Dear Carrot Friends,

Carrot has had another good month of strolling, eating, playing, and sleeping. The weather has been mostly nice, so the stroller cats have been getting lots of outside time with their volunteer friends.

Recently we added a new cat to Carrot’s room, Joshua. We knew Joshua would be a handful, and may not be great with the cats, but we had to try him somewhere. When we first added Joshua to Suite C, we put a curtain across the front of his cage, because he gets very overstimulated in new situations. After 5 days we let new cats out into their new room and observe how they interact with the other cats and their new environment.

Joshua was how we expected:  he was confident and explored the room right away. He also quickly found the solarium and enjoys being out there. Another thing we expected also happened…. Joshua was annoying the other cats in the room. He would patrol the floor, and some of the cats were frightened of him. As he entered the suite, you would see the cats leave and find somewhere to hide so he wouldn’t bother them.

Then something happened we were NOT expecting. Joshua and Carrot became friends! Joshua has a very large personality, which is intimidating to most cats, but our Carrot isn’t most cats, and he certainly doesn’t get intimidated easily. Because Carrot is not afraid of Joshua, I think Joshua is excited to finally have a friend who doesn’t run away. The other day I went into Suite C and they were wrestling. Other staff members have seen them grooming each other. Since then they have been hanging out a lot, and Joshua now spends a lot of time in the solarium with his new buddy. I think it is good for Joshua to have someone who is not afraid of him, and who will play with him, and be his friend. The brown tabby in the photos is Joshua, and although one picture is not a great picture, you can clearly see Joshua grooming Carrot.

We always feel bad that the cats don’t get as much attention as they did pre-pandemic. Our small group of volunteers and staff do what they can, but we just don’t have the manpower we did. We added stroller walks, of course, and that helps, but we want to do as much as we can. So we added enrichment back once a week. On the enrichment day, one of our volunteers goes into each room and sets out a bunch of motorized toys, puzzles with treats inside, paper bags, catnip, and all sorts of fun things. The cats really enjoy their enrichment time, and it gives them something to do that is not part of their usual day. I’m sure you can guess who likes the puzzles with treats inside? Yup, it’s Carrot, and if a treat is involved he is very motivated to get it out.

In medical news, Carrot fasted for bloodwork and x-rays this month. The vet team had found an elevated calcium level and we wanted to check this out. It turns out he has something called idiopathic hypercalcemia. He is starting on a treatment that is given once a week on a fasting stomach with extra water. He will be rechecked in 3 to 4 weeks to see how he is responding to treatment. Carrot doesn’t seem to know anything is wrong and is still acting like his normal, lovable self.

That’s all the Carrot news for now. As always, thank you so much for your continued support of Carrot, as we couldn’t do this without your generosity.

Your correspondent,
Karina