Several years ago when I was returning home from work I found a homeless cat gravely injured on the road. I was dark but, I could see that it was in a very bad way. I put it in the car and drove to the local vet. I arrived with my teenager daughter holding up the cat in a towel, which was evidently at death's door. I was informed that the cat was extremely weak and unable to move and we left it there and returned home.

A phone call later that evening informed me that the cat needed to be put down and I had to give consent. Later, that same evening, a neighbour who lived a small distance away knocked on my door and asked me if I had seen his wife's cat. My daughter immediately disappeared into her bedroom. I invited the neighbour to use my phone to inquire of the vet about the cat. "Where is my cat?", he asked the vet. He turned and stared gravely at me, "It's in the freezer".

With my daughter in a state of complete hysteria, my neighbour left my house determined to retrieve his wife's cat. Much later I knew that the cat was twenty-one years old. Personally, I think I did them a favour.