Happy Spring, Olive Lovers!

Time for another update on our feisty girl. The trees are blossoming, the birds are singing, and Olive is spending more and more time at the front door, basking in the sun. Of course, spending time near the door also enables her to be among the first—if not the first cat—to check out new people coming in, which is a big deal to our ever-curious young lady.

The tables have turned! Olive has periodically bullied other lobby residents for years. Now, the situation has been reversed; there have been a handful of instances over the past few weeks when fellow lobby resident Bellamy was seen bullying Olive. This is a concern to us because Olive has a limited ability to get away from him. While we’re not sure just why Bellamy is doing this, we think it might be due to food restrictions.  That’s going to require a little explanation.

The Tabby’s Place lobby is a mixed environment; not all of the cats eat the same type of food, as they would in one of our suites. Felines residing in the lobby have a variety of health conditions and medical issues, and a number of these cats should only be eating prescription food. But if there’s one thing common to most cats, it’s a love for meals. Cats excel at obtaining food. Give a cat a chance to eat, even if he or she has to work for it, and you’ll usually find that cat eating sooner rather than later. I myself have seen Olive carefully pawing kibble, one piece at a time, out of a bowl hung inside another cat’s crate, and I’ve seen this multiple times. She’ll knock each piece onto the floor, scarf it down, and go back for more.

Recently, Tabby’s Place has made more of an effort to control access to non-prescription food in our lobby. Too many of the lobby residents were either overweight or were negatively affected by consuming food they shouldn’t be eating. (As a bit of a silver lining here, Olive has lost a little weight over the past few weeks.) But Bellamy is a huge fan of kibble, and he is not getting it since the tighter restrictions have gone into effect. Our guess is that his bad behavior toward Olive might be his way of expressing his displeasure, or perhaps he views her as a competitor. We’re keeping a close watch on both felines, as we cannot have our little lobby greeter too intimidated.

In other news, by now you know that Tabby’s Place is building an expansion called Quinn’s Corner, for vulnerable cats with feline leukemia virus (FeLV). As we prepare to open our expansion later this year, our need for volunteers increases. Volunteers are a huge part of our operation, as we could not run Tabby’s Place without them.

Beginning in May, we will launch an intense volunteer recruitment campaign to find those willing to give the gift of time and make an impact on the lives of our cats.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in volunteering (perhaps even you!), please let them know we will soon be reaching out with more details. (They can sign up to receive our emails here; scroll down to the “subscribe” box.) There are many types of volunteer duties to fit diverse abilities and schedules.

Thank you, as always, for helping to spread the word about Tabby’s Place!

As always, my gratitude goes out to you for helping us care for this special girl.

Your correspondent,
Stephanie