I'm pleased to introduce Zoey Love. (for those of you who follow me on instagram...hope you don't mind the kitten photo overload!). She was born April 24th to a feral cat that somehow ended up living at my mother-in-laws house. Cats just seem to find their way to her and as hard as she tries to spay and neuter them....it's just not possible for her to catch them all. So right now she has nine make that eight kittens. When we first spotted this sweetie my son, not knowing the sex of the kitten, named it Meatball. We are used to seeing kittens at Nana's house, but they are always feral and won't let us get close to them. But Meatball Zoey was different. She exuded personality from the moment we laid eyes on her. After about a week of begging and pleading...my husband finally agreed to bring her home to see how the rest of our menagerie reacted to her.
She has already established herself as queen of the roost. We probably should have named her Queen Bee! This little 2 pound purring, meowing, fluff ball has stolen our hearts and it turns out she's very photogenic. Another plus!
So with this sweet addition our household pet count is now up to seven. Yes, I'm one of those people. I just can't say no. So Zoey joins Joey the three legged cat, Millie the Jack Russell mix, Rusty the Beagle/Daschund mix, Spike the Gecko Lizard, Chubs the Australian White Tree Frog and Guppy the Betta Fish. I can hear you whispering crazy under your breath, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Our pets bring us so much joy not to mention the health benefits of having pets. Not only do they give us unconditional love and affection but they can help to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, encourage exercise and playfulness and even improve cardiovascular health. My kids are learning about responsibility by taking care of our pets.
Did you know that studies have found that:
- Dog owners are less likely to suffer from depression than those without pets.
- People with pets have lower blood pressure in stressful situations than those without pets.
- playing with a cat or dog can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine, which calm and relax.
- pet owners have lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels than those without pets.
- pet owners over age 65 make 30 percent fewer visits to their doctors than those without pets.
I leave you with one last Zoey photo. Can you feel yourself relaxing already?