Mancat Monday: Purrs and Prayers for Flitwick and Trapper

Hello, friends! We hope all of you in the USA had a wonderful Independence Day, and that all of you had a wonderful weekend! I'm grateful to have had a four-day weekend. But, it was also filled with some sick kitties. My kitties are all doing well, though Evan did have one of his usual sanitary shaves at our vet's groomer on Friday, as well as some of his typical megacolon issues. Even so, none of the kitties at my house are the ones in question today.

The sick kitties in question are two of my parents' kitties. Flitwick, who happens to be my Tonks's and our housemate Winky's littermate, ended up at the vet on Friday.

That boy there has a history of urinary tract issues, mostly cystitis that leads to difficulty urinating. He has that in common with my boy Evan. Luckily, Flitwick was deemed not blocked when he went to the vet. He is, however, in a pretty severe cystitis flare, which I believe is probably very much related to an entire long weekend of fireworks going off in our town. Flitwick's meds were all increased by his vet, though he's still having a bit of trouble urinating even today. He's improving, but very slowly. So, if you have any purrs and prayers to spare for Flitwick, we'd all appreciate it so very much!

And, we have another sick kitty. This one is my Thimble's and our housemate Toby's brother Trapper.

In case anyone remembers, we mentioned last summer how Trapper was diagnosed with diabetes. For nearly a year, Trapper's diabetes has been successfully managed by the somewhat new drug known as Bexacat. This is a pill that works by essentially redirecting sugar in the blood to be excreted out in the urine instead. Again, this has been working great for Trapper for nearly a whole year. It might still be working, but that's going to be confirmed today.

As of yesterday morning, Trapper is acting quite lethargic. He's not getting excited about food time, he's not begging for someone to run the faucet for him, and pretty much, he's just not acting like himself. He's acting very much like when he was first diagnosed with diabetes. Part of me is hoping Trapper "just" has a UTI or some other easily treated diabetes-related issue, but overall, I'm really just praying that whatever is going on can still be managed. Even if the Bexacat medication is no longer working, he can still be put on insulin. I'd love for the Bexacat to still be working for him, though. All that to stay, if you also have some purrs and prayers to spare for Trapper, our whole family would greatly appreciate it!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy Monday!

***

Flashback Doodle of the Day

I recently had a discussion with my sister regarding treehouses, so how about this flashback with a kitty showing off none other than his weird and wacky treehouse?

***

Tip of the Day

We have just a couple more tips in our series of pet parenting hacks. Today's tip is a bit of a silly one, but perhaps it could be useful to someone out there. Do you have nooks and crannies in your house where all sorts of cat hair, litter, and other fubaby debris settles? You know, those nooks and crannies where the vacuum and its attachments and even a broom can't easily reach? Let's move on to another question. Do you know those pointed, open-tipped lids that are often used on ketchup bottles at cafeterias or restaurants? If you get your hands on a lid of this type, you can trying placing it on your vacuum's hose attachment and use it to help suck up the pet hair and other debris that can be found in difficult to reach cracks, crevices, and corners throughout your home. This may very well be a weird and random tip, but perhaps it will help you keep your home clean from top to bottom and from corner to corner.