Just when you least expect it, the usual sarcasm and absurdity in this blog take a brief vacation and you get a big helping of adorable, instead.

Here then, to make your weekend a little better, are ten of the most memorable animal posts we’ve had in recent months. They’re all great, but if you haven’t seen the last two items - the otters and Charlie the cat, you are in for an extra special treat.

Stop by and warm your heart…

You winsome, you lose some…

Knut the Cute…

Paging Christopher Robin…

I can’t talk, I’m a little horse…

No bunnies were harmed in shooting this photo

Guess I owe Disney some royalties?

Hold that tiger…

Do unto otters…

A couple of minutes with a special cat…

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Hey, Blog Guy, I know you’re a soft touch for really adorable animal stuff, and it’s been too long since you’ve posted anything like that. How about a fix?

Thanks for asking. I only post the very best, and your timing is perfect. I recommend this video clip about a cat named Charley, for the sweetest two minutes you’ll spend all month. The usual advice that goes along with these special animal moments: if you can’t find someone who will melt over this, you just have to get new friends. Here’s Charley:

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Regular readers know that occasionally, we suspend our obsession with the absurd, the ironic and the stupid, and devote space to the just plain adorable.

Judging from the traffic reports, even our jaded readers have a soft spot for cute animals, and if you missed last week’s Buster the Tiger slideshow, go have a look.

Today’s offering is a one-month-old leopard cub at Jordan Zoo, near Amman, photographed yesterday. As usual, a word of advice: if you don’t know anybody you can share this with, you’re hanging out with a bad element. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

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Another reminder: while we welcome readers to this blog for a heaping daily portion of the ironic and sardonic, we do reserve the right to offer occasional heartwarming photos and video of the most adorable animals we can find, and we make no apology for it. Share this one with someone who will appreciate it. We will now return to our regularly scheduled absurdity.

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Anak, a 31-year-old Orangutan, holds her five-day-old baby Apie in her arms in Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen, central Netherlands, July 31, 2007. The baby was born in captivity at the zoo. REUTERS/Michael Kooren

Every so often this blog reserves the right to take a very brief break from its regular diet of cynicism, sarcasm and absurdity, and offer up a heaping portion of the adorable.   

Today is our lucky day, especially after learning that this rabbit voluntarily hopped into the tiger cub’s cage, and lived to tell the tale. The usual advice: if you can’t think of anybody who would love to get this picture, you’re hanging out with a cold, cold, crowd.

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Tiger cub plays with a rabbit at a zoo in Wenling, east China’s Zhejian Province July 21, 2007.  REUTERS/China Daily

As you know, this blog promises a steady supply of cynicism, sarcasm, absurdity, and the cutest animals you’ll find anywhere on the Web.

Today’s dose of adorable comes courtesy of two tiger cubs you won’t believe. 

As usual, the video is served up with some lifestyle advice: if you can’t think of anyone whose day would be brightened by seeing this, you need to make new friends. Check it out:

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Let’s all think about the meanest character we can imagine, sort of a mixture of Cruella De Vil, The Grinch, and Jack Bauer’s father on “24.”

Now it’s my duty to warn you, there is someone even worse out there. We know this because Knut, the adorable polar bear, has received a death threat.

That’s right. Security around the little fuzzy guy has been tightened, and he doesn’t seem concerned, but you still have to look at him and wonder who could come up with an idea like this. Madeline Chambers reports:

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Polar bear cub Knut is reflected in the water during the bear’s first presentation in Berlin zoo, March 23, 2007. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

Dear Blog Guy,
My blood pressure is dangerously high this morning, and I need to bring it down very quickly. What should I do?
About to Blow

Don’t waste time telling me how much you enjoy this blog or anything. Immediately watch this 49-second video clip of Knut the polar bear making his first public appearance today. Watch it repeatedly, and your systolic will frolic. But don’t read any of the stories about Knut’s future. Trust me, you don’t need that. Here’s the video of Knut: and here is our latest story. Madeline Chambers reports:

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Polar bear cub Knut is reflected in the water during his presentation in Berlin zoo, March 23, 2007. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

Everybody who has a cat knows how bad they are at managing money. They’re always like, “Can I have a couple of dollars?” and then they never pay it back. 

Quite a surprise, then, to read that an Australian bank actually issued a  credit card to a cat named Messiah.

The bank later apologized for the lapse in judgment, which occurred when Messiah’s owner decided to test the bank’s identity security system.

You have to love it that something called the British Hedgehog Preservation Society tries to take on mighty McDonald’s over a badly designed dessert cup that has been killing hedgehogs. 

It seems the cute little guys stick their heads in the cup for a lick of left-over McFlurry and then can’t get out, starving to death. The Society has been badgering McDonald’s in the hedgehogs’ behalf for several years.

But what you have to love even more is that the Society finally won. Starting tomorrow, McFlurrys in the UK will be sold in hedgehog-friendly containers. McDonald’s said the design change had resulted from pressure from the Society, which prompted “significant research and design testing” to develop new packaging. Here’s the story:

“Pickles”, a female Hedgehog in the Wildlife Gardens of the Natural History Museum in London, in a 1998 file photo.