February greetings to you, and to all our kind and caring Kitten Fund sponsors!

As you can imagine, it’s always a pleasure to visit the kittens at Tabby’s Place, and not just because I have the privilege of writing to you about them. In the past couple of months, though, there was one little hurdle I had to get over.

Twin tabbies Yuzu and Citron were residents of the Kitten Suite, and while I want to report accurately, it was mighty difficult to tell them apart. Happily, Yuzu and Citron were adopted together just before Christmas, and I figured that was that.

But the next time I visited, on the list outside the door there were *four* names followed by the description, “Tabby”. Uh-oh…

Those names are Hawk, Merlin, Snickerdoodle, along with Dragonfly, who was seen here last month. I already know something about a couple of them because their foster moms have reported in.

Lynn H., who fostered Hawk, says “He has absolutely no concept of personal space. So affectionate and purrs nearly nonstop.” Erin M. provided this image of a sweet pose from her foster, adding “Snickerdoodle says hi, after she gets done hissing.”

Inside the Kitten Suite, I saw two tabbies wrestling in a corner of the room, while another was curled up silently on a fleece blanket inside a cubby. I sat on the bench, and the remaining tabby hopped onto it beside me.

I spread a blanket on my lap to prepare a place of honor for him/her, but instead, s/he was intent on the contents of a pocket. I understood why; I had brought a jar of chicken baby food to help with socialization of the rescued colony cats in another suite, and although the jar was now empty, the kitten’s nose recognized the remaining tasty traces.

Comings and Goings: The word from Tiana is that among the 14 new fosters this past month, 8 are kittens. One of them, named Berry, has been diagnosed with spina bifida and is incontinent. He is currently in foster care with one of our vet techs and is about to become sponsorable. Among those moving along to forever homes were Firefly and Lilo, who were adopted together, and who can be seen side by side on this screen. Also going home together are Dragonfly and Wren, and Hawk and Merlin.

Just before last month’s letter to you, Siamese-ish Coconut was adopted, and the follow-up report from her family says, “Coconut is settling in well and is incredibly loved by her new mom! She’s taking introductions to the other kitties nice and slow, but so far there has been amazing progress on everyone’s parts. Overall, a wonderful match!”

January’s adoptions may be seen on Tabby’s Place’s Instagram page, and Angela’s Epilogues blog post also lists the happy endings/beginnings.

Credit where it’s due: The header photo comes to us from a new volunteer, David M., who has captured two of the current crop of tabbies just hanging out together.

In case you missed it, our own pseudonymous Kitty LeFey blogged about this very same Kitten Fund.

And before I go: Regarding sports, I’m more interested in the Kitten Bowl than the Super Bowl, but I’m rooting for NBA player Jordan Poole because, like us, he loves cats. Here’s a quote we can relate to: “Every time I come [to this shelter], it’s: ‘Let me leave with all of them! Give me 14 of them right now!’”

Thank you so much for your continued generosity, which helps Tabby’s Place help these kittens.

Until next month, wishing you all good things…
Your correspondent,
John