Bye little kitty baby

The knowledge that you had eaten a few times, was kept warm, and was gently petted as you quietly slipped away makes it a bit easier, but tears were shed for your passing.

Laughed until stomach muscles hurt

I had insomnia the last few days, so I finally fell asleep late last night, slept through the morning and into the evening. When I woke up, I wanted coffee and since I also wanted to recharge a somewhat heavy battery in the kitchen, I brought the battery with me down the hall.

Since I still had the "wake-up stupids", I'm not sure why I dropped the battery, but it sure made a loud thud when it fell onto the wooden floor. DH was already in the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, and saw RB (male cat) fly four feet into the air! Since they were both in the kitchen, neither of them saw what caused the loud thud.

Milady (female cat) was sitting on the end of the living room couch, and also jumped into the air when she heard the thud. RB's and Melady's trajectory paths crossed, and their mid-air collision gave them just enough time time to slap each other a few times before the landed back on the floor.

The next split-second had DH yelling to ask what the heck was going on, as he saw nothing except RB launch four feet high after hearing some kind of thud. My reply to DH's question was a loud guffaw, which continued long enough that I had to use hand-signs to tell him what had caused the thud, then about our two cats mid-air collion, and their slapping each other when they crashed.

DH joined in the rambunctious laughter until both our stomach muscles were hurting ^_^

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PS: Both cats have mostly recovered - they received their 4th shots the night before. I'm still powdering their smooshie with Lysine for the FHV (Feline Herpes Virus).

Penicillin Allergy!

My cats have feline herpes virus, which I usually control with crushed Lysine mixed into their "smooshie" (canned cat food). But last week, the Lysine didn't fix them up - they continued getting sicker, one blew stuff on something when sneezing, so I could see that it was thick and greenish-brown; I had to give them penicillin shots to clear up the bacterial pneumonia.

Cat skin is much tougher to puncture than human skin, especially boy cats. I made the mistake of using the same needle to pierce the penicillin bottle*, then the male cat's skin, which didn't go well at all. I depressed the plunger of the syringe after I "thought" I had the needle in his shoulder skin, but since I hadn't pierced his skin properly, the penicillin leaked onto his fur, which got onto DH who was holding the cat for me.

Now for a bit of backstory:
DH had some kind of infection as a child, was prescribed penicillin (not sure if pills or liquid suspension). His mother took him across the street to the pharmacy, and had him take his first dose while there. Within minutes - while still in the pharmacy - he started gasping for air and passed out. Luckily, the pharmacist had the wherewithal to arrange immediate medical attention from the medical area across the street. Ever since then, whenever asked about medicine allergies from a medical professional, he's responded that he's VERY allergic to penicillin. Of course the medical professional asks what type of reaction occurs with exposure to penicillin, which he answers: anaphylactic shock with respiratory arrest (yes, the medical professional's eyes grow wide when hearing this!)

Tonight, on day 3 of penicillin shots, DH told me that his hand that got the penicillin on it broke out in a reddened rash! OMG! Then he wondered why I went all drill sergeant on him while he was moving all around me trying to recapture the cat while I was holding an uncovered syringe with penicillin in it (I do NOT like for there to be a lot of movement nearby when I'm holding an uncovered syringe! I've heard too many needle stick injury stories I guess LOL)

The cats are sounding much better, and the girl cat's appetite has fully returned finally - they're both still getting the Lysine mixed in with their food to prevent relapse of the virus. DH's hand had already cleared up before he told me about him reacting to the dribbled penicillin. Tomorrow will be the last shot, and DH will be wearing gloves when he holds the cats! And, there'll be a lot less movement allowed in the vicinity of the uncovered needle too!

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*Using the same needle to puncture both the medicine bottle dulls the needle somewhat. This doesn't matter too much if the skin receiving the injection is soft skin. But adult cat skin is challenging to me, much more so than humans, and even dogs. So after learning how tough a male cat's skin is, from now on I'll change to a fresh needle after withdrawing the meds from the bottle. To save on how many needles are used, tonight I tried filling today's injections and hopefully tomorrow's as well, but DH interrupted me with something, and I forgot which needle was the med bottle puncture needle. Next time I draw up many syringes at a time, I'll put a dot on the bottle-puncture needle with a sharpie.

Delousing the new chickens and rabbits

All known neighbor rabbits are in cages suspended from our boatshed rafters, yay! Hubby said he wasn't sure how he'd bring over the chickens, so now that the neighbor's yard has an extra cage, how about he remove the duck from the cage it shares with one chicken, putting the duck into the spare cage, then move that lone chicken over here. Once that chicken is moved into our "new" pen (bought from other neighbors), then he'd have a spare, empty cage to move the other chickens from the larger neighbor pen.

I think I heard that bird mites can get into rabbit ears from a Chicken Whisperer podcast, so I'll be keeping the chickens and rabbits separated until I get the neighbor chickens free of whatever crawlies they probably have. Bird Mite Infestation Tips & Strategies also has some helpful hints from their Bird Mites Forum. Wow I have so much to learn ^_^

Alternative Use for Canning Jars