Corona Virus Now Spreading

[doomsdave]

Just drink tap water. You can do it from home.

Unless you're in a place like Flint, Michigan. Except for places with known problems American tap water is pretty safe; all the docs tell me buying water is crazy.

 

[kittyluv387]

Just drink tap water. You can do it from home.

Unless you're in a place like Flint, Michigan. Except for places with known problems American tap water is pretty safe; all the docs tell me buying water is crazy.

People should be getting brita filters or something imo. Lots of plastic waste with the bottles.

 

[Willowy]

Brita filters don't do a thing for the taste, ime. At least not the taste the tap water here has. I get RO drinking water from the refill machine at the store. I did the math and it's cheaper than getting my own RO machine, although less convenient, and the plastic used is minimal, just the gallon jugs that last a while. But I COULD drink tap water, if I had to. . .

So I haven't stocked up on bottled water. Pretty sure I have a case in the storage area anyway because I like to have some around in case the pipes freeze (winter) or infrastructure is damaged in a storm/tornado (summer).

And I have enough canned and packaged foods to last a while. And toilet paper. My mom has a complex about toilet paper (related to a babysitting incident in which she had no paper products in the house with 3 small children, because the parents were going to the city to shop, and there was a freak blizzard so she was stuck there a couple days!), so that's rubbed off on me and I always have plenty of TP. And plenty of cat food, although I could always make a Chewy order if I had to.

So I think I'm ready. I hope. But I'll hope more that it doesn't get to quarantine status here.

 

[DreamerRose]

People should be getting brita filters or something imo. Lots of plastic waste with the bottles.

I have a Brita filter, but I only use the water for drinking. Our local tap water is perfectly safe, and I drank it for over 25 years with no problems. I've never really understood this fetish for bottled water.

 

[catapault]

Why buy water? Perhaps you have a well, power goes out - no water. You live alone, are achy, sneezy, dizzy. Can reach a bedside bottle of water but cannot crawl to the bathroom or kitchen to reach a tap.

Remember the rule of 3: You can survive 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.

 

[Willowy]

Perhaps you have a well, power goes out - no water.

I think the idea is in this case is that there's no reason the power or water should go out. It's not like a damaging storm or earthquake. So buying water shouldn't be necessary. Someone can fill containers for easy access just as easily as buying bottles.

 

[Winchester]

Our cats and The Beast only drink bottled spring water. We had a problem many, many years ago with two cats who developed crystals and we really think it was because of our well water, even though we have filters, reverse osmosis, and pretty much everything else under the sun in our basement to filter our water. Both the cats who developed problems were males, but that was enough for us. They don't drink the well water. We'll do everything we can to make sure the girls don't run out of water. And I make ice cubes for them with the bottled spring water, too, even though our fridge makes ice.

 

[Texaskitty]

Here in Texas, one of my friends was at the grocery store last night and said a lot of the shelves were almost empty. I was surprised because I was at the exact same store the day before and it looked normal. She also said you were only allowed to purchase something like 2 bottles of hand sanitizer at a time, to keep people from hoarding all of it. I wonder what triggered the difference between what I saw at the store Sunday and what my friend saw Monday. I've been following the news but there must have been something big I missed Sunday or Monday.

 

[kittyluv387]

Here in Texas, one of my friends was at the grocery store last night and said a lot of the shelves were almost empty. I was surprised because I was at the exact same store the day before and it looked normal. She also said you were only allowed to purchase something like 2 bottles of hand sanitizer at a time, to keep people from hoarding all of it. I wonder what triggered the difference between what I saw at the store Sunday and what my friend saw Monday. I've been following the news but there must have been something big I missed Sunday or Monday.

They did say someone was released in san Antonio and later tested positive again.

 

[doomsdave]

Our cats and The Beast only drink bottled spring water. We had a problem many, many years ago with two cats who developed crystals and we really think it was because of our well water, even though we have filters, reverse osmosis, and pretty much everything else under the sun in our basement to filter our water. Both the cats who developed problems were males, but that was enough for us. They don't drink the well water. We'll do everything we can to make sure the girls don't run out of water. And I make ice cubes for them with the bottled spring water, too, even though our fridge makes ice.

Yike; crystals in the urinary tract?

I had cats do that too; the vet told me that commercial cat foods were too high in an additive that caused that. The solution was, at the time pricier "Science Diet" and the like.

Modern foods don't seem to have that problem at all; none of the male cats I've had lately have had any trouble (thank heaven).

 

[DreamerRose]

Yike; crystals in the urinary tract?

I had cats do that too; the vet told me that commercial cat foods were too high in an additive that caused that. The solution was, at the time pricier "Science Diet" and the like.

Modern foods don't seem to have that problem at all; none of the male cats I've had lately have had any trouble (thank heaven).

Crystals result from not drinking enough water. Male cats can become blocked with crystals, and then it's a life or death situation. Mingo had crystals once, and ever since I've added a couple tablespoons of water to his meals, and he hasn't had anymore crystals. Whatever the wet food is doesn't matter.

 

[NY cat man]

Crystals result from not drinking enough water. Male cats can become blocked with crystals, and then it's a life or death situation. Mingo had crystals once, and ever since I've added a couple tablespoons of water to his meals, and he hasn't had anymore crystals. Whatever the wet food is doesn't matter.

Stretch had the problem of urinary crystals, and we nearly lost him. As it was, he spent several days at the vet's, so we feed him Prescription Diet C/D, and haven't had a problem since..

 

[doomsdave]

The last time I had a problem with crystals in the urinary tract in any of my cats was about 30+ years ago.

 

[susanm9006]

Virus paranoia seems not to have hit Minnesota yet or at least not to the degree as some other places. Shelves aren’t bare, huge pallets of toilet paper. The thing I really don’t get is buying water. I mean if we lose water here then we have lost electricity and that means heat as well. So we freeze to death and don’t need to worry about the virus. I just don’t see that happening. I only buy water to keep the Keurig healthy but if I should run out of bottled water I have already decided I will sacrifice the Keurig and use tap water in it. Coffee comes first.

 

[Willowy]

There are some people on Twitter saying that they're sick and have gone to the doctor, but were told that because they didn't have one symptom (apparently you need to have a fever, cough, AND shortness of breath), they didn't qualify for testing. One guy's doctor was mad about that and told him to stay home for 14 days because it was almost certainly coronavirus. So I guess we can't really believe the numbers because testing isn't being done consistently. Yay for the American health care system :/.

Also, if you get sick and want to make sure you get tested, be sure to tell the doctor you have a cough and shortness of breath (can't fake a fever!). Apparently they aren't allowed to order the test otherwise.

 

[susanm9006]

It just seems to me that sick people should be directed to specific places for testing or someone should come to their home . I understand where general clinics don’t want to spread infection by having people come in. I was in urgent care for a UTI last year in the midst of the flu season and sitting in the waiting room I was surrounded by coughing hacking people. And even though they had to wear masks there hands were spreading germs everywhere.

 

[Kieka]

I thought you guys might enjoy this....

 

[susanm9006]

When everyone thought that The year 2000 would bring an apocalypse the Red Cross told people to prepare as though it were a major snowstorm. So Minnesotans went out and cleared the shelves of beer and Doritos. Sort of a joke and sort of true. And they might get you through this too.

 

[terestrife]

I was about to start a thread on this topic. I live in miami, fl. So far only one person has been infected. In the beginning i was worried of being infected, only because i have nieces and nephews and would never want them sick. I work at Miami Dade College and interact with students daily.

Today it occurred to me that if i get infected, that everyone in my home would be quarantined in a hospital. Im worried about my cats now. Who will take care of this? I dont know if family would be willing to drive out twice a day to give them wet food and check on them. Im worried they'll be scared and alone. Can hospitals force you to stay? Can people just stay home 24/7 and self quarantine?

I tend to have obsessive thoughts so now im freaking out.

 

[Jem]

I thought you guys might enjoy this....

Ha! Ha! Awesome!