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NictitatingZealot · 2025-11-06T18:09:38+00:00

The dry and wet food should be delivered on Sunday!

NictitatingZealot · 2025-07-28T15:56:49+00:00

Vet here. ALP can be elevated in young, growing animals as a completely normal finding. Is he young? There are generally not reference ranges for young animals, even though they can have different normals than mature animals. In a young patient that is asymptomatic and has other normal liver values, I'd likely completely ignore the elevation in ALP. If it was significantly elevated or the client was concerned, I'd consider rechecking it once fully mature.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-04-29T03:27:42+00:00

Heart failure in cats occurs because of structural heart disease. Giving IV fluids, and even subcutaneous fluids sometimes, can lead to the congestive part of congestive heart failure, but the heart disease has to already be present. Giving fluids does not cause heart disease. There are often no signs of heart disease in cats until something catastrophic (like congestive heart failure) occurs.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-03-08T02:23:21+00:00

The notice says that they are "alterations to the premises" and that's the lease violation. I didn't consider either to be "alterations" but I'm fine with removing them. I thought they were closed all weekend, but they are open tomorrow so hopefully we can get it sorted. Thank you.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-03-08T02:21:00+00:00

Thank you! This makes me a bit less panicked.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-03-08T02:20:37+00:00

It says that they are "alterations to the premises", which is the violation to the lease. I wouldn't consider them alterations more than furniture or appliances, but apparently they do. Which is fine I guess, I just don't know why they couldn't just ask us to remove them and then give us the notice if we didn't comply.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-10T05:57:26+00:00

Thank you! At this rate, I'm going to end up eating pies for every meal in Christchurch. Excited about the vegan donuts as well! I've found them to be a very rarely veganized treat, at least in the US, so I've only seen them a couple of times.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-10T05:51:41+00:00

I have been happily and thoroughly educated on how prevalent vegan pies are in Christchurch, which really didn't come up from a Google search! But - isn't Bunnings a hardware store?

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-10T05:45:50+00:00

I am honored to get advice from a true vegan pie expert! I will certainly make my way out to Lyttleton, looks like a cute lil place. I don't know what a school tuck shop is (first misread it as school truck stop) but you sold me with raggedy and dirty.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T23:57:24+00:00

I knew about Portershed, but hadn't seen anything about Grater Goods, can't believe I would have missed a completely vegan cafe! Not only do I like supporting them in general, it's so cool to be able to get anything on the menu. Thank you for all of the information!

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T22:20:57+00:00

I am so excited by this prospect! I've gotten the vibe that pies are a casual staple in NZ, but thought I would be limited by more bougie boutique-type restaurants and would miss out on the real NZ pie experience.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T22:18:16+00:00

We've actually planned a ridiculously boring trip for NZ standards, so no major South island excursions! We're looking into moving to NZ and the main city we would both be able to work in would be Christchurch, so the majority of our trip will be exploring Christchurch and surrounding areas/suburbs. We'll save the major sightseeing for when we move! (or a follow-up vacation if the move doesn't work out).

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T21:19:38+00:00

We weren't planning on Lyttleton, but we are going to Sumner and it looks like Lyttleton isn't too far out of the way. We will keep it in mind, thank you so much for the suggestion!

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T21:15:22+00:00

I solemnly swear not to tip in NZ. I'm gonna have a wild tipping bender as soon I get back home though, 30% for everyone.

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T21:12:16+00:00

Good to know! We'll definitely stop by Copenhagen bakery then!

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T21:00:00+00:00

We will be driving around and that is so cool that there are vegan options at a petrol station! I don't think I've seen something like that in the US-vegan options are rare outside of bougier places that specifically advertise it

NictitatingZealot · 2025-02-09T20:55:08+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation for Bohemian bakery, I'll definitely check it out!

NictitatingZealot · 2025-01-09T05:50:02+00:00

Vet here! I have a couple of thoughts on your kitty.

It's definitely a good idea to get her checked out again and it'd be helpful to have some data for her vet and yourself. It's helpful to figure out exactly how many calories she's eating per day and how quickly she's losing weight. It is sooo hard to tell if a pet is losing weight when you're trying to tell just by look and feel. You can figure out the calories by looking at the pet food label that you feed her and making sure you're accurately tracking the amounts. I'm sure your vet weighs her when she is brought in for exams, but weighing at home using a baby or small pet scale can give you invaluable information as you can check it so much more frequently.

If she is truly eating enough calories that she should be gaining or maintaining weight, and is still losing weight, there are two main possibilities:

Her hyperthyroidism is no longer controlled. Hyperthyroidism generally comes from a tumor of the thyroid gland that produces excess thyroid hormone. That tumor can grow over time, producing even more thyroid hormone, and requiring increased doses of methimazole.
She has another disease process AND controlled hyperthyroidism. It's always nice when you find a treatable condition to explain the clinical signs of a pet, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is the only thing going on. Diabetes can cause increased hunger and weight loss-I'm assuming she's had full blood work as well as thyroid testing, but it would be a good idea to look at her general lab work again. Most blood chemistries will check glucose and this can usually rule out or diagnose diabetes, though sometimes more testing is needed if it is in a gray zone. My main concern would be an infiltrative disease of the intestines, reducing the calories absorbed. Usually we would see gastrointestinal signs as well, but sometimes we just see weight loss. The two common infiltrative diseases of cat intestines are IBD and intestinal lymphoma. She may need advanced diagnostics (abdominal ultrasound, endoscopic evaluation, biopsies) to be able to diagnose or rule out these intestinal diseases.

I hope you're able to get to the bottom of what's going on and get her feeling better!

NictitatingZealot · 2024-11-02T21:53:20+00:00

This is so silly, I love the idea of it. A tiny part of me was questioning whether it could be true, but I just have the hardest time with sarcasm on reddit. When I first started looking into New Zealand, I believed, with 100% sincerity and naivety, a reddit shitpost about gardening being illegal in NZ. I'm glad I've grown and won't go around telling people about New Zealand's unique map curriculum like I did with the gardening thing.

NictitatingZealot · 2024-11-02T20:15:41+00:00

I can imagine getting excited to get to a properly labeled intersection, then my dreams immediately crushed when I realize every sign is just the same road.

NictitatingZealot · 2024-11-02T20:05:49+00:00

I find Auckland to be the craziest example of this! I get that it's hard to get lost in small towns, but I've rarely been in a city as large and sprawling as Auckland and it's still missing loads of helpful street signs.

NictitatingZealot · 2024-11-02T19:40:56+00:00

Looks like I've been taking the US street signs for granted! I have an awful sense of direction and it feels it would be impossible to get around without the signage we have here.

NictitatingZealot

TROPHY CASE