There's a belief that having cats around and watching them sleep can relax you and induce sleep, a pheromone thing. Do you believe it?

Have you tried it?

Cats are fierce creatures with a wild, mystic ancestral past,

and they can go from absolute calm to a state of alarm and attack in a snap. They are flexible, agile, quick. But they can also be blatantly lazy.

Their infectious relaxation is not always an advantage;

their ability to lie down to sleep metaphorically and literally on their favorite hot spots could keep you from working on that paper you've been meaning to finish...

During a lazy weekend,

you might be struggling against your inner couch potato--which according to granny, you inherited from the less loved side of the family--,but then the cat happens. Take the case of Canela, my rescued and adopted 8-year-old calico, such a bad example to follow 🙈

Canelita sleeps so much that

I composed her a sonnet, an English sonnet because she so Shakespearean, deliciously and amusingly dramatic.

To Sleep or Not to 😴

To sleep more than half of the day it beats
the pleasure of a hunted meal; you see,
the softness of my mistress’s clean sheets
is dearest than a mouse could ever be.

Kibble is fine if you ask me, my friends;
much effort I make not in chasing minces;
in hunting chicken breast I get but tens;
for catching fish and beef I’ve been crowned princess.

Don’t get me wrong, don’t think I’m lazybones.
I do all kinds of exercise: I stretch,
I scratch, I knead, I spread my pheromones,
--On a good day, if I’ve slept well,--I fetch.

To sleep or not to sleep, I never worry.
I snooze, I doze, I am a sleeping furry.

Canelita sleeps so much that

sometimes I feel the irrepressible need to tease her, haha, to see if she's alive, you know.

And just in case you're wondering,

nothing's wrong with her; she's fine.

She just loves to sleep and has no moral sense to prevent her from doing so, haha. I work, I clean, I cook, I study, the stress of social and political news can make me pull my hair out, while she's lying down like a chubby little four-legged angel.

She snoozes, she dozes.

Just like the sleeping furry she is.

Although there's no conclusive scientific evidence

that humans are affected by feline pheromones, the companionship and demonstrations of affection and trust we receive from our kitties--and other animal companions, of course--can help us release serotonin and oxytocin, giving us a sense of well-being, and why not, a good night's sleep and better, longer naps.

Let's not talk, for now,

about how they prevent us from moving when they decide to spend all night lying on our legs or feet while looking sanctimoniously innocent, or how they deprive us of oxygen when they sleep a long nap on top of our chest, or when they wake us up at 5 a.m. with the irritating clank-clank of their empty bowls.

If you allow it, if your lifestyle allows it, you could enjoy the therapeutic benefits of having a cat in your life.

Any lazybones at home?

🐱