A merry March to you, Team TNR!

There’s something irresistibly hopeful about this month, isn’t there? Crocuses start crashing through the snow with the full force of life; winter is on the run; masks and mittens are giving way to smiles and sunbeams; and kittens are coming.

That’s right, my little leprechauns: “kitten season” has begun, and Tabby’s Place is a great green valley of hope for some special shamrocks.

First and foremost among our cherished clovers are, of course, the Dublin Dudes. Last month’s little love-monsters are going strong, jigging joyfully, and patiently awaiting their forever homes. In the great Lucky Charms box that is Tabby’s Place, these baby brothers are the marshmallows, and we’re honored and giddy to care for them until the right families come along.

But Dunmore, Doolin, Donegal and Dublin aren’t the only tinies in town. As February curtsied to March, a beautiful little lady was longing for a safe place to have her babies. Aspen, as you can see, breaks all the legal limits of cuteness. Scarcely bigger than a squirrel herself, with eyes the size of the whole wide sky, Aspen arrived in a world of need.

Fortunately, thanks to you, Tabby’s Place is a world of warmth and wonder for the most vulnerable cats. The moment she and her about-to-be-born family joined our family, Aspen was ensconced in love. In short order, we settled her into the cozy home of our most skilled volunteer foster mama. In a flash, Aspen made herself at home…and made way for the first three newborns of 2022.

As of this writing, little Vail (female), Bear and Tahoe (males), are hamster-sized harbingers of hope — and spring. Aspen is a tirelessly faithful mama, and her (human) foster mom is making sure Aspen, too, gets “babied.” There’s something ineffable, almost holy, about the bliss we can glimpse between a mother cat and her kittens, and Aspen and her niblets take this “glow” to glorious levels.

There’s boundless love for everyone involved…including Biscuits.

Oh, yes. Biscuits.

Found in the same area as Aspen, Biscuits is all boy, all adorable, and almost certainly kin to Aspen and her babies. (As one of my coworkers dryly introduced him: “Meet Biscuits, Aspen’s cousin/son/uncle.”) Regardless of his precise kinship, Biscuits is part of our family now, and that means winter is over, and an everlasting spring is about to begin.

While we’re springing around the room, let’s save some jubilation for last month’s new marmalade faces, Archie and Magellan. Shy but sweet, our one-eyed creamsicle king is a fast favorite among our staff and volunteers, and we’re wreathing him in all the warmth and patience he’ll need to bloom. Magellan, meanwhile, has become a lover of laps, and we are collectively smitten with this FIV+/FeLV+ sweetheart (who gives new meaning to the word “positive”).

With frost and fear behind them, life is good for these formerly free-roaming felines.

It’s enough to make you do a jig (or ten), isn’t it?

And it’s all thanks to you, beloved sponsors.

So happy St. Patrick’s Day, and thank you on behalf of all the little and large love bugs at Tabby’s Place. We know something far greater than luck is at work here. May grace and joy pilot you straight into spring!

With love and gratitude,
your correspondent,
Angela