Warm and fuzzy feelings

To mark Valentines this year I decided to look at some of the cats that have obviously developed deep attachments to each other. For a few of them, they’re family relationships – mother and son or siblings – for others there is obviously The One Important Cat – and then there are a few who just send out the pheromones that say “I’m lovable!”, and the other cats gather around.

Bantam & Simone - CF

Any visitor to the single-wide will be greeted by the cuddle-puddle on the dryer – led by two grey cats who came from the same source, and are probably siblings. They are happy for a little interaction with humans, but they really love to be with each other.

Garfield and Diamond- MW

Blog-readers may remember Hiro and Sophie, who are often found together – Hiro is a mama’s boy, but has recently started to be a bit more independent. We have just welcomed to the Sanctuary Garfield and Diamond, who are similarly attached. They are in fact adoptable, but being at the Shelter was too scary for them in the small cages there; with us they have room to move as they please – but mostly to snuggle.

 

Liam and Lady Lightfoot - PH

Liam and Lady Lightfoot in the New Aids are often found together, but Phaedra tells me it’s rather a one-sided affair – Lady has something of a crush on Liam, which isn’t entirely reciprocated. Phaedra says, “When Lady snuggles up to Liam he will slowly move to another spot; usually she doesn’t take the hint, and follows him. Liam usually relents because he's a peaceful little guy.”

Many readers will remember our dearly loved Mario who had a harem of devoted followers of both genders who trailed round after him

Mario & Shrek (RIP) - CF

Just over a year ago we lost Mario to cancer and for a while his followers were bereft; Nelly in particular is wary both of people and of other cats and hasn’t found another love. But it was apparent that Mario’s mantle had, at least in part, descended on Salty, who can often be found on the double-wide couch, absolutely surrounded by furry bodies.

The couch cuddlers - MW

He does seem to have a favourite, though – he’s most often seen with Lana – so much so that we chose their picture for the February picture in the calendar this year.

Lana & Salty - MW

There are a few other cats who seem to have that magnetism.  Kiddie is a double-wide table-top cuddler - frequently found sleeping (or trying to) with another buddy

Prince & Kiddie - BC

 Shy black Jet in the back courtyard has a devoted following – here he is with one of his favourites

Jet & Mad Max - MW

and beautiful Foxy (Silverfox) in the front courtyard is usually found with his buddy Cheetah

Silverfox & Cheetah - BC

Sweet Pea is often avoided by humans, because of her dirty back end, but quite often she can be found cuddling with one of her buddies – Lillix, in this case

SweetPea & Lillix - LL

When Shuga was diagnosed with feline leukemia, she and her buddy Esme were delighted to be reunited in the Val Jones enclosure.

Shuga & Esme - BC

Many of the AIDS cats have become so as a result of fighting in their feral days – at the Sanctuary, “fixed” and fed and warm, they’re more often found cuddling together than doing battle. And now we discover that the newcomer in Old Aids, Bubba, is another charmer like Mario, for both cats and humans. Even the alpha male, Merlin, seems to gravitate to the new boy, and shy Kojak was seen being tenderly washed by him.

Happy Valentine’s Day – to cats and humans alike!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Phaedra Hardman, Claire Fossey, Leslie Landa & Michele Wright

 

 

Artemis

Artemis is a shy black longhair who loves friend-to-ferals Jet. She's not so sure about people, though. Here was her response to my attempt to get anything but a distant photo of her:

Artemis was one of a few cats trapped at Richmond Sushi in 2006. Others were Twilight and Lillix. Apparently, all three came to us with different names: Artemis was Tootsoya, Twilight was Rocomi, and Lillix was Wasabi. The original names didn't really stick to these three feral girls running around the back pens, and so they came to have the names we know them by today.

Lillix was brought inside and tamed early on, and Twilight has recently started to realize that she likes people even when she's not in a cage, but Artemis seems a bit more comfortable sticking to her suspicions that humans must be up to no good and are best stared at from a height.

Twilight

Twilight was brought to the RAPS sanctuary several years back as part of the same feral group as Lillix. In fact, Leslie thinks there's a very good possibility that the two might be sisters.

Lillix was brought inside and tamed early on, but the others remained shy kitties in the back pens. We've recently gotten to know Twilight better after staff noticed she was getting quite thin and brought her in for observation. She turned out to have worms but nothing else wrong with her, and so she was treated for that and then just kept inside to fatten her up.

Staff were also able to take the opportunity to work on getting her used to the idea of humans as a source of friendship and cuddles. It's been a slow process, but when Leslie went into her cage this evening, Twilight came out from her hiding place to greet her with purrs and rubs. I later went into the cage myself and was treated to some quality purrs as I stroked her.

A note on the use of cages

The c-word. This is a touchy one when looking at animal shelters.
I'm talking about cages.

I remember once as a child I begged my dad to take me to the local animal shelter to see the cats only to be faced with a bank of small, mewling cages. An especially desperate cat reaching through the bars to try and touch me led to my having to flee in tears. I still find it an upsetting episode.

Imagine how the cats felt.

A July piece in The Examiner on the San Francisco SPCA quotes Shelter Medicine Department director Dr. Jennifer Scarlett:

“Keeping large numbers of animals healthy and being mindful of each has always been an issue for me personally,” Scarlett said. “The traditional shelter environment in particular is extremely stressful for cats. They are small and so it’s easy to cram them into a small space. Unlike dogs, they don’t make a fuss, yet when you put them in a cage the size of an oven, they shut down. Also in a small space, cats are forced to exist right next to their litter boxes, which is contrary to their fastidious nature, not to mention, they unable to do normal cat things – stretch, walk, play and rest comfortably.”

Given that this is the sort of image that the word "cage" can evoke in relation to animal shelters, I've been reluctant to use it when talking about the RAPS sanctuary for fear of giving a wrong impression of the place. Perhaps I should explain.

The vast majority of the cats at the sanctuary are free to wander as they will around various parts of the complex.

If any of these cat should become ill, they are moved to a cage for observation and treatment, then let out again as soon as they are well enough.

Newcomers are given a cage to give them time to adjust to their new environment without having to deal with hundreds of other inhabitants at the same time. Cats like Rita especially need this kind of refuge. Young ferals are much more likely to become tame and friendly if they are placed somewhere they will be regularly exposed to humans. Take Lillix, for example.

When I first met my two, they were in a large cage with four other cats.

Why so crowded? They'd all been housemates before being surrendered and it allowed them to stay together.
The four were let out soon after I adopted Daphne and Leo, but Snowball has recently been returned to her old cage, which she now has all to herself, for a "time out" because she needed a break from all the other cats.

I spent some time with her in there after my shift this week and found her looking more relaxed than she's been in a while.

Next up: Aurora, cage dweller by choice!

Lillix

As I wrote in my last post, dinner in the double wide is never served without the supervision and assistance of a number of cat helpers. This is increasingly becoming the case with the clean-up as well.

The 4 cans times 16 plus plates of cat food distributed at feeding time equals that many cans needing to be washed in preparation for recycling. There's an audience of cats sitting on every available surface watching me work, so I didn't really take much notice of this one little black cat with white paws until the day she stared a little longer at the tap running on full, cocked her head to one side, then gave the stream a little swat.

Splash splash...

The next week she's sitting on the edge of the washing machine next to the sink, waiting for me. I had trouble filling the water jugs we use to top up cats' water dishes because she would keep sticking her paw in under the tap and diverting the flow.

The next week she's waiting in the sink.

I'd seen a video that RAPS volunteer and blogger Barbara Doduk had taken of Lillix chasing a stream of water around the sink like it was the best cat toy in the world. This, of course, had to be tried...

...with most gratifying results.

By now I hear that Lillix the waterbaby is a common occurance. She loves playing in the sink so much that it can be hard to get to all those cans that need rinsing out. And no, you can't deter her by threatening to pour water on her - she's quite willing to get totally soaked over the course of her game. You just have to physically remove her from the sink.
And repeat as needed.

Given all the fun and games, I was surprised to hear from Leslie that Lillix came to the sanctuary as a shy feral. Here's what Leslie had to say:

"Lillix began her life at the sanctuary a few years ago as one of many young feral cats in one of our back pens.  When we decided to open the gate and let them run free, the shy kitties scattered and spent their days in hiding.

One afternoon, I spotted Lillix on the Newcomer's Deck, thought her extremely cute and decided to capture her and take her indoors.  We placed her into one of the big cages in the double wide, and began to familiarize her with human touch. In no time at all, Lillix began to respond and became very affectionate. We discovered that one of her front legs is turned outward, possibly from an injury at birth, but that it doesn't in any way impede her movement.

Now that she is tame, Lillix has become a favorite of many sanctuary volunteers. Her attempts to capture the water that pours from the tap (while oblivious to her sopping wet body) is a new game that everyone finds endlessly entertaining."