Meet Saffron!

We have a NEW KITTY!

Hello! Jen here today and I'm excited to reveal the secret that has been scampering around NND Headquarters! We are excited to share that we have adopted a sweet kitty girl and named her Saffron! 

We adopted Saffron a little bit ago but wanted to give her and Marlowe a bit of time to get to know each other before we spread the news. 

I haven't talked about this before but I feel like now is the time to explain a bit. 

The Full Story

You might remember when we adopted Marlowe as a kitten along with his brother, Toulouse. Sadly, only two years later, we had the heartbreak of losing Toulouse last summer when he died from complications of the FeLV disease. This was heartbreaking for us and for Marlowe, who missed having a feline companion to play with. 

Unfortunately, Marlowe had a hard time adjusting to being an only kitty and it eventually became clear that he really needed another feline companion to chase and play with. The problem was, although he is currently healthy otherwise,  Marlowe also has FeLV. Because this virus is contagious to other kitties we needed to find another cat who also already had FeLV. 

What is FeLV?

FeLV stands for Feline Leukemia Virus. About 2-3% percent of cats have this virus and it is likely that Marlowe was born with it since he and his brother were both diagnosed. Sadly, there is no cure and the prognosis for cats with this diseases is a shortened lifespan. It could be as short as sweet Toulouse, who died at the age of two, but we are hopeful to hear of cases where cats do live longer lives despite the virus. 

For this reason we initially hesitated getting another kitty with the disease because we knew that meant we would be getting another kitty who might have a very short life. However, after some time we decided that it would be best for Marlowe to have a playmate and that if we understood the risks going into it, it would be a bit easier to accept if the pet had a shorter life. 

Once we decided to adopt a friend for Marlowe, it did take some time to find an available cat who had FeLV. Eventually, after months of searching local adoption and foster sites we came across Saffron! We fell in love with her sweet demeanor and playfulness right away. 

For Marlowe, it was a bit of a slower process. We took our time introducing the two kitties and kept Saffron separate from Marlowe for awhile. But, with some patience, they are now both freely interacting in our home and for the most part they are getting along quite nicely. 

Here's even a photo from a rare moment of them together on the couch:

That's the long story... but the short of it is that we absolutely adore our sweet new girl, Saffron. She is packed full of energy and loves to chase toys and run about the house! She's very talkative too and often meows for more attention. We hope with a little more time that the two of them will be even better friends!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned to our Newton's Nook Designs instagram account, where you will definitely find updates and photos of both kitties in the future!