Dearest loving sponsors of Pepita,
As you receive this update on Pepita, I do hope you and all your loved ones are taking care, coping with the vast sea of emotions that encircle us daily and staying well. Even Pepita is perplexed by the topsy-turvy world in which we all find ourselves!
As you might expect, Tabby’s Place is responding to COVID-19 much the way most businesses are. There was a well thought out plan, with levels of escalation and different actions tied to those levels. Being in New Jersey, an incredible hot spot for the virus, we quickly reached the highest level and the ‘stay at home’ order from the governor, which meant 1) closure to the public, 2) closure to all our dear volunteers, and 3) operation by small teams of 3-4 staff members each day, with none of those teams overlapping (to minimize the spread of the virus, should any one person get infected).
Pepita is still receiving all the wonderful care she has come to expect from our all-star staff, who is leaning in big-time during this crisis: her food, her medications, expressing of her bladder, warm places to nap, a solarium full of fresh air and light, and all the love that a small staff can provide while they are also cleaning and performing all the essential duties that might normally be done by volunteers. As you can see, Pepita is even getting stroller rides by the staff, even if she can’t go to the senior homes for the Aged to Purrfection program right now. The Tabby’s Place staff are true heroes to the cats and to the rest of us who cannot be helping out right now.
I am sure Pepita is missing the many volunteers who would typically shower her with attention, and we all are missing being able to be right there with her and all the fur babies. We are each storing up our love and attention and knowing that when the doors reopen to the volunteers that every single kitty will be totally spoiled. The staff, even though incredibly busy, has been keeping volunteers updated with tons of pictures of the cats and videos of their antics. They are also posting a lot of news and all of Angela’s stellar blogs on the Tabby’s Place Facebook page, including a virtual tour of each area of the sanctuary and introduction to the kitties. Here is the link in case you wish to join in.
Before the closure happened, a Brownie troop was visiting the sanctuary in early March. One of the mom’s parents sponsors Pepita (this mom is probably reading this right now) and she asked to meet her. The staff member who introduced them said: “Pepita was a superstar 💖💖!!” All I say to that is, “But of course she was! That is who Pepita is and always will be!”
Pepita spent the first part of last month on antibiotics for a very bad UTI. She is now cleared up and off the extra medication. The mystery of the persistent and unexplained hair loss on her lower back was continuing. So the vet team put her on new allergy medication, and it seems to be working well, as her hair on her back is growing back nicely.
Onto some hopeful thoughts about this strange time… I’m sure we have all been reading quite a bit (I know I have!) as to what to take away from this new experience with COVID-19 and the disruption to pretty much everything we know. How should we think differently about… well, almost everything? What should we as individuals learn? What should we as a country learn? And what should we as a global community learn? Once we are individually beyond adjusting to survive (and try to thrive) in this changed world, we take some deep breaths and think about the future and what it will bring.
I was reading a recent opinion piece by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. She quoted Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and an author. “This is a time for us to reflect,” he said, “and choose a better story. Right now stories are being rewritten all around us, nationally, individually, and we all get a chance to do some of the rewriting.” This struck me as a very different way of looking at this time we are traveling through. When I shared the article with Angela, our wonderful Development Director, she noted, “Isn’t it a great source of hope to know that, in the days ahead, we will have a chance to do some life-giving “rewriting”? The weeks and months to come are full of promise, even if we can’t imagine them just yet.”
I certainly don’t know what this means for us in our families, with our friends, in our country, or even at Tabby’s Place. But we will all figure it out and move to a different way of operating in the future. And I think it may all begin with a renewed spirit of gratitude. Behavioral scientist Francesca Gino writes, “gratitude enables us to savor positive experiences, cope with stressful circumstances, and be resilient in the face of challenges.”
And we start with each of you. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for you and your love and support of Pepita, even during these extremely difficult times. Please know that we treasure you dearly and can continue our tireless work in saving cats from helpless situations because of you.
I’m hoping that next month I will be back with Pepita and will bring you stories of her adventures.
Your correspondent,
Sheila