Pets are the actual best. My cat Aurora is objectively the cutest cat in the world (yes, objectively), and I can't get through the day without watching her zoom around the house. She knocks a lot of stuff over, but she has the charm to back it up.
Aurora isn't the only cute animal out there. So many pets outdo themselves every day with how adorable they are. Here are a few stories from the pet owners of Reddit.
U/clickstorm7 asked: What's the cutest thing your pet has done?
Always gotta start with the pups. Doggos are almost always huge hams, and always make for great stories.
Boop!
My brother's dog was laying in the stairs yesterday. My parent's stairs have a gap in the railing bars. Big enough to stick my face through.
So as I was walking by I stuck my face in to talk to the dog.
He ever so gingerly bopped me in the nose with his nose. Too cute.
They’re such funny sleepers.
Sleepy Family GIFGiphyMy dog has a funny bedtime ritual; he has to circle my laundry rack three times before we go to bed at night, and then he grabs his stuffy, lays on the bed with it and makes little weird soft screamy noises at it, then holds it in his mouth and kneads the bed like a cat making biscuits, huffing softly until he falls asleep. I have no idea why this is required but it is.
Edit: I also had a foster dog for a while. My other dog got a multipack of 15 antler chews, and foster dog took them upstairs to my bed one by one and stuffed them under the covers, and the sound of getting into bed was like a medieval ossuary.
Creeper pupper.
My schnauzer 100% reacts to and can emulate laughing. My wolfhounds can't. They can play, they can indicate play, they can show submission, but my schnauzer 100% understands laughter. She knows how to encourage it, how to react to it, and that it's a positive thing.
I’m a cat person, so I’m really excited to share these cat stories.
A good big brother.
I have three cats and the oldest one is a very grumpy old man sometimes. He doesn't like change. I was genuinely worried how he was going to adjust to us bringing home newborn twins. But from day one those have been his babies.
They're 8 months old now. This cat has tried to push them in their swings when they were crying, he snuggles up next to them when they're fussy, and he'll even encourage them to use him as a bottle prop so their hands are free to grab at him despite their not yet having any idea of the concept of "gentle".
I love old man cats.
cat lady pet GIFGiphyHe purrs. Like all the time.
He's an old man now so he doesn't move around much. Since I started working from home, he just sits on my bed and purrs while he watches me at my desk.
He'll gets extra excited and start wheezing when I get close or pick him up because he's purring so loud.
But the cutest? Before he takes a nap he'll curl into a fluffy purring ball, then let out a single sigh before closing his eyes and going to sleep.
EDIT: He's purring in his sleep right now. It's going in and out because he's snoring. The cuteness. I can't.
Sweet baby.
My cat (then a very tiny kitten--he was a rescue from the yard and we never found mom) laid on my face after my wisdom tooth surgery and batted my husband away every time he tried to get close. They've worked out their differences now that he's not a baby anymore and my husband is his "day" person and I'm his "night" person.
What’s a nice hat.
My cat likes to sleep directly on my pillow right above my head. Like a cat toupee. I guess we keep each other warm that way, but I like waking up and seeing his little nose. He's super affectionate and I'm lucky to have him.
Although cuteness does exist in all animals. They’re all perfect in every way.
Snakes can boop too!!!
snake GIFGiphyMy son has an 8-month-old corn snake. When we pick her up, she likes to stretch out and bump her nose against human noses. My daughter calls that a "snakey nose boop."
Awwwww.
I have a green cheek conure (type of small parrot for those who don't know). He can speak quite a bit. "I love you." "What's that?" "Peekaboo!" "It's okay." "No." "Time to go to bed." and "Wanna take a bath" among other phrases.
One night I woke up probably near 1 am because he had a nightmare (I assume?) and started screaming. I opened the cage, picked him up, and put him on my shoulder. I started scritching his head and whispering "it's okay."
After a moment of silence, he said in the most tender voice: "I love you."
If y'all need a bird tax, I have some videos of him in my post history.
Give the girl some gummy sharks!!!
Try to steal my candy. One day I was sitting down playing video games while munching on some gummy sharks. My iguana jumps on my lap and starts eating them. I let her have half of one, but none after that. She wasn't happy with that, and chased me around while I found a place to hide them where she couldn't get into.
One thing is for sure- humanity is blessed to have pets, and we definitely don’t deserve them.
A good older sibling.
kitty kitten GIFGiphyI brought home a blind kitten. When I let him out of quarantine, my older cat walked side by side with him around the perimeter of my home. I'm pretty sure Gabey was showing the kitten the layout of the house.
Ashley is a good kitty.
My kitty will demand a treat and then when I'm about to go down stairs; she will lay on the stairs, wagging her tail, making little meow noises and will only move if you say, "Ashley treat?"
She will also go and lay across our shoes when she knows we are leaving for a bit.
My favourite is when she attacks my fiancé wrapping her legs around him and pretends to scratch and bite him, but her claws never come out and she never actually bites. She is very protective of him and will "guard" him when someone is in the condo fixing something, usually growling. I laugh because he is 6'6 290lbs of muscle and a 10lb kitty is all "dont you touch my HOOMAN!!"
Cats always know.
My son must have been about 2 and was sick for a couple says, nothing serious but he had a fever. He fell asleep on the couch, and my (then) 13-year-old cat cuddled up right beside him and started purring. She stayed there until he woke up a few hours later. It's like she knew he didn't feel good and was trying to make it better.
What a sweet, trusting pup.
2 Chainz Dog GIF by MOST EXPENSIVESTGiphyMy dog trust falls. I've had her since she was a puppy and have held her a lot and never dropped her. Now she's 50 pounds and reaches up for me to pick her up and will fall backward onto me so I rub her belly.
Congrats, you now speak cat.
My cat was 17 and geriatric. She had a lot of experience being a cat and was spoiled. She got whatever she asked for. My bathroom door and my bedroom door share the same corner basically. I laid down some pest repellent and had to keep her out of the room for a while.
I was standing at the toilet taking a leak when she walks up to the bedroom door, looked at me until I looked at her, and nose booped the door asking me to open it. I tried to explain to her I couldn't let her in, but she didn't know English. She tried and tried, but I wouldn't open the door.
This cat.. I swear.. she walks into the bathroom and walks over to the laundry hamper sitting against the wall. She stands there and stares at the wall for a second, Then she looks at me to make sure I'm looking. And she nose boops the hamper where it meets the wall, then looks at me. I stand there puzzled and ask her "What are you doing? What do you want?" So she boops it again. Eventually I just pull the hamper out away from the wall to make a space. She squeezes through the space, comes out the other side, and walks directly back to the bedroom door without pause and nose boops the door again.
This cat just communicated to me. She established a signal with me as a means of communicating, then used it to communicate.
As for Aurora, the cutest thing I see her do is hang out with our two corn snakes. She'll sit on top of the cage and watch them all day long. I mean, she probably wants to eat them, but we ignore that.
Give your pets a hug today!!! They're the best.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.
