Favourite corners: The Val Jones area

Most volunteers working at the Sanctuary come in on the same day each week and work in the same area. “Work” is important – whether cleaning or feeding – but there are very few of us who don’t also take time for cat-cuddling. Sometimes that occurs when scooping a box; people at floor-level are ideal sitting-places, after all. Sometimes it’s while changing bedding; shifting a cat so you can shake bedding out always leaves one feeling a little guilty for disturbing sleeping felines, and a little pause for petting is always in order. And many of us develop close relationships with “our” cats.

Paulo & Latte - MW

For the staff, for those of us who come in more frequently, and for the Kitty Comforters, the scope is greater. I do a lot of fill-in shifts, and I enjoy sometimes being in the back pens, or in Old Aids, feeding in Single-wide or Double-wide – and getting to know a wider variety of cats.  There are some areas I rarely get to work in, and when writing about a cat in those areas, I usually turn to one of the staff (mostly Phaedra) for the “inside” on their ways. But no matter where I work, there are favourite areas and cats I will return to visit, just for the pleasure of their company.

Sweet Val-cat - photo by one of our Rotaract volunteers

Fury was the one black cat in Val's litter

The south-east corner of the front courtyard is known as the Val Jones area. I turned to Board member Geri Tiller for information about Val, who was a good friend of hers.
Geri says:
“Val Jones was an executive with the Fraser Port Authority, and called Carol Reichert at RAPS  because there were feral cats around the South Fraser Port Authority land and one in particular, an orange male who had an abscess on his head. Carol asked me if I would try to trap him and that's where it all started. Valerie had been feeding cats for a while and had converted a storage shed so the cats would be safe and have a shelter from the cold weather.
Val and I met under the Arthur Laing bridge several early mornings and we would set the traps together.  Sometimes we were lucky and over a two month period we managed to trap 15 cats including 5 kittens. From that group of cats came Foxy (Silverfox), Savannah, Paulo, Fury, Latte, Valerie, and others. I named Val-cat after her – though at the time of her capture she was of the most ornery, cantankerous felines I'd ever run into.  Valerie (human) particularly loved one cat which we could not catch but since she was there feeding it we felt it was ok. She would come and visit the Sanctuary on Sunday afternoons and bring treats.”

Savannah & Silverfox (Foxy) - MW

Valerie Jones was affected by ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and was taken from us much too young.  Geri attended her memorial, and spoke publicly about Val’s love for the cats – Val’s family came to visit the shelter the very next day. Subsequently they heard of various Sanctuary projects and decided that they wanted to donate the funds for the construction of what became known as the Val Jones area.  This bequest to the Sanctuary allowed us to build two cabins in the corner, and the area was named for her. Once it was completed they came once again to see the shelter and the homes that had been constructed in her memory.


Val Jones huts - Christmas 2015 - BC

Two years ago the adjacent enclosure known as Old Aids (which actually houses cats with feline leukemia) was becoming more crowded, and we fenced the Val Jones area off from the main courtyard to allow us to extend space for new leukemia-positive cats to come in. Sadly, pretty Savannah tested leukemia-positive, and took up residence in this corner that she already knew.
We have since lost Val-cat and three of her youngsters to cancer; but that peaceful little corner continues to shelter a sweet group of cats who will be introduced next week

Looking into VJ 1 - BC

Blog by Brigid Coult, with thanks to Geri Tiller

Pictures by Brigid Coult, Michele Wright

 



Mom-cat – love you!

The Sanctuary is home to a wide array of cats, most of whom are spayed and neutered as soon as they come to us.  But occasionally it’s too late, and Mom and kittens arrive together.  For some of the moms, motherhood is no big deal, and once the kittens are taken off for adoption, that’s it. For others, the role of mom-cat continues even at the Sanctuary.

Autumn's kittens (& Autumn, on extreme left);   Autumn today

Autumn arrived a couple of years ago with six half-grown kittens. Mom and offspring were placed in adjoining cages, and staff and volunteers rallied to socialize them. The kittens eventually went off to the No 5 Road Shelter for adoption – Treat was adopted by volunteer Carol, and Waffle’s adopter visited us recently, but poor Pancake was never adopted and is now back with us.  Mama Autumn was NOT interested in being tamed, but a couple of years have taught her that humans aren’t all that scary, and now she comes to us for attention.



Hiro (tabby) with Sophie (tortie)

Sophie and her son Hiro are established single-wide inhabitants. When Claire first wrote about them, Sophie was still very wary of human contact, but like Autumn, she’s mellowed. She can often be found lounging on one of the shelves on the right side – and without Hiro clinging to her, as he used to do in the early days.  However, they can still be found cuddling

Marissa (photo PH) and Paylan

Another single-wide mom-and-son pair is Marissa and Paylan. Marissa’s an up-top girl, though she usually likes to hang out where she can see the action. She’s also one of our chronically congested cats, and has to be caged every once in a while for medication. Chubby Paylan isn’t a mama’s boy, but is still quite shy of human contact.

Diamond (tabby) and Garfield (orange)

The mother-son pair we all love and would REALLY like to find a home for are Diamond and Garfield. They came to us as owner-surrender – their owner was really distressed about losing them, but her new housing wouldn’t allow them to stay. They lived for a while at the No 5 Road Shelter, but it wasn’t comfortable for them; they’re both BIG cats and couldn’t share a cage, and in fact Garfield was reduced to lying in his litterbox so that he could reach through and touch his mom. They’re a deeply bonded pair, and so we brought them to the Sanctuary where they could share a big enclosure, and still have room to move. Garfield has been having some treatment for his eyes, and both have relaxed to the point where they don’t have to be touching all the time. They are adoptable, but only if they can go as a pair – they need to be in a home where their diet can be supervised and they can be encouraged to get some exercise.

Joanie (left) & Val (right)

Mother’s Day, of course, may also be a time when some of us remember the mothers we’ve lost. This past year two mom-cats stand out for me: shy Joanie in the back courtyard was the mother of GusGus  (in the Val Jones pen) and soft sweet Hope, in the front courtyard. We don’t know what happened to Joanie, who was found one morning – probably of a heart attack.  And many of us are still mourning the loss of our darling one-eyed Val from the front courtyard – mother of Silverfox (Foxy), Latte and Paulo (and of Fury and Savannah, now gone). Right to the end, Val was boss-mom, batting her kids out of the way if they were reaching for a tidbit she wanted.

Memories and appreciation and love – that’s what Mother’s Day is about – for cats and humans!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Phaedra Hardman and Michele Wright

 

 

Graceless kitties of June

It's been brought to my attention that we're long overdue for a "graceless kitties" post. The cats must have heard about this too, as they've generally been refusing to be silly for my camera.

Here are a few shots I did manage to get with, as always, a little help from some friends.

Booster

Chip

Greyson

Grubby
photo by Phaedra

Val and Harry
photo by Ed

Fury

At last, with the help of Debbie, I've been able to track down the black cat of Val's family in the front courtyard.

Meet Fury:

He, along with mom Val and siblings Foxy, Latte and Savannah were trapped by Val Jones on North Fraser Harbour Commission Property (read the 2010-05-17 post on Val for the full story).

Fury's less comfortable around people than his cuddly tabby mom, at least with people he doesn't know. Still, he was gracious enough to allow these few photos and the presentation of a fingertip to sniff before declaring the audience at an end.

Paulo

Paulo belongs to the family of front courtyard cats made up of mom Val and siblings Foxy, Latte, Savannah and Fury. They were trapped by Val Jones on North Fraser Harbour Commission Property (read the 2010-05-17 post on Val for the full story).

Paulo's distinguishing feature is his big, round, dark rimmed eyes which give him something of a deer in the headlights expression.

Both when caught by surprise....

... and when not.

photo by Barbara

Savannah

Savannah is another one of the cats trapped by Val Jones on North Fraser Harbour Commission property a few years back.

She is the daughter of Val (named for Val Jones), and the sister of Foxy, Latte, Paulo and Fury.

Foxy & Savannah

photo by Barbara

Savannah looks so much like her brother, Foxy, that it can be difficult to tell the two apart, particularly in photographs where you can't rely on differences in behavior. My method is to look for the two dark specks that Foxy has, one on each side of his nose. Savannah hasn't got them.

Does anyone have any "tricks" they use to tell similar cats apart?

photo by Barbara

photo by Barbara

photo by Michele

Latte

Cute little Latte is the daughter of Val and the sister of Foxy. She was trapped along with other siblings Paulo, Savannah and Fury near the airport (see Val's story for details). Members of this cat family can be found here and there in the front courtyard of the sanctuary.

Foxy

photo by Barbara

Foxy (sometimes called Silverfox) is one of Val's offspring and lives in the front yard of the sanctuary, where he likes to enjoy a nice sprawl when the weather is fine and the flagstones are warm.

He was trapped along with his mom and siblings by Geri and Val Jones near the airport (read the May 17 post on Val for the full story of how this cat family came to RAPS).

Foxy and Hudson

photo by Barbara

Val

Val is a cuddly one-eyed tabby living in the front section of the sanctuary. On a nice day, she can be found sunning herself in the front courtyard and is more than happy to visit with anyone offering a nice smile and a gentle hand.

The missing right eye makes her easy to spot among the other front courtyard tabbies vying for attention, but what she's known for is being the mother of several other sanctuary cats: Fury, Foxy, Savannah, Latte and Paolo. What's truly extraordinary about her though, at least to my mind, is that when she came to the sanctuary she was totally feral.

Val is named for Valerie Jones, former Vice President of the North Fraser Port Authority. Valerie had been feeding a colony of feral cats living on Port Authority property near where the then yet to be built Canada Line would connect to the Vancouver Airport. Concerned about the welfare of the cats once construction began, she called upon the help of RAPS to trap them.

Cat Val and her full grown offspring were among the cats trapped and brought to the sanctuary. Human Val would come on a regular basis to visit her former charges, who apparently did recognize her. Unfortunately, Val was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease) in 2008 and passed away the same year. The Valerie Jones Memorial Garden, a new area of the sanctuary built with donations from Val's family and friends, was opened in the autumn of 2009 as a legacy of this great supporter of RAPS.

Cat Val, who arrived at the sanctuary boasting not one but two beautiful eyes, had an unfortunate experience earlier on in her time there with an eye infection that progressed so swiftly that there was no way for staff to save the eye. The good news is that it doesn't seem to cramp her style in the least. She continues to thrive and is so full of love that on the off chance she grabs at your hand, it'll probably be only so she can give it a gentle lick.