Dearest Pepita Fans,

Last month I mentioned that Pepita might join a new adventure—being a therapy cat for breast cancer survivors through a group called Evolve Pink. The group meets weekly and conducts various feel-good activities for the ladies.

Now once a month is Whisker Wednesday Pet Therapy night, and Pepita and Carrot (from Suite C) were the first to go and try it out. It was a huge success! As soon as the cats were in the room, and were released from their carriers, Carrot jumped up on the couch and stretched out. He flirted with the ladies and made himself very comfortable on the couch. Carrot is one of the most natural therapy cats—loves people and attention and new places and is always ready to spread the love.

Pepita was a little timid on this trip and wasn’t quite as relaxed as Carrot, but she did explore the room and visit with the ladies all night. The ladies in the group absolutely LOVED having both fur babies be part of their therapy group, and they can’t wait until the next visit. It is so wonderful that Pepita can bring joy to this group.

And, of course, your sweet girl is also still making the rounds to her senior friends in the Aged to Purrfection program, bringing love and joy.  One of the volunteers who takes the cats to the senior facilities told me that this time Pepita preferred to stay in the stroller, but the residents were able to pet her and they clearly enjoy the interaction. During their visit, the volunteer showed the seniors photos from the Tabby’s Place website so they could see where the cats live. The seniors are always amazed to hear that we have 100+ cats, and showing them the virtual tour to see the suites, lobby, community room, employee/volunteer lounge, and other rooms where the cats live brought smiles to their faces.

Pepita experienced some weight loss at the beginning of the month. An urine culture revealed an infection that was likely impacting her appetite. Pepita’s urinary tract infection responded to the antibiotics and cleared up. She is now off of the antibiotic!

In Suite A news, Steven has recovered well from the injuries sustained by a bullying suitemate after a few days in the medical center. That suitemate was moved to another room where the personalities are much bigger and is getting along well there.

Our Quinn’s Corner expansion work continues, with exciting steps to get us closer to completion.  In the middle of our longest ever heat wave, many new plantings were put in. While this seemed crazy to most of us, it turns out that when plants are ready, you have to plant them.  Having something green to replace the dirt piles we’ve been looking at for months is actually quite lovely. Now to just keep them alive and growing with plenty of water!

Now that the new epoxy floors have been poured in the expansion, more construction inside will be taking place in the next month, including finishing the renovation to the main entrance, setting up the new and expanded laundry and dishes areas (which we call Operations Central!), new holding room areas, and some improvements to the lobby. Concurrently the outside of the entire building will receive a new coat of paint so that it will start to look like one seamless facility.  These exciting changes will bring with them a good bit of disruption, but Pepita says it will be worth it, to save kitties with feline leukemia  (FeLV+).  Here’s a birds-eye view of what the expansion looks like right now:

Our hearts are filled with joy whenever we think of your love for our amazing Pepita.  Thank you for all you do to enable us to give Pepita a beautiful life at Tabby’s Place.

Your correspondent,
Sheila