Yesterday I bought a bed for Nova because the crate she stays in while we are gone doesn't have one -- it was ruined a month or two ago and there has only been a sheet in the crate. She watched carefully while I took the bed out of the bag it was in, and when I plopped it on the floor, her eyes got wide and she started wagging her tail real fast and looked back at me with a huge smile as if she was saying thank you. So, I do believe my pets understand these things, and I don't find it rediculous to celebrate birthdays, Christmas, etc. It makes them happy to recieve new toys, and it makes me happy to see them happy.

I bake them a cake for their birthday, they enjoy it.

I give them some of our food on Thanksgiving, and they enjoy that too.

On Christmas they get a bunch of new toys that they probably didn't need anyway, considering we already have basket fulls around the house. But, they enjoy it, and that's what I want.

I don't think that's rediculous Who cares if they don't know why we're doing it? Besides doing what I do every day by caring for them, these little presents and celebrations are the only way I know how to repay them for the never ending amount of love they provide.