Amy, have you ruled out a flea allergy or a reaction to some sort of vegetation? Both of these can cause itchy, scratchy hair loss.

Is the stump seeping or inflamed? If it's not infected, then there really isn't much that can be done except to keep it clean and let it heal. Bandaging seldom ever works on the tail.

You have probably already thought of this, but local shelters usually contract with vets who are willing to offer services at a low rate for rescued animals.

Thanks, bonny. Most of the shelters around here are in Syracuse, but I'm going to look.

The stump ... was seeping for a while. After a while it looked sort of ... freeze-dried. It's just ... fugly as hell.

Eee. Freeze dried is not good. Does that mean it just got scabbed over...because that isn't bad. Just part of the healing process.

If it seeps again, try draping a warm, moist (not wet) washcloth on your palm and then closing your hand around the tail for as long as kitty will tolerate it, or it cools down.

Then, observe the cloth for different colored seepage. Yellow is okay. Pink is okay. Red is not good. Green is very bad .

If there is exposed bone , I would really ask someone to help with the fees and or, turn her over to a shelter where she can get care, because that will end badly.

Oh no, no exposed bone at all. And yeah, mostly it just looks scabbed.

I just got a call back from a woman I called on Tuesday about seeing an apartment. On Tuesday she said she would find out when we could see the place and call me back. Just, now she wanted to know just now if we were going to be at our appointment at 6. Um, no because this is the first I am hearing of it.

SJ, I hate that kind of crazy.

I like some of those chucks.

Yay Kristin getting the loan!

And OMG, ChiKat! Glad to hear you and kitty and stuff are ok!! And makes me want to remind Jesse how important renter's insurance is!

Amy, I just stepped away to do a little wound care research and discovered that none of my books cover scabs. How weird is that.

I think the basic advice is to watch out for some bad things, but to let nature do the work for the most part.

Things to look out for, all of which I'm sure you know:

• The aforementioned seepage
• Itching that causes the wound to get reopened (if this happens, you can apply some antibiotic cream to make the area less dry)
• Inflammation, redness or swelling
• Keeping the area clean...which might include gently clipping away hair around the edges of the wound to keep it from getting caught in the scab or transferring dirt to the healing tissue

I am so glad you (and your cat and your stuff) are okay Chikat.

I've run out of internet, help!

I hope the lack of emails from Mom today indicates that she is sleeping off her ick.

I, too, have run out of internet. Angry flower cat has fallen asleep in his kitty bed, and the other two felines are slounging. Everyone is making me sleepy!

Also, ND got his hair done today, and he looks sex-ay. Of course, my basis of comparison is what he looked like after a month at sea, so my judgment may be questionable.