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

Dazzle

When visitors are taken round on Sunday afternoons, they are usually introduced to the DoubleWide trailer as “operation central”. This is where much of the laundry is done, this is where many of the cats that need medical care are caged, this is where the medics have their own cage, where they can keep all the tasty food needed to coax cranky cats into taking their meds safely away from healthy (and hungry) feline appetites. It’s a busy place. Many of the DW cats wander in and out at will; several have learned to open the door from both directions, and don’t have to wait for a helpful human. There’s usually a cuddle-puddle on the couch, and an active population on the cage-tops.

DW cuddle-puddle - BC

But a move on through the building to the back deck sees us in a very different space. The deck is a quiet haven for the shyer cats.  This is where Brighton and Hillie hang out, gradually getting used to human attention. Ringo spends all his daytime hours as high in the corner as he can get, safely out of reach. In the colder weather the heat lamps are on, and there’s a happy crowd of toasty cats on the mattress. At food time, some of them venture down, though others hang back until the waiter service is safely back in the main building.

Dazzle's suspicious glare - BC

Dazzle was, until recently, one of the latter. She would hover hopefully till dinner was delivered, but not get closer until the volunteer had left the deck – or she would hide under the shelf and glare. But in the last month or two, she’s not only been out more, she’s also been venturing into the main building, obviously flirting with the thought of attention from humans, tail quivering madly, but staying just out of reach.

Just a little closer...   BC

I contacted Kati, who had cared for Dazzle when she first came into RAPS care as a pregnant momma. Kati is one of our wonderful foster-parents, who will see new moms through birthing and early kitten-care. Sometimes an orphan can be added to a litter; sometimes, Kati is tied to the kitten room by the need for frequent bottle-feeds; sometimes in spite of everything she can do, the little one is too weak to survive. Kittens do much better in home-care where they will be handled and socialised, and then transferred to the Shelter for adoption.

Always more relaxed when high on a shelf - BC

Handling and socializing, of course, is a little difficult when you are dealing with an angry adult cat – and that was Dazzle.  Kati tells me that she picked up three kittens – two back and one orange – from the Shelter in May a year ago; they were only 3 weeks old. Dazzle was brought in a couple of days later, and they were never quite sure whether she was the mom. Initially she cared for the kittens, but then she turned on them and Kati had to remove them to safety. Kati shed much blood in the process of handling Dazzle until it was decided that she needed to be spayed and brought to the Sanctuary, where she continued her feud against humans, shedding more volunteer blood, given any opportunity.

You have something for me?  - MW

So it’s most satisfactory to see this new step in the relationship with this feisty little tortie. A hand held out to her will sometimes elicit a decided smack – but now it’s usually a smack without claws. Last week she came over to me and rubbed against my ankles repeatedly; I was able to reach down and give her a full-bodied stroke a couple of times before she backed off and hissed at me. Other volunteers are reporting that she’s accepting head-rubs when the mood suits her, and this week I watched as she accepted full-body, two-handed stroking from Claire.

Dazzle -  MW

There is much excitement when former ferals turn the corner and show that our patience and love is paying off. Dazzle obviously has her share of “tortietude”, and this won’t be a quick process, but it’s wonderful that she feels safe enough to relax her former wariness around us.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Pictures by Brigid Coult & Michele Wright