I was mostly beaten and abused.

Me too. I was bullied both verbally and physically too, both in the elementary school and in the middle school too.

I've never truly been in love except with cats and dogs

I would like to suggest birds. I had a female Harris's hawk in the past. She gave me the biggest love and the biggest peace of the world. She died because of heart failure around the morning of 2023.03.20. The size of her heart was different from the normal, but the veterinarian necropsy could not determine the reason of this. I very much miss her.

We literally slept together. She was more tame than most people's dogs and cats. She flied to my arm, if I called her by whistling. Often on its own too. We very much loved each other. To be honest, she was my only true love and my only true enjoyment in the recent past. Hopefully I will have a bird in the future too.

Have a nice day. All the best. Greetings and much love from Hungary.