I call my time with Colleen “pure contentment.”
But let me explain. For the last few visits, I’ve found Colleen all snuggled up, nice and cozy, in Jonathan’s office. She has commandeered one of his chairs across from his desk, and she curls herself into a loose circle and is usually fast asleep when I wander into his office to scoop her up after I’ve finished volunteering.
Colleen used to hang out quite a bit in the Community Room, but now she’s been feeling a bit poorly (I’ll explain in a minute) and prefers the peace of quiet of the boss’ office. This is preferred real estate, let me tell you. Not every cat is allowed in here. But Colleen is special. She has a special place in practically all the hearts of the people who work at Tabby’s Place. And she is working that for all its worth!
Colleen smells like heaven and weighs next to nothing. I bring her into the lobby, settle into one of the comfortable chairs and hold her close to my heart. Not that she isn’t already in my heart, but I mean I physically hold her close to my heart. That’s when the gentle purring begins. Her eyes close and she rests there. She’s content and I’m content. I’ve known Colleen for a lot of years. She knows me. And there’s not a better feeling in all the world than to just hold her for fifteen or twenty minutes. The world stops.
The other day a very handsome cat jumped up on the chair next to me, smelled Colleen, and without hesitation, snuggled down next to us. Morgan. I’d never met him before, and one of the volunteers explained that Morgan is a bit dense when it comes to figuring out social relationships; he’s liable to just bumble into situations. But it didn’t matter, because Colleen is so sweet, she wasn’t put off by Morgan’s brass ways. If he wanted to squeeze in, he was welcome. He stayed for awhile and then jumped down and found another chair to sleep on.
Now as to the medical update, this month our poor sweet girl had even more drama. Colleen battled an extremely severe urinary tract infection. She had radiographs as a precaution to rule out anything serious. Unfortunately, they found a potential bladder/kidney stone. The decision from the vet was to first treat Colleen’s urinary tract infection and then, if Colleen was still having symptoms, they would do an abdominal ultrasound. Fortunately, Colleen responded to antibiotics and feels better. She is a bad candidate for surgery, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Colleen and I, as always, thank you for your continued support.
We wish you the best for the upcoming holidays. We hope that you can avoid the stress and spend time with family and friends.