Maybe Valheim?

You’re doing fine. All we can do is try our best. :)

I hope you’re not feeling too guilty about it. Many people just don’t know these things and when you buy stuff in the store you kinda sorta expect it to, at the very least, not be so harmful.

One of my cats had chronic diarrhea when she was a kitten and even after vet visit it didn’t stop. That’s why I started reading about feline nutrition and learned that cats need basically two things: meat and water. That stupid special diet food didn’t help, of course, it was dry food with stuff they didn’t need. We switched to better wet food and cut almost all their dry food and all the issues were gone. My boy started peeing more which is very good, especially for male cats (they get UTI’s very easily). They also both started pooping less, which is very logical if you think about it. All the non-meat filler… well they can’t digest it, so they poop it out. Now they eat 100% meat and they poop once every 2-3 days, and in way smaller quantities. Oh and their fur became way more full and much softer too. They just look healthier.

During my search for info I found this website. It’s a great thing to read for every cat owner. It lays out the info in a very logical way en it’s easily understandable. I’d say everyone who has cats should read it.

My cats are pushing 11 now (they’re siblings) and have zero health issues. I’m so happy I figured it out when they were so young. Still, I think it’s terrible that so many people just don’t know/learn these things and have the best intentions but then still end up hurting their own cats, because the stuff they buy is simply bad. But I guess pets aren’t really a high priority for lawmakers, so I doubt standards for pet food will change any time soon. This is why I try to spread around info a bit.

Your cat is very lucky boy, hopefully he still has many years. :)

Yup. I always try to explain this to people, because I’ve noticed many people who really try to give their cats the best just don’t really know about these things. And they inadvertently hurt their cats.

Giving your cats healthier food doesn’t necessarily have to be super expensive either. Even supermarket wet food is better than dry. Sure, they sometimes have vegetables or grains added as well, but at the very least you fix the water intake issue and this is the number one priority imo.

Pretty much only wet food, except for a few kibbles every day because they love them so much, like treats. Dry food is super bad for cats, because they have very little natural thirst drive. This means they won’t drink enough water by themselves, no matter how many fountains or water bowls you put out. This is easily explained. Cats are obligatory carnivores. This means that they need to eat meat. House cats are not different at all from their wild (and bigger) counterparts. Instinctively they do the same things. So ask yourself this: How do cats get most of their fluid intake in nature? Exactly! While eating their prey. Cats are ‘used to’ getting enough water by eating.

When you exclusively feed your cat dry food, they’ll never get enough water intake to be healthy. This increases the risk of urinary tract infections and a bunch of other things. When you feed them bad quality dry food (lots of grains and non-meat filler), in addition to UTI’s they will run a high risk of developing other problems like Diabetes.

So basically I’m saying: Only/mostly feed your cat wet food. The worst wet food is still always better than the best dry food. Because water is so important.

Edit: Also note that most of the “special diet” cat food is dry food. Which is ridiculous. I would never feed my cats that. Most vets have these well-known products like Hill’s or Royal Canin that they prescribe… PLEASE REMEMBER: Vets are sponsored by these brands, and pet food regulations aren’t nearly as strong as they should be. Vets get money specifically for advertising and prescribing these brands. This does not necessarily mean that they are good for your cats. Why would a vet prescribe dry food for cats, when the worst dietary offenders are low water content and non-meat ingredients?

It’s always the same disingenuous bullshit. I’d wager most people on here couldn’t care less about Hamas. All Hamas members could drop dead right now and I wouldn’t lose a second of sleep.

But somehow we’re all Hamas supporters because we don’t put a “I hate Hamas”-disclaimer above every comment about Israel. It’s so terribly low-effort and transparent.

Ah well, that’s a good point. It’s not like politicians never lie about their motivations either.

I thought it was because of religious nutjobs trying to force everyone else to live by their rules. I doubt that Kate and Joe down the block have some kind of pro-corporation-meatgrinder reason to be anti-choice.

I think what many people (and thus governments) don’t want to accept is that maybe people just don’t want kids. It always happens, when people are more educated and have better quality of life – and access to contraception, they have fewer children. If money was really the defining factor, then why aren’t all rich people having 10 kids? Why is the birth rate in countries like Finland (where they have a lot of social programs, high quality of life and support for parents) so low?

I am absolutely not denying that having no money factors into the decision to not have kids, for people who actually do want them. But we need to face it, a lot of people -when given the choice- just don’t want kids. You can’t pay me enough to have kids. I could be a billionaire and I wouldn’t want kids. The only way you could make me have kids is by forcing me. And while typing this, suddenly I have the urge to erase it all, because I fear the day when governments finally realize what I typed above and they actually start forcing people to have kids.

Edit: I think what should happen is for us all to figure out how our society should work when global birth rate inevitably drops below replacement rate, and what we want from life other than infinite growth.

I made a deal with myself to go to bed at least an hour earlier than I usually would, just to read. I’ve read every night for the past … I don’t know how long, years anyway. I figured I would otherwise just waste this time on lemmy (or reddit in the past), and reading is a better use of my time than doomscrolling. ;) So I’ve been consistently going through books, even on days where I have little other free time.

But even so, I just have so many books I want to read. Wonder if I get to read everything I want to read before I go to my grave, and that’s not even including all the books that haven’t been written yet that I’ll also want to read. :p

I’ve never had any other social media (aside from reddit and now lemmy) and I don’t spend hours a day doomscrolling here. I’m thinking if I did that, I’d go crazy.

Everything in moderation. This definitely includes doomscrolling. Not good for your mental health.

Probably nothing. Even if you were rich enough to send a few trucks with food/medicine, it wouldn’t gain entry. And all world governments are sitting around watching it, so not sure what ordinary citizens could do that would help these people in time (yes people can vote, but it won’t be in time for a lot of these people, especially not if Israel gets to keep doing whatever in the meantime).

Well, let’s not pretend any of us even ‘need’ American influence to become shitty. The entirety of Europe has apparently decided that it’s been long enough since WW2 for us to give Fascism another try. Sure, the US influences the world, but we’re more than capable of fucking things up ourselves.

While maybe not as bad as the US yet, that image can be recycled for Europe in a short while.

It’s looking bleak here, indeed. My Heimat is jerking off Wilders and here in Germany it’s the AfD, though luckily in BW they aren’t as popular as in other parts of Germany…

Still, not really sure what to do about it. I vote, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Don’t know how to explain to people why they should care about others. It’s a good thing I have enough books and games and series to offer escapism, because otherwise I’d probably need to get some prescription medication.

I had to look up the meaning and now I can only imagine the confusion this person must have felt, before he figured it out, lol.

Very relatable!

It is also the reason I pretty much only read finished series (some exceptions for me were Feist’s Magician or Erikson’s Malazan series). Tbh, I really hate having to wait for the next book, sometimes even for years (and then having to reread previous books, because you’ve forgotten half the story), plus you can never really know if the author will actually finish it. It’s why I never bought any ASOIAF-books, I was waiting for it to be finished, but now that’ll probably never happen.

Just don’t have the time, patience and discipline to stay up to date with and juggle reading a bunch of different ongoing book series ‘at the same time’ - so I have an extra list with unfinished series that I check up on once every two years or so, to see if they’re complete and I can start reading them yet. It keeps the backlog a bit more manageable.

About to start the first book of the Divine Cities series: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett.

Quite a while ago (I think it was when I was still on reddit), someone made a post or comment about the series and I’ve been wanting to read it, but I have so many books I still want to read (or reread), so I guess I kind of forgot about it. But tonight when I go to bed, I’ll start. Really can’t wait and hope it’s as good as it was made out to be.

I’ll tell you what I told the previous commenter: They were not all runner-ups, that’s misinformation. The assassinations were not presidential candidates. They were local politicians, running for mayoral or council seats.

Which is also disgusting, of course, but no, the cartels did not kill off all her competition to get her into office.

They were not all runner-ups, you’re falling for misinformation bullshit (and stop upvoting misinformation, people!). The assassinations were not presidential candidates. They were local politicians, running for mayoral or council seats.

Which is absolutely fucking horrifying in and of itself, don’t get me wrong, but what you’re saying is just not true.

They are magnificent!