Tonks Tuesday and the Letter N

Hello and welcome to another installment of the April A to Z Challenge!

Our alphabetical theme is All Things Cat, for which I'm sharing drawings of cat-shaped objects. Today we've reached the letter N, and what I scribbled up is a bit random. After all, today, N stands for nimbus clouds. The short description of nimbus clouds is that they're typically grey and result in rain or snow. The clouds I drew are more of the cumulonimbus variety, but either way, here you go.

Sharing potential rain clouds is apt enough today, as we're indeed expecting some rain and all that jazz. We hope you're all staying dry, though!

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Now, it's still of course Tonks Tuesday. Today, the little calico is keeping an eye out for those raindrops. She loves watching anything and everything that moves outside, rain included.

Tonks and all of us here wish you a terrific Tuesday!

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Tip of the Day

 

We're still in the midst of our tips on parasites that can affect our furbabies. Our previous tip related to Giardia, and the parasite of today is very similar to this. Today's parasite is coccidia, which is another single-celled protozoa that can infect the intestinal tract. Coccidia is similiar to Giardia in more than just that regard, though. Just like Giardia, coccidia most commonly causes diarrhea, and is passed in the feces. It is also possible for a furbaby to become infected with coccidia if they ingest an infected rodent.

Also just like with Giardia, sometimes a cat or dog will show no signs of infection even if they have coccidia in their intestinal tract. Young kittens or puppies, geriatric furbabies, and those otherwise medically compromised are at the highest risk. In compromised cats and dogs, diarrhea caused by coccidia infection can lead to dehydration and other complications, which can be life-threatening.

Like the broken record that we are, we're of course reminding you again to keep an eye on your furbaby when outdoors, and to keep their environment as sanitary as possible. As we said earlier, ingesting the feces of another animal infected with coccidia can lead to infection. Also ingesting debris or water near where such animal defecated could lead to an infection with coccidia.

And, again, if your furbaby has diarrhea, seek veterinary care as soon as possible. Take a fecal sample to the appointment, so that your veterinarian can do a test for coccidia and other parasites. When a diagnosis is made, discuss with the veterinarian the treatment options. Give prescribed medications, which may include antibiotics, probiotics, or another, and do so for as long as the veterinarian prescribes. Stopping medications early, even if symptoms subside, can result in a recurrence. Then again, if a treatment plan is not working, discuss that with your veterinarian as well. Diarrhea, among any number of symptoms, is not to be taken lightly, so do your best to stay on top of it.