Shedding Season

Shedding Season has begun. I am generally pretty lazy about brushing my adult cats, but during shedding season it becomes imperative that I remove all the dead fur. If I don’t do it, I have to clean up hairballs. I choose brushing since it is a good way to spend time with my cats. Plus, I gathered the fur from the brushes (which look just like wool cards) and stored it to spin. I am not planning to make a cat fur item, I just want to experiment.

As far as spinning goes, I finally got around to finishing my wheel today. There was a spot on the treadles that I missed entirely, and I had to work on the footman that I found after I had finished the rest of the wheel. This, of course, means that I won’t be spinning for awhile. Sigh.

I picked today to finish the wheel because I have a knitting deadline coming up, and I didn’t want any spinning projects sitting around tempting me. I am nearly finished with the baby dress for the baby shower on Sunday. I have completed the front and back, and I am now working on sewing it up and adding the sleeves and neckline. I am not going to get all arrogant and say “Oh great, this will be finished way early,” because I may find myself in possession of a few bottle-feeders soon. I got the call today while I was napping (I think I have a mild version of the flu), and I have to work out the details tomorrow.

I don’t believe I have given a comprehensive list of my current kittens. Who do we have now?

First, I have been reunited with Endora and Tabitha. They did not have names before my camping trip, but once they came back to be with me I took the opportunity to name them. The tabby kitten is Tabitha, aka Tabby or Tablet. We chose Endora because it makes a great fall name – Tabitha’s grandmother on Bewitched (wow, that was a long time ago…). The other 2 in that litter didn’t make it, or I’d probably have them, too.

I also have 2 of the temporary kittens from the great pre-camping kitten swap. One of the temporary foster parents named the little boy Patch, and we called the little girl Pumpkin – also great Halloween names that go well together! These are two of the sweetest kittens ever. Patch loves his people, but he loves to purr even more. Pumpkin likes to sit at my feet while I prepare her food. She’s a chubby little thing!

At least some of the kittens have diarrhea now. Poor Endora is on a downward weight spiral, so I know that she’s one of the affected. I know not all of the kittens are ill because I found a few normal poops in the box. Still, I started them all on Amoxi paired with probiotics. I have decided that any time I use antibiotics for kittens, I will start sprinkling probiotics on their food- no sense in letting all the good bacteria go with the bad.

It’s rough right now in the health area of fostering because all of the late season kittens tend to be a little sicker than the earlier ones. The moms are usually on a second or third litter, and they just aren’t up to producing healthy kittens. I wonder if the emaciated moms are easier for the feral cat trappers to catch? I mean, they have to be starving from feeding and growing all those kittens, and the traps are baited with food. I should ask someone about that.

Making choices

My insomnia has absolutely wrecked me this week. I can feel it getting better now, but I just haven’t had ambition to get much done with my messed up schedule. So, I’m sorry that I haven’t updated my blog, but I had to make choices about what to do with my time.

I photographed most of my stash for Ravelry. It took hours. I have a lot of yarn. I still haven’t gotten the pictures uploaded yet, but the hardest part is over.

Alexis’ blanket is complete. I can send it out with her brother’s present on Monday and that will all be settled. I learned from this experience that I hate weaving. I just loathed every minute of it. I tried to like it. I mean, it’s fiber art, that makes it fun by definition, right? Let’s just say it has taken discipline to finish. I like the blanket, just not the work it took.

I think that leaves me with just 9 WIPs. I suppose I should add that I started a potholder sometime in the last month or so. I’ve left it in the desk drawer for awhile, then I started carrying it around in my purse.  Let’s count the WIPs, shall we?

1. Crochet potholder. I have no pictures yet, but I will post the FO.
2. Blaze. (The sweater I showed the people in Vancouver)
3. Kilt hose.
4. Tunisian crochet cat bed. I think I am going to abbreviate this one and make it into a kitten blanket given that I saw a mistake the other day.
5. Romantic Cardigan. I just haven’t touched it this year.
6. Dishcloth. I haven’t really needed to replace any of the ones I have, so it isn’t that big of a deal yet.
7. Carisa’s afghan.
8. The cat afghan.
9. Jen’s socks swatch.

The worst part is, I have every intention of starting a new project despite this list. I have jury duty starting the week of the 9th, and they don’t allow knitting needles in the building. The do, however, allow crochet hooks, so I am bringing the beginnings of my nephew Blaine’s blanket (hopefully to be completed by Christmas).

The kittens have been passing around a pretty nasty cold. I start them on meds the first day they lose a little weight and that seems to clear it up. It’s just that they’ve been stuffed up so they can’t breathe while they eat – so they quit trying. I think with the ringworm, the eye infections and the URI Nebby is on like 5 different drugs. That poor fellow.

On the bright side, the diarrhea is going away. I gave the kittens Albon for coccidia, and the distinctive smell went away. The poop only got marginally better - from pure liquid to pancake batter. I added canned pure pumpkin to their food, and suddenly we have poop with form. Yes, this is my life - the study of poo.  You should see the pictures I took for the kitten manual. Who photographs poop (other than someone with a fetish)? For the record, that isn’t me. <shivers>

Well, I need to try to sleep. We are going canoeing with some friends tomorrow morning, so I have to be up early (6:45) to care for the kittens before we leave.