Greetings, Frankie Fans!
It’s time for an update on Ol’ Blue Eyes, and I’m happy to be able to tell you that Frankie has enjoyed a month of good health. Medically speaking, he’s cruising along. Socially? Well, that’s a different story.
You’ll recall that Frankie has been on behavioral medications to reduce aggressive behavior toward other felines sharing a room with him. That room is good-sized, by the way. It’s our Community Room, and there are desks, tables, and chairs for the cats to occupy. There are a couple of windowsills for the important job of looking outside. There’s plenty of space for the number of cats in the room; they’re not living on top of one another. You’ll remember, too, how Frankie was not fond of some of his roommates and displayed his displeasure in their direction, the cause of our giving him behavioral medications. But things had been on a much more even keel recently, until Tabby’s Place committed a serious error, at least as far as Frankie is concerned: we introduced two new cats into the Community Room without obtaining his permission first.
Introducing cats to one another is always a tricky matter. Some cats are more easy-going about others of their species and/or less territorial; others act as though new cats are a grave insult. Our Chairman of the Board chose the latter perspective, unfortunately. The fact that the two new felines, Ralph and S’Mores, are not entirely innocent in their interactions with Frankie only serves to aggravate the situation. At this writing, Frankie has developed a reputation for stalking S’Mores, something that has resulted in numerous “time-outs” for our boy. Things got so bad one day that a staffer put Frankie in a stroller and took him outside to be near her as she worked so S’Mores could get a break.
Obviously, this cannot continue. But it is not the first difficult introduction we’ve had, and we’re very lucky in that we have options. It happens not infrequently that we move cats from one area to another; sometimes felines, like people, just don’t get along, and moving one to another suite can be a simple and effective solution. We will continue to watch the cats very closely. The hope is that everybody will have settled down before your next update (sometimes it just takes everyone a few weeks to adjust), but I’ll keep you posted.
Frankie remains delightful with people, and we know that finding a home as an “only” cat would be the best situation for him. Until that happens, we’ll keep caring for him with your generous help. Thank you!
Your correspondent,
Stephanie