Cisco (aka Cisco Kid)

We so often hear stories of people who really do mean to come and visit a cat they've surrendered or a stray they've been feeding, only to find that after not so very much time has passed that life just kind of gets in the way and the need to visit doesn't seem quite so immediate and pressing anymore.

Given the rather poor ratio of promises to visits we often see, it's a wonderful thing to come across a story of a person who went above and beyond in visiting as promised.

Cisco, aka Cisco Kid, had been hanging around the yard of a woman named Carol for some time. The little manx cat didn't seem to belong to anyone and so Carol brought him in to RAPS.

This was in 2004.

Seven years later, Carol still comes every Sunday to visit him and her other faves at the sanctuary. Promise kept? I think so!

Meowy

Meowy came to RAPS in 2007 with her sister Puffy. Their owner had become homeless and was living out of his car, so had to surrender them to the shelter. He'd hoped to be able to take them back once his situation improved, but for one reason or another he wasn't able in the end to make good on his promise to his cats and the sanctuary became their home.

Meowy by Barbara

Puffy by Phaedra

Puffy, who has the distinction of being Ann's sister's first sponsor cat, has unfortunately since passed away. Meowy is still very much with us and can often be found hanging out on some comfy perch in the laundry room.

Now around 10 years old or more, Meowy can be told apart from the other tabbies roaming around the doublewide and environs by her expressively raspy meow. There may even be a note on her file noting the "smoker's cough" of a voice that seems to be the norm for her. Whether given by accident or by design, the name Meowy suits her well.

Updated July 2012: After an illness, Meowy is sadly no longer with us. We'll all miss her face and distinctive meow.

Vicki

Pretty little black Vicki is sometimes referred to as "Vicki from Vernon" after the rather unusual story of her arrival.

Around two years ago, when a truck which had been loaded in Vernon arrived in Richmond for unloading, a young black cat was found inside. She was brought to RAPS and efforts were made to find out who she belonged to, but to no avail. And so the cat sanctuary became her home.

For the first year she was at RAPS, Vicki was quite shy and could most often be seen camped out on top of the cages where she could safely stare at us without any of us being able to get near her. In the last eight months to a year though, she's really started to come around. Now she's a sweet girl who loves her cuddles.

Blundell (aka Dell)

Blundell came to the sanctuary via the No. 5 Rd. shelter. Already frightened and hostile on finding himself in the alien environment of the city shelter, his impression of humans was made even worse by an unfortunate encounter with a nervous volunteer and a broom.

He is now living in the singlewide trailer in a large cage lined with towels and blankets where he has plenty of places to hide.

Although curious to see him, I didn't exactly have high hopes of a sighting when I went to visit him a couple of weeks ago. Indeed, I found an impressive cat fort complete with warning signs, but no sign of the cat himself.

Today, two weeks later, I was able to at last get a view of our most recent addition to the very angry kitty club. One of his hiding spots may protect him from all eyes inside the singlewide, but the window onto the porch out the back affords an interesting view:

At first I tried to get a "better" shot, one without reflections of a couple of people in the glare. In the end, though, I'm glad I got this particular shot. It makes me think a bit of how a cat like Blundell must see us - not as a couple of volunteers and animal lovers who only want to ensure his comfort and safety, but as some sort of shadowy, two-headed monster looming before him, intentions unknown.

Here's a photo that Phaedra managed to get today from within the lion's den. She, as would we all, would love to see him mellow out. A plan of action? Wonder if he likes chicken...

 "Dell" by Phaedra

Mitchell

Mitchell is a sweetheart of a tabby who lives in the singlewide at the sanctuary. He was trapped in Steveston a couple of years ago as part of the same litter of feral kittens that gave us Mary. Their feral mom and aunt live in the rear yard of the sanctuary.

baby Mitchell

photo by Phaedra

Mitch tamed up nicely and is quite happy to interact with his human friends. According to Leslie, not only does he love laps, but this "wide-eyed monkey loves to scratch on the tops of people's running shoes, probably because he's attracted to the shoelaces."

I haven't witnessed the running shoe playing myself, but I have experienced some shoe sitting. It's an amusing sight to feel a gentle pressure on your foot and then to look down to see this cat neatly parked there and looking brightly back up at you.

Mitch is a particular favorite of volunteer Michele, who gets to spend some quality time with him every week during her shift in the building where he lives.

Here are a few of her pictures of him:

 photo by Michele

 photo by Michele

Mitch and Deanna

photo by Michele

Mitch was almost adopted out a little while back as a companion for a woman's cat, but she unexpectedly had to take in another cat and was unable to have more than two. Mitch is still a very adoptable boy. Leslie says he would be a great companion to another young cat or two.

Updated September 19, 2011: We're all very saddened by the sudden illness and passing of sweet Mitchell this weekend. Below is a lovely tribute created by Michele, with whom he was close.

Jet

An extremely timid boy living in the backyard, Jet is a cat you will not often see. Despite having been at the sanctuary for 8 years or so, it's only been in the last couple of years that he's decided that Leslie might be his human friend. As for the rest of us, well, we're still pretty scary as far as Jet's concerned.

This is not to say he's been otherwise friendless. On the contrary, Leslie tells me he has a status of cat magnet that rivals our famous Mario. Jet has so many cats who like to spend their time trailing around with him, that now, while he's in a cage in the doublewide awaiting a dental, there's been a slow but steady trickle of backyard buddies coming in to look for him. Both Cinder and Tawny paid him a visit this Sunday afternoon, to his delight.

Jet with Tawny

Tugboat Wants to go Home with You

Tugboat came to the cat sanctuary just over a year ago.

He'd been surrendered for peeing where he shouldn't, but proved himself to be such a friendly, cuddly character that we soon found ourselves glad to have him. We began to wonder if the peeing may have been in response to something specific in his environment rather than a general behavior problem, as can sometimes be the case.

Recently, Tugboat has been letting us know on an increasingly regular basis that the environment of the cat sanctuary, where he must share his living space with hundreds of other cats, is not something he feels is going to work for him in the long term. His frustration is coming out in ever more frequent attacks on other cats in the doublewide, most recently on gentle, timid little Elmo. His "time outs" in a cage have become so frequent that staff are just having him stay in the cage he's staked out as his personal territory.

And yet to humans, he is the same loving "Tuggy" he always was. When not on a "time out" he'll still run up to you and stand up as tall as he can on his hind legs as he paws at you (a rather ineffectual attempt at leg climbing on account of his previous owners having had him declawed) to get you to pick up and give him hugs. Even when visited in his cage, he's all hugs, kisses and cuddles every time. I've never seen him not in the mood for a visit and a cuddle.

Clearly, he'd be so much happier in a home where he could enjoy spending time with his humans and not have to deal with all these other cats. And the peeing? Apparently, his former owner was often away, and cats who are stressed and unhappy about being left alone can sometimes respond to the situation in ways people would rather they didn't. If the situation changes, though, the behavior can stop.

Leslie is confident that if brought into a loving, single-cat home where he can have people around him, Tugboat would once again be the all around wonderful boy we know he can be.