We have a black cat named Midnight (although for some reason we call her Missy Bebe instead). She found us 7 years ago, showing up at our door, and we took her in. We all agree it was the best thing we ever did.

This weekend we went to the Tuft's Cummings School of Veterinary School of Medicine's open house. It's very cool. We got to walk through the small animal hospital and the large animal hospital. We saw x-rays of a dog who had eaten a very large knife (they'd been using it to cut a birthday cake and the dog decided he wanted some), xrays of animals with broken bones that needed to be screwed together, and even watched a live ultrasound of a dog. We saw horses who were neglected and how they were nursed back to health and other animals who had live saving treatment (even turtles and rats). It was awesome.

My daughter loves animals (she's asked to guest blog here about how bad puppy mills are, which she'll do sometime soon) so she enjoyed looking at cancer cells and how they're treated. Even if you're not an animal lover, though, you couldn't leave not wanting to save every homeless animal out there.

So if you have any pets take a minute to hug and snuggle them and give them love. I know that we came home and smothered Missy Bebe with kisses (then my daughter gave her a dental exam because healthy teeth are important, even in a cat).