As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.

Cleveland Amory

I’m actually pretty disappointed in myself that I haven’t written in such a long time. Not just because I haven’t been keeping people up-to-date with all the feline goings-on here, but also because writing is one of the most cathartic things I can do for myself.

I love writing, I always have. Some of my proudest accomplishments are the feature articles I wrote for an environmental dive magazine when I lived in the UAE. There’s something about focussing the mind on the task at hand, blocking everything else out, that gives your brain the space it needs to find solutions to life’s problems – or to simply let them go and move on. And yet, it’s the first thing I drop when life happens.

The pandemic was tough, especially at the beginning, and I went through some really heavy, unrelated, stuff at the same time. But this post isn’t going to dwell on that, it’s here to update you on life at Cats of Abruzzo.

So, a quick run-down…

• After Bush and Leoncina were adopted, three more kittens came to stay – kitten update posts will follow, in time.
• We have a foster-fail of a disabled cat, Boscaiola, who arrived in January 2020 – she will soon have a page of her own.
• In July 2020, we took in a group of kittens rescued from a garden – one of which became a permanent resident, Peanut, and another of which, Mouse now Millie, has stayed in the extended family – again, blog posts and pages will follow.
• We fostered four black kittens rescued from the streets in October 2020 – unfortunately they had parvo and only two made it. You guessed it though, blog post to follow.
• In August 2021, permanent resident number 5 arrived in the form of Fantasmino.

Unfortunately, in September 2021 Rose was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. It’s been heartbreaking and I will write a separate post detailing our journey with her. This disease is completely new to me and has been a steep learning curve.

Blackjack couldn’t let Rose have all the attention either, and he has recently been hospitalised with kidney stones that have passed into both ureters. I’ll soon be writing about his entire medical history because it’s quite the epic adventure.

As always, you can follow the daily lives of the cats, and others, on Instagram @catsofabruzzo