If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.

I am never at my best in the early morning, especially a cold morning in the Yorkshire spring with a piercing March wind sweeping down from the fells, finding its way inside my clothing, nipping at my nose and ears.

No animal is a better judge of comfort than a cat.

I wish people would realize that animals are totally dependent on us, helpless, like children, a trust that is put upon us.

Over the years I knew her she always looked at me like that - as though I was a quite pleasant but amusing object - and it always did the same thing to me. It's difficult to put into words but perhaps I can best describe it by saying that if I had been a little dog I'd have gone leaping and gambolling around the room wagging my tail furiously.

Cats are connoisseurs of comfort.

If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.