Mancat Monday and the Letter A

Hello, friends! My intention for April is to get back to having all of our posts written and scheduled early. This is in no small part because it's time for the April A to Z Challenge, and I actually have almost every single drawing for that already complete. That makes getting posts ready ahead of time easy. Except, I realized last night that I somehow forgot to finish the first, introductory drawing for our A to Z theme. I got it all finished late last night and scanned it this morning, so now this first post of April is late. Hopefully the rest of this month will go far more smoothly in this regard.

That all said, let's get to our first April A to Z Challenge post.

This year, my A to Z theme is All Things Cat. With this theme, I'm sharing doodles of all sorts of random items, but those items will in some way be shaped like a cat. More specifically, the items will at the very least have cat ears and a cat's face, in one way or another. For the letter A, I scribbled up none other than A to Z, or the concept of the alphabet.

Honestly, that A looks far more like one of those Furby toys, but perhaps it's the thought that counts. And today is one of the rare days when I have multiple drawings to share. After all, A not only stands for A to Z or alphabet, but also acronym.

I admittedly scribbled up that little sentiment on one of the day's Evan was having some of his worst health issues recently. The same goes for the one below. If you know what this one stands for, my apologies for the hint at foul language.

Truth be told, I've been working on these All Things Cat doodles since last year. I started to get into a slump with drawing back then, and so I was trying to figure out a way to do just quick and simple drawings related to cats to at least get my creative juices flowing again. I'll admit I felt guilty scribbling up things so simplistic, and that weren't full scenes like I've grown accustomed to drawing. But, truth be told, when I'm low on time or energy, sitting down for just 15 to 30 minutes in order to scribble up something random that pops in my mind, but in the shape of a kitty, really got me back into the habit of drawing without feeling burnt out or low on time. Don't worry, I'm not done drawing scenes or real cats, but this month I'd thought I'd at least share all the drawings I've been creating of random cat-shaped items.

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Now, on to the Mancat Monday part of this post. Truth be told, poor mancat Evan is having a bit of a rough time again. Luckily his recently bladder and bowel issues have mostly resolved. And by that I mean his bladder and bowel are back to their special version of normal. But, now his ear is bothering him again. The hematoma on his right ear is still slowly healing, but the swollen part of the ear is still blocking the ear canal, essentially suffocating it. I think for this reason, he seems to have yet another ear infection in there.

Two Saturdays ago Evan, was given a 2-week antibiotic shot for a potential UTI. As soon as that antibiotic shot wore off, his ear immediately started bothering him, and the ear canal is also now visibly and audibly wet. That's what happened the last time it was infected. So, I'll be contacting the vet today and hopefully getting him yet more antibiotics.

Thanks to Evan's recently increased dose of gabapentin, the poor boy is still able to be happy and to rest well. I don't know what I'd do without gabapentin during all of Evan's recent health issues. It's been the only drug to not only reduce discomfort that relates to some of his health flares, but it calms him while also helping him act like his old self again. It does make him more tired, at least sometimes, but my old Evan is back to doing things he hasn't done in weeks or months. One of the best is that, since he's more comfortable and restful, he's back to his old ways of spending uninterrupted hours cuddling me on the couch and in bed.

Also, this weekend Evan played with the new Easter toys the kitties got. He's never been the most playful cat, but there for awhile he wouldn't play at all. That wasn't the case this weekend. I tried to get a photo of him playing, but by the time I grabbed my camera Evan had resorted to blurrily bathing.

Now, excuse me while I go talk to our vet and see what we can do about yet another ear infection.

Happy Monday, friends!

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Tip of the Day

April is Heartworm Awareness Month. For the next couple of days, therefore, we're going to repeat some heartworm tips that we've admittedly given in the past. So, these tips may sound familiar, but we've decided to share them again for this significant month.

We'll start simple and remind you all that heartworms come from mosquitoes, and a dog or cat can become infected if they are bit by a mosquito carrying larvae. This can occur in either indoor or outdoor furbabies. For indoor animals, you can try to keep all windows and doors closed, in hopes to prevent mosquito entry or exit. Of course, mosquitoes can still find their way inside. What's more, it is possible for mosquitoes to be out and about year round, even in winter. For this reason, our first tip is to simply consider keeping your dogs and cats on preventatives that include heartworm coverage, and that you do this year round.