Ishkur in her cart!

Neurological Disorders Resources. Treatment and care for pets having pain or trouble walking or standing due to spinal injuries or neurological disorders like IVDD, FCE and DM.
Post Reply
User avatar
BendyMom
mutant kitty expert
Posts: 3197
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2001 7:00 pm

Ishkur in her cart!

Post by BendyMom »

Ishkur's cart arrived today!
thank you so much Carol!!!!

she gets excited and starts bouncing too much, I fashioned a little strap out of a sock to help keep her in.

link to video
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ns9DijYax5g3BjLs5

link to photo album
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wRGrTqsT8N8eAopi6


She played for about 40 minutes in the cart, then I needed to get other things done. This is definitely going to change her world!
http://www.alittletlc.com

Image

Bendy Kitty
forever in my heart
always missed
i am not the same without you.
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

She has a beau-ti-ful voice, so precious! :wub:

She needs the front leg holes adjusted and some way that she can see out, maybe some nylon mesh can be worked in.

Based on the height you have, it doesn't appear to need all the extra velcro, do you think it will stay fastened with just one row? Because now I can see where to put it. The side flaps can be shorter. It helps a lot seeing her in it.

I have enough fabric for another saddle, and it's washed.

How is the measure between the leg holes?

40 minutes. Wow!!!! :D :D :D :D :D
User avatar
critters
Founding Member
Posts: 14360
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by critters »

She looks so tiny!! Cute little tortie, though!
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

Isn't she sweet? :wub:

Went to Joann today and got 1/2 yard of double-faced quilted cotton fabric with polyester batt. They had soft pink, teal, royal blue, midnight blue (dark navy), red, white, black, and oatmeal. Decided on royal blue for today, but if you like any of the other colors, I could go back later and get that for the other saddle, you can think about it. If you want black to really hide the fur, I can just put a table lamp on the file cabinet for more light :candle: and it will be fine.

Then they had pet screen (!!!) so I got 1/2 yd which should be enough to make 2 saddles. We can work that in on each side so she has the screen in her field of peripheral vision so she can see to drive. The stuff is super strong, I don't anticipate her tearing it. The saddle will probably need to be drip dry though.

The blue in is the wash, I'm hoping to sew it tomorrow. Post Office is closed Monday, so will probably mail Tuesday.
:sew:
User avatar
critters
Founding Member
Posts: 14360
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by critters »

PetScreen IS tough! I put it in the screen on our sliding door 20 years ago, and the tornado 7 years ago tried to put a tree through it. The tree made a hole about the size of a quarter, and the screen is still in place. Great idea to use it for a saddle!! :smart: I never thought of that!
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

Thank you SO much for this, it's VERY encouraging. I was hoping it was strong. I take no credit, I hadn't thought of it either. I just went to Joann thinking I would walk down their crafting aisles on the side, but wanted to look at fabric first, and there it was right on the shelf with fabric. Only one color, black, but I think that's supposed to be the color that is easiest to see through for some reason. I can see through it nicely.

The first thing you find out about pet screen is it isn't quite square. I wanted to cut it along the lines on all sides because it wasn't quite straight when I bought it. I got a half yard so this piece is 18 x 35 before I do anything with it. Even with it cut along the lines on all sides it was not square. It either got stretched during manufacture, or wrapping onto the bolt, or being wrapped and unwrapped repeatedly on the cutting table, or something. I tried holding diagonal corners and pulling several times and wasn't making much progress. Then I put my foot on one corner and pulled up on the diagonal corner and it started to right itself. Think it's pretty square now, I should measure it on the diagonal from opposite corners both ways to be sure. Want it square so when I use the sewing machine I will be sinking the needle along one single track of holes.

EDIT: You have to measure it on the diagonal both ways, I thought it looked square and got 39" one way and 40" the other, needed to pull some more. Hard to get it perfectly square and not sure if it will stay that way but we'll do our best. :)

SECOND EDIT: You know, if the whole thing was pet screen, imagine how easy that would be to wash. You could put the whole walker in the bathtub and turn on the shower. You would still bind the leg holes. I wonder how comfortable it would be.

:thinking:

THIRD EDIT: Also discovered you can safety pin pet screen. The reason for doing it might be because you can't sew or don't want to pay for velcro, or are doing a fitting on the height of the saddle before sewing velcro on (wish I could but she's a 1000 miles away), or if you don't want velcro because it's a taller cat and you don't want to block the field of vision (you could make the cart taller if that was the case, also). Will try to get a pic of safety pinning pet screen, shown on PVC pipe as a demo.
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
FOURTH EDIT: This saddle will be a quilt-and-screen combo. There will be enough screen left over to make a little sample leg hole and put binding on to see if it is comfortable. I will send that sample along when I send the combo saddle. At first I was thinking of just going to Joann tomorrow and getting more pet screen and sending 2 saddles, one combo and one pet screen only, because it won't take long to make that all-pet screen one, just cut and bind leg holes, throw in 8 safety pins, done. But it's a holiday and I'm afraid they'll be crowded worse than usual.

FIFTH EDIT: It's 4:25 pm and the quilted part is done. Was measuring to put the screen on. The idea is to have the quilted part under her body, then the screen up both sides and it wraps over the frame and velcros in place like the first saddle. But there will be some velcro blocking the uppermost part of her view near the top. Had a thought...

Wouldn't it be possible if someone was making a cart like this, to use adhesive velcro (glue on the back) and affix the adhesive velcro right to the PVC frame? Then you sew the loop velcro on the end of the petscreen and you can suspend the saddle by velcro-ing it directly to the top of the frame. I'm almost sure it would work, but if your side bars on your frame move they might spin with enough weight. It would still be height adjustable but it would block less view in her upper line of sight. Something to think about. :)
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

OK, it's done. For anyone who wonders, the pet screen sewed fine. I used a regular needle. I sewed with the quilted fabric on the bottom and pet screen on top. I sewed with the pet screen on the bottom and velcro on top, did not need to put tissue paper under it or anything. Yes, you can sew velcro to it. Never broke a needle. Never even broke the thread. If I'd known I was going to do this, I might have used heavier thread, but I think it's OK.

BendyMom, I got the sizing as close as I could going only from pictures, but those were really good pictures. The back legs are the size of a Fancy Feast can, the front I used a tomato paste can. I moved her position closer to the front edge so she can see out better, and I hope the screen will allow her to see on both sides.
saddle top side<br />click to enlarge
saddle top side
click to enlarge
saddle under side<br />click to enlarge
saddle under side
click to enlarge
saddle velcro fastened<br />click to enlarge
saddle velcro fastened
click to enlarge
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

Today at the thrift store they had a 2-piece remnant of white mesh fabric (super nice) a yard wide. One piece was 2 yds and the other 3 yds, and they were being sold together for $1.98. It's way more than I'll ever need, but if you don't like the pet screen saddle I can use this with the pre-quilted fabric and we're back to an all-soft saddle easily machine washable. I only need 18" per saddle, so that's enough for 10 saddles. :D Oh, and I forgot to add, it has a 3/4" selvedge that will be PERFECT for the front edge, won't need to bind it, because I worried about that with regular fabric, but problem solved!!!
:ecstatic:
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
User avatar
BendyMom
mutant kitty expert
Posts: 3197
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by BendyMom »

HM.
I did not get a single notification that this thread had any replies.

Ishkur is doing very well in her cart, although right now she keeps pulling her feet up and using it as a hammock, silly cat.
She definitely likes being upright. Thanks again!
http://www.alittletlc.com

Image

Bendy Kitty
forever in my heart
always missed
i am not the same without you.
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

You are both very welcome. :D I am glad she is recovering.

I wonder if she's using it as a hammock because the legs are not comfortable for her now. She wasn't doing that before when they were too big. Wonder if they are too small now.
User avatar
critters
Founding Member
Posts: 14360
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by critters »

:lol: Yeah, sounds JUST like a cat to use it as a hammock!!
User avatar
CarolC
Moderator
Posts: 13698
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by CarolC »

Some sewing tips I learned:

The blue saddle pictured above turned out to be too low so I made another one with the velcro in a different place and we are waiting for it to arrive so she can try it.

I wanted to share what I learned from additional sewing with pet screen. One thing is, you can go as fast as you want when sewing it. Also, you do not have to be careful handling it. You can roll it, fold it, or even wad it up in your hand and really scrunch it and it will bounce back like it never happened. It doesn't maintain a crease or hold wrinkles. So you don't have to baby it when sewing.

After doing a lot more stitching of velcro, I had no more snags or breaks and I don't know why. The time it was breaking it was white velcro and blue thread, and the time it didn't break was black velcro and charcoal thread. Both spools of thread were Coats & Clark all purpose 100% polyester. The velcro in both cases was 2" wide Velcro brand, the only difference was the black was by the yard at Joann and the white was prepackaged at Walmart.

That was the other thing I learned. If you can't find black velcro anywhere, they have it by the yard at Joann. It was in the aisle with notions. You take the big cardboard spool up to the counter and they will cut it, or you can buy a whole spool (5 yds).

And the other thing I learned (if you don't normally shop at Joann very often) is when you go they may give you a 50% off coupon for your next visit. I was just lucky I didn't buy velcro the first trip, because I got if half price when I went back looking for black velcro later.

And something I wanted to clarify that I don't think I said earlier is, they have screen referred to as pet screen at Lowe's and Home Depot. As far as I can tell it is not the same stuff as I am using. The kind at Joann is 70% PVC and 30% polyester. The kind at the home improvement stores appears to be fiberglass.

On my last trip to Joann to get bias tape, I discovered they have fleece bias tape. We are going to try making a saddle of all pet screen with fleece around the leg holes, and velcro. Will report back if it works or is a flop.
User avatar
BendyMom
mutant kitty expert
Posts: 3197
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by BendyMom »

Isis is getting the hang of it, she managed to get herself going in her cart, but she get soooo excited that her legs get uncoordinated.
Here are picts from today
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GNgQva9uvYgSM62r8

I think she is using it as a hammock because it is comfy and she is a cat, and making it walk is work.

Her symptoms have really improved. She has completely stopped teh wierd curling tick behavior she did with her body and now her eyes don't jump around so much. She had insane nystagmus when she arrived, now she can actually focus on things. Her pupils still change size with a will of their own.

I love seeing her improve!
http://www.alittletlc.com

Image

Bendy Kitty
forever in my heart
always missed
i am not the same without you.
User avatar
critters
Founding Member
Posts: 14360
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Ishkur in her cart!

Post by critters »

What I used for the windows and door is PetScreen, the original brand. It's nylon covered with something black, like paint. I'm not sure what our newer stuff is, but I didn't have time to special order PetScreen. I got whatever Lowe's had at the time.
Post Reply