I fostered troubled children for 7 years and I looked after one child for 6 years, they had been unwanted, left to fend for themselves from infancy, e.g. begging for food and raiding bins at the age of 4, anyway, I initially had kittens as in my naivete I thought they would be able to keep out of their way and I was around 24/7 but the child trapped one at the window, played with the Pooh in the litter and I found deep claw marks high up my wall, I kept a close eye on this and one of the kittens disappeared, my other elderly cat also disappeared only for me to be told years later by a school teacher who was also a friend that the child had said they had thrown that cat from the upstairs window, around that time my neighbours elderly cat suffered broken ribs, that cat only came into my garden and back home, I found the bottom of my shed door cracked and a big footprint on it, the door was in a narrow part of my garden facing a brick wall, I suspected the child had kicked the cat into the door!!!! needless to say, I spoke about these suspicions to the social worker and they did not really say much. I then had Bruce and I kept him with me, all the time, he slept in my bedroom and when I was out of the house so was he. The child also went for respite and they reported suspicions about their family pets....anyway, I asked the RSPCA to come to talk about an incident of kicking a friends dog but although they said they would visit, they never did. I could say loads of other things and I knew that as the child had never been loved, they became jealous of any thing getting love, I was always aware of this, the child had no worth for themselves so saw animals even lower and vulnerable enough for them to take out their deep emotions on.....poor child through no fault of their own...to add a nicer note, many other children were good with Bruce when we were on on walks, but I certainly kept him protected. Sad fact of life, there are many people who hold no worth for themselves or animals.