As Cats Age....

This is Adopt A Senior Pet Month....

Anxious Tikki, when he first came to us - LBF

Any month is a good one to adopt a senior cat, to my mind.

All over the Lower Mainland (probably all over the world) we’re dealing with the aftermath of kitten season, and shelters – the RAPS City Shelter as well – are full of kittens. And as we all know, kittens are CUTE, and people respond to them easily.  What cat-parent neophytes don’t always realise is that they have to get through the equivalent of the terrible teens to emerge with a cat who you can settle down and live with for the next 15-20 years.

Rufus, enjoying the sun - MW

When you adopt an older cat, you know what you’re getting, personality-wise; you’re past the destruction-just-for-fun stage that kittens rejoice in, and you can be pretty sure that if your cat “misbehaves”, it’s either for health reasons, or it’s because something in your life is stressing it. Most older cats have settled to the sleep-most-of-the-day pattern that is so common to cats, and are happy to sit quietly with you – though play-time is welcome (and necessary, to keep your indoor cat active).

ZeeZee has health issues we need to watch - MW

What constitutes “senior”? A cat of 7-10 years is considered “mature” - the equivalent of someone in their 50’s, perhaps. Seniors are those over 10, and a cat of 15+ can be considered a Super-Senior. And like humans, some senior cats are active and engaged into their golden years, while other are getting frail and need more tending.

Kiko's distinctive bass voice can be heard in pen 6;
she can still be a bit cranky! - KN

At the Cat Sanctuary we have several categories of senior cats, some of which are adoptable, while others will continue to do better in our care. A lot of our seniors have grown old with us; they are cats who came in as young ferals, who have gradually acclimated to human care and attention, and are now friendly – but also regard the Sanctuary as their home. They are not cats that we would adopt out unless they made the decision to bond with someone, and even then, a transition to a new home can be stressful.

We recently marked what we think is the 20th birthday
of our sweet Jody - MW

The cats who have come to us as owner-surrenders are often with us because they’re poop-ers, pee-ers or biters!  But we also have cats come in because their owner is no longer alive, or has gone into a care-home – and the transition can be very hard on a cat. Sweet Krissy took a whole year to emerge from hiding, and is only in the last year becoming really sociable with people in general.

Krissy actually loves attention now! - MW

Tikki is still grieving the loss of his home, and the owner who loved him and had to go into care; Tikki is now starting to respond to staff and volunteer approaches, though he does not like other cats coming into his space. It’s good to see him finally venturing out of his “safe” place, and enjoying cuddles with the people he likes.

From being scared and shut down, Tikki now enjoys cuddles - LBF

Baby is an elegant lady in the Moore House, who came to us very angry at the disruption of her life, but who has now settled down to be admired and petted.  She is a little arthritic, but there is medication for that, and she is feeling much better about life.

We love Baby's casually elegant pose! - LP

Also in the Moore House are Rufus and Wink;  each came in as one of a bonded pair, and then had their partner pass.  Wink is still a little wary around people;  Rufus loves attention and he loves to eat!

Tootsie on the prowl - KN

Two other cats in the DoubleWide are senior adoption prospects – both tuxedos. Tootsie had actually been adopted and was returned because she showed a persistent skin infection which is now well under control; she’s a very sweet girl who loves attention and reponds well to petting.  And Survivor – now known as “Sir”, has a sad back-story; his owner died, and nobody in the family was a cat-person. Sir was left in the apartment, with someone coming in to feed him every few days. Unfortunately, the feeder was also not a cat-person, and just tossed food at him and left. As funeral time approached, the family decided to euthanize the cat and put him in with his owner. Luckily one of our contacts was able to say, “Sign him over to us; we’ll care for him”, and Sir came to us.. The poor boy was pretty shut down for a while, but time in an open cage with the undemanding company of Tugboat and Oliver, and he’s now exploring and responding to human contact.  Sir would love to find someone to be his person again.

Survivor - now known as "Sir" - KN

In taking on a senior cat, of course, you take on potential heartache;  anytime we adopt a pet, we know that heartache will come because they live shorter lives than we do, but with seniors it also comes sooner. But balance that against the love they give, and what we can give to them in their final years, and it feels to me like a great bargain.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Karen Nicholson, Louise Parris, Michele Wright

Tea-room Tabby Royalty

The back courtyard at the Sanctuary is home to several tabbies, and Stella is the queen!

Stella on her favourite throne

A large-boned girl with a certain presence, she can usually be found holding court on top of the cat-tree just outside the Tea-room;  if the weather is less pleasant, or the humans are meeting in there, she will claim the top of one of the shelves or the table.

The tea-room table becomes the throne

There she seeks attention with conversation and the odd waving paw. She doesn’t want to lap-sit, and she spends as little time at floor-level as she can manage, but she likes to be noticed and acknowledged.

We are not amused...

Stella came to us a few years ago when her family situation changed, and the stress caused her to become a pee-er, as sometimes happens with unhappy cats. She was even unhappier, initially, when she was surrendered to RAPS and brought to the Sanctuary.

Anything can be a throne - it's all in the attitude...

But time has done its work, and Stella is well settled with us.  She’s not much into the company of lesser cats; she’s not nasty about it, like Parry or Licorice – they’re just beneath her notice.

In the summer the throne is framed in floral offerings

Occasionally, a visitor will confuse her with Sophie. Sophie is  not a queen, she’s a spoiled princess, and things have to go her way at all times. In token of this, she wears a collar to remind people that she can sometimes be a bit nasty if she feels we’re not paying the right attention to her. Behaviour like that is beneath Stella’s dignity.

Sophie smirks - I can swat before you touch me...

Sophie is one of the cats who came to us from Five Road several years ago, and spent time in Pen 2 with Calvin, Chase, Celeste and Zivko for tabby company.  Even before the pen was opened, Sophie was eager to be out, and she, Parry and Taffy have relocated themselves from Pen 2 to the Tea-room.

Approach with caution - even outside...

Sophie wants attention but it has to be just so. Reaching to touch her is risky, but she is often ready to leap up on your lap. Better still, she likes the game of jumping on your chair just as you are about to sit down. Touch has to be around the neck and ears but not down her back; teeth and claws come into action quickly if you don’t read the body language correctly.  She definitely doesn’t like the other cats!

Queen Mothers enjoy floral tributes too

The third Tea-room tabby is Jody – and most of her time is spent on a shelf in the bathroom.  If stella is the Queen and Sophie the spoiled princess, Jody is the elderly, and slightly confused, Queen Mum.  She is very much a loner, though she adores human attention and will lick the petting hand as long as it is allowed. 

Jody says "Somebody pet me!"

Occasionally we will hear despairing wails that are characteristic of a geriatric cat who doesn’t quite know where she is; a little petting, and all is right with Jody’s world again.
These three tabbies could not be more different in personality, but they’ve chosen to share the same space, ignoring each other (and most of the other cats) with varying degrees of grace.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Michele Wright

Kitty Cuddles

Nose-bumps - MW

What constitutes a cat kiss? Cats show affection for each other by “bunting” (rubbing cheeks and exchanging scents), by head-bumps, by exchanging slow eye-blinks and by mutual grooming. And when a cat shares any of those behaviours with a favoured human, you’re being marked as an honorary cat.
People who profess themselves to be dog people rather than cat people will tell you that cats are aloof, and that to enjoy affection you need to get a dog.  It’s certainly true that many dogs are very focused on their own humans, and that many cats are more reserved – as the saying goes: Dogs come when they’re called; Cats take a message and get back to you.  But cat lovers know that the surface reserve can hide deep affection, and that once a cat has given its trust, you become a vital part of its life.

Debo loves Jocelyn - MW

At the Sanctuary the cats meet a great variety of people: there might be as many as 150 volunteers through in a week between the morning cleaning shift and the afternoon feeding one, and the Kitty Comforters,plus the Sunday visitors.  In quieter areas, like the Moore House, there are fewer humans around; in the double-wide or the front courtyard there’s always someone coming or going.
With all that activity, building a relationship of trust with a Sanctuary cat takes time and patience and consistency. Some of them are always wary; with others it’s primarily cupboard love that produces the attention.  But many of us have “our” cats who come for attention and who relax in our arms.

Jody always looks worried - BC

Sweet Jody would probably not be on everyone’s list. Jody is/was one of the tea-room bathroom cats; the late Baby, Piper and Jody used to share the three shelves there, hating each other, and each laying claim to their own space. Since we lost Baby, Piper has migrated out to the tea-room and Jody has mostly moved into the double-wide laundry room, where she jealously guards her bed from other cats, and looks pleadingly at passing humans. She doesn’t want to move, but she does love being petted, and she responds with little kissy licks, coaxing the caressing hand to stay just a little longer.

Eva - PH

Visitors to Old Aids (actually the home of most of our leukemia cats) may overlook Eva, a tubby tabby who often tucks herself away. Eva has her favourite humans, though, and once she trusts, she snuggles in, putting her paws on your shoulder and giving little licks to the nearest bits of exposed skin or hair.

a Michele and Emery selfie!

Sometimes the cats that don’t get on with other cats do better in a bigger area. Emery usually seems to have the ability to blinker out the felines around him, getting upset only when someone moves into his immediate space.  He’s definitely a human-centred cat, though – Emery’s favourites know the heart-warming experience of an Emery-hug, and a cold nose snuggled into the neck! It’s too bad that this sweet boy expresses his stress by peeing in corners...

a rare moment of contentment for Leland - MW

Leland is another cat who doesn't do well at the Sanctuary. He is most often found pacing the front courtyard near the gate - the objective being to get between the gates separating front and back so that he can be spared the contact with all the other cats. Unfortunately for him, that's a no-cats-land area. He expresses his displeasure freely in a series of grumbles, he wants human attention, but in a limited way, and when things get too much for him, he picks a fight with another alpha cat.  But Leland has his sweet moments. In the right mood, a snuggle with a human is just what he loves best - especially when his best friend Debbie offers to cuddle him like a baby. That face tells you that for a moment, all is well in Leland's world.

Alice and Blanche have a tender moment - MW

When Blanche first came to us, she longed to be outside, and was usually found somewhere in the back courtyard. In the last while she has developed some physical problems that limit her mobility, but she has discovered that living on one of the double-wide shelves carries the bonus of accessibility to her favourite humans.

There’s nothing like a set of kitty-kisses to make all feel right in the world!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Phaedra Hardman & Michele Wright

Garbo cats - back area

One of the first blogs I wrote, back in the summer of 2014, introduced a number of the front courtyard inhabitants as The Garbo Cats, who want to be left alone by other felines, though they may more readily accept human attention.  The back courtyard and double-wide cats seem to tolerate each other much better, but there too we have our share of loners – cats who prefer to avoid the company of others. 

 MW

The queen of these antisocial felines has to be Jingles. When I first came to volunteer at the Sanctuary, I was warned about one cage in the double-wide which was labelled as Jingles’ home.  It had formerly been the med-cage until our medics got moved to a much lighter, slightly more spacious area, and then it became the safe haven for (and from) an angry little black cat. Claire introduced her in 2009 as The Cat Who Hates Everybody, and she had herself quite a reputation for lashing out at the unwary.

 MW

These days Jingles no longer confines herself to a single cage, but she still remains a Cat Who Walks By Herself (or more accurately, lies – she’s not a very active girl!).  She’s much more accepting of petting from human passers-by, but you have to keep an eye open for other cats who think that it’s their turn for attention – at a moment’s notice Jingles will decide that someone’s in her space and she’ll swat whatever is nearest.

 Baby - PH

New volunteers are routinely warned about orange Baby, in the tea-room.  He’s been labelled a Jeckyll & Hyde cat, because his personality can change on a dime, and when Baby bites, he bites hard. Interestingly, I don’t think he’s a nasty cat; he’s very wary around other cats, and his personal space is important to him.  Most people, he just ignores, but  he’ll accept careful petting from the humans he likes.  It’s been a while since he’s actually attacked anyone, and we’re hoping he’s grown out of it, and is more accepting of his surroundings.  But we all read his body language very carefully!

 

Piper - PH / Jody - MW

Baby shares the tea-room bathroom space with two other antisocial cats, and it’s amusing to watch them jockeying for space on the three shelves by the sink. Piper, who is usually at the top, is quiet about her dislikes – she just removes herself from the space (unless occasionally she comes face-to-face with another cat).  Much more vocal is elderly Jody, with her worried face, often found on the middle shelf. When there’s a vocal protest going on, it’s usually Jody telling someone to get the h*** out of her way. She adores human attention, however, and loves to lick the caressing hand.

BC

My own favourite Garbo cat at the back is Emery. This tabby Manx boy probably has a bit of Bengal in him, with the same long legs and athletic build as Lucky.  He avoids all contact with other cats and prefers not even to look at them if he can help it.  I find that he’s quite often one of my greeters at the gate, if it’s quiet, and he will occasionally ask to be picked up and cuddled. More often, you will find him tucked away on a shelf inside an open cage, where he will often reach out and climb onto a shoulder.

 MW

 If he’s in a particularly relaxed and loving mood, he reaches up to put his paws on my shoulders and snuggles his head into my neck – totally guaranteed to melt the heart!

ML

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Phaedra Hardman, Moira Langley & Michele Wright

Jody

photo provided by RAPS

Jody, as quoted in the RAPS sanctuary photo gallery:
"I'm an independent, feisty little girl hoping to find someone who likes to rub faces and won't let other cats anywhere near me."

I most often come across Jody in the laundry room. She can be very friendly when in the mood (which, in my experience, is quite often) and will bestow as many cat kisses as one has the patience to receive.

Some say she can be a bit unpredictable. Surely not...

OK, maybe a little.

To be fair, she wasn't biting hard. 'Twas just a nibble, really.

The feistiness comes more into play when there are other cats moving into her space and generally cramping her style. As much as we keep them warm and safe and fed and loved, there are some cats at the sanctuary who would just be happier in a home where they can be the one & only.