Dear Bacon Sponsors:

As I slip into the suite that Bacon shares with Lornadoone, I can’t wait to find out the latest. It’s Memorial Day. Many of the volunteers and regular staff are off for the holiday. Tabby’s Place is planning to be closed for a few hours in the afternoon to visitors to let the staff spend the holiday with their family. This means that the usual cleaning and feeding that occurs in the morning is on a different schedule.

I bump into Denise, the senior vet tech at Tabby’s Place. She’s busy cleaning and putting the suite to right. On account of Lornadoone. Usually, a volunteer would have that responsibility, but they are being extra cautious. Denise shares that Lornadoone is still somewhat of a mystery. She can be sweet as pie one moment and then, with little or no warning, strike out at some unsuspecting visitor or cat. No one is sure what really sets her off.

When Denise is finished with the suite and Lornadoone is back—safely—in her house, Bacon pops out and begins his usual tour around the room. But I can tell, he isn’t as energetic as usual. His bio-rhythms seem to be off. He passes Lornadoone and doesn’t even look over at her.

“How are things going between you and Lornadoone?” I ask him, careful to keep my voice low.

“The same.”

I’m a little surprised to hear this. I was hoping that with time, Lornadoone would settle in, come to accept that she’s sharing a suite with Bacon, and . . . well, let her guard down so that they become friends.

“Someday,” I assure him. “She needs more time.”

Bacon takes that in, doesn’t respond, and makes his way back across the room. He brushes by me and goes back into his house.

“Do you want to play with one of your toys?” I ask.

“Not really.”

Ouch. That hurts.

He starts eating his wet and dry food, which is a good thing. I do a few crazy things, like take one of his toys and pretend it’s alive and wants to eat from his bowl. He watches for a second, but he’s too smart for me and doesn’t take the bait.

I take one of his toys and actually put it right into his food bowl. That should inspire some kind of response. Right? He pushes it out of the way with his nose and continues to gobble his food.

After our visit is over, I bump into Denise. “How did Bacon seem to you?”

I tell her the truth. “A bit off his game. He ate a lot, but was more tired than usual.”

“He probably wore himself out.” She tells me that when she was in there, he was very active, racing around the room.

That is so good to hear, and her report reminds me that when I’m with Bacon it’s only one moment in time. Sometimes he’s up and sometimes he’s down. We all have our good and not-so-good moments.

As for how Bacon is doing medically, the good folks at Tabby’s Place tell me that “Bacon was sedated for a full physical exam this month. He had blood drawn for testing and to check his pheno levels. Results were all normal for him and there were no necessary adjustments to his medications.” All good news as far as I can tell!

Bacon and I thank you, as always, for your continued generosity to Tabby’s Place. The special care that Bacon needs is only possible because he is here and because people like you give so generously.

By the way, if you enjoy stories about our cats, you may enjoy our blog, where we post at least three times every week.  Enjoy the terrific spring we’ve been having!

Your correspondent,
Kate