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

Another Wobbly Boy

Ranger  (KN)

More than a year ago we took in our beloved Tumbleweed, who totters around, occasionally tumbling over – an example of a cat with CH or cerebellar hypoplasia, better known as wobbly cat syndrome.  Currently we have another wobbly boy on our hands – but wobbly for a different reason.  

Pets for me?   (LBF)

Ranger has been a resident of Pen 4 since he came to us – initially landing there as a feral, and gradually warming to human attention, so that he really doesn’t deserve the feral label any more.  Most of the Pen 4 cats run and hide, or at least distance themselves when we enter the pen – Ranger comes towards us, looking for acknowledgement and sometimes petting. Occasionally when I come to do the morning clean-up he will be waiting at the gate. I let him come out and do a little explore around, and usually by the time I’m done, he’ll be waiting to be let back in to Pen 4.

Out and about....   (MW)

The med staff keep an eye on where the shyer cats are, and they always check pens 4 and 7, the feral pens, so when Ranger was not around it didn’t take long for someone to investigate, and discover the poor boy struggling to get around. He was gathered up and popped into a cage for investigation, where it became clear that it was a vestibular problem. This is an inner ear condition, sometimes caused by an infection, sometimes idiopathic (meaning the vets just don’t know what makes it happen). We’ve had our share of cats like this. Carly Simon, in the front courtyard, had a run-in with it last year, and has now totally recovered;  our beloved Willow, in the back, still shows the tilted head that is a remnant of the condition.

Tumbleweed & Willow  (BC)

So now we have Ranger safely caged so that he can be medicated. He staggers around like someone who’s had way too much to drink. Initially he was in a raised cage in Newcomers, but med-staff Louise has relocated him to one of the DoubleWide cages. This gives several advantages – the cages are larger, the shelf can be taken out so that he won’t be tempted to climb and jump, and he will have more human contact, being closer to the med-staff.

on the mend   (BC)

I was working in the DoubleWide when Louise moved him, and he was not happy about it. As I did my rounds with canned food, fresh kibble and water, I could hear him protesting this new space – as we all know, cats usually don’t like change! Once work was done, I went to find him and spend time with him. Initially he was very active – awkwardly climbing across my legs, and feeling out his space. Once he was more relaxed, he went to finish off his dinner, have a drink (a pretty splashy affair!) and then proceeded to climb all over me with wet paws. It took a few position changes for him to find his comfort-space, and then he relaxed and slept for twenty minutes.

Lap time with a sweet boy  (BC)

I’m old enough that getting down on the floor with cats takes a bit of planning, and getting up definitely takes work! But Ranger was obviously calmer as I extricated myself, righted his cage and slipped out – I hope that just that bit of TLC time left him feeling less a stranger in a strange space. Now we hope that the antibiotics do their job of clearing up whatever has affected his inner ears, so that, wobble-free, he can get back to his beloved Pen 4, his pen-mates and the good life he has with us at the Sanctuary.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson & Michele Wright

Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed   (BC)

I’ve been holding off writing about this boy until he had his little glory-moment on the RAPS Pets and Pickers episode last week, and now I can introduce him properly. 

Pretty scared when he first came to us  (BC)

Sometimes our cats come to us without names, and the med-staff (or occasionally others) get to suggest them.  Sometimes they come to us with names they have carried all their lives, and we don’t change them – though we may modify them if we already have a cat by that name.  And sometimes our cats come from other rescues who name them for us – and occasionally it’s just the perfect name.

Finding a shady corner on a warm day  (DW)

Tumbleweed came to us last year from  the same rescue that sent us Marble and her family (in last week’s blog). And his name couldn’t have been better chosen.  You see, Tumbleweed is a CH cat – he has cerebellar hypoplasia, which is a condition sometimes found in kittens whose brains have have failed to develop fully in utero – specifically, the cerebellum, the portion of the brain that deals with fine motor skills, balance, and coordination. It is possible that a kitten could develop cerebellar hypoplasia if its mother is severely malnourished during her pregnancy, and  other inflammatory diseases of the brain such as toxoplasmosis infection may cause similar symptoms. However, the most common cause of this condition by far is infection with panleukopenia virus.

A little venture into the courtyard  (LBF)

The most typical CH symptoms are jerky or uncoordinated walking, swaying from side to side when trying to walk, a goose-stepping gait called hypermetria, mild head tremors, and/or intention tremors. Intention tremors occur when the cat or kitten intends to make some sort of movement and may be present to a minor degree when they walk, but are usually most pronounced when they try to do something more involved such as playing with a toy or bending over to drink or eat out of a bowl.  

Watching the TeaRoom action (LAB)

CH kittens or cats are in no pain, but need to live in a safe environment, since they have few defences. The extraordinary thing about Tumbleweed was that he survived as part of a feral colony for several years. I contacted Foster Kritters to ask about it -Tumbleweed showed up in his caretaker’s yard as an older kitten. She was feeding feral cats on her property and had been unsuccessfully trying to find help from a rescue – so she just kept feeding the cats. Tumbleweed grew up there with his family as part of the colony and possibly never left the property. It's quite secure and secluded, even though it's in a suburban area, so he really just got lucky. By the time we randomly met the property owner and learned about this colony, Tumbleweed was eight years old. This was quite a sickly and inbred colony so we stepped in right away to help. This is when we also discovered RAPS and reached out for help. We have very few options on the Island for a cat like Tumbleweed so we were thrilled when Valerie said he could come there to retire. 

Tugboat comes visiting  (KN)

He reminds me of our dearly loved Wobbly-Bob who had some sort of progressive neurological problem, and was very shy and wary because he couldn’t control his movement. In WB's case, the condition continued to develop, and was not CH.  Tumbleweed initially hid away in the Tea-Room; he had a bed under the chair by the heater, so it was prime real estate, and occasionally someone (in this case, our beloved Tugboat) would move in and be his roomie for a while. As the weather changed, Tumbleweed moved across the room to den up in the base of a cat-tree, and occasionally to climb it. He may not be very good at balancing, but he never stops trying. He was wary of people, but occasionally he bonds with a visitor – some of our young ones at the weekend are potential Kitty-Comforters, and Tumbleweed responds to their gentleness.

Enjoying time outdoors without fear  (KN)

He is now more ready to emerge when there is someone in the room, and can be coaxed to play with a wand toy, or to tumble and pounce and chase after a ball. He is starting to emerge from the Tea-Room in the morning and evening hours to explore a little;  most of the other cats just let him be, and his bed-time buddies are more drawn to him for his cosy bed.

Blissful belly-rubs  (KN)

In an untended colony he would have been unable to fend for himself or to hunt; he would have been easy pickings for a predator. He was fortunate to be in a colony that was being cared for and provided with food – and we are happy to be able to give him a really safe and loving home to live out his days in peace. 

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Leslie Ann Burgess, 

Brigid Coult, Karen Nicholson, Debbie Wolanski

Video by Joshua Levesque

October 2024 - we are grieving the loss of our sweet brave boy, who passed quietly in his sleep. Run wobble-free over the Rainbow Bridge, Tumbleweed!