December greetings to you, and to all our kind and caring Kitten Fund sponsors!
There were two celebrations at Tabby’s Place in the past few weeks. The one that was widely publicized, Thanksgiving With the Cats, drew hundreds of visitors on a late-fall afternoon.
The other was internal. Volunteer Appreciation Week is a hearty thank-you to the hundreds of people who willingly provide their time and effort to help with the many everyday tasks that go into fulfilling the mission.
As one of those volunteers since 2009, I can tell you that being part of Tabby’s Place has given me so much: good memories of playing host to a lapful of kittens; seeing frightened cats learn to trust humans and accept affection; knowing literally thousands of cats have had a better life because Tabby’s Place exists…
… and they say *they* appreciate *me*?
The volunteers who foster cats and kittens deserve considerable appreciation for caring about the futures of these little ones. They feed them, give them shelter, socialize them, and in some advanced cases, much more.
For example, recently, a mother cat gave birth on someone’s property, and soon it was plain that there was something different about one of the kittens. After connecting with Tabby’s Place, the call went out to staff member Jae, who picks up the story of gray lady kitten Willow.
“She was very likely born paraplegic and has never known any different her entire life. Other than her paraplegia, though, she is healthy, and she gets around just fine.”
“Willow loves to run around and play, and in fact, she is probably faster than you. Luckily, they were able to scoop her up and bring her in to us. I got a text with her photo, and I said, ‘Yup, I’ll take her!'”
Notice the answer was not, “How much work will this be?” or, “How long will I have to do it?” Just “Yes.”
One major responsibility for the person fostering a paraplegic cat is what’s called expressing her, which involves manually helping to empty her bladder and bowels by applying gentle pressure to the lower abdomen. Expression typically needs to be performed 2-4 times a day.
Some cats don’t appreciate this absolutely necessary process. In Development Director Angela’s memorable words on our blog, “When Olive performs a new genre called ‘acid opera’ for staff members expressing her bladder, it is not Olive’s fault that these staff members subsequently require therapy.”
Getting back to Willow, Jae says, “Willow is sassy, too. She is still learning her manners, since she didn’t have a playmate her age while she was in foster, but we’re working on that. I like to call her ‘baby shark,’ because she’s fast, she’ll sneak up on you, and she does (playfully) bite!”
Angela recently wrote about the kittens currently calling the Lobby home, with several photos of Willow and Corduroy. Corduroy lives in the Lobby due to his seizure disorder, and one day last month, he had multiple seizures. That led to a quick trip to the emergency vet, where he spent a couple of days recovering and having his medications adjusted. Now the adorable orange boy is back in the Lobby and is glad to have young playmates once more.
Happily, a good number of cats and kittens were adopted last month, and they can be seen both on Instagram and Facebook. Our monthly Epilogues recap describes comings and goings and more.
Taking a quick look ahead before I go, I can tell you I’ve seen internal messages and can report that another 11 kittens have been brought in just during the last couple of weeks of November. There’ll be more to report about them and their foster homes next time.
Helping these kittens and all the cats at Tabby’s Place takes volunteers and dedicated staff, but it wouldn’t be possible without you. And for that, everyone here appreciates you.
Until next month, I wish you all good things.
Your correspondent,
John
