Greetings, Olive Fanciers!

I’m afraid someone is going to have to have a serious talk with our girl. Just as we thought we had gotten rid of that pernicious ringworm outbreak, the last check for it led to the discovery of a suspicious spot on Olive’s nose. She was moved back into ringworm quarantine, and a lab test identified the spot as (you guessed it!) ringworm. When we discover a suspicious lesion on a cat, one of the things we do is examine it under a blacklight. Ringworm fungus will glow under the light (as will other dry skin and lint). When Olive was examined her nose was glowing!  Sigh.

In the ringworm quarantine area, Olive has less access to extra food (very good for her waistline, but not so good for her temper). She’s given oral medications and is bathed in a foul-smelling solution twice a week to rid her of the ringworm, but when you combine all of that with her still having to be expressed three times every day, you can understand why the staff usually prefers Olive out of quarantine to Olive in quarantine.

However, something different has happened with Olive in this quarantine. She’s become more tolerant of human attention. In fact, there are times when she seems to genuinely enjoy it. You’ll find a brief video with this update that shows a staffer petting Olive, and you’ll see that Olive is far from protesting or scooting away. But more than one staff member has been able to pet her recently, and for a longer time than usual. We’re not sure why this is happening; maybe she misses all of the attention she gets when in the lobby? And there’s no way to predict whether this behavior will continue once she’s back in the lobby, but we certainly hope it will. Olive also does not need to wear a diaper while she’s in quarantine, a decision that meets with her complete approval.

You’ll also find a photo of Olive still in the lobby, prior to the current ringworm episode, with some chicken in front of her. The chicken is a treat, courtesy of a staff member. The other cat in the shot is lobby resident Disco, who’s attempting to move in on Olive’s chicken after polishing off her own. Those of you familiar with our feisty girl will understand that this is not going to end well for Disco!

Once Olive gets over this bout of ringworm, we hope we’ll have seen the last of it for a very long time! Please keep a good thought for our little lobby greeter.

Your correspondent,
Stephanie