I did the hairdryer thing several years ago with an unexplained case of hives. I only burned myself a little.

If you don't want to do the hairdryer thing, or have a large area of itch, a SCALDING hot shower or bath works similarly.

The hummingbird and woodpecker news reminds me - my stepfather has decided to put up a birdhouse that is specially crafted to appeal to screech owls. He looked up everything about proper height to hang it, what direction to face it, etc. in hope of luring some of the local owls to their property.

When I told him I once spotted a Great Horned Owl in their back yard, he looked like he'd woken up to find out that he'd slept through Christmas.

Ginger, itching is awful. I'm sorry you have one more thing to deal with.;

I finally heard back from the nurse at 3:00 PM. My thyroid function is fine, and there is no need to change my current meds. I get to call again tomorrow to try to find out if my uti is cleared up or not. I had a small meltdown this evening for no good reason, so I'm going to blame pregnancy hormones.

My son just told me a great story about how pregnancy hormones are making his girlfriend cry about everything she watches on TV and, since he cries when she cries, they have limited themselves to Disney movies - and even then there is no guarantee.

You have good reason to melt down, sj, they really shouldn't have left you hanging that long.

Oh, god, Hallmark commercials were the worst. I think the pregnancy hormones damaged me permanently when it comes to those.

I honestly don't recall pregnancy hormones making me any less stable than ordinary, and H concurs. Of course one has to factor in my base level of "stable". That said, Budweiser commercials make me tear up.

Zenkitty, looking at the ingredients lists on Sheba, I can say I'm not crazy about "by-products" but that brand is definitely a cut above most of the stuff you can find in a grocery store. It is certainly better quality food than Hill's Science Diet (ok I didn't read the ingredients on all of their varieties, just the first one I found).That is good information to have.

I can say I'm not crazy about "by-products"

Yeah, true. As far as I know, that's everything but the muscle meat, like offal and cartilage, and I figure, cats would eat that in the wild. They eat the whole animal. So, while I don't know exactly what constitutes by-products*, I still think stuff that came from an animal is better for them than corn, gluten, or soy. And, man, my cats are eating it like they haven't seen food before.

*I suspect it means, "We can't sell this, so we're putting it in pet food."

This page (click on the link that says "by-products" to scroll to that section) explains why I don't love them but why I also don't preach too hard against them. I have no problem with feeding my cats ground up noses and toes, but at least pluck the feathers off and make sure collars and tags are taken off first. And, well, sometimes "unfit for human consumption" equals "ick, no modern human will eat that" but sometimes it means "diseased, euthanized, and how sure are we that the chemicals from the euthanasia drugs burn off in the cooking process?" Spoiler font because of unnecessary grossness.

I honestly don't recall pregnancy hormones making me any less stable than ordinary, and H concurs. Of course one has to factor in my base level of "stable". That said, Budweiser commercials make me tear up.

I don't actually think I am either, Beverly, but it is a convenient excuse at the moment for when I have a very bad day for no good reason. I think I am actually far better than when I was on the fertility drugs.