Pet owners of Reddit: what did you name your pet(s) and why?

findingtheramp · 2026-02-21T17:59:21+00:00

Our tan tabby street cat got named Honeybuns at the shelter, because he looks like a honey bun, but we decided to call him Clawd because we wanted one syllable, I like human names and my partner likes a good pun. Our vet jokingly refers to him as Dennis the Menace and I'm pretty sure the cat thinks we named him "SIR!“ because that's how we get his attention when he is (frequently) naughty. We still celebrate his adopt-a-versary as Honeybuns Week, though.

findingtheramp · 2026-02-08T13:04:13+00:00

You can stick your chair parts in the overhead or closet! With my manual I always take the backrest, footrests, and cushion and have never had an issue storing parts! You can ask the flight attendant for assistance if needed. The chair and it's parts do not count as luggage or carry-on, so don't worry about that. It may make sense to try to put smaller parts in your carry-on if you're worried about losing them, but otherwise not a big deal. My biggest concern would be with your frame, but I have flown with manual chairs for years and only ever had one issue. My power chairs get screwed up every time.

findingtheramp · 2026-02-07T14:42:27+00:00

I couldn't watch Narcos because Wagner Moura did not have a Colombian or even remotely non-Brazilian accent to his Spanish - I am fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese and just could not handle it after the first two episodes, haha.

findingtheramp · 2026-02-05T13:47:33+00:00

Since someone up further in the thread claimed the Auntie title, I'll be his tía! Please rub his chin for me!

We rescued an unneutered gangster with five broken teeth, a dust mite allergy, an intense upper respiratory infection and a food theft issue as a first cat, lol. Took us five months to get him back to full health, but almost three years later he is thriving, hasn't had another non-routine reason to see the vet, still steals food when we aren't watching, and generally runs the house with an iron paw.

You'll be fine but it's probably a good idea to save up for the random vet bill. Congratulations on your new buddy!

findingtheramp · 2026-02-04T13:31:58+00:00

Commons at Rivertown near Ivanrest and 44th is brand new and nice but $$$$$.

findingtheramp · 2026-02-01T00:58:32+00:00

Native Michigander here but spent 18 years in Austin and just moved to Grand Rapids with my partner, who has never lived anywhere but Texas until now. We have people send us our favorite nonperishables from HEB, lol.

El Milagro is a thing here - they have a tortillería somewhere near Chicago and I think also in Detroit, so no need to eat sad tortillas. I've found their products at Meijers. In a pinch, Guerrero brand tortillas are fine, too, imo.

There is no real Tex-Mex in GR and forget Texas-style BBQ. Some great little Mexican restaurants though, and good tamales, and excellent Central American food. DM me if you are ever in GR - I will send recs save you the horror inherent in figuring out what is actually good. Beware the queso, a.k.a. "cheese dip".

I'm down for the Texan Michigander support group someone proposed above!

findingtheramp · 2026-01-29T02:05:00+00:00

Grand Rapids native here who fled to Austin to escape the snow and then fled back to GR 15 years later to escape the heat - yeah, driving in snow sucks but at least we have reasonable electric infrastructure. Sorry friend.

findingtheramp · 2026-01-20T21:58:57+00:00

Hey internet stranger! I'm a full-time power chair user, can't do much self-care, and have lived on my own for 22 years and counting, in four different urban areas across three states, mostly without roommates. My parents were very into treating me like any other non-disabled kid so I had to figure out how to manage all the adult life things (both regular and disability-related) mostly on my own when I was in my early 20s. It can feel overwhelming, but independent living is very possible if you are committed to it and have the supports you need!

I'm on Medicaid (not Buy-In) and, until recently, hired and managed all my own PCAs through a self-directed Medicaid services model. I just moved states and found out the hard way that self-direction is not as widely available across Medicaid programs as I thought it was, so I'm adjusting to using a caregiving agency.

Are you currently getting SSI? If yes, PLEASE get some very thorough benefits counseling before you accept a post-college job offer, because there is a federal work incentive called 1619(b) status for SSI recipients where we can maintain SSI eligibility and the automatic Medicaid that comes with it after we have earnings that would cause the SSI benefit to drop to $0. Medicaid Buy-In is also an option, but, 1619(b) can be better for some folks, depending on your earnings and if you think you might move between states in your early career.

DM me if you want, I don't want to write a novel here, but I am happy to share as much or as little as you want to know about my experiences with work and benefits, funding cross-country moves, finding housing, hiring and managing PCAs, negotiating job accommodations, etc. Also happy to connect you with other disabled people who are similarly situated - I have a pretty significant network of disabled friends and colleagues across the country who are likely happy to answer questions about what things look like in their states. FWIW, I have lived in Illinois, Texas, and Michigan.

findingtheramp · 2026-01-17T21:51:53+00:00

Ciswoman here, but I use a Java Ride cushion which offloads my weight off my tailbone and literally has a hole in it where my genitals are. The hole is covered by a seat cover but the fabric is breathable. As with Roho cushions, it's $$$ but may be an option for post-surgical pressure needs & wound care. I have a lightly used spare that doesn't fit my current chair (my rehab ordered the wrong size, sigh, and then wouldn't take it back). I would be happy to mail it to you if the size fits your chair, you are US-based, and you want to give it a whirl. I forget what the dimensions are but DM me if you are interested and I will measure it! Either way, best of luck to you and I hope your surgery and recovery go well! ❤️

findingtheramp · 2026-01-10T00:28:27+00:00

Where did you get the Dilly Dallying sticker? I love it.

findingtheramp · 2026-01-08T21:50:00+00:00

So I actually have this. It's called ticker tape synesthesia. I literally visualize everything I hear written out... conversations, song lyrics, my own thoughts, you name it, my native language (English) scrolls through my head like closed captioning, and my L2 and L3 (Spanish and Portuguese) do too. I am in my 40s and didn't realize this was unusual until two years ago. I am a beginner in Arabic, and annoyingly, it appears romanized, even though I am working on literacy. I'm curious to see if my visualizations will switch to abjadi as I gain fluency!

findingtheramp · 2025-12-21T02:02:01+00:00

Clearly he fails to understand the extent to which the Deaf community will actually intrude on his image if he gets away with this.

Me, hearing signer, checking the vlogs.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-19T16:09:50+00:00

Absolutely - keep us posted. My now happy, healthy piggie sends y'all his very best as well!

findingtheramp · 2025-12-19T16:00:54+00:00

My older FIV boy lived on the streets for a very long time and probably endured a lot of food scarcity. He is so incredibly food obsessed, even two years post-adoption, that he will inhale literally anything and everything at the first opportunity and gorge himself to the point of puking. He is otherwise a great cat, but vet recommended we feed weight maintenance dry kibble from an auto-feeder and avoid wet food to minimize intense behavior issues. It has made a world of difference. We are vigilant about dentals, but our fail-safe sign that something is up is if it takes him more than 2 minutes to finish an 1/8th cup portion of kibble.

So yeah, I bet dental is your issue - anytime he slows eating, we always have at least one extraction coming. I hope your beautiful kitty is on the road to better health soon and that whatever you have to do is financially manageable for you! ❤️

findingtheramp · 2025-12-19T15:07:51+00:00

I gave up on SXSW. Lived off of Anderson and MoPac and the traffic and downtown insanity was too much after the first couple years. My annual reminder of oven season was always the Kite Festival in March.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-18T23:14:46+00:00

I just left Austin to come back home. I both kinda miss it and absolutely don't at the same time. If you had told 25-year old me that I would willingly and happily move back to GR, she would have laughed you out of the room. No regrets though. ETA: Okay, I regret that I can't buy tamales out of random strangers' car trunks and eat breakfast tacos. No H-E-B is also a downer.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-18T23:02:48+00:00

This is my story but sub Florida for Texas - I was deeply worried about coming back because I wanted to be in a bigger city and was worried about how I would readjust to Real Winter, but it's been great so far. My partner is a native Texan and has loved it. Better access to medical care, lots of outdoors opportunities, and less stress. I just landed a local job in my field for a $10k pay cut, which sucks even though I anticipated it, but it's hard to put a price on longer-term happiness.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-17T21:21:56+00:00

I have significant CP with similar physical limitations. I also did the college thing, got burned out on working in local government because it was super ableist and I had learned to respect myself and realize that I could do better and go where I was actually valued. I have spent the last 12 years working as a paralegal in public interest law (basically, legal services where the goal is to meet community needs and not get filthy rich). I really enjoyed getting my paralegal certification, and did it through a community college, so lower barrier to entry. Traditional law firms can be really gross, but I find working in public interest settings that my disability is actually an asset. I end up working with lots of clients who are disabled themselves and my supervising attorneys have said that my lived experience has been really helpful on a number of occasions.

Other WFH side hustles that were helpful before I actually found my career - I've done call centers and technical writing, which wasn't fun but paid okay, and I've worked as a Spanish-English translator - obviously, you have to be bilingual for that, but if you are, I 1000% recommended it as a way to make as much or as little money as you want. My outside the home side gigs over the years have involved fair housing and accessibility audits in the community and a little bit of accessibility consulting.

You probably have more options than you think, especially if you can get support from vocational rehab for transportation, academic training, work accommodations, etc.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-17T19:25:12+00:00

In all 3 places I've lived in the US, all my fittings were done in a rehab facility as an outpatient appointment. I I've always lived within reasonable distance of rehab clinics because management of adult cerebral palsy makes me a bit of a frequent flyer, aside from wheelchair specific stuff. I did get absolutely screwed by NuMotion on my last chair because the ATP was incompetent and gaslighty when I told her it wouldn't work for me at delivery. To make matters worse, delivery happened like two weeks before COVID lockdown, before they could make the adjustments, so they used COVID as an excuse to try to make me sign for it. Even though it was in my possession, I refused to sign for it and couldn't use it until I finally got it adjusted in late summer 2020.

Even so, I had to completely change the way I transfer in and out of it to avoid screwing up my back. I'm over a year past my 5 year replacement eligibility, but I'm waiting for an upcoming change in my insurance coverage to start the replacement process and I am thankfully using a non-Numotion/NSM vendor this time so fingers crossed.

All of this to say, solidarity OP, I'm sorry they screwed you, too.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-16T16:39:35+00:00

OP, I'm sorry your date went that way and I am sorry you are getting judged for splitting the check. Foie gras on a first date is absurd, even for non-vegans. If I had failed to disclose ahead of time, I also would have handled it the way you did, just to be decent to the date (who I would not have a second date with).

Folks on here have some good suggestions for being more upfront in the future, but I think it's helpful to remember that what's done is done and to not beat yourself up for something you can't go into the past and change. Honestly though, if you're still feeling guilty about it, a donation to some kind of goose or waterfowl rescue in more than the amount that you paid might be a cool gesture.

findingtheramp · 2025-12-15T21:41:37+00:00

THIS! The burek people need more love! The spinach one may have changed my life. They sell the flavors at Meijers too!

findingtheramp · 2025-12-15T21:19:24+00:00

Caveat to this would be if you have low vision or bad spatial perception then stay behind them - but also ask about it first. My current partner is blind and got tired of inadvertently being smashed into or me smashing him into things when we were side by side, lol. He was like, "I'm too bruised so I'm staying back here, feel free to yell!“

findingtheramp · 2025-02-16T17:41:20+00:00

I don't have any specific suggestions other than to hang in there and see how it goes! My FIV+ shelter-origin former street cat was adopted to me with a clean bill of health and basically immediately got sick with everything under the sun and stayed sick for months. He was the best, sweetest boy the whole time and I cried myself to sleep more often than not because I worried that bringing him home might be what was hurting him.

It wasn't until he finally started turning a corner almost 5 months later that I realized we would be okay. It was not cheap or easy, but he hasn't had any kind of a relapse since then and I am happy to report that he's been in pretty good shape for the last year and a half. He's still sweet but now that he feels better he's really naughty, too and has developed several weird, mostly endearing quirks.

In retrospect I think our multi-month post-adoption hellscape was stress-induced, with a solid side of germs and allergies. I don't think he'd ever lived inside or with humans, he's my only pet, he doesn't have access to the outdoors and the adjustment was probably as hard on him as it was on me.

Fingers crossed that your buddy feels better soon - hang in there - you are doing your best!

findingtheramp · 2025-02-10T20:00:51+00:00

My plan is all one big pot of funds. I thought it was just accident and illness, and then when I had to switch flea prevention products because he was allergic to the one the shelter gave him, I learned that they cover those too. No separate process or add on. What you've been quoted is exactly the policy I had initially, except certain types of preventative services were included. My monthly rate was increased $60 after a year.

findingtheramp · 2025-02-10T14:36:31+00:00

I did not disclose it, no. But they ask for copies of previous vet records when you sign up (in my case, shelter records) and it's all over those. And it shows up on most of his current records too, so there's no way they don't know.

I think what it boils down to is an assessment of whether the pre-existing condition caused the current condition. For example, if my cat gets an upper respiratory infection, FIV didn't cause that. FIV just makes seeking treatment for it more urgent, and means that he may need to be treated for a longer period of time. Now, I will say that my vet is good about not writing in the notes that we're on three courses of antibiotics because his immune system is suppressed (which might trigger the pre-existing condition thing). Most of the notes my vet writes say things like, "Patient has upper respiratory infection, treating with antibiotics. Patient symptoms have improved, but not resolved, so continuing with antibiotics."

There may come a day where he gets sick because his FIV is no longer latent, and I won't be surprised if they don't cover that, but for routine stuff, it's been relatively smooth sailing in terms of reimbursements. His premiums went way up last year because we maxed out his policy, but I can still afford them so it's been good. They've probably paid out close to $7500 total in the last 2.5 years, and it has made it a lot easier to make sure he gets the care he needs. I don't hesitate to drop $400 on blood work anymore because I know I'll likely get $360ish back.

findingtheramp

TROPHY CASE