Mini update: Peaches

There's such a contrast between Grizzy and Peaches that it can hard to believe that when they came to the sanctuary in the summer of 2009, they came in together.

Grizzy's antics are well-known to anyone who's been a regular visitor to the sanctuary or even follower of this blog. Always a much more gentle soul, Peaches doesn't tend to do the kind of things that would land a cat in anyone's hall of fame... or hall of shame. She's just a nice, sweet old girl.

If she has a quirk, it's that after spending some time trying out different spots in the doublewide, she decided the bathroom shelf between the sink and the toilet was going to be her place to roost. And so there she sits, day after day.

She's not quite as rooted to her spot as Deety is to his micro-kingdom of a small counter in the laundry room, and will venture out now and again. For the most part, though, it seems that the bathroom is where she likes to be. She's still as happy as ever to cuddle and will delightedly start giving headbutts and kneading her bedding with the slightest encouragement... but you have to come to her in the bathroom her room.

Cathy

I came across Cathy many times on the back porch of the doublewide many times without knowing who she was. I'd be visiting with another cat like Harley or Audrey by the steps leading up to the raised area to the right of the door, and there would be this cat sitting up there on a cushion, staring at me suspiciously. Any movement in the cat's direction would be greeted with the look of abject horror so common in ferals. And so I let it alone.

When I heard her story from Leslie, however, I was inspired to put in a bit more time trying to make friends.

Cathy has been at the shelter for years. She was never comfortable with people, but she did have her cat friends to keep her company. She had her boyfriend Heathcliff and was also pals with a cat named Toffee. Unfortunately, both Heathcliff and Toffee have now passed away, and so Cathy, still not really comfortable with humans, doesn't really have any friends.

According to Leslie, Cathy will occasionally let people get close enough to sneak in a pat. So far with me, she's still pretty much about the staring and the fleeing if I try to make contact. Sitting nearby seems to be almost acceptable, though. Maybe that's a start. She sounds like a cat who could really use a human friend or two. 

Jordy

Early in my volunteer poop career at the sanctuary, I stepped out of my car and noticed a streak of cat fur race by me into the bushes. Worried that we had an escaped cat-vict on the loose, I reported what I saw to Leslie. Leslie assured me that there are a few feral cats that like to hang out around the sanctuary but don't live in the sanctuary. RAPS cat wanna-be’s I guess, but too shy accept an invitation. Leslie pointed out the “food stations” set up for these independent cats around the parking lot. Now, after many months driving in week after week, it seems to me that most of the “cats” I see enjoying a free dinner at the feeding stations bare a striking resemblance to Pepe Le Pew.

That was until one sunny evening when a handsome tabby cat came out to greet me on my arrival with an enthusiasm that was almost overwhelming. We hung out for a bit and puss was practically doing back flips when I stroked him. What had I done to deserve such a welcome?

This cat I later found out was Jordy, who in fact did hold residence at the sanctuary in the past but managed to convince the staff after a multitude of inexplicable escapes that he should be allowed to live outside the chain link fence permanently. Jordy, it seemed, was miserable on the inside - never quite fitting with the rest of the cats and had even the victim of occasional cat bullying. He now considers the parking lot and Doug’s shed to be his home. Impossible to know why animals will cast out one of their own; it’s an unfortunate part of life, even in our little kitty haven.

So the next time you’re pulling in to the sanctuary parking lot, drive slowly and keep an eye out for this little sweetheart. Not to worry about Jordy though, he’s got it all worked out - life on the outside is not too bad.

Terry

After two and a half years of volunteering at the sanctuary, I'm amazed (and sometimes slightly embarrassed) by how frequently I'll be introduced to a new (to me) cat who's been there all along, sometimes in plain sight. I was therefore quite heartened to learn earlier this week that this happens to the best of us.

Long-time RAPSer Marianne emailed me on Monday to introduce me to a cat whose acquaintance she had only just made herself:

I'm astonished at how often I meet a cat for the first time at the shelter and then am told that said cat has been there for years and years, sometimes even longer than I have! That happened again to me today. 

A sturdy-looking ginger guy came trotting up to me in the [doublewide] laundry room this afternoon and, when I reached down to pet him (because he seemed friendly), he took a little swat at my hand and shied away. But he quickly came back and rubbed against my leg so I tried another pet and this time he got right into it - butt and tail up, head pushing against my hand, etc. 

Just then, Leslie came by and I asked her who this handsome guy was. I was told his name was "Terry" and that he'd come to the shelter a long time ago, along with and from the same rural site as Farrah, tortie Rosie and a few other cats, most of whom have gone to the rainbow bridge. 

I remember that Rosie, Farrah and her mom and two siblings were at the shelter when I started volunteering there almost ten years so it's simply beyond me how it is that I hadn't met Terry until today. He sort of hung around me for the next little while and let me reach down to pet him whenever I wanted to. 

When I went to the sanctuary a couple of days later to meet Terry myself, he was in the laundry room again, but this time perched high up on a shelf.

I got the smack that Marianne did, but not the rubs she received afterward. Ann told me that he's fine on the floor, but not so friendly up by the ceiling.

He must like the wide open space of the floor that gives him numerous directions to move in if he starts feeling uncomfortable. Up on the planks that run around the perimeter of the room just below the ceiling, he can go only right or left, and maybe not even that if there's another car barring the way. Not surprising he can feel slightly cornered up there. And Leslie says that anytime that happens, he quickly reverts, forgetting he actually likes people.

I'll have to keep an eye out for him when he's at floor level and see if I can win him over then.

Katie (III)

Katie is a tiny little black girl with a white mark on her chest who lives in the Connor.

According to her file, when she arrived at the sanctuary in 2007, she was only 7-8 months old, unspayed, and possibly pregnant. For the next few years, she behaved like a shy feral and has little exposure to humans as possible. Consequently, no one knew what her name was until she had to be brought inside for a dental in 2010.

These days, while still not exactly confident around people, she's comfortable enough to accept, and even enjoy, some gentle strokes and chin tickles.

She likes climbing into empty cages in the Connor and hanging out there on the shelves. That's how I met her this week, going in to visit Cozy and wondering who the little girl sitting in the cage with him was. She didn't take a whole lot of convincing to let me pat her, and before long she was happily rubbing her face all over my hand.

Outside the cage, though, she's suddenly much less secure, running away (albeit not very far) if approached. Looks like she's still got a bit of a way to go before she truly trusts us.

Mini update: Ziggy Girl

When Ziggy Girl arrived at the sanctuary back in August, she was so stressed that banshee shrieks and violent lunges seemed to be her chosen mode of self expression. She would now and again show glimpses of a softer, gentler side, but it took very little to get her back on the defensive (if one interprets defensiveness according to the motto that "the best defense is a good offense").

Earlier this month, she was released from her cage. I was initially worried that she'd run off and hide somewhere where she'd never get a chance to know us better, but she surprised me by staying put in the doublewide, parking herself between a chair and a shelf where she could comfortably peek at everyone. It was also pleasantly surprising how easily she could be coaxed out for some strokes, rubs and purrs.

This week she'd moved herself out to the back porch and staked out a little den under a cover on one of the chairs. This didn't exactly seem to be progress, but anytime I went out there and called her, these two round eyes and tufted ears would emerge, followed by the rest of her, ready for cuddles. She even welcomed being stroked by two pairs of hands at once (something Gunther still tends to find rather threatening).

That said, she is still not overfond of other cats encroaching on her personal space and will (so far) invariably respond with a hiss.

She also seems not to have learned how to hold back when she bites, so that the only way she could think of to tell volunteer Ayako that she needed a little break from being patted last week was to bite her really hard on the leg. Hopefully she'll start learning that this sort of thing really isn't necessary: if she does it too often, she'll get herself a reputation as A Biter. And then many people will be less likely to take a chance on her... when a chance is exactly what she needs.

Mama Mia

Mama Mia was brought to RAPS along with Dinky and her other offspring when the people who'd been putting out food for them in their yard could no longer do so.

Initially housed together with her family in the feral-friendly BC Packers Pen in the rear of the sanctuary, Mama Mia was later moved inside to the Singlewide where she can currently be found.

With the same ongoing ear problems as her son, Dinky, Mama Mia recently had to have a portion of her ear removed just like he did. When I photographed her a little over a week ago, she was still wearing her cone from the vet. Though understandably not delighted about the situation, she bore it with good grace.

Mama Mia had become quite tame for the woman who'd been putting food out for her at her home and given her and her kittens their names, but it still took Mama Mia a little while to get used to her new human friends at RAPS. Linda remembers her as quite mistrustful at first. Trust was earned, though, and now Mama Mia very much enjoys being brushed and having her head rubbed.

Even with her new RAPS friends, Mama Mia never forgot the people who'd first welcomed her and her little family and given them a safe haven. When the son of the woman who used to feed them came to the sanctuary to visit, Mama Mia remembered him and was delighted to see him.

It still takes her a few moments to really warm up to people she doesn't know, but only a few moments. A soft voice and a gentle hand, and she's bestowing little headbutts in no time.