I know bad things, and bad people, are out there. I do everything I can in my daily interactions with other people to foster kindness to animals. I also advise just clicking through past cats of the day, for example, and realize how many cats have been rescued, loved and treasured for long, happy lives. Surely they outnumber the bad stories out there.

Sending you hugs, Carole. And realize that you have raised two children who will be animal lovers and will spread that knowledge to all their friends and any future generations.

To give you a smile - when my eldest niece first started dating the young man to whom she is now engaged, she told him that her priorities were: Family, Friends, then him, then other people. When he asked if he was at least ahead of Nilla (the family dog) in priority, she said "Are you kidding? Nilla is Family!"

And still, the young man in question stuck around long enough to move up the list. And now knows that non-humans in our clan are just as much family as the humans.