Keeping Everyone Happy

Everyone has little quirks and things that make them happy - and our animals are no exception.  Every one of my animals has something that really makes them happy.  I try to humor them with this as much as possible, because I like to know that they're happy and for more selfish reasons...  a nervous, unhappy animal tends to make everyone else miserable as well!

Bit is easy to please.  Crack open a can of "gooshey food" and she's over the moon.  She doesn't even seem to mind that she has to share it with the fosters, the only other cats in the house that like gooshey food.  Every night the three of them split one of the small cans three ways.

She also loves loves LOVES the cat tower that my husband built for them last week.  She is frequently seen up in the crow's nest perch, rolling on her back and purring to herself and making little trilling sounds of contentment.

Here is a picture of her, not in the crow's nest, but in the "house" area, another part of the tower that seems to make her happy.

Charlotte is a little more complex - but once you know how she thinks, it's easy to make her happy.  She loves coming downstairs for a splash or two of milk in a saucer.  She loves her milk, but I think what she REALLY likes about it is that it makes her feel special.  THAT is what makes Charlotte happy.  She gets milk, which the other cats do not get, and lately, she gets to come downstairs, which the other cats do not get to do.  (It's too much of a pain to search for all of the cats to put them back upstairs if we have to leave the dogs alone.)  Charlotte likes to feel special.  If I sense that she's getting frustrated with the other animals, usually a little bit of one-on-one time with one of us, with all of the other animals shut out of the room will make her feel much better.

And naps.  Charlotte loves napping on the beds, especially if she can manage to get into a puddle of sun.

Annie is our most easy-going, easy to please cat.  Really, she's just happy to get attention from us, and she doesn't particularly care where we are or what we're trying to do.  It makes her happy to perch on my pillow beside my head, usually in the middle of the night.  I humor her, though this is somewhat painful, but she's come so far when it comes to trusting people and wanting attention from them that I won't begrudge her.

I've focused largely on the cats in this post, but there are things that make the dogs happy too.  They are generally so easy to please.  Pay them a little attention, give them food and a soft place to lie, and they'll be largely content.  (My two, anyway.  I'm sure that some dogs are more demanding.)

Mine like pillows.  Pillows make them very happy.  In fact, I just saw Maera stand up on the couch and nose the pillow that I'd put on the back to get it out of her way.   She knocked it back down and then started using it as... well, a pillow.

Argos shows her how it's done...

Why yes, 98% of all of my dog pictures are of them on the couch.  Why do you ask?  Actually, it's a pretty good indicator of one of the breed's favorite past-times.  There's a reason that they're called 45mph couch potatoes!