Posted by The Naked Redhead

Yeah, yeah, I'm one of those crazy animal people who often refers to her pets as "Fur Kids". I feel like since I don't plan on having "Skin Kids" any time soon, that this sort of craziness is justified.

Plus, they are SO CUTE.

Anyway, I've learned a lot from raising my crazy shelter mutt, Pippin, but the addition of the cats to the family (a brother and sister Siamese-Lynx mix) has taught me an entirely different set of lessons. Consider:

1. Sleep has an important hand in cuteness--Like all cats, my guys LOVE to sleep. They find a cozy chair (or my black sweater, because they have white fur, and that's what white-furred cats do) and snooze for hours. And it's adorable. I've upped my own sleep-intake, hoping for the same results.

2. Life is curious, check it out--A new noise or object or movement is always reason for wide eyes and exploration. As a not-so-adventurous person myself, I have taken cues from my little fearless ones that life is pretty cool, and even small things can be immensely entertaining.

3. Playing is serious business--My cats sleep a lot, but when they're awake, they aren't simply watching TV...they are tearing around the apartment with abandon, playing their own games with each other, or with a toy, or even with a funny bit of fuzz they've found. Making time for play is important for humans, too, and I am learning that even though I've left my twenties, I should still play with gusto.

4. When it's cold, snuggle--The feline knows that when the weather turns cold, "two cats are better than one, and a human is better than two cats". In other words, they can be incredibly independent, but they know when they need help from someone else. Yeah...this is a hard one for me. Let's not talk about how many times I've almost seriously injured myself because I'm convinced I can hoist a TV into the attic sans assistance.

5. Tolerance is sometimes a better alternative to anger--My dog loves to torture the larger of my two cats by pushing the big lug around with his nose. The dog thinks this is super fun, the cat? Well, probably not so much, but he tolerates it, probably because it's way more effort to squeeze himself under the couch. In my life, there are people and situations that drive me nuts, but I can't just get pissy anytime I'm confronted by these things. I learned early on (and it's been reiterated by my cat) people have quirks, and if I wrote everyone off for his or her little annoyances, I wouldn't have any friends.

What have your animals taught you?