Hickory & Mitzi

Mitzi & Hickory  (KN)

For several years the DoubleWide Deck was known as tuxedo central, but in the last while the tabbies have been staging a takeover!  Luke, Bodhi and Denzel are still present, but they are also wandering more freely, and looking up at the furry pile on the mattress, there’s often more brown fur than black.  

Did you say chicken?  (BC)

Floor level is dominated by tortie Gwen, who doesn’t like other cats any more than she did at the beginning. They have learned to avoid her, and to stay outside her personal “bubble”. While the weather has remained fine, there is a steady flow of Deck cats out to the cat-tree by the New Aids entrance, and some of them venture further.

Hickory  (LBF)

Hickory and Mitzi are two of the most regular venturers.  They may well be litter-mates; they arrived four years ago from CATS rescue, in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. They are not particularly bonded, but may often be found together, since they both use the DW Deck as their base.   Hickory is a handsome dark tabby with the classic-tabby whorls on his coat. He is initially wary with humans, but ready to accept attention; he can often be found visiting cat-pals in Pen 1.  When the cat-door was first installed on the Deck he was one of the first to explore – and then got a bit panicked when he couldn’t find his way to return; he’s much more sure of himself now.

Luke with Hickory  (KN)

Hickory extends his social presence outside the Deck cats; if there is a courtyard gathering for chicken tidbits, he is often part of it. However, he’s not really interactive with the dominant boys of the Boys’ Club – Pumpkin, Walker, Quinn and their buddies. Hickory sits back and observes. Most of his socializing is with his tuxedo pals on the Deck.

Mitzi   (KN)

Mitzi is a big-eyed, stripy-variety tabby with a large white bib. She is very food-motivated, but not enough to make her act nice with humans;  she has a lightning front paw that is quick to smack. But the potential for tasty tidbits, brings her closer and closer, and though she’s not happy about being touched, she will tolerate it for the sake of an adequate pay-off.

Seeking a little sun-worshipping  (KN)

Like Hickory, she enjoys little excursions into the gardens, but tends to remain close to home-base; the platform with the cat-tree is her favourite place on a nice day; and she can dodge human attention easily.  Though the two of them mostly do their own thing independently, just occasionally we will see moments of affection (or possibly annoying-the-sibling moments) that signal a loving family connection.

Hickory & Mitzi  (KN)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson

The Great Escape

Well, strictly speaking, it wasn’t an escape (or it was one carefully planned by the staff.)  But the cats think it was an escape.

Mitzi musing on the outdoor experience  (KN)

Visitors to the Double-Wide will find there are several barriers to access. The main door is quite heavy – but there’s a cat-door carefully situated there for the times when there’s no human to be butler.  The door between the laundry room and the main room is very light, and there’s a cutout in the frame at the bottom. Many cats have learned how to open the door from either side, and the cutout prevents any tails from getting caught. And then between the main room and the deck, there’s another door – and once again, a cat-flap allows access.

Loki learning to manage the door  (KN)

For years the cats who have gravitated to the back deck have been the shyest ones, the ones who are wary of humans, even when out of reach. In this safe space, some of them have learned that we’re not so bad – but they are still wary about moving out of their space and braving what must look like an obstacle course. And to be honest, that’s what it is – the laundry room door in particular is a real barrier to a very shy or feral cat, and often that’s a good thing, since the cat spends more time where we can keep an eye on it.

Ringo hovering by the deck door   (BC)

Ringo is typical of this sort of cat.  He spent most of his first year tucked into a Back Deck corner as high up and out of the way as he could manage. He froze around humans, and floor level was not comfortable for him.  Then gradually we found he was making his way into the main room, mostly at times when there were very few people around. He was learning that not only humans, but also other cats meant him no harm.  Eventually he made his way through the building, probably managing the laundry room door when another cat went through. He established himself outside the DoubleWide door, making little forays to explore.  These days he spends most of his time out in the back pens, either sleeping in the gardens or following his buddy Zivko around. 

Ringo relaxed in the garden (MW)

However, very few of the other Deck cats seemed to want to follow him. Finally this summer it was decided that we needed another cat-door, and one was cut into the emergency exit that opens onto the passageway by Pen 1.  It didn’t take much to have a general exodus. There were a couple of early panics when someone made their way into Pen 1 and then couldn’t find the gate to return – but once that was solved, there was quite a lot of visiting.

Hickory returning from an exploration (KN)

Hickory was the most ready to explore beyond the immediate vicinity.  But he also appreciated a comfy bed at the top of the stairs.

Hickory just outside the cat-door  (KN)

Bubbles prefers to stay fairly close to the door for now – but he enjoys being a sun-worshipper.

Bubbles  (KN)

Denzel too is not venturing far yet – but you can see from his happy tail that he’s good with the change.

Denzel  (KN)

Ziggy took her time – but a nice comfy chair was too good to pass up!

Ziggy  (KN)

Ursula is remembering her outside life as a feral kitten – and we hope she's preferring what she has now.

Ursula (KN)

And, astonishingly, Kin, who prefers to hide, (see the blog of two weeks ago) also braved the cat-door and found a little patch of green where he could sit and think.

Kin, out in the big wide world  (KN)

There are still a few who’ve not poked their heads through the door – but we all know about curiosity and cats – and there’s lots in the back courtyard for them to be curious about!  Watch for updates...

Blog by Brigid Coult
Photos by Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson & Michele Wright

Garth & Sierra

Garth  (KN)

It’s more than 10 years ago that the Merritt cats came to us from a cat population explosion to which many BC rescues responded.  We took in about a dozen cats initially, but the stresses of a feral existence can carry into later life, and all those years later, we now have only three of them left: Desmond, Michonne and Garth. When the reduced group was moved to Pen 3, for a while we had two clear colonies: the Merritt cats and the little tabbies. In the last year, the group became much more fluid, and there was more social interchange.

Garth (KN)

Garth is a laid-back gentle giant. Like all the Merritt cats, he’s wary of humans, and too quick an approach results in a rapid retreat to the hiding places. But he’s happy to lounge around in the back section and let himself be admired – and when the right human approaches in the right way, he will allow limited contact and the consuming of treats.

Garth in the middle of the cuddle pile
with Annie and Desmond  (LBF)

For a long time the anonymous little tabbies (I could never sort out who was who) were the other part of the population, presided over by our beloved Dell.  Then we added Annie and Nikki Sixx Toes, ferals from Semiahmoo, with Nikki, like Dell, being diabetic. Sadly, that didn’t work out – Nikki was feral enough that medicating him in the pen was almost impossible. Annie and Nikki were split up, and Nikki was brought into the SingleWide, where he is flourishing and no longer feral.  Annie took a while to decide whether she was in the tabby party or the Merritt one, but decided that the latter was more interesting, and can often be found hanging out with her new buddies.

Hickory, Mitzi, Sierra   (LBF)

Enter Sierra.  Sierra came to us last year from CATS rescue on Vancouver Island – she arrived with Hickory and Mitzi – though not from the same situation. The other two adapted fairly quickly – Hickory is the tamer of the two – and based themselves on the DoubleWide deck with the other semiferals. Sierra, however, was NOT going to be friends with anyone. She spent her time huddled in a corner of her cage, all her body language conveying that she didn’t want to be touched, or even acknowledged, despite all the Kitty Comforters could do to coax her.

Sierra in hiding (KN)

Sometimes you just get cats like that. There are places where they would say “she’s not able to be tamed or adopted; put her down”. At RAPS we have the space to be able to say “she needs to be a feral and take her own time”. Sierra was put into Pen 3 and allowed to make her own decisions. For a long time she huddled in a bed in the cabin, or found herself a cosy straw bed in one of the kennels. Very occasionally she would sniff at an extended fingertip before pulling away.  

Garth & Sierra (LBF)

But in the last few months she seems to have attached herself to Garth – perhaps recognizing a bigger version of herself, and a source of comfort.  Initially she hovered on the edge of the group, but increasingly she can be found with him, and since he will accept a little petting from feral-charmer Lisa, she is also accepting it, especially when she’s cuddled next to him. 

We're letting her take tiny steps, trying not to force her to anything before she’s ready. 

Recently we've transferred the Pen 3 cats into Pen 4 - the latter is a larger space, and we needed to make room for another group of young cats that shouldn't be kept caged, but who need to be limited in range until we find who might be tamable.  The original Pen 3 cats seem to be settling down, and Sierra and Garth are finding new places in which they can hide or hang out together.  Many cats need the comfort of a familiar space, and if we ever opened the feral pens, these ones would likely never come out. And so what? - the RAPS Cat Sanctuary is their home, as long as they need it.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen & Karen Nicholson

Video by Lisa Brill-Friesen