Friendly Fill-Ins and Photo Fails

Hello and happy Friday, friends! We're ready for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. Are you? Feel free to join in on the fun! My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two fill-in statements, and I came up with the first two.


1. _________ is the _________est I have ever been.

2. I really hate going to _________.

3. While most people _________, I _________.

4. I'm glad that _________ was invented.

My answers are below in bold.

1. At home with my furbabies is the happiest I have ever been.

(You bet I managed to use this kind of answer for yet another fill-in. I tried to think of a single, distinctive moment to use as an answer for this one, but I kept coming back to this really simple answer instead. As a kid and now as an adult, I'm never happier than when I'm at home with my kitties and pups.)

2. I really hate going to the DMV (the Department of Motor Vehicles).

(I was going to put a more obvious answer, like the dentist. Then I though of simply putting the store, since I generally loathe shopping in person. But then I tried to think of a more obscure errand that really makes me cringe, and what came to my mind were the times I've had to go to the DMV for license renewals and the like. That said, I always laugh when I think of how much myself and probably many others find little to no joy in visiting the DMV, because it reminds me of a show I once watched. As a teenager, I watched this show called Reaper. In it, a guy had some deal with the devil where he had to collect souls that had escaped Hell and return them to Hell in these little vessels. In order to return these captured escapees to the real Hell, the guy had to first transfer them to Hell on Earth. That was, he had to take them to the DMV.)

3. While most people enjoy going on vacation, I enjoy staycations.

(Like with #1 above, I've given this answer before. I just really don't like traveling and being away from home and my furbabies.)

4. I'm glad that online grocery shopping was invented.

(Maybe this makes me lazy, but I do essentially all of my grocery shopping online now. Well, I mostly use apps on my phone, but same difference, I guess. I used to always go out and do my grocery shopping after work on weekdays or on the weekends, but I honestly never enjoyed it. In addition, one of the last times I went myself, it was mid-pandemic. I remember it had been a particularly frustrating day at work, and I ended up essentially leaving the store empty-handed with the workers telling me that most of what I was looking for had flown off the shelves earlier that day. Soon after that, I downloaded the Instacart app and started having my groceries delivered to my house, usually early in the day, right around when I'd been told the shelves are stocked. I still sometimes have to order from different stores, because at least in my area, supply and demand is still a mess and stores are having trouble getting and keeping things in stock. Anyway, all that rambling to say that I now I do my non-grocery as well as my grocery shopping online, and I'm not mad about it.)

Now it's your turn!

To add your link to the Friendly Fill-Ins Linky list, just click HERE!

You can also click on the badge below to add your link.

You are also welcome to complete the fill-ins in the comments below,

or in the comments on Ellen's blog, 15andmeowing.

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And now it's time for the Pet Photo Fails Blog Hop, hosted by none other than Melissa and Mudpie of Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries, & Meows.

As always, our resident blooper queen Eddy is more than ready to share some photo shoot outtakes. After all, you easily get bloopers when your mom asks you to pose for the camera, and you instead opt to do the exact opposite.

Happy Friday, friends!

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

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Tip of the Day

Can you believe that we're still on the topic of food? As we start to close out our National Cat Health Care Month tips, we're here today to offer a bit of a (lengthy) discussion on food intolerances versus food allergies. There is indeed a difference between the two, and both can affect your kitty and his or her health.

A food intolerance occurs when something found in a food cannot be properly digested in the body. For example, lactose intolerance occurs when a cat is deficient in lactase, the enzyme responsible for breaking down lactose, a milk sugar. Such an intolerance can result in diarrhea, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal issues, if the problem food is ingested. Just as with humans, it is indeed possible for cats to be intolerant to foods such as dairy, gluten, soy, corn, and any other number of food ingredients. If your kitty is suffering from diarrhea, vomiting, or other gastrointestinal distress after eating their food, then discontinue the food and discuss the issue with your veterinarian as needed.

Now, as for a food allergy, this is indeed different than an intolerance. A food allergy occurs when antibodies mount a response to a component in the food the cat is eating. In other words, the cat's immune system determines something in the food to be a harmful allergen, and so initiates an allergic reaction. This typically results in dermatological effects, such as itchy skin, scratching, redness, hair loss, and lesions. It is possible for a cat to have an allergy to any number of proteins that he or she has been exposed to in food. The types of food culprits can include beef, lamb, chicken, and turkey, just to name a couple.

That all being said, it can take time to develop an allergic response, as antibodies seen in allergic reactions only form after exposure to the food allergen at hand.. So, if you start your kitty on a new food, it may be a month or more later when they start developing signs such as itchy skin. For this reason, try to keep track of when you start your kitty on new foods, and also what types of food you have fed them. If a food allergy is expected, a veterinarian will often recommend the cat go on a novel diet, typically a diet containing a protein source to which the kitty has never before been exposed and therefore to which the kitty won't mount an allergic response. This is why it is important to keep track of the foods your kitty eats.

The same is important with regard to food intolerances. Food intolerances are more fast-acting than allergic responses, and symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting are more immediate. In this case also, though, it is still important to keep track of when you start your kitty on new food, or even when you open a new bag of food. Sometimes companies will make even slight changes in a food you've been buying for years, and sometimes those changes mean the introduction of components to which your kitty might be intolerant. So, keep tabs on any and all food going into your cat's body. This way, if need be, you and your veterinarian can determine what might be causing your cat distress, and can find the best options for keeping him or her healthy and happy.