Cat and Duck Updates plus some Fishing!

Well in animal news, the kittens have turned one year old! Happy Birthday to Lilac, Mugwort, Earl Jr., and Cloudpaw! This is Mama Peppermint
 Remember when I found her and all the herbal helpers I used to help her get well from all her dog bite injuries? It makes my heart sing to see her so happy, healthy and gorgeous these days:) Mugwort is hanging out with some herbie books and Comfrey Fairy
 Lilac was sleeping on the back of the sofa, so this is her “I just woke up” look!
 Cloudpaw was so tiny for so long, and also had some medical problems I helped with herbals. He is a fine, healthy fellow now!


He doesn’t look like it in this picture, but Earl Jr. is a huge kitten! I call him Mr. Pink Nose all the time:) lol!
  We have a stray mama cat and her 3 kittens living in the gardens now :( I am trying to tame them down enough to even touch. This picture was taken through the window

At least I thought there were three kittens. This morning I saw the fourth! Yikes! Another instance where someone down the line didn’t tend their cat(s) properly, and now I must.. sigh…
Other pet news, Max and Ruby were parents again. This time 15 ducklings. Luckily, we have found homes for all the little ones
 Been super busy between the granchildren out of school for the summer and trying to do a little spruce up around here. This freshly painted garage wall in the next picture took me a couple of days. The house next door to us is one of our rentals, and its garage wall facing my gardens was terrible looking, so I tackled that over several days.
Looks so much cleaner! In that photo our a rose of sharon, elderberry, joe pye weed, pleurisy root, feverfew, milkweed, valerian, and daylilies. Maybe click to enlarge to see better:)
Been scraping and getting ready to paint two more of those metal chairs and one metal double glider. Redid an old metal milk can, but forgot to take a picture of that. Going to use it as a table between the two finished chairs. In the queue, is scraping and repainting some windows… seems it is a painting kind of year! Do you like the color I did the swing in?
 In this side garden are lemon verbena, pineapple sage, 4 roses, red clover, rose of sharon, daylilies, comfrey, lemon grass, beebalm, echinacea, nasturiums, primrose, hollyhocks and more. I will have to do just a plant post soon:)
We did take time to do some jug fishing recently with brother Eric. Jug fishing is fun. You just tie a line onto a jug that will float and throw it out. You will see it take off when a fish hits it

Do remember I have two giveaway drawings going until the 27th. One on the guest post by Anke Bialas, on making a Stillroom book, and the other on my book review of Homemade Health!
Herbal and Honey Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottagesxx

Peppermint and her kittens update!

The kittens are now eight months old! This has been such an experience, deciding to keep all four of the kittens. An experience that has taught me so much about the interactions of mother cats with their young. We read or see on tv or videos how the large cat mothers usually keep their young with them for a year or longer. Hunting for and teaching them all the things they will need to know to fend for themselves when grown. From this experience I have seen an amazing dynamic between domestic cats and their young, that many might not be aware of. It really reinforced my decision to not break up the family. It also reinforced my personal soapbox rant to please spay and neuter your animals. You might just think to yourself, well I will just give away the kittens. Easier said than done for one thing, and for another, a grave injustice to both the mother and the kittens. You see, their mother just doesn’t nurse them 6 weeks and is done with them. I have found quite the opposite to be true…

still nursing at three months old

another where at three months of age, mama Peppermint would still call to them to come nurse.

and now eight months old, still the occasional suckle

They hang out and sleep all together….

Mama Peppermint and Lilac (note the toy mouse. more about it in a moment)

they sleep with the other cats. This is big Earl and Little Earl (EJ for short). Not father and son, but enough alike in looks and temperment, you would think so!

Poor little Lilac got very ill from a scratch her brother Mugwort gave her while playing. She just hugged the heater vent and our full figured gal Wisteria moved right on the blanket with her, mothering her and adding her warmth. Lilac is all recovered now

her brother EJ comforted her too.

 

Earl Jr. took a toy kitten out of the toy box and moved it into this box to play with

remember I said keep an eye out for the mouse?

Peppermint packs this mouse with her everywhere! I mean constantly all over the house, from the basement to every other space, this mouse is thrown, tossed, and carried! She will deliberately put it in hard to reach places, like around chair legs and places, to make it harder to “hunt”. No wonder her kittens raid the toy box for soft toys that they pack around also! She is “hiding” it under the legs of this stool in this photo.

a pile of kittens, Dandelion and Hyacith

we get a hoot out of watching EJ watch tv. If we have on a nature show with other animals, he parks right in front and just is mesmerized!

So Comfrey Cottage increased its cat population by five last year. Nothing we set out to do, but finding and little Peppermint and deciding to keep her kittens also is a decision we will never regret. We love them. We were able to have them spayed and neutered from a wonderful program the Animal Protection League offered, which was hosted by our local Humane Society. The price was ridiculously low and the cats were well treated and cared for. Just a side note, Peppermint did not go into heat until the kittens were 7 months old. I suppose being able to nurse so long helped delay it, but again, female cats usually have two litters of kittens a year. Spay and neuter your animals, please! Financial help is available if you just will ask your local vet or animal shelter, there is often times very low cost programs and some vets around our town even offer a yearly lottery and the winners (usually over a dozen) get the service for free! My daughters work even had one lady take the initiative to put a can up asking for donations to help her vet her animal. I was delighted when I heard of it and eagerly made a contribution also. Lets all work together to help all animals to be wanted and have homes, it starts with taking responsibility. Ok, off my soapbox.

THE END

Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xxx

Serving as the Dining Room Table

I took time to stretch out on the sofa recently, and soon found myself covered in kittens. (The white kitty is our oldest cat, Rose Marie). Mama Peppermint came into the room and was rather frantically calling out, looking for them, so I called her over….

She jumped up and immediately lay down for them to nurse…

and received a well deserved wash up from Earl Jr. afterwards..

And yes, we still have all the kittens! They are nearing 5 months old so I have a feeling they are staying right where they are, in our home, with their mother who still will search them out to snuggle and nurse them. I see everyday how much she loves her babies, and have no desire to separate them. If karma chooses someday to send a special person my way, who wants and needs a cat, I might consider letting one go to a new home, but not now, no way will I break up this family. When I found Peppermint, part of her healing was a promise, a promise to keep her safe and happy for all time, and that included her unborn babies.

Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xxx

Our Cloudpaw, is still having issues with his leg injuries, but we are improving! A post about his herbal journey soon!

Brilliant Idea for Drying Herbs and Peppermint and Kitten Update

I know several of you are wanting a kitty update! Well, the kittens are 2 weeks old today and all have their eyes open!

Mama Peppermint is well healed now and actually putting on a little bit of weight herself now

Everyone is so spunky! We just leave the kittens alone in their little nest in the closet, most of the time. When I do get in their to give them a pet, they hiss a little! lol! When they start to come out into the rest of the house on their own, we will start holding them more and getting them used to being with people. Peppermint is getting feistier too! What a good sign that is:) It means she is comfortable with her new home, the other cats and that she is feeling much, much better! Now she and Dandelion romp around the house in the evening and she even gets feisty wrestling me sometimes!

The brilliant idea is this… we have a truck camper, and I see no reason not to start using it to dry herbs in! It even has a little stove and refrigerator in it, so portable too if so desired:) I always have trouble with space when wanting to dry herbs. I have suspended drying racks in my den, and put baskets and such around on top of things, but it will be so nice to have some additional space. The table area all turns into a bed, so herbs can be spread on it, also in the closet suspended from the clothes rack:) There are little shelves behind the curtains above the table, which can be utilized also. Even a little refrigerator if ever needed! I don’t know why I never thought of this before!

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That appliance bungee corded in is a portable air conditioner. That might have to be stored elsewhere!

We have just been home a few days, but I did manage on hour to go forage

We have had so much rain it has been hard to get out much, and besides I don’t want to try and successfully dry soaking plants that have all their nectar leeched out by rain. I did gather a few clover, some linden and elder flowers, and a few green pine cones. I found a lovely gift on my porch, I suspect my sweet neighbor Claude, of two nice pine cones also:) I am afraid the linden harvest will be slim pickens. I hope it is a bit dryer to try and get out again tomorrow. The woods are as lush as a jungle right now, as is the gardens

!

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I think the primroses, pleurisy root, and feverfew look so happy all blooming together. :) Those elders were just planted last year! I was tickled to see they had flower buds too:) The lemon balm is amazing and that will be perfect to dry in the camper!

Max the duck is a on patrol at Comfrey Cottages. Ruby has been missing and I can’t find her. I suspect she is nesting in a hidden spot under one of the buildings or behind the bee yard fence, in amongst the bramble there. I don’t see how she could have got out and I have seen no feathers to indicate hawk attack. Max is exhibiting some unusual behavior which can only be considered guarding, so I suspect and hope she is nested somewhere. He won’t even let the pigeons light in the yard without charging madly at them! lol! He never did that before!

The raspberries don’t seem to mind the gloom and rain

I will be bringing these to our annual beekeeping picnic and herb meeting tonight! Talk to you soon!

Big herbal and honey hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx

Update! Four little kittens…

so i just checked and make that four little kittens:) Did you know kittens can purr? There is at least one as loud as her mommy:)

Three Little Kittens..

..and one little mama rumbling up a storm in my closet! Last night I suspected the time was nearing. You see, most evenings little Peppermint has kept me in a bear hug on the sofa…

 ..but last night she couldn’t get comfortable. I woke up this morning and didn’t see her with the other cats waiting for breakfast so went and looked in the closet I had readied for her. She had had one and was in the process of having the second! Soon there were three:)

Peppermints injuries are very close to being well now. Will be a bit harder to tend what with three little kittens nuzzling in that area!

Big hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xxx

Cats and Herbs and Honey : Meet Peppermint

It must be spring. Every spring my daughter or I end up with poor neglected cats on our porches. This little lady was in a very sorry state when she arrived at my daughters. Emaciated, pregnant, grievous dog bite injuries on a hind leg, and under her tail. She came limping up and I was terrified that her entire leg was disjointed or broken. One of her wounds removed all of her hair from near her knee around to the back of her thigh. Deep bite wounds there, with a large area raw and oozing. The knee and lower leg also had deep bite wounds.  Some of you might be squeamish so don’t look at the album. It hurt her for me to move the leg in order to document her injuries, so these pictures really don’t show the total extent.

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That injury extends all the way to the bend of her leg. A similar type bite entry wound there.

Michelle had recently adopted a blind kitten she found, so I took Peppermint home with me. Besides the fact I am home during the day and Michelle works outside of the home, we thought Peppermint would require close watching and tending.

When I got her home I first kept her isolated from the other cats in my den. First order of business was to let this little cat know I cared about her and that she was now safe. You see, we have a good idea where she came from and saw the despondent, “I give up”, look in her poor eyes. She responded within a short time just to being petted, in a quiet safe room, fed and watered well and given love:) Very soon her little motor was purring full tilt! Since she was by nature a friendly wee puddy cat, I gently started to explore her wounds. This all occurred late two Fridays ago, so I was pretty much on my own and I am not a veterinarian, but I didn’t think the leg was broken or disjointed, but just could hardly bear weight due to the nature of the dog bite wounds. Next step was to decide what herbal helper I could use on her wounds to help them heal. With some of the wounds being so deep, large area of super sensitive skin exposed, and her pregnancy I thought about it and decided that a yarrow and calendula water extraction, cooled and then applied would be appropriate. I used a little glass spray bottle to apply  it. Very handy especially with having to quickly lift her leg a bit to apply it to the inner upper thigh also. Within 3 days there was marked improvement and Peppermint was able to put much more weight on the leg. She put on weight, her eyes became bright and alert, she was released from isolation and assimilated into the clan of other Comfrey Cottages Cats:)

I keep my cats indoors and they are never exposed to other cats, and thus their different diseases, so the next Tuesday, (we got her on Friday), when the vets was open, Michelle took Peppermint in for a visit to be tested for Feline Leukemia and Aids and to look at her wounds. The vet told my daughter the wounds looked clean and told her whatever I was doing was working:) With her clean bill of health and re-interest in life, it was fun to let her out of the den and watch her interact with the rest of the cats and my hubby. When I sit down on the sofa, she is right next to me, and crawls up on me with her little paws wrapped around me, as if she is trying to give me a big hug:)

I know many of you will be aware that yarrow is on the toxic list for cats on the ASPCA website, and that other sources will alert you not to use yarrow with pregnant cats. When I first began applying the above to her injuries, she was too weak and apathetic to even lick herself, so I am sure she got none of it internally, and I believe yarrow is perfectly safe used externally. I think the ASPCA website is only referring to yarrow internally, although I will say, I have never had a problem with using it internally, with other cats. I am staying away from giving Peppermint anything internally that is rich with volatile oils though, due to her pregnancy. As always, I am just sharing what I am doing and not trying to give any medical advice, so do your own research and make your own decisions! :) Now that she is  responsive and can move her leg , she is licking her wounds, which is of great benefit in her healing process.

I continued the yarrow, calendula and added rosemary in a separate spray bottle, but when some of the wounds closed more and stopped draining as much,she developed an abscess, on the inside part of her thigh that was so raw looking, but wasn’t draining. The bite wound had encompassed her whole thigh, both on the inner and the outer sides, and the wound on the outside had scabbed over, while the inner thigh wound has still been open and seeping some. So , I  made repeated plantain poultices and the open wound then leaked out large amounts of pus and the abscess greatly diminished. Eventually the swollen up part also opened up and started draining.

Making these herbal helpers, I do snip up some plantain in a bowl and put a little just before boiling water in it. Then I take a whole plantain leaf and roll and crush it in my fingers, place it on the wound, and then dip the medicine cloth in the hot solution and apply it over the leaf, and hold it there until it gets cold, and then repeat, for a total of about 15 minutes at a time about 6 times per day. The first pictures in this album show the abscess before the plantain poultices, and the last picture after a day.

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After three days of using plantain poultices and spray, (with periodic sprays of rosemary or yarrow/plantain spritzes), the whole area is very close to normal. During these last three days I have also applied Manuka honey to all the wounds, several times a day. I had a friend share this honey a few years ago, and I have saved it back for a time when I really had a hard to heal wound to deal with. Within hours of first applying it, I could see so much healing happening! Any good organic honey would help, I just happened to have this.

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So dear little Peppermint has been occupying a lot of my time and focus for the last 21 days. I will keep you all posted on her progress and any changes or additions I might do with her herbal regime. I have cleared out the bottom of my den’s closet and covered it with towels and am hoping she decides to use it for her birthing den… I wouldn’t be surprised if she just used the rug at my feet she is lying on as I type this though, right in the kitchen:) lol!

During this journey, I did also use green elder leaf and marshmallow poultices during the first couple of days. I did like the wound response best when using the yarrow and calendula though. And the rosemary when the wound was a bit less raw. I think that there was a nice progression of improvement all along, with the only set back being when the wound up on the inner thigh gotten swollen. But beautiful plantain did an excellent job of drawing it all to a head and getting it to drain. The honey was especially beneficial and I will certainly use it again if I have to deal with an injury like this.

Again, I am just sharing with you how herbs have helped dear Peppermint:) I am not professing to be a veterinarian! Do your own research and make your own decisions, although I will gladly discuss this further with anyone interested:) I will share kitten pictures when they arrive!

Big Herbal and Honey Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx