Once upon a time, there was a Suite Marmalade.

Then there wasn’t, and then there was, and now there is again…in a new form.

When Zinnia and Petunia were adopted, and Suite Marmalade traded two scoops of orange for a single scoop of marmite/torbie in Persephone, it seemed the days of a heavily-orange suite were concluded. Then, shy, sable Willie joined the suite, and remaining marmalade boys Steve and Dobro no longer had the dominant coat color.

But you know what they say about the more things change…

Maybe it’s spring fever, but we’ve got the old “musical cats” bug at Tabby’s Place this week. As new faces find their way to the sanctuary, we’re shuffling felines to new realms and making new recipes throughout the building.

Of course, all this is done with a view to making the cats as peaceful as possible. One of the main goals during each cat’s Quarantine period is to determine what sort of a soul she is, and where that soul will be happiest to stretch out at Tabby’s Place. It’s a constant dance – sometimes less elegant than others – to blend new cats with roomies who will accept them and bring out the best in them.

In this whole ballet, coat color isn’t even a teensy factor.
Really.

The reason I urge you to believe me is that Suite Marmalade Redux may have you thinking otherwise. Because now, in its new location, the orange-iest suite in America is…well, even more marmalade.

There’s Steve.
There’s Dobro.

And now, there’s also Valencia (as in the orange) and Pikachu (as in the Pokemon).

Just to show that our ginger gang isn’t biased against non-orange felines, Willie came along for the ride. So, too, did Pikachu’s siblings Miyagi (a brown tabby) and Kimiko (a torbie-ish tabby with faint hints of…orange). Pikachu is pictured at right, and above with his whole fam.

Now, please don’t get your kimonos in a knot, because I promise to tell you (much) more about our Japanese newcomers in the near future. In fact, there will be a blog post and more about this very special trio.

In the meantime, suffice to say that Pikachu et al are fitting right into Suite Marmalade. Steve is so excited about all these new friends that he can barely contain himself. With so many neighbors, he’s become even more of a ginger jumping bean, bouncing around the suite with glee and greeting each roomie repeatedly with a gesture that can only be translated as “Hi! Hi hi hi hi hihihihihihihihihihi!”

New face Valencia (left) fits somewhere between Steve and Dobro on the friendly/fiendly spectrum. (No, I don’t really believe that Dobro is a fiend. I just believe that, given the chance, he would like to kill us all and hide the evidence. I’m kidding. Sort of.)

When Valencia first came to us, we suspected that she, like Bronx, might have cerebellar hypoplasia. But, upon further investigation, it turns out she simply has a tilted head. This has as many causes as Prince has names, but fortunately Valencia’s doesn’t appear to be anything severe or harmful.

As you can see, she’s a great beauty, and we absolutely love her.
I have hopes that, someday, the feeling will be mutual.

Valencia and her roomies are all sweet on the new digs: the Special Needs Suite. This orange-heavy septet made the switch with Beatrice and Nellie (now cozily ensconced in Adoption Room 1), since generally a larger number of cats does best in a larger room. (Beatrice did attempt to convince us that her large ego demands ten times the space of a typical cat…but that didn’t work this time.)

Even Dobro has softened a tad with the move, now sitting out in the open and permitting mere mortals to get within feet of him without hissing/spitting/engaging in mortal combat. I learned this in a rather surprising way (and also learned that I am a foolish, foolish woman) when attempting to get photos of Pikachu for this post. Thinking it was Pikachu, I approached the handsome marmalade fellow in the cubby and began snapping shots. It was only when I reached out my hand and received a rather un-Pikachooey response that I realized I’d crept up to the edge of the lion’s lair. Still, I am alive to tell the tale – I’ll call that progress.

So all’s well in Suite Marmalade. But I know what you’re wondering: whatever happened to that sweet little dollop of marmite, Persephone?

Well, in musical chairs, somebody always gets dethroned when the music stops. Musical marmalade also necessitates some moves. But Persephone hasn’t lost her throne; if anything, she’s upgraded to posher digs: none other than the Lobby.

The tiny sweetheart with the splash of orange on her forehead remained seriously scared in Suite Marmalade/Marmite…so it was determined that she’d need megadoses of socialization and dump truckloads of love. There is no better place for that than the Lobby. Already, the love of legions – especially Persephone-adorer Ginny – are making a major impact. “Persy-phone” has a new sense of ebullience, and is often spotted playing, through Adoption Room #1’s window, with Nellie…

…who just so happens to be marmalade.
And so the music plays on. 🙂

More Blog Posts