Not meaning to lecture (& probably failing miserably) but you really should keep your cats indoors. They will live longer, healthier & happier-in-the-long-run lives. They are not wild creatures anymore (even with their killer tendencies) & cannot take care of themselves. If you NEVER let them out (& for heaven's sake, don't take them out to enjoy the outdoors), they will never know what they are missing. I know you mean well & think you are giving them a treat, but it could mean possible death if they run out at a bad time (they can be very sneaky) & can't be caught. If they get out & then change their mind, a scared cat will hide & you might walk right past searching & calling & not find him. They can also get beat up by other cats or dogs (your cat is in their territory now & they want him gone), get fleas, worms or diseases from where other cats have toileted, hit by cars (a sport for some sickos), shot by guns or arrows, poisoned, stolen to be sold to a lab (yes, they still do this) or to train fighting dogs (!). And your nice, sweet, friendly pet is easy for someone to catch & torture. I've seen way too much of it. Even if you just mean to take them out for a few minutes, sh*t happens. Please just give them a nice, long life indoors, they will be much better off & you will know where they are. Linda

Can you just peek into the little opening in the folded over leaf, Jeff? I don't like to open up leaf folds unless it's a big one, but if you're real careful, you can do it safely. Yes, you can definitely feed your cat sassafras. Last year or year before, can't remember which, I found some young spicebush cats on my one and only spicebush, and I fed them sassafras to finish out their caterpillar life - they didn't seem to know the difference. Sherry

I have nurtured many weeds over the years. I almost never pull seedlings unless I know for sure they are weeds. Over the last few years, I have ultimately nutured a few strange things, one real surprise one year was about 6 weeks after a particular seedling sprouted, I finally identified it as pumpkin! It was a volunteer from a pumpkin that was placed in the garden at Halloween! I probably could have identified it earlier then 6 weeks, but never in a million years did it cross my mind that is what it could be, as we never "grew" pumpkins in our front garden before! The first year I grew poppies from seed I was glad I did not pull out my weeds too early! They where my Poppies! lol... I wonder how many people that direct sow seeds are disapointed when they don't see the fruits of their efforts, only because they weeded them out at some point! I think you should let these grow a bit more. Keep an eye on them, it is too early to tell yet!

Bed bugs make really large bloody spots and you would know that you have a problem. I don't think you have those. They are not like fleas they are much worse!!! Fleas can bite humans but they prefer not too. I am not sure if they die or not when they do. Regardless, they can live in rugs and fabric items for a very long time without a feeding therefore you could have brought them in a while ago and you never noticed them maybe. My sister had this same problem and by the time she noticed her neighbors cat had fleas and decided that she wouldn't allow it inside anymore her apartment was so infested that it took her a very, very long time to get rid of the fleas. Now she will never allow a stray or someone else's cat into her house. I think that if your cat is being treated and you do not see the fleas on the cat then vacuuming and cleaning really well very often should help reduce the population and then hopefully they will all go away in time. They don't like humans and if they can't feed and multiply on your cat then they will diminish in number. -renee