Dear Team Yardley,

Happy spring! It’s here, in all its glory, and I hope this update finds blessings blossoming all around you.

I’m afraid this may be your last update from me — but fear not, it’s for the best possible reason. I’ll get to that in a moment.

But first, I have lovely news about our lovable girl. Yardley is, in a word, flourishing! We all want to hug whoever invented the dietary supplement that treats EPI, because it’s caused a near-miraculous turnaround in our Yardley. Three cheers — no, thirty cheers — for pancreatic enzymes!

Yardley herself deserves much of the credit here. While many cats grumble at the supplemented food, she’s eaten it with no hesitation. As a result, she’s gaining much-needed weight. She’s also free from that dreadful diarrhea. In this case, Yardley’s dietary supplement has a bit of help from a gastrointestinal medication. We’d tried to wean her off this, but her tummy troubles roared back with a vengeance. So, we’ll continue this regimen for the foreseeable future.

The forecast isn’t solid blooms and butterflies, however. We are still concerned by the tests that indicated possible multiple myeloma. Although this is quite rare in cats, there is reason to believe Yardley may have it lurking. As of this update, she’s scheduled to visit an oncologist, who can make a definitive diagnosis and set a course for treatment, if needed. All fingers and tails are crossed, and prayers raised, that it won’t be needed!

But there’s good news to buffer even this possible trial. As you probably guessed, Yardley has a home waiting for her!

This is extremely fortunate for Yardley. Her EPI diagnosis means that she cannot have any access to non-supplemented food or treats. In a setting like Tabby’s Place, that means she can’t share a room with other cats, so she’s been hunkered down in our in-house Hospital.

But it just so happens that Yardley is not our first EPI kitty. Astounding though it is (remember that EPI is also extremely rare in cats), we have another EPI sweetheart, Princess Bubblegum. Like Yardley, little “PBG” suffered from dangerous weight loss and weakness until we diagnosed her and began supplementing her food. And, like Yardley, the little Princess began to thrive right away once she received those awesome enzymes.

Like Yardley, PBG provided a challenge when it came to housing at Tabby’s Place. Happily, our Junior Veterinary Technician, Jess, opened her home to Princess Bubblegum as part of our “Forever Foster” program. PBG would live with Jess and her family, while continuing to receive all her medical care at Tabby’s Place.

Jess (and her husband and sons) have such huge hearts that, once we determined Yardley had EPI, it was a done deal: Jess would foster her, too!

Yardley will be settling into Jess’s home within the next month, so I’ll be passing the baton of her correspondence to Jess. I’m going to miss Yardley terribly at Tabby’s Place, but she’ll be back for visits as often as needed, and this is the best of all possible worlds for her. Yardley will know the love of an awesome family and the comfort of her own home, while continuing to receive world-class veterinary care (and her pancreatic enzyme!) from Tabby’s Place. Whatever the future may hold for Yardley, we’ll continue to provide everything she needs, regardless of cost.

That’s only possible thanks to amazing friends like you. Dear sponsors, I thank you from the depths of my heart. It’s a joy to love Yardley along with you!

Your correspondent,
Angela