Greetings, FeLVie fans!

I hope your August is providing a sweet end to your summer. It’s time for another monthly update. As usual, there’s a great deal of news, so let’s get started.

The newest resident in Suite G is Boop, who’s around 2 years old. She’s white with gray markings on her back and face. Boop was found, pregnant, in a parking lot a few months ago. Her initial rescuer told us she was in labor for two days before giving birth to a single kitten who was, sadly, stillborn.

Boop then tested positive for FeLV and ended up with us. She’s a wild child with toys, and, while she enjoys attention and being petted, she does not like to be restrained at all. She can be quite vocal when she wants something and is still adjusting to being around multiple other felines.

What’s more confusing than having four all-black cats of similar size in one suite? Walking in one morning and finding two of them, and another cat, missing. Somewhat to our surprise, shy Taco has bonded with both Boq and his brother Fiyero.

Our three furry escape artists discovered what must be the ultimate hiding place. The climbing structures in their suite are built on metal feet and have removable toe kicks. Several attachment points had evidently loosened on one of the toe kicks. Somebody—we’re not sure who it was—figured this out. Boq, Fiyero, and/or Taco promptly dislodged a toe kick, and all three disappeared underneath the climbing structure. It took our staff some time to figure out what had happened and a couple of days to entice everyone out and resecure the toe kick.

On the plus side, Taco seems to have turned a corner, perhaps as a result of this incident, and will come out to explore his suite during quieter times.

In other news in that suite, Elphaba is becoming more sociable by the day. She’s still timid but will come over for attention, especially if you sit down near her.

Kitty Purry and brother Leonardo DiCatrio are doing nicely. Kitty Purry was snoozing in a cubbyhole recently when I approached and reached out a hand to pet her. She popped up her head instantly as soon as I touched her, but immediately burst into a surprisingly loud purr.

Braveheart has been napping the last couple of times I’ve seen him, and he’s looked so comfortable I haven’t had the heart to disturb him. But he gets his share of love, as you can see in the video at the end of this update.

I wanted to see how Kiki was coming along as far as her sociability with people, but she had positioned herself on a cat tree against the front window of the suite so that it wasn’t humanly possible to reach her. I think she was waiting for lunch, which she receives daily and guards carefully (not everyone in that suite gets lunch).

And I mustn’t forget Regina. When I was in a few Sundays ago, I let her out into the solarium attached to her suite. She loves it there, but as I’ve mentioned before, she can’t get through the cat door because of the scoot sack she must wear, so we have to let her in via the human door and make sure she’s back in the suite before we leave. I decided to leave her in the solarium for a while and see the cats in another FeLV suite, then return and get Regina indoors again.

I was in the other suite for about twenty minutes before I came back to get her inside. But Regina was having none of it! I made several attempts to get her inside, but she evaded or resisted me and was clearly getting upset. I had to ask another volunteer for help, but Regina was indoors when I left.

Turning to the Boys’ Club, everyone is doing great there. Trifecta still looks for attention whenever you enter his suite. Francois faked me out last time I visited. I sat down on the bench in his suite, and he got up from the top of the house where he’d been resting, jumped down, gave a big stretch, and began walking toward me. I was so happy to see he was coming over for attention, but he suddenly turned and went over to the bowl of kibble nearby, demonstrating his true priority. Sigh. And Luke had found a comfortable cubbyhole and was sleeping peacefully.

In Suite H, Hoopla Green was relaxing on a wooden shelf high up in her solarium. Little Batty came out of a house in the solarium to greet me when I sat down there, but she wouldn’t stay, even though I offered her kibble.

Indoors, Shizu is becoming more comfortable with us; I saw a volunteer approach her and pet her for a short time. Shizu had a few days of loose stool over the past month. As you might remember, she’s on a hypoallergenic diet for skin issues, but we’ll check her for gastrointestinal issues during her next evaluation.

Shelly has become a favorite in her suite. She has a fan base of volunteers who visit regularly and sit on the floor for far longer than I could manage while Shelly curls up in their laps (I pick her up and put her in my lap while I sit on a bench). It would be difficult to say who enjoys this more, Shelly or her fans. Last time I wrote an update, I mentioned that Shelly had used my leg as a scratching post, but now I wonder if she wasn’t simply trying to climb me so that she could get into my lap.

And finally, there’s Clifford. The Big Guy has been soaking up the sunshine that streams into his quarters in the afternoons, even as he soaks up the attention given him by countless volunteers. He did cause us some worry over the past month, as his nose seemed somewhat irritated again, but it appears as though it’s just a minor scrape of some kind.

We love our FeLV+ crew, and it means so much that generous people like you choose to help us look out for them. Thank you!

Your correspondent,
Stephanie