If your temperature is 103°F (39.4°C) or lower, try to treat the fever at home, seeing whether it responds to at-home care.  If it's 104°F or higher, call emergency services or go straight to the emergency room; you may need immediate medical attention.  If your temperature has been 103 °F (39 °C) for at least 3 days, call your doctor. If the person's skin feels very hot to the touch, they are likely running a fever. Using this method, though, it's going to be hard to tell whether your temperature is at 98.7 °F (37.1 °C) or at 101.2 °F (38.4 °C). If the person feels hot to the touch, look for other symptoms or pick up a thermometer from a drug store to see if medical intervention may be necessary. A fever happens when your body raises its internal temperature in order to ward off harmful infections, viruses, or other maladies. Some research has even found that certain immune cells work better at these elevated temperatures. It's a natural defense mechanism. One significant result of this switching on of the body's heat switch is that patients can get or feel dehydrated.  Signs that you may be dehydrated include:  Dry mouth Thirst Headache and fatigue Dry skin Constipation   Dehydration can be made even worse if it is accompanied by vomiting or diarrhea. If you've experienced any one of these, especially, be sure to drink plenty of fluids to compensate for their loss. If you're struggling to drink fluids, try eating ice chips. In many cases, muscle aches are associated with dehydration, but they can be especially aggravating in a patient with the fever. Note: If your fever presents with back or muscle stiffness, call a doctor right away, as your condition may be related to a number of complications including kidney issues or bacterial meningitis, which can potentially cause brain damage. If your fever is at or above 104°F (40°C), you could experience some of the following in addition to hot flashes, dehydration, headaches, muscle aches, and general weakness. If you do experience any of the following, or have cause to believe that your fever is above 104°F, see a doctor immediately:  Hallucination Confusion or irritability Convulsions or seizures If you are dealing with a child who potentially has a fever, and whose temperature clocks in at higher than 103°F (39.4°C), see a doctor. In most cases, treating mild or moderate fevers at home is completely acceptable; in few cases, the underlying reason for the fever may demand serious medical attention.  If you have a high fever or if your symptoms impact your ability to function, call a friend or family member and ask them to escort you to the doctor's office. It's not worth the risk of trying to get yourself there when you're in a compromised state.
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One-sentence summary -- Take your temperature if you have a thermometer. Try to feel the skin of the person in question. Check for signs of dehydration. Check for muscle aches. Look for especially bad signs of a fever. When in doubt, see a doctor.


Arrange ahead of time to take a towel or blanket your new kitten slept on from her old home. Having a familiar scent will make the adjustment much easier. Use this blanket or towel in the carrier on the way home and leave it there for your cat to sleep on. The carrier will keep your kitten safe and help her feel more secure. Place a towel in the carrier for warmth and to absorb urine in case of an accident. Don’t use another pet’s carrier, as the smell of another animal can be stressful to the kitten. Provide your kitten with her own small room or space. It should be quiet and out of the way. The space should have a bed, water, kitten food, a litter box, scratching post, and safe toys.  Whether you use a cardboard box or a bed purchased from a pet store, consider lining it with an old sweatshirt so your kitten can grow accustomed to your scent. Be sure the room or space has places to hide. If there is no furniture to hide behind, put cardboard boxes in the room with holes cut into them for your cat to enter. Place her carrier in the room, open the door, and let her come out when she’s ready. Leave the carrier in the room as another hiding place. You will likely want to hold and pet your kitten continuously. Don’t. Your kitten needs time to adjust to her new environment, including the people in it. Introduce one family member at a time, and take it slow, letting your kitten come to you.  Be sure to teach young children how to interact with your kitten properly, including how to safely hold her. Do not allow children under 5 to interact with the kitten. It is unsafe for the cat. When your kitten is eating, drinking, and using the litter box regularly, that is a sign that she is comfortable in her room and you can start introducing her to the rest of your home one room at a time. Place her open carrier in a room and let her explore on her own. After exploring, bring your kitten back to her den for at least a few hours before exploring the next room. If your kitten climbs on something – a bookshelf, bed, etc. – that you don’t want her on, gently pick her up and place her on the floor. If you do this from day one, you should have less trouble establishing off-limits places for your cat. Giving the kitten the food she is used to will provide a source of comfort and avoid an upset stomach caused by the bacteria in her gut having to adjust to a new food. Plan ahead and ask the person you are buying the kitten from what kind of food they have been feeding it, so you can have that food ready when your kitten arrives at your home. Cats produce facial pheromones (chemical signals) that they rub on things they know are safe—like their bed, a chair, or even your leg. There are plug-in diffusers that spray a synthetic version of these pheromones, which let cats know they are in a safe environment. They last about 30 days – plenty of time to comfort your kitten until she has adjusted to her new environment. The most commonly used kind of pheromone diffuser is Feliway. It can come as a spray or as a device that you plug in to the wall that will emit the pheromones automatically.
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One-sentence summary -- Take some bedding from your kitten’s old home. Bring your new kitten home in a carrier. Create a secure den for the kitten. Let your kitten explore her den at her own speed. Limit your interaction with the kitten for the first week. Introduce your kitten to your home once she has settled in her den. Continue to feed the kitten the food she was weaned on to avoid causing her health problems during the separation. Consider using a plug-in pheromone diffuser to ease the kitten’s anxiety.


This will tell your teacher what to expect from the letter. For example, you may be writing your teacher a letter of appreciation. Say, “I am writing this letter to tell you how happy I am to be in your class because you are the best teacher. This year has been hard, but you helped me do my best.” Consider why you are writing the letter, then choose the best examples to show your teacher what it is that you appreciate about them. To make your letter more personal, be specific and tell them how their actions made you feel.  You could write, “I appreciate the time you spent tutoring me after school. I felt like I would never understand multiplication, but you never let me give up. I’m so happy you’re my teacher!” If you’re having trouble deciding what to say, grab a sheet of scratch paper and do some brainstorming. Write down reasons why you like your teacher, times that they’ve helped you, or what you’ve learned from them. Then pick a few of your favorite reasons and use those in your letter. Write 1 to 3 sentences that sum up what you’ve said. Remind your teacher that you are appreciative of what they’ve done for you. You could say, “Thank you for being a great teacher this year. I’m so happy I got to be in your class. I hope you have an incredible summer!”
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One-sentence summary --
Start with 1 to 2 sentences telling your teacher what the letter is about. Give your teacher a few examples of what you appreciate about them. Finish the body of your letter by thanking them again.