Greetings!

Ready for another update, Olive fanciers? As usual, I’ll delve into the medical news first. It seemed to some of the staff that Olive had been more “angry” than usual of late when her bladder was being expressed. And several people, staff as well as volunteers, thought that her way of scooting around looked different. We were concerned that there might be a problem, but a full exam for Olive is so stressful on all parties concerned that our vet team decided sedation was the only way to go.

True to Olive’s dramatic nature, she was not easy to sedate and required a fairly strong dose of meds. Once she was completely sedated, however, our vet team was able to examine her carefully. Her hind legs and pelvic area are fully fused and deformed, but this is nothing we didn’t already know. The good news is that our vet team found no sign of anything amiss (they had been concerned about the possibility of a fracture, among other things). While Olive was unconscious, she received more than her share of kisses and cuddles, something she’d never permit when she was awake. And, upon her return to the lobby, she was as feisty as ever.

Olive remains determined to be the first cat in the lobby to explore anything new, be it people, other cats, or inanimate objects. A few Sundays ago, a woman who had never been to Tabby’s Place came in for a visit. She was carrying a good-sized tote bag as her purse. At that point, Olive was engaged in sniffing other visitors. The woman with the tote bag stopped in front of our “nursery” to look at the kittens inside and made the tactical error of putting her tote bag on the floor next to her.

Instantly, Olive’s head swiveled around, and she stopped what she was doing to scoot over to the tote bag, which had suddenly become The Most Fascinating Object in the World. Before the woman knew what was happening, Olive had her nose all over the tote bag and appeared to be trying to stick her head into it. The woman, obviously an experienced cat lover, simply reached down, picked up her bag, and told Olive what a good girl she was. Her cunning plan foiled, Olive turned her back on the woman and scooted off to investigate something else.

Thank you for helping us keep this little character so well cared for!

Your correspondent,
Stephanie