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

From where I live, Tabby’s Place is not quite 40 miles away, as the drone flies. I wish I could get a ride on one of those drones because there is no such straight shot via the roads in this part of the United States.

If I take the route recommended by Google Maps, it’s largely on high-speed superhighways, but it also adds another 20 miles to the trip. The shortest routes require going down winding, narrow two-lane roads with a speed limit of 25 and the occasional speed bump to enforce it.

After trying alternative routes, I’ve settled on one that contains few traffic lights and just two small towns with their brief slowdowns. A good podcast helps the time pass (I like You Must Remember This) and it diverts me from thinking that there’s still a half-hour to go before I can pet any cats. If I time it right, I pull into the parking lot just as Karina Longworth signs off with her customary “Join us then… won’t you?”

Once inside, I log in and re-check my to-do list. At the top of the list: Find Fenek and pet him (if possible). The parenthetical uncertainty takes into consideration that he may already be gracing someone’s lap because the lounge that he calls home is seldom without human visitors for our Distinguished Gentleman cat to meet and greet. In a way, it’s as if he were the American equivalent of Gacek, the tuxedo cat who’s currently the top tourist attraction in a Polish city.

I don’t mind waiting my turn due to his popularity, especially since as many of you know, last year at this time, Fenek was having acute, serious health problems.

In the year since, his new normal consists of meds and tests early, and more meds and tests late. He continues to get a blood glucose check before receiving insulin twice a day. Along with that, this month he had a detailed blood glucose curve, and with those results, the medical staff decided that there was no need to change his dosage or its timing at this point.

Toward the end of last month, Fenek developed some nasal congestion with discharge from his nose, so he began a course of antibiotics for that. And later this month, Fenek is due for another echocardiogram, along with blood tests and a blood pressure check.

The life of an older cat is often not an easy one. But despite it all, Fenek is no less affectionate. That’s what your donations have provided him, more time and his best possible life, and that’s why everyone at Tabby’s Place wants to be sure you know how much we appreciate all you do for him.

That’s the human side of his life. Then, there’s the cat-to-cat side. The picture just off to the side shows a brief period when fellow diabetic Lynette and Fenek were nose-to-nose. Moments later, they were both backing away and hissing like a gas station air pump. And lest you think that he was the aggressor, take a good look and see who you’d say was in a dominant position.

I’m told Lynette has been observed swatting him when she feels he’s in her way. But that’s the kind of role reversal that can take place in a year when the winner of this year’s Bunny Tryout was announced — and it was a cat.

Until next month, wishing you all good things…

Your correspondent,
John