Woof Woof Wednesday with Ice Cream and the Letter B

We've reached the second day of the April A to Z Challenge.

As I mentioned yesterday, some of my favorite things in life are cats, drawing, writing, and the fantasy genre. And so, my A to Z contributions this year will be illustrations for a weird and wacky fantasy story I'm currently writing. This story co-stars a hind limb paralyzed orange tabby cat named Hobo, and this month you'll get to go along on some of his adventures.

Today, we're at the letter B, which stands for books. Just like how fictional feline Hobo's also fictional human of a mom enjoys creating art, as seen in yesterday's doodle, she also enjoys reading. And Hobo may or may not wreak havoc on her books.

While it won't make much sense in these blog posts, these illustrations are indeed based on parts of my story that I wanted to visualize. There's going to be a lot of weirdness this month, a fact I won't deny, but writing and drawing fantastical whatnot is a therapeutic form of escapism for me. So, here we are.

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Now, how about a dose of pup Astrid? Perhaps with a dose of ice cream on the side?

On the first day of spring every year, Dairy Queen offers free ice cream cones. I'm lactose intolerant as well as gluten intolerant, and so I don't eat ice cream cones. Astrid, though, loves her some ice cream, and so I always go and get one for her.

I know ice cream and all that jazz isn't the best for a dog. But, Astrid is 12 years old and I just want the sweet and sassy old girl to be happy. So, sometimes she gets to have an ice cream cone all to herself.

Astrid hopes your day is as tasty as hers!

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Tip of the Day

As we said yesterday, April is Heartworm Awareness Month. For this reason, we are repeating an old series of heartworm tips.

Our second tip relating to heartworms is to know the potential symptoms. Since heartworms can affect the heart and lungs, early symptoms can often resemble those of asthma. Coughing and a lack of desire or an inability to exercise are commonly seen. Other potential signs of heartworm disease include decreased appetite, weight loss, and vomiting. The more severe the heartworm infection, and the longer it is present, the more pronounced the symptoms may be. Severe cases may also involve fluid buildup in the abdomen, as well as acute symptoms of pulmonary or cardiac failure, often due to heartworms causing a blockage. If you have any concerns that your cat or dog might have heartworms, seek veterinary care as soon as possible.

Tonks Tuesday with Towels and the Letter A

It was my intent to start April with a bunch of my A to Z Challenge posts prepared and scheduled ahead of time. But then last week my laptop broke and is still at the repair shop for probably another week. That being the only functioning computer I have at home, I've already fallen behind on these posts. But we're here now.

So, as indicated above, it's time for the April A to Z Challenge.

To preface this year's alphabetical theme, some of my favorite things in life are cats, drawing, writing, and the fantasy genre. And so, my A to Z contributions this year will be illustrations for a weird and wacky fantasy story I'm currently writing. What's more, this story co-stars a hind limb paralyzed orange tabby, much like my own boy Evan. This fictional kitty's name is Hobo, and this month you'll get to go along on some of his adventures.

First up, for A, we have a rather tame doodle. After all, A quite innocently stands for art. Like myself, Hobo's human enjoys creating art. You'll meet this fictional human exactly halfway through the alphabet. For now, though, here's Hobo and a little something his human of a mom created.

I have scribbled up lots of similar drawings of my own boy Evan's extra special legs, so this just seemed like something that also needed to be in Hobo's human's sketchbook.

And if you noticed, Hobo and his human indeed don't live in the fanciest of homes. After all, times are tough. But they'll make it through okay. Mostly.

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Today, Tonks wanted to share one of her favorite things in the whole world. And those are Evan's toilet towels. Hind limb paralyzed Evan is towel trained, and Tonks loves to burrow in his blankets when they freshly come out of the washer and dryer. 

I had only just removed the towels from the dryer and had them in a basket in that there photo. I turned around, and Tonks had already burrowed under the top ones, only her cute little paws peeking out.

Then, of course, lots of happy bloopers ensued.

Given how finicky Tonks is about most things, I'm always surprised how much she loves the towels upon which Evan quite literally urinates and defecates. Granted, she only likes them when they're freshly laundered, but it still shocks me. She's otherwise very picky about cleanliness, but Evan's towels are simply one of her favorite things in the entire world.

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

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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 we've given before. 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 into the house. However, they can enter through cracks, or simply when you open the door to enter or exit. What's more, it is possible for mosquitoes to be out and about year round, even in the winter. For this reason, our first, very significant tip is to simply consider keeping your dogs and cats on preventatives that include heartworm coverage, and that you do this year round.