I think something like this might be what you're looking for:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134757
If you hook this up to your laptop, it will most probably come with some recording equipment. I'd set it to record when any motion is detected. This particular webcam, as I understand it, will follow the motion and keep it at the centre of the focus, which may be particularlly useful when dealing with animals.
Also, in terms of accessing it via work. There are ways of remotely accessing web-cams, which might be good for checking up on things at the time. But, for viewing past files, maybe remote desktop access would be more useful.. as you could access your laptop from work or wherever and view any recorded files directly. Remotely viewing files this way isn't great, but if it were what you were after.. you could just set up a media server on the laptop to stream the recorded video files, so you can view them on demand.