Holiday greetings, Sponsors!

Can you believe it is already December? The holiday season is upon us, and it is already the last month of 2019. Hard to believe. I feel like the time has just flown by, and it’s a little shocking to me when I think of all the progress I have made in such a short time.

I have been blessed with another healthy month, and I feel fantastic! Did you know that I am officially not an “orange collar” cat anymore??? It is true, my friends! I have graduated from the cat-egory of “only interact if trained by our behavioral specialist” to just a regular ol’ kitty in Suite FIV+.

No reason to warn volunteers or visitors about me anymore, because I have settled down so significantly. I have learned so much about controlling my temper, and I rarely lose my cool these days. I can sometimes get overstimulated and a bit agitated when there is a lot of activity around me, but I am happy to report that lately, I am primarily a mellow dude. On the rare occasion that I do stir up some trouble, it will reliably involve my suitemates Toby, Liam, or Lester. We four just don’t see eye to yellow eye. But that’s the beauty of diversity, right? Everyone is different and we can all learn so much from each other.

I am learning how to agree to disagree with kitties who I sometimes don’t get along with. Most of the time, I can just walk away and let it go. I recently gave up the fight with the cold weather too, and I’ve been spending most of my time inside. I miss my buddies Oscar and Shea, who are still mostly hanging out in our solarium, but it is just too darn cold out there now! We had our first snowfall here last week, and I decided that snuggling in a warm bed inside was the way to go.

And that is where my correspondent found me when she visited me. I was curled up in a ball, so crazy relaxed, that I didn’t even wake up enough to come out and say a proper hello. Weird for me, right? I was just so darn comfy in there, I couldn’t shake my sleepiness off. But my correspondent understood, of course, and she sat outside the cube I was cuddled in and chatted with me for a while. I was in such a sleepy stupor, I can’t even remember what we talked about. But she took a picture to attach to this month’s update to show you what I looked like that day. As you can see, I was one super relaxed kitty!

We decided to attach a second picture that my correspondent took a while ago so you don’t forget what I actually look like. She said you would want to see my handsome face. She’s always complimenting me like that and telling me how gorgeous I am. I can’t hear it enough, quite frankly.

She also got to meet some of my newest suitemates, Martini Mike and Clarence. They seem pretty cool, so maybe they will become my new buddies inside for the winter. I’ll keep you posted, as always.

Please know that I am always thinking about how inexplicably grateful I am for everything you do for me! Thank you from the bottom of my tiger-striped heart! Until next month, I love you!

Love,
Rufus
(With help from your correspondent, Florie)