Do Your Pets Give Gifts? Mine Do

I have a long standing custom of giving gifts to my pets during the holiday season. With the fondest memories, I recall those early chilly Christmas mornings when the ground glistened with a fresh blanket of snow. Teeth chattering, I sneaked into the barn to share a bit of holiday cheer with my horse, Sweet and Low. As I opened her presents, she tossed her head prancing ecstatically through the aisle, puffs of steam streaming from her nostrils from the frigid air. She loved showing off her brand new spiffy plaid Baker blanket knock- off, to all her stable mates. Of course she was more than thrilled with the carrots, apples and treats I gave her, which I carefully wrapped in fancy gift paper. She neighed in delight, feigning her surprise as I opened her bag of luscious navel oranges, which she totally adored. In retrospect, I suspect her good manners and excellent disposition on our traditional holiday morning trail ride was her gift to me in return. In that same custom, searching for unique and appealing holiday presents for our cats is something to which I look forward each year. I love shopping online, drooling over the abundance of gorgeous cat trees and scratching posts just begging to be purchased. And it is really difficult to choose from the huge selection of all the reasonably-priced toys and treats advertised for sale. Of course, each gift gets individually wrapped and presented to our kitties who then impatiently tear into them. And then it is their turn to give us their treasured gifts; after all they devotedly went out shopping, making sure their presents were purrfect. I always wondered why our cats went missing for several hours, and upon their return were sweaty and exhausted. And now that that mystery is solved, it is purrfectly clear why they were plumb tuckered out. Over the years I have became curious if many pets give holiday presents to their humans. Therefore I am extremely grateful for the timely email on this subject, sent me by my friend Heather. My burning question has been finally answered thanks to klaatu42, an avid animal lover from Nova Scotia, Canada. Klaatu42 created a most delightful video for your viewing pleasure, "Happy Holidays from the YouTube Animals". This charming production is a whimsical compilation of holiday greetings from a wide variety of animals intended for both humans and, of course their pets. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did. Do your pets give you holiday gifts? Leave a comment and share with us. Image Source: Flickr user Jill Crystal