u/Acceptable_Dream_ — reddlx

Hi all,

I've accidentally adopted a magpie (Irish, not Australian) ☘️

Basically I feed some cats at my workplace, and I've finally noticed Steve the magpie is joining them for dinner. I feel like he's been doing this for awhile as I have always noticed magpies but never paid attention.

Steve usually sits on a lamppost and then swoops in for leftover kibble. The cat thing is becoming.... problematic... Two out of three cats don't care about him and they all eat close together (they're black and white cats too so it's actually super cute, he's like an imposter cat), but unfortunately as you can see this lovely lady is not a Steve fan.

Now I absolutely love cats so they cannot be taken out of the equation, don't try. But I am fond of all animals, and I also understand cat food isn't the best diet for Steve....

So I'm wondering what I can do here? I'd like to give him appropriate food, ideally in a secondary location to the cats to keep him safe.

How would I build up this new routine, since I feed the cats by my car and I think maybe my car is what he identifies so he will just go there and wait for the food.

Just for a minute can we talk about how hard this can be alone?

I'm in my 30s and was diagnosed soon after moving to a new job cross country. No family or friends in the area.

3 years later and....still no family or friends in the area.

I'm still single, I have a housemate but we live very separate lives. My colleagues are great but outside of work hours I am pretty much alone all the time.

I see so many posts here talking about partners or family helping with hypo etc.... that's not an option for me.

I was out for a long walk last week and began to drop low... I had glucose with me but I was panicking it maybe wouldn't be enough... And I decided I'd have to call my nearby workplace (thankfully a hotel so 24/7) to send someone to bring me more glucose, or an ambulance (even though it wasn't a serious emergency). The embarrassment and shame of being so alone that I didn't have one person who I could call to help.

My control is good because I am acutely aware I have no one to rely on and if I mess up there is no help coming.

I'm having a bad week and it's particularly weighing on me.