Shadrack

A common introduction for visitors to the Sanctuary cats follows entry into the Double-wide trailer. As in most areas, cats who are eager for human contact hang around within reach, but there is always a little crowd up on the top of the cages – anxious for attention, but not quite sure that they want to be too close to hands. Waving paws and cute poses are intended to attract attention – and treats.

CF

 The common culprits, when I first came to RAPS, were this little bunch – Shadrack, Dekka, Minky and Danny. We’ve lost the last two in the intervening years, but Shadrack and Dekka love their treats so much that they’ve lost all their fear of humans and are eager for petting (especially if chicken is offered!)
Shadrack came to the Sanctuary in 2010 with his brother Shakey from a situation at a cement plant where they were trapped and brought to safety. Shakey, as you might guess from the name, had a neurological condition that made him a little unsteady on his paws. One of our volunteers fell in love with him, and adopted him to a home where he would be kept safe. 

Volunteer Chris Stewart, who knew them both, said that Shakey was friendly from the start, but Shadrack was more wary of humans and not ready to be handled. Once his brother had been adopted, he joined the cage-top crowd, where he could mooch just out of arms-reach.

Shadrack & Jingles - photographer unknown

Safety, of course, is moot: when there’s another aggressive cat on the cage-top, sometimes you’re safer on the floor.
Gradually Shadrack became more relaxed, and joined not only the crowd on the floor, but also the crowd out in the gardens.

He’s not an easy cat to photograph – he’s one of those very active boys, constantly on the move – and the common reaction to a camera focus is to investigate it as closely as possible

With me he’s become more and more affectionate; he’s not yet ready to be picked up and cuddled, but the paws come up on my lap, and he kneads and blinks his love.  Chicken is a bonus – he’s another of the chicken-addicts (though not as extreme as Owl!) but even when there are no goodies, he enjoys being fussed over.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Claire Fossey & Michele Wright

That little pink tip...

We tend to think of cats as serene, elegant creatures – and for the most part, they are. At the Cat Sanctuary, we do have our raggedy, battered-looking favourites, and we know that when a cat starts looking unkempt it’s usually a sign of ill-health, and a quick trip to the vet follows. But for the most part, the cats do their own grooming, and lounge around looking picturesque.
Until you look closer...

Star
Yes, that’s a tongue sticking out. Sometimes it’s deliberate

Cappuccino - BIG yawn

Or a sign of concentration

Sara Lee - waiting to sample the first can of food

But for the most part it’s a signal to us that this is a cat that has had more than a few visits to the dentist, and has lost the front teeth that keep the tongue in place – so when the cat is relaxed, that cute little pink tip peeps out.

Chickadee sleeping (by Phaedra)

As humans, we’re aware that we have to look after our teeth – and sometimes that necessitates a dentist visit. But many non-cat people (and some cat-owners as well) don’t always realise that the same is true for their feline friends. And just like humans, some cats have naturally good teeth that never seem to need attention, others require a little care from time to time, and a few always have trouble with their teeth.
So we watch for a cat that is drooling a bit, or shows signs of being uncomfortable eating, and a vet visit quickly follows. There are several cats in the Sanctuary with no teeth at all. Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to make any difference to their liking for crunchy treats!

Chatter - "Treats, please!"

There are vets that recommend brushing your cat’s teeth. The thought of trying to do this with some of our feral cats is more than a little frightening – we rely mainly on good food and daily attention. It is noticeable that with our aging cat population, the dental bills have increased – but that’s just part of what goes with running the Sanctuary. 

Emily (by Phaedra)
But some cats just stick their tongues out because they like to!  Most of them have the ability to curl them way forward to get every tasty bit off the nose

Dusty
And like humans, some have the ability to curl them inwards

Minky
But for most of them, they do it just because it’s a sign of contentment, or that’s what’s most comfortable!

Rob Zombie

 

Marmalade

And the prize for the best tongue must go to a cat who is much shyer than he looks…

Dino

 

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Michele Wright and Phaedra Hardman

Danny

This handsome ginger fellow lives in the doublewide trailer at the sanctuary and can often be found on top of the cages.

Danny is a longtime resident of the sanctuary. Leslie remembers when he first came in he was in a cage together with some ferals, so it was unclear whether he was feral himself or just a frightened stray. Either way, it didn't take him long to lose his fear of the humans caring for him.

photo by Barbara

While he seems to like human attention for cuddles' sake well enough, what Danny is most enthusiastic about is food. Teaming up with cats like Dekka (pictured below), Minky and Shadrack, he dances, rubs and generally pulls out all the cuteness stops in a performance put on by the group most evenings at dinnertime. Like Dekka, he's also been known to reach down and paw at the head of a human standing within range if the dance routine alone isn't getting results quite quickly enough for a hungry kitty's taste.

Dekka and Danny

photo by Barbara

Minky

Minky is a long time resident of the sanctuary and has come to love it there so much that he doesn't want to leave.

Gaye tells me he was adopted out some time ago by a university student who had to move around a good deal. Sometimes she was able to take him, sometimes she would ask RAPS to take him for a time. She may have had to go back to Hong Kong, or perhaps there was some concern that the frequent change of living space might be hard on Minky, but in the end Carol suggested it may be for the best if Minky just lived full time at the sanctuary.

More recently, Minky was adopted out again, this time to a volunteer. This volunteer had known Minky for a long time but it was only now that she was able to take in another cat. To what must have been her considerable disappointment, the arrangement only lasted a month or so; Minky unfortunately felt a need to leave his mark around her home in that special way that cats do... He's not known as a pee-er, nor was this raised as an issue at his first adoptive home. Gaye says that by this time he'd lived at the sanctuary for so long that he just couldn't adjust to a home environment. And so back he came.

Minky & Shadrack

Minky & Yoda

Minky has a couple of physical "quirks" if you can call them that: two different coloured eyes and very sensitive ears. The first will help you tell him apart from other white cats wandering around inside and outside the double wide, the second means that too much time in the sun will give him sunburned ears - I'm told that once he had to be kept inside all summer for just this reason!
And then there's this thing he does where he curls his tongue into a little "U"... Apparently just because he can.