Arlo has enjoyed another month of trouble-free health, something for which I am particularly grateful right now. We lost his suite-mate Jenny earlier this month to an aggressive cancer; we had barely diagnosed her illness before she was gone. But our dashing orange-and-white boy continues to flourish, despite occasional battles with his other suite-mates. He and Penelope had a rather serious dust-up a few weeks back, but the suite has been a little quieter of late’–a very nice change.

I don’t know why, but cats are seldom cuter than when they make tactical errors. Not long ago, I peeked into the FIV+ suite and saw Arlo lounging in the basket there. When he saw me, he mewed, so I went in to pet him and sat down on the floor just behind the cubbyholes. Arlo gave a big stretch, jumped out of the basket, and began walking toward me, but he got distracted by a bowl of food and went over for a snack. Unfortunately for Arlo, his suite-mate Nuttin’ had also woken up when I went into the suite. Realizing quickly that I was unoccupied, Nuttin’ got up, trotted over, and plopped himself into my lap. His doing so woke up Buddy, Jasper, and Bailey, all of whom came over to ask for attention. I ended up with Nuttin’ and Buddy each occupying a leg, Bailey lying on the floor at my feet, and Jasper cruising endlessly back and forth for whatever he could get from the human. Finally, Arlo finished his snack and began coming toward me again, but he stopped in his tracks, looking completely nonplussed. Where had all those other cats come from’ It was so funny that I burst out laughing. Having been out-manuevered by his suite-mates, Arlo once again retired to the basket; eventually, when I got up, I went over and gave him a good scratch behind the shoulders, so he wouldn’t feel neglected.

More recently, I had the good luck to catch Arlo by himself in the solarium, so I went in to play with him. As usual when away from other felines, he was Mr. Affection, head-butting my chin whenever possible and purring continuously. I lay down on the floor to see what he would do, and after a little hesitation he climbed onto me and began rubbing his head vigorously on me before eventually settling down on my stomach.

I’m delighted that Arlo remains so people-friendly. The best-case scenario for our boy is, of course, adoption into a ’forever’ home. But until that happens, we depend on sponsors like you to help us care for him. Thank you!