I went to a local nursery today and spoke with the manager, who was very helpful, they had a variety of citrus trees there which he told me had been there for quite some time, and should be safe for my gst cats to eat. So i purchased an Improved Meyer Lemon tree, it has lots of new growth on it, and I remember reading that GSTs like the leaves of this tree, i think. Anyway, the manager at the nursery told me that the only required insecticide or pesticide by the state of louisiana for citrus trees, is sprayed onto the leaves, and that it is not a systemic type, so that was good to know, Missherry had mentioned that was probably the case seeing as how a systemic could contaminate fruit of citrus. I have already ran out of new growth on my second navel tree, I thought it would last me until these cats pupate, but did not happen, so now I have some more host leaves for the remaining cats, I am just going to make sure I rinse the leaves thoroughly before I give to the cats, to make sure there is nothing left on them that could harm them. THe cat with the damaged mouthparts was able to eat a little today, he seems to be able to eat the stems better than the leaves, I cut little slits along the tender stems, and pinch them to where pieces are still attached but easier for him to pull off, I am hoping this will get him through, he has not given up, and seems to be fine, just hungry, poor guy. There are only two left from his group that have not purged and started hung sling, so I am hoping that he is getting enough nourishment in order to pupate, he doesn't pass hardly any frass, maybe once per day, but he hasn't lost as much weight as I would have figured since he is eating so little, so maybe his body is hanging on to all it can and that is why he isn't passing much frass or waste. He also doesn't move much at all unless he is trying to eat, so he isn't wasting his energy, I am hoping that he will make it, surely he cannot starve to death if he is getting some nourishment everyday. And maybe he will adjust better in order to eat more with each day. I have driven myself crazy trying to figure out what happened to him, because I cannot think of how in the world he ended up with part of his face missing. Unless maybe it was deformed to begin with and I did not notice, and just deteriorated with time, because up until a few days age, he was able to eat just like the rest, so it doesn't make sense. His cage is not real deep and I have papertowels at the bottom, so he could not have fallen and injured himself, there are no other cats in there with him, and he isn't one of my free spirit cats that try to escape frequently, I don't think I have ever found him on the tulle that encloses his little habitat, and had to move him back inside, he has been one of the easy ones that stay put, so I just don't know what in the world could have happened to him, and i wonder if he is in pain, because it looks like he is missing part of his face or mouth, could he have injured himself while eating?? and if so, how? I wish I could find info about this, but haven't been able to, just wondering if it could be a disease, or even a parasite that would cause this type of deformity. SInce i do not know what is wrong with him, I am keeping him a good distance from the others, just in case. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to make it easier for this guy to eat, please let me know, I will try anything. cutting slits into the sides of the stem seemed to help him out a bit. I watched him trying to eat the middle stem of the leaf earlier, and noticed he had eaten about an inch of it, but then he moved his had back and all of it came out of his mouth, so apparently he was able to get it into his mouth but was unable to sever it and could not swallow it. I have tried cutting slits into the sides of his leaves, not sure if that has helped out though, and i also tried cutting a leaf up into tiny pieces like the size they sever off when they eat, but apparently, he only knows to "tear" pieces off and either physically cannot, or hasn't figured out how to eat little pieces that are already torn off. Like I said, if anyone can think of something that might help, I will try it, so let me know!! And thanks

The ones that are hanging limply I'd euthanize immediately, remove any other larvae from their presence, and sterilize the container. The scree (liquid droppings) contain crystals that, if eaten, can contaminate any other larvae you have. Chances are these larvae have some sort of bacterial or viral infection. Sorry. Have you checked my blog? I have some info on some of this there. Here is a link that might be useful: tdogmom's Monarch blog

If you think a cat is going to help her and not make things worse then go ahead and get a cat. As far as male vs. female I would have to say its all up to you. You can look at it several different ways. Lets say you get a male cat I am not sure about your area but here you can't fix them until they are 6 months old. I myself just got a male cat him and the dog get along great it took a while but now you find them sleeping together on the dogs bed. But before he was 6 months old he was spraying in the house and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't want to let him outside for fear he would be out tomin and never be back or be back in need of a trip to the vet. So I had to get more bleach and that get the cat smell out stuff. Female cats I guess are cleaner but if they come into heat early or you can't get them right to vet you have to deal with the loud near non stop meow they have. Then if she does get out she might come home and you will have deal with kittens in about 60 days. So its really all up to you. I wouldn;t go and see if you can find a adult cat. Don't get me wrong I think getting them from the pound is great but with a cat I always think what is wrong with the cat. Are they dirty, loud, rip the house up. Or it could just be the owners where moving and couldn't take the cat and they are the best cat ever. Its really like rolling dice you never know what you are going to get. I know you can find free kittens, just by driving around this time of year. Between my house and the center of town I think there are two or three signs.(apox 5 miles) Barn cats have a better knowledge of outside life but may come with alot of medical problems and are not litter trained. House rasied cats should be litter trained and may come with less health problems. So if you are looking for price vs. sex of the animal females cost more to fix then the males. But if I had to do it all over again. I think I would go with a female cat. But I have never been much of a cat person, I was a sucker and co workers had them and the condition they where in I could just leave him here. I am a sucker for a lost cause! Just my two cents.

Miss Elly.The time for signs to show would depend on the dose ingested as well as the size of the patient. Usually things start to happen within hours like vomiting and lethargy. By the time you have symptoms it may be too late because of the severity of the kidney damage. You can run tests for the ethylene glycol blood levels as well as the BUN and Creat. If there's increases in those the chances to start reversing with treatment may not be successful and the patient dies of renal failure. The metabolism of birds is very fast so they would process the toxin faster and result in a negative blood level but severe kidney damage. Lead, like other heavy metals, will be in the blood and deposits can be found in bone, hair / feathers. The heavy metals toxicities usually more of a chronic toxicity rather than an acute ingestion allowing for the chronic deposition in the tissues. There may be a subtle dark depigmentation on the wing primary feathers and other areas as well as blood changes and other schtuff that you probably already know. Sorry ... that was kinda rambling but hope it made sense.