Mercy

It is sooo complicated. It is a TNR feral colony, very established, healthy, fixed, vaccinated. I moved them to get away from harassment, but there was a fire 2 nights ago, got a txt about it, told woman their new location, and this afternoon, someone sat in the colony site all afternoon, prevented the animals from eating their food, and probably grabbedmy tiny.mama cat by her rear leg & dragged her by it. Neighborhood Cats won't return my calls. Cops won't help. OMG what can I do?

I maintain a small, T-N-R feral colony. The cat who sheds has a hard coat with a heavy underfur. He sheds constantly. I brush him regularly (he's friendly) and give him red krill oil daily. That helps, but he still sheds, cleans himself, gets hairballs, etc., etc. He is a senior cat, FIV+ but with a low titer and an active immune system. Please help.

I have an outdoor animal feeder, and am trying to keep the raccoons from it without much success. Has anyone used coyote pee to keep raccoons from an outdoor area, like garbage cans or a yard area? How effective was it?

Please, this is no joke. These little guys are costing me money & putting my animals at serious risk. I need responses from fplks with experience or from behavior specialists.

Monarch butterflies annually migrate from Mexico to Canada and back. Along the way, they feed on plant nectars, but it takes 4 generations to complete one direction of the migration, and their caterpillars can ONLY feed on milkweed plants. No milkweed, no butterflies. Free milkweed seeds are available online. If you plant these no maintenance plants, you are guaranteed gorgeous visitors this summer, you will give a good meal to a critically endangered species, and you will give a leg up to a beautiful, major pollinator.

Save the monarchs! Plant milkweed!

I am thinking of the paleo diet and also the diet most recently recommended by Dr. Oz. There may be others as well, but I was especially stunned to learn that Dr. Oz recommended a regimen that excludes all dairy. A dairy option like fat free Mediterranean yogurt, very high in protein, seems a healthy option. So what is the basis for lumping it with high fat options and bannig it entirely? Is the justification metabolic? Biochemical? Does anyone know? I'm just curious.

I am the registered--and only--caretaker of a trap-neuter-return feral cat colony on Staten Island, New York. My now-fixed mama cat gave birth in July and two of her kittens remain in the colony, now about 6 months old. The male especially is very friendly, and though the location of the colony is supposedly confidential, it is situated on a state-owned wilderness preserve, and people other than myself obviously have visited occasionally. The animals are protected as indigenous wildlife, though as their caretaker, I see to their veterinary needs, feed them daily, and provide them straw-stuffed winter shelters.

I had all the animals neutered/spayed and up-to-date on all their vaccinations, except for the kittens as I was waiting for January to do that for financial reasons.

Here's the issue. I checked my little male 2 days ago and, tho he was born feral in my colony, he has been neutered. They also spayed his sister. I currently have appointments for their surgeries. I had no idea this had been done. I confronted the person and she lied, but she also has plans to adopt my animals out. I have the same plans and a home in mind. A wonderful home.

This is nuts, of course. I am dealing with crazy people who have high school mentalities and are childishly vicious, the kind of vicious that happens in the worst high school bullying and pettiness settings with an overlay of inexcusable arrogance and presumption. But the intent is not funny. They are trying to hurt me and humiliate me publicly, and the animals are just the catalysts of this very serious intent.

I would like to get an attorney and respond that way. I do not want the animals to be used this way. I am the registered caretaker via the Mayor's Feral Cat Initiative and Neighborhood Cats. No one else is on record as a secondary caretaker.

Please, please. What can I do?

I would like to hear from folks who have used it. And please, no jokesters. A raccoon infestation on land where they are protected is not funny.

Is there any significant probability that they might test positive? What is the proper protocol? I will be having them 'fixed' in a few weeks and they will get their first shots at that time. I could have them SNAP tested at the same time but don't know that it's necessary. These cats are members of a feral TNR colony, not indoor cats, though I would like to transition them to indoors.

I came across a couple of silver vases. There are some stubborn lable residues on the bottom of both, & if 925 is under that gummy mess, it will take a while to get to the metal. Is there any simple way to determine if they are sterling or not?

I was on a wetland on Staten Island, NY today, in moderately dense undergrowth. I had to leave something out there. I had on insect repellent & one of those insect repellent fans, which really do work for me, but I did not have on long sleeves. When I emerged from the undergrowth, there were a couple of what looked like grass green, triangular seeds maybe 1/4 inch long, on my bare skin. I brushed them off, noticing that they really seemed stuck to my arm and went to a sandwich shop about a block away.

When I reached the sandwich shop, I looked at my arm where the two seeds had been and there were two drops of blood, both of which ran off my arm -- which to me indicated that there had been some anticoagulant injected into the arm. The skin of the arm itself had two itty bitty round wounds where the insects had been, and the wounds were a little bloody. I cleaned them immediately with hand sanitizer, and they are clearly two little bite wounds, tiny, not itchy or painful, with tiny erythematous areas surrounding them. No bullseye or anything like that, and I don't expect any bullseye to emerge, though of course I will watch them.

But I am a rural person. My family used to vacation in Colorado when I was a child, and each night we used to sit and pick ticks off each other, and always got innoculated against Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But I have NEVER seen any blood sucking insect that was green and triangular and definitely injected an anticoagulant. It was like something out of Sesame Street.

Does anybody know anything about this insect? Does this description ring a bell with anybody? I am mostly just curious.

Please respond if you do. Thanks in advance.

If an assistant district attorney were using sleep deprivation of a prisoner, not for purposes of an interrogation, but as a way of meting out racially & politically motivated punishment for personal gain and with the intent of causing the prisoner great bodily harm, wouldn't that be a felony? I know that sleep deprivation is considered torture under the Geneva convention. She is having the strategy implemented by an RN. Could his license be revoked if this conspiracy were proven? They areboth Chinese, not born in America, and I think the Chinese use tortures more readily than the US does. The prisoner is an American citizen, not of Chinese descent. The ADA has openly stated she considers this person a pawn.

Could I make a paste f ground aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and use it to the same end?

Okay, so I feed a very small, neutered, vaccinated colony of feral cats on a wetland, and I have some neighbor issues. No one objects to the cats, but I've had some pretty bad PR (pretty much untrue), and the cats have sometimes taken the brunt of it. Today, I found a man rummaging around at the edge of the wetland, looking, he said, for signs of a "DK snake" or a BK snake which when provoked spins in a loop and uses centrifugal force to throw poopy smelling droplets on whomever it perceives as a threat. Now, I was raised in the rural U.S. (though not the northeast where I live now), and as a kid dealt with garter snakes & bull snakes and such like. And I've lived near this wetland now for 3 years and have never seen a snake (though I'm sure they're there). But I've never, ever heard of a BK or a DK snake. Have you?

I mean, these guys were kinda big and thuggy. And every now and again, someone adult who smokes Carleton cigarettes (and Newports and Marlboros) tear-asses through the feeding station and the shelters and scares the bejesus out of these four timid, healthy little animals who live on protected land. I guess they do it on nights they ain't gettin' it from the missus. I'm not sure the snake hunters are my raiders, but they seemed about right to me. And the snake thing sounded a little like a poopy threat.

Which is why I want to know -- IS there such a thing as a snake as I described above? Or are these folks just funnin' me?

Thanks.

I am told that's what I had. Have you had it? Was the pain agony, worse than stage III labor for you? Have there been any sequellae for you?

This stuff grabbed ahold of my leg in the middle of the night one night, without warning and without any exacerbating triggers, and for the next 2 weeks, it ruled my life. What the hell was it? I know what WebMD says, but REALLY, REALLY want to hear from others who have had it.

I just applied for retirement benefits online. I don't really want them, but am age-qualified to receive them and things are rough money wise, so I applied. But how long, on average, does it take before you receive your first 'check'? Anyone know?

Thanks in advance.

This is a very senior person but not mentally diminished. His spouse of 61 years died recently and he is downsizing but staying in the same space. Though this couple were great business partners & business people, they did not do very thorough estate planning & now the survivor is left with hundreds of collectible pieces of pottery he has to sell, along with other smaller collections of items. I suggested he get an agent, but he really needs to get the maximum amount of money from these collections, as there are tax considerations on properties to be settled, and he needs the money. Bottom line: The estate planning that should have been done was not & now he has overwhelming grief & properties & belongings to be dealt with. It is putting a financial & an emotional burden on him. Even though it's after the fact, would an estate planning attorney be able to help him? And with regard to the pottery & other collections, what kind of professional can assist my friend in cataloguing or appraising or whatever these collections that will allow him to realize as much profit as possible from these really exquisite pieces? How would he find someone like this?

A response would be very, very appreciated.

I had traceitis for 3 weeks with green sputum & finally went to the doc & got a 10-day course of ciproflaxicin (Cipro). I carried the tabs in a plastic bag in my purse to be sure I took them at the right times & got through day 7 okay, but then someone took the remaining 3 days' supply, perhaps thinking pills in a plastic baggie got you high. I contacted the doc's office & was told that if I feel okay, I probably don't need the remaining 3 days' supply of pills. I know that goes against the common wisdom & advice, but is it practical advice? This infection was particularly entrenched & even with ciproflaxicin backed down slowly. It is still not resolved, though I am no loger febrile. The sputum is no longer green but neither the trachea nor my sinuses are draining clear mucus. Should I just accept the doctor's office's advice, or should I push to get the final 3 days' supply of cipro? I'm now 2 pills off the regimen, and I am a little concerned.

in New York City. They removed my furniture from my apt. but left no contact number or document that would allow me to contact them. I don't know where my belongings are or how to proceed. Yes, I need an attorney, but until I get one, who on earth can I call?

Is this a modern-day Krakatoa in the making? What is the read on this and what are the probabilities?

No wise guy answers. Please. I can take her to Animal Care & Control & they'll cremate for for $25, but I won't get any ashes back. I learned a very valuable lesson from this sweet little creature's death, and I would like some ashes back to keep so I never, ever forget it. Has anyone had their small pet cremated here in NYC and gotten ashes back for LESS than $126 in the past year? If so, could you share the name of the vet clinic or place you had the cremation accorded? I would be very grateful.