Happy June, Team TNR!

You’ll notice a certain sweetness in everyone’s step this month. Maybe it’s the Strawberry Moon. Maybe it’s the cavalcade of kittens.

Then again, maybe it’s the meek elder lady with a mysterious name.

If I tell you we’ve welcomed a cat named “Marmalade,” you may picture a tabby with citrus stripes. But although our new arrival was in a jam, she looks nothing like her namesake jelly.

Marmalade is a bushy, bashful, brown-and-white tabby.

Marmalade may not be orange, but she is certainly our sunrise girl. Well into her golden years, she was found on the grounds of a prison. We have been involved with TNR work at this facility for over a decade … and I do mean “we.” Your generosity made it possible for us to get the prison’s cat colony under control, and to rescue such lovable legends as Taylor Ham and Chicken Nugget.

But as you know, dear sponsors, TNR is never truly “done.” And so it happened that our dainty duchess appeared unannounced.

We can’t imagine how many Junes our Marmalade has muddled through outdoors. She is stoic and humble, still learning that she no longer needs to worry.

Marmalade peeks at us from under her long lashes, working up her courage for eye contact. She is a senior who feels like a kitten all over again. There is nothing to fear here. But, like TNR itself, growing up is never “done.”

Thanks to you, age is just a number, and Marmalade has it made. She is the newest resident of our Community Room, where sunrise fills the picture windows and stays all day.

Marmalade will learn that love stays, too. She is a Tabby’s Place cat now.

She is, in a very real way, your cat now. I will look forward to keeping you posted on our gentle girl in the months ahead.

Marmalade was not the only unexpected gift this month. At the other end of the age spectrum, teenage Pierogi found himself hapless and hungry. We should nickname him “Pie,” because this yearning youngster’s filling is sweet.

Thanks to you, Pierogi will be spared the long loneliness that Marmalade has known. More than anything, love is never “done.” Every new cat is a new world. How blessed we are to begin again with each one.

I will close this month’s update where we started: that cavalcade of kittens.

As you know, one of TNR’s goals is to prevent kittens from being born into desperate circumstances. By neutering and providing faithful care for adult cats, we do an end run around the litters who would otherwise face harsh odds and add to the number of the homeless and hopeless.

Every summer, we welcome poignant, mewing reminders of why this work is so crucial.

This year, one of those reminders is named May Belle. Hand-painted like a tiny cow, the sweetest of kittens faced a painful start. At just a few weeks of age, this angel girl suffered a broken hind leg.

We would have moved heaven and Earth to spare her this suffering. But from here on, love will be her strength. She is growing up in the care of one of our most experienced foster homes, and soon her fearful days will be a distant memory.

Then there are newborns Helix, Comet, and Bode, whose mother vanished before they ever saw her face. The brothers arrived with their eyes still shut, clinging to each other and to life. You are making it possible for them to begin again. Their bottles are filled with good nutrition and fortifying kindness. Fear has no place in their story.

And you, dear sponsors, have a precious place in our hearts.

I can’t thank you enough for your steadfast generosity to all the faces of TNR at Tabby’s Place. May your June be sweeter than a strawberry, and almost as sweet as Marmalade.

With love and gratitude, your correspondent,
Angela