October Greetings to You, and to All Fenek’s Friends.

Fenek has been doing just fine this past month. If anything could be considered notable, it’s that his appetite was off for a day or so, but that has passed and he’s back to normal. Most importantly, though, his heart disease, his diabetes, and all of the ailments that make him Special Needs, all of them are satisfactory. (And why is he getting all this top-notch care? That’s right, it’s thanks to you and your ongoing support.)

As noted here last month, Fenek now has some roommates. Taylor Ham and Chicken Nugget moved into the lounge in August. In September, Baby joined the other three residents, although he isn’t new to the lounge.  He lived there until about a year ago when he was moved into a separate solo room to help him lose some weight. With Baby back in the lounge, that means four mancatly cats are learning to get along. Word is that Baby and Fenek have resumed their relaxed relationship, and TH and CN have made themselves at home.

However, the staff observed that Taylor Ham was polishing off any and all fresh kibble within minutes of its appearance. That can happen when a cat has lived through food insecurity, never knowing where the next meal was coming from, and so it tends to treat every meal as its last chance to eat. Understandable, but it’s not a good thing for any of the cats in the lounge to have one of them hoovering up every last piece of dry food.

The staff is dealing with this situation with a high-tech solution called a microchip feeder. A microchip contains permanent identification information in a container no bigger than a grain of rice, and one of them is implanted between the shoulder blades of each of the cats at Tabby’s Place. The microchip feeder has an acrylic guard over a food dish, and it can be set up to open when a certain microchip is detected. As you can guess, Taylor Ham’s chip triggers a Do Not Enter sign. When Fenek approaches, these photos show what happens. Notice how the acrylic guard folds back to allow Fenek to eat.

How is Taylor Ham taking this? I’m told that TH will stand nearby and watch, no doubt with his mouth watering, and as my source put it, “That doesn’t make for the most relaxing dining experience.” But then, Fenek knows what it’s like to be on the other end of things, watching closely where others eat.

Before I go, this month marks the 20th anniversary of Tabby’s Place, and a blog produced by one of its volunteers has been posting Throwback Thursday photos of some of the well-loved cats who have called it home, like Steven, who has lived here since 2009, blind Bellis, and paraplegic Tashi.

Until next month, I wish you all good things!

Your correspondent,
John

P.S.: If you stop by the Home Depot in Mount Laurel, NJ, please do not take Leo’s shirt off.