This is too much for me

It's been a bad year for fostering. 
Aside from the people involved, last Christmas evening, the foster kittens came down with Calicivirus.  It's just a cat flu, they were fine in days, but Professor Fuzzywinkle caught it from them and Mei Mei caught it from him.  Now they both have stomatitis and have had teeth removed and steroid shots.  It becomes a gradual spiral to the cat needing all their teeth removed which may or may not cure the problem.

This last litter of fosters in April were super adorable but Momma cat had a blemish on her ear.  I tried to get it treated but the organization said they don't test for ringworm, the new owners can if they want, it's not round, it's not ringworm although it looks like some sort of fungus.  Hey, guess what?  It was ringworm!  She never broke out but it never got better.  Kittens where fine until after their first showing and then all hell broke loss from the stress.  Luckily for me, 3 got adopted before anything happened but the last little baby got ringworm.  Bad. The org didn't want to spend the money on treatments.  Gave me ear drops to use on her face--which she promptly rubbed into her eye and IT got all messed up.  After 3 weeks, I took her to my vet and decided to treat her for real, I have 4 cats of my own and a rabbit to think of plus I don't want to be losing hair.  Months of dips and oral meds and she was healed!  And we kept her because after months, we got attached.

And that's how we have 5 cats today.

2 months ago my Calia got sick.  Really sick.  Suddenly, she's a renal cat. We brought her back from the brink of death and she's on an IV every other day.  She's also always been an itchy cat but guess what?  For weeks, it's not just her allergies, it's ringworm!  She's had it untreated for weeks.  I finally black-lighted her BECAUSE everyone else has spots EXCEPT the new kitten!  Everyone.  Me too.  Fabulous.  And renal cat Calia can't take meds.  And Fuzzywinkle is a long haired cat.  And I just don't know what I'm going to do right now.  I didn't sleep all night.  When the vet opens, I'll call but it cost over $200 to treat the 1 kitten.  4 cats?  This is insane.  And am I going to have to shave Fuzzy?  Will the sick cat never get better and will just keep spreading it?  Do I need to put her down?  What the hell am I going to do?

How To Clean a Porcelain Cat Water Fountain

I've got a Drinkwell Pet Fountain.  It's porcelain, not metal and WOW!  Does it get nasty dirty!  Maybe it's my water quality or cat spit but it gets a ring of crud around the bowl and over the lip of the tower.  

The best part is that you can scrub it and soak it in vinegar or bleach and it doesn't do a danged thing!  Not a bit of difference.  It's like that pet fountain crud really means business.

One day, while scrubbing at it to no avail, I scraped at it with my fingernail and voila! There WAS smooth porcelain underneath!  It could be scraped off, but with what?  

Suddenly, my mind replayed an old commercial in my head.  

"Don't scrub your toilet with a pumice stone!"  

And seriously, who reaches into their toilet and scrubs it with a pumice stone?  EWWW!  But a pumice stone would totally get the crud off the cat fountain, right?

BING! 

Why yes, toilet bowl cleaner cleans it right up, in seconds, no scrubbing! 

1) OF COURSE, by all means, wash again with detergent, get any toilet bowl cleaner off of it before you give it back to your pets. Better safe than sorry.  And duh, of course, only use this on the porcelain parts, not the pump and filter. 

2) This is acid, wear gloves or don't touch until it's rinsed.  

3) Don't get toilet bowl cleaner on metal-like a metal sink.  It etches.  If you've got a big metal sink, clean the pet fountain in the bathtub, like I do.

And there ya go, cleans a cat water fountain just like new!

8 Weeks Old and Done

So, here are their, "graduation photos."

 

They get fixed this week and then off for adoption.

Yesterday the org called with an emergency!  Newborn kittens and a momma needed a home quickly! 6 hours after we said we'd take them, they got back to us and said it'll probably be a couple of days.

Sigh.

And will I get attitude when I tell them to capstar the lot of them before I take them into my home?  Yep.  

 

Got Kittens!

Yeah, the org hates us because we insist that the animals are treated for fleas before they are allowed in our home (with out pets).  We're high maintenance, apparently. And then with our outlandish demands that the kittens are all fixed while they're still kittens and not at 3 or 4 months old, yeah, we're terrible.

So kitten season and we got a batch anyway.  And they have ear mites so hopefully I can get SOMEONE to do SOMETHING about that.  Poor things.

Working on getting more pics, I'm posting movies over on Twitter, it's so tedious to do that here so...yeah, you lose, LOL



So, my deadlifts are up.  125.  Not the first time I've lifted this but I'm going back up the ol ladder.  Overhead press is up to 20lb dumbbells so not great but I'm pushing thru this plateau.  Still force feeding myself.  Got sick twice, lifted anyway.  Both of us got sick, I blame him for bringing something from work then immediately after, got sick again.  Still lifted.  Added cardio.  LIGHT cardio!  Just 20 minutes of HIT!  And sometimes boxing the heavy bag.  It's good!  It's all good!  Getting too hot to do that outside tho, jeeeeeeeeez louise it's going to be a long hot summer! 

Example: I got up at 8 (way too early) and fed my 4 cats, medicated all (everyone is allergic and Ceilidh is neurotic so pills, anti-biotics, and eye drops, a little for everyone) went upstairs and fed the fosters, cleaned litter boxes and sweat was pouring off me, my jam-jams were soaked and had to be tossed in the laundry.  8am.  In March.  Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!

Cat allergies-2 have been on prescription food, it doesn't do anything.  Got 2 that are all red gummed and had dentals and 2 rounds of antibiotics now, I'm going to skip all the months of trying new things like the vet wants, even tho she admits that the other things rarely work, and when we go in in a week for a check up, if it's still bad, I'm opting for pulling the teeth.  It doesn't effect the cat whatsoever and Mei Mei is a snowshoe, she can't lose any weight.  She's down to 7 from her normal 8.5.  Can't have it.  Her teeth hurt?  Get rid of them, let her have a pain-free little life.  Fuzzywinkle doesn't slow down eating for anyone.  If it was just him, I'd say leave it.  It just makes his breath bad and he couldn't care less but if one is going in, let's get it over with. 
Calia has itched her whole life, then last year she got a nose bump that kept growing and then in November her toes swelled up and she got a bump behind her ear.  Vet says it's all allergies.  Steroid shot and she's nearly normal!  Ceilidh, well, she's allergic to...I don't know.  Air?  Liquid squirts, vomiting her whole life.  No food seems to work for long.  She'll be getting another steroid shot in a couple of weeks.  It seemed to help some.  The special food and the cat probiotics sure didn't make any difference once the shot wore off. 

Personally, I think all the commercial cat food is toxic but mine will NOT eat people food and raw food is not acceptable to my divas.  Tried it.  They didn't eat for 3 days.  I gave in. Mei Mei can't lose any weight, remember?  Won't eat chicken, tuna, salmon, steak.  At least the rabbit eats his hay cookies!  Rabbit and the fosters are the healthiest animals I have in the house!  Sheeeeeeeeesh!

Kitten Calendar Now Available!

It's that time of year and you need a calendar.  Makes a great stocking stuffer!  Perfect for all your holiday gifts!  Best Christmas gift on the whole internet!  

Who needs a calendar full of kittens?

click here to purchase

 

10 Amazing Crazy Cat Lady Gifts

I broke Spouse's cup a couple of weeks ago.  It was THIS cup.  I got that for him and a friend of ours last Xmas so guess what he's getting again this Xmas?  I pulled the cutting board out of the drying rack and just watched it in slow motion slide out over the rim and smash on the floor.  And he was devastated because he loved that catffeinated mug!

So that's my first recommendation.  This mug is awesome and according to their site,
"Every Purchase Funds Food and Care for Rescued Animals."

Buy it here

I also noticed they have clothing.  I love these 2 shirts!

Buy it here

Buy it here

Buy one of those, help an animal too!

Buy it here

Buy it here

Buy it here

Then on Amazon, I pointed out some shoes to my other crazy cat lady friends!

 

 

Yeah.  Vans with Cats on them!
"Join Vans in supporting our furry brothers and sisters with this special edition Authentic featuring all-over cat print
Get 'em right meow! Collaboration with the ASPCA."

With Christmas coming, I thought I should share my internet finds with someone maybe looking for the perfect gift for those of us who love cats, or rescue feral cats, or vet techs, veterinarians, crazy cat ladies, pet owners, or maybe you want to get yourself a little something?

Kitten Update

Kittens!  Oy vey!  Where did I leave off? 

You know about Buttons and the 3 tinies, right?  Now we have Button's sister because the foster family was flighty and she wasn't getting socialized or growing like her brother.  Well, the littles are typical tiny kittens taken from their momma too early (she was hit by a car).  We had the diarrhea and the puking so they had fluids and antibiotics and got better.  But wait, Pixel started puking again.  We upped her dosage of antibiotics but now she's limping.  Calici virus.  Sigh.  She's back on Cerenia to stop the puking.  Spouse is learning to give her shots so the vet tech doesn't have to make house calls every day.  His choice, she never complained.  I can't bear to do it.  What if the needle goes right thru the skin and comes out the other side?  What if the needle breaks off inside her flesh? What if all the air comes out of her and she flies around the room deflating!  I can't do it! 

Kukido now has a runny eye and that shit spreads because it's a herpes virus.  So all the kittens are getting lysine in their food because she won't eat the lysine treats.  Plus she's getting eye drops. 

I changed Saffron to Buttercup because she's such a fuzzy princess.  And she's fine!  So far.  Oh kittens and their delicate underdeveloped immune systems!

Oh Buttons

So Buttons almost got adopted today but went nuts, hissing, growling, biting and the family who wanted him took a pass at Mr Feral Pants.

But he's not feral here!  I swear!

 We have people over, our fosters get held by strangers, they are exposed to noises and toys and other cats but every single time they go to the cages to get adopted they flip out!  

Any idea how to fix this because I got no clue.

We have KITTENS!

Long story, but we have a 9 week old fella who was feral (that's why he was separated from his first foster family and feral mom, he wasn't getting socialized) but he's a lap kitten now and while we had him on display for adoption, someone brought in some little 4-weekers who's feral momma got hit by a car and they asked us to take them too.  Sure.  Why not?

So yesterday, geeeeeeeeeze, saw a worm coming out of the older kitten.  Not uncommon.  It happens.  They're all little street urchins, after all.  We worm them but there are so many different worms to treat.  He already had coccidia and we treated for that so tapeworms, big deal, right?  Nope.  Oh man, started with a tissue to wipe it off but it was still inside so it had to be pulled out...and pulled out and jesus jumpin' christ on a pogo stick--it just kept coming and coming!  2 feet came out of a little kitten!  Ok, so that's a tapeworm from eating lizards, not fleas.  He'll get meds tonight.

After the 3 babies come back from the vet. 

Yeah, I noticed yesterday that they were eating but looked wrong.  Weighed them and they had all lost an ounce.  Yeah, diarrhea.  And then vomiting last night and then no eating at all.  I made kitten glop and we force-fed all night until they could get to the vet this morning.  Been down this road before.  Antibiotics, fluids, meds to stop both ends from spewing and they'll most likely get better. 

Kittens are so fragile and go downhill quick.  Unless it's something dire, I'm sure they'll be fine after treatment.

Kittens Are Adopted!

Someone adopted them both together!

Also, someone brought back Catterina (momma cat) and she was adopted in less than an hour! 

Aw...it's good to have peace and quiet plus I'm about to have a houseful of guests going in and out so I can't be watching for goofy kittens to not shoot out the door.  I'll also need all 5 bathrooms clean and kitten-free but I miss them!  They were utterly manic this morning doing back-flip tackles over each other and mad dashes thru the house.

My Calia is sick.  Too much pollen, her whole face was swollen, sore throat, drooling, runny eyes.  She's on antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drops, and benadryl.  Barely barely barely better.  At least she's eating.  I've been putting lysine in her food because there's something with her eye.  Vet said it could also just be herpes and upper respiratory or just herpes or just allergies.  Cats, man. 

The Truth vs. The News

Now, I tell people, "avoid news cameras.  Don't EVER to an interview.  Reporters get paid to twist the truth.  If it bleeds, it leads."

So here's the truth.

Fact 1 when we moved here, there were maaaaaybe 1 or 2 feral cats.  Didn't see them very often.  When we first moved here, we actually spoke to our neighbors.  Yeah, they were more than glad to tell us that when they saw stray cats, they shot them and threw the kittens to their dogs to murder.  Yup, moooooore than happy.  No qualms whatsoever.  No shame.  Not a fuck was given.  Had to go out and bury a feral left dead on our road by the neighbors.  They ran it over, killed it, and just left it there.  Probably so they could run it over a few more times during the week.  Yee haw.

And then, in the fullness of times, we saw the occasional kitten.  But only once or twice and usually never again.  

Neighbors, right?

But over the years, the numbers have been growing.  Not tons of ferals but at least 3 or 4 and seeing them regularly. Every once in a while we'll see a brand new feral but then never see it again.  I think they're just passing thru or not making it far from our yard.  

Neighbors again. 

Fact 2 we've been fostering for over a year now with the same organization.  We're friends with one of the workers.  She comes over for coffee, just to come over.  Kitten needs something?  She comes over and fixes it.  Revolution for street urchins with fleas and ear mites?  She comes right over.  Spouse has gone out with her to trap ferals around town.  She is the TNR goddess and we've talked about trying to trap the local ferals but never really got around to it.  It would be easier if we fed them but no way do I want them thinking humans are safe.  I don't feed them or encourage them in any way.  When I do see them, I stomp the ground and tell them to shoo.  Running from humans is safer for them.

Fact 3 we saw a feral in the front yard limping badly.  Back leg stiff and no weight being put on it.  Yeah, it's time to start TNR our local ferals.

Fact 4 we caught 4 total, 3 girls and 1 boy.  The 2 we kept seeing were actually 4 because there are 2 sets that look exactly alike!  Never caught Gimpy.  Never even saw Gimpy again.  Figured he/she couldn't get away in time and was dead somewhere.  All the cats we caught were young, probably about to start getting pregnant.  They had to have IV fluids during surgery because they were all small, underfed, and dehydrated.  As in, their mommas probably didn't live long enough to teach them anything and no one feeds them or looks after them whatsoever.

 "I fell for the old gushy food trick!"

"Oh put an arm in here.  Try to pet me.  I dare you!"

Fact 5 teenage girl and her friend came to my door.  Wanting to borrow the cage.  Hey, it's not my cage.  You can rent one from the local rescue group or you can go to Petsmart and buy yourself one.  She wanted to catch the, "cat with the broken leg."  Ah!  Gimpy was still alive!  I asked if they were back there by their house and they said no, up in the front end of the street.  Ok, I'll try to catch them again but no guarantees.  Ol' Gimpy must be pretty smart to not get caught all this time by me or anyone else.  Good for Gimpy!  I went out at dusk, best cat time according to my local expert, and set up the trap.  Same time, they drove by and said they caught Gimpy and another one and did I know of a no-kill shelter.  I told them to call Spay-n-Save in Longwood.  I thanked them.  Checked the cage later that night.  Didn't even catch Alcatraz, the little girl we've already caught and spayed and released.  She just keeps getting caught.  Either she's really dumb (falls for it every single time) or really smart (free gushy food!).   

Fact 6 Friend at SnS texted me a few days later (Yay!  They took the cats in to be fixed!).  They weigh less than 3 pounds and they're full of BBs.  Yup, someone's been shooting at them.  And friend wants to know how do you shoot a kitten multiple times?  Were they holding it down so it couldn't get away?  Were they cornered somewhere?  Was it a bunch of kids shooting the poor kittens?
Well, I can tell you how many teenage boys live at the end of my street who have fathers who like to toss live kittens to their dawgs to tear apart.

Those are the facts.  Now here's the news.

"neighborhood icon?"
"part of the community?"
 "helps trap the many neighborhood cats to spay or neuter them and releases them?"   

LOL, what?  You want to know how many cats are walking around with a clipped ear?  The 4 that we TNRed and that's it.  These guys don't live in MY neighborhood, that's a fact and wherever they are, I hope they really are TNRing, but it's sure not here.  And I didn't notice anyone jumping up to help pay for the 4 cats to be fixed either.  We paid for those ourselves.  Honestly, that was another reason we weren't out there catching feral cats around here.  Every one we catch will cost us money. SnS will do it for cheap but they don't do it for free.  Yes, I AM pissed that I have to pay the consequences of some asshole who dumped their unaltered cat once upon a time that had kittens who had kittens who had kittens and now we have too many feral cats running around.  I don't think I SHOULD have to pay for their mess but in real life, this is what has to be done.  Just one more reason to hate assholes. 

Kudos to the news for the publicity for SnS, that was decent of them.  Too bad they didn't come during business hours and show the kittens, maybe it would get them adopted.  I hear that the 2 little kitten girls are a little hissy but could be tamed pretty easily.  It would also have been nice if the reporter didn't take it into his head to change Phyllis's words.  She didn't ask for, "prayers," for the kittens, you dork, she asked for DONATIONS!  What the hell good are praaaaayers going to do?  Can you feed ferals with prayers?  Keep the lights on with prayers?  Pay the doc who does 100 surgeries a day, every day, with prayers?  Hell, people and businesses are constantly begging the the vet techs and volunteers to come catch ferals.  They are using their personal time, they aren't getting paid.  And who pays for these feral surgeries?  SnS will do it on donations.  On top of that, our friend collects bags of cans.  Soda cans, beer cans, cat food cans.  Any metal you can give her, she'll take.  Once she fills up her jeep, she drives across town to the recycling plant and sells it all for cash that pays for feral surgeries.  She's not on her knees praying someone else helps the kitties, I guarantee it. 

Pick of the Litter

This is the part I dread, when my foster kittens get adopted by people who shouldn't have them.  But I have no say.
Which is one of the reasons why I don't stick around for adoption day.  I mean, I've seen some kittens get adopted and when the kitten and human find each other and pick each other, it's really beautiful.  YOUR kitten, that you fostered and thought loved you, the one who hides in the back of the cage and hisses and growls at everyone who passes by, suddenly runs to the front, reaches out a paw and touches someone, purring, meowing, it's beautiful.  What would happen if this person wasn't in the market for a pet?  What if this person didn't come today?  But here they are, together at last.

Then there's last Saturday.  Churchill gets adopted within seconds, he's scooped up and gone.  Magellan, the sweetest boy, the pick of the litter, the one that runs out of the bathroom in the morning (if you want to sleep, you lock kittens in a room overnight.  Trust me on this), sees that it's you, runs back to YOU instead of freedom, and lifts his paw for you to pick him up.  I mean, seriously, how precious is THAT?
We noticed that his works were a little swollen since the surgery.  They called the vet, with a photo (kitten porn!!) and the vet said the incision looks fine, he's just playing too hard with his brother.  Try warm compresses and keep him calm.  Ok, problem solved, his brother is adopted.

So some dingleberry adopts Magellan.  But wait.  She demands that he go to the vet.  Good.  Every new pet owner should take their newly adopted pet to their vet.  I'm not sure I got them entirely dewormed, we didn't have them long enough for the 3rd treatment.

Oh no, she doesn't want to take him to HER vet, she wants the rescue group to look at him.  Ok, whatever, it's free and included.  I guess it's better than nothing.

Oh no, she doesn't want to take him.  She wants US to take him back for the week and WE take him to the vet.

The volunteers called me to come get him and I laughed and laughed.  Did she pay?  Oh, well you have 2 choices.  You tear up the adoption form and give her her money back and let that kitten get adopted by a sane person (which is what I would have done) or you tell her that he's HER kitten and if she wants me to take him for a week, she can pay my normal boarding and transport fee.

Right.  I have no idea how that shook out.  I just have this feeling that Magellan will come back bigger and older and less adoptable for rehoming.  She's not a good choice, she should have never been allowed to adopt a kitten!  If we didn't already have 4 of our own, I would have said, "nevermind, I'll keep him."


New kittens to arrive tonight.  Tabbys, I hear.  Professor Fuzzywinkle will be glad to see them.  He ADORES playing with kittens (he was raised with kittens of all sizes and played with so many kits when he was just a kit) and since the 2 left, he's been chasing his spinster older sisters.  And they don't appreciate his shenanigans.  Ok, Mei Mei does, but she likes to pretend that she hates it, while goading him into chasing her around the house.  Calia and Ceilidh threaten to cut him if he comes near them again and have been muttering about a future black and white rug if he doesn't stop. 

Resolve Changed its Formula

So now I've got white spots on my carpet where I used a new bottle of Resolve to clean cat yak.

And on the couch from the rabbit jumping up with dirty feet (too much watermelon soaked his pine shavings in bunny pee).

I dumped it out and made my own, I swear, ammonia is a the greatest cleaner EVAR!  Been mopping with it for months, it does not make anyone mark territory.  Cleans oils and smells--like cat pee (foster cats create litter box issues and I end up with pee NEXT to the litter box sometimes) like a BOSS!
So here's the formula I use now and it also works in the machines.
1 cup ammonia
1/2 cup liquid laundry detergent
1/2 cup Downy (I use Suavitel, it smells better)
1 gallon of water

 Punkin'!

 OJ!

Fluffernutter!

I know, but he IS such a Fluffernutter!  Can you think of a better name because I got nuthin'.

Kittens at 7 Weeks

Here's Punkin', getting all big at 7 weeks

This one goes from Fluffernutter to Bubbles.  Just can't figure out a suitable name

OJ elected to sleep in so no pics today

Little Eyes Opening

We are at 3 weeks old now and momma kitty LOVES her babies

 

and here are a couple of babies

one day, these little fluffernutters will be CATS!  Can you believe it?

 Momma suddenly has the runs pretty badly.  We gave her a second dose of worming meds.  Pyrantol?  Is that it?  It's on the bottle.  Anyway...yeah, if it doesn't get better, will  need to get a sample to see what other worms she might have going on, poor street urchins.  They usually have everything.

 

Momma! Momma!

can't sleep without a pacifier and sister won't let her suck on her ears so here we are after breakfast

It's Kitten Season!

We have kittens!
So we go to Petsmart to buy cat food and bunny treats (he loves him some frosted donuts!) and we stop by the cat adoption to say hi and pet our fosters when...

apparently some irresponsible pet owner brought 6 kittens in a box and set it down by the trashcan and left.
Nice.
I guess in a couple of months she'll be back with more, right?

They're 3 weeks old, don't even have all their teeth, eyes are so very very kitten blue.  I said to spouse, "are you sure you want bottle babies?"
I tried to warn him, but he's a crazy cat lady, you know.

Ok, so we have bottle babies.  We took 3 and another foster took the other 3 (because feeding and pooping 6 kittens every 3 hours is kinda A LOT, especially at 3am and this is our first set of bottle babies).  Now poor Bob is up to 32 cats and kits at his house.  He has 6 of his own.  Yeah.  We need more fosters, huh?

Hi!  We're totally filthy and are covered in fleas!  Love us!

Ah ha ha ha--BATH!

 

 after a little Dawn and a flea comb

 

thrashing to Danzig?

So this is Ninja Sprinkles.  She has just a sprinkling of white on her legs.

This little calico is a talker!  Working on a name still. 

And here's Butterscotch Bill.

Butterscotch Bill is such a lap cat! 

we are working on solid food

but we is little and stupid

Knitting Cat Beds from Yarn Stash

If you've knitted a few projects, you've probably created a yarn stash.  Perfectly good yarn, pretty colors, just not enough to DO anything serious with it.

But hey, if you have a cat or know someone with a cat, you should knit that yarn into a cat bed.

This is an easy knitting project that you can do while sitting on the couch, watching tv.

And don't worry about knitting too many little cat beds.  You can give these away as charity to your local pet rescue centers or your local no-kill shelters.

Can't Hug Every Cat

A quick Pattern for Basic Cat Blankets

Find out what's near you and just drop by with a plastic bag of knitted blankets.

Patterns for knitting blankets for cats

easy pattern for cat sized blankets

2 felted cat beds

2 more round cat beds

knit a decorative cat bowl

fancy felted cat pottery

Knitting Kitty Pies 

I don't knit rectangles. You can, knit any charity cat blankets any way you want, but I knit circles. It's easier and faster to knit up so here's my pattern:

Pick circular needles of your choice. Pick a size that won't bog you down knitting teeny little stitches for weeks but not so big that little kitten feet will fall through the stitches when it's laid out flat. You can either get these started on the circular needles, going back and forth (knit one side, flip it and purl the back) until you can start knitting in rounds or you can get it started on dpns. If starting on circular needles, leave a long tail to knit up the middle into one piece after you start the rounds.

 starting on DPNs

continuing on circular needles once it's big enough.  Already sewed up the center.

cast on 9 stitches

Row 1: knit around

Row 2: knit 1, make 1

Row 3: knit around

Row 4: knit 2, make 1

Row 5: knit around

at this point, it's easier to place a stitch marker at the end of each new stitch. So you'd knit 3, make one, place the stitch marker, all around. From this point, no more counting needs to be done. Look at the stitch before the counter. Does it look like a purl? Then you knit this round. Does it look like a knit? Then you add one. Very simple.

When the diameter is the size you want, finish it now or just knit a few rows so it pops up around the edge and then knit with a fluffy festive yarn. Or not. It's your choice.

I have made them with one skein of yarn at a time, 2 skeins at the same time for a flatter cat bed, and with felted wool.

I've got a felted one upstairs that Mei Mei loves. She likes to get underneath it and pretend she's The Horta. A regular one downstairs under the mirror that's a big hit with everyone at one time or another because it's under furniture.

If you have wool yarn, try a felting project!  You just knit it big on big knitting needles, then wash in the washing machine in hot water.  The hot water makes it shrink and the agitation felts the wool!

This is a wool cat bed BEFORE I washed it.  Notice that it's so big that the side are all rolled up and over.  Wool yarn will shrink 15-20% during the felting process. Maybe even more, depends on your yarn.

Here's the finished project.

The colors DID fade but, I dyed this with Kool-Aid and Easter Egg dyes so it's not as color fast as store bought yarn.

Start with plain wool yarn.

While watching Star Trek:TNG in my pajamas, I unraveled the skein and tied it into sections

Kool-Aid, cake icing dye, and Easter Egg dye!

 

 in the sink, I pour hot dye all over it and let it sit for a while

 

After it's rinsed and dried

roll it into a ball.  A festive festive ball of yarn.  In front of a kitten.

About Dye Colors

Easter Egg Dye

Hints and Tips

Kool-Aid Dye

Hints and Tips

Wilton Cake Decorating Colors

Hints and Tips

 

 

But you don't HAVE to use wool!

 Spreading the project out on DPNs and circular needles to check for size

 Yarn is approved