Dear friends of Boots,

Our tuxedo boy had his regular quarterly ultrasound this month, which revealed his heart to be stable. Other than mild cardiomegaly (the fancy term for an enlarged heart), a chest X-ray showed Boots’ ticker to be within normal limits. His heart’s left atrium appears slightly larger, but this may well be due to our having discontinued one of his heart medications after his previous ultrasound.

For the time being, we’ll continue his current protocol – it’s better for his kidneys long-term if we can keep him off that particular medication and for the most part Boots’ heart seems to be doing quite well.

His social skills, unfortunately, have taken a step in the wrong direction this winter. Although it had been quite some time since his last major fracas, Boots teamed up with Gingko this month to make life quite miserable for gentle little Oksana. This resulted in our moving Oksana to the Community Room, and for now peace has returned to the lobby.

Boots is officially a strapping 6 year old cat (since we rarely know a cat’s actual birthday at Tabby’s Place, they all get to turn a year older on January 1), though the last few times I’ve stopped to say hello to him, he’s been a bit more kittenish than usual. Always a friend to a good nap, Boots has actually stayed awake for my entire visit – two weeks in a row! And I love getting to see a more animated side to our Booty boy.

Last week, his favorite activity of my visit was “hugging” my arm (or sleeve, or fingers) with his teeth. He wasn’t actually out to hurt me; I think he just wanted to establish that he was in charge. Each time I reached out for a final pet goodbye, he’d grab hold of some bit of me so that I couldn’t leave just yet. It turned into a nice long visit, which is, I expect, what he had in mind.

This week, he was an absolute snuggle bug, rolling on his back, butting my hand with his head, and even *gasp* purring! It wasn’t a huge rumble – in fact, if I hadn’t been paying him the close attention he was after, I might have missed it. But Boots definitely let out a couple of whirrs. It’s the first time in all the years I’ve known him that I’ve heard him purr, so I’m quite flattered that he bestowed the honor on me.

Thank you, dear sponsors, for supporting Boots, whether he’s being the lobby bully or testing out a newer, sweeter side. Best wishes for a Happy New Year!