sundries

[rm]

My headshot appointment has been moved to February 3rd due to the photog's schedule. Crap, that's soon!

dimethirwen picks apart Whole Foods new policy that rewards employees with lower BMI's. In short, BMI is a crap measurement and doesn't indicate overall health, shame is a crappy motivators and even if those things weren't true, shouldn't you give bigger discounts to the people who "need" it more?

Recess before lunch is apparently changing the way kids eat and behave in school for the better. I guess what surprised me is that this was news to anyone or new at all. We always had recess before lunch in private school.

Court upholds prison ban on Dungeons & Dragons.

gwyd points us to this article on gender reassignment surgery because it recognizes the non-binary.

The New York Times looks at that thing about if you're female, over-40 and unmarried, give up all hope of marriage.

Look, I know it's naive and possibly even annoying, but seriously, I'm sick of American politics not being like The West Wing. I'm sick of the way Democrats think they have to take this bullying from the Republican party, sick of the way they think that if they just speak softly and rationally they will win (no, they will not), sick of the belief that "bipartisanship" is a magic word that will stop certain elements of the other side from acting like total assholes. Democrats need to stop trying to placate the fringe arms of the Republican party. They need to stop falling for these soft on crime, crazy-spender narratives about themselves. And they need to tell the powers that be in the Republican party that they don't have an exclusive ownership claim to god. And you know what? Moderate Republicans need to step up and say something too, because this is crap. It's not getting anything done. It's intellectually weak. It's dishonest. Etc etc etc etc.

So Internet, you are my second opinion. My 14-year-old cat has significant tartar (but no infection, pain, decay) and has never had dental work. The vet says she is completely, ridiculously healthy in every other way and a safe-candidate for anesthesia for a tooth cleaning, but she also has a severe heart murmur (V/VI on the scale these use for these things). The last time she had anesthesia she took five days to recover from something that should have only take one. And that's when she was about 2. Would you do the tooth cleaning, or figure the cat is old enough she may never have problems and only do it if problems develop?

In light of the arrival of yesterday's mailbox money, I have sent a note in inquiry about some other mailbox money I should have seen by now. This sort of thing makes me crazy and stressed, and I am proud to have done it.

Also the Academic Bi list is open. This is good. You know, until the posts in all caps from dudes LOOKING FOR OPEN MINDED WOMEN@WOMYN TO BE MUSE emails start coming. Oh, oh you do not want me to eviscerate you.

I played with RealAge today for the first time in ages. I'm down to 28.3!

Comments

[amara-1783.livejournal.com]

Severe heart murmur =/= safe candidate for anesthesia. If there is no immediate reason for dental work ie pain/infection/difficulty eating, leave the poor beastie alone.

(Speaking as one who lost a 'perfectly ridiculously healthy with mild heart murmur' dog to a routine anesthetic for dental work, that is.)

[better-late24.livejournal.com]

Would you do the tooth cleaning, or figure the cat is old enough she may never have problems and only do it if problems develop?

I wouldn't risk the anesthesia, honestly. Potentially complications from that trumps tartar. My cats have tartar, too, and I do have them put out to get their teeth cleaned, but they're young with no heart problems.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

If I get into politics I'm going to start foaming, so I'm just going to weigh in on the cat's teeth: leave them be. If there's no infection and the cat's eating and otherwise healthy, then I figure that the stress of getting the teeth cleaned isn't worth it.

FWIW, I've taken this tack with my own. DB's back teeth are tartared completely over, but his gums aren't inflamed and he eats with great gusto. If he's not suffering, I'm not going to make him suffer.

On the cat

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

I'd say get a second vet opinion and even a third. There is some anesthesia out there that is okay for older cats, but I wouldn't know the type right off.

On eviscerating

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

Don't forget to wear something splatter proof. Like a raincoat. And you might want to cover the walls with plastic drop-sheets.

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

YES to everything you've said about the Democratic party. That's it, nothing more eloquent to say.

[dvanulya.livejournal.com]

Cat advice - can the vet not do the cleaning without anesthesia? I have had vets who will do this - assuming they only need to scrape (btw,, having held a cat while tartar was scraped, can I just say YUCK!). If they need to bring out the sonic, perhaps anesthesia is best.

Ask the vet, and remember James Herriot - by god, he could wrap a cat.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

That whole marriage article makes me wonder if the authors ever tried to consider the reasons for their statistics from every perspective they could think of. Like that maybe if someone isn't married by forty, it could be an indicator that s/he doesn't want to be married. Plus, where were the statistics on people who were in various types of relationships and/or living with their partner(s)? The focus on marriage in particular as the end-goal seems incredibly biased to me. Isn't the point of such studies not to go into the collection and analysis of statistics with preconceived notions about the results?

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

I definitely think you should hold off on having dentistry work done on your cat, especially if she's not having any problems. By the way, I have a thirteen year old cat, who has a bone chip in her knee. I'm putting off surgery on her because I don't want to take the chances of putting her under anaesthesia. At the moment, she's not in any pain, and the knee has only flared up twice since she was diagnosed with the problem three years ago or so.

And one other thing...

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

I agree with you completely on the shenanigans of the Democratic Party, especially when it comes to health care reform. In fact, I wrote a couple of letters calling them on it.

[deakat]

I'm late to the party, but I join the contingent that advises skipping the teeth cleaning. My dog and cats all get the veterinary kibble designed to promote dental health, and our vet recently admitted to me that she is a convert; she didn't believe that it would be effective when it was first introduced, but she's seen amazing results across the board.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I would not do the teeth cleaning. My dog is 10 years old and has a heart murmur, so I feel that unless she develops a major problem, I want to avoid anaesthia. I've managed to address some of her tartar problems by giving her rawhide treats. Maybe there's a similar treat for cats?

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

The problem with the tooth thing is that a)tartar can cover up severe lesions on cats' teeth and b)cats are good at hiding their pain. So there is a risk she is in pain that will only get worse. I think I would do the cleaning.