Happy October to you and to all Buddy’s buddies!

First on the list this month is Buddy’s health. Cats are renowned for being curious, but Buddy’s “nose trouble” (as my mother would call an unhealthy curiosity) is something else altogether. From a distance, it could appear as though this handsome fellow has grown even cuter with the addition of freckles across his nose. Closer up, it looked like he’d simply been on the wrong end of a fight. (Someone even noted that McNulty had suspiciously “matching” scratches on his own nose.) But Buddy’s so affectionate toward cats, it would be hard to believe he’d resorted to feline fisticuffs. It has to make you wonder how he acquired FIV in the first place, since the most common mode of translation is a deep bite obtained in a fight.

Then the nose scratches refused to heal even with antibiotics, and they increasingly started to look like punctures. The vet doesn’t suspect anything sinister, but to be on the safe side, a punch biopsy of the area was conducted. More to come on this, to be sure.

During my most recent visit to Tabby’s Place, it was still hot in greater metropolitan Ringoes, NJ, but despite the heat, which had other cats stretched out as they saved their energy, Buddy was alert and active as he roamed around the solarium looking for companionship. He approached Newman, who was in full chillax mode on a cat bed, and washed his head. That didn’t rouse his tuxedo suitemate, so Buddy hopped onto a kitty igloo and gave his full attention to an insect walking across the plastic covering over the open side of the solarium.

It was already plenty noisy in the solarium due to the hard-working air conditioning unit nearby, but Buddy heard something else and hopped off the igloo to search for the source, which turned out to be someone opening a supply shed behind the building. That mystery solved to his satisfaction, Buddy walked across the concrete floor and climbed into a cat bed right next to me along the back wall. My ol’ pal Charlie was off my lap, so I was free to give Buddy some attention, and he accepted it appreciatively.

It’s good to see how far he’s come since he arrived at Tabby’s Place in 2013. KarenR described his progress for the past 3 years, but has moved on and turned over that responsibility to me. I’ve been a correspondent for Paulette and Sylvia, and briefly for Sonora, and I’m looking forward to keeping you informed about your favorite resident of Tabby’s Place. Thank you so much for all you do to support Buddy and Tabby’s Place.