This is great advice. My partner does this, and he surprised me with an alexandrite ring I was drooling over. I was so delighted when he gave it to me, and it was such a thoughtful thing to do.

I can only speak to my own experience. Most of their communities I’ve seen are not a place where nuanced views are appreciated. I saw a particularly 4Chanesque take where a guy was trashing a girl he dated for her interest in astrology. He was more than fine supporting it and humoring it while they were together. Once dumped, though, he had to use it as an example of everything he had to be tortured with in the relationship.

I had a couple of things to say about that kind of attitude, but the whole of my response centered around learning to pick partners who are aligned with our own values and goals. They banned me because of my username. I have no idea why, other than making assumptions about my views and values in a negative way. A peep into my post history should suggest otherwise, but anyway.

I don’t have a lot of respect for people with strong views that are sensitive about having them challenged. It isn’t a good faith argument.

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

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.

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.

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

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.