Cats going deaf don't know their volume. When mine was near the end, I took her on middle of the night walks around the neighborhood, and I let her sleep on the bed. I certainly had the nights where she'd be yowling, and then look at me (noticing I am right here) and give a quiet "meh". I've seen ideas of having lights on, or night lights. Probably a good idea. Or at least a cat bed in that corner, with a favorite blanket, or an old shirt that you wear for a bit before putting it down as bedding.

The weight loss is a concern, though. Mine did that on the last year of her life, due to hyperthyroidism, then the slow death of kidney failure. I knew her time was coming when the urine sample was practically water. Eventually, the kidneys just can't detox the body, and fluids build up, suffocating them.

As for my cat's final days, I had the last nightly walk the night before putting her down. No regrets. She wanted it, and I let it. She was feeling well enough to try and be a cat one more time, and who would I be to refuse? Let her sleep on the bed, held her to the end.

The final decision is a hard one to make, but important to not delay if you know the time has come. Cherish the good times, and make sure kitty's last memories are good ones. They often do know when it's their time to go, too.

I'm fully aware of the amount of negative-ness I distribute and am happy with the current amount. Also you're a pussy ass bitch lmao

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I have successfully traumatized my puppy to assume every time me or my girlfriend take a deep breath, she thinks we will blow in her face. So even in dead sleep her head will shoot up like she is about to throw some paws with me if I yawn in bed. If I sneeze at her she looks offended though

Hello fellow library employee! It has been so slow for us during December as well. That will all change during the Summer Reading Program though.

My ex sneezed so freaking LOUD - always startled everyone in the house.

Underrated. If you take time off with everyone else, you’re less behind than the otherwise.

If she’s at the end of her life and miserable, make the difficult decision and let her go in peace with her loving family by her side. That’s my opinion. I don’t want my pets to suffer at the end just so we humans can feel better about having them around longer. Not saying it’s easy, and I do feel for you

Seconding deafness! My last cat went deaf around 15 and she didn’t realize how loud she was meowing. She was healthy enough otherwise, just went from normal meowing to loud AF.

My old cat used to yowl at night. She'd be in the basement, where it was extra dark. I started leaving a light on down there for her, and that helped. I think her eyes were not so great at that point, so she'd get confused in the dark.

My dog uses sneezes to vote that I should share my food with him.

Much as I hate to say it, you should seriously consider putting her down. I had a dog in that situation; constantly pacing the room whining, jumping and frantically looking for hiding places at the slightest disturbance. You could see in her eyes she was miserable, no amount of comforting helped. We didn't dare leave her alone in the house. I waited too long; she eventually seriously injured herself frantically clawing her way under a power recliner, and afterward was in such pain we finally had no choice. Your cat is clearly similarly miserable; don't wait too long to give her peace.

the super thinly sliced potato sits on the bottom of the pan (oiled) and cooks while the rice is finishing steaming. It cooks the same way rice would get crispy during this portion of the cook

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Vets don’t want you to learn this one thing about dogs!

I envy those of you that can do this. Those of us with kids who are home on their 2- or 3-week break from school are stuck catering to those bums.

Just my own experience here, but I had an old dog growing up with a similar problem. She had just the general issues that a really old dog would have, but nothing that impacted her quality of life too much. But then she ended to going blind and deaf around the same time, and she would wander around the house barking like crazy until somebody reached out to her. I think she calmed down because she knew she wasn't alone, I think she was just scared. After a while, one of our other dogs actually started to help her with that. He would walk beside her, with his body touching hers, and she'd calm down. The way your cat calms down when you reach out to her is why I was thinking of it like this.

You mentioned that you lost your cats sister recently. Did her yowling start or get worse after that happened? Because maybe your other cat was what had been keeping her calm, and maybe without that connection she doesn't feel as secure and safe now that she's losing some of her senses. It's just a thought based on my own personal experience

That is quite the insight man, that's a good point :).

Surprisingly clever idea perhaps hehe :).

Thank you for mentioning that and props.

It is true it can like add 1.5x to one's holiday days perhaps hehe :), clever.

ya i very much wanted all 4 days off this week. however, it is slow at work. lots of people are out. so i opted for just this friday off. why burn 3 days when i’m at work basically being left alone. although i’m a single dude so i don’t have much else to do lol while other people are probably traveling or spending time w the kids

Plus, flights and hotels are cheaper off season. And most national parks and scenic or tourist areas are far less crowded.

Earning potential is pretty high at that age. Surrogate babies can run who knows how much ?

Lol, mandatory overtime.

Yes, I was going to ask if there’s another pet. That might be reassuring. All of our cats got loud in old age. And the yowling in the night, I think they were calling to be reassured, especially if deafness is an issue. Wasn’t constant. But, when the cat is no longer enjoying life, it’s time to let go. :-(

Thanks but lucks all bs anyway, I never seem to get any :/ honestly mental health is a massive part of it, I know a lot about it because my dad worked with the ambulance service helping paramedics cope with certain things. Anyway to get back on track, you should maybe take some time to read a book or spend with family and friends too forget about it for a second, this break can be as long or as short as you need or want, push some deadlines back say you need to put yourself first, have a breath mate you’re drowning in work.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thorough response! There are so many good points here that I'm definitely taking notes. I have a handful of follow up questions if you don't mind.

Would you be willing to share an example with me of what your status reports and timelines look like and how you organize those? Not sure if it would be too specific to your job but I would love to see how you outline things. At my last job I had to submit a report on where I was at with projects and how my next week would be spent but it would literally take me hours to put it together even when my boss said it was a 15 minute task. But I could never figure out how to quantity so many projects so simply.

You said you sometimes have as many as 25-30 tasks. There is not enough time in a week for you to "touch" each one so how are you breaking down your calendar? Even if you have a team working on a lot of those you are still managing them which means you are still receiving emails and needing to track progress. How do you do that?

I absolutely need to work on being honest with myself about how much time tasks will take. This is very difficult for me for some reason. I always assume it will take less time so I don't give myself enough.

Your last point about pushing deadlines is a really good one. I'm going to keep that one top of mind.