Thank you so much for mentioning Tailchaser’s Song! It is one of my favorite fantasy books.

It’s a slippery slope. I heard if you listen to too many sea shanties you will start aggressively lactating.

I’m curious why you assume almost all were willing participants. I’m also concerned with the use of the word “coerced”.

The promise of good money doesn’t ensure willingness, and just because workers are “street level” doesn’t mean they aren’t being exploited.

Depending on the company, you often have the option of either a group or a private cremation. Group cremation is what you described, but private cremation ensures you only get your pet’s ashes returned. The company my vet uses even offers the option for you to be present and view the cremation.

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Mental health is health, and treatment for these conditions are healthcare.

I used to work in veterinary medicine, and there are plenty of vaccine conspiracies in the pet owning community. They cause everything from seizures, to allergies, to autoimmune diseases, and more, according to some of these people. Breeders are a huge contributor to this, which leads to plenty of arguments with vets and pets running around unvaccinated.

It’s expensive to get litters of puppies vaccinated, and whackadoodle (I used “doodle” for a reason) theories are a great cover for why you are sending home a puppy with zero medical history outside of hand written worming dates. Unfortunately, it’s harder to educate people when it’s way cheaper to believe bullshit.

If the 400 cats (assuming domestic cats) can work together as a unit, then I believe they can do anything. Knowing cats, though, I’m going to back the other competitors.

Voter roles are registration are effective. I vote in almost every election, and they can tell my ballot status when I go in. My vote is tied to my address and other factors, so it seems like it would be clear if I wasn’t a legal citizen.

I also have to show a government ID when I vote, but it doesn’t seem like that’s made a big difference in the security of the elections I participate in.

God’s perfect killing machine is the pinnacle of cat “breeds”. It’s heartbreaking seeing people do to cats what we’ve done to dogs with selective breeding for purely cosmetic traits.

Facing the day can look like whatever you need it to to get to Tuesday. Getting up, taking care of your body by feeding it, drinking water, and practicing good hygiene can be enough. Caring for your mental health with compassion and understanding is also very important.

Doing what you need to do to keep yourself safe and comfortable is the top priority right now. Having a medical condition is not your fault, and it’s nothing you should feel any shame about. You’re not feeling well, and that means you need to give yourself the space and grace to heal and feel better. However you need to achieve this, as long as you aren’t harming yourself or others, is perfectly valid.

Please try to be kind to yourself and focus on healthy coping mechanisms. You have an appointment coming soon, and help is just a few days away. If you need emergency care in the meantime, that’s okay, too. You’ve got this. It takes strength to get this far, and you can do this, too. Please take care.

It’s a Gentle Leader. It doesn’t function like a muzzle, because it doesn’t inhibit a dog from biting. It’s basically a harness that attaches at the head. You can read more about them here: How to use the gentle leader

God, do I miss living alone sometimes.

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Absolutely. I moved from urban Southeastern Wisconsin to the upper peninsula of Michigan in a rural area. I love visiting that spot, and I got a job offer five years ago while on vacation. I snatched the opportunity to move to my favorite place and uprooted my life in under two months. I didn’t last two years before coming back.

The amount of times I got into verbal altercations with strangers and acquaintances over their use of racial slurs, most often the N-word, made me become a homebody. I was a bartender, though, so you can’t exactly hide.

That’s not to say I haven’t heard it in public all throughout Wisconsin. The difference was how comfortable people felt using these words and sharing openly racist views and stories like they were bragging about it. It felt like an area where people breathed a sigh of relief and took their hoods off. I couldn’t stomach staying in a place where certain friends of mine couldn’t comfortably visit.

Still, all that is nothing compared to what I saw and heard living in Tennessee. It’s sad and frightening how many communities are like this.

Won’t somebody think of the rapist’s feelings?

He’s gorgeous! It’s always hard to guess breed mixes based on appearance alone, as physical appearance is determined by such a small percentage of DNA. It’s always fun to guess, though! I’ve worked in various animal industries for years, and we always start a poll when someone submits their dog for DNA testing. My guess for the predominant breeds is either Belgian Malinois or German Shepherd, then Staffordshire terrier.

Congratulations on finding such a fantastic dog, and I hope you update us once his results are in!

And all lives matter, right? How else can we commandeer this conversation?

Hi, friend. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. It sounds like you’re really going through it.

I also deal with major depressive disorder. I’ve had severe panic attacks since I was a small child. My family situation was well below ideal, so my mental foundation is full of cracks. I can absolutely relate to the anhedonia and intrusive thoughts. I’ve even made a serious attempt, but I put too much faith in the integrity of my closet bar.

Have you considered inpatient treatment? When I was feeling like my only option was swinging by my neck again, I made the decision to check myself in. I figured I had literally nothing else to lose, so I surrendered. I went in at the height of covid, so the facility wasn’t operating as usual. I think the experience now would be better. Either way, though, taking a break from life for a week helped me refocus. I also got access to treatment options I didn’t know existed.

After I was discharged I entered into a partial hospitalization program. I had to go back from 8-3 every weekday to continue treatment. They monitored how my meds were working, and I spent a lot of time with people struggling with all kinds of issues. I found that to be really helpful. It put my own struggles in perspective, and I got the chance to talk with and help others in similar situations. All these years later, and I still keep in touch with some people I met in Don’t Kill Yourself School.

Once they were satisfied with my progress in partial, I progressed to what they call IOP. It was virtual meetings that took place 3 days a week with a therapist and group of people in treatment. It was a gradual reintroduction to my normal life. During all this time, I quit my toxic job that was ruining my mental health and got on meds that were actually working. I’m not going to lie, the work was hard. Very hard.

I continued seeing a therapist and took a months long course on dialectical behavioral therapy. It has its moments, but I didn’t find all the material to be particularly helpful. I have since switched therapists, and I’m doing trauma work with the hope of working my way up to EDMR.

This may not be for everyone, so please feel free to disregard this, but another hugely helpful treatment I discovered is psychedelic therapy. LSD and psilocybin have helped me get out of my well worn neuropathways and look at things differently. I honestly think these substances saved my life.

I hope you don’t mind me sharing my story with you, and I hope parts of it are helpful. When I was pondering committing myself, researching and reading other people’s experiences helped prepare me for what I would be dealing with. You have so many more options than you can see from the hole you’re in, and there is an entire community out there that is waiting to give you a hand up. It sucks hard right now, but that doesn’t mean it always will. I know you can do this. You’re intelligent, and the fact that you wake up every day and keep going shows your strength. If you can deal with everything you have been going through, you can absolutely handle the work it takes to change your life.

I hope you have a wonderful vacation. If you ever want to talk, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I would love to help in any way I can. Please take care. 💜

They make freeze dried raw salmon treats for dogs and cats. Mine go crazy for them!