u/Left-Marzipan-454

Received the following (shocking) email just now:

At Marro, we believe all cats deserve the best. That's why we're committed to making fresh food that's made with the highest quality ingredients - food we’re proud to serve our own cats. It’s also why we won't cut corners when costs rise.

We've worked hard to hold our prices steady since launching in July 2024, but to keep delivering the same quality you expect, we now need to make an adjustment. 

From 21st July, your daily food cost will change from £1.53 to £2.19 

What on earth? 50% up??

After revisions were requested for an article we submitted to a reputable social sciences journal, my co-author and I began working through the reviewers’ comments. My co-author offered to take over and revise the article themselves, as I did most of the work for the original submission.

Having now reviewed the full revised version, I am genuinely astonished by the extent of generative AI use. There is obvious AI residue in the response letter, which could easily have led to automatic rejection, as well as clear scaffolding throughout the manuscript: repetitive phrasing, endless “not x, but x” constructions, overuse of “rather”, and a general loss of voice and argument. I use AI myself for proofreading and VERY light editing, so this is not about moral panic or pretending that these tools do not exist. But this is something else entirely. I have never encountered this level of AI-shaped rewriting in a co-authored academic submission.

What should I do here? How does one deal with this kind of situation without blowing up the collaboration while also protecting the article? The journal is quite reputable by the way

Last October after a batsh*t anaphylactic episode that was triggered by something that still has not been identified as an allergy, I then developed a horrible case of gastroenteritis. What followed was a serious case of post-infectious IBS, raised calprotectin and a sudden inability to tolerate foods I used to eat without thinking — or even drink alcohol.

The first few months were genuinely awful. I had serious night-time pain that kept me awake, diarrhoea, and constant bowel problems. My stools would randomly become thin (and then return to normal) and almost every meal left me uncomfortable. My GP ordered full blood tests and several other investigations, including a FIT test, to see what was going on. October, November and December were simply u n b e a r a b l e. I am not exaggerating -- nothing seemed to work. Buscopan, probiotics, antispasmodics... nothing gave me proper relief. It felt like an uphill battle every single day.

Thankfully (by the end of November), the tests came back negative, and my calprotectin had dropped to below 40. That was reassuring, but symptom-wise I was still struggling badly.

By February, I honestly could not take it anymore. Christmas had been horrible. I was not drinking any alcohol, I avoided fatty foods, I exercised nonstop, and I was looking after myself as much as I could, but my gut still felt completely out of control. After trying almost everything, I spoke to a friend who works as a herbalist. They suggested oregano capsules. I felt I had nothing to lose at that point so I gave them a go.

About a week later, things finally started to feel different for the first time in months. My stomach felt calmer, and the constant pain around my descending colon began to subside. For the first time in around four months, I felt actual relief. Slowly, my stools started returning to normal too.

From February to April, I began reintroducing foods and alcohol, but very carefully and with clear limits. I still had occasional flares. My herbalist also suggested peppermint capsules for their antispasmodic effect. At the beginning, I was taking three oregano capsules and three peppermint capsules per day and I kept that up for the first two months.

Between May and June, I gradually started lowering both doses. That was q hard, both physically and psychologically, because I had no idea how my body would respond. I did get them flares here and there. Nothing too serious, but I still had bloating and occasional feelings of incomplete emptying.

Then in June, things finally felt normal again for the first time since November. My body responded well to tapering off, and most importantly, I managed to stop both supplements completely. It has now been a whole month where I can drink normally, eat normally, and everything goes down perfectly well, with no symptoms at all. I am very careful with spices, but that's not really a big issue.

I am not posting this because I think I have special knowledge or because I am telling anyone what to do. I just wanted to share my journey. Different things work for different people, and what helped me may not help someone else. But more than anything, I wanted to say that there is hope. When you are in the middle of it, it can feel endless. I felt completely broken by it at times. But things can improve. I really feel for anyone going through this!

Hi all. I wanted to ask how vets usually approach this kind of feline behaviour. Someone I know is currently dealing with an unneutered male cat in their area. The cat appears to be roaming the neighbourhood (q literally) and repeatedly mounting and sexually coercing other cats, including adult cats and much younger ones. Some of the younger cats are around 3 to 4 months old, and this is apparently happening almost daily. The person dealing with this described it as a clear case of 'rape' and argued that it is abnormal feline behaviour. They also said that, in all their years around cats, they have never seen anything like it, and that they see it as equivalent in many ways to human sexual violence.

I am trying to understand how vets would frame this. Is this behaviour considered within the known range of unneutered male cat behaviour, especially when testosterone levels are high and the cat may be stray or abandoned? Or would repeated mounting of very young cats be seen as abnormal behaviour, sexual aggression, dominance, or maybe something else?

To be clear, I am not suggesting that it should be ignored. The male cat should be separated from the younger cats and neutered as soon as possible. I am just trying to understand the veterinary and behavioural terminology / whether “rape” is considered an accurate term in this context or vets would use terms such as forced mating.

Any evidence-based veterinary or behaviourist perspective would be appreciated.