Lassie

Lassie was trapped as a feral kitten at the same place in Ladner where we got Kenny.

She's tamed up over time, so that when she joined the crowd of front courtyard cats who greeted me when I arrived at the sanctuary this evening, it was hard to believe she'd ever been wild. She was happy to visit with me and receive any rubs on offer, to the point that she was hard to photograph because her efforts to stay within easy stroking distance made for a lot of awkward camera angles and out of focus shots. 

Lassie's hyperthyroid, which makes her a bit on the skinny side. Her most obvious distinguishing feature, though, would have to be her odd coloured left eye. It makes it easy to find her among other tabbies in the front courtyard.

Lana

Feral Lana started at the No. 5 Rd. shelter where Carol provided a quiet space for the new mom to be with her kittens. Once the kittens were weaned, they stayed at 5 Rd. where they could be adopted out and Lana moved to the sanctuary.

Lana is still quite cautious around people and if you move beyond her invisible comfort barrier she'll quickly run away. If she's feeling relaxed and surrounded by her cat friends, it's sometimes possible to get tantalizingly close to touching a finger to her nose before she bolts.

Lana with Nikki and Kenny

photo by Barbara

Fortunately, she does enjoy the company of other cats at the sanctuary. Notably, she's a member in good standing of the Mario Appreciation Society.

Kenny

Long time sanctuary resident Kenny came to RAPS in 2003.

photo provided by RAPS

One of a group of feral adults and kittens living under a bridge in Ladner, Kenny (along with another cat in the group called Emily) was named by RAPS in honor of the couple who'd been feeding and looking out for the colony. The couple themselves had called him Laddy. They trapped the cats and RAPS agreed to take them.

Initially wild as you'd expect a feral adult to be, Kenny had a chance to get more used to up-close human contact when he was brought inside for a dental. What he found easiest to get used to was being given all sorts of nice food. This, he liked.

photo by Barbara

Then Janice befriended him and was able to start him thinking that being picked up could be rather nice. And so he began to come to others wanting to be fed and to Janice wanting to be picked up.

Since then, he's lost first one and then the other of the big fangs that were such a prominent feature of early photos of him, but he does not appear to have let this cramp his style. He doesn't even take offense at Ann's nickname for him of "Kenny No Fang."
Too busy being friendly, I guess. Yes, this boy has turned into quite the people lover.

Updated October 17, 2011: Kenny left us on Saturday night, passing away quietly in his sleep. Sad as it is to know we won't be seeing him around anymore, if you've got to go, this has got to be the gentlest, nicest way to do it.