Care for the Caregivers

January 2024:  KitKat (MW)
KitKat loved her people (especially Justin) for shoulder time
and lap-time - other cats, not so much....

As we enter a new year, we often take time to review the year past, to celebrate the big occasions and remember the hard ones – and in particular, to think about the friends we have loved and lost in the past twelve months.  

March 2024:  Hope  (KN)
The grand old lady of the Front Courtyard, Hope loved both people and other cats;
her friends Carly and Celine really miss her

At the Sanctuary, we do this not only at the turn of the year, but also in the summer, on what we call the Day of Chance, when a potluck occasion offers the chance to gather in person and remember the cats who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge; I will sometimes write about them at that time, but I have made it a tradition to do a blog tribute to the cats we have loved in a turn-of-year posting like this one.

March 2024:  Huey  (LBF)
Gentle and wise, Huey was greatly beloved, especially by Daphne,
who called him her Quality Control Inspector in the Double-Wide

The term that is strongly in my mind right now, though, is Compassion Fatigue, and I want to take the opportunity to think particularly of our Sanctuary med staff over the past years. As any caregiver knows, it can be exhausting tending to the sick or the ailing, and their days are full of tasks that focus on the cats’ health – wellness checks, monitoring and treating diabetics, administering medications, dealing with ringworm and fleas and ear infections, fluids for kidney cats, complete tending of new incomers who are not ready for volunteer care, and many other tasks.

May 2024: Dodger (MW)
Named for the dodging of cars that brought her to us,
this sweet lady was the benevolent queen in the SingleWide.

Many human patients are grateful to their caregivers – not so, with the majority of cats, and it’s hard to have to express your love by immobilizing your patient in order to deal with an eye infection, or to deal with the dirty bum of an incontinent cat who hates the necessary bath.

May 2024: Cagney  (MW)
One of our oldest "detective" cats, (the link is to Claire's blog of 12 years ago).
Cagney struggled with arthritis in the last years - but always loved attention and tidbits!

It’s the med staff, too, with our RAPS vets at the hospital, who sometimes have to make the necessary call that a cat is suffering too much, and needs to be released from its pain – or who find a cat who has “crashed” and have to do the final run to the hospital.

June 2024: Midnight  (KN)
I spent a lot of time coaxing this feral boy into accepting petting and grooming; 
chicken and consistency were key, until his health took a bad turn.  Miss you, Midnight!

And it’s the med staff who are at the Hospital with the cats to the end, reassuring them as they pass that they are still in loving hands, and undoubtedly grieving as they drive back to the Sanctuary afterwards.

July 2024: Leonardo di Catprio  (KN - the last photo)
This boy was a Back Courtyard icon, and his passing took many of us
by surprise, though he had become more frail...

I don’t think anyone goes into animal rescue care for the money – it’s a calling more than a career.  And burnout is not uncommon – if only a dozen or so cats leave to find new homes by adoption, they are well outweighed by the number of cats who pass in a year.  We have an aging population, we have cats with health issues as the reason for coming to us, and we have many ferals who have begun their lives malnourished and at risk, and who carry the side-effects into their later years.  Someone has to arrive early every morning to give the necessary early meds – and someone is there late into the evening to deal with the last doses.

August 2024: Raisin (KN)
This sweet old lady had come to us via a Vancouver parking lot;
she was fearful and hissy, but learned that humans often brought good food.

Cats who have been greatly loved are watched carefully when we know their time is coming, and it’s the med-staff who are ready when a furry body is found cold in its bed.  How can this be anything other than emotionally exhausting?  We volunteers grieve when a beloved cat passes, but we don’t have to carry the burden of responsibility for all of them – and we can step away and take a break when needed.

October 2024: Tumbleweed  (LBF)
Another Back Courtyard icon - Tumbleweed had cerebellar hypoplasia,
with little control over his movement, but lots of determination, and many people who loved him.

So, along with remembering the cats we’ve loved and lost this year, let’s also remember the med staff who have given them care and love – often unwanted and unappreciated by their furry patients, but always necessary.  I am grateful that we can give the gift of a gentle passing when needed – it is both the most loving and one of the hardest things we can do for a beloved pet. And when we mourn a beloved feline friend, let’s remember that the med staff also mourn, and have to deal with the “nothing that could be done” frustration that comes at the end for caregivers.  

November 2024: Quinn (KN)
This shy sweet boy was wary to the end - unless you had a treat in your hand;
if there was food he would summon up his courage and allow contact.

In this New Year, I hope that they can take all that makes them the caregivers they are, and make self-care a priority, giving themselves as much generosity and love as they give to our furry friends, and turning compassion fatigue into compassion satisfaction.

November: Calvin (MW)
He was the longest, skinniest boy, with the biggest appetite, 
and LOOOOVED his chicken. Michele's favourite cat - so many pictures!

Blog by Brigid Coult

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

loving memories also of
January: Jethro, Maximilian & Plum  /  February: Perry  / March: Tashi, Desmond, Monty1, Brodie  /  April: Gigi, Portia, & Kiefer  / May: Layla & Chester / June: Salina, Lulu  / July: Hailey, Sambuca & Percival  /  August: Paylan, John Henry, Malcolm, Marie /  September: Ginger  /  October:  Bill, Clementine, Big Dave, Jillian  /  November: Tiki & Cinnamon  /  December: Meepos, Monty 2, Magnus & Len

Calendar 2025 - out-takes!

Peaches - but she's more gloriously calico
than you can see here!   (KN)

‘Tis that time of year again, and the phenomenon of the annual RAPS Calendar pops up.  Actually, it pops up back in July, with the beginning of my calls to photographers and the requests for specific considerations – are there pairs or groups? - is there anything seasonal? - are there particular stories to link to our models?

One photographer taken by the other -
with model Jasper at his most endearing    (MK)

This year the calendar features the work of staff members Karen Nicholson and Mike Fossey. All the staff and volunteers at the Sanctuary are known to whisk cell-phones out for quick pics, and many of them are really good, and have been featured in blogs and on the website. But Karen and Mike take their big lenses really seriously, and both have that magic eye for the personality of a cat.

We lost Raisin as we were doing last proofs -
and her portrait was withdrawn   (KN)

The Calendar is launched this week with pre-orders here, but, as I have done before in a blog, here are some of the ones that didn’t get featured for various reasons – though quality was not one of them!

This is so typical of Biggie - but do we really
want to see closed eyes for a full month?  (KN)

What are my criteria for shortlisting? I’m looking for a spectrum of colours and breeds across the year, with not too much dominance in any area. I’m looking to learn something about the cat in question, about their personality.  I’m looking for a picture that I can have on my wall for a full month and still see interesting things in it. 

It's good to see Boston out and about - but he
looks like he's emerging from prison!  (KN)

I try to avoid pictures with cage bars or pen netting where possible – though sometimes it’s artistically valid. And I try to avoid selecting a cat who has featured in the previous year’s calendar.

Such affection in this picture - but Thorne (R) was featured
last year, and we lost Percival (L) recently  (MK)

It’s hard to turn the page of a calendar and be faced with the picture of a cat that we’ve all loved and lost – sometimes we know it’s going to happen (as in Percival’s passing) and sometimes it comes as a shock to us all.

We miss you, sweet Leonardo diCatprio   (KN)

and sometimes I look at a photo of a cat and think “you’ll likely not be with us next year...”

old-lady Bricklyn is looking increasingly fragile  (KN)

With both Sam and Cheeto featured this year as our orange cats, I was sad not to be able to justify this picture of sweet Daffodil. She came from Kamloops, but missed out on bonding with the other orange floofs – she divides her time between the DoubleWide and the Newcomers.

Daffodil is still very wary around us  (MK)

Artistically, I really like the photos in which the cats naturally frame themselves, or in which the colour or texture of the object that hides them is also interesting;  in the end, that was why we selected Gizzard’s picture, rather than Barbie’s – she hid herself a little too much.

Barbie did NOT want to be in the open for her portrait  (MK)

There were a number of photos of the Cranbrook College cats, and of the Pen 8 Kootenays cats;  Li’l Bit from the first group won the cover picture prize, and Zoey being squinty claimed a page, but both had serious competition.

Bernadette, of the College cats, is a tree-climber to find a quiet place  (KN)

Already, I’m starting to think about the next calendar – can we do more seasonal shots? - do we need shots that show more of the Sanctuary? - who are the potential models who’ve not yet had their moment in the sun? - Gwen?  Kramer?  Amaretto? Oscar or Winston?  This is the thirteenth calendar from the Sanctuary, and there is a continuous flow of refugees coming into our care and no lack of potential pictures for next year.

Sweet Skye is shyer than her other sisters  (KN)

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Mike Kossey & Karen Nicholson

Now go and find the Calendar to see the photos that made it!
For online purchase, click HERE

Raisin

Raisin  (KN)

Pen 4 is the largest closed feral-cat area in the Sanctuary.  There are many ferals in the main courtyard who find their hiding places around the perimeter, behind draped shelves or buildings, but the Pen 4 ferals have their whole pen to themselves, with no other cats invading their territory, and few human visitors. There they have established their own colony, mutually tolerant if not affectionate.  Watching the College cats emerging around the back of Pen 2 in the evenings, weaving and bunting, it’s obvious that they love each other’s company – that sort of interdependence is less obvious in Pen 4 where the cats have come from different origins.  Now that all the Merritt cats have passed, Len and Lloyd are the most obviously bonded pair, and the others vary in who is interacting with whom at any given time.

So often hiding...   (BC)

Raisin came to us in the summer of 2022, trapped in a Vancouver parking lot as a single cat rather than part of a group, and she has maintained that sense of separateness in Pen 4. She bases herself in a tree at the edge of the pen where someone thoughtfully wedged a box to act as a shelter. She can sometimes be seen from the courtyard path, glaring down from her perch, and she retreats there whenever she feels uneasy.  Just beneath her favourite hiding place is one of the “igloo” kennels, and on sunny days she can be found on top of it, enjoying the warmth, but knowing that she has a quick retreat at hand if needed. 

Basking in the sun  (BC)

She will make her way across to the cabin for something to eat, but rarely opts for the company of other cats. As many of the others do, when a volunteer enters the pen to do some cleaning or offer food, she will disappear, but recently she has been remaining on her igloo seat and watching warily; if you approach and you’re not the right person, she will retreat.  Her “right person”, as with many of the Pen 4 cats, is Lisa Brill-Friesen; in addition to her staff work, Lisa is trapper, and foster-mom, and cat-whisperer for ferals. 

Venturing the front shelf for Lisa's tidbits   (LBF)

Fortunately, Raisin is treat-motivated, and Lisa has infinite patience.  From offering creamy Churu treats at the end of a long stick, to advancing to accept chicken tidbits from the hand, all the way to accepting firm petting, Raisin has made enormous progress.  She is still wary of everyone except Lisa, but she no longer scuttles into hiding when anyone appears.  She reluctantly accepted treats from me, but was quick to slash with a razor claw when she felt my hand was too close.  Like many of the long-haired ferals, she has some large mats that will probably mean she needs to be netted and at least partially shaved for her summer comfort – not a process she will enjoy, though it is a necessary one.

Her favourite perch - when feeling more secure  (KN)

All the signs say that she is feral – but the vets think she’s around 13-14 years old, and it’s unusual for a feral to live so long. A cat that is a stray rather than a feral may have a distant memory of human contact, and may re-socialize – but equally, may never overcome the fear that came with being lost. Most ferals live in colonies, but Raisin was alone;  who knows what her past holds?  All we can do is give her the care that ensures that her future holds security, food, and loving voices that encourage her to trust once again.

Blog by Brigid Coult

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