Oblivion

alcohol 

chocolate

caffeine

dairy products (adults turn lactose intolerant)

fat trimmings, raw meat, eggs, fish

grapes and raisins

onions and garlic

tuna (when not made for cats)

xylitol (artificial sweetener)

alcohol: not very good for humans, either, but alcohol effects pets the same way it effects humans: targeting the brain and the liver. the issue? it takes way less to kill your cat than it does a human. you weigh, on average, at least 100 pounds (or 10x) more than your cat does. 3 teaspoons of liquour could kill your cat. don’t do it. alcohol WILL poison your cat.

chocolate:  theobromine (and to a lesser degree, caffeine) is the issue with this one. humans? we can break this down in our bodies. cats, dogs, birds, ferrets? they can’t. it usually takes a pretty big amount of theobromine to cause a pet to actually die, though. it’s present in cocoa, so the higher % of cocoa in a chocolate, the less needs to be ingested to cause serious, life-threatening effects. baking chocolate has a high concentration of theobromine and 1 square can kill a cat or small dog. white chocolate is a low risk, on the other hand. chocolate CAN poison your cat, especially DARK and BAKING chocolate.

caffeine: same story as alcohol: not that great for humans either, causes similar effects as in humans… just quicker and with less caffeine ingested. elevated heartrate, seizures, etc. can be seen. dogs and cats are more sensitive to the effects than humans are. caffeine WILL poison your cat.

dairy: cats are lactose intolerant and so their bodies cannot properly break it down– much like how we can break down theobromine and cats/dogs can’t. however, it’s not going to poison your cat, just give them diarrhea and other gastrointestinal upset. dairy WILL NOT poison your cat, but will cause gastrointestinal upset and diarrhea, so it is strongly recommended to not give dairy products to your pets.

fat trimmings: fat trimmings are just fat. if you feed fat to your cats, they will become fat and/or it will increase the level of lipids in the blood, leading to diseases and complications like chronic pancreatitis, which can be fatal. fat trimmings WILL NOT poison your cat, but will lead to disease that can be fatal, so it is strongly recommended to not feed fat trimmings to any pets.

raw meat: cats can eat raw meat. cats are obligate carnivores. cats are designed to only eat meat, and raw meat is not of serious risk to them. disease carried in raw meat? not a problem when you are a cat who has evolved over millions of years to eat raw meat. i hate hearing “cats can’t eat raw meat!” from people with outdoor cats. you realise your cats are eating raw lizard and bird, right? raw meat has more nutrients than cooked meat (which we eat veggies & fruits to compensate for– cats can’t digest these) and, obviously, there are some diseases and bacteria that cats aren’t immune to but cats are less likely to eat rotten meat than dogs are, anyway. treat the meat like you treat human meat and it’s totally fine. cats are DESIGNED TO EAT AND DIGEST RAW MEAT! IT’S PERFECTLY FINE TO FEED YOUR CAT RAW MEAT, but make sure that the meat is in-date and properly stored/cared for. rotten or spoiled meat CAN lead to disease and poisoning, but the same goes for 90% of the animal population!

eggs: its ok to feed your cat eggs. im not even sure why this is a question. raw eggs rarely carry salmonella and even humans rarely contract salmonella from infected eggs. your average cat will never contract salmonella from raw eggs, only in an immuno-compromised cat would this ever be an issue. cats can safely eat raw and cooked eggs, as salmonella is pretty much only a concern in an immuno-compromised cat in the first place.

fish: see raw meat above. fish, however, is a bit of an exception because of higher levels of mercury & low levels of taurine and differing balances of phosphate and calcium mean that it’s not a sustainable diet for cats and could lead to mercury poisoning or bone disease if it is the only protein given. when given ~1 time a week and with varied proteins there is no issue. again, cats are DESIGNED TO EAT AND DIGEST FISH AND OTHER MEATS! however, previous warnings about storing fish correctly still applies, and proteins should be varied due to fish having different levels of phosphorous, calcium, and taurine and mercury content. a primary diet of fish CAN lead to bone disease or mercury poisoning in extreme cases.

grapes and raisins: admittedly, this one is a bit of a wild card. some pets eat raisins/grapes without an issue, but in others, these can cause renal failure and death rapidly. we still don’t know why. animals with prior kidney issues are more likely to be effected by grape/raisin toxicity, and cats are more likely to have kidney issues due to many cats not getting adequate moisture in their diet. grapes and raisins MAY lead to poisoning in some cats and dogs, especially those with pre-existing kidney conditions. 

onions and garlic: yes! all members of the allium genus (shallots, scallions, leeks, etc. are included) contain thiosulphate which, when ingested by cats and dogs, can lead to a serious condition in the blood known as hemolytic anemia. basically: their red blood cells burst. this can be fatal and a small amount of onion/garlic/etc. is needed to cause clinically significant issues. onions, garlic, and other members of the allium genus CAN and WILL poison your pet in even small amounts.

tuna: see fish above. canned tuna tends to be soaked in oil which leads to the same issues as fat trimmings in increasing lipid count in the blood. sashimi quality tuna will also have higher concentration of mercury and shouldn’t be consumed more than occasionally in the cat’s diet. canned tuna in oil is often too fatty and leads to the same issues as eating fat trimmings, however, tuna steak/sashimi/etc. quality tuna is the same as other fish: occasional inclusion in the diet is fine!

May 4, 2017

1. DANDELION:

2. BRUISE:

3. FRAUD:

4. DOLLS:

5. PROMENADE:

6. HAY:

7. MILK:

8. EYESHADOW:

9. CHILDREN:

10. POWDER:

11. GOWN:

two. there’s a chandelier shard in your spine & one of my hickies on your neck and sometimes i feel like you can’t tell the difference.

three. it’s in your teeth, it’s thrown itself all across your neighbor’s lawn, it’s a fine-tuned death, a starvation of some vital kind. your veins restricted of love, your lungs flattened & transmorphed into tacky neon posters hanging from the walls of an angsty teenager’s bedroom. once: you were that teenager. now: negative space.

four. they stare at me through the shop window, they reach for me, they whisper my name. i cling to the porcelain phantasm. to the half-chewed up teddy bears clutched to their littered chests. their ballerina slippers. i’m not used to this sort of attention, to this mutual level of attraction. it’s a little girl’s first love affair.

five. the afternoon sighs, lust in the bumbling air & his breath trickles into your ear, sleeps inside your brain. hints of your ice cream sundae still lap your fingers, he presses them to his lips, and when you feel the heat of his open mouth against your skin, you think, for the first time in your life, that icarus may have been onto something when he tied his fate to the sun.

six. the scarecrow comes alive at night, sings van morrison reprises to the owls that listen, sometimes on full moon nights, they say he lifts the veil that seperates the living from the dead.

seven. your taste lingers like honeyed milk, corrodes my mouth with its stomach-ache sweetness

eight. the other kids at school thought it was a fashion statement, a couple grown ups darted funny looks her way, but were too polite to ask about it. she liked it that way, shimmering coats of midnight daydream mauve and candy apple red to conceal the ill consequence of daddy’s idea of discipline.

nine. sometimes the children from our old photographs, the ones that still smell like lemonade stands & plaster of paris, come alive & demand us to explain why we did this to ourselves in the end.

ten. TUESDAY’S SPELL INCLUDES: the bark of a long dead tree, three droplets of blood, seven teaspoons of salt, half a cup of chilly powder, the heart of a frog, a hibiscus root, the tear of an angelic being, semi-burnt mugwort, thirty potato peels and the chipped horn of a deer.

eleven. my mother says she ruined her gown seventeen and a half hours after the wedding & that was the first sign that something was amiss

house ghosts, 2017