July Greetings to You, and to All Fenek’s Friends!

It’s a sign of Fenek’s current health that it’s possible he is developing cataracts, but that it’s low on the list of his current health concerns. More urgently, he continues to lose weight, and an ultrasound in the past month didn’t provide any new information about the reason why. His abdomen was normal and his heart is stable, although weakened by disease. On top of that, diabetes is an ongoing concern, and the ear containing a mass of unknown content keeps getting infected.

That’s how the veterinary professionals are seeing it. But I can also tell you that from my civilian point of view, I’ve seen the effects to Fenek’s behavior since he was diagnosed with heart disease a couple of months ago.  For several visits, he would get on my lap as usual, but he wouldn’t stay there. He’d get up and move in just a few minutes. During my last few visits, though, it looked to me like he was getting back to where he was before the diagnosis.  All I had to do was sit down, and he’d fix his gaze on me, get up from whatever chair or box he’d been lying in, and unhurriedly make his way over. Once in place on my lap, he made himself comfortable and stayed awhile, the way he did before, and that return to form is a welcome piece of good news.

Although there are a hundred+ cats at Tabby’s Place, not many are lap cats. Often, when they arrive they’ve been homeless and unloved, and even though some learn to trust, others never do. Fenek, though, can be described as a lap cat in the classic sense; to the right, you see a picture of him on my lap facing outward, but he’s just as likely to turn toward me, rest his weight on his hind legs, and stretch upward until he’s nose to nose with me, making him more of a lap, chest and face cat.

He’s one of the most affectionate cats I’ve known, and anyone who loves him would feel pain to watch him go through this. But there is still reason for hope.  He’s a senior cat, but still interested in life, in looking out the window at the birds that stop by the attached feeder.

It’s been said many times before that all anyone can do is make every day count. Nobody knows how much time anyone will have, but as of now Fenek is hanging in there day to day — and really, aren’t we all?

He’s getting all the care he needs, both in the medical sense and in terms of love and affection. It would be so much more difficult for him if it weren’t for your generous support and for that everyone at Tabby’s Place thanks you.

Anyway, I can commiserate with Fenek about age—I’m old enough to remember when the Big Ten had just 10 teams. With that in mind, I have a role model for the future. See him in action, or should I say, “inaction.”

Until next month, we are wishing you all good things.

Your correspondent,
John