naamahdarling:

naamahdarling:

Cat owner tip.

If you have to regularly give your cat meds or otherwise interfere with them and you find they are avoiding you even for friendly contact, establish a password.

The goal is to use the word/sound to signal “no bad thing,” so they don’t panic and try to run away/hide.

For instance, Etrigan hates being medicated and will hide under the bed for hours to avoid it, and become evasive if approached, even though he is normally a VERY friendly cat.

I established “I’m gonna gitcha gitcha gitcha!” as something that means “I will be touching you but not in a bad way.”

This works.

Start by using the sound every time you love on your cat. Use it many times per interaction, not just once. Use treats to reinforce it at first if you need to, and practice often (as often as you love on your cat which is hopefully often).

Do not ever ever ever use it to fake them out. Respect it, respect the cat, always keep the interactions positive.

This is a virtually effortless thing to teach your cat (and yourself) and can make a huge quality of life difference for a cat who deeply resents pilling (or other necessary cat maintenance tasks).

It actually makes giving them meds easier sometimes because they aren’t ALWAYS expecting to be grabbed and pilled. They don’t have to be vigilant and wary of every single interaction.

Reblog to reduce kitty anxiety!

Good luck!

I’ve watched Etrigan do an immediate about-face on multiple occasions. I approach, he thinks I am going to do THE BAD MOUTH STUFF and starts to run away. I use the signal and he turns right around and lets me approach. This tactic can be super-duper effective.

timetravelonion:

twinkby:

normalising gay relationships and combatting the homophobia and violence gay people face for being in relationships is way more important than normalising straights being friends lol

If men cant be close friends with other men because they’re afraid people will think they’re gay, the problem is homophobia

lenyberry:

house-of-crows:

lenyberry:

fuzipenguin:

aphony-cree:

penfairy:

Smash that mf reblog button if you stoically ignore all labelled washing instructions and everything your mama ever told you about laundry and just send those bastards hurgling around in an overfilled tub to meet either death or glory

Something I learned from a costume designer: if an item can be washed multiple ways the designer is only legally obligated to put one of the ways on the tag, but if there’s only one way to wash that item they have to put Only on the instructions

If the tag says “Dry Clean” it’s safe to machine wash but the designer thinks it looks better if you get it dry cleaned 

But if it says “Dry Clean Only” you will destroy it if you wash it any other way

Reblogging for that last bit which this 37 yr old adult did not lnowy

I’ve seen “dry clean only” on tags of stuff that definitely did not absolutely need to be dry cleaned. However, I’ve never seen it on anything that would be fine to just toss in the machine. If you know how different fibers handle water and soap, you can figure out whether dry cleaning is actually necessary or whether you can hand-wash it. (I once had a coat with a loose-woven tweedy outer layer, which would have pilled and snagged horribly in a washing machine, but the entire thing was polyester which isn’t damaged by water so I was able to just gently handwash it in my bathtub).

Silk: follow the tag directions. Some silk can be handwashed without being damaged, but not all. In general silk should at the very least not be thrown in your washing machine.

Wool/cashmere: safe to handwash, but use cool water and mild soap, and be gentle with it. Lay flat to dry. DO NOT wash wool or cashmere in hot water or put it in a heated dry cycle unless you want it to shrink.

Leather: don’t soak leather clothes in water. It’s ok to use a damp cloth to spot clean a little, but if there’s significant soiling and spot-cleaning won’t be enough, get it dry-cleaned or use a special leather soap followed by leather conditioner to keep it in good shape.
exception to this rule: if you have a leather garment that’s SLIGHTLY too small and you want to make it custom-fitted, you can put it on, soak it, and wear it while it dries. The water will allow the leather to stretch a bit while it’s wet and you’ll get a really form-fitted result (I have done this with gloves and shoes). 

Cotton and synthetic fibers: handwashing is fine and you don’t even need to be particularly careful about the temperature. If the fabric isn’t delicate or loose-woven/knit, and there isn’t detailing like beading added that might be more easily damaged than the base material, it can be machine washed.

Metallic/holographic foil decoration (not a fiber, but I think deserves a special mention): handwashing or dry-cleaning is best even if the tag says it can be machine washed. Putting it through a washing machine cycle will degrade the foil effect MUCH faster. 
(this is also true of anything that has beading. Beading is easy to damage if it snags)

one caveat re: leather clothing:

CONDITION IT AFTERWARDS DAMN IT.

Yes, I should also have mentioned that! Sorry, I wrote this late last night when I should’ve already been in bed.

No prob, lol. TBH I was just remembering my forays into leather armor… you have to wet the leather to cut it neatly, but then when it dries it shrinks back a little and then it hardens even without a sealant on it… NOT great if you’re trying to emboss a design, or if you’re meant to be dying it. (Seriously, dye slightly damp leather it takes WAY less, and it permeates deeper) So’s meant more as a “oh god please learn from my mistakes” than anything else 😛