DEAR TABBY

DEAR TABBY: I am a busy mom of two kittens and have a busy job of catching mice on my family's cattle ranch.  Lately, bedtime has been a CATastrophe because my oldest kitten wants to play around in the barn and not stay in his bed and go to sleep.  Can you give me some advice to make bedtime easier for both of us?  SLEEPLESS WITH THE CATTLE

DEAR SLEEPLESS WITH THE CATTLE:  First, keep him away from the catnip!  One thing you might try is to give him something warm to drink (like milk or cocoa) before bedtime, but not too much or he'll be getting up to go to the catbox!  Another trick is to count sheep together (or cows or horses).  Reading a good book while laying down in the hay should help.  You might also try letting him watch this video from the movie Tarzan to help lull him to sleep, too.  http://youtu.be/JIVaUcE4kAM.  Here's a picture of Tom laying down with a cow (oh, no, that's just Charlotte!)

*In my April 5th post, I told you about the features of a cat's body, but I have to tell you about cats' senses.  Cats have excellent night vision, partly due to large pupils, but they have poor color vision.  They can only see two colors, blue and green.  Cats have excellent hearing, among the best of any mammal, and an acute sense of smell!  You can now understand why it's hard for cats to settle down at night and go to bed!