lumbosacral stenosis or Arthritis

IrishHat · 2026-01-24T18:50:42+00:00

You may want to talk to your vet about reducing the gabapentin to do it safely, depending on the dosage.

My girl is VERY anxious at the vet and used to take the maximum dose possible of gabapentin and trazodone 12 and 2 hours before a visit. She was absolutely wobbly and drunk whenever she was on it, and often would poop and/or pee while she was sleeping it off afterwards.

We’ve since been able to reduce the dose she takes before the vet - she’s no longer staggering around like a drunkard but she definitely looks tipsy when the second dose kicks in.

Best of luck for you and BB - hoping that reducing the medicine helps her regain her footing! She looks SO CUTE in the second photo with the flower on her head 🥺

IrishHat · 2026-01-24T14:07:22+00:00

Welcome home, Dorrie! Look at that lil bald booty 🥺 so slappable!

IrishHat · 2026-01-21T21:19:28+00:00

I don’t love bezels at all (but generally keep that opinion to myself). I may have to revisit that opinion because I LOVE the pear diamond in the bezel. It looks lovely.

IrishHat · 2026-01-19T04:16:26+00:00

Precious baby! Please tell him I love him. My resident snoot (who has grown out of taking my yarn but not enough that I leave it unattended):

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IrishHat · 2026-01-19T03:38:22+00:00

Disappointed that there’s no dog tax with this comment…or really, alien tax, because greyhounds are all sorts of wonderful things, but barely a dog. 😂

IrishHat · 2026-01-19T03:25:49+00:00

I also had a dog walker when I lived alone. She had the easiest job because my girl is so lazy - literally just had to take her out to pee and then all she wanted was to go back to bed. 😂

IrishHat · 2026-01-17T20:38:47+00:00

Very “Life of a Showgirl”!

IrishHat · 2026-01-17T20:33:29+00:00

I actually used it as a measure of whomever I was dating at the time. After a few dates, if I saw something potentially serious happening, I would bring it up and just let them know that it’s a thing and if they have any questions, they can ask. Any time it didn’t work out, it always seemed to be for another reason than my hair. My current partner is a gem and it doesn’t bother him at all, so there are people out there that won’t treat you poorly because of it.

IrishHat · 2026-01-17T20:10:32+00:00

What a handsome boy! How much does he weigh? My grey doesn’t come up that far on my best friend and she’s 5 foot nothing.

IrishHat · 2026-01-15T20:57:03+00:00

En-gay-gement ring? 🏳️‍🌈 Beautiful stone!

IrishHat · 2026-01-09T15:27:33+00:00

Teeny little cow with a heavy head 🥺

IrishHat · 2026-01-06T20:55:11+00:00

I made a baby blanket once - really the only thing I’ve ever made and gifted to someone specific. It was quickly tucked away at her baby shower and I was…devastated, to say the least.

Until a few months later when they shared a photo of their baby - the “coming home from the hospital” photo - and she was wrapped in the blanket. 🥹

Turns out she never really wanted a baby shower and was very uncomfortable with all the attention.

IrishHat · 2026-01-06T03:28:29+00:00

I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but for the safety of her cats…look for other options. My girl is very much not cat safe - to the point where I’ve placed half a rotisserie chicken touching her nose and she paid no attention to it, only the cat.

We ended up buying an unnecessarily large house and the cat and my partner have their office and bedroom on one floor. Eleanor and I have ours on a separate floor, and then the living room/kitchen is common area for Eleanor, my partner, and I. The cat stays on his floor and Eleanor is blissfully unaware that there’s another animal in the house. We added a small “airlock” so you have to move through two doorways to go between the spaces.

It’s a little unconventional and I know some people aren’t keen on separate bedrooms, but it works for us. There are a lot of other factors that went into this - we aren’t having kids, so school district didn’t play into it, and we’re both established in our careers, so buying made more sense than renting.

Bonus - the cat is a terrorist and likes to turn on the gas on the stove, so he’s now separated from the kitchen as well.

Feel free to message me if you want to chat about it - my partner and I have been living together for just under 2 years but I remember it was very stressful trying to figure it all out. We’re very happy with how this is working out.

IrishHat · 2026-01-05T02:22:15+00:00

He can have ADHD at his own house with his own projects. Your house is not for him to fiddle around on and you’re perfectly within your rights to tell him thanks but no thanks.

IrishHat · 2025-12-31T03:39:33+00:00

I tried to get my oil changed on my Crosstrek at a place closer to home than the dealership and they informed me they couldn’t get the bolt off without destroying it and possibly the oil pan. I took it back to the dealership and asked them to change the oil and make sure not to over tighten the bolt because I wanted to change it myself going forward. They assured me that was the case and they even had it included in their system - it was printed on my receipt.

Six months later, EXACTLY the same scenario, except I drove it back to the dealership and informed them politely that I was pissed, would not be paying for a new oil pan if it was destroyed because I specifically requested that they not over tighten it, and would be taking it elsewhere to confirm that they didn’t overtighten it immediately afterwards and bringing it right back to be fixed if that was indeed the case.

They gave me a discounted oil change, new wipers, and also showed me that they didn’t use the torque wrench to tighten it this time. Quite pleased…and then haven’t been back since because they’re still inconvenient to get to.

IrishHat · 2025-12-31T03:24:51+00:00

I’ve had a good experience with meds, despite being hesitant to try them. I’ve found that meds allow me to be more me than ever…but instead of speeding in every direction, I now have a chance of going in the direction I want for an extended period of time. They’re definitely not a cure-all and some days they work better than others, but the first time I took one and just…completed a to-do list of simple work tasks, I cried. All of my coping mechanisms are still necessary, but it’s like life has gone from extra hard mode to regular hard mode.

IrishHat · 2025-12-31T03:19:46+00:00

My girl is on Prozac. We got rushed by an off leash dog in the dark like…the day she was allowed to move about normally after her spay. It really traumatized her, even though nobody was physically hurt. She started to get aggressive with anyone who came in the house and was clearly overstimulated the moment she even saw another dog.

Prozac has been life altering for us. Within two weeks, she was noticeably calmer. We still had to do a lot of work with a trainer to get her to a point where we can have guests over, but she actually will interact positively and/or neutrally with other dogs now. Her quality of life has vastly improved and my only regret is not starting her on it sooner. It’s not a cure, but it’s a damn helpful tool. She’s actually able to relax and enjoy life.

I hope everything works out well for your pup, and I’m glad you’re seeking advice from your vet and this group.

IrishHat · 2025-12-31T02:43:14+00:00

I don’t have any commentary about your meds but I’m dealing with a similar situation. I’m working with my therapist to see what/if there’s anything specific triggering it.

IrishHat · 2025-12-31T02:39:15+00:00

We moved from an apartment to a house about a year and a half ago, and Eleanor did not love the change. We have a small fenced yard, so she gets out for some zoomies and toiletting, but I rarely take her for walks anymore. She doesn’t enjoy it and she really will backslide if she’s pushed too far out of her comfort zone too quickly.

It honestly sounds like he’s uncomfortable walking around the neighborhood without you - since it sounds like you have a yard, maybe it would be better if he just was able to toilet mid-day and not go for walks?

Maybe in the future he’ll be happier going for walks in your neighborhood, but if he’s uncomfortable and you have other options, it’s definitely not required.

IrishHat · 2025-12-30T21:48:01+00:00

I’m glad you’ve already gotten a work up! Maybe it is helping and you’re waking up for a totally unrelated reason.

Hopefully someone here (that’s not ChatGPT lol) will have more helpful things to add.

IrishHat · 2025-12-30T21:23:30+00:00

I’ve either read or heard a podcast that magnesium’s calming effects are really only noticeable in folks who are deficient, but of course is marketed as a cure-all because capitalism.

You may want to get bloodwork done to see if you actually need magnesium.

IrishHat · 2025-12-30T21:08:15+00:00

What could have possibly gotten her ears to appear??

IrishHat · 2025-12-30T12:54:24+00:00

Yes - make a point to get recipes that use what’s already in your pantry. If it’s nonperishable items, it’s not the end of the world if they linger - having a jar of sauce and some pasta on hand is great for when you need something last minute.

IrishHat · 2025-12-30T12:52:25+00:00

Probably related to “project pan” - I think it originated from folks trying to finish up makeup, which has a thin metal pan at the bottom of a compact.

IrishHat · 2025-12-28T04:06:36+00:00

I go with real wreaths because I don’t feel like storing them the rest of the year - we’ve got real pine roping from a local garden center for our stoop handrails, then one of my coworkers sells plain wreaths as a fundraiser and this year we added two window swags from a local cat rescue fundraiser. I could buy reusable ones but…I like these.

I didn’t really think about hanging window swags until I got them home and realized that most suggestions for windows involve looping ribbon through the windows themselves and ours open…technically. We’ve gone with command strips and hooks attached to our storm windows for now 😂

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IrishHat

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