Health Check!

  Taking care of oneself is highly important.  Eating right, exercising and getting a lot of fresh air really helps to build up that immune system! These three things will keep the weight in check and just all around make one feel better.  It is also important to keep a constant check on your vital signs.  Occasionally having the blood pressure, temperature and heart rate checked can warn of any illness sneaking up from behind to grab ahold to an unsuspecting person.  We all know this but not all of us do so well at keeping ourselves healthy.  Personally, I am determined to do all I can to improve my well-being.  I figure to be happy, I must first be healthy.  

  Obviously, this health awareness does not apply to animals.  The critter world is often criticized as being in the dark about their physical health. They just don't seem to get it!  Most animals live day by day and never have any intentions of doing any health checks.  Not so at the Little Bayou House at the moment.  Only health conscientious critters live here! Take little Miss Salem, the foster kitten, for instance.  The little squirt bounds about the house getting plenty of exercise!  Last night she was doing one of her "bounce and pounce" games.  She would race through the living room, bound up the sofa, run across my keyboard and then attack Ms. Ez, the Bayou Dog.  On one of these dashes, she plopped down on the ottoman by my feet.  She immediately picked up the thermometer and started taking her temperature.  This was one of those automated thermometers that voices the temperature at the end of a minute.  I was tickled by the kitten holding the thermometer in her mouth. She did so calmly enough that the thermometer read out 98.7 degrees Fahrenheit. I researched what a kitten's temperature is supposed to be and found that anywhere from 96 degrees to 100 degrees is normal.  Yep, this squirt of a kitten is right normal!  With that, she leapt of the ottoman and raced across the back of the sofa to attack the dog once again!

  Normally, I would never let the cat chew on the thermometer but, to be honest, she was not chewing, just holding.  Plus, this is one that I was getting ready to toss anyway.  She was just so cute and proved that critters do health checks!  This is one smart cookie!  Little Miss Salem, you keep doing your exercises, do not overeat and keep check on those vital signs!  We definitely want you to be hale and hearty!