Like a kid let out of school, Jeremiah has been reveling in the long days and warm temperatures. He loves the solarium attached to his suite and spends hours there looking out through the wide-mesh screen or simply sniffing the breezes that blow through. His new frequent companion in the solarium is suite-mate Jenny, who has decided that she prefers any place where there are fewer cats (Jenny is quite timid with most of the guys in the FIV+ suite, but she’s OK around Jeremiah). Jeremiah continues to change in personality once he gets into the solarium, becoming a big affectionate marshmallow of a cat who is delighted to come up for a scratch on the neck. He still sleeps by preference in The Basket (if you don’t know about this, see last month’s update) and will still doze nearby when an interloper dares to nap there, waiting his chance to get back in (sharing The Basket is apparently not allowed, and given Jeremiah’s size it’s doubtful if another cat could fit in when he was there, anyhow).

The biggest change in Jeremiah’s life over the past month has been the introduction of a new suite-mate, Pookie. As a rule, Jeremiah seems almost unaffected by new cats in ’his’ territory, and that’s the case here, but it may also help that Pookie is quite shy and tends to spend most of his time well away from any suite-mates.

At the moment, Jeremiah is being treated for an upper respiratory infection (URI), which he may have caught from Jack or Alex, two suite-mates with the same ailment. While Jeremiah doesn’t have a fever, he’s pretty congested, and we’re treating him with an antibiotic, which is usually effective against URI’s. Naturally, we’re quite concerned that there’s a contagious illness among our FIV+ crew, and we’re taking even more precautions there than usual—restricting access, having anyone that goes in dip their shoes in a bleach solution, etc. We’re hopeful that these precautions and antibiotics will result in a speedy end to sneezing kitties!
As always, thanks to you for helping to keep our ’Big Guy’ well-fed and cared for.