| Animal Appreciation at | |||||||
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 Immerse yourself in the wonder of life and all living things. The more you understand nature, the more understandable your own actions become. My animals have demonstrated human traits to me time and time again. For example, consider my cat Hobbitina, she had a definite sense of humor, teasing us whenever she felt like it. She would turn the lights on to the brightest setting in the middle of the night when we were fast asleep. She would lurk in high, dark places, waiting to pounce onto us when we would least expect it. And when she hurt herself by accidentally jumping out of a 4 story building, she
was definitely relieved when she saw us there to help her.Our squirrel understood that we could help her. When she was attacked by a cat, her leg became infected to the point where she could no longer use it. We had tried earlier to catch her numerous times so we could bring her to the vet, but catching a squirrel against their will is nearly impossible. Finally, she was feeling so bad, she jumped right into my husband's shirt (her favorite place as a baby) and settled there. We drove her to the vet where she received two antibiotic shots and a liquid antibiotic to administer for the next two weeks. When we arrived home, she quickly jumped out of his shirt and was gone into the trees. She appeared religiously for her medicated walnuts and pecans until she had fully recovered. Consider the skunk, who, in a park had found a jar that had enticing food left in the bottom of it. When the skunk stuck his head into the jar and eaten the food, he could not get his head out. Park goers watched him fervently try to remove the jar, but he simply could not. Finally, he approached some people sitting at a park bench and waited. One of the persons reached down and held the jar so the skunk could back out of it. The skunk then quietly walked away. In another case, a Mom duck and her babies were traveling ina park when the babies fell into a hole. The babies could not get out and the Mom could not get in there to help them. Finally, the Mom went to the road where a police officer was directing traffic. The duck went up to the officer and started pulling on his pant leg. The duck continued to do this until the cop followed the duck and helped her get her babies out of the hole. There are endless stories about animals that could entertain you all day. Animals may not be humans, but they have emotions that are the same as ours: Fear, love, hate, contentment, happiness, aggression, anger, they morn people and other animals, and they sometimes even have egos. Most of all, their biggest instinct is self-preservation. To get the most rewarding experience from your animal, start noticing facial expressions and behavior when you give them a treat or play with them. When you arrive home from work, are they waiting at the door? Do they retaliate when you go on vacation by doing something very bad immediately when you get home? Are they jealous of other animals or new additions such as a new baby? You can understand your animal much better if you realize they have these emotions and act on them just like people do. They really are a window into our own souls, if you look closely enough. | |||||||