I've had three betula papyriferas. I've never found lunas on them but I have found polyphemus a couple times. Paper birches are excellent food sources for insects, and that is where their problem lies. My second house had two paper birches. I never got to use them for cats. This was because they were infested with birch leaf miners. The first two years, I did nothing and watched all the leaves get eaten from the inside out and then fall to the ground. My trees would have no leaves in July. New leaves would sprout but I wasn't raising 2nd brood moths those years. The third year, I sprayed when I saw the adults show up. This helped some but I still lost most of the leaves. The fourth year, I sprayed the grass under the trees when the adults were due and the trees when the adults showed. This worked even better but not well enough that I had enough leaves to use. I ended up biting the bullet and using the Bayer systemic stuff which effectively meant I couldn't use the leaves for my cats. Plus, my pockets were a lot lighter because that stuff is expensive. Moved to the current house where I have one paper birch (and planted another in 2007). This paper birch was my $ tree. No miners around here so I was able to feed lots of cats. Life was good. Then, in 2007, the Japanese beetles decided they liked my $ tree. They covered it. I was on a ladder everyday picking them off. I eventually got the cats I had eating birch to pupal stage or switched to something else. Then I was able to spray the tree but the damage had already been done. Most of the lower branches did not come back in 2008. I didn't use the tree at all last year since I didn't think, even with a ladder, I could reach enough branches to get the amount of leaves I would need. This is also a lesson on why it is a good idea to have multiple food sources. At my first house, I had only lilac for my cecropias and it was my neighbor's lilac so I was always worried. At my second house, I had some mystery maple they loved plus apple trees. This house, I have crab apples, box elder maples, mystery birch and (had) paper birch. I raise some on each food source just in case disaster strikes. Don't keep all your caterpillars on the same leaves, if you can help it. Back to lunas: In Ohio, in my circles, sweetgum is considered the food of choice. That said, I've yet to find a luna cat on a sweetgum but I did find a regal so that is a big plus for sweetgums in my book. :) Well, I've rambled on for long enough. Bottom line is paper birches are great but don't be surprised if you don't get to use them for caterpillar food. KC

I'm not a kitty person either but I'm wondering could she have had a small stroke? I'd ask the vet if that's a possible explanation. I have a friend whose dog had a stroke. The dog was paralyzed on his left side. Not all strokes paralyze, of course, but this one did. The vet wanted to put the dog down and my friend, who took his dog to work with him every day wouldn't hear of it. He took him home and fed him bee pollen and put aloe vera juice in his water (both have to be started out with very small doses gradually built up) and the dog completely healed. That amazed the vet. Maybe not pertinent, but I thought I'd throw this in.

Five was way way too many. This was because two cats were dumped off at me when I already had three. The owners were friends who couldn't move into their new housing with their cats (they were foreclosed out of their house and had to move to an apartment that would work for their autistic daughter - but alas allowed no pets). I wanted to move the cats to a no-kill shelter, but there was a three plus month waiting list. So, I kept them. It was way too many because the first three and the second two did not REMOTELY get along. Ever. I tried everything. Okay, Serenity (my oldest cat at nearly 17.5 years) would, and still does, get along with everyone -- but the other four??? Naw. I had to keep some in the basement, some upstairs. We all hated this. At the moment, I have two cats. Three would be fine at a maximum, but they all have to at least tolerate each other!!!!

Hey all, just a brief friendly reminder for people trapping cats - unless these are obviously on their own and in rough shape.... be sure to check around neighborhood, post highly visible "found" signs... in case these are just free-range resident neighbor cats. This is one aspect of my cat search I found very frustrating... all the cats that turned out to be owned local cats with homes. People mostly cant be bothered to put collars/tags on their cats, which is annoying but still I would hate to put them thru the heartbreak of a lost cat of their own. I would not wish that on my worst enemies! Oh btw mdln - the litter thing is science-based! Cats are far, far, far more scent oriented than are people. Their lives are all about scent marking- rubbing against things, spraying, etc. - and reading scents from other animals off of plants and other things in their environment. I was told that smelly food like mackerel can carry a mile or more - which means its good for setting up feeding station if you're not sure where your cat is. Thats all - carry on! PS - editted to add - why not also try to find the owner even if the cat is in rough shape - a lot of times people give up looking before the cat is found or turned into the shelter - its very sad.