I don’t know why this little act of trust gets to me on a major level, but I stop every fibre of my being and gawp down at the little crazy furball. He’s showing me some clumsy affection as he rubs his body back and forth across me in a bid to hurry the deliverance of food, but I can only stare. A lump catches in my throat, and I stand frozen, afraid to move as my eyes mist over and my heart swells so achingly it sticks in my rib cage painfully.

‘I think he’s telling you to ...