When I mail Christmas cards, I include a letter about the cats. I decided not to send cards this year, but I still wanted to write the letter.
The cat letter is a brief summary of our year with cats.
The Cat Letter
Dear Friends,
I hope this letter finds you and your family happy and healthy.
Heidi continues to help with Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) for outdoor cats. Early in the year, she helped trap five or six cats for a friend of a friend.
In the spring, Heidi helped another friend trap the last cat that evaded the traps in 2022. This friend had a new cat show up in the fall, so we got him fixed.
He injured his nose in the trap, which is unusual as we followed recommended procedures to keep him calm when trapped. The clinic stitched his nose when neutering him.
The outdoor cats, Winter and Pork Chop, are doing well. In my neighborhood, this is the first year since we started doing TNR in 2017 that we haven’t had any new cats or kittens (that stuck around) show up at our house or in the yard of our cat lady friend down the street.
We have seven indoor cats: Buster, Violet, Jake, Elwood, Taco, Nacho, and Charlotte. All of them are doing well except for Buster.
In August, Buster had surgery for eyelash entropion and had a bad tooth removed at the same time. His recovery was rough.
He lost weight, the extraction area got infected, and he didn’t eat for several days. After several vet visits, he started to get better, but his bloodwork didn’t improve.
On November 1, we thought we were going to lose Buster. He was acting quite sickly. He and a fever and his bloodwork was a mess.
The vet diagnosed him with untreatable cancer. Fortunately, our vet encouraged us to not give up on him. The steroid shots helped Buster almost immediately. He bounced back to eating and has gained a little weight.
We are grateful for whatever time we have left with him. He’s been Heidi’s favorite cat for many years.
Heidi continues to make cat videos on YouTube. You may enjoy the video of Buster in a Christmas-tree-themed Cat bed.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Heidi and Ted
Read Next: 2022 Annual Holiday Cat Letter
Heidi Bender is the writer and founder of the Joy of Cats. She enjoys sharing cat information and providing helpful cat tips. She considers herself a cat lady and currently cares for nine cats.
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