People Will Really Be Bothered From You For Being Soft, And Living Life At Ease. I’m Sorry, I Don’t

(pics from Pinterest)

PA Rennisance Faire was so much fun this weekend. There was a ton of thought and design put into the shows and storyline. BoyToy and I had tons of fun goofing off together and trying out new swords, eating turkey legs, jerkeys, kettle corn, and pickles. We ended up not drinking this year (which is admittedly a bit unusual for both of us) and instead opted for lemonades and waters. My POTS did act up with the warm weather, but between Phobos and BoyToy helping me manage it, it didn't put too much of a damper on the day. We didn't get a ton of photos, mostly just too caught up in it all. Overall, a very very good day, and "One of the best dates I've ever been on" according to BoyToy.

People tell me my pets are skinny all the time, and keep in mind, my dogs come with me to work... In the clinic... My dogs are both easily 5/9 BCS dogs, with my Terrier being a 3/5 MCS (average pet muscling), and my Malinois being a 4-5/5 MCS (basically the maximum muscling you can achieve in a dog)

While I don't think everyone should maintain their dogs the way my mal looks, they absolutely should be maintaining the way my terrier looks, he is lean, healthy, and decently muscled.

I work in rehabilitation, and I see a LOT of CCL tears and Spinal discomfort, while Genetics and conformation play a big role in that, the biggest factor that you as an owner have? Is keeping them at an appropriate weight. I've had one patient who did a full CCL tear while at a healthy weight, and that dog also didn't do a partial tear or full tear on the opposite leg as we worked on healing the first one. She was also a performance dog who had this tear occur halfway through an agility course. Meanwhile, I almost exclusively see full tears when patients are above a 7/9 BCS and they're almost always accompanied by a partial tear or full tear in the opposite leg within 6 months.

Their recovery takes significantly longer, their prognosis is worse, and they often have even more issues come up in their spines, shoulders, and elbows during recovery because they have too much weight to effectively support on 4 legs, let alone 3 or 2 legs, resulting in secondary and tertiary injuries.

Obese pets aren't cute, and obese pets have worse health outcomes. Talk to your vet about your pet's BCS score and, if your vet evaluates it, MCS (Muscle Condition Score) and honestly discuss what the pet is eating, including toppers, treats, supplements, and actual volume of food. Also, you can use this calculator to calculate how much of your food you should be feeding as a baseline (not just trusting the bag amounts)

Pets are very commonly overweight. And very commonly the reason given will be ‘because my parents feed them more than they’re supposed to, and they won’t listen when I tell them to stop’.

And I sympathise. I understand. Parents are hard, especially when they still think of you as ‘their kid’ and not ‘grown adult with autonomy’. Getting your parent to change their behavior is very difficult.

My two cats have a scoop in their bag of food, and they get one scoop each for dinner. It’s a very simple system: 1 scoop 1 cat. If I notice they’re getting a bit podgy then I make the scoop a bit concave. If they’re looking a bit light, I give them a little extra breakfast. But dinner is always the same, never more than one scoop.

But last night I watch my mother (the very same woman that scolded me for my weight since I was ten) decide to feed the cats for me while I finished washing the dishes.

The cats follow her, mewing pathetically, as she carries the food bag to their bowls. And I watch, as she’s talking to me and making eye contact, while she gives one cat a slightly heaped scoop of food, and then the other.

And then, dear reader, she replaces the scoop into the bag, as though it’s the most natural thing in the world, and proceeds to give each cat an additional handful of food.

I was astounded. I was politely mortified that you just increased the cats’ meals by at least 80%. No wonder they’ve been podgy!

We had a polite but firm discussion about how that is a measured scoop in the bag, and have-you-been-feeding-that-much-the-whole-time, but I do not think she has listened. I think I will need to gently ban her from feeding the cats.

Hey, Jill Stein Voters, RFK Jr Voters, are you pleased? Are you happy? Screw all of womens's rights here at home, huh? You knew what you were doing. Now you've not only fucked yourself, you've also fucked the whole country, the whole world, the world economy, and helped kick off WW III. How good does it feel? Was it worth your fucking ego?

Here we go... BoyToy and I voted this morning, and he was the only one in his family to not vote Trump. I'm scared, thankfully, I have my IUD appointment next Monday, BoyToy is planning on a vasectomy for his 30th birthday (2 years from now). It's a very anxious night.

Being calm is a super power 🤍🌸

It's Tech Week! Feed your veterinary support staff, send them a nice little note, and as always, be kind to your vet staff.

Pay as you can Plan C Pill Protocols from $5, with future use pill protocols for $250. It's election season in the Post-Roe era. Pass it on for your sisters.