Evan vs. Cystitis

Hello, friends. We'll get back to our typical posts next week, but on this Thursday, I'm asking for some purrs and prayers for my boy Evan. He and my now angel pup Astrid grew up together and interacted regularly, and since her decline and ultimate passing last week, Evan is having one of his worst bladder cystitis flares to date. Cystitis is nothing new for Evan, but it can be exacerbated by stress. Losing Astrid has been heartbreaking, for Evan as well, and it's caused his cystitis to the flare to the point of having significant blood in his urine. His urine is more or less dark brown from the blood, and despite all of the medications he's already on, he's still a bit painful when urinating.

I took Evan to the vet on Monday to make sure there wasn't an infection or anything else going on.

The urine culture has thus far indicated that Evan does not have an infection. So, his vet is certain it's another flare of Evan's cystitis. We've upped his meloxicam to a higher dose to help reduce the inflammation. Also, since he's having such a significant flare, we've added the pain med buprenorphine to the mix. He's already on gabapentin and prazosin as well as the aforementioned meloxicam to combat his urinary issues, but we're hoping the heavier pain med will help him get past the worst of this flare soon.

I'm giving my boy lots of cuddles, though he's often rather stoned during those cuddle sessions thanks to him being on an opioid right now.

Our furry babies grieve losses just like we do. My heart is breaking doubly, for the loss of my sweet Astrid but also for Evan's loss of the buddy he grew up with. I truly hope this flare of cystitis resolves for him soon. I'm doing my best to help him through all the pain involved with our current reality.

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We do want to share the fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. _________ was the best advice I ever received.

2. _________ was the worst advice I ever received.

3. If I knew how to _________, I would _________.

4. I thought _________, but it turned out _________.

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

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Just as a note, I'll start up with our daily tips again on October 1st. We'll jump right into the Halloween goodness then.