Homestead One Day

This sucks. I know some people consider that a curse word but there’s no other way to put it.

(If you’ve been through this with a beloved pet I’m going to warn you now this may bring back memories and not necessarily pleasant ones…don’t read if you are affected easily)

I’m on second day and everywhere I look, everything reminds me of him. Everything I do…every daily routine…there’s a hole.

Started this morning with my alarm randomly deciding not to go off and he wasn’t my backup. He used to start walking around me, making sure to get close enough to my head the second or third loop to step on my hair. Somehow he managed to stiff leg himself and thump thump thump pointedly by…whereas normally you barely noticed he was there.

There was no “get up now” paw to my head…then to my nose.. and if I really ignored him I’d get a soft paw on the eyelid. Next up would be a single lick to the head…then cheek…then nose…and I learned quick not to let it get to the eyelid. Nothing weirder I can think of than having a cat lick your eyelid at 5am!

Now I’m up and in the bathroom. There’s no one sitting at my feet waiting for me to pet his head and remember to change his water. No one dashing ahead of me out of the door to the kitchen.

Even the routine of feeding the dogs is different. Used to be, they got fed and back in their play area while I fed him, and then they got to get their Kongs outside. This morning I brought them in and realized…now there’s no reason to put them in the pen. I did anyway but it was odd.

Every time I eat, I’m not being given undivided attention by a pair of yellow eyes. No paw patting me on the arm or leg asking for a taste or seven or heck, the whole thing. At lunch I tossed my paper plate on the ground for him to clean off and felt like the world’s biggest idiot .

Decided to try and take a nap to maybe forget for a little while how I was feeling…laid down on the couch and found myself making room for him to join me. We took naps many times together with him at my feet, against my leg, or curled up against my stomach. This time…I just couldn’t do it and gave up on a nap.

It’s put trash out day so I decided to dump his litterbox…and found out I couldn’t. I just couldn’t throw it away when I could see the little divots his paws made in the silica litter. I felt dumb…I can’t keep a litterbox….so I compromised. Got a baggie and scooped up the clean litter where his paw divots were. The rest went out and the baggie went back in the box until I can let that go too. It’s clean litter, I had just changed it.

Seeing his spot on top of some boxes I made into steps for him to see out of the window was breaking my heart every time I walked by. I decided to clean up and rearrange the stuff there…and broke down when a clump of his loose fur was in the corner. I am dreading house cleaning as I know how much fur is still around.

Dinner time was quiet and I had to throw away my crumbs and remembered not to drop my plate on the floor. Went to take a bath and put my towel on the tub like I always did so he could jump up without sliding off and then realized what I was doing. The last few years, Rudy loved to sit on the side of the tub and I would wipe him down with wet hands and rub his fur until he was slightly damp. Then he’d spend the next half hour putting his fur back in order while I got ready for bed. I figured he had trouble reaching some areas and appreciated the help.

Now it’s bedtime. Caught myself waiting for him to run down the hallway for his nightly snack of treats. Found myself looking down coming out of the bathroom so I didn’t trip on him. Worst of all…I’m laying in bed realizing I’m waiting for him to join me.

I know this is going to take some time…but in the meantime…this Sucks. Capital S.

I miss you buddy.

Sick cat part 2, even worse!

By nsmar4211

On August 10, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs, Stress

Day 2. I woke up and Rudy was sleeping on the floor-odd for him as he preferred soft surfaces and was usually either in my bed, my chair, or my laundry basked. I took care of the dogs as usual and checked his litter box…nothing. Not even much pee. Usually he drank water like a camel and peed twice as much. He got his third dose at 8am and was really not happy with it.

He still had not asked for food…and that was always my tipping point. I always told myself if he stopped eating that would be when I would know it was time to let go.

I offered him some beef broth, he turned and walked away. I tried heating it up, same thing. I finally opened a can of canned chicken meat and offered him the juice. He did drink all of that but stopped and didn’t want anything else…even more juice or chicken broth. This is the cat I fondly called “a stomach on four legs” or “self propelled eating machine”…refusing food.

This is when I realized we were in trouble. His stomach was now tight and when he laid on his side looked like a small basketball. He was walking a weird high step walk, I’m thinking from the pain/bloating. He would not jump up onto his favorite window spot and barely made it up onto the couch. He had only groomed a small part of his side. I got the brush out and brushed him shiny while listening to him purr. I decided to spend the day hanging out with him and everything else would have to wait.

What did we do? We took a long nap on the couch…him sleeping more than me. Watched a movie (I can’t remember what). I petted and cuddled him until he had enough and put his paw on my face and then we went back to just being on the couch. His breathing was getting harder and the suspected nasal polyp was making him “snore” even when awake. He was obviously uncomfortable and not happy.

At my lunch time he finally expressed a real interest in something….my steak. It was delicious and smelled great and he kept putting his paw on my arm and staring at me…I was happy to see his old self shine through for a little while. Heading the vet’s advice but having a bad feeling about how the day was going to go, I gave him a tiny sliver of the fat and let him have the juice of the plate. He only wanted one of the two slivers I offered him, when normally we’d be sharing it a lot more.

Then I got out an ice cream bar…strawberry shortcake type. He sat next to me looking at it…when I realized it was technically not a solid food I let him have some. And he took full advantage and licked half away! I said well, what the heck…and got another one to share.

By the time half of that had been licked clean, it was time for the vet visit. I put him in the carrier and headed back into town.

This time I only had a wait a couple of minutes before they came in and took him back for a follow up x-ray. Upon hearing the news that nothing had come out, and he wasn’t asking for his food, the vet tried to hide his wince but I noted it.

A couple of minutes later he came back in without my kitty and asked me to come look at the x-ray. With a sinking feeling I followed him. Rudy was still on the table looking at me with huge eyes while the vet assistant was petting him. I took one look at the x-ray and my heart fell… It showed oversized air filled intestines and even looked like it was pushing into the lung area. The vet pointed to one area and said “he’s developed mega colon”.

I’ll admit it…I started crying right there. I knew there was no easy coming back once this had developed. I had a good idea of the seriousness of it from my research into it in rabbits. Rudy was looking at me with even bigger eyes so I picked him up over my shoulder like he liked to be carried and tried to talk to the vet through tears. I asked again, just in case, if there was anything other than surgery…vet said the lack of fecal matter after that much laxative meant the medicine path wasn’t going to work. By then I was having a lot of trouble talking due to being upset so we went back into the examination room.

Once there, I was able to calm myself down enough to talk. Once again we discussed surgery and the risks and unlikely positive outcome at his age and condition. I looked at the vet and said OK, then it’s time. He asked me if I wanted to take him home and let anyone say goodbye and bring him back tomorrow. The look on my face must’ve been like shock and I blurted out the first thing in my mind-“he’s in pain, how can I knowingly let him suffer like this longer????? Who would do that?!?!?! “The vet looked at the assistant and said ok, we’ll be back.

I have to stop here. The next part is not for the faint of heart and breaks mine just trying to write it. But the decision had been made.

Sick cat vet visit number 1, tests and results

By nsmar4211

On August 9, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs

(Part 1 here, when it started)

At 215pm, I was in the vet’s office with my cat worried and dreading what they would find. I suspected he was blocked, and since it had never happened before (not with bowel movements) I knew it was not good.

His regular vet was not available but the other vets that are there have been good so finally it was our turn to go in. I explained what happened to the vet assistant and had brought along the baggie of plastic pieces. She thought they looked like a twist tie too, but I told her no metal found and I haven’t had anything with that kind of tie in the house in weeks. At first she thought I had found them in the litter box so I had to re explain it was in his throw up. I also emphasized that he had never eaten non food objects before except grass and straw!

A few minutes later the vet came in and felt around his stomach. I explained the symptoms again and how he was uncomfortable looking to me, even though if you didn’t know him he looked OK. Since he did not feel anything outwardly wrong, he asked if I wanted an X-Ray and blood work, which I agreed to. One thing I like about this vet office is they do not push services on you and always ask what you want done.

They took him back and did the x-ray and blood draw and then brought him back to me. As typical of most animals, he was not a fan of the vet office and liked to retreat into his carrier, so I let him hang out in there while we waited.

A few minutes later, the vet came and asked me to come look at the X-Ray with him as he wanted to show me something. This is usually not a good sign in my experience! Upon looking at the X Ray, I saw large sections of air in his intestines in several places. There was nothing visible as a blockage, but only metal or bone would show up on an xray and not plastic. His stomach was also still full of food, despite having thrown up so much and not eating enough for me to be able to tell.

The bloodwork was ready and there was nothing “off” indicated in it at this point. The vet said he wanted to try a strong laxative and give him 24 hours and redo the x-ray to see if anything had moved along in his system. I asked what options we had at this point…he winced and said basically just the laxative. I already knew a 16 year old asthmatic cat was not a good candidate for invasive surgery and he confirmed it. I asked about massages etc and he said to try it…but no solid food, only liquids as he needed to see if the food progressed along the track.

The vet asked about his litter box as I had mentioned it was the auto type and asked how I would keep an eye on what he did. I explained I had already unplugged the box and put down a puppy pad, and Rudy was good at using the litter box even like that. This satisfied the vet.

So we went home with 3 doses of Lactulose (laxative) and a strict “no solid food” order. Upon arriving home, instead of running around like he normally did, Rudy just went up on the couch and went to sleep. I woke him up for the first dose of medicine which did NOT go over well-apparently it tasted bad. He did not once ask me for food, which was not like him-usually 2 hours and he’s begging.

Later that night when it was almost time for bed and I was reading in bed, he came up and laid down next to my leg. I started petting him and realized his stomach was getting harder and he was breathing a bit harder than normal, even taking into account his asthma. I petted him as long as he would let me and fell asleep with him against my head.

Sugarcane growing experiment start

By nsmar4211

On August 6, 2022

In Garden and growing

I’ve been wanting to try and grow some sugar cane and finally found a couple of sticks at a farmers market. I decided to see if I could get them to sprout in water.

I used this saw as it had the narrowest blade. It’s a pull type saw from Harbor Freight.

I cut the canes up so there were two nodes on each stick, put them in some reused containers and a pet bowl and added water halfway up. Now I wait for roots!

Sick cat…and threw up plastic

By nsmar4211

On August 4, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs

Late Sunday night stsrted normally. I did my chores including feeding my cat Rudy…but he didn’t want his dinner. He drank all the liquid around it (wet food and I would add water since he liked the gravy it made) but none of the solid. Usually he cleans the plate so I thought that odd. I offered him some dry food and he grabbed some in his mouth so I thought he was eating it. A few hours later, he made the dreaded noise-glurp glurp glurp-and started throwing up. First it was a tiny bit of food, then a hairball, then varying amounts of liquid and stomach fluid.

The 7th time (!!!) he threw up I noticed something that looked odd in the fluid. Turned out to be several small pieces of a rubbery plastic!

It almost looked like a twist tie…but there was no wire. I haven’t had any plastic coated twist ties in the house in a long time and I always keep small items off the floor because of the animals.

My next thought was a cord, phone charger or something. I took a flashlight and inspected every cord in the house…nothing was missing a part. I even looked on the porch since he did sneak out there last week for a few minutes but found nothing. I then looked everywhere, even under beds for anything that looked like that…or missing pieces…and nothing.

He proceeded to throw up one more time and it was nothing but mucous and another teeny piece of the plastic. By now I was worried as he’s never been sick that many times, and he never before actually ate anything that wasn’t some sort of food. I decided that if he wasn’t OK by mid morning I would call the vet and make an appointment.

I stayed up a couple more hours with him to keep an eye on him. The vomiting stopped and he drank some water, so we went to bed.

Monday morning he outwardly seemed like he was OK at first. Then I noticed that he hadn’t touched the pile of dry food. I realized there was quite a bit of it pulled out of the dish and across the floor, like he tried to eat and couldn’t.

His litter box needed changing so I did that around 8am. I noticed there was not any normal sized fresh poop, only older stuff and a inch plop of newer…usually he goes 2x or more a day as a rule and always by 9 am. Plus his movements were dark and solid and the small one was bright and soft.

Around 10am he started going in…and out…and in…and out…and in…and out of his box. Last time he did that he had a UTI so back in the box I went to look for any evidence he might have “left”. I realized he had not peed nor pooped yet. Since his box was the auto kind, it makes it harder to keep any eye when you’re watching for “movements”.

I unplugged the box and put half a puppy pad on top of the litter so I could watch what he was doing. Turned on the computer (which is next to his box) and started working online.

Another couple trips to the box and he finally pooped…except it wasn’t normal. It was only a tiny tiny bit and upon inspection it was mostly mucous. I watched him walk and noticed he was walking peg legged and stiff like a person does when they’re bloated. Picked him up and realized his stomach was harder than normal and slightly bloated.

Now I’m worried that there was more plastic and he’s got a blockage. The vomiting, lack of eating solid food , and bloating added up to worry for me. I called the vet and explained the situation.

His regular vet was booked up but one of the other vets that fills in was available at 215…so 215 it was.

Fried green tomatoes, finally a successful recipe!

By nsmar4211

On August 2, 2022

In cooking etc

When I was a kid I loved fried green tomatoes. Something about the sour contrast with the breading stuck with MD.

Over the years I’ve tried unsuccessfully to make them myself. Usually they came out soggy and the breading fell off leaving me a pile of…mush…

I tried just laying them on regular flour both sides and cooking in hot oil. I tried dipping in beaten egg then flour. I tried using Wondra flour by itself. Tried Wondra with egg. I tried cornbread mix…cornmeal…with and without egg. I tried….with no luck.

After a trip to a restaurant that had fried green tomatoes as an appetizer, I noticed the coating was way thicker than anything I had come up with.

When I got home I started looking through the internet hoping to figure this out once and for all! Instead of simple recipes, I set my sights on more steps …which is way different than my normal recipe hunt usually is.

As I browsed several different sites, I ended up combining a few different ways so I do not have a single site to send you to.

One thing I noticed is several recipes have you slice the tomatoes, salt them, and then let them rest for a few minutes. I have never done that! I asked a friend who is a way better cook and she confirmed this method, and told me that is how she does her eggplant for eggplant parmesian.

Another difference I found is some had you flour, dip in egg, and flour again…ahhh thicker coating! But I wanted the cornmeal …found that as a suggestion on another site for the last layer.

So what I ended up with was the following method:

1. Slice tomatoes into desired thickness slices. Single-layer on a plate, sprinkle salt over the slices, and let sit a few minutes. Heat up a shallow layer of your desired pil in a pan.

2. While the slices are sitting, put out 3 bowls. First bowl is flour (I used the cheap plain stuff), second bowl is egg and milk beaten together (I did 1 of my duck eggs and a cup of lactaid milk for 4 tomatoes). Third bowl is fine ground cornmeal.

3. Lay each slice in the first bowl, pressing gently to coat with flour and turning over and repeating.

4. Dip the slice in the egg/milk mix, and let drip for a second.

5. Repeat the coating processes with the cornmeal.

6. Put in the hot oil. All the receipes said 2-3 min per side, but apparently mine were thicker than theirs so it was 5-6 min per side. I did all 4 tomatoes in 2 rounds of full pan.

7. When browned to your liking, place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

8. Let cool down enough that you don’t burn your mouth and enjoy!

That’s it-all done! As you can see by the picture, this was a huge success for me.

PS I used lactiad milk to keep my stomach happy, but several recipes called for buttermilk. Worth a try!

New duck house in use

By nsmar4211

On July 29, 2022

In Ducks, Housing and confinement

My newest designed duck house is a hit. Made with cattle panels, t posts, hardware cloth, a tarp, pipe insulation, and a door/frame built from wood. Low cost and predator resistant! The only issue I have is I didn’t take the old rabbit hutch I was given out before I built the door…and it’s too wide to go out. Oops. I’m leaving it in there in case any of the hens want to use it to lay eggs, I have had some success with that in the past. It’s also a visual barrier if I start having squabbles.

Candling example photographs-Duck egg excitement

By nsmar4211

On July 26, 2022

In Ducks, egg hatching

What to do when there are multiple hens sitting on a big nest?

Well, one thing is to candle the pile of eggs to reduce the number so the remaining ones have a chance at survival…I found that the hens kept rolling eggs around to have their own batch and some were ending up outside the nest.

I bought a rechargeable LED candler on Amazon for under $20 and decided to try it out. Below are two examples, one is a fertile growing egg and the other is a broken egg (not visible until candled).

This is a broken egg. It looks like it either rolled against something hard or got pecked by a beak. If the egg was almost done developing, I’d leave it as the break is only shell level and not into the membrane. But since it’s shell level and the nest is overwhelmed, it was added to the pig food bucket.

This is a fertile and growing egg. Notice the embryo in the middle with blood vessels radiating outward-all is going well!

All of the eggs that candled at this stage were marked and given back to the ducks. Advice: Remove the hen off the nest before trying this or you will probably get a bunch of pinch bites! I only candled after I was certain the hens were staying on the nest so they didn’t abandon it, about a week after I noticed they only came off for food and water.

Pig anti tip progress

By nsmar4211

On July 22, 2022

In Animal Health, Pig

Still working on keeping this guy from dehydrating himself. Bucket is now clipped onto the ring …although he’s already chewed the clip open once!

But look at this face…how can anyone get mad at it?!?!?! He’s lucky he’s cute!

Hot dog cool off method that actually works in Florida heat

By nsmar4211

On July 19, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs

It gets hot here in Florida. The dogs have their own end of the porch with an outside covered enclosure for potty and guarding purposes. I put up sunshades, they have a huge bowl of water changed daily, and there’s a fan that runs all day in part of their area that they can choose to lay in front of.

After noticing how often they hang out on the concrete steps, I decided to see if they’d use some concrete pavers as a cool spot to lay down….

Result? They LOVE them!

Nine blocks at $1.50 each is what I would call cost effective cooling! Some days I also dampen the blocks with water for evaporative cooling. This only works if the humidity isn’t over 90 percent though.

Even with the blocks, if I see them panting heavily they come inside for some a/c until it starts cooling back down. If they’re too hyper to be inside, I’ll rub them down with a wet cloth and put them back out-usually they calm down and can come back in shortly.

I may try this out in the pig pens too, couple of pavers in the shade to see if they’ll use them for heat. Whatever works!