Pardon the pun but I reckon most pet loving children have minded their schools stick insect and the class ginea pig.

Rabbits are there for families with young children, although not to young, as I have heard that my brothers little boy dropped a stone on the head of his rabbit that was recently purchased.

As you grow up you become a cat fan or a dog man and every pet loving family should have 1 or the other, sometimes both whilst when you get older parrots and budgies enter the fray as there low maintenance in your older years.

Having tried wine, which still works by the way, and a disappointing craving for nicotine I have actually found bird feeding or duck feeding to be equally as relaxing.

Upon recent trips to Manor Park and the Lake District I have thoroughly enjoyed the sight of a flock of birds, seagulls and ducks hovering around my feet and the boat we hired provided just as much pleasure when we stopped and found them circling our personal space.

It is equally as satisfying seeing the array of birds descend on my back lawn when leftovers and stale bread is put out, sat out there with a glass of wine is made all the more relaxing due to our feathered friends.

Personally I feel, looking at the Zoo growing in my mother’s back garden, animal communication is alive and well and living in Essex.

Yes I am an animal lover, not insanely, just an appreciation for certain and I mean certain furry friends, spiders do still freak me out.

Birds, Cats, Badgers and Foxes are, during the day, all spotted in the back garden of my Mum’s and they feel so much at home they do not particularly care if other adults, or children to that matter, happen to be sharing their personal space.

Yes she puts out food fit for humans and yes she is up from 4am but I think the very first animal into the garden gave a sign and the rest just followed.

Babe the “Pig that thinks it’s a sheep dog” quality, Black Beauty legendary, Lassie everyone’s got a place in their hearts for Lassie.

King Kong iconic, Willy out of Free Willy pulls at the heart strings but not to the same effect as Tarka the Otter, Elsa the Lioness (Born Free) and Hazel, probably the most famous Rabbit from Watership Down.

My favourite however, maybe slightly biased from the fact I love the films, admire the actor and just fully rate the plot is Buktus from Rocky, whatta dog, whatta hero and whatta character.

However, first things first, stop the car and check on the animal – is it badly hurt, has it run off, etc. If it runs off, try and see where too – a lot of animals get away only to die from injuries later, so don’t assume it’s ok just because it hobbled off.

Try to find a tag, and ID where the animal comes from – then you can notify the owner. If not, grab a blanket or something to wrap the animal in, and get it to the nearest vets (if you can’t spot a local house that has someone in who knows who the cat belongs to).

Leave your contact details with the person/vets/etc you leave the animal with; I know it might be hard to have a person blame you for hurting their pet, but more often than not, they’ll want to say thanks for stopping and helping – especially if the pet lives.

All in all – be responsible. It might be “just a cat” to you, but to the owners, it’s a part of the family.

Well, weren’t we surprised! Well, so was the vet – they hadn’t noticed “she” was a “he” either! But apparently this sort of mistake is not uncommon, and so we weren’t too worried.

But now we had to rethink the kittens name! I ended up naming him a strong sounding Scottish name (purely because he was ginger and very feisty – reminded me of a traditional Scot!), but every time I look at him, I still see a little Polly…