Newsletter – October 3, 2025
PHOTO: Debbie Margerum
When I left off last week, Tabitha had stepped on the metal plate to trigger the door spring and we whisked her off to Purdue Veterinary Clinic. Then we made the decision to bring her back and release her so she could go nurse her kittens somewhere out there in the woods.
We had decided to trust her to trust us.
Now you’re caught up.
After feeding her the canned food with the stool softener, we lifted the cage door and she pulled back like the photo above from when she was captured.
“C’mon, Tabby, we brought you back to feed your little ones. Go.”
I pressed my finger against her backside through the bars of the cage and she dashed out, crossed the deck, and disappeared into the brush.
“Just please come back, so we can give you more medicine.”
A moment after she left I realized that I had touched her for the first time since she was born over two years ago. In the past she had been willing to touch her nose to my finger, and I’d settled for “butterfly kisses” from her whiskers but I always wanted to pet her. She was soft and furry, of course, and a little bit scrawny, but mostly I felt her warmth and the moment of connection that came with it. Interesting what your finger can tell you in a brief touch.
It was a bucket list moment. Brief but meaningful.
God bless that cat, she’s returned to eat every morning since. And I know the medicine is working because I saw her in the neighbor’s yard a few days later when she lifted her tail to spew brown liquid generously across the grass. Sorry, Cindy.
The current conundrum (or cat-nundrum) is our need to catch her again to have the sutures removed. On Monday morning she sat by the cage staring at the food for twenty minutes hoping to get her daily bowlful, then gave up and left.
No food. No medication. Did we make a mistake by letting her loose? Or did we save her kittens?
The vet checked her for lactation and was uncertain whether she was actively nursing because of the low amount of milk they could express. We chose to let her feed them if at all possible—these kittens we’ve never seen.
I started writing about this series of events two weeks ago with “Fear of the Unknown,” and we’re still fearing the unknown. A reflection of our times, isn’t it?
Meanwhile I finished writing the adventure of the two girls in The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago and got them safely away from The Great Chicago Fire. More unknowns ahead for me and my characters!
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Eric Margerum 