Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I'm making drugs for cats

trevorklee.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 101 posts

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#71

Post by lgvln »

danw1979 wrote: post #59
lgvln wrote: post #58

I have a quasi-thought experiment for fellow HN readers. If you found out one of the stray cats at unofficial “cat shelter” tested positive for FeLV and the person who runs the “cat shelter” seems oblivious to it, would you consider unethical to let the person continue run it? The FeLV virus is likely to spread among all the cats and result in a short life of suffering and illness.

So is this a variation on the trolley problem or something ? How many cats are we talking about ?

Not really. I guess it’s about disruption of the person’s lifestyle and he/her liking for cats vs the actual welfare of the cats - how having good intentions alone is often insufficient. I would put the current number of cats at 10, plus other future cats.

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#72

Post by pmoriarty »

potatosalad1 wrote: post #23

My cat got bartonella which caused this condition and had to have all his teeth removed. Prior to the surgery he was in absolute misery, and the only treatment was steroids that did little and aren't meant for longtime use. The surgery was several thousand dollars, out of reach for a lot of families. An effective treatment for this condition would be great!

"The surgery was several thousand dollars, out of reach for a lot of families."

Wouldn't pet health insurance cover it?

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#73

Post by OriginalPenguin »

gkop wrote: post #61
jjtheblunt wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

aggressive mouth cancer? my calico ten years ago succumbed to a horrible oral bone cancer's complications. to hell with cancer, and it's kinda retarded (literal meaning of the word) how slowly progress is made.

Huh? Retarded just means "slow" literally. So, if I get your meaning, it's absolutely not "kinda" retarded, it's depressingly/horribly/saddeningly/hopelessly retarded. And I do not recommend putting "kinda" together with "retarded" if you want to be received positively. (I'm sorry for what you and your calico endured. F cancer)

According to both Merriam Webster and Oxford (not the OED, but the regular one) there are two definitions for retarded, both of which are offensive, and neither of which mean slow.

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#74

Post by gkop »

OriginalPenguin wrote: post #73
gkop wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? Retarded just means "slow" literally. So, if I get your meaning, it's absolutely not "kinda" retarded, it's depressingly/horribly/saddeningly/hopelessly retarded. And I do not recommend putting "kinda" together with "retarded" if you want to be received positively. (I'm sorry for what you and your calico endured. F cancer)

According to both Merriam Webster and Oxford (not the OED, but the regular one) there are two definitions for retarded, both of which are offensive, and neither of which mean slow.

Good to know! I was interpreting parent generously.

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#75

Post by ISL »

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #45

Damn I thought he'd be working on like, cat Ecstasy or something.

Given that it was on HN, I imagined someone working through various strains of catnip to optimize their cats' high through some complicated ML-guided process.

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#76

Post by potatosalad1 »

treme wrote: post #70
potatosalad1 wrote: post #23

My cat got bartonella which caused this condition and had to have all his teeth removed. Prior to the surgery he was in absolute misery, and the only treatment was steroids that did little and aren't meant for longtime use. The surgery was several thousand dollars, out of reach for a lot of families. An effective treatment for this condition would be great!

curious, how is your cat doing post-surgery? I imagine it required a significant dietary change

Strangely enough it didn't, he still eats dry cat food and just crunches it with his gums a little. He is totally fine now aside from sometimes looking a little derpy with his gums

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#77

Post by iratewizard »

OriginalPenguin wrote: post #73
gkop wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? Retarded just means "slow" literally. So, if I get your meaning, it's absolutely not "kinda" retarded, it's depressingly/horribly/saddeningly/hopelessly retarded. And I do not recommend putting "kinda" together with "retarded" if you want to be received positively. (I'm sorry for what you and your calico endured. F cancer)

According to both Merriam Webster and Oxford (not the OED, but the regular one) there are two definitions for retarded, both of which are offensive, and neither of which mean slow.

Don't use dictionaries that change the definitions of words for political means. Retard means slow. A retard chamber, for example, contains retardant that is meant to slow the spread of fire.

There is a perpetual movement to take words and shuffle them around as a form of purity spiraling. People who don't want to work build entire careers out of pretending moral outrage. Play their game and you give them power. Next thing you know, the words that were okay to say are verboten and you're the next one crushed under the wheel of progress.

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#78

Post by OJFord »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #53
VyseofArcadia wrote: post #14

My beloved calico who passed away near the beginning of the pandemic suffered from stomatitis. I opted for full dental extraction after pharmaceutical intervention proved ineffective. She eventually passed away from an aggressive mouth cancer, which is not uncommon in cats with stomatitis. I loved that cat, she got me through grad school, and losing her was miserable. My gratitude to anyone working on stomatitis trea…

aggressive mouth cancer? my calico ten years ago succumbed to a horrible oral bone cancer's complications. to hell with cancer, and it's kinda retarded (literal meaning of the word) how slowly progress is made.

> it's kinda retarded (literal meaning of the word) how slowly progress is made.

Well the way to say that without redundance, parenthetical, and the sibling tree about whether or not it's offensive is 'it's kinda depressing/ how retarded the progress has been' (or similar).

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#79

Post by tptacek »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #38

Just wanted to leave a plea for someone, anyone, to please start working on FeLV and FIV vaccines. Cats normally live 16 years. FeLV/FIV takes them at age 2 or 3. It happened to both of mine. Not only is it common, but it's often assumed that it'll happen. It seems almost lucky when cats don't get it. If an epidemic like that were affecting humans, a trillion dollars would be spent to fight it. But since it's cats, w…

Every university vet-med program in the country probably has people working on FeLV. You can Google for this: ["university" "veterinary medicine" "felv" "lab"].

Re: I'm making drugs for cats

#80

Post by markdown »

iratewizard wrote: post #77
OriginalPenguin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to both Merriam Webster and Oxford (not the OED, but the regular one) there are two definitions for retarded, both of which are offensive, and neither of which mean slow.

Don't use dictionaries that change the definitions of words for political means. Retard means slow. A retard chamber, for example, contains retardant that is meant to slow the spread of fire. There is a perpetual movement to take words and shuffle them around as a form of purity spiraling. People who don't want to work build entire careers out of pretending moral outrage. Play their game and you give them power. Next…

> Next thing you know, the words that were okay to say are verboten

So what? There are a hundred words your ancestors used that you never will. How has it changed your life one iota to have never uttered cockalorum, twitter-light, or grumpish?

> There is a perpetual movement to take words and shuffle them around

Yes, this has happened for all time.

Post reply on HN