Almost Ready to Go Home

"Dudes Chilling Park" - cat-style  (LBF)
Cornelius, Jenkins, Sherbet

This time last year, we brought in a good clowder of cats from Alberta – some of the rescued felines from a large hoarding situation. As usual, we took moms and kittens, who went first to fosterage and then to the Adoption Centre, and we also took “the teens” – the young cats past the easy socialization point. The latter moved into Pen 3, and were introduced in the blog over three installments. A year later, it’s interesting to see the progress that has been made!

Finneas - now adopted  (KN)

Tabby Finneas had a lot of handling in the process of some medical care, and became very happy to accept petting and attention. In the spring, he was adopted out with his “brother” Shimmer. This established a guideline that the staff have decided to follow – not to allow these cats to go singly, but only to a home where they can be with a cat they already know, or one that is of similar age and personality. This may be difficult to find in a single-cat home, so we are encouraging potential adopters to adopt as a pair.

Holly (KN)

Right now, the Adoption Centre is full of wonderful kittens (and a few adults – we were delighted to hear that Thomas, blogged last November, has gone to his own home). And we have been identifying some of the adoptable Sanctuary cats – we really hope that homes can be found for the FIV+ boys.

But a quick visit to the far end of the Sanctuary offers some potential treasures who could steal your heart if you’re prepared to take two of them.

Lucius  (BC)

Lucius has always been one of the most social of this group – both with the other cats and with humans. With other cats, his size sometimes means that he plays rough, but it’s never nasty, and his friends always come back for more. With humans, he loves attention – both gentle petting and belly-rubs; he will hang around until it’s clear you have to go, and then he follows, hoping you’ll change your mind. In spite of his size, he doesn’t seem to be food-motivated; he’s not one of the “gimme chicken” crowd.

Jenkins  (BC)

Lucius is often found hanging around with his buddy Jenkins. The smaller of the two short-haired tuxedos in the pen, Jenkins is a little shyer with people, but very cat-social. He’s one of the cats who could do with some grooming attention, as his fluffy grey undercoat occasionally bursts through. 

Holly begging a little lap-time  (BC)

Longer-haired tuxedo Holly really needs a home where she can get regular grooming. She is one of those cats with fine hair that mats if not cared for, and we have occasionally had to shave some hair mats out altogether. Holly is very sweet and affectionate when she trusts; she will allow herself to be picked up and cuddled, and she is happy to be a lap-cat.

Cornelius (KN)

Cornelius is known to everyone – I blogged him as “Everybody’s Friend” and he really is – for cats, at least. He’s more wary with humans; he will allow the odd stroke, but he’s not willing to approach unless food is offered. Normally we might say that he’s not ready for adoption, but he’s so cat-social that he might be fine if he were with a buddy and in a really cat-savvy home.

Jason & Cornelius  (BC)

His usual pal is Jason – named because he came to us on Friday the 13th! Jason is a bit easier with humans than Cornelius – painfully so, because he likes to put his paws up on a knee and flex his claws. It’s not meant nastily in any way – he just likes to use us as a scratching post! The two of them can often be found hanging around together.

Mewlius Caesar (KN)

There are several other cats in the pen that might be adoptable – solid tuxedo Baker is part of the crowd, playful Sherbert with his orange eyes, mustachioed Mewlius Caesar – but many of them are still wary, and having other social cats around is probably good for them. Some cats can live with us for years before deciding that yes, they can trust these humans who feed and clean and offer play and petting – and it’s a wonderful feeling when you’re finally trusted like that.

Blog by Brigid Coult

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

Floof on the Move

Mega-floof in Pen 6 (LBF)

In the early summer of 2021 we welcomed an influx of feral cats from Kamloops and it turned out that the majority of them were varying shades of orange, and many were long-haired.  They came to us as feral half-grown adolescents - living wild too long to be easily tamed.

Sharing a chair in pen 8  (BC)

After the mandatory cage-stays they were moved together into Pen 6. This enclosure has been the home for a variety of new groups of cats – a group from the Sunshine Coast in the summer of 2016 -  the ones we called The Candy Cats in the fall of 2017  -  the McLeod cats in the summer of 2019   – and now these Kamloops cats.  The last three groups have all been fearful ferals – only Skittles of the Candy Cats and Aphrodite of the McLeod cats broke out of feral behaviour to enjoy human attention.

Anxiously waiting for dinner  (LBF)

Pen 4 remains a closed pen for ferals, but we like to open up new colony pens as soon as we feel the cats are fairly settled.  Pen 6 has been open for some time, but the Kamloops cats initially remained very determined to stay inside its bounds or within easy reach. Sometimes in the evenings, waiting for dinner, they would move into the courtyard as a group, and then escort the volunteer bearing plates as food was delivered – it felt rather like wading through a shoal of orange fish!

Food is served!  (JS)

Two things have happened recently, and I suspect they’ve both affected the status quo. We’ve had a burst of hot days, and despite adding some shading to the area above the door, Pen 6, which is one of the smaller ones, has felt very hot. Hoses deliver misting around the perimeter, but when your fur is floofy, you don’t necessarily want to get it wet!  And another group of cats coming in – this time a colony from the Kootenays (details to come) – have necessitated turning the shy inhabitants of Pen 8 out. Most of them are fairly happy to relocate around the courtyard – they spend a lot of time there – but the three Candy Cats (Hershey, Butterscotch and Purdy) have relocated themselves back to their old turf in Pen 6, which is now starting to feel very crowded!

Claiming the bench in the garden  (LBF)

So the Kamloops cats have started to explore!  Persimmon has always been the bravest of them, and the most ready to accept human attention, but we’re finding the others in Pen 1 and Pen 5 as well, and recently a collection of them braved the Tea Room to find a cool corner on the stairs. 

Cheeto/Kelvin/Cheddar in the Tea Room (JN)

Black Chaga (black with a lot of rust colour in his fur) is also an adventurer and has been found in all sorts of corners.  Pretty grey Chamomile is now allowing herself to be groomed by Lisa, but others have needed more drastic shave jobs to cut out the mats that develop in floofy fur.

At night on the Pen 6 cat-tree (JS)

They have always enjoyed using the cat-tree at the Pen 6 door; frequently every level has mounds of orange fur taking up the space.  Now they’re expanding their territory to the group of cat-trees outside the tea-room, and there were eight orange cats and Chaga occupying the perches several days ago. Most recently, they’ve gone still higher, to establish themselves on the top of the adjacent food cupboard. 

Floofs on the roof - Cheeto, Cheddar, Persimmon
with grey Chamomile photo-bombing at the back  (JS)

 It’s very satisfying to see them feeling so much more comfortable in their wider surroundings, and more receptive to approaches from staff and volunteers, although they are still wary of contact with humans.

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Brigid Coult, Joanne Nicholson, Justin Saint

Bandana Boys & Belles

One of the most frequent questions from weekend visitors is about the adoption of Sanctuary cats.

Little John is one of our biggest cats,
and affectionate when you read his signals correctly!

My usual response is that we have four sorts of cats - 
-  we have a lot of ferals who don’t want anything to do with people
-  we have a number of semi-ferals who came in as ferals, and who have tamed up quite considerably
-  we have owner-surrenders – usually “the poopers, the pee-ers and the biters” – cats with bad bathroom habits, or aggressions problems – or the older cats whose owners may have gone into care, or passed away
- we have the cats with health issues: feline leukemia, feline AIDS, plus all the standard cat-problems like kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, diabetes and other conditions – all of which require vet-care.

Cute Hunter has just come to us from the 
Adoption Centre  (KN)

So, the official line is that the Sanctuary is the home for non-adoptable cats – and if you want to adopt, you need to go to the Adoption Centre.

But it’s not as easy as that. 

Adopting a seemingly tame semi-feral cat may work well – or it may terrify the cat to be taken away from its home and known community. More than once we have had to go and rescue a cat who hides in an inaccessible corner.  That situation is eased when the cat in question first bonds with the adopting human – which is why some of our adoptions are to volunteers who have first got to know the cat in question. Sometimes it’s a visitor who comes every week, and it’s obvious to staff that the cat has come to trust the person.

Sweet Raymond is FIV+ (in the Val Jones pen)
and polydactyl - look at those toe-beans!  (BC)

Cats surrendered for bad bathroom habits sometimes show no sign of it at all with us, and we have to come to the conclusion that something in the original home was stressing them. Given a home without those stresses, it is possible the cat may adjust well.  The same is true for cats labelled as aggressive – a very calm cat-savvy adopter who doesn’t push the cat for handling or cuddling may end up being a place where that cat will cuddle very happily.  We also have a number of cat-aggressive cats who might do well as the only cat in someone’s home, where there is no feline competition.

Older cats often find it hard to find new homes – when younger cats are available for adoptions (and kittens are SO cute!) cats of 14-years plus are often passed over. Of course, end-of-life is closer – but older cats have so much love to give, and they more than deserve to be pampered and spoiled in their golden years!

Mango was initially aggressive with humans and cats,
but now he feels safe, he has become relaxed and affectionate  (KN)

Then, some cats do not do well in the Adoption Centre environment. Cages are smaller, and cage reactivity/aggression can be a real factor. We have several cats in the Sanctuary who have come to us from the Adoption Centre because we can give them some much-needed space either to use up their energy in exploring, running around, and sometimes making friends, or to hide away – it all depends on the cat and their personality.

Of course, nobody wants to take on a cat when you may end up paying vet-bills. Many of us, however, loving our own long-term cats, have learned to do things at home like giving fluids for kidney disease, or administering insulin to diabetics. And with the AIDS cats, they may carry the virus with only minimal effect on their bodies – even leukemia cats can live good and happy lives when their medical needs are understood. The big issue with both these viruses is not passing them to other cats, and that can mean, for instance, having a leukemia-cats-only household.

That’s where the bandanas come into play.  Visitors for this last month of the summer (September 25 is the last day we’re open to the public) are seeing a few of our cats wandering around wearing dashing bandanas. The bandanas are a signal that the cat in question is potentially adoptable. 

Gizmo is FIV+, but a friendly, affectionate boy (KN)

The yellow/orange patterned ones are for outgoing friendly cats that would likely do great in a home but may have some conditions to their adoption. For example, they may need to be adopted in a pair as they are bonded to another cat. Or maybe they have FIV (feline aids).

The red patterned bandanas are for the adoptable cats that have a spicy side where their cattitude likes to shine through in the form of teeth and claws. From time to time they get over stimulated or their boundaries are crossed and they scratch, bite or both to express their emotions. So potential adopters need to be understanding of this behaviour and be willing to respect the cat’s boundaries.

If there is interest, the Sanctuary Manager can be contacted for more information.

Blog by Brigid Coult, with thanks to Shena Novotny

Photos by Brigid Coult & Karen Nicholson

Dior

Dior  (KN)

Dior began the RAPS chapter of her life when she came to us as one of 43 felines that reached us through the Canadian Animal Task Force Society – victims of a major cat-hoarding situation in Calgary.  Tame cats went to the Adoption Centre, kittens went into fostering, and all the others came to the Cat Sanctuary. The latter are the cats that base out of Pen 3, who were featured in a series of three blogs in October and November 2021. When the Alberta cats were settled in Pen 3 last year, they were placed there because they were all young, though not kittens – they were past the easy-socialization point, and we knew we would need to give them time to get used to us.  It became obvious that some socialization had already gone on (they had come from a hoarding situation, so they weren’t all true ferals) and it wasn’t long before the tamest pair, Shimmer and Finneas, found their own adoptive home.  

brother Finneas  (BC)

Others are ready for it – Lucius, Jason and Holly are all happy being handled, and some of the remainder might manage if they went to a new home with a buddy.  Right now, we are in kitten season, and the Adoption Centre is busy, but once the kittens are gone, it will be time to focus on the slightly older ones.

The Pen 3 party-ers - Cornelius, William, Jason, Jenkins & Baker  (LBF)

But the Pen 3 crowd are not the only cats who came from that hoarding situation.  One little tabby who arrived last summer was pregnant, and taken into care by Kati, our awesome kitty-fosterer. Kati takes most of the challenging fosters, especially where babies need to be bottle-fed, and she is endlessly patient with a series of night-feeds.  This little girl was called Dior, and she had come with a litter of kittens that turned out not to be hers (more night-feeds for Kati!) but was pregnant with her own family. When the time came, all did not go smoothly, and Dior had to be rushed to RAPS Hospital for an emergency C-section. Five kittens were born and nursed through the first crucial hours. More of their story can be found here. 

Dior  (KN)

Once the kittens were independent, they went to the Adoption Centre to find new homes, and Dior came to us at the Sanctuary.  It became obvious that she was not of the same mindset as Lucius, Holly and the others – she did not want to be bothered in her cage and resisted the efforts of the Kitty Comforters to coax her into interaction.  Once the cage was opened, she retreated onto the DoubleWide Deck with the other wary ferals, and avoided any encounters with us.  Now that the Deck has its own cat-door we occasionally find Dior out in the breezeway, but she’s not found her way to Pen 3, and we don’t know if there has been any recognition of her former house-mates.

Dior enjoying the sunshine  (KN)

Cornelius, in particular, is an explorer and often found around the Tea-room; he also shares with Dior the slightly shorter legs that are probably a genetic trait in some members of the colony. He’s a very social boy, but Dior doesn’t appear to be particularly friendly with either cats or people, so it remains to be seen if she will rediscover her roots or whether she is striking out for an independent life at the Sanctuary.

Blog by Brigid Coult

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

Marmalade

(LBF)

A visit to the Back Courtyard at the Sanctuary quickly shows that there is a strong floofy orange cat presence, most of them being part of the Kamloops group that came to us last year, and which operates out of Pen 6. But in the front courtyard, orange cats are fewer and easily identified – sweet battered-looking Little Orange, with his one eye and his crinkled ear, collared Sam, handsome short-haired Mango, siblings Titan and shy short-tailed Dixie, and the newest inhabitant, little long-haired Marmalade. We’ve had several Marmalades in the past at the Sanctuary – it’s not an uncommon name for an orange cat. But this little girl is special – she’s a tripod!  

(LBF)

She came to us from Alberta early this year in what was probably a somewhat dramatic appearance. We are told that she showed up at a property where there were a number of cats that had been TNR’d and the owner spotted her dragging herself toward the house. Thank goodness for cat people! the sweet lady drove her to the Calgary vet right away. Marmalade had been shot resulting in a severe fracture with no chance of repair - the damaged leg was missing about 2” of femur from the wound. She had the leg amputated but had developed a bad infection and needed quite a lot of medicating. There was an initial concern that she might be FeLV/FIV+ but all the tests proved negative. 

(LBF)

Her caretakers told us that because she was so ill initially, they were able to medicate her and work with her; however, as she recovered, she was more than willing to tell them where to go and how to get there in best feral fashion!  They said that “She gets along well with other cats, likes her food, and isn’t horrible with people as long as you stay about 4 feet away and don’t try to touch her.”

(KN)

So what do you do with a feral three-legged cat in cold Alberta weather? Marmalade had had the “TN” bit of the usual feral Trap-Neuter-Release operation, being spayed at the same time as her amputation, but the “R” releasing her back to the colony? not a great idea...  And there are no sanctuaries for feral cats in Alberta – but rescues talk to rescues, and we’ve accepted Alberta cats before. The Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) got moving, and Marmalade came to us in late February, had the usual cage-time to assimilate the smells and sense of our place, and was then released into the Front Courtyard, where she disappeared into what we call The Old Rabbit Area (ORA) with the other ferals.  

(BC)

The ORA is perfect for scared cats – a covered courtyard surrounded by shelves and cat-trees, all of which are fully draped and could probably hide 30 or more cats. We try to stay out of it, except for morning clean-up and putting plates out in the evening. It’s a no-go area for visitors – a place the cats can feel safe when there are strangers around.  It’s not just the ferals who use it; even the social cats go and find somewhere to take time-out when they need it.

(LBF)

As Marmalade began to feel safer, we saw her emerge more often – initially awkward in her movement, as she got used to running on three legs, she’s now moving much more easily.  The Kitty Comforters have been watching for her, and Lisa Brill-Friesen has been cat-whispering with some success. We often see Marmalade out in the courtyard, where she watches with interest for human activity, especially if food is involved. Producing favourite snacks has the effect of creating a feline shadow who follows you around hopefully. We’ve not yet seen signs of friendship with other cats, but she’s not afraid to move among them, and the four-foot distancing from humans is gradually reducing.

(BC)

We’ve had many ferals who hang out in the ORA gradually warm to us – Solar, Kahlua, Jamie, Lorelei, and many others;  love and lots of patience will bring Miss Marmalade around, we hope.

Picasso

(KN)

Picasso is a relative newcomer (should we call him a mewcomer?) to the Sanctuary, but he is already showing himself ready to make it his home.

"Can I come out?" (KN)

He has come to us all the way from Winnipeg, thanks to a rescuer there, and her friendship with one of our volunteers. We hear that he was found living in a garbage dump in the middle of a Manitoba winter, and it sounds as if he was lucky to be alive. Both his ears were badly frostbitten, as well as his tail, and he had a nasty genital infection. The frostbitten ears lost their tips, the tail had to be amputated, and the infection treated, though one of the consequences of the infection was that he became incontinent, and therefore unadoptable.

Watching from the edge  (LBF)

His rescuer got him on a plane with another cat making the journey to a new home, and our volunteer picked him up at the airport and brought him to us.  As usual, he was vet-checked and popped into a cage, giving him time to settle.

"Come play with me!" (KN)

Within days his fan-club was building. His face is absurdly cute, after all – those rounded ears give him a real teddy-bear quality. But for a newbie, he was quick to welcome visitors – those who cleaned his cage or fed him, the staff, and gradually a procession of volunteers, all came in to sit with him for a bit and be charmed.  When the cage was opened he was a little spooked for a few days, and then settled down to explore the Front Courtyard and make it his own. 

Loving the climbing frame (BC)

Visiting time is sometimes hard on new cats – all these strangers standing around, not all cat-savvy... but Picasso took it all in stride. When he’d had a bit too much he’d vanish into the Hill House, and half an hour later, he’d emerge and start flirting again.  He's a friendly, sweet cat, who loves to be loved. He’s one of the few cats who likes to be picked up by the people he trusts, and he relaxes completely – perhaps a little ragdoll in there? But he also likes to explore and to play - and he might never settle down as an indoor cat.

King of all he surveys (BC)

We’re still waiting to see if his former incontinence has ceased – nobody has reported damp patches after holding him, so it’s possible that his recovery has solved that problem and he might end up being adoptable. But till we’re a lot more certain of that status, he can take the opportunity of cultivating the fine art of being a Sanctuary Cat.

Blog by Brigid Coult

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

A Match Made in Heaven?

Vesper & Kiwi  (JN)

Cats have a reputation as loners – Kipling’s story of “The Cat That Walked By Himself” is not only a great story, but also something of an archetype.  And we certainly have plenty of cats in the Sanctuary who do prefer to be alone.  

Kiwi & Vesper  (LBF)

But not always – for some of them, relationships with other cats are very important. They may be family relationships, or comfort, or just “how things are”. We will often find the same groups of cats in the same place – like the group that hang out in the space outside the SingleWide, or the Pen 3 cats who tend to operate together. And sometimes the bond is more focused than that.  All our cats are spayed and neutered, so sex doesn’t come into it – but it’s not just a matter of hormones; sometimes two cats just belong together.

Vesper (KN)

Vesper came into our care in late 2017 when he and his buddy Fable were surrendered for peeing.  The owners didn’t know who the culprit was, and we think it may have been stress peeing because of children, in any case, but they arrived together and stayed together. We talked about their “bromance”; you would occasionally encounter them apart, but they loved to snuggle.  And then Fable passed, and Vesper was left on his own.

Fable & Vesper (MD)

Kiwi came to us about a year later, one of a group of nine cats from a rescue in Alberta. Some of them proved to be FIV+ and moved to Old Aids, but the front courtyard welcomed grey Shiver (now gone), black Salem, and the calico sisters, Melon, Honeydew and Kiwi. All were pretty feral, and it’s taken time for them to learn that humans are the source of great petting and tidbits. 

Kiwi  (MJ)

The three girls are all pretty cat-social, and usually hang out in the same area, around the Connor building. Most recently, Kiwi is more frequently found IN the Connor, snuggling with Vesper. The flirt is mutual, unlike the one-sided relationship of Dusty and Lincoln (she adores him and follows him around; he just ignores her!).  Kiwi and Vesper groom each other, and it’s anyone’s guess as to which one will move first and who will follow.

Kiwi & Vesper (DW)

The two of them aren’t all touchy-feely out in the courtyard, though they’re often found close to each other.  Right now, in the warmth of the summer weather, the Connor is the cool (air-conditioned) place to be. But it will be interesting to watch and see if the snuggles continue and the relationship heats up!

Blog by Brigid Coult

Photos by Lisa Brill-Friesen, Melanie Draper, Marla Jenkins, 

Joanne Nicholson, Karen Nicholson, Debbie Wolanski