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thewieneryears-deactivated20130

Moss Graffiti: A How To Guide

missythemermaid

are you fucking for real

revesducirque

Imagine being the criminal who returns weekly to make sure his fucking plant art is doing alright

arthyradio

Later

atombombbunny

I found it! I fucking found it! In my fucking dash! Nothing can stop me now! *EVIL GIGGLES*

male-witch

OMG SAME RIGHT I SAW IT A YEAR AGO AND WAS UPSET I COULDNT FIND IT AGAIN

cloverclark-deactivated20180312

It’s ironic.

When I worked in fast food for minimum wage, they would yell at us and lecture us about “stealing” fries and burgers (while we had to throw out TONS of food every day) as though the giant billion-dollar corporations of McDonald’s and Sonic couldn’t afford to give their employees something to eat (while not even paying us a living wage).

Now I work at an upscale restaurant (it’s fancy, like celebrities eat there fairly often) and not only do I make WAY better money but they give us 2 free meals a day (eaten on the clock) and they’re GOOD. Today I got baked cod, spring rolls, rice pilaf, stir fry, and mashed potatoes and eggplant. Oh, and free espresso and juice. From this restaurant owned by a local man who is in no way a billionaire.

Obviously money is not the issue, valuing your employees as people is.

voiceofkiki

This needs all of the reblogs. All of them.

thebookwormfairy

i-was-a-naive--antifeminist

Hotel workers have a 40% higher injury rate than other service workers.

Women are 1.5 times more likely to be injured than men, because nearly every hotel housekeeper is a woman, and housekeepers have a 50% higher injury rate than all hotel workers.

Hispanic housekeepers are two-thirds more likely to be injured than white housekeepers.

91 percent of hotel housekeepers have suffered work-related pain.

66 percent take pain medication just to get through their daily work.

Here’s how you can make housekeepers’ jobs a little less shitty.

Reduce bending situations. For instance, hotels often tell you to toss towels on the floor that you want replaced. Try setting the towels on the closed toilet instead.

Gather all the trash cans into one.

Leave a note saying not to change the towels every day.

Make your own beds.

Write a note with a tip thanking the housekeeper for not making the beds.

You can strip the beds by taking off all the sheets (including the ones holding the duvet, if that’s the system the hotel uses) and pillowcases, putting them in a pile, and then piling or loosely folding the blankets and duvet and putting them in a separate pile with the pillows on the stripped bed.

Tip daily. The same housekeepers aren’t always there every day.

$2-5 per person, per day is the expected gratuity if you’re a courteous guest.

Remember to mark it clearly for them so they know it’s for them to take (as opposed to leaving bills just sitting out willy-nilly).

Do Not Disturb: If you put up a Do Not Disturb sign, the housekeeper is usually just given another room to clean. In a lot of cases, that new room will be outside their normal section, one of the leftover rooms in another part of the hotel. This means they’ll have to push their heavy cart a little farther, spend time waiting for an elevator, and then have to clean a little faster to get it done. That other room might also be a normal, fine room, or it might be a disaster zone, where someone gutted a fish in the tub or spilled Pepsi on the bed. And if there isn’t an extra room to be given to a housekeeper when they have a DND, they’ll probably just be sent home early (especially if it’s a non-union hotel), so they lose some of that day’s pay.

For all these reasons, try not to use the DND sign. Just tidy up your room as much as possible, follow the steps above, and leave a tip. Your room will just count as an easy clean, and maybe the housekeeper can take a couple minutes to sit in the armchair and rest instead of rushing to the next room.

randomstabbing

THANK YOU FOR THIS.

getoffmyastroturf

Never remake your bed on the last day. Leave it in a nice ball on the bed for housekeeping to scoop up 👍🏼

radical-thinking-blog-deactivat

my dad always taught me to make my bed in hotels and clean up to make it easier for hotel workers. they’re there to do general cleaning, like vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom for the next guest, they shouldn’t be expected to pick up your trash and other sorts of mess you’ve left behind.

part2of3

@elvishprincess

onyx-faye-blog

Wow I wish I knew all of this before I was 21. Like I never thought to tip the cleaning staff and now I feel horrible for never doing it

leighalanna

Important for everyone who stays in hotels, for whatever reason.

npr

The police department's spokesperson said he didn't know whether officers heard witnesses yelling that the man was deaf and couldn't hear the officers' commands.

thegrandmarsh

Things to remember about the victim in this shooting:

- he was Hispanic

- he was seen trying to sign at the officers to explain what was going on

- he had no criminal record whatsoever

- neighbors reported that he always carried the “weapon” police felt threatened by, a pipe, because of the stray dogs in the area

- he showed no sign of understanding the officers’ verbal warnings not to get any closer, and it’s likely that he was advancing in order to read their lips

- he is the 712th death in police shootings this year alone

reproductivejusticeandliberty

As a lifeguard, I was expected to know basic sign language in case any deaf clients came to us for help. Why the fuck are fucking police not required to have the same training, or at least be expected to entertain the thought that deaf people exist? -V

catwinchester-deactivated201901

You need more training to be a hairdresser than to be a cop.

And no matter how much you fuck up a cut, hair grows back.

greglestrade

feelings are…… difficult?

catsi

pretty fucked up how christian beliefs are referred to as “stories” but indigenous beliefs are referred to as “mythology”

wizardshark

im gonna start calling it all “christian mythology” now and watch people literally melt in fury

a-thesis-film-destroyed-me

I call it Christian mythology and the amount of angry looks I get from old people in public when I say it is honestly baffling and hysterical.

catsi

how come everyone here saw a post clearly meant to point out how people treat indigenous peoples’ religions with disrespect and decided to make it all about pissing off Christians?

the point of this post was very obviously “treat indigenous peoples better” but you have chosen to read it as “treat Christian religious beliefs more poorly”. i wanted people to reflect on the language they use to talk about the religions of indigenous peoples but that intent was apparently lost on many people.

i want you to ask yourself why you are more willing to make the effort to treat certain people unkindly than to treat other people with respect.

writernotwaiting

@catsi you are a precious human being and should be protected at all costs. Thank you for existing.

cookinguptales

Today is the anniversary of the Capitol Crawl, an event in 1990 in which disabled activists pulled themselves from their wheelchairs and quite literally crawled up the steps of the Capitol Building. This was done to protest the living conditions for disabled people in the United States, and it was done to pass the ADA. And fuck yeah, they did it.

These activists along with hundreds of others managed to secure rights for disabled Americans for decades to come. However, all that heroic work is now being threatened by H.R. 620.

I’ve been talking a lot about H.R. 620 lately because frankly, it scares the shit out of me. It’s a bill that’s designed to strip rights from people with disabilities, and it has already passed the House of Representatives.

A little background:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, the year I was born. Because of that, I have lived under its protections for just about my entire life. When my high school tried to prevent me from graduating because of my medical struggles, we were able to use the ADA to procure a 504 plan. When my dorms and classrooms were inaccessible, it was the ADA that got me accommodations. I am afforded extra assistance when traveling, when voting, at the doctor, and the only reason I can do any of these things is because of the ADA.

I now have a college diploma and a full-time job. I would have neither without the ADA. It’s not a perfect solution, but the protections it does provide have been invaluable in my life and the lives of my family. (My family members with a different disability have also Gone Through Some Shit but that’s really their story to tell.)

I think most of Americans know that some semblance of protections for PWD exist. I’m not sure most Americans understand how difficult they are to use. It’s not like the ADA provides, idk, inspectors who go around looking at buildings to see if they’re accessible. They don’t take complaints from PWD if the elevator in their building stopped working and their landlord won’t fix it. There is no safety & health inspector of the disabled world. The ADA is instead enforced via lawsuit.

To put it simply — if a disabled person has been discriminated against, they have the right to get a lawyer and sue the establishment that has discriminated against them. They cannot sue for damages. They can only get the place to change. (Though some courts have levied additional monetary damages for noncompliance.)

This is already a pretty arduous process. I mean, you have to get a lawyer and go to court. No one enjoys doing that, especially when you know there is no financial reward. But H.R. 620 aims to make this process much, much harder. It requires PWD to gather a ton of evidence and documentation, it requires a system of letter-writing and complaints, just a mess of things that many PWD will not have the time, money, energy, and/or know-how to be able to do.

More importantly, though, H.R. 620 changes how businesses need to comply. H.R. 620 aims to change it so a business or institution has six months before they even need to start showing a plan to change. I repeat. This is not six months before the work is done. This is six months before they even need to start moving. Six months would have been an entire semester when I was in college! And even then, all they need to do is show “progress”. Progress can mean anything! It sure doesn’t mean that I can get in the building!

In effect, this would strip PWD of their ability to actually have the ADA enforced. It puts a very onerous process on the back of the people being discriminated against so they’ll be too confused, tired, or burdened to exercise their rights in the first place. And then, if they get through that wholly unnecessary roadblock, the place they need to get into may not actually become accessible for — well, ever. There is no part of the desired amendments to the ADA that would actually require accessibility. Ever. Which is mind-blowing.

H.R. 620 is popular amongst business conglomerates and real estate developers, for obvious reasons. They don’t want to deal with the extra expenses that come with making their properties accessible. Because of this, they have started a misinformation campaign saying that PWD are using the ADA to attack small businesses with frivolous lawsuits, which puts undue burden on people ~just trying to make it~.

Wow, talking about what “burdens” PWD are. Like that’s not a misconception that leads to self-harm and discrimination every day.

There is no evidence that there is an outbreak of frivolous lawsuits. There are a couple lawyers who have been engaging in fraudulent lawsuits, but frankly, it’s not hard to find an unscrupulous lawyer, and none of them have been successful in court.

Even if there were some uncontrollable outbreak, taking away protections is not the way to deal with this. I can’t imagine this being the reaction to any other group’s civil rights. “Oh, well, some lawyer’s being a dick, better take away civil rights for an entire marginalized group just in case someone tries to abuse it!.” There are so many better ways to deal with misconduct than systematically stripping a marginalized group of its civil liberties.

Again, PWD CANNOT MAKE MONEY FROM THESE LAWSUITS. There is no one sitting in some wheelchair made of gold that they got from taking sandwich shops from cute grandparents who just wanted The American Dream ™. This is a boogeyman that does not exist — but it does play into a lot of nasty stereotypes about disabled people.

It is telling and depressing both that PWD fighting for their right to live with the rest of society is being framed as “frivolous”. So many things that disabled people need are framed as frivolous every day. So many things people insist we don’t really need. This bill would deny us access to stores, hospitals, schools — you know, the things we need to survive. But even if it were just some shop down the road? The ability to live in equality with our peers IS NOT FRIVOLOUS. Our enforced separation from the rest of society has led to a series of abuses against us that can only be rectified if we are allowed to live lives as independently and openly as possible.

The ADA was passed almost thirty years ago. Properties that are not accessible have already had almost thirty years to fix this. Businesses aren’t given thirty years to make sure their fire safety measures are up to code. Restaurants aren’t given thirty years to make sure their health measures are up to code. This is a law that already wasn’t being enforced, and now you act like this is some new issue that’s onerous on property owners? Good lord. Historic buildings were already exempt — what, are y’all just waiting until every building is old enough to be historic? Jesus.

The long and short of it is that the businesses who make money off of our oppression are trying to turn us into the villains of the story so they can pass legislation that will remove their financial responsibilities and take away our civil rights.

H.R. 620 has already passed the House. It moves on to the Senate shortly. Please, please call your senators and tell them that you support the ADA and want them to vote against H.R. 620. So few people are even talking about this issue, but it is a matter of life and death for a lot of people. This, paired with our current administration’s other crimes against the elderly and disabled, is looking to make this country uninhabitable for PWD. And that’s terrifying.

Please help us.

(Note: If you’d like more info on H.R. 620, the ACLU has put out a handy guide on myths and misconceptions about the bill.)

selfcaremilso-deactivated201806

Hey so Google literally just stole $8 from me (i signed up for a free WEEK LONG TRIAL on the 6th, and a charge was supposed to go through on the 13th but it went through tonight ((11th-12th)) and they refuse to let me dispute anything through PayPal)

Like tell me if I’m wrong, but 6 to the 11/12th isn’t a week; it’s only 5-6 days.

So like, if anyone wants to commission me or even throw a dollar my way I’d appreciate it because every last cent counts to me right now, and I’m already down another $10 because my cat destroyed my moms ear buds and I HAVE to replace them BC she’s an asshole, so round up for tax and I’m out $20.

I hate that I have to ask / beg, but like I said; I’m really tight on cash right now trying to make ends meet, every cent counts, and getting screwed out of $20 means $20 less of groceries, gas, or clean laundry

Screenshots for proof of theft

If anyone wants to donate or commission me please dm me for info; I’m not putting my PayPal link out in the open for now

But against my own wishes and morals, if anyone wants to throw a dollar or two my way I’d take it and appreciate it. Just at least let me do something for you in return please… it doesn’t have to be a commission. You can name it.

bloodytales

Teach boys about periods

My mother also talked about periods to my brothers.

When I first got mine I had terrible cramps. Crippling cramps. I once was camping with my family and a few of my big brother’s friends when my period came. My cramps were so bad that my mom gave me a full pain killer ( I was 13 and before that she only gave me pills cut in half).

I literally laid down on my parents’ air mattress and cried in pain for an hour before the pill kicked in.

My brothers friend came in to the big tent and I was just curled up and sobbing. Now, I was quite the tomboy and was known to rough house with my brothers and their friends and made sure I wasnt seen as just “a little girl.” So my brother’s friend was confused to see me openly weeping in the fetal position (seriously, these were the worst cramps I have had in my life. My vision went white). He asked what was wrong with me.

My big brother stood up immediately and suggested a nice long hike. During this hike I am sure he had a pretty awkward conversation with his friend explaining menstrual cramps, because when they got back the pain pill had (mostly) kicked in and I was sitting up at a table when my brother’s friend sheepishly asked me if I was feeling better. I said I was better, and he said good.

When we made s'mores that night my brother and his friend kept me well supplied with chocolate.

Making sure sons know as much about periods and menstruation as daughters makes them better brothers, better sons better fathers, and better men. A man that understands a period will not lightly accuse a woman of “being on her period” if the woman is in an argument.

Raise better sons Teach them about normal bodily functions.

glennjaminhow

The return of Calzone Boy.

fearsomecupcake

The face of someone who has just won

cookinguptales

Because it’s a thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, here’s a post about disability and finances. There are a lot of hidden costs that come with being disabled, and I feel like we should talk about that more often… Moreover, I feel like there are a lot of things that are considered “luxuries” for most people that become necessities when you’re disabled. And the weird sense of shame society has associated with buying luxuries, especially when our income is low (a problem that affects a lot of PWD), contributes to a lot of mental health problems for impoverished people, but it affects PWD in a special way, I think…

I’d like to break all that down a bit.

First of all, I am disabled. I have several chronic pain/illness issues that I deal with on a daily basis. I’ve talked more about that here, if you really need details. I’m going to walk you through the additional expenses I accrue on a regular basis because of my disability.

Day-to-day accessibility. I possess a manual wheelchair that I can’t use often due to where I live, but I mostly use canes and painkillers to get around. Specialty wheelchairs can cost thousands (and the electric scooter I used to use for specific situations was Very Expensive) but these days I get away with mostly spending about $50-$100 a year on canes and cane tips, plus maybe $100 more for constrictive clothing. (Plus special shoes and inserts, but I can get away with replacing those less often. Good thing because they cost a damn fortune.) More difficult to assess, monetarily, is how much extra I pay to live in an accessible apartment building. I had to search for a long fucking time to find one. Like I said, it’s not a very accessible area. I pay a lot more than I would if I could have a walkup or even a bottom floor apartment that has a few steps. I don’t feel comfortable talking about my exact rent, but I would say that I probably pay at least $200-400 more a month than I would if I could get one of those walkups down the street. I probably pay at least $500 more than I would if I didn’t need to be right next to specific bus line because I can’t walk far. That’s uh. That’s a lot. If I ever end up living in a two-story house, I know I will need some kind of chairlift. (Which are mildly terrifying to use, but I haven’t died yet.) That would probably cost at least $6k, which is money that I pretty much have to add to any house price, along with perhaps a modified kitchen. I can barely use the one I have now, frankly. That sort of cost is hard to even get my head around, though, which is probably why I’ll live in an apartment building with an elevator pretty much forever. lol

Transportation. The reason I live in my not-very-accessible city is because some days I can barely walk and it’s not safe for me to drive. What does that mean for me? I had to move to a place with good public transportation, which means a major city. And, like I said, it means I have to pay extra for a home that’s well-located amongst that public transportation. Now, I can’t use the subway here, and many of the regional rail stations aren’t accessible, either. There are accessible subway/train stations but not many — and they gotta be accessible on both sides! Otherwise I’m trapped underground, which is not fun. That’s taken some uh. Creativity. Generally, though, when it’s a location I can’t easily reach by bus, or I’m just too tired/in pain to stand at a bus stop, I need to use a Lyft. (Uber is cheaper than Lyft, but has also historically been extremely abusive towards disabled riders.) This can add up really quickly, especially if I need to travel to another city and I can use even less of the transportation. I’ve had months where I have $50-$100 in Lyft bills, in addition to the money I pay to use public transportation. This has especially been an issue if I need to buy something from a specific store (and obviously can’t walk there or carry it home) or if I need to go to a medical specialist.

Which brings me to the third and fairly obvious thing, medical costs. Now, when I was younger and being bounced between doctors, my medical costs were astronomical, and there were extended periods when I just didn’t see a doctor because our insurance didn’t cover it. These days, I do need to go to the doctor fairly often, but maybe only once every month or two. (I need to see several specialists and uh. Frankly speaking, I need to add a few more but I’ve been leery of the costs. I definitely need to access therapy, both of the mental health and physical variety.) Between doctor visits, medication, and testing bills, my medical costs are often about $1000-$3000 a year, sometimes more. One medication I just started would have been $100 a month before my pharmacist pulled a few strings and saved my damn life. And I have insurance. So you can see why I’m not accessing all the medical care I need. This really is a specifically American problem; our healthcare system is a disaster, especially for people with longstanding and/or confusing illnesses, and our current administration is only trying to make things worse. I’ve uh. I’ve had a lot of anxiety about this lately.

The dreaded grocery costs. When you cannot drive and you cannot carry things home, you have three basic options. a. You can use grocery delivery services. b. You can eat nothing but takeout. c. You can starve to death. When I first started living on my own, I’ll admit I mostly did b. But as I grew more used to my body and its limitations, I’ve transitioned to a. (Though c was almost an issue a few times when I got stubborn about costs…) Takeout is unhealthy and expensive. Groceries are still really fucking expensive, but at least now I get fresh fruit and vegetables. I use FreshDirect for my groceries! I’ve tried other grocery delivery services, but FD is one I ended up with. I pay $130 a year for them to deliver my groceries (you can pay by the delivery, but I need fresh groceries fairly often, so it’s cheaper to just pay the flat yearly rate) and the groceries themselves are more expensive than you’d pay in your garden-variety supermarket. BUT I can’t use the supermarket. So expensive groceries, here I come. I generally pay $50-$100 a week depending on what I need and how lucky I am with sales. So, usually about $300-$400 a month. Give or take. I also have an Amazon Prime membership. I recognize that Amazon is basically evil, but it is also literally the only way that I can quickly and efficiently get necessities like toilet paper, light bulbs, kitchen utensils, etc. I can’t just run out to the store to buy things. If something in my apartment breaks, I am stuck with it until I can have tools/a replacement sent to me. Both FD and Amazon need at least 24 hours notice to get me something, and if I used other websites, I’d have to wait longer and pay more. (Though if it’s something like milk or eggs I desperately need, I can pay Wawa or GoPuff to deliver them to me. More delivery fees…) Amazon Prime costs $99 a year, plus a little bit of your soul. But unfortunately, you don’t always have the luxury of choice when you’re disabled. And then for specialty items that I can’t get from FD or Amazon, those are all individual delivery fees. There is a coffee place five blocks from me that I like to support with my business, but I generally can’t carry coffee beans five blocks, so sometimes I have that delivered. (Which is…embarrassing…) This means I don’t drink much coffee, lmao. I cut back on a lot of things that I just can’t easily access.

Help in daily life. This is a thing that a lot of disabled people need to pay for to some degree; I’m lucky in that I don’t need to pay for a permanent caregiver or anything. I do need to tip people handsomely every time I travel because of all the wheelchair help I need, though. Things like that. I also occasionally get my house professionally cleaned because let me tell you how gross your apartment gets when you can’t get out of bed. Every time I feel like pretty much The Worst Person for paying a ton of money to have someone else clean up my messes, but I assure you, the alternative is just living in some terrifying house out of Hoarders. (Note: those people are often mentally ill and deserve help, not mockery.) It was recommended to me that I think about a service dog, and frankly, there’s a lot that one could help me with! But I can’t walk one. And supplementing my ability to walk a dog with professional dog walking is outside of my price range. Because it’d be like $50-100 a week for one extra walk a day. So uh. So much for that idea. lol. (Plus you’re really supposed to walk them yourself… Which is not a thing I can do… And I won’t be unfair to a dog just because I can’t freaking walk.) idk, there are just a lot of actual things you can’t do that you end up paying other people to do for you, which leaves you feeling like a bourgeois asshole. And speaking of which…

The Nice Stuff. A lot of things on this list would probably be considered luxuries (house cleanings, grocery deliveries, Lyft) but these are the things that seem so luxurious that I feel irresponsible whenever I buy them, even though they help with my health. Aromatherapy. Expensive snacks. Bath odds and ends. Like let’s get something straight. A nice citrus smell on a POTS day helps lower my nausea and focus my mind through the brain fog. A hot bath with special salts makes me dizzy but also relaxes pained muscles. I eat expensive specialty snacks so they don’t make me sick. But they all still feel like luxuries, and I still feel so guilty when I buy them. To some degree, a treatment for chronic pain and illness (as well as other disabilities that involve a lot of pain and negative side effects) is just making yourself more comfortable. It helps with pain relief, managing symptoms, and stress, which in turn helps your overall health.

But buying “too many” creature comforts, especially when you have a low income, is really frowned upon in our society. A lot of these “luxury” items on this list would get you a side-eye from someone who doesn’t get what you’re going through, and I think that’s also internalized in us. Hell, I have had people judge me for spending my money on some of these things, and I’ve found myself echoing their words inside my own head. That I’m wasting money. That I’m spoiling myself. That I just need to try harder to get through things. Don’t I know that others would kill for my opportunities? If I have so much extra money, why not donate more than I am now?

Frankly, I don’t think that way of thinking is healthy for anyone, but for PWD, who are already being told each and every day that they’re a burden on society, it can be outright dangerous. Violence against PWD (committed by strangers, family, caregivers/medical professionals, or their own damn selves) is absolutely rampant, and it’s often fueled by that kind of rhetoric.

I am lucky; I have a full-time job with health insurance. Despite a lot of issues, I managed to get a degree from a good school. So for the most part, I can afford these little things that I need. A lot of people with disabilities can’t. Maybe they need an electric standing wheelchair or specialized surgery and their insurance won’t cover it. Maybe they need an accessible car/van — I knew a woman once who had to pay $80,000 to get a van she could use. Maybe they need to pay for a part or full-time caregiver. Maybe they need some kind of therapy. Maybe they need to renovate their home with something like an accessible kitchen or a doorbell designed for people with hearing impairments. Maybe they need to pay for a speech-to-text program. Maybe they need to take care of a service animal. There are so many costs that accompany being disabled, and disabled people tend to have less income on average to pay for them because they are less able to get well-paying jobs or attend good schools. Some people have severe disabilities that prevent them from working, others just don’t have access to the accommodations and/or social acceptance that would allow them to do so. Neither should be ashamed. They shouldn’t be ashamed of their lack of capitalistic production, or for purchasing things that allow them to live their fullest lives.

There are days when I sit in my apartment, hungry, because I am too sick to cook food and too stubborn to order delivery. There are days when I sit looking at my favorite aromatherapy site (Paintbox Soapworks, natch) and dither for hours over whether I should get something that’ll help with my nausea. Days I force myself to walk home and then collapse in bed, pained to the point of tears, because I didn’t want to call for a ride. These are feelings experienced by a lot of people with disabilities, this struggle between the things they need and the things they have been taught they are irresponsible to buy. Some people don’t have this choice at all if they don’t have the money to buy things in the first place.

It’s a problem. It’s not a problem I can fix. But I’m trying to unlearn these judgmental feelings, and I hope I can help others do that as well. I’m hoping to show what additional expenses PWD have to deal with so we can all be a little more understanding of the choices we have to make, and the difficulties that those around us are facing.

If you’ve read this far, thank you very much. If you feel like you’ve learned something, you can support me and my writing via my ko-fi. And please, please be kind to each other.

iswearimnotnaked-deactivated201

hi hello CATS!!!! CANNOT!!!! BE VEGAN!!!!!

i cannot believe i have to fucking say this.

dogs are omnivore and IF YOUR VET APPROVES your pooch MAY be able to go on an APPROVED(!!!!!) commercial vegan dog food like the brand “v-dog” which has all the essential vitamins, protein, etc. (the oldest record winning dogs have been vegan)

cats are CARNIVORE and cannot fucking live on a vegan diet. a vet would laugh in your face and probably find some way to have your pet taken away from you because you’re obviously not fit to have an animal if you think you can feed a cat a diet based on your own ethics

i’m vegan but this is so fucking harmful.

it’s about minimizing your harm, not putting your animals on risky diets in an attempt to be perfect.

DON’T FUCKING DO THIS TO YOUR PETS

skypig357

Idiot people

secondhand-sheep-shack

If you see someone you know doing this, report them for animal cruelty and neglect.

nunyabizni

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

thegrumpymathematician-deactiva

This posts, and many of the notes on it, are bothering me. Ladies, gentlemen, esteemed colleagues from outside the confines of the gender binary; gather ‘round. Let’s throw some science in this joint.

1. Humans. Humans are not cats. Humans are not dogs. One would think this obvious, but people have a tendency to attempt such interspecies comparisons when discussing diet. Humans are order omnivora; we have essentially evolved in a manner that attempts to give us as much dietary flexibility as possible. We do, however, require a substance called B12 (or cobalamin), which is extremely important for brain and nervous system functions, as well as the synthesis of DNA and the construction of red blood cells. We cannot produce this vitamin ourselves–no animal, plant, or fungus can. The enzymes used in cobalamin production are essentially unique to bacteria and archaea–some species of which hang out in the digestive tracks of other animals. We get cobalamin in a roundabout way from fish, shellfish, meat, eggs, milk, and dairy products. While there is no naturally-occurring, vegan source of the vitamin that has been demonstrated effective in a human study of statistically significant sample size, effective synthetic forms do exist and can be used as a substitute. Cyanocobalamin is one of the most common and is frequently found in fortified foods and vitamins. In short: Humans are omnivores. Humans have evolved for dietary flexibility, including viable vegetarianism. Humans did not evolve for veganism (be extremely suspicious of people who tell you that we did, as they are lying), but due to modern technologies, veganism is also a viable diet that humans can thrive on, should they so choose.

2. Cats. Cats are order carnivora. Cats require (amongst other things) an amino acid called taurine. We’re not quite sure how, exactly, but we know that it’s extremely important to feline heart wall tissue, retinal tissue, and brain tissue amongst other things. Cats cannot manufacture their own taurine, and must get it from other sources–primarily shellfish, fish and meat. Taurine breaks down when heated, so feeding your cat a home-cooked diet rich in this foods is also not necessarily a good idea (talk to a vet). Secondary (read: SUPPLEMENTARY. NOT A SOLE SOURCE OF TAURINE.) sources of taurine for cats include dairy, eggs, and seaweed- or yeast-based taurine supplements. In nature, cats don’t really need to worry about getting enough taurine, because (as you may have noticed), taurine sources are indeed the things that cats tend to catch and eat. However, a cat that lives in a human household is dependent on humans for food, and sometimes humans are utter fucktrucks. In short: Cats are obligate carnivores. Their primary source of nutrition is meat. They must eat meat, preferably as close to raw as possible. They have digestive tracks designed for digesting meat. There are vegan/vegetarian cat kibbles on the market. Do not buy them. Your cat is neither vegan nor vegetarian, and if you adjust their diet as if they were, you are a terrible person who is harming and possibly killing your pet. You suck. End of discussion.

3. Dogs. Dogs are slightly more nuanced here. They are facultative carnivores–meaning that they optimally should eat meat, but can survive on other things if resources are scare. Dogs also need the amino acid taurine, but can technically manufacture it themselves if the proper building blocks are in their diets. They also need vitamin D–D3 is preferable, but D2 can be used to some degree. Dogs are somewhere between us (the true omnivore) and the cat (the true carnivore). A vegan or vegetarian diet will keep a dog alive, certainly, but is unlikely to allow your pet to thrive as it lacks the recommended nutrients. You should probably be feeding your dog meat. The exception here–some dogs are allergic to conventional dog foods, or find symptoms of certain diseases alleviated by vegetarianism. In this case, a veterinarian (not you, layperson, I mean an actual trained veterinarian) may determine that the benefits of putting your dog on a vegetarian/vegan diet outweigh those of feeding your dog meat. This is relatively rare, but does occasionally happen. And no, actually, the oldest dog is not vegan–Bramble is the only dog on this list that I found had some indication of veganism. The oldest dog on record is an Australian Kelpie named Maggie, who was not vegan. It is more likely that Bramble lived that long despite the veganism, not because of it. In short: If a vet thinks that your dog may be allergic to dog food/require a special diet and recommends you try feeding it a vegetarian/vegan diet, listen to your vet. Otherwise? Dogs are carnivora. They do need vegetables and other sources of nutrients, but their optimal fuel, as it were, is meat. Your dog needs meat to be happy. Fucking feed your dog.

Now, I did manage to find two veterinarians who disagree with every other study I dug up and the American Veterinary Medical Association. Their articles are here and here. They don’t really have sources, and are essentially wholly dependent on anecdotal evidence (“my dog is a vegetarian and hasn’t died!”), but for those of you data cherry-pickers reading this, there you go.

As a rule, dogs and cats need meat. If that makes you uncomfortable, that is your problem, not theirs. If you try to implement a vegan or vegetarian diet for your pets because you implemented one for yourself, you shouldn’t have those pets. That is animal abuse. (By the way, those of you not feeding your cats and non-allergic dogs the food they need to survive and thrive? What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you not love your pets?)

TL;DR If you do not want a pet that must be fed meat, you should under no circumstances acquire a cat or a dog. Thank you for your time.

marbledmartin

Rebloobing for the more detailed info on B12 and obligate carnivore vs true omnivores

nautica-the-savant

Always reblog.

lilithdevile

ATTENTION PET OWNERS

This post is going to rushed but I’m still shaking and it’s hard to type but I NEED people to know this

My mom just took my dog to the vet She(my dog) was(still is?) having a seizure

Last month we took my dog to the vet and they told us she had developed diabetes, they told us it was caused by the food she was eating, purina beneful. They told us that there have been many many many reports of Beneful has been causing diabetes, seizures, and even death in dogs.

We had no idea

We immediately switched her food and put her on a special diet plan for her diabetes, unfortunately the effects were already permeate.

Today at 11:20 my mom woke me up crying, I helped her carry my dog to the car (while she was still having a seizure) and watched her drive away red faced and still crying.

Please please PLEASE if you are feeding your pets Purina beneful PLEASE switch their food ASAP Beneful is poising dogs and I don’t want anyone else to experience what I just did Also if you could please help me signal boost this so everyone can know

toxic-w0nder-deactivated2016020

This would explain why my dog has seizures now…fucking hell

the666assbutt

Reblog and save lives of dogs

skeletonboyfriend-remade

found out purina was the reason my dog winston had been having seizures and puking. please don’t feed your dog purina.

st-rks-deactivated20160918

reblog even if you don’t own a dog or even if you’re not “a dog person” because I can’t even imagine how horribly depressed I would be if this happened to my dog