Pets can make you healthier

Thanks to Johnny for the wild background in the photo on the left. Johnny lives in Loleta, CA and is a photo shop artist.

Owning a pet can actually lower your blood pressure!! The act of petting a pet gets our minds off of our little (or big) problems and lowers the blood pressure. In fact, just watching fish swim around a tank can also lower your blood pressure.

People with pets tend to live longer. I guess having a pet gives you love, and feeling loved combats many of the ills of life.

Interestingly, John the desciple of Jesus wrote in his book that God is love. God is the source of all life, of love, of true joy. And having pets can really connect you to that love. They love you unconditionally. Our cats get especially loving when there is no food in their dishes. They come and rub all over our legs. And when we come home, they come running out to the fence to greet us.

Johnny has cats that sleep on top of him or beside him every night. There are a lot of people that have their dog sleep on the foot of their bed.

Personally, I like cats better because they are so independant. They only come to you if THEY want to. Dogs are okay too, but dogs are more oriented toward trying to please you. Some people like this. But cats are very smart too.

We had a batch of kittens that were born beside the bed in a closet in the motor home. I left the door open to the closet. Well, of course the little kittens ventured out. One of them went to the foot of the bed and climbed up the bedspread and crawled up to where I was. Of course I was astonished that such a small kitten would do this. So I picked him up and deposited the kitten gently back on the floor beside the bed. A look of understanding crossed his little face. Within seconds he was back up on top of the bed. He ran to the foot and again climbed up the bedspread. He had learned something!!

I have five wonderful cats. Each one has a completely different purrrrrsonality. My wife has given them multipe names. For example, there is Tenika Michael Cocoa. When she was a kitten, one day she did this really strange sideways dancing movement in the motor home hallway. It looked like she had watched Michael Jackson's dance videos and was adapting his moon walk but doing it sideways. And she is black like Michael Jackson used to be. But when the sunlight bleaches her black hair, it turns a rich deep brown like cocoa powder.

There is a joke that goes: "only in America can you be born a poor black boy and grow up to be a rich white man." It is obvious even to the casual observer that even though he is rich and famous, Michael has this problem with hating his nose.

But I was talking about pets, not Michael Jackson.

I will tell you about the amazing four other cats in my next postings.

Have a purrrrrfect day,

David