EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[Phage]

Also - Dumb question, but my cat, who's always been notoriously chunky, has lost a ton of weight in the last 3 months. He seems okay, but should I take him in and get some blood work done, to make sure he's okay?

He's double digits this year, so I know he's getting up there in age.

I would - it may be good to know what you ( and the kids) can expect, and it may be easily treatable

 

[BullChick]

I hope you are doing well today!

I am!

I KNOW RIGHT!!

 

[BantyChooks]

Lid is done. Might toggle it a bit more later, but it works.

 

[microchick]

@Kajira. YES!

We have a 15 year old half Siamese who did the same thing. He was a butterball of a cat and suddenly lost weight. He started eating anything he came across that would pass as food. We took him to the vet and yep, he is diabetic. At the moment he takes three shots a day and is on a special low carb, high protein diet. He's worth it though. He's a great cat. Of course it could be caused by other things, but the lab work would be a place to start.

 

[5Sons Coop]

Last hatch a few days ago, mix chicks rooster is a Sagitta mother hens were Sagitta, white leghorn or production red. Custom hatch a few Ayami Cemani with them. Had a couple sticky AC guess old and shipped egg issues cause my mixed ones went almost perfect 13 out of 14 none sticky. AC were 4 for 9 and 2 sticky.

 

[Pensmaster]

Lid is done. Might toggle it a bit more later, but it works.

 

[Pensmaster]

Last hatch a few days ago, mix chicks rooster is a Sagitta mother hens were Sagitta, white leghorn or production red. Custom hatch a few Ayami Cemani with them. Had a couple sticky AC guess old and shipped egg issues cause my mixed ones went almost perfect 13 out of 14 none sticky. AC were 4 for 9 and 2 sticky.

Nice hatch on shipped eggs.

 

[kajira]

@Sally Sunshine @BantyChooks @DwayneNLiz @MotorcycleChick


TLDR : Cat had cancer, didn't come home from the vet....

Long, dramatic version below.


I know pets may not always be up there for everyone as a best friend, and not all animals are made equal.

When my horse died a couple weeks ago, it was "sad" but I didn't even cry. I liked her, but I didn't "loveeeee" her like some animals make you feel.
Today, after a week of debating, I scheduled a vet appointment for my cat, that i've had almost the entire time I've been married.

my "cancer" warning bells were going off. His only symptom was losing weight. I'd noticed it a couple weeks ago, but after verifying he was getting his share of the cat food, I decided I needed to take him in just to see if my spider sense was right, or wrong.

We had a very eventful day. He decided to commit cat suicide, he busted out of a dog crate, that was tied down in the back of my car, and jumped out of my truck at 80 miles an hour and faceplanted on the cement. After a near- panic attack, and stopping to get him and putting him in the cab with me, I raced him to the vet, and brought him inside. Only to find out, his suicide attempt not only FAILED, but he barely was injured. A bloody nose, a couple scrapes and bruises, and a black eye. Maybe a mild concussion.

All things consider, he got freaking lucky beyond belief, for trying to kill himself by jumping out of the back of the truck. He's been in cars/trucks/crates before, and has NEVER attempted to get out of one prior to this.

We get there, and a bunch of running around by the vet, on all these expensive tests, and how it could be all these things, and me telling them "disprove he has cancer, I want proof its not cancer." After running all his labs, and then coming back normal, and them finding enlarged lymph nodes, both by his thyroid, AND his belly, I told them, verify that it's not cancer.

More run around, and me telling them I have no intention of taking him home unless they can prove what I think is cancer ISNT cancer... they finally cave and aspirate the lymph nodes. (think 600+ dollars later of testing, 300+ which could have been saved, had they just aspirated the lymph nodes like I wanted to begin with....)

He has large cell cancer. Given his little suicide attempt, and he went from 15lbs to 9lbs in a month, and talking with kids, husband, etc, we decided to say our goodbyes. Buying him weeks, or a couple more months with prednisone, didn't seem the best way to go for him....

So I said goodbye today, to the one cat who only liked me. That I loved, that I knew when I put him in that truck today, I was saying goodbye too. I don't know how to explain how I know "cancer" when I sense it, but I've yet to be wrong when I called "cancer" in an animal... Which is why I told the vet she was upsetting me by not ruling it out as the #1 thing before wasting my time with thyroid tests and other labs. (hundreds of dollars, actually.)

Kids didn't want to see him suffer, or decline and lose more weight, and we didn't know if he had any issues from the fall that would cause him to seizure at home a day or two later, and I couldn't just walk into a room and find him dead. I loved him too much to deal with the trauma it would have put on me, to do that. At least this way, I know he didn't suffer. I know they made sure he didn't feel any pain, and he was able to live a good life with no horrible last 2-3 months of extending his suffering just to not say goodbye to him.
The logical part of me goes "all that money they wasted, could have saved another cat, who was young and needed a home."

The other part of me goes, you needed an answer and you did the right thing to confirm what you already knew so you could come to terms with saying goodbye.

and then, had he NOT decided to attempt caticide, I might have brought him home and forced him to suffer for days, weeks, or months because he "was healthy enough" to give it a shot... but his little faceplant on the cement took that choice away from me logically. I couldn't justify it, because I didn't think he'd be strong enough to deal with everything else on top of that.


I just.... he was a good cat, and 10 isn't old enough

 

[Blooie]

@daxigait - The gnomes are back, and now they are hiding all of my bungee cords, so I can't make those new MHP tonight (I will tear the place apart tomorrow for the bungees, or buy more - which would, of course, lead to them being found immediately). So I took apart the smaller MHP I had set up for the newly hatched 5 chicks in my last hatch - I needed to take it apart anyway to tidy up. I took photos, and will now post them in reverse order (so it looks like I'm putting it together). I will talk through this with more detail than you perhaps may need, in case someone else wants to try it. (I have had great success with it, and have quiet, calm chicks that get to sleep in the dark at night under their cozy "mama").

First, you need to have the right heating pad of course - one WITHOUT automatic shut off. It can be difficult to figure out the features when shopping for a heating pad, and on the MHP thread, folks actually have resorted to going by specific product numbers just to be sure. If you are not sure, build it ahead of time and monitor it to ensure it heats well and stays on (and that it will come back on if the power goes out). Here are the two I like and recommend - the cheapest. One is king size, the other is standard size - I double this up to make a BIG MHP that lasts until they don't need so much heat.

https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-732-...rd_wg=ziJW9&psc=1&refRID=FQ92M6MAV3Z9N3V8GW8B

https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-731-..._rd_wg=gdNO2&refRID=WN94K7FDSNQYT8J6GTXP&th=1

Now, to build the frame. You can use whatever you have, but I have found welded wire works best. Hardware cloth is not strong/stiff enough and could collapse not he chicks. Cut welded wire fencing (or other quite stiff but bendable material) to the approximate size of the heating pad you will be using - it doesn't have to be exact, just as close as you can. Then you will need to cover up the sharp bits left from where you cut - on this one pictured, I used multiple layers of duct tape. I have since found that poly tubing slit down the side (I had some lying around) works better. DON'T use regular garden hose - there's "stuff" in the regular hoses that will outgas - I learned this when I started heating it up and could smell it. (Suspect this could hurt the chicks.)



Next, bungee the heating pad to the underside of the frame, with writing side down. Use as many bungees as you need (and the size you need) to keep it from sagging.





Then, cover the whole thing in a pillowcase or other similar enclosed cover that you improvise. This is important, as chicks like to wiggle around under there, and if you do not cover it, they can get trapped in the frame. (Folks have lost chicks due to this.) Early on I used extra old grungy pillowcases I had around. When I needed to actually get another pillowcase (after ripping the old ones), I went for a zippered pillow cover - it has been MUCH easier to keep closed and clean.



Now you need to snug the pillowcase up so that it doesn't sag into the cave. I do this by pulling the extra material to one edge, folding it over, and then using clamps to hold in place.

Finally, cover it. I use cloth diapers (the thick Gerber ones) because they are soft and are meant to be pooped on and washed and bleached (you could also use old towels, which would also work great). When the chicks get older they will perch on top (like they do on Momma's back), and poop on it. Switch them out as needed. For the larger ones I make (which are tall enough for the older chicks to use), once the chicks start getting super messy, I use some of those washable puppy poop pads I had lying around - that works well.

When setting up in the brooder, put it at one end, but make sure there's a little space at the back as well so that they can find their way out if they get too warm. When first hatched, I put the water quite close to the entrance to the MHP - they pop out, drink, and pop back under. I also put crumbles on the paper towels right by the entrance, and will trail them to the feeder so they eventually find their way there. They will spend a LOT of time under there at first, then will start wandering, popping back under if they need a warm up.

I hope that helps!!!

- Ant Farm

Whew! Lookie that! I can now take a vacation! Good job!!!

 

[kajira]

@Kajira. YES!

We have a 15 year old half Siamese who did the same thing. He was a butterball of a cat and suddenly lost weight. He started eating anything he came across that would pass as food. We took him to the vet and yep, he is diabetic. At the moment he takes three shots a day and is on a special low carb, high protein diet. He's worth it though. He's a great cat. Of course it could be caused by other things, but the lab work would be a place to start.

The labwork was completely useless, he had a swollen lymph node they aspirated and he had cancer. I KNEW it was cancer, I just needed confirmation. I'd just been hoping for the last week, he'd gain week and it was my imagination.

I have a "cancer radar" when it comes to animals, that I cannot explain.... but I've yet to be wrong with that spider sense goes off.