Favourite corners: the Val Jones cats

The small group of cats who live in the Val Jones area are favourites with a number of the volunteers. I know that I’m not the only one who visits on a regular basis to make a fuss of them.

Jerry - PH

The dominant cat in this area is Jerry. He’s always been something of a hair-trigger personality – for a while there was a semi-joke about whether or not one was member of a “Jerry Victims Support Group”. To be fair, it was not usually that Jerry attacked people, but if you got between Jerry and a cat he disliked, you usually came off the worse for wear!  . Most recently it was gauged that Breezer needed to be transferred out of the VJ and into the Old Aids next door; we are wary of having another dominant personality in this group – Jerry needs to be top cat! For a while he was not in good condition – what appeared to be a reaction to flea meds left him balding and uncomfortable. But his fur has regrown to its usual luxuriant length, and Jerry is enjoying being admired again.

Henrik - MW

In spite of his size, our sweet Henrik is actually quite shy, and no competition for Jerry.  Henrik is the brother of Daniel, out in the front courtyard (what else would you name a pair of red-heads who came in together?) but one of the side-effects of his FeLV is mouth ulcers, and the medication to ease that causes him to put on weight. Since he is also one of the larger cats in the area the effect is pretty startling.

And the side-effect of that is that he can’t groom himself effectively, so that a complete haircut is occasionally necessary.

Chip - CF

Chip is the brother of Dale, in the Double-wide. He’s the nearest thing Jerry has to competition, and tends to be very wary of him; mostly you’ll find Jerry in the left-hand cabin (VJ 1), and Chip in the smaller right-hand one (VJ 2).  Chip is a chicken-lover, and always emerges when there are offerings. He's a friendly boy, and likes human company.

Foxy - MW

This little boy came from the Newcomers area when blood-tests showed that what was obviously latent FeLV had become full-blown. He’s another chick-aholic, and we worry about his health when he’s not ready to chow down on chicken tidbits. Still very shy, you’ll usually find Foxy hiding on one of the lower shelves. He’s not ready to be petted, but humans bearing gifts are tolerated.

Mocha - MW

Cross-eyed Mocha is the last of a family of three cats who came in together. We recently lost her sister Cappuccino – a little torbie who looked nothing like her littermate. Her brother Pekoe (Orange Pekoe, of course) was one of my favourites when I first came to the Sanctuary, and other than colouring, looked very like Mocha – including the stubby tail. His sister is a little wary about being petted, but is very food-motivated.

Suga - PH

Sweet Suga came into the Val Jones about 18 months ago, and immediately settled down with her friends. She’s a snuggler – there’s often a cuddle-puddle in the Val Jones house, and Suga is inevitably part of it.

GusGus - MW

This sweet boy has been part of the VJ family for some time. He’s the brother of pretty grey Hope in the front courtyard, and Domino (now passed), and we cared for both his mother Joanie, and the cat we think was his father, Hudson. GusGus is one of my own sponsor cats, and I try to spend a little time with him whenever I visit. FeLV leaves him very susceptible to feline colds, and I’m always anxious when he’s off his food – it’s usually that he’s become congested and food loses its tastiness for him.  This is always an anxious time for us – with Feline Leukemia, the compromised immune system has a harder time throwing off any infection.

The VJ cuddle-puddle - GusGus, Mocha & Suga - BC

I know I’m not the only volunteer who loves to spend time with these lovely cats. The usual protocols apply – we are careful to wash before and after visits, not because FeLV is infectious, but because we need to protect them from the germs more easily tolerated by other cats.

Come and visit them on a Sunday afternoon, and get to know them better!

 

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Claire Fossey, Phaedra Hardman, Michele Wright

Mom-cat – love you!

The Sanctuary is home to a wide array of cats, most of whom are spayed and neutered as soon as they come to us.  But occasionally it’s too late, and Mom and kittens arrive together.  For some of the moms, motherhood is no big deal, and once the kittens are taken off for adoption, that’s it. For others, the role of mom-cat continues even at the Sanctuary.

Autumn's kittens (& Autumn, on extreme left);   Autumn today

Autumn arrived a couple of years ago with six half-grown kittens. Mom and offspring were placed in adjoining cages, and staff and volunteers rallied to socialize them. The kittens eventually went off to the No 5 Road Shelter for adoption – Treat was adopted by volunteer Carol, and Waffle’s adopter visited us recently, but poor Pancake was never adopted and is now back with us.  Mama Autumn was NOT interested in being tamed, but a couple of years have taught her that humans aren’t all that scary, and now she comes to us for attention.



Hiro (tabby) with Sophie (tortie)

Sophie and her son Hiro are established single-wide inhabitants. When Claire first wrote about them, Sophie was still very wary of human contact, but like Autumn, she’s mellowed. She can often be found lounging on one of the shelves on the right side – and without Hiro clinging to her, as he used to do in the early days.  However, they can still be found cuddling

Marissa (photo PH) and Paylan

Another single-wide mom-and-son pair is Marissa and Paylan. Marissa’s an up-top girl, though she usually likes to hang out where she can see the action. She’s also one of our chronically congested cats, and has to be caged every once in a while for medication. Chubby Paylan isn’t a mama’s boy, but is still quite shy of human contact.

Diamond (tabby) and Garfield (orange)

The mother-son pair we all love and would REALLY like to find a home for are Diamond and Garfield. They came to us as owner-surrender – their owner was really distressed about losing them, but her new housing wouldn’t allow them to stay. They lived for a while at the No 5 Road Shelter, but it wasn’t comfortable for them; they’re both BIG cats and couldn’t share a cage, and in fact Garfield was reduced to lying in his litterbox so that he could reach through and touch his mom. They’re a deeply bonded pair, and so we brought them to the Sanctuary where they could share a big enclosure, and still have room to move. Garfield has been having some treatment for his eyes, and both have relaxed to the point where they don’t have to be touching all the time. They are adoptable, but only if they can go as a pair – they need to be in a home where their diet can be supervised and they can be encouraged to get some exercise.

Joanie (left) & Val (right)

Mother’s Day, of course, may also be a time when some of us remember the mothers we’ve lost. This past year two mom-cats stand out for me: shy Joanie in the back courtyard was the mother of GusGus  (in the Val Jones pen) and soft sweet Hope, in the front courtyard. We don’t know what happened to Joanie, who was found one morning – probably of a heart attack.  And many of us are still mourning the loss of our darling one-eyed Val from the front courtyard – mother of Silverfox (Foxy), Latte and Paulo (and of Fury and Savannah, now gone). Right to the end, Val was boss-mom, batting her kids out of the way if they were reaching for a tidbit she wanted.

Memories and appreciation and love – that’s what Mother’s Day is about – for cats and humans!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Phaedra Hardman and Michele Wright

 

 

Graceless Kitties of July

It's been brought to my attention that we're overdue for the next installment of "graceless kitties"...

So here you go. Enjoy!

Huey
photo by Andrea

Honey
photo by Debbie

Bunny
photo by Debbie

huge yawn by little Frieda
photo by Claire

Huey again
photo by Claire

Bobby and pal
tummy rubs by Ayako
photo by Claire

Gus Gus
photo by Claire

Marmalade
photo by Claire

photo by Phaedra

and how could we have a Graceless Kitties post without Fred?
photo by Phaedra

Domino

By popular request, here's the brother of Hope and Gus Gus and son of Hudson and Joanie.

Meet Domino.

He's shier than his friendly siblings, at least with people he doesn't know. I was permitted to look and take pictures, but not to touch.

Debbie, who introduced us, says she calls him Charlie Brown Cat because the markings across his nose remind her of the black pattern running across Charlie Brown's t-shirt.

photo by Barbara

Joanie

When Leslie told me that Joanie, the shy feral mom of Hope and Gus Gus, could be found in the tearoom, I was doubtful of being able to even find her to get a proper look at her, let alone snap a clear picture.

I was pleasantly surprised to find her really very gracious about the whole thing. There was to be no touching, of course, and she'd lean as far away from me as she could with an expression of faint horror if I slowly extended a fingertip in her direction, but she felt secure enough to let me take as many pictures as I wanted and even stroke the cat sharing a basket with her.

With this willingness to at least breathe the same air as the scary humans, I wonder if she'll come around in time to thinking of us as potential friends. Perhaps a little chicken or tuna bribery is in order...

Gus Gus

Gus Gus is the son of Hudson and brother of Hope. He was trapped along with the other members of his family by Carol and Lisa. Like Hope, Gus Gus has been with RAPS since he was a kitten.

Gus Gus & Hope

photo by Barbara

photo by Barbara

Gus Gus gets his lynx tipped ears from his mom, Joanie. Not sure where he gets that white paintbrush tipped tail from, though!