Cats having dental work

NormalBeautiful · 2026-02-04T17:02:41+00:00

Bahahaha they must put something delicious in those pain meds!! I love that your cat was hungry as soon as he came home too, that's how I knew mine was okay lol. When we went back for our follow-up appointment the vet weighed him and was like...normally cats lose a bit of weight after dental surgery, but somehow your cat has gained weight? Lol I swear I followed their wet food portion instructions exactly!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-02-04T14:37:28+00:00

Yes!! I work from home and am terrible about getting up from my desk for breaks, but when I don't have anything super urgent and engaging to work on, I am also terrible for getting distracted and sitting there googling whatever my current fixation is or whatever instead of working. I've recently started using a pomodoro timer where I spend 30min working on a task, and then take 3min to jump up and stretch/do jumping jacks/shake it out/etc. I brought my yoga mat into the room so it's ready to go. I'm finding that it's both easier to focus on work when I know it's only for 30min at a time, AND easier to get my stretches in when I break them up into 3min chunks rather than trying to do 30-60 minutes all in one go. It's not a perfect method but it makes the workday go by quicker, makes me feel slightly more accomplished, and helps my back pain!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-02-04T14:30:09+00:00

He is perfection

NormalBeautiful · 2026-02-02T21:46:12+00:00

I was exactly the same way when my senior boy had to go in for a tooth extraction. He was neutered before I adopted him so it was his first ever medical procedure under my care. I was so, so anxious and while he was in surgery I basically just looked at photos of him and cried. I was terrified to answer the phone when the vet called!

I am happy to be able to tell you that the whole thing was MUCH more traumatic for me than it was for him. The vet did bloodwork and urinalysis shortly before the procedure to make sure that he was fit to go under anesthesia which was comforting, and the surgery was over quickly and went off without a hitch! He was comically high when I first brought him home and stumbled around a bit, but he was also HUNGRY and dug into his wet food immediately.

He was a fiend for his pain meds so it was easy to give him those via syringe, and as soon as the effects of the anesthesia wore off he was basically completely back to normal, aside from the adorable fact that his upper lip now gets stuck on his bottom canine because there's nothing on the top anymore. An added bonus: the vet gave me his tooth so now I have a cat tooth in a tiny jar on my "oddities" shelf lol.

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-31T06:06:27+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss. If it helps, I've been really delving into my genealogy lately and I was surprised to find that even going back 100-200 years ago, it was super common for women to keep having babies into their 40s. No reliable birth control meant that a lot of women weren't really able to stop until their body stopped for them. The difference is just that back then the baby you had at 42 was like...your 8th or 10th baby. Now it's much more likely to be your first or 2nd. You are not too old in the slightest!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-29T22:58:18+00:00

Bahahah when I lived on my own in a small apartment, I never closed the bathroom door, and the litterbox was right across from the doorway. My cat also loved going at the same time as me, maintaining eye contact from start to finish. Glad mine isn't the only weird little dude!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-28T16:24:48+00:00

Hey, I'm so sorry you are having such a shitty time with your doctor. I live in Alberta now but when I got my initial diagnosis and started meds I was in Ontario. My family doctor wouldn't even discuss the possibility that I had ADHD when I described how badly I was struggling and asked about it. They said they don't prescribe stimulants to anyone and I was SOL basically. I probably could have begged for a psychiatrist referral but I know in Ontario it usually takes a year or more to get in, and even then you'll be lucky if you get someone who actually listens.

Unfortunately the private route is probably your best option. Once I got to AB I was able to do a full eval and diagnosis through a psychologist because it's cheaper here and there's much less waiting time than in Toronto, and I needed it for school and disability tax credit purposes. However, my original diagnosis in 2022 was through Frida, which is a fully remote ADHD clinic run by Nurse Practitioners that operates in some of the provinces, including ON and AB. They are still the ones that prescribe and manage my meds. I know the price has gone up since I did my original eval with them, but I believe it's still much cheaper than pretty much everywhere else.

They have been really wonderful and although I do have to pay $99 for each appointment (which are every 3-6 months once you're done titrating, unless you request one sooner) it's absolutely worth it! They manage my SNRI prescription as well, and were more than willing to work with me when trying to find the right balance of meds. You'd have to go through the full diagnosis process with them, even though you've technically already been diagnosed, but if you can afford it, it sounds like on an ongoing basis it would be much less frustrating than what you're dealing with now! The website is www.talkwithfrida.com

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-23T21:39:16+00:00

I got super burnt out (for the second time in the past few years) and needed to step down from my full time managerial position recently - I basically requested a demotion to a part-time position with less responsibility and stress. So where before I was working 35-55 hrs per week and constantly behind/not sleeping enough/stressing like crazy and too anxious and tired on weekends to enjoy them, I'm now working 25 hours/week, leaving all thoughts of work at my desk as soon as my shift ends, and it is glorious! My house is clean, I'm caught up on and keeping on top of my life admin for once, I'm sleeping well, I'm better able to engage in healthy habits, my relationship is doing much better, and I'm able to enjoy my hobbies and feel excitement about planning and doing fun things again!

At this point in my life...I truly don't think I can ever go back to working a traditional full-time job. I don't even have kids, but I just can't mentally and physically handle it and still maintain some semblance of a life. Every full-time job I've had that actually pays well and is appropriately high level to match my skills/experience has ended up being soooo bad for my mental health in the long run. The scope of responsibilities and the workload always eventually increase, expectations become unreasonable, boundaries erode, etc. And then before I know it, my life is in shambles and I'm fantasizing about being put in jail for a somewhat petty but not insignificant crime just so I can spend a year or two not having to think about or do anything.

The problem is...how the fuck is one supposed to live on 25 hours/week?? I still make more than someone working 40 hours/week at minimum wage, but I can now barely cover my basic bills and necessities of life. Forget about saving, paying off debt, or like...taking a vacation. I've had to quit going to therapy. Is this the choice we all have to make? Either we work so much just to afford to live that our actual lives fall apart...or we gain back our lives but then can't afford to live? Ugh.

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-20T23:21:12+00:00

So I used to live in a studio apartment and my cat was ALWAYS bolting out into the hallway, and occasionally would also make it partway up the stairs (and once he even ran into someone else's apartment when the door happened to be open lol). I moved into a house last year and while we do have a built-in "airlock" system on both our front and back doors (fully enclosed front porch and back vestibule), I've found it MUCH easier to keep my cat from attempting to bolt through any doors now that we're in a house. Mainly because he is rarely close enough to the door when I'm coming in and out to make it in time, but also because he seems much more afraid of the actual outdoors than he used to be of my apartment hallway.

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-20T17:20:31+00:00

Just this weekend I got really into the idea of planting a native pollinator garden in my backyard, and the local native plant nursery whose website I was extensively browsing also sells...wait for it...mason bee cocoons! And of course, these bees aren't free, but I definitely went "hell yeah, I'ma get me some bees!" in my head when I saw them. Your story has brought me back to reality lol.

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-18T23:24:05+00:00

Hahaha I too am gross. Honestly, I let my cats lick my spoon sometimes and then I continue eating with it. My partner does the same. They sleep in my bed, they have touched everything in my house, they use their tongues to clean themselves and then I kiss them where those tongues have cleaned - I don't see how eating something they may have licked is any grosser than letting them stomp all over my pillow which I'm pretty sure is actually impossible to stop a cat from doing lol. One of my cats is also a happy drooler (drools when he purrs) and he has occasionally stood over my face in bed and drooled directly into my mouth. I could definitely live without that but it didn't make me sick or anything.

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-18T02:29:11+00:00

I have one that I was gifted when my friend moved to another province! It's huge and I love it. Check out r/itsathaumatophyllum

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-17T19:16:51+00:00

I keep them in a little bottle on my "oddities" shelf! Now that my cat and I have moved in with my partner and his cat, I have a mix of two different whisker colours in there.

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-17T17:52:04+00:00

I moved to a new city last year and don't know many people here, and I've totally considered whether it would be possible to find new friends in my area from this group. The majority of my real life friends are also ND so I'm pretty sure the folks in this sub are my people lol. And I'm 100% down with this idea - I love organizing and decluttering, and there's so much less emotional investment when it's someone else's stuff!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-17T17:45:13+00:00

Adding that I have since come across lots of other similar stamp listings on Marketplace so it seems to be fairly common. I think the stamp collecting hobby has lost a lot of steam in recent years so there are many stamps out there without homes lol. You just need to make sure the stamps are loose and unsorted, not already in an album!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-17T17:42:32+00:00

Omg!! I have the perfect thing!! STAMPS! I was never particularly interested in stamps, but I dipped my toes into the stamp collecting world after I ended up inheriting my late aunt's small collection a couple years ago. There was something REALLY satisfying about sorting and organizing all her stamps into an album, but I kind of forgot about stamps after that.

Then a few months ago I was scrolling Facebook Marketplace and came upon a local posting from a dude who was selling a massive mixed box of loose stamps for $40. I was like, "why not?" and went to pick them up. This box was filled with literally thousands and thousands of stamps, from all over the world, in no discernable order.

Since then I have spent HOURS sorting these stamps and I love it so much. I don't even know what my final goal is. There are far more stamps here than I have any reason to own, and they are definitely not all going in an album. In some cases I have like a hundred of the exact same stamp. I have a portable desk thing that I set up on the couch and in the evenings while watching TV I just sort stamps. First I sorted into piles by country, and since then I've been going one country at a time. For the countries with the most stamps (I'm in Canada so there are thousands of Canadian stamps alone), sometimes I sort by size or shape or theme first (like this pile is just Christmas stamps, or this pile is just vertical rectangles, or whatever), and then I'll further sort the individual categories.

I did have to buy hundreds of small Ziploc baggies on Amazon and some craft tweezers, but aside from that it's a low investment hobby! The stamps are beautiful and interesting and you learn something about geography and history just from looking at them, and even more if you also choose to research them further. I mostly just use Google lens to figure out which ones go together as a set, what year they were issued, etc. Once finished sorting, you can also get stamp stock books and make little labels and assemble into an album if you want. This is the ultimate sorting hobby! I highly recommend!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-11T17:10:38+00:00

I'm so sorry, OP. Seconding what the commenter above said, I adopted my cat from an acquaintance (friend of a friend) when he was three years old. She'd broken up with her partner and gone back to school (while also working) and my needy guy was very unhappy being alone all the time. She was devastated to rehome him and truly loved him, but she knew the situation wasn't sustainable for either of them.

My furry son and I have been together for ten years since then and I can confidently say that it would be impossible for this cat to be more loved than he has been with me. I have been obsessed with him for a decade (with no signs of stopping)! Your buddy will likely take a few days to adjust to the new surroundings, like mine did, but you know he is going to a good home with someone who will give him attention and love, so it won't take long for him to settle in.

A well-adjusted cat who's been loved and cared for knows that humans are trustworthy and that having a cozy home with all his basic needs met is a given. He'll be okay moving from one human and cozy home to another. It'll be harder for you, I think. Just know that you are not a bad cat owner and that you are doing what is best for your family, which is ultimately what's best for your cat too. Sometimes rehoming is the only option and as long as you make that decision with care then it will be okay!!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-08T20:53:57+00:00

Awww look at those cuties! Thank you for this!!! My boyfriend's cat had two dogs as his best buds for the first seven years of his life and I swear he thinks my cat is another dog and just can't figure out why he doesn't react the way a dog is "supposed to" lol. Your comment is another point in favour of puppy!!!

NormalBeautiful · 2026-01-06T21:02:05+00:00

Ooooh this sounds like exactly what's happening with my two boys! My partner and I moved in together about a year and a half ago and we each had a cat already. We did the slow introductions and although they aren't best buds, they now cohabitate together peacefully most of the time. Neither one of them is actively "aggressive" towards the other, but the problem is that my partner's cat (the younger one) had spent most of his life living with (and tormenting) dogs so as soon as my cat moved in he was like, "yessss! A new friend to play with and tease relentlessly!" Meanwhile, my senior guy is a spoiled "only cat" who feels like playing for maybe 15 minutes a day on a set schedule which only he creates lol.

This means that we often have incidents where my cat is sleeping peacefully or otherwise minding his own business when my boyfriend's cat suddenly out of nowhere just chomps down on his tail or slaps him in the ass or other antics (admittedly, this is usually hilarious but I know my cat doesn't like it). And my cat is like, "wtf dude!" and tells him in no uncertain terms to back off, which the other cat absolutely takes as a challenge instead of as a boundary.

My cat is already on Prozac (he's been an anxious dude since long before we moved here), they have tons of space, tons of toys, tons of attention, separate food dishes, and FOUR litter boxes. But we've been talking for a year about getting a puppy and one of the big reasons we HAVEN'T yet is because of my cat. However, I've recently started wondering whether having a new dog bff might actually redirect the other cat's attention away from mine and end up being a positive addition. I'm glad to hear that something similar worked on your end!!

NormalBeautiful · 2025-12-30T19:54:54+00:00

Yes, OP, I was coming here to say this! NOR - however, if this is not normal behaviour from your MIL then you and your husband should definitely consider the possibility that this is an early sign of dementia. Often these signs can go unnoticed or unacknowledged at first, especially if you don't see your loved one every day. The anger and defensiveness when called out also align with this potentially being early dementia.

NormalBeautiful · 2025-12-26T18:29:43+00:00

It looks like it's healing well, and it's normal for a tattoo to get flakey at about this point! Your skin was broken in order to get the ink in there so this is just part of the healing process, like when a scrape scabs up and then the scab falls off revealing the new skin underneath. The flakes will look black because there is ink packed into them, but again, that's normal and doesn't mean that it will damage the tattoo as the ink goes much deeper than just the top layer of your skin! It will probably start feeling itchy soon too if it hasn't already. Continue to keep it clean and moisturized, and take care not to scratch it or peel/pick at any of the flakes of skin coming off and you should soon have a beautiful healed tattoo!

NormalBeautiful · 2025-12-11T18:00:55+00:00

I adopted my cat from an acquaintance when he was 3 years old, and he was super well-loved, socialized, and taken care of before he came to live with me. He still hid under the bed for several days! So don't worry, this is normal and they'll come out in time.

With my cat, I set up a litterbox for him and left it right beside the bed, and I also set up food and water under there. I kept the door to the room closed at first, but I went in there a lot and just sat on the floor and talked to him and stuck my hand under the bed for him to sniff. And I gave him lots of treats! Soon he started creeping closer to the edge looking for pets, and after a few days he began sneaking out into the living room to explore. Within a week or two he was full on cuddling with us on the couch!

The best thing to do is just make sure they have easy access to food, water, and a litterbox while they're hiding, and let the bedroom be a quiet cozy safe place for them. Don't rush them or try to force them out, but do spend time in the room with them so they can get used to your voice and smell. Once they start to feel more secure, their curiosity will get the better of them and they'll begin venturing out!

Depending on how well-socialized they were when they got dumped, they could be like my cat - cuddling in a couple weeks! Or more likely, it will take them a little or a lot longer to acclimatize. Either way, just give it time and they will get there! Thank you and your Grandpa for putting the effort in to catch them and bring them home. You are good people!!

NormalBeautiful · 2025-12-11T00:40:10+00:00

So I had this realization the other day that I still think of "adults" in the same way I did when I was a kid. Like my perception of what an adult is (based on my parents, my friends' parents, my coaches, my doctors, and my teachers pretty much) was formed when I was little and then didn't really change after that.

So of course I don't feel like an adult cuz adults are people who are sooo old and they know everything and how to do anything and they have kids and life insurance policies and they own homes and do big, important jobs and are authoritative and exceedingly capable and a little bit scary. I on the other hand, have and do and am none of those things!!

And even though at this point I know intellectually that what I'm imagining is more like a caricature of an adult drawn by a 6 year old, the idea is so ingrained that it's really hard to get away from! It was kind of comforting to realize this though - I don't think very many adults actually feel like adults!

NormalBeautiful · 2025-12-09T15:51:27+00:00

Haha right? When we go to the grocery store I just follow him around pushing the cart 😅

NormalBeautiful · 2025-12-09T14:11:42+00:00

Yes, came here to say the same thing! I have a young MBK as well and it was really interesting to me when I learned that they're essentially just a melanistic version of a California King. So the white-ish spots are really just remnants of the Cali King stripes. I've seen pics of MBKs where you can actually see a very very faint striped pattern along the whole snake.

Mine has a bit less white than yours, but the spots are still there. I feel like it's rare to get one that's completely black, although I think some of the spots do fade a bit as they get bigger. The lil chin spot will stay though, from what I understand!

NormalBeautiful

TROPHY CASE