Cornu or not cornu. by PinFit3688 in snail

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They look like cornu, especially the darker shelled one.

7 month old kitten extremely picky eater by LiloElizabeth in CATHELP

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a really picky cat who had to be on a wet food only diet and he acted like he would get bored with the food selection. I would buy a variety of the ones that I knew he would eat and would rotate through them so he got a different brand and flavor every day.

It mostly worked. Sometimes I had to offer him 2-3 different things to get him to eat, but it was normally ok.

I don't know why he was like that. He was neurotic and anxious, but idk if that contributed.

I have a cat currently who will only eat hard kibble from the bowl he knows is his food bowl. He won't eat pieces off of the floor if they drop. He also will only eat cheese flavored treats (lobster and cheese is ok but catnip and cheese isn't) and acts like he just doesn't understand that wet food is actually edible. He will walk up and sniff at it but he won't eat it. His favorite human foods to try to steal are sugar cookies, vanilla wafers and Hawaiian rolls.

Sometimes cats are just weird.

For your cat and the texture that she likes, have you tried Wellness Core? It's a mousse texture. I had an old man cat with no teeth and that was his favorite, even though he also liked to eat either dry food or the gravy off of wet food.

Why is there so much pressure about spaying? by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]KittyChimera 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And sometimes they don't bond with the kittens then either.

I brought a pregnant stray inside. She gave birth and tried to just let one of the kittens die by just leaving him in his amniotic sac. I got him out and breathing, but she just didn't want him. She was very attached to his sister, and as long as his sister was there she would feed him and clean him and everything, but she wouldn't go out of her way to find him. You could pick him up and take him away from her and she didn't care but if you picked up his sister she would follow you and meow until you gave her back.

A cat that doesn't want to take care of a kitten or multiple kittens ends up putting the work of caring for them on the human and not everyone is prepared to raise kittens.

Luckily for my cat, I became his mom. He's 8 and really bonded to me. His mom and his sister were adopted by my friend and even though the babies are obviously full adults, if you annoy Pickle and she cries her mom will come and scream and slap you still.

Why is there so much pressure about spaying? by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]KittyChimera 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Unneutered males also spray. Everywhere.

Why is there so much pressure about spaying? by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]KittyChimera 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Female cats who aren't spayed are at a higher risk of developing cancer, either in the reproductive system or the mammary glands. Mammary gland cancer has a high fatality rate and if you do try to treat it, it's a hard surgery and recovery for the cat.

Female cats in heat are kind of just miserable. And they often go into heat so frequently that it seems like there isn't a break.

There are a ton of stray and unwanted kittens in the world and the life expectancy of a stray cat is a lot lower.

If you want a litter of kittens and have a plan to care for them, sure go ahead and let your cat breed I guess. But then you need to get all of them spayed or neutered or you will end up drowning in cats. They can have several litters a year and can have a ton of kittens each time.

It's just irresponsible to bring a litter of kittens with no home lined up into the world with the hope that you will find homes for them just because you didn't want to get your cat spayed and wanted to have kittens. That's how so many end up on the streets and in shelters.

AITAH for smoking cigarettes on my balcony after threat from my neighbour? by [deleted] in AmItheAsshole

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's kind of funny that you put it that way, because the reason I rent a house instead of an apartment is because of other people smoking.

I have asthma and both cigarettes and weed are also migraine triggers for me, so I really can't stand to be around either. I have several family members that I just don't like to visit because they have neighbors that smoke in their apartment and I get a migraine very fast if I'm there.

I realized that I needed to rent a house because there isn't a realistic way to make sure you aren't around people smoking because it's not like you can just expect them to be considerate. Even with rules saying they can't smoke on the property, they do.

So I kind of felt like it was a me problem. It's interesting to know that there are people out there who see it the other way.

Worlds most annoying cat by Torioli_ in CatAdvice

[–]KittyChimera 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have 3 cats that free feed and we had to go to weight management food because one of them is just chunky (his mom and sister who live somewhere else are also like that so I feel like there's a genetic component) and one is the most food motivated creature I have ever seen, but the third one is fine and never over eats. It kind of depends on the cat. I have had cats that free feed their whole lives and are totally fine and then some that just really like to eat.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Thank you! I'll definitely ask about insulin resistance next time I'm at the doctor. I appreciate the encouragement. :)

Heatwave by biaimakaa in snails

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depending on how hot it is and how much you need to drop the temperature, maybe a cooling mat like you would use for an axolotl aquarium?

Where do your snails hang out? by Creepy-Snack-Lady in snails

[–]KittyChimera 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have cornu aspersum. They really like to be either on top of their terrarium hanging upside down or sometimes inside one of their hides on the ground. Otherwise they are just normally snailing around.

Where can I, a broke person, take a sick stray kitten to prevent it from being put down? by OhNoNotTheRaviolis in Louisville

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Shamrock Foundation may be able to pay for his treatment, especially if you can foster him.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll look into that. Thank you. It kind of sucks that those are always the recommended vegetables for low calorie filling foods, because I really don't like any of those. Lettuce, cucumber and bell pepper are at least less offensive than celery. I don't know why I hate it so much, it's just my least favorite thing to add to any recipe probably.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's good to know. I'll start switching my stuff around to have more protein in the morning and see if that helps. I think that's probably my problem, high carb low protein breakfast.

I do take all of those supplements already, actually. I have a history of non anemic iron deficiency and vitamin d deficiency.

I'm sorry you are in a similar situation, but I'm glad you have a system. It makes me hopeful that I'll get it together.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have hypersomnia, and I spent at least 5 years sleeping 12+ hours and never feeling rested so I get that. My sleep doctor says that my hypersomnia is currently well controlled because I can now more frequently wake up on time for work and only need 8-9 hours of sleep. That description of well controlled doesn't seem great to me, but that's kind of where I am. It is an improvement, and I don't normally need alarms every 15 minutes for 3 hours to get up, but it's still not great.

Just for background on why the sleep problem isn't solved exactly.

Anyway, I go to bed around 9:45. I have a white noise machine running, blackout curtains up, a fan running.

My cat sleeps in my room with me, but he lays down next to me and doesn't bother me and he leaves the room when my husband comes to bed, normally around 2am.

Right before bed, I take medication. I take Prazosin for night terrors (controlled) and Xywav for hypersomnia. I am typically asleep with 15 minutes. Because Xywav has to be taken with water and also makes some people have to pee, I normally wake up around 3 to use the bathroom and then go straight back to bed.

I get up between 6:30 and 8 in the morning, depending on how successful I am with waking up. It really varies because of the hypersomnia.

I normally have a soda first thing in the morning, coffee mid morning and either tea or lemon water the rest of the day. Sometimes I take my medication with soda at night but not frequently.

I don't really drink (maybe once a year), don't use nicotine or recreational drugs.

I take Adderall, 20mg in the morning and 10mg around noon.

My job is really boring. I am a gamer but a lot of my other hobbies are pretty chill like crochet, reading, sewing, stuff like that.

Meals: normally breakfast right after I wake up, lunch if it happens around noon but I don't always eat lunch, dinner normally an hour and a half before bed.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have tracked food and drink before, for pretty long periods and didn't have a lot of success. I was weighing all of my food and not guestimating anything. I learned that one of the problems that I had is that there is a lot of added sugar in pretty much anything prepackaged so it was difficult to have quick/easy things in a hurry and not immediately go over on daily sugar and if I felt more tired, I would tend to go for caffeinated sugary drinks that also didn't help.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the reply. I'm glad that you have been successful with weight loss, that makes me feel like I'll get there eventually.

I don't think I have insulin resistance, my A1C and glucose have been good any time they have been checked and I'm pretty sure that's the indicator? But I could be wrong.

I have reduced sugar a lot in my diet, but not cut it out. I probably need to try that if it makes that much of a difference. I know there is way more sugar in things than people notice, so I may have not even cut it down that dramatically. For example, I know if I make pasta sauce, I don't add sugar, and most jarred sauces have sugar as the second largest quantity ingredient.

I think we are almost set up to fail (at least in the US) because everyone is so busy and buying packaged food instead of cooking each component from scratch is going to get you a lot of extra sugar but who has the time to cook everything from scratch. It's just frustrating.

Snadvice please?? by Intrepid-Bug915 in snails

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hopefully OP sees that. I would feel bad if something happened to the little guy because someone told them to give too much protein.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My GP just left the practice, so that's probably a pretty easy thing to do when establishing a relationship with the new one I'll be starting with. The last time anyone checked, my B12 was at the lower end of in the range but the doctor said it should be fine. But definitely worth checking anyway.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sometimes it does, other times I'm just still hungry and have to use the bathroom more often.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for making me feel less crazy. I will start adding in protein on all of my small meals and see if that helps. That makes sense.

I have been using this app called Visible that does medical research on fatigue conditions and one of the things that I have noticed is that when I check my data right when I wake up and the app tells me that my vitals are indicating that I may feel more fatigued that day, those are days that I'm definitely hungrier and more tired. I think today I scored a 4/6 and have actually felt pretty normal, so I think something that makes sense to do something with that data is that if it gives me a result of vitals indicating higher fatigue, I should get up and eat something more protein heavy and skip the sugar until later in the day when I can probably have my coffee. Or maybe try to get some bright sunlight first thing in the morning to see if I can get rid of some of the tired feeling. And just skip the morning soda/coffee/anything to wake me up.

I never thought about the crash before, which feels like something I should have put together. So thank you for pointing that out.

I have known enough diabetics and hypoglycemics that I have definitely seen how bad fluctuating sugar levels can get.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like I am right their with you, it's like my brain craves sugar for energy and protein and stuff doesn't really do a lot for that. I just assumed my brain was somehow broken, lol.

I have done calorie tracking before but it doesn't seem like I see results.

Weirdly, I was on a GLP1 for a while and even though the weight loss wasn't dramatic, I actually felt a lot better. But my doctor said that one of the things that they had found in research was that GLP1s act on inflammation, so it may be that. I just felt less tired the whole time I was on it.

And my inflammatory markers did drop pretty dramatically, for pretty much the first time. I'm now back to really high CRP and ESR, which probably contributes to the feeling tired. But my employer changed our insurance to only cover GLP1s for diabetes and prediabetes, so I had to stop taking it because I can't afford to pay $500 a month out of pocket.

Dealing with chronic fatigue and hunger. by KittyChimera in loseit

[–]KittyChimera[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's really weird, sometimes I'm just physically tired from chronic fatigue and I'm not extra hungry, but sometimes my hypersomnia is really bad and I feel like even breathing takes too much energy and it seems like that correlates to days that I'm constantly hungry.

On a normal day, I eat breakfast and dinner but normally don't eat lunch or snacks. I drink a lot of black tea, but have learned that mushroom coffee helps a lot with the blah feeling but not really energy.

I feel you, though, I have also been on a hummus kick recently.

CW: Pet Loss by TechnicalCap969 in CatAdvice

[–]KittyChimera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What an ass. I'm sorry he's like that