Angela here, Tabby’s Place’s Development Director, guest writing for Jonathan this month. As we speak, Jon is putting the finishing touches on something very special…but more on that in a moment.
It has been a month of adventure for Morgan. At the venerable age of 13, and with life-threatening heart disease, one might expect that Morgan would be the kind of cat who plays it safe, lies low and sticks close to home. But no: our Morgan is more like the 95-year-old man who celebrates his octuple bypass surgery by skydiving.
Morgan has apparently decided that Jonathan’s office is not enough world for him. Although Jon’s pad will always be his home base, Morgan has spent September and October bravely exploring every inch of the lobby.
Once our gentle guy realized that visitors will fawn over him, Morgan quickly began spending most of the day curled on a lobby couch or waiting at the front door for admirers to arrive. Since his appetite for affection is bottomless, he delights in every visitor who greets him, chirping and weaving wondrous figure-eights between their legs. Truly Morgan fears nothing, welcomes everyone, and even — on one and only one occasion — blithely ambled out the front door into the sunshine after a volunteer. (Fortunately, Morgan also had no complaints about being swiftly returned to the lobby.)
To satisfy his curiosity about the outdoors safely, our staff has begun taking Morgan out for short walks on a leash. Most cats will resolutely reject wearing a leash, but Morgan has taken to it with glee. As you can see above, our boy is in his glory on these jaunts. It’s a bit ironic that a cat who experienced such terrible times outdoors should want to return there. I can only imagine that, now that Morgan knows he has a safe, warm haven, the outside world seems a lot kinder.
On the medical front, Morgan continues to do astoundingly well, which makes all his adventures possible. Radiographs showed that his heart is very large, but that he has only minimal pulmonary edema, and his heart disease hasn’t progressed in the least.
While Morgan’s heart is stable, his arthritis has advanced a bit, particularly in his left stifle (the joint between the thigh bone and the two lower leg bones). We’re treating Morgan’s arthritis with a new medication that has been shown to protect joint cartilage.
We learned one troubling piece of Morgan trivia on his radiographs this month: this sweetest of cats is living with two BB pellets in his neck. It is hard to imagine what could make a human think it was a good idea to use this gentle soul as target practice, but perhaps even more mind-boggling to realize that this abuse didn’t dampen Morgan’s trust and love for people — nor his thirst for adventure.
Dear sponsors, thank you for making Morgan’s adventures, and his robust good health, possible. It is a great joy to care for him with you, and he’s blessed to have you in his life.
PS: As for that “something special” that’s keeping Jonathan busy, keep an eye on your email. This month marks Tabby’s Place’s 10th anniversary, and we’ll be announcing some very big news later this week. Thank you, again, for helping to make all manner of good news possible for all our cats.