DoubleWide Divas - Act 1

JJ - looking remarkably like the Dowager, in Downton Abbey (KN)

The DoubleWide trailer is the practical HQ for the Sanctuary, being the centre of the med-staff’s activities and one of the two laundry areas.  On Saturdays and Sundays, when we have visitors on site, the DoubleWide is kept closed, because there are generally cats caged for medical care who will do much better without people outside their cages. However, that also means that there are uncaged cats who rarely brave the cat-door, and prefer to remain inside when the main door is closed.  Sometimes that’s a good thing – a number of those cats are temperamental, and not always good about people-contact. And when we have a report of a visitor being scratched, it’s quite often one of these collared cats who is maintaining an invisible don’t-touch-me barrier.

Cleaning the murder-mittens  (KN)

The majority of these are spicy ladies; the only male that approaches their level of reactivity is grey Gizmo, who does his thing in his own way.  Three of them don’t (yet) venture out at all, and remain uncollared; the others all carry the visible warning for unwary humans.  

Jade holding court in the laundry room (KN)

The two all-black cats are Jade and Darcy – Jade wearing a red collar, and Darcy a green one. Jade, who has beautiful green eyes, usually hangs out in the laundry room beside the fridge. You approach Jade on her terms, which means that sometimes she comes and solicits petting, and is quite charming, and sometimes she smacks hard! My usual advice to visitors is “let the cat pet YOU”, and this usually suits Jade well. She can be surprisingly nice, placing herself next to the entry gate and asking for treats and attention – and then she’ll suddenly smack a treat away, and retreat to the laundry room. Jade’s behaviour has improved a lot since she first came to us five years ago, but she is not a cat that can easily be trusted. 

Darcy out for a walk  (KN)

Darcy is most often found trying to talk her way into the med-staff’s area; she is convinced that she should be taste-tester for all the best treats, and is an expert at gate-busting. Luckily, she is also better about allowing the med-staff to pick her up and eject her without shedding too much blood; she will lie on the floor outside the door and writhe dramatically, demonstrating the urgency with which she requires access.  She occasionally ventures outside while there are visitors, but usually stalks through with an “out of my way, peasants!” attitude which generally makes people leave her alone.  We believe that Darcy is the daughter of sweet tortie Dazzle – she didn’t inherit Dazzle’s love for attention and petting, but at least she’s learned that attacking humans doesn’t really get her anywhere.

JJ indulging her passion for beard-snuggling  (BC)

JJ divides her time between the laundry room and the TeaRoom. This elegant tuxedo lady looks as if she disapproves of everyone, and it is necessary to be careful with her – but a lot of it is a facade.  JJ is missing her favourite staff person, Kasha, who has moved, and with whom she loved to cuddle;  she misses the cuddles enough that she has established a select group of people who are favourite substitute cuddlers. She prefers the men: Mike, Justin, Braden and Nick are “her guys”. Beards are particularly favoured – but she will come up on other laps too.  In a particularly trusting mood, she puts her paws up on the chest and butts her head below the cuddler’s jaw; it can be unnerving, knowing how reactive she can be, but there’s also a vulnerability to her that is very appealing.  I find that like many of the touch-sensitive cats, she is more comfortable being petted above the collar – and when she’s had enough, she will just hop down. 

Sophie says, "I'm so cute - NOT!"  (KN)

Sophie is another one who’s a migrant between TeaRoom and laundry room. The former was very much her turf at one time, but is now dominated by floofy orange cats, so she can usually be found sleeping on the laundry room shelf or on the cat-tree by the TeaRoom door. Sophie really dislikes other cats, and has a very extensive personal bubble that tolerates no adjacent felines within it. She is vocal about her dislike – but she also likes to be where the activity is, so she walks a fine line!  Like JJ, she will sometime hop up on a lap, or walk from the table towards a seated volunteer; if you see someone sitting with a tabby in the lap and hands in the air, that’s probably Sophie you’re looking at.  Light head pets are sometimes acceptable; but you take your life in your hands to pet down her back.  She never stays very long in a lap - her reactivity doesn't allow her to feel comfortable with either people or cats.

She looks so sweet - but you can't trust her!  (KN)

More divas next week....

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by BC & Karen Nicholson

Darcy - Dazzle's Demon Daughter!

Darcy the door guard  (KN)

Dazzle is a tubby little tortie, full of tortietude, but increasingly fond of human attention.  When she first came to us, some eight years ago, she needed warning flags – she was a feral who stayed out of reach, and if you were within reach, you probably had scars to show for it.  As she has become more accustomed to her surroundings, she has given up on seeing us as the Enemy, and now comes for petting and attention. She’s not a lap-cat and she’d rather have all four feet safely on the floor – but she’s now a Double-Wide favourite.

Mama Dazzle is much sweeter than she looks!  (KN)

About a year ago another cat came into our care. This was a much larger black girl, surrendered for aggression. It turned out that this was one of three kittens that had originally been captured in 2015 and handed over to Kati, our foster-Mom extraordinaire. A day or two later, Dazzle arrived from the same site. Initially she cared for the kittens, and then she turned on them and Kati had to remove them and bottle-feed them.  We think that this girl, Darcy, is one of Dazzle’s – though whether she repudiated them because she wasn’t their mother, or because she was just stressed from all she’d gone through, we don’t know.

Darcy gives visitors the evil eye  (KN)

Darcy was adopted, as were her siblings, and lived happily with her owner for seven years. And then suddenly, literally overnight, he said that she turned psychotic – there was no clue as to why, but she became very aggressive, and much more than he could handle. In fact, our staff had to go to his home in order to capture her – she needed a professional capture.  With us, she was caged for awhile, as is normal for a new cat. Very soon a warning sign went up on her cage, alerting staff and volunteers that this was not a happy girl, and that she was not shy about letting you know it. I think there was more than one volunteer who quietly did all their shift except Darcy’s cage, asking the med staff to do that one.

Watching the cat-slave scooping....   (BC)

We had no idea what had provoked Darcy’s change; nothing showed on all her med tests, and the vets could find nothing wrong.  Even when we opened her cage, Darcy huddled in there, growling, daring us to enter her territory. She objected to anyone on her turf – human or feline – and her turf included not only her cage, but the passageway outside it.  Life was complicated by having several other black cats around – sweet Denzel occasionally strayed in from the deck, feisty Jade preferred the laundry-room but sometimes explored – it was necessary to watch your feet and ankles at all times.

Darcy loves feet -
sometimes to rub, sometimes to bite!  (BC)

With weekend visitors around, Darcy has joined the roster of cats wearing collars, denoting a reactive cat - and hoping to warn unsuspecting visitors that not all cats welcome touch. Darcy has mellowed somewhat in recent months. She has discovered the joys of making up to the med-staff, and that she can occasionally getting tasty treats, not always accessible to healthy cats. She also discovered that Louise is a soft touch, and will sometimes let her into the med-cage – generally forbidden turf to cats. 

Guarding the med cage entrance  (BC)

To quote volunteer Daphne: “The sanctuary cats definitely have a more prompt medical system than we do. We have to make an appointment, get referred somewhere, and wait forever to be seen.   Darcy feels that making an appointment isn’t necessary and waiting is not her style. Her display of “see me now because I’m dying” behaviour outside the Med Office is seriously Hollywood.”

"I need rescue!"  (DJ)

We still don’t know what was the cause of the psychotic episode that brought her to us. She’s calmed down a lot, and now allows herself to be picked up (though the picking-up is usually to put her down outside the door). She and mama Dazzle don’t seem to recognize or acknowledge each other.  Darcy is the cat who walks by herself – though she’s happiest when that walking takes her to Louise.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Daphne Jorgenson, Karen Nicholson