Oh gosh, where to start? I've had some pets that were/are real characters! Our current senior kitty is Katie, she is about 14 and we've had her since she was 6 months old. She lived on a farm with her mother and siblings before that, which I think really teaches them a lot.

We had three cats and no kids for quite a while, and we weren't sure how the kitties would react when our son was born. The two older cats at the time were not impressed, but Katie seemed to think she was his guardian or something. She watched over him all the time and got very agitated when he cried.

One day I was trying to change his diaper and he had a bad rash, so he was screaming bloody murder. There wasn't much I could do about it, the diaper had to be changed, his bottom had to be cleaned, then I could put some cream on it. Katie heard him letting out that piercing wail that means "Ouch!" from any creature and came to the conclusion that I was hurting him. She ran into his room, growled at me, and bit me on the ankle! She had to jump up and make sure he was ok before she backed down.

Another time, when he was about six months old, I went to check on him in his crib. I found Katie snuggled up with him trying to wash his hair and getting her tongue hopelessly tangled in his curls, while he gnawed contentedly on her hind leg. They both seemed to be happy with the situation so I left them to it!