Happy New Year, Olive Devotees!

It’s time for 2023’s first update on our girl, and people are starting to talk. Our feisty little black-and-white, the one who cannot abide other cats near her, has been seen curled up on a blanket near Hips. This has not happened just once or twice now, but on multiple occasions, and there have been plenty of witnesses. We are as baffled as we are delighted; the fact that Olive is not only allowing another cat near her but is sleeping with another cat so close by is truly remarkable.

Of course, Olive cannot allow the humans around her to become complacent or to think she’s genuinely turned a corner socially. Over the past few weeks, Her Majesty of the Lobby got into a hissing and swatting “contest” with a new lobby resident, Nina. As a result of her traumatic head injury, Nina tends to circle when she walks, and she cannot always control where she’ll end up. When she gets too close to another cat, particularly one who can be combative like Olive, hissing and swatting often result, and that was the case here. There were no injuries, luckily, and we’ll keep an eye on these two to make sure nothing is escalating.

In medical news, Olive has had a number of bouts of firmer than normal stools over the past month when being expressed. This is not comfortable for her or the staff, so we’ve adjusted a medication dose or two and are monitoring her carefully. Hopefully, this is just a temporary inconvenience for all parties concerned.

As always, thank you for helping us help Olive.

Your correspondent,
Stephanie