreds of other inhabitants at the same time. Cats like Rita especially need this kind of refuge. Young ferals are much more likely to become tame and friendly if they are placed somewhere they will be regularly exposed to humans. Take Lillix, for example.

When I first met my two, they were in a large cage with four other cats.

Why so crowded? They'd all been housemates before being surrendered and it allowed them to stay together.
The four were let out soon after I adopted Daphne and Leo, but Snowball has recently been returned to her old cage, which she now has all to herself, for a "time out" because she needed a break from all the other cats.

I spent some time with her in there after my shift this week and found her looking more relaxed than she's been in a while.

Next up: Aurora, cage dweller by choice!

Leo and Daphne (aka Lacey)

It’s funny, though perhaps not surprising, that volunteers don't ask each other "Do you have a cat?" That’s practically a given. It’s really more a question of quantity.

Me? Two.

If you’re wondering how a person can manage to choose two from the hundreds of cats at the sanctuary, I must confess I didn’t even try. When I was ready to adopt, I went to one of the staff for a recommendation. She already had one picked out: a pretty little 3 year old grey and white longhair named Lacey who would wriggle and purr at the slightest provocation. Great! Introductions were made and I loved her right away.

I told one of the other staff members and was greeted with a rather unexpected response:

"Um, er…"

Lacey came to the shelter with her 2 year old son and daughter. The daughter, Angel, was quite self-sufficient and not a worry, but the son, Leo, they could only describe as "very attached." My own description of him runs more along the lines of the cat equivalent of a 40 year old guy who lives in his parents' basement and spends all his time with online gaming. But yes, as a somewhat socially challenged mama's boy, who probably wouldn't fare too well on his own.

Leo is a washer and a hider. In a relaxed mood, he’s compelled to wash anyone who will sit still without swatting him. Less relaxed, he's saucer-eyed and looking for exits. When the cats in his former home were surrendered to the shelter, he hid so well that no one could find him for days.

Fortunately, I grew up with a cat who was also a hider (and a washer). Armed with a smile and a brush, I it didn't take long to make friends. Animals who spend their time grooming everyone else seem to appreciate having someone groom them for a change.

His other quirk is that he's a cat with a dogleg tail – there's a 90° kink halfway up with another little piece kinked the other way at the end. I'm told he just came out like that. Not sure how that happens… in utero squabbling?

Lacey, now called Daphne after totally ignoring me when I called her by her shelter name, could scarcely be more different than her son. She's a little princess, equal parts refined and capricious. It's actually amazing she's the well-adjusted one of the pair, since she was brought in to the shelter pregnant, taken home by a volunteer to foster her while she had and raised her kittens, only to have to be sent back to the shelter when the volunteer's circumstances no longer made it possible to keep her.

Perhaps the sure knowledge that she must be the deposed cat princess of some distant, forgotten realm helps her to maintain her dignity. This is the only explanation I can think of for why she responds to Your Highness more readily than any other name.