freemotion
Food Guru
I would love to have a couple of mousers in the barn! But we are on a very busy road in front, and lots of coyotes in back, and I've never seen a cat last outdoors in this neighborhood for more than 2-3 days......
THE SQUIRREL CHALLENGE: Want to join?
- Thread starter Beekissed
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- #142
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
We have a busy road also, free....my older tom has outlasted 4 of his compadres! And I think the road is the reason for his bum hip. One thing about the road....it is definitely the wisest and the fastest who survive. Sort of like natural selection..... :/
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
I have the same fear. Earthquakes are a pain. I use a metal shelf with locking doors. Then I had my husband screw it into a concrete wall. I guess the fact that it's in the garage under the house might not be so good though. Ooopppps!!!tamlynn said:
noobiechickenlady
Almost Self-Reliant
My cats are the reason I don't have any rabbit or squirrel in my freezer... 
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- #145
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Going to use my bander on my young tom tonight. Nasty job but it may save his life....he's been going across the road tomcatting. 
miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
Explain the bander please? I have a tom who is on his second abscess since he started going across the road tomcatting.Beekissed said:Going to use my bander on my young tom tonight. Nasty job but it may save his life....he's been going across the road tomcatting.
As for the squirrel challenge- so far I have 15 lbs asparagus (wild, frozen), about 20 lbs frozen strawberries, 8 quarts of strawberry jam, canned, 7 rabbits=9 meals in the freezer. (just processed the rabbits this morning, all by my lonesome).
tamlynn
Lovin' The Homestead
Ok, found a real squirrel challenge deal today.
At Walmart, there was a cart filled to overflowing with one pound boxes of elbow macaroni. A sign taped to the cart said they were 25 cents each! My dh started putting a few in our cart, but I grabbed that entire cart and pushed it to the checkout line!
So I got 102 pounds of elbow macaroni for $25.50!
I handed a sack of boxes (about 6) to a lady outside the store who was collecting for a homeless shelter. Afterwards I felt bad I didn't give her more, I'd only given her $1.50 worth of pasta. Another guy appoached us in the parking lot with a big old story about how he was on America's Most Wanted as a victim. He showed us his scars and his poster with pics of his little girls as we were loading our pasta into the car. I gave him a bag of pasta, but he handed it back and walked away.
At Walmart, there was a cart filled to overflowing with one pound boxes of elbow macaroni. A sign taped to the cart said they were 25 cents each! My dh started putting a few in our cart, but I grabbed that entire cart and pushed it to the checkout line!
So I got 102 pounds of elbow macaroni for $25.50!
I handed a sack of boxes (about 6) to a lady outside the store who was collecting for a homeless shelter. Afterwards I felt bad I didn't give her more, I'd only given her $1.50 worth of pasta. Another guy appoached us in the parking lot with a big old story about how he was on America's Most Wanted as a victim. He showed us his scars and his poster with pics of his little girls as we were loading our pasta into the car. I gave him a bag of pasta, but he handed it back and walked away.
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- #148
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Well, I'll probably get squalled at about it, but here goes. I neuter my toms with a calf bander. It works great, takes a few minutes, doesn't appear to be uncomfortable past the first few minutes and even then the cat just seems a little puzzled. Both cats were purring within seconds of the procedure, so it doesn't seem to distress them. That's how they do it here in the mountains.miss_thenorth said:Explain the bander please? I have a tom who is on his second abscess since he started going across the road tomcatting.Beekissed said:Going to use my bander on my young tom tonight. Nasty job but it may save his life....he's been going across the road tomcatting.
As for the squirrel challenge- so far I have 15 lbs asparagus (wild, frozen), about 20 lbs frozen strawberries, 8 quarts of strawberry jam, canned, 7 rabbits=9 meals in the freezer. (just processed the rabbits this morning, all by my lonesome).
Since the banding, he has not crossed over that road. Took the notion to wander right off his little......er, um.....mind!
Farmfresh
City Biddy
Wow you ARE very nice and uptown Bee. I have banded some of our toms with the heavy little rubber bands that horse people use for banding manes! 
A note of warning however, even though I have done it many times ... you do run the risk of blood poisoning. Especially if the band should ever break before they ... fall off.
It is actually a cleaner (medically speaking) procedure to remove the lower half of the scrotum (sterile scissors or knife) remove testicles by slowly extracting them and pinching off the cords and then spraying well with iodine.
I however find a cat will hold still (and actually purr) while being banded - I doubt if they would be so compliant if you took scissors to their scrotum!
A note of warning however, even though I have done it many times ... you do run the risk of blood poisoning. Especially if the band should ever break before they ... fall off.
It is actually a cleaner (medically speaking) procedure to remove the lower half of the scrotum (sterile scissors or knife) remove testicles by slowly extracting them and pinching off the cords and then spraying well with iodine.
I however find a cat will hold still (and actually purr) while being banded - I doubt if they would be so compliant if you took scissors to their scrotum!
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- #150
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I agree....run the risk of infection either way, so I prefer the banding to the cutting. Especially without good sterile fields and equipment.
With the calf banders, the band is tight and secure. Placement is everything. Also the age of the cat. I had to wait until the testes were big enough to protrude.
With the calf banders, the band is tight and secure. Placement is everything. Also the age of the cat. I had to wait until the testes were big enough to protrude.
