u/ClenchedThunderbutt

I’ve developed some mildly uncomfortable crepitus in my knee that’s put me off squatting heavy for the time being. I’m not looking for medical advice; I‘ll eventually see a physiotherapist if it doesn’t resolve itself with rest.

What I would like, in the meantime, is a routine that covers a wide base of smaller leg muscles to support the primary movers and knees. I’ve struggled with hip mobility, in particular, for a long time, which wasn’t improved by squatting low or practicing yoga, so I want to try something more direct to target what I imagine are weak accessory muscles.

I purchased a pet fountain for my cats several weeks ago and they haven’t touched it. I was replacing water and rinsing the thing daily on top of washing every nook and cranny with soap every several days. One, they haven’t touched it once. Two, I let it run over a weekend because they weren’t drinking out of it, and when I went to clean the thing and replace the filter at the two week mark, after 3-4 days of running straight, it was lousy with pink slime.

No idea, at this point, if it’s worth the effort on top of their normal water bowls they barely touch. I’d love for them to drink more water, but it doesn’t seem like I can force it. Current plan is to keep at it until the filters run out and then toss it if there’s no change. Any thoughts or advice?

Getting through tier 1 felt like it was largely an exercise in building a balanced team with an emphasis on healing. In tier 2, it’s feeling like there’s a bigger emphasis on surviving strong hits, particularly by round 60+. I had a run where I’d lose half my roster to a single rhino. Theoretically, I had a lot of tanky taunters in zombies and liches, but I’d just start losing all the squishy damage dealers/healers the moment the round started. Ultimately wiped at Killipede after spending like 5k in juices. What’s the general strategy here?

I’m in the market for a new vacuum, and I’ve got my eyes on the Sebo E3. Several local dealers, online retailers, and even Sebo directly selling them for the same price. I’d like to go put my hands on one, but it seems like online retailers are offering the best deals with free shipping, 10% discount with sign ups, sales tax savings, choice of color, etc.

So what I want to know is how much leeway local vendors generally have in finalizing a deal quickly and what sort of experience you’ve had in going through locals vs online. Given that it’s a popular model, I could see them having little incentive in entertaining any kind of haggling, but I’m also going to take the best deal available.

I have 9-year-old cat that had higher than normal kidney values caught in a routine blood screen at his yearly checkup in April. A follow-up screening a few weeks ago showed consistent elevation, so the vet diagnosed him with CKD. He thinks it's early in the disease process and recommended a therapeutic diet. Cat is asymptomatic.

I've been portioning my cats's meals by weight for a while, and I've been maintaining him at a healthy weight of 10lbs on about 200kcal/day at 40% protein, if I've done my math correctly. That's about 20g a day.

Looking at the Hill's K/D recipe, it's roughly 30% protein and 182 kcal for a 5.5oz can, which is about 14g of protein.

If I kept him at the same caloric intake, I would either need to portion out multiple cans or supplement a full can a day with some additional calories. I've been reading that egg whites are a high-quality protein with low phosphorous and can be a decent supplement, though I don't know if adding protein to a therapeutic diet is productive. I think filling the gap with egg whites would bring protein to 17g/day. A ~25% reduction in daily protein without feels significant, but it also seems like the point?

I'm also trying to figure out a bridge between his diet and his sister's. They've been eating the same food for a while, and that system was working well and convenient. I'm thinking that while she doesn't need to be on a therapeutic diet, it might be prudent to start transitioning her onto something more suitable for seniors.

I am currently talking with my vet, but I wouldn't mind y'all's input.

I'm also attaching the results from the two labs.

April

July

EDIT: I was able to get a bunch more pertinent info from the vet and feel much more confident in his diagnosis. It helped corresponding over email, since I could organize my questions and he could answer them carefully.

——

I'm not looking for specific medical advice, I'm just trying to interpret my vet's thought process, and that's been difficult over the phone. I've requested the labs, which should tell me specifics, but there unfortunately isn't a baseline because my little dude only just got his first screening this year after turning 9. Doc said creatine and BUN were very borderline, so I returned after several months for a second reading. BUN dropped, but creatine was just a little higher than it had been, and so he felt more confident in CKD and recommended a restrictive diet.

Thing is, my little dude is a happy and healthy cat. I've seen no changes in his behavior or any troubling signs. Truthfully, he's seemed healthier the past several years than he's ever been, and I am really struggling to understand if aggressively altering his diet is the prudent course of the action based off two screenings.

Part of that frustration is the only way to measure improvement following that action is through repeat screenings, which will do a great job of showing that he's on that low protein/phosphorous diet. And let's say there's no changes across multiple screenings. Does that mean we prevented renal failure? Does that mean he was fine the whole time?

I feel guilty venting about this because I know a lot of people here would have wished to have caught the damn thing early enough to do more about it. I've gone through that agony myself watching cancer eat my dog, but that was so damn expensive, and this is expensive, and it's going to upend this cat's favorite thing in the whole world and lead to complications related to eating less nutritious food. Because of slightly elevated kidney levels. That it's uncertain is a blessing, I know, but still... I don't know what to do.

I love this little guy:

https://preview.redd.it/zwz20658kpeh1.jpg?width=1871&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52012ae668de6ebd27a60353c1c9c1e8c321d3d6

2008 Honda Civic 1.8L R18A

Driving through a neighborhood several days ago and my engine cut out when I started to pull forward from a complete stop at a stop sign.

• I was able to get it going again with a power cycle.
• No engine light or any other warnings.
• Drove it home without further incident.
• Drove it tonight to a nearby parking lot to test similar driving conditions and couldn't reproduce the issue.

First, I asked an ex-mechanic friend to take a quick look, and the make of the engine apparently makes it difficult to rule out a few very visible causes.

I called a professional mechanic earlier this morning to set up an appointment. He was very helpful but explained to me that it's unlikely a single incident would trigger any diagnostics to read on their end and that, understandably, they wouldn't tear apart my car if they couldn't reproduce the issue.

I also dealt with a similar issue several years ago when my engine would shut off whenever I stopped the car. I think the cause was some kind of valve or air intake thing; I wish I could remember. I brought that up, but the mechanic didn't seem to think it would be the culprit again.

I guess my question is whether an otherwise healthy engine can trigger a fault like that once and then never again. The sort of way a computer can blue screen once and it not be a recurring issue. I'm worried to have a repeat incident in traffic, but it also sounds like there's only so much a mechanic can do without an established pattern.

We’re staffed for busy periods, and probably overstaffed this year due to a lack of business for obvious reasons. I understand the importance of occasionally reinforcing working standards, but cracking down on not looking busy creates an incentive to work slower. If KPIs are enforced to prevent that, then you’ll have a lot more dead time.

It’s a small company and I know my managers are likely trying to avoid hour cutting, furloughs, or layoffs, but we have an egregiously unproductive employee or two that haven’t been let go despite a dozen write-ups at this point. Mixed messages compounding the issue since we’re less busy between us by sharing the workload and all getting put on notice for their behavior.

I’m just venting. This is really the only negative about the place, and it’s been pretty fair and relaxed otherwise.