2024
We hope everyone had a healthy, safe, and Happy Holiday Season. For the most part, our celebrations found our volunteers and us staying close to home, caring for the cats in our foster house, and enjoying the pleasures of our homes and extended human and animal families.
In addition to maintaining the Foster House and its feline inhabitants, we continue our 20th year of supporting Project Apollo. It originated in our efforts to stabilize an unmanaged feral colony through TNR (Trap, Neuter, and Return). We are delighted that the population has remained stable and manageable. One of the neighbors has taken on the day-to-day activities of supporting the cats while we continue to provide food and veterinary care for the colony cats.
Sadly, we lost two precious, older kitties in the Foster House. Little Thumbelina passed in early March. She was an active cat who enjoyed the affection of the volunteers and the company of other cats in the Foster House. One day, we noticed she was feeling unwell, and, after an extensive exam, the veterinarian determined that old age had overtaken her, and her body was shutting down. At 17, she had a full life with us.
We also said goodbye to Gigi. Gigi was a glamour cat, a longhaired dilute tortie who was as mercurial as beautiful. Slow to be gentled, she eventually learned to trust and came to enjoy being petted, groomed, and loved by familiar volunteers—until she had had enough for the day and ended the interaction with a hiss. Sadly, neither her beauty nor her ferocity could stave off old age. At 16, she passed gently in the arms of people who loved her.
On a happier note, we started a new series of postings on our website, sharing the stories of literary and historical figures who loved cats. The first posting in the series shared the poem The Cat and the Moon, which William Butler Yeats wrote for his friend, Maude Gonne’s, cat. Other famous cat lovers we plan to cover include the 18th-century poet Samuel Johnson and his cat Hodge, and Juliette Greco, the French singer, actress, existentialist, companion of John-Paul Sartre, Simone de Bouvier, Miles Davis, and other noted intellectual figures—and enthusiastic cat lover. Stay tuned!
We also wanted to let you know that the food and supply donation basket we had at VCA Montgomery no longer has a place in their new location on Paseo del Norte. We are looking for a new place for food donations and will keep you posted.
2025
Our first order of business in 2025 is organizing Wild Love, our annual and widely anticipated (we hope 😺) St. Valentine’s Day fundraiser. Anyone who contributes $40 or more between January 1 and February 28 will be automatically entered in a drawing for a gift bag containing an assortment of goodies. We are starting to gather the prizes for the Gift Basket and have selected Mimosa, affectionately nicknamed “Bunny Butt” because she is part Manx and has a bobtail, to be our 2025 Wild Love Sweetheart. Look for more information on Wild Love in future postings and mailings.
Project Apollo is expanding to include several more blocks of the neighborhood. The kind woman who has taken on the day-to-day management of the colony has found additional neighbors to help. As a result of this expansion, the cost of food and veterinary care for the colony has increased significantly. We are working to increase our fundraising to cover these added expenses.
Finally, we always need volunteers to help at the Foster House. As always, the kitties pay volunteers with purrs and cuddles.
To all our supporters, we hope you will enjoy the blessings of a happy and prosperous New Year.
Happy Meows,
Merry and all the cats and people at Fabulous Felines
