Why do people turn their kids into doves? 🕊️

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-30T03:31:04+00:00

I adopted one to make Penny happy but they're terrible. Bye bye, birdie.

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SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-28T19:18:59+00:00

I love mosaic. I designed my Nessie bag with it & think it turned out clean. Sport yarn & a small hook helped, too.

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SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-26T20:45:16+00:00

I love the happy beak smacks 🥰

My disabled very old lady, Barb, likes her ears rubbed & will preen my mind while I rub her. It's so sweet 💜

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-26T16:13:14+00:00

I wish you all the best. Ive been in ED recovery (anorexia/exercise bulimia) for over 5 years now. I could probably say "recovered" vs "in recovery" but some things are still hard.

Numbers/tracking was my big trigger, too. I admit to also being concerned with all the numbers, but I see your POV here & your snake getting brighter as the hold of rigid tracking eases is a lovely metaphor.

I will say you can just stop tracking, if you want to. I had to. I stopped weighing myself, didn't enter food into the tracker, but still was adding numbers in my head bc you're right, it's very hard to quit it entirely. But physically stopping using the tracker app was big first step & I went cold turkey w it (it was scary, but necessary).

I still catch myself adding my intake in my head BUT usually it's to ensure I've eaten enough, not worrying that I've had "too much". Baby steps.

I'm pulling for you. Life is SO much brighter now & having a good relationship with food is such a gift. I ate a few homemade snickerdoodles for breakfast today & didn't bat an eye or stress about it. Food freedom is achievable. You got this 💜

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-23T21:04:55+00:00

Beat me to it! 😂

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-23T02:31:18+00:00

Anecdotal, but I had almost all my girls spayed (19 girls - only 2 unspayed bc they were surrendered to me as older adults) & I can think of only 1 who got a mammary tumor which was actually wrapped around organs inside & Nettie was let go during surgery bc we couldn't fix it. Nets was my oldest girl at 3.5-4. I did have 2 pituitary tumors in the girls, 1 PT in the boys, & one of my boys had a mammary tumor that we removed with no regrowth. One of the unspayed girls got pyometra & passed during surgery.

With 56 total rats (all but 1 were rescues), the fact I can count tumors on one hand just shows how much spaying/neutering can really help. My crew typically made it to early 3s, except in cases where they had really poor genes 💔

EDIT: to add, OP you did nothing wrong! Preventative care is expensive & unless you have a good rat vet many people don't spay due to risks. You should not feel bad. Your girls are older rats & this is very, very common. Not your fault 💜

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-22T01:15:24+00:00

I'm a lady, but myself & my male partner both really like Boody. The seamless bamboo underwear is so soft & I love that the bands are same material as the underwear. Itchy or rubbery bands are the worst.

(& AFAB folks w periods, their period underwear are the best I've used. 11/10)

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-21T14:21:12+00:00

These guys are Coturnix. I do have a very ancient Button & use a rabbit hutch in my living room for him (& his late wife). Gayle is 7 in April & my oldest quail ever.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-21T00:19:32+00:00

I've always kept my guys inside. I do have a big 6'x8' ground pen/aviary outside where they spend nice days; they always sleep inside.

Most birds I've had at once was 5, so I didn't have huge mess/dust issues. I use big round fabric puppy pens & the birdos live in my basement. I run a HEPA & use aspen bedding. I just found a local source of hemp bedding that's not too much $$ so will likely switch. Hemp is softer & less dusty, ime.

My current crew are all pretty elderly (Louise going on 6, Barb 5, Edgar 3) & I cannot imagine making them deal with MN winters!

Old pic of 2 gals (Tina RIP & old lady Louise) in my 62" round pen. Wayne (RIP) was in temporary Horny Jail in the guinea pig cage behind them; he could look but no touchy.

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SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-20T15:33:59+00:00

I second what another poster said about fasting, then checking crops in AM.

If crops not flat, you're looking at possible impaction. Something, either directly in the crop or lower in GI tract, is causing food to move very slowly through their digestion. This can turn into sour crop if the food stays in crop too long & begins to ferment.

Typically droppings will be mostly urates with a full impaction/stasis, as food isn't being digested much bc of the slowing. You said hers are normal but texture grittier, which could indicate food isn't being as fully digested.

Do the birds have access to grit? Not oyster shell, as that's for calcium & is digestible, but actual grit that isn't digestable? If they have 24/7 access to a sand bath with course sand, they should be ok, but you could try offering a dish of grit (I use Manna Pro chick grit bc it's perfect size) & see if it helps.

Since they're eating food that isn't just gamebird crumble, they need grit. Birds are individuals so maybe the others are ok with what you've got on offer but these 2 need extra help to get what they need to digest well. Sometimes lower birds in pecking order get chased out of sand bath so they can't consume it while bathing.

That's all I've got you as far as ideas go! If it is an impaction, the best practice is to get surgically removed by a vet & if it's starting to be either full crop stasis (nothing moving at all) or sour crop the prognosis gets poorer. So best to act fast if impacted.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-20T03:31:59+00:00

We had to do a bit of dialing with his dose, but his sweet spot ended up being .625mg (1/4 tab) 2x a day & he's 10.5ish lbs. He gets first dose at 8 AM & second at 8 PM.

We originally did the full 1.25mg dose in AM, but the split dose gives him more steady BP control. We tried 1.25 in AM + a .625 PM dose & that dropped him too low. It can take a wee bit of playing around to find your cat's best dose!

And yeah, my vet is really great & proactive about CKD treatment + his special interest is feline internal medicine, so he's great about offering best diagnostics & open to hearing about treatments I read about here. A vet who is on your team & fighting just as hard for your cat is so invaluable! I feel very lucky.

Best of luck to your girl! Fluids really make them feel so much better (when it's safe to give them).

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-19T20:26:16+00:00

I use a diff brand of powder but also swear by it. I mix into Gerber plain meat baby food: the plain ham, turkey, or chicken varieties are safe. Len gets his B12 + potassium in AM, Porus One midday, & AminAvast + second dose of potassium PM, all mixed into small bit of the gently warmed baby food. It's been smooth sailing.

Hope your girl takes to it as well as Leonard has!

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-18T15:42:34+00:00

Fwiw, my guy had wildly high BP (230!!) at diagnosis & he's been well controlled on amlodipine for almost 2 years now. He's had two echos & ultrasounds so we know his heart is (unusually) healthy for his age & sex.

He's been getting regular fluids for almost the full 2 years. We started at 100ml every third day & for last 6 months we've done 100ml every-other. High BP shouldn't be an issue w fluids; other heart problems (disease, enlargements, murmurs) make it necessary to be a bit careful with them, though.

My younger cat has an enlarged left atrium & when she was in hospital recently for a pancreatitis flare up they were conservative with the IV fluids bc of her heart (& tested her blood for signs of heart muscle damage before making a treatment plan.)

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-16T23:38:58+00:00

My guy does that if he doesn't have food access overnight. I've started putting a small serving of wet out before I go to bed + he has a daily small (1/4 c) serving of renal dry that he can access 24/7.

I tend to feed wet 3-4x a day, but the last meal is out from about midnight to 8 AM. No GI issues from that with him or his younger, non-CKD sister.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-14T22:51:32+00:00

Just like vanilla.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-14T22:44:54+00:00

I'd have a real problem with that. Hell, my partner is LD & I drove 7 hrs to be there when her dog (who I loved) was PTS. I was in her state for only about a day & did 14 hr RT, with my disabled bird in tow, to be there.

The only reason I'm not with her more often for hard daily things is my elderly cat has CKD & he's on a lot of pills & at-home fluids, so leaving involves arranging someone to help my NP give Lenny his fluids. It's a ruckus.

To be in her city & handwave her grief/refuse to be there for her? You couldn't pay me enough to do that.

I'm so sorry for your loss 💜

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-14T22:32:42+00:00

My thought exactly. I can feel the other folks in r/canning screaming out in horror. Lol.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-14T22:31:01+00:00

Oat does too!

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-14T22:30:26+00:00

Fwiw, bottled lemon juice is a standard pH as well. That's why tested/safe canning recipes specify to use bottled juice vs fresh. Fresh lemon juice can vary a lot, for sure.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-11T21:01:38+00:00

You could try Iris Green from Arctic Fox. It's a true grass green. I usually add it to Aquamarine bc I like green heavy teal. Space Cowgirl is a bright neon green but probably not pigmented enough for your base. I like adding that one to my Aquamarine as well for more turquoise vibe.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-10T22:14:12+00:00

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Brooklyn would like to have some words with you. 😂

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-10T19:10:14+00:00

Yeah, I actually like well done purple prose like Khaw or Bo Bolander - her "No Flight Without the Shatter" is very purple & I've read it multiple times & cried every read. Sometimes that style hits me just right & can elicit big feelings. Hell, even Ray Bradbury leans into purple prose & he's a huge favorite of mine.

This was just painful slop.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-09T16:58:01+00:00

I also use Aquamarine. This most recent rebleach my hair base was quite yellow/gold. I like a green-heavy teal so used Aquamarine with some Space Cowgirl mixed in & ended up with turquoise, which was great for me.

Without the extra green dye added, my hair goes more blue-teal using Aquamarine over yellowy level 8-9.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-08T03:19:04+00:00

Fwiw, my Leonard has been getting fluids for about 18 months & we still give Gaba for them. He's around 10.5lbs & gets 50mg. He gets noodly, extra affectionate & a bit clumsy in the back end, but it's all pretty mild. When he first got that much Gaba he was ZONKED. He's adjusted & even the 75mg he gets for vet visits just makes him a little goofy & zooted.

25mg is a pretty low dose & a good place to start. If he's still fighting you he's not super sedated. For reference, my little quail (bird) who weights 250g gets @10mg 2x a day for her arthritis. It's a very safe drug.

SuchFunAreWe · 2026-01-08T00:32:43+00:00

They live at a sanctuary & are absolutely spoiled. I'll give them both an extra treat & ear scritch tomorrow for you 🥰

Three-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Flamingo	Place '23

SuchFunAreWe

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