A Birthday Bash and the Letter F on Thankful Thursday

Today's a busy day, and it's starting off with a birthday bash. Today is the birthday of my sweet little calico Tonks, my sister's goofy house panther Winky, and my parent's silly tabby boy Flitwick. These litter mates bring us all so much joy, and I am so glad they found their way into our lives.

Happy Birthday, Tonks, Winky, and Flitwick! 

Feel free to grab yourself some cake and help us celebrate this trio's birthday, friends!

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This is the part where we usually participate in Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge. That said, in the extra busy month of April, I usually share my poems on Sundays, which is the one day each week when there's a brief hiatus from the April A to Z Challenge. I may very well do that again this year, though I may also do it on a day when I can make the week's poetic photo prompt match my A to Z doodle. This week, my hope is to match the poem with my doodle for Saturday.

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Next up, let's get to the April A to Z Challenge, shall we?

To again give our default recap, for this year's April A to Z Challenge, since I love to write and am working on a series of books, I'm sharing A to Z doodles relating to my stories. Much like my usual doodles and weekly poems, the stories I write are weird, wacky, and star lots of animals. That leads us to today's letter, which is F. So, what does F stand for?

F is for Felix

This isn't the doodle you're really supposed to be seeing right now. That there fellow is Felix, but this is an older doodle from a couple of years ago. Anyone recognize it? The new doodle you're supposed to be seeing is waiting to be scanned and uploaded, once my scanner stops doing downloads that for some reason are required to take an eternity. So, once I get that done, I'll throw that new doodle in here as well. The actual doodle for today is in a much different setting, but it still stars Felix and that there robokitty. There's of course a story behind that, but for now suffice it to say that Felix is friends with this robokitty, and I'll go ahead and divulge that the robokitty's name is Crank. I feel like everyone must think I'm absolutely nuts with all this stuff, but I'm okay with that.

...And now here's future me adding the new, true doodle for today's installment of the A to Z Challenge.

A future April doodle will explain this setting a tad bit more. It probably won't make it make anymore sense, but you'll at least be seeing it again.

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Now we're happy to participate in Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.

Today, Thimble is grateful that she's downright adorable, even she's too excited for a belly rub to sit still for the camera.

Feel free to tickle Thimble's tummy. She'll love you for it.

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Last but not least, we have for you the fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. My co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing is more than understandably taking a break this week after her sweet kitty Sammy gained his angel wings. Purrs and prayers to Ellen.

The fill-in statements are below.


1. I waste a lot of time _________.

2. At this very moment, I'm craving _________.

3. Don't _________ until you _________.

4. _________ makes life interesting.

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Tip of the Day
 

After yesterday's discussion on tapeworms, we thought we'd briefly discuss a couple of other similar intestinal parasites, these being roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. We won't go into all of the science for each of these worms, but we will touch on the basics of such infestations. So, if you're interested in these wormy parasites, read on.

Depending on the worm, cats and dogs can potentially become infected with the aforementioned worms as kittens or puppies, such as in utero or from their mother's milk. Worms can also find their way to a cat or dog's intestines by the ingestion of a rodent or other carrier of the parasite, or by ingesting the parasite in certain stages of its life cycle elsewhere in the environment. Symptoms of such an infestation can include diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, a potbellied appearance, and sometimes even sight of the worms in your furbaby's feces.

If you think your kitty or pup might have intestinal worms, such as if they are a young puppy or kitty with a potbelly, if you see worms in their feces, or if you see any other potential signs, of course take your furbaby and a stool sample to be examined by a veterinarian. Parasiticides can be used to eradicate these intestinal parasites. Just as with tapeworms, though, it is important to use preventative measures to keep your kitty or pup clear of them from then on. Keep their environment clean in order to prevent growth of the worms in the environment. In addition, if your furbaby goes outdoors, monitor them and try to ensure that they are not ingesting prey that are potential carriers of intestinal parasites, such as rodents. If needed, such as if your cat or dog is largely outdoors, discuss with your veterinarian the potential for keeping your furbaby on regular preventatives that cover intestinal parasites such as roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms.