Happy April, Friends!
Welcome to being sponsors of Steven. I’m excited to introduce you to our sweet little buff-colored boy.
Steven has been at Tabby’s Place for a very long time. When I first started volunteering at Tabby’s Place 13 years ago, Steven arrived shortly afterward as an itty bitty kitten. He was adorable. At that time, we let the kittens have the run of the lobby and they were often getting into mischief. I distinctly remember one day Steven disappeared and no one could find him. He caused quite a panic! Finally, someone got our vet tech, who had fostered him at her home, and she came into the lobby and called out “Stevie!” From inside the couch in the lobby, there was a small “mew.” Steven had somehow gotten himself inside the lining of the sofa and gotten stuck. He was freed and went about the rest of the day as if nothing had happened. That has always been my favorite Steven story and how I was introduced to him way back when.
Steven has been adopted from Tabby’s Place a time or two but sadly was returned for being an inappropriate eliminator. That is the technical term for pees all over the place! I didn’t want to believe that sweet little Steven really was one of these hard-to-place kitties, but alas, I actually got to see him in action one day as I was cleaning his solarium. He marched right over to the clean towel I had just put on the floor for the water bowls to sit on, and peed right on it! Naughty boy. It’s hard to get upset with Steven, however. He is just too much of a love!
In current Steven news, he had a stool sample collected for analysis. Steven is crated several times each month for a stool check to make sure that his medications are keeping his chronic diarrhea under control. There has also been some elevated tension in Suite A and Steven seems to be on the receiving end of some aggression from Gator. Gator actually developed a pretty severe infection this month that moved into his kidneys. It is certainly possible that some of the behavior was tied to him not feeling well. The arrival of Catalina seems to have set things off in the room, too, as she is not a fan of interacting with other cats. Suite A has been smelling strongly of urine this month and we are trying to keep this under control by changing all the bedding in the room each day. Steven’s inappropriate litter box habits are probably contributing to this and he demonstrated this clearly to one of the staff this month when he jumped onto the drop-down shelf in the middle of the morning medication rounds and sprayed all over the medication bags and shelf. Oh, Steven…
In other news, by now you know that Tabby’s Place is building an expansion called Quinn’s Corner, for vulnerable cats with feline leukemia virus (FeLV). As we prepare to open our expansion later this year, our need for volunteers increases. Volunteers are a huge part of our operation, as we could not run Tabby’s Place without them.
Beginning in May, we will launch an intense volunteer recruitment campaign to find those willing to give the gift of time and make an impact on the lives of our cats. If you know of anyone who would be interested in volunteering (perhaps even you!), please let them know we will soon be reaching out with more details. (They can sign up to receive our emails here; scroll down to the “subscribe” box.) There are many types of volunteer duties to fit diverse abilities and schedules.
Thank you, as always, for helping to spread the word about Tabby’s Place!
Well, friends, I’ll be back next month with more Steven news. Thank you so much for your generosity and love of our precious kitties. Be well.
Your correspondent,
Sue