I'm so sorry to hear this. I know how you feel..a raccoon just got my fav fancytail goldie about 2 weeks ago. 3 koi before that. Lola was the only one I named, she was so pretty. I knew I jinxed myself as soon as I named her. This reminded me to get out there and set that trap again for tonight! He's smart..he reaches over the thing that trips the trap to get the bait..always takes the bait and trap doesn't shut. lil u-know-what. I'm so sorry that this happened to you. ((hugs)) gotta st that trap now b4 it gets too dark! Daniella

Didn't really wont to bring this post back up to the top but i thought I would pass along how things have been going and since the pictures of my pond where already here I brought it back to the top . Well one word would explain a lot, that word would be COLD here in middle TN, at least colder then what we are costume to, but nothing to whatsome of you have been having to deal with. My pond being mostly above ground and in the middle of my yard has faired rather well considing everything eles frozen solid around here. I had no choice but to pertect the pond from the cold in what ever way I could find. See pictures above of my above ground pond. The coldest day was during the night this past Saturday with a morning temp Sunday morning of 4 degress, with windchill of -10 Burrrrrrrrrr.. The cold weather moved in the first of last week, snowed some, but the temps and the windchill was what had me veryyyyyyy worried. I purchased a duct brown canvus type tarp that would fit over the entire pond all the way down to the ground and used stretch cords to secure the tarp down around the rail road ties and had the pond pump about a foot below the water surface for water movement. I had already taken down the stock tank bio filter due to the fish death's I had early in December. Well when Saturday came and the weather forcast was giving out near 0, I went out and put another heavy duty tarp over the pond and stretch cords around it again. I tested the water before I put on the first tarp and everything looked good, but I was worried since the pond has been covered now for about 6 days yesterday, I could here the water moving due to the pump so I knew it wasn't frozen. I went out and undone one corner and tested the water and all the readings looked purfect and I turned off the pump for a few minutes and had to use a flashlight to see if the fishies where alive and doing ok..They where just fine and seem to have survived this cold spell without any problems. The tarps saved my little pond form a total disaster I sure. To my surprise there wasn't any ice that had formed in the pond during the last 6 days. I had night mares dreaming of my pond freezing solid and expanding and busting at the seems pushing out the rail road ties and being nothing but a big block of ice. I counted 13 kio, and goldfish and no one was floating. So maybe I can relax at least until the next round of old winter blowes in. Sandy

I am so sad to hear of your woes, my goodness I would have cried like a baby if I lost my koi. I hope there are no more that take a bad turn, I keep throwing cold water bacteria in mine hoping that the water doesn`t go foul on me. I hope you can get through the rest of the winter, Good luck. Deanna

I too have a Manx who I noticed starting 'missing' the box a few years ago, and kind of leaving a little trail :( . And like you I thought at first that she was not making it to the box so I considered putting even more boxes around so she wouldn't have to go very far to find one. Until I noticed her racing away from the box, and you guessed it... leaving a trail. Turns out, she was constipated and it hurt her to poo. She ran from the pain. Which of course meant she deposited her poo wherever she happened to be running. So I had to find ways to get more water into her. I gave in and allowed her to drink from a constantly dripping bathtub faucet, her favorite way to drink. And I have to feed her wet food mostly. It worked. Unfortunately she developed an aversion to the box to poo that she hasn't overcome yet. She uses it fine for #1, but I have to keep an eye on her and actually take her to the box and keep her there until she goes #2, which doesn't take long. And then when she is done she races from the room as though the box is going to swallow her. It's weird, but it works. So, as odd as this question sounds, can you tell which direction the poo is facing? LOL, without getting into the gory details, sometimes if you look you can tell. Maybe your kitty needs even more liquids than he is getting now.