The Letter G and Angel Astrid's Floral Find

It's time for another letter in the April A to Z Challenge.

I'm nothing if not a broken record, so I'll repeat that for this year's alphabetical challenge I'm creating my own, fan art versions of covers for some of my favorite books. What's more, my covers will all star cats, or occasionally a dog or other animal.

It just so happens that most of the books in my newest favorite fantasy series fall within the beginning of the alphabet. This series is the wild and chaotic Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. These books star not only a man named Carl, but also his talking Persian tortie cat named Princess Donut. And of course that means Princess Donut is the star of all of my covers for these books, including the one for today's letter G.

[Reminder/Disclaimer/whatever you want to call it: This is not a real, true cover of this book. My name is also not Matt Dinniman, and so I am admittedly not the author of this book. I'm just someone who likes books and cats and so drew this unofficial feline version of the book's cover.]

The Gate of the Feral Gods is the fourth book in this series, and it involves a dessert and camels and a floating house and a plane and of course a gate that releases feral gods. Like I said, this series is wild and chaotic, and it has brought me a lot of joy over the past couple of years.

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And now it's time for some memories with my sweet angel pup Astrid. We're starting to see some flowers blooming around here. There are lots of crocuses and of course dandelions, and the first tulip has bloomed in my yard. Seeing these flowers reminded me of a walk I took with Astrid last spring.

I went searching for these photos, and they were snapped almost exactly a year ago, on April 12, 2025. Astrid and I found that there pretty flower blooming in just a small patch of grass by the curb a couple blocks from our house. There's a bridge over the neighborhood creek right there, and that little bit of grass beside the bridge never usually has any plants. But, last year it gave us this pretty bloom. Astrid was quite intrigued by it.

Angel Astrid and all of us here wish you a wonderful Wednesday!

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Tip of the Day

 

After yesterday's discussion on tapeworms, we thought we'd briefly discuss a couple of other similar intestinal parasites, these being roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. We won't go into all of the science for each of these worms, but we will touch on the basics of such infestations. So, if you're interested in these wormy parasites, read on.

Depending on the worm, cats and dogs can potentially become infected with the aforementioned worms as kittens or puppies, such as in utero or from their mother's milk. Worms can also find their way to a cat or dog's intestines by the ingestion of a rodent or other carrier of the parasite, or by ingesting the parasite in certain stages of its life cycle elsewhere in the environment. Symptoms of such an infestation can include diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, a potbellied appearance, and sometimes even worms in your furbaby's feces.

If you think your kitty or pup might have intestinal worms, such as if they are a young puppy or kitty with a potbelly, if you see worms in their feces, or if you see any other potential signs, of course take your furbaby and a stool sample to be examined by a veterinarian. Parasiticides can be used to eradicate these intestinal parasites. Just as with tapeworms, though, it is important to use preventative measures to keep your kitty or pup clear of them from then on. Keep their environment clean in order to prevent growth of the worms in the environment. In addition, if your furbaby goes outdoors, monitor them and try to ensure that they are not ingesting prey that are potential carriers of intestinal parasites, such as rodents. If needed, such as if your cat or dog is largely outdoors, discuss with your veterinarian the potential for keeping your furbaby on regular preventatives that cover intestinal parasites such as roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms.