Happy New Year, team TNR!

Here we are, all together, like a flock of little winter birds on the edge of the dawn. The New Year always feels to me like opening a fresh journal, full of lovely blank pages awaiting poems and dreams.

What dreams may come in 2022? What a glorious thought that we have so many cats to meet, and love, whose faces we can’t yet imagine? Who knows what this tender new year will deliver?

“Tomorrow” doesn’t like to share its secrets. But this much is certain: many dreams are already coming true, courtesy of you.

First, a loving look back into the last lap of 2021. “Lap” is the right word: as you read these words, Tabby’s Place TNR alumni Dune Bug and Drummer are cozily ensconced in the loving laps of forever families.

As you’ll recall, Dune Bug’s dainty mama, Taco Bella, had some trepidation about our affection this time last month. But, it seems her New Year’s resolution must have been “love and be loved, with wild abandon,” because she’s jumped into January with a heart wide open. We expect this merry little mama cat will soon find a home of her own, where she’ll get to be someone’s beloved baby forever.

Speaking of babies, TNR has been all about the tiny type lately. I know: “kitten season” is supposed to be a warm-weather phenomenon. But, tell me: when have cats and kittens ever heeded the call of “supposed to”?

Just when kitten season “should” have been ebbing, we trapped a tiny tribe of tuxedo kittens: Doolin, Donegal, Dublin, and their sisters Kinvara and Adare.

It turned out to be a mighty good thing that these wee ones warmed themselves at the Tabby’s Place hearth when they did. As we know too well, it’s not easy being itty-bitty in a freewheeling, free-roaming outdoor world, and five tiny kittens named for Irish cities may not have made it through the winter if they hadn’t made it to our doorstep.

Not long after her arrival, wee Adare, an infinity of love and fluff in a one-pound package, had a terrifying episode. Staff member Drew, one of our most skilled foster parents, reports that Adare was playing normally that night, chirping and clowning with her sister. But then, without warning, Adare toppled onto her back and began limping. She kept mewing at Drew even as she toppled over again and again.

Nothing can topple tenacious love at Tabby’s Place, and Drew rushed Adare to our emergency vet. Our tiny girl received intensive care, IV fluids, and antibiotics, and her high fever and strange symptoms subsided.

Over the next few weeks, Adare would trail behind her siblings in the weight-gain race, but kept the pace in terms of zest and purrs. Finally, she topped the two-pound mark. I’m relieved to report that she’s now a plump, robust little marvel, with no memory of her scary night. Whatever caused this issue, we’re grateful Adare is still here, with a life of love and daring ahead of her.

It could have been so different. But your generosity rewrites history every month of the year.

History is still in the making for Adare and her siblings as I type this update, and some of its pages push the limits of our understanding. Alas, all four of the boys have tested positive for feline leukemia virus (FeLV).

As you may know from reading about our Quinn’s Corner expansion, FeLV is one of the most feared, poorly understood conditions in the feline world. Spread through casual contact (e.g. sharing bowls or grooming), the virus does not run a predictable course. Some infected cats thrive for years; others succumb within months of diagnosis. Still others (such as Quinn’s Corner namesake Quinn) seem to eliminate the virus entirely.

It’s a lot for any adopter to consider, especially when considering a brand new baby kitten. And so, the “Dublin Dudes,” as we’re affectionately calling them, await their forever homes.

In the meantime, they’re not waiting an instant to live life to the fullest, and their cups overflow with love. If we didn’t see the blood test with our own eyes, it would be hard to believe there’s anything “wrong” with these jubilant brothers. It’s our earnest prayer that there will be nothing wrong whatsoever for many years to come.

And then there’s the final brother…and his mother.

One last surprise awaited us. Our skilled trapper, Jess, spotted a final tuxedo kitten in the same location where she’d trapped the first five.

Apparently the Dublin Dudes’ mama sat beside the trap for over three hours, willing Jess to give up and get lost. Finally, though, her wee son Dunmore toddled into the trap. The very next day, mama herself relented and entered the trap!

This will be her final litter…and, as part of the extended Tabby’s Place family, this will be the first of the best years of her life. Now that she’s “ours,” mama cat will be lovingly fed and monitored by our colony caretakers, and if ever she should need us for any sort of medical care, we’ll be there.

Meantime, we’re up to our earlobes in extraordinary kittens. It may be New Year’s, but these little guys make us feel like it’s Christmas, our birthdays, and St. Patrick’s Day all at once. The luck o’ the Irish and the love o’ the Tabby’s Place family make life sweet indeed for six wee sweethearts.

Dear sponsors, there’s no way to predict that the days ahead will bring for this little family. FeLV is an inscrutable, too-often heartbreaking disease, and we wish the Dublin Dudes didn’t have to face it.

But, thanks to you, they won’t face it alone. We cherish each of these kittens as though they were the first, last, and only kitten on earth, and they’re a poignant reminder of why Quinn’s Corner is just so important.

Thank you, more than even my gooshy heart and too-many words can express, for believing in the value of their lives with us.

Happy, happy New Year, beloved sponsors.

Your correspondent,
Angela