How cats and dogs (and other pets) can be considered property is beyond me. I wish that in addition to cases like these, animal abuse would be treated more like abuse to humans is - more serious punishments, etc., for those who harm animals - more on the level with the punishments for those intentionally inflicting harm to humans.

I consider our cats to be members of the family - our furry kids. I wish more people would think that way. Cats can't be "owned" anyway! I'm not even sure dogs can, but they're more likely to be "owned by" than a cat. If anything, we humans are owned by our cats!