It disturbed me quite a bit when young children had to get on the evacuation buses and leave their pets behind, ... Pets are a part of your family, at least in my opinion. I have five dogs of my own and they're my family. I can't imagine having to leave them behind.

Another hero was Tom Swift, in the books. What he stood for, the freedom, the scientific knowledge and being and engineer gave him the ability to invent solutions to problems. He's always been a hero to me. I buy old Tom Swift books now and read them to my own children.

I had a cat I could not see,
Because it stayed in back of me.
It was a very loyal pet-
It's sad we never really met.

I had a nice pet
Who I never met,
Remember it always stayed behind me.
And I'm sure it was a cat, too.

Commercial products can kill viruses because the flu is not resistant to disinfectants. Washing hands before and after handling pets is a good start in maintaining good health.

For all their sakes, there needs to be strong supervision when children are interacting with pets.

We're playing on the concept of pets as children. Pets are viewed as family members. They've moved out of the back yard, into the house, into the bedrooms, into the beds and under the sheets.