Greetings, Olive fans! It’s time for another update on our black-and-white lobby greeter. Olive had rather a strange month medically. She had a bout or two of soft stool (though nothing serious enough to require medication); that’s not so unusual. But she also developed excessively smelly urine. We immediately suspected another urinary tract infection, but testing revealed no bacteria, so we’ve no idea what might have caused this. The issue seems to have resolved without human help, but we’ll watch her closely in case it recurs.
It’s a good thing that Olive receives so much attention from humans, because feline tempers in the lobby remain distinctly fragile, and human intervention seems the only way around this. Hostility between felines isn’t a constant in the lobby, but it flares up without warning. Still, it must be admitted that Olive causes her share of the friction. Despite her small size, she is afraid of no one; I’ve seen her go after a cat three times her size without a moment’s hesitation. If she does get into a spat, we usually try to distract her with a toy, or we’ll move her or the other cat out of one another’s way; there are times when cats’ short attention spans can be a real plus! Olive is not always an instigator, but it’s clear that she isn’t fond of most members of her own species.
Olive seems increasingly drawn to our Executive Director’s office. She cannot go in there, because two FIV+ cats live in the office, and we are strict about keeping FIV+ and non-FIV+ cats separated. But there’s a latticed baby gate across the door, and she’ll stick her nose through the lattice as far as possible (which isn’t very far). Predictably, after doing so, she’ll sometimes hiss at the felines in the office, but they tend to be on the timid side, so they don’t try to mess with our feisty girl. Why has the office suddenly become such an object of interest? We don’t know, and Olive isn’t saying.
As always, I’d like to thank you for your generosity in helping us help this young lady. I hope you’re having a great summer!