Onyx

At last Saturday's pub night in support of RAPS (thanks to all who attended!), Louise was telling me about two black cats, Onyx and Topaz, who like to hang out in the tiny room in the doublewide where we keep the water heater.

When I went to investigate this evening, Topaz was off doing cat stuff elsewhere, but Onyx was there, comfortably installed on top of the water heater. She wasn't too excited about getting up close and cuddly with her uninvited human visitor, though, and soon scooted up to a shelf safely out of reach.

Louise had warned me that she's found Onyx isn't really into being touched, so I wasn't too surprised. If anything, I was grateful that Onyx was relaxed enough that she didn't seem to mind me being there just as long as I stayed out of arm's reach.

Onyx came to RAPS from the same place as Cara, Princess, Elmo, Huey, Hannah, Whiskey, Paris, and others. Like Paris, Onyx started off as a feral. She certainly is curious enough about people to enjoy a good stare. Perhaps she can be convinced that people cuddles aren't so bad either.

Paris

Paris is a feral who came to RAPS in 2003 from the same house that brought us Cara, Mooshie, Elmo & Princess, Huey & Hannah.

She might originally have been named Doll Face on account of her unusual face, but this was not a name she was widely known as, being so shy that she immediately scampered off into the back when she was let loose at the sanctuary and disappeared into the general shy black cat population.

Staff got to know her a little when she was brought inside for observation because she'd gotten quite skinny. She was given the name Paris at that time.
These days she'll let a person get close enough for a photo op, but still has that invisible feral boundary very much intact: come any closer and she runs off to reinstate the proper distance.