Normally people assume that taking care of pets is easier than human babies but animals & humans are scarily similar, I used to feel the same until I got my first dog & babysat my friend’s baby. Being a mother of 6 ( 3 cats, 2 dogs & 1 fish) has made me realize that humans and animals are indeed so similar. The same way raising human children involves feeding, bathing, hugging, patting them to sleep, lots of reassurance, laughter, poopy cleaning & lots of love, it is the same with having animals.

I learn that day on day with my own kids; hug one more & get the wrath of the other, constantly comparing their food dishes with each other (they all feel that the other has better food), will chide you for ignoring them for too long (Too long : more than 5 minutes), do funny things to make you smile. Raising these guys reminds me how delicate & innocent every creature’s heart is. Almost every night one of the kittens usually Diana gets cranky and needs me to pat her to sleep, she will start meowing unnecessarily & get my attention by nibbling my toes or fingers. Muffin is the more insecure puppy so she hates it when you touch any other baby when she is around, she uses her paw to whack her victim. Delphi usually walks away when she gets whacked but Diana never lets Muffin boss her around. The tom, Castor is a serial nuzzler… He loves to rub his nose on my chin every time he wants something. The most common thing we go through with our kids is being woken up by them for food or water right?… Well, Castor knows how to do this without hurting me or making my ears bleed. He starts rubbing his nose on my chin until I change my position slightly then depending how comatose I am he will either squeeze himself into my arms or nibble on my nose. He sometimes places his paw on my nose, my usual counter attack is to pull the blanket over my face. But Castor without breaking a sweat simply pulls the blanket off my face and starts the nuzzle attack again.

Diana is more aggressive, she starts by nibbling on my little finger then progressing to my toes. If all fails she will grab my ear lobe and tug on it until I either jump off my bed or offer her my ring finger as a bribe to get her from gnawing my ear lobe off. Cleo wakes me up when she gets bored or needs to go potty, she will grab my leg with her claws and keep biting on it until I take her where ever she wants.

Ever played referee when your kids fought?? Sure you have.. I am sure you are pulling out your red & yellow cards right now. I sure as hell am, apparently Diana & Muffin got into a scuffle over a cookie so here I am with Diana and Muffin both talking sense to them while being given guilty (Muffin) & insulted (Diana) eyes. Every time a fight breaks out or the kids fall down they look all embarrassed running to Mommy to complain about how their sibling beat them up or cry about how they fell down. At that moment all they want is a hug & lots of reassurance. Even when they do something wrong, they will sit all guilty in front of me wiggling their bottoms or trying to pacify me with a lick… Even my fishy has a personality of his own, he loves it when I talk to him & comes to the top when I show him food. He sometimes nibbles on my finger but he mostly answers every time I call him ^_^

As a mother, I am responsible for their health, sleep, food & hygiene so there are many a times when my dogs/cats want to eat some dead animal or another but if it’s not good for them I am forced to remove it from their eager mouths and dispose of it. After the disposal I am subjected to lots of complaining & forced hand shakes which makes me feel guilty. I also see my share of tantrums and bratty behavior when it comes to taking their pills or having a bath. How much I have to cajole & call before they agree to come here, once they do come near I spend another 20 minutes trying to lasso my wild animals XD

But the bottom line is that kids whether with four legs, 2 legs or no legs are pure, filled with love and want to be loved by you. I try to make sure to deal with them with nothing but positivity sharing with them my very existence because every one loves it when they are involved in a person’s life.