Greetings, FeLVie Fans!
I hope your end-of-summer festivities are providing you with much joy.
As usual, there’s a great deal of news this month, so let’s jump right in.
We’ll start with the double positive suite, with our boys who have both FeLV and FIV. After our recent losses of Abacus and Dewie, this room has felt far too quiet.
Please know that we are being hyper-vigilant in looking after Trifecta and Luke. They go through periods of picky eating (not uncommon for many cats), and we are trying to determine which of the two had some loose stool (it might be both). The boys are transitioning to a diabetic safe diet, which will allow for more options than the urinary diet that Abacus required.
As you know from the special update sent out earlier this month, both Leonardo DiCatrio and Kitty Purry are being treated for FIP. They are doing okay so far. Their temperatures are back in the normal range, and they can be out and about in the suite during the days. Staff have reported that they are less energetic than before getting sick, but they are still engaging in some play as they recover. These are all good signs, but please keep them in your thoughts.
Leonardo seems to have a man-crush on Sweet Pea. It’s the most remarkable thing to see Leo walk up to Sweet Pea and rub on him as though the two had been together all their lives. It’s clear that Sweet Pea is oblivious to all of this, but I must say he’s remarkably tolerant of it. And, he’s so comfortable with people that he’s been an excellent influence on Leonardo that way. I also love to see Sweet Pea play; because he is admittedly something of a chonk, he doesn’t run after toys so much as galumph after them. It’s incredibly cute.
Pisa, too, has made progress over the past month. I’ve seen her out and about in the solarium when it’s quiet in her suite; I’ve even seen her eating and drinking during those times.
Regina has been on a new dietary routine and has done very nicely on that to date. This sweet girl has what we are calling a “spina bifida button.” That’s not a true medical term, but it’s a small spot on her lower back that will occasionally ooze and then scab over. Most of the time, the area is covered by her scoot skirt, and the staff who express her bladder know to be careful. You can see a charming video of her enjoying attention from one of her socializers below, and also one where she is playing in her cat tower.
Hoopla Green is tolerating my presence a bit better these days. I’ll sit in the solarium and read aloud to her for a little while, and if I don’t sit too close, she’ll stare at me for a few minutes and then nap. If she’ll sleep when I’m that close by, she can’t feel too threatened by me.
Little Batty knows an easy touch when she sees one, and she definitely sees one in me. If I walk into her suite and she’s not already in her favorite cubbyhole, she’ll jump right into the cubby and expect me to feed her kibble. And I do, because it’s easy for me to pet her as long as I feed her.
Other volunteers have been smarter about that, and Batty doesn’t view them as a source of food, but she’s so much better around people now that it doesn’t bother me. You’ll see a cute pose by Batty in her cubby in the header photo for this update.
It’s wonderful to see how much more at ease Clifford is in this suite. He’ll come right up for attention and start purring as soon as you pet him. He was treated for an upper respiratory infection over the past month, but that’s all gone now. Some of the staff told me he’s rather a grumpy old man, but I haven’t seen much of that behavior except around the new arrival, Jovi.
Jovi is a very small brown tabby, hardly more than a baby (we think he was born in October of 2024). Jovi had lived outside until he came to us and was very unhappy in Quarantine, but we believe much of that stemmed from being cooped up in a crate for a few weeks when he had always lived outdoors previously. He’s shy with us presently, but we think a little time will help with that.
Jovi is polydactyl (that means he has extra toes); you can see from the photo that his paw looks quite large! Clifford is not delighted with Jovi’s presence, but the only reaction I’ve seen so far is a few annoyed noises from the “grumpy old man”.
Finally, Oram’s adopters dropped by a few weeks ago. They were full of praise for our boy, telling me how much he loves a tummy rub and saying he’s fit in beautifully with their four other FeLV+ cats. We love hearing that an adoption has worked out so nicely!
That’s plenty of news for one update. Don’t forget to enjoy the Regina videos below. Thank you so much for caring about our wonderful FeLV+ crew!
Your correspondent,
Stephanie