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.

Domino

By popular request, here's the brother of Hope and Gus Gus and son of Hudson and Joanie.

Meet Domino.

He's shier than his friendly siblings, at least with people he doesn't know. I was permitted to look and take pictures, but not to touch.

Debbie, who introduced us, says she calls him Charlie Brown Cat because the markings across his nose remind her of the black pattern running across Charlie Brown's t-shirt.

photo by Barbara

Mistletoe

Mistletoe came to the sanctuary in November of last year. For the longest time, this was the view I saw of her:

She was only 5-6 months old when she came in and so scared that RAPS staff couldn't be sure if she was feral or had formerly been tame. After a while, someone put a note up on her cage door saying that she liked to be scratched if approached slowly and quietly.

Recently, she's started peeking out from her hiding spots long enough to make me think it may be time to give this scratching thing a try.

It took some time sitting on the floor of her cage, scrunched up against her litterbox, before I could get her to relax from a tense look of horror into something a little more relaxed and, at last a rub and a purr. Definitely worth the time and embedded kitty litter.

Ralph

Ralph is the brother of Bobby, with whom he was trapped as a kitten on a farm along No. 9 Rd. He's remained at the sanctuary because he developed an unfortunate habit of peeing where he shouldn't.

Like is brother, Ralph's a sweet, friendly boy.
Maybe even friendlier... as I discovered when my smiles and strokes were welcomed with an attempt to scale my leg for a better cuddle. He kept it up all the while I was trying to get a close-up shot:

So I'll have to present one of Barbara's shots for a close-up.

photo by Barbara

This is not to say that our Ralphie is a no manners kind of friendly like Sadie or Prince. Most of the time when you encounter him in the front yard, you'll find him a pretty laid back guy.

photo by Barbara

And of course he can often be found in the company of his brother who he loves loves loves, Bobby.

Yogi

The following is the only known photographic evidence of the fabled Loch Ness Kitteh:

Kidding.

What I do have is real photographic evidence of a confirmed sighting of an elusive sanctuary cat whose existence I'd begun to have cause to question.

After I got to know Harley and later sister Boo Boo, Ann told me about the third sibling, a shy boy named Yogi. He lives in the back yard, she told me, and looks less like his brother and sister than he does like Huey with a tail.

Yogi is fond of Ann and will come trotting out when she calls him. Except when there's a stranger around. Me, for example.

After a number of failed attempts over many months, I couldn't help teasing Ann, suggesting perhaps this might be a feline of the mythical variety.

Then one day recently she was fortunate enough to capture Yogi on camera. And, unlike the cheerfully doctored photo at the beginning of the post, this one's the real deal.

photo by Ann

Has anyone else managed to get a picture of Yogi? If so, send it along to nekoraps(at)gmail.com and I'll post it on the blog.

Bobby

Bobby and I met on Monday night as I was passing through the front courtyard on the way to the doublewide. He was a little uncertain about the intentions of this strange human approaching him where he'd been sitting, minding his own business, on the porch of the Connor building, but his reservations were quickly overcome and some serious following, weaving, ankle rubs and headbutts ensued.

In short, a very sweet boy.

Bobby was trapped as a kitten along with his brothers Ralph and Norbert on a farm along No. 9 Road in Richmond. Norbert was adopted by Debbie, while the other two brothers remain at the sanctuary. Bobby had a problem with his knee that kept him off the adoption list fairly early.

Having remained close friends with his brother Ralphie, Bobby doesn't come across as the least bit unhappy to be living at the sanctuary. Marianne wrote about the pair in the February edition of the RAPSity News, in an article appropriately titled Love, Love, Love.

 Ralphie & Bobby

photo provided by RAPS

Joanie

When Leslie told me that Joanie, the shy feral mom of Hope and Gus Gus, could be found in the tearoom, I was doubtful of being able to even find her to get a proper look at her, let alone snap a clear picture.

I was pleasantly surprised to find her really very gracious about the whole thing. There was to be no touching, of course, and she'd lean as far away from me as she could with an expression of faint horror if I slowly extended a fingertip in her direction, but she felt secure enough to let me take as many pictures as I wanted and even stroke the cat sharing a basket with her.

With this willingness to at least breathe the same air as the scary humans, I wonder if she'll come around in time to thinking of us as potential friends. Perhaps a little chicken or tuna bribery is in order...