u/bunnbarian

I’m thinking about adopting a 7-8 year old deaf white cat.

I called the humane society to ask some questions about her, and I was warned that the cat has a serious bite history. The cat has to be adopted out to an adult only single cat household.

The owners surrendered the cat due to financial hardship and didn’t report any biting pre-surrender. So it seems like the biting is happening mostly due to the overstimulating shelter environment. The lady on the phone said it’s not a question of if the cat will bite, but when.

This cat has been in the shelter for 5 months. Has anyone encountered a similar situation? Could the behavior change, or is that wishful thinking on my part? Does the biting just connect to the deafness or would it be a totally separate behavioral issue?

I’d appreciate any insight. Thank you!

40F here. My low back has been bothering me since December 2025.

In that month, I did two things that I feel like created/exacerbated the pain. 1) I got a low back tattoo on the other side of my back/right lovehandle zone. The tattooer was very slow and I had to lay on my stomach for several hours for two sessions while they leaned on my back/butt. 2) I planted a bunch of bulbs in my garden (so shoveling for a several hour session).

The pain mostly feels to the left side of the spine. Especially at the beginning, it felt like it was in the muscle (like upper glute into the lower back), like a strain or something that needs to loosen or click back into place.

The pain is constant and dull. If I lay down (especially on the couch or on the floor, on either my back or side), I will occasionally experience a sharp pain on that left side. The sharp pain goes away quickly but feels deep and like something isn’t right.

I work out 5-6 times a week, so this year I’ve been incorporating a lot of yoga and stretching into my routine. During workouts, I modify all ab moves that would have me elevate my legs (like a jackknife) and keep my feet planted on the floor because elevating the legs is one of the things that seems to trigger the pain.

I get a massage every three weeks and the therapist primarily works on my upper and lower back. My upper back gets a lot looser and feels great, but I do not experience lower back improvement after the massage.

Now that I’m six months into this with no improvement, am I at the point where I need to see a doctor/get an X-ray? I was hesitant to seek out help initially because I thought it was just a strain that would gradually improve but now it’s feeling like it’s been too long, and I don’t want to be stubborn if it could get worse.