Welcome to Sunshine Cat of the Month: Staff Edition. We have featured students' cats all year and now, OCV staff can finally let their furry feline friends have their fifteen minutes of fame.

From the very beginning of OCV News, we have wished for our paper to be inclusive. Nowhere is inclusivity more evident than right here in Sunshine Cat of the Month. We have profiled cats of every colour, size, age, and variety. You've seen tuxedo cats, tom cats, tabby cats, orange cats, black cats, striped cats, fat cats, scrawny cats, and adorable kittens.

We apologize to those who submitted photos of dogs. We're sorry, but this feature is for cats only. No dogs allowed.

Enjoy these adorable photos.

Chatty Cat

Meet Jack, this adorable sweet and chatty cat who likes to speak sentences to his family. Those must be some cute conversations!

Photographer: Mr. Saikaley

Ginger and Geoff

In the winter of 2020, my daughter's Grade 6 teacher asked families if anyone would like to take care of Geoff, the bearded dragon and the unofficial mascot of my daughter's elementary school, for the March Break. I was a little worried given Geoff's royal status, but what could go wrong? Given that we had a massive labradoodle, Rufus, a tabby cat named Ginger, two aquariums, two teenagers, and an exchange student from Spain living with us, we figured a bearded dragon could not possibly add any more chaos to our home. We agreed to take Geoff for the break. When Geoff came into our home, Rufus didn't seem to notice, our fish really didn't care, and the teenagers found him surprisingly cuddly. Ginger, the cat, was downright intrigued. I thought I noticed a certain sparkle in their eyes. One morning, I went downstairs to find that Ginger had gone through the screen on the terrarium and was napping in the artificial rays of Geoff's heat lamp. As you can see from the photo, Ginger was surprised at my surprise - if the cat could talk, I think it would have been saying, "yeah, so what you never seen a cat hangin' out with a lizard?" It would not be the last time Ginger would get caught sunbathing with Geoff. Even when we took Geoff out of the terrarium, the two seemed to have a special bond.

As we all know, the March Break of 2020 turned out to be a little longer than anticipated. Geoff stayed with us for the break, then an extra week, then an extra month. Finally another family took Geoff for a few weeks, but he came back to sunbathe with Ginger for another few weeks, then he went off to another home. One day, my daughter told us she had read a message on Instagram that the school mascot was no longer. After some frantic phone calls, the sad news was confirmed. Geoff, the bearded dragon - mascot of my daughter's elementary school - had passed on to that place where the spirits of bearded dragons reside. As sad as it was, we all could not help but think that we were sure glad that Ginger hadn't taken Geoff out of the gene pool. RIP my little bearded buddy and unlikely feline companion.

Photographer: Mr. Kelly

Caring Cat

Goose is a tom cat that loves to spend the warmer months on the hunt for adventure and the winter months curled into a ball in whatever ray of sunshine he can find. He loves being a big brother to his human siblings.

Photographer: Ms. Smith

Meet Fruity

Fruity is a very tolerant cat, especially with my small children. He is probably part Maine Coon, so he is a bit dog-like in personality as well. He was born in a barn, was snatched from a barnyard, and is now very acclimatized to life as a petting cat.

Photographer: Mr. McBride

A Playful Pet

Kallie is eight months old. She is half Bengal and half something else. She is very curious and loves to play fetch. She will bring us a toy and if we ignore her she will rub her head against our leg. She actually brings her toy back and drops it at our feet.

Photographer: Mr. Chislett

The Purr-fect Pair

Cas and Lux are brothers from the same litter. They are both very friendly and very gentle but are absolute gluttony and will eat just about anything. Cas loves cucumbers and Lux loves bananas!

Photographer: Mr. Kritchever

Twin Mischief

The twins are helping me study for online schooling. Oreo and Mittens are playful and always attached to each other. They love getting in the way of the camera for online schooling or lying on the keyboard, especially Mittens (the scrawny one).

Photographer: Mrs. Wilston