Guest book review by Peter J. Wolf

As a rule, I steer clear of feline adventures told from the cat’s perspective—not so much because of the naïve sentimentality that typically plagues such stories, but because the cats’ voices rarely ring true for me. That said, I jumped at the chance to review Taming Me: Memoir of a Clever Island Cat when I learned that “memoirist” Lucy Miracle’s story revolved around TNR, a method for reducing the population of stray, abandoned, and feral cats through sterilization.

“Trap, neuter, return,” ponders the young Lucy, only recently brought indoors, and still missing her mother and littermates. “That’s what happened to me—all but the return part.”

But many of the island’s cats have been returned, thanks to Lucy’s people, Darcie and Ray, who split their time between Florida and the Bahaman island of North Cat Cay, home to “easily over a hundred” cats, as Darcie explains to neighbors. “A hundred,” considers Lucy, overhearing the conversation.

“I turn the phrase over in my head. I can’t picture a hundred. Has my mommy—a member of that hundred—recovered yet? Will she be set free once again? And does she wander alone, a notch in her ear and no more kittens to keep her company? Or does she have a companion? Oh, if only she and the other island cats knew how easy it is to train humans!”

And train them she does—cautiously at first, but then with an expertise that will no doubt be familiar to many Moderncat readers. Lucy’s story makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read, thanks in large part to author Cathy Unruh’s talent for crafting a narrative that’s uncomplicated yet compelling. And her ease with language, evident, for example, in her poetic description of Lucy:

“I am a scrawny thing, thinner than any of my littermates—I have not grown into my age. Born in the moist dense heat of summer, I have now been alive long enough for the days to shorten and go dry. I would likely perish in the sudden chill without my mother—if hunger didn’t fell me first… I creep closer to my mother. My body looks so much like hers: the color of sand on my underbelly, shoulders, and legs, with dirt-colored patches on my back and feet, accented by stripes the color of the island roads—blacktop, they call it—winding around and down my tail like a snake. I wonder if my face resembles hers. Fur the color of cinders outlines her eyes and swoops upward toward the whiskers in her ears. She has a beautiful straight ear, the solid color of a ripening coconut, and a crooked ear, dark at the bottom and pale at the tip. A patch shaped like a sand dollar sits on her cheek.”

Readers involved with TNR will, to coin a phrase, come for the TNR and stay for the story. Others—and, this is what excites me most about Taming Me—will pick up the book for the story, and quickly become acquainted with trap-neuter-return. Unruh, like her protagonist, is pretty clever.

Taming Me will be released—very appropriately—October 16th, National Feral Cat Day. For updates and event announcements, check out the Taming Me Facebook page.

. . .

Peter J. Wolf is the founder of Vox Felina, a blog featuring in-depth analysis of science and policy issues related to the management of free-roaming cats in general, and trap-neuter-return in particular.

I’m so excited to tell you about a brand new book, available this week for the first time. If you love cats, crafts and modern design, then this is a must-have for your reading list! It’s Kitty Jones Kitty Crafts: Beautifully Designed Projects for a Cat-Friendly Home by Jen Curry, founder of Kitty Jones.

Jen has been making well-designed cat toys, scratchers, and other home goods with Kitty Jones since 2007. This book brings her ideas and inspiration to you, complete with beautiful photographs and easy-to-follow instructions. The book is divided into two sections: PLAY including DIY projects for making stylish cat toys, scratchers, hideaways and more; and HOME filled with feline-themed decorative items that don’t scream crazy cat lady.

Four adorable kitty models are photographed throughout the book, bringing the projects to life. The book is beautifully designed and an absolute pleasure to read. This is the perfect holiday gift for all of your crafty cat-loving friends!

ENTER TO WIN!

Here’s your chance to win a copy of Kitty Jones Kitty Crafts, plus the winner will get to choose one of Kitty Jones’ adorable catnip stuffed mice pictured below! All of the Kitty Jones fabrics are designed and printed in the Kitty Jones studio in Queens, NY using water-based inks and organic cotton canvas, so these are some of the best cat toys ever!

To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced on September 24, 2012. One entry per person. This giveaway includes free shipping to addresses everywhere!

Here’s your chance to win your very own SIGNED copy of Jackson Galaxy’s new book Cat Daddy! We have not one, but TWO copies for a couple of lucky readers! To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winners will be chosen in a random drawing and announced on May 22, 2012. One entry per person. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere!

Cat Daddy Now Available for Kindle and Audiobook!

In addition to the hardcover book, you can download Cat Daddy for your Kindle, or you can purchase the audiobook version, read by Jackson himself! I’ve been reviewing the audiobook, and I can honestly tell you, it’s one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever heard. With his acting background, Jackson brings the story to life in a way that no one else could ever do. My favorite part is when he does Benny’s voice! It’s hilarious!

Don’t forget! Jackson will be in Phoenix, AZ this Thursday for two special events! There are still a handful of tickets left for lunch with Jackson at Duck & Decanter restaurant in Phoenix. This will be a special fundraiser for the Spay Neuter Hotline, specifically to support their TNR efforts. He’ll also be at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe on Thursday evening for a book signing. Get all the details here.

Guest book review by Peter J Wolf

I’m not what you’d call a fast reader. Not for lack of practice, mind you—I read plenty. But I’ve never once sat down and read a book cover to cover in one sitting. I came close recently, though—so engaging is Jackson Galaxy’s debut title, Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean.

It’s easy to lose oneself in a book like Cat Daddy: a story, as Jackson tells it, “about two broken beings who fixed one another” told with unexpected (and gloriously colorful) candor. Such indulgences are not without risks, however—in this case, the real possibility of getting in too deep without a box of tissues handy.

And you’re going to need it. (Don’t believe me? See if you can make it through the 86-second book trailer without getting at least a little misty-eyed.)

But back to those two broken beings…

The incorrigible cat to which the book’s sub-title refers was Benny, described by Jackson as “seven pounds of feline frustration who I loved with all my heart.”

“A petite gray-and-white domestic shorthaired cat, he challenged me every day for over thirteen years. Every time I let myself get complacent in my knowledge of cats, in my place in their world, I’d take a deep breath, lace my fingers behind my head and lean back in my chair, and look over to Benny… who was flipping me the bird.”

At the time Benny came into his life—abandoned by a woman who called the cat “unbondable”—Jackson was fighting complacency on multiple fronts as he struggled with various addictions. (Early on, the book’s working title was Cats, Drugs and Rock & Roll.)

Benny’s arrival was life-changing, the wake-up call Jackson desperately needed (one his band mates, friends, family, and co-workers had been unable to deliver).

“I believe that without Benny, I might still have been a successful cat behaviorist. But my experience with him brought me to a place where I had no choice but to abandon my comfort. For years I did OK living a life of disengagement. The things I believed kept me sane—strict cinderblock boundaries, addiction, cynicism and self-sabotage—were unacceptable if I was ever to hear him. And if I was unwilling to hear Benny, I was unwilling to hear, learn from, be with every other cat in the world. I had to get clean of alcohol, drugs, and food. I had to accept humility. I had to be present and willing to learn and change. Things I would never do for another human (or myself) I did for the sake of Benny.”

Anybody familiar with Jackson’s show My Cat from Hell (currently filming Season 3) has witnessed—and marveled at—how the man connects with cats, winning over even the toughest cases with his trademark “cat mojo.” (Like MCFH, the book includes lots of practical advice about behavior, nutrition, and environmental enrichment—or “catification”—for readers, whether their cats are from Hell or not.)

Turns out, Jackson’s got more than a little people mojo too. There’s an undeniable authenticity that comes through in Cat Daddy; its confessional nature and raw, often lyrical, prose are sure to resonate with a broad audience.

And it’s that human connection that’s going to make the greatest difference.

Since he began working with cats 17 years ago, Jackson’s made a point of challenging the conventional “cat guy” image—with his shaved head, sculpted facial hair, earrings, and tattoos. It is, as he explains in the book’s preface, all part of his plan.

“We need to explode the concept of what a cat guy looks like, what a cat girl looks like. We need a country literally full of cat guys and cat girls, bikers, politicians, clergy, and everyone in between, in order to keep millions from dying without homes.”

In Cat Daddy, Jackson further explodes (thanks, in part, to a generous helping of f-bombs) the “cat guy” concept, thus moving us closer to the day when every cat has a home. For this, we all owe Jackson—and Benny—a debt of gratitude.

. . .

Don’t forget! There are still a couple of days left for you to pre-order Cat Daddy and help shelter cats! Order your copy of Cat Daddy before May 10, and Tarcher/Penguin will donate $1.00 to the cause of saving shelter cats. To make your pre-order count, simply e-mail a photo or scan of your receipt to: CatDaddyBook@gmail.com.

Jackson has chosen three wonderful charities to receive the donations: Best Friends Animal Society, Stray Cat Alliance, and Neighborhood Cats.

If you’ve been following Jackson Galaxy and his show My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet, you’re going to love this bit of news! Jackson’s first book, Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean, will be published by Tarcher/Penguin this May. Cat Daddy is a memoir/cat care manual telling the story of Jackson and his cat Benny, who together traveled the road to hell and back, setting Jackson on the path to becoming the amazing cat behaviorist he is today. The book also includes Jackson’s tips for raising happy, healthy cats.

Pre-order Now and Help Shelter Cats!

For every copy of Cat Daddy pre-ordered before May 10, Tarcher/Penguin will donate $1.00 to the cause of saving shelter cats. To make your pre-order count, simply e-mail a photo or scan of your receipt to: CatDaddyBook@gmail.com.

Jackson has chosen three wonderful charities to receive the donations: Best Friends Animal Society, Stray Cat Alliance, and Neighborhood Cats.

>> Pre-order your copy today from Amazon

But wait, there’s more!

For those of you on Twitter, Tweet a picture of your cat using the hashtag #CatDaddy from February 1 through 29, and Tarcher will donate 5¢ for every tweet!

If you’re still looking for that perfect holiday gift for a special someone who loves both books and cats, then you should definitely consider picking up a copy of The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey: A Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary by Deborah Barnes. This beautiful book is a feast for the eyes, filled with stunning photos and illustrations of the two main characters, Zee, a lovable male Maine Coon cat, and Zoey, a high-spirited female Bengal cat, and their other animal companions. The book tells the heartwarming story of the amazing relationship and bond that formed between the these two cats, interspersed with personal stories of the author’s daily challenges and her reflections on the incredible importance of the human-animal bond.

You can still order your copy of The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey in time for holiday delivery! And the Zee & Zoey experience doesn’t end with the book. You can watch videos of these beautiful cats on the Zee & Zoey website.

ENTER TO WIN!

Want to win a copy of The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey for yourself to indulge in? Here’s your chance! To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced on December 26, 2011. One entry per person. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere!

Who doesn’t love Simon’s Cat? British animator Simon Tofield has a brand new book out about his hilarious little feline companion. Simon’s Cat: Beyond the Fence is based on the popular animated series featuring Simon’s cat and his daily antics. Available now from Amazon.

If you’re a fan of hairless cats, you’re going to flip over this new book, The Nudes: A Pictorial Celebration of the Sphynx. It’s a beautiful compilation of photos from Sphynx breeders and owners showing off these cute little guys in all their naked glory. Sphynx lover Chanel Bevell put this book together because she absolutely adores these cats, but it’s not just a pretty picture book — it’s helping to spread an important message about a deadly disease: HCM.

HCM, or Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, is a heart disease found in cats. HCM can appear in all cats, but it is especially prevalent in Maine Coons, Ragdolls, Norwegian Forest Cats, and Sphynx cats. HCM research in humans has shown that there is a genetic link, so similar research is being done to show a genetic link in cats. More research is needed to help cat owners diagnose and treat this deadly disease, and hopefully one day eliminate it entirely. The Nudes hopes to bring awareness to the issue while also raising funds to go specifically toward research efforts.

The Nudes is filled with fun photos of Sphynx cats from all over the world as well as an essay by Brook Arnold on what is HCM. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to HCM research at Washington State University where Dr. Kathryn Meurs is at the forefront of HCM research.

There are tests for HCM that, if performed early enough and regularly, can detect if a cat is developing the disease. An important point to make is that breeders of Sphynx cats and any of the other breeds where HCM is prevalent, must test every one of their cats annually. I’m of course a huge proponent of rescuing animals, but there are also lots of reputable breeders out there, and this is one way to find out who they are. If you are ever considering getting a Sphynx, Maine Coon, Ragdoll, or Norwegian Forest cat from a breeder, please make sure they are testing their cats annually to reduce the likelihood that HCM will be passed on genetically. This is not a complete guarantee, but it will reduce the chances and it is the right thing to do.

I had never met a Sphynx in person, so Chanel and her husband Glen invited me over to their house to meet their six Sphynx cats. What wonderful kitties! They are so loving and full of personality! They love to play and snuggle and, boy, do they love their mom and dad. I absolutely love these cats!

Chanel is completely dedicated to eradicating HCM, so she also designed a line of clothing and and other fun stuff with the HCM logo. Proceeds from the sale of these items also go to fund HCM research. Check it out on her website thenudesphynx.com.

Just about every day I ask my furry kids “What have you done today?” and the answer is usually the same. Well, if it’s time for Kitty to start pulling her weight, the new book Careers for Your Cat by Ann Dziemianowicz will help! This adorable book with wonderful illustrations by Ann Boyajian includes the Meowers-Briggs Career/Personality Test to determine just what career is right for your cat. Find out if your cat will make a great jazz musician or landscape architect!

Available at Amazon for $9.99.

Just in time for the holidays comes Dewey’s Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions, a sure-fire hit for cat lovers.

Unless you’ve spent the past two years stranded on a desert island, you’ve no doubt heard of Dewey Readmore Books, the ginger-colored library cat whose charm and charisma drew visitors from around the world to the small town of Spencer, Iowa. When Dewey died at the age of 19, his obituary was carried in 275 newspapers around the world. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, released in the fall of 2008, quickly became a #1 New York Times’ bestseller (read the Moderncat book review here).

Author Vicki Myron (working, once again, with co-author Bret Witter) is quick to point out that Dewey’s Nine Lives is not a sequel, but a collection of “nine stories of extraordinary cats and the people who loved them.” Three are Dewey stories Myron wasn’t aware of when she was working on the first book; the other six are stories that originated in letters she received in response to Dewey.

Indeed, it was this unexpected outpouring of support (more than 3,000 letters, e-mails, and packages in the first year of the book’s publication alone!) that prompted Myron to write Dewey’s Nine Lives:

In a way, I think, the book made it acceptable to tell a stranger, even if that stranger was only me: “I love my cats. They are important. They are my friends. They’ve changed my life. When they die, I miss them terribly.”

One of Dewey’s greatest strengths—and perhaps a key reason for its astonishing success—was its straight-shooting, hometown sensibility. Myron’s latest effort is no different in this regard:

I can’t tell you that you will like every action taken by the people in this book. You will not… No story has been changed for this book. Nothing has been glossed over. This is not The Cat Whisperer or a guide to kitten care. This is a collection of stories about the way real cats and real people live.

If her first book is any indication, there’s an eager audience for such tales. No doubt Dewey’s Nine Lives will make its way into the hands (and hearts) of readers hungry for more this holiday season.

Watch the video trailer for Dewey’s Nine Lives (if you can’t see the video below in your email, click here to watch it on the site):

ENTER TO WIN! 25 WINNERS!

25 lucky winners are each going to receive a copy of Dewey’s Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions plus one grand prize winner will also get a $250 gift card to a major national pet retailer for a shopping spree!

This giveaway is being sponsored by Dutton, the book’s publisher. To enter, please click here and complete the online form. The deadline to enter is November 12, 2010. Winners will be selected in a random drawing and notified via email. One entry per person. This giveaway is limited to addresses in the US.

>> Enter now for your chance to win!

The lucky winner of The Confessions of a Catnip Junkie is Michelle (comment #373). Michelle will definitley enjoy reading this book with her cats Cornelius and Winston curled up beside her.

You can order your own copy from Amazon for $17.99, or if you’d like to get an autographed copy directly from the author, please mail a check or money order for $25 (includes shipping) along with instructions for personalization to: Jordan Goldstein Stakeholder Communications, 5 Third Street, Suite 1132, San Francisco, CA  94103. If you have questions, please email jgstakeholder [at] gmail [dot] com.

Guest book review by Peter J Wolf

There are, it seems to me, two approaches to writing a good adventure story. A writer can either draw the reader anxiously along toward an uncertain ending, or disclose the outcome up front and let the reader settle into the adventure itself. I don’t imagine either approach is easy, but the writer who gives away the ending, does, I think, take on some particularly daunting challenges. To do it well—to produce a page-turner—as Allan Goldstein has done with The Confessions of a Catnip Junkie, is therefore commendable.

Catnip Junkie is the story of two-year-old Doo Doo, a restless orange tabby whose curiosity takes him coast-to-coast and back again, told from the perspective of an older, much wiser cat. “I am two cats,” he says. “The Doo Doo who was born of this story and the Doo Doo who lived it, fourteen years ago.”

Perhaps it’s this dual role that makes Doo Doo such a charismatic narrator, his confessions so compelling. Speaking of which, I have a confession of my own: I was a little hesitant to delve into Catnip Junkie. Four-hundred pages of cat-speak? Really? (Confession #2: I do talk to my cats, and more often than not reply—a different voice for each of them—on their behalf. Still, I do my best to spare others.) Once I picked it up, though, I found the book difficult to put down—due, in no small part, to the numerous scrapes recounted by a feline protagonist once “full of lust, mostly wanderlust.”

“I have dreams of that used-to-be-me cat being trapped all the time. He was always plotting an escape, making an escape, escaping. I wonder, how could a cat get himself stuck so often? Fourteen years later that is still a marvel to me, even more than his whiskersbreadth escapes. He still brags about those, the cat-who-used-to-be-me thought he was pretty slick. He was, but he was also an idiot. I can see that now, but he couldn’t.”

But Catnip Junkie is surprisingly touching, too—more so, I suppose, for anybody who’s ever had a cat go missing. In the end, the need to be with his people proves more powerful than the catnip that lured him away. “Having loving humans,” confesses Doo Doo, is “like the late-morning sun on your back, a belly full of food, and a head floating in the bright clouds of nipland, only better.”

With motivation like that, it’s no wonder this hero’s journey is such a delight to settle into.

ENTER TO WIN!

One lucky reader is going to receive a copy of The Confessions of a Catnip Junkie. To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on September 29. One entry per person. This giveaway includes free shipping to addresses in the US and Canada.

Ellen Perry Berkeley is a writer and editor who has written numerous articles for Cat Fancy, and is the author of Maverick Cats: Encounters with Feral Cats and TNR Past, Present, and Future: A History of the Trap-Neuter-Return Movement.

. . .

For those who’ve not read your books and articles, can you talk a little bit about how you first became involved with feral cats and TNR?
I hadn’t grown up with cats. In the late 1960s, my husband and I bought a lovely bit of acreage in Shaftsbury, Vermont; I thought it would be just a vacation spot. But after the recession of the early 1970s, when the architectural magazine where I was a senior editor had failed, we moved out of NYC and fully into Vermont, into the tiny house (of my design) that we had a builder put up for us. (Subsequently, we had the house enlarged four times!)

Many of our freelance days were quiet in the late 1970s, especially so after I contracted hepatitis from a hospital, and thus we had few visitors coming up our long driveway—and few times when our own car went down the driveway. Understandably, a curious cat came by one day, and Roy spoke soothingly to it. Upon Roy’s request, in the same soothing voice, I came out with a plate of hastily shredded pot roast. And thus the first of our feral visitors, Honey Puss, was ours, briefly. (Other visitors, later, came inside to share fully our food, our shelter, our lives.)

I began writing their stories, and digging into the literature about these domestic cats gone wild. When I was trying to get a publisher—and the agent, publisher, and I were sitting down to a liquid lunch in NYC—the publisher asked, “But aren’t these just regular cats?” No, I replied; genetically they’re like the domestic cats in our homes, but in their real lives, everything is different: their social behavior, their territorial behavior, their predatory behavior.” Ah, said the publisher, “there’s your book!” And that was Maverick Cats: Encounters with Feral Cats, the encounters being ours, in Vermont, and those of researchers and observers around the world. This was the first comprehensive book on feral cats. It went into a paperback edition in 1987, and I did an “expanded and updated” edition in 2001. It is now considered “a classic.” I knew little about TNR in the original edition (1982)—only enough to mention it briefly—but I was an enthusiastic supporter by 2001.

What prompted you to write TNR Past, Present, and Future: A History of the Trap-Neuter-Return Movement?
I have been on the Board of Advisors of Alley Cat Allies since that energetic organization was launched in 1990. Louise Holton, one of the co-founders, was doing a book on TNR, and asked me for a chapter on its history. But then Louise left ACA in 2000. In 2001, I wrote to Becky Robinson (the remaining co-founder), asking when and how we might revive the TNR history. We did revive it, and it became a much larger work than anticipated, especially with my 270 endnotes (designed to bring full information to any readers who wanted to pursue things). It was published by ACA in 2004. The book is comprehensive, but written in an accessible style, allowing readers to take it to their local officials, their media, their shelters, and anyone else (at work, at school, at golf course, at hospital, etc.) who might not yet be “aboard” about TNR.

If I have this right, TNR goes back to at least the 1950s, in Britain. When did it begin to become popular in the U.S.? What was the turning point?
Denmark was right in there, in the 1970s, with Britain, in terms of the interest and action by major animal welfare organizations. But individuals in these (and other) countries had been doing “neutering and returning to site” on their own much earlier, many of these people convinced that they were the only ones doing this, and perhaps even the ones who had invented this method of controlling feral cat numbers. TNR didn’t really take off in the U.S. until perhaps the early 1990s. Maybe my book made a difference, or my articles for Cat Fancy (in 1984, I wrote the first article in the American feline press on what we weren’t even calling TNR at the time). But the creation of Alley Cat Allies, and its growth during the 1990s, was certainly a major factor. And the 1990s generally were a time for other organizations to recognize the problem and this solution. The Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine held a one-day workshop on feral cats in 1992; the Doris Day Animal League held a roundtable in 1994; the American Humane Association and Cat Fanciers’ Association held a “scientific workshop” in 1996. And in 1995, the American Veterinary Medical Association brought Jenny Remfry over from England for a presentation; she had been key to the change of attitude in England, through the 1980 symposium on feral cats organized by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (by Remfry, actually, who was UFAW’s assistant director).

How have you seen TNR change over the years? What predictions do you have for the future of TNR (your book is quite optimistic, but as you know, the TNR “landscape” has changed over the past couple of years)?
Proponents are getting quite specific in answering the opponents. And Alley Cat Allies is always sending out e-mails urging individuals to contact municipalities and other decision-makers regarding an agency’s wrong-doing about feral cats, or its hesitation about TNR. A new ploy is to work with those who care about the environment. The goal, after all, is to have fewer feral cats “out there,” and to do so humanely and inexpensively.

I am still optimistic, thinking that the more the word gets out about the impact of TNR, and its humanitarian and financial benefits, the more people will be doing TNR—or at least approving of TNR. I don’t know how long it will take a group like PETA to come on board. But PETA’s image is being repeatedly attacked on various other issues, it would seem (like the American Bird Conservancy’s image), and they may not be able to hold their ground on this issue, in years to come. I’m amused to see long press releases from the ABC that don’t even mention feral cats.

I know some of the major animal welfare organizations in this country (e.g., AVMA, WSPA, and HSUS) were reluctant to support TNR in the early days. Why do you think that was? What eventually brought them around?
Their reluctance may have been from not knowing the facts, or not crediting the TNR supporters with enough smarts to be taken seriously, or not having thought of all this themselves. I’m not sure that these groups have wholly been brought around, at this time; one of the leading opponents of TNR, for instance (Dr. Jessup), is at AVMA.

In your book, you argue that TNR is not necessarily appropriate for all contexts (e.g., the canyons of San Diego, where Crooks and Soule began cat predation research in the 1990s, for example). So where do you think TNR does make good sense?
It makes good sense over larger and larger areas, and I salute Julie Levy for (among many other things) studying TNR over a full postal code. Alley Cat Allies has, for many years, encouraged people to seek out others in their area. This will help, in bringing people together to win over the governmental decision-makers—and to expand TNR to a more inclusive area. A difference can be made at one factory, one hospital, one college campus, but a bigger difference can be made when these areas are larger and are joined together.

Is there anything I missed that you think Moderncat readers should know about TNR—its history, current practice, or future?
We’re getting closer to a non-surgical neutering, and this may make things easier, and cheaper. Also, in the future, it may be easier to raise funds and gather caretakers when further word gets out. (I’m excited to see numerous positive articles in Cat Fancy, for instance, over the past couple of years.)

. . .

Signed copies of Maverick Cats: Encounters with Feral Cats can be purchased directly from Ellen at the reduced price of $12.50, including shipping (regular price $14.95). Please send a check for $12.50 per book to Ellen Perry Berkeley, 265 Village Lane, Bennington, VT 05201.

TNR Past, Present, and Future: A History of the Trap-Neuter-Return Movement can be purchased from Alley Cat Allies for $7.99.

If you want to be really green this Earth Day, you could try toilet training your cat and kicking the litter habit altogether! I still have yet to try this, but I’ve read so many testimonials saying that it’s the best thing ever, I have to see if it works.

One of the best resources out there for helping you teach your cats how to use the toilet is Kick Litter, the entertaining little guidebook from Moxie and Cooper who both kicked litter themselves. The book comes with a free poster outlining the easy-to-follow “nine step intervention program” for toilet training your cat.

. . .

Note: Toilet training cats can be controversial because some research has shown that there may be a link between a parasite sometimes found in cat feces and harm being caused to sea otters on the West coast of the US. However, further research shows that if you are able to verify that your cat does not have the parasite, that flushing cat feces is not a problem. For more info, please read this post.

Enter to Win! Nine Winners!

We have enough copies of Kick Litter for nine lucky winners, one for each of the nine-steps! These books will not only be signed by the author, Perre DiCarlo, but they will be accompanied by a very special certificate of completion designed just for Moderncat readers! To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winners will be chosen in a random drawing on April 29. One entry per person. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere.

Guest book review by Peter J. Wolf

There’s little doubt that we Americans love our pets. According to the American Pet Products Association, we’ll spend an estimated $45.4 billion on our non-human dependents this year alone. And what do we get in return? Well, that’s not so easily put into dollars-and-cents terms. The value our pets bring to our lives is, of course—both literally and figuratively—immeasurable. Thankfully, we have authors like Ingrid King to remind us of this fact.

In Buckley’s Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher, King introduces us to Buckley, a tortoiseshell cat rescued from a farm in southwest Virginia who’d become the office cat in the veterinary hospital King managed. Despite her rough and tumble past–or perhaps because of it–Buckley took to her new life with great enthusiasm (though not without some of the expected “tortitude“). “Buckley loved everyone,” writes King. “She checked out anyone who came into the office and, with rare exceptions, she would end up in a visitor’s lap.”

When King left to start her own business (using Reiki on pets), she was astonished by how much she missed her office buddy. “While there had been animals I had come across in my years of working at veterinary hospitals who had tugged at my heart strings,” King writes, “there had not been one that I fell for as hard and as fast as I fell for Buckley.” And so, despite her misgivings about integrating a new cat into the quiet home she shared with her cat Amber, King adopted Buckley.

Amber and Buckley, it seems, knew all along that it was the right move. “I was the only obstacle,” recalls King, a self-proclaimed worrier, “in making the process go smoothly.” While King was getting settled into her new career, the cats were getting settled into their new lives together. But their easy existence was interrupted when, during a routine visit, Buckley’s vet discovered a heart murmur.

Such diagnoses–however unsettling for us humans–seldom mean much to our cats. Indeed, Buckley was thriving with her new family. “The word that probably defined Buckley more than any other,” writes King, “was ‘joy.’”

“She was a joyful being and she brought joy to everyone who came into contact with her…Her entire being was an expression of joy, and her every activity was infused with the essence of joy. She played, ate and loved with abundance…Buckley demonstrated to me how to find joy in every day. By living in the present without worrying about the future or letting thoughts of the past drag her down, this little cat showed me how to find the small joys in each moment.”

Finding those small joys proved increasingly difficult as Buckley’s health took a turn for the worse, and King began devoting more and more time to caring for her. The last few chapters of the book, in which King chronicles Buckley’s decline, are to be savored—though not without a fresh box of tissues at the ready.

.   .   .

There’s something rather magical about certain pets, the ones with which we form an immediate, intense connection. Regardless of how much time we spend with them, they leave an indelible impression. Buckley had been with King for only three years, but, writes King, “I was not prepared for the depth of my grief…it was as deep as if she had been with me my whole life. When these special animals come into our lives and then leave us much too soon, they leave us forever changed.”

Buckley’s Story is sure to resonate with animal lovers, whether they’ve suffered the loss of a beloved pet or not. King’s memoir illustrates the powerful nature of the human-animal bond, and–in sharing Buckley with the rest of us–reminds us of what we love in each of our own cats.

For more from Ingrid King, check out her website and her blog, The Conscious Cat.

BONUS GIVEAWAY: Enter to win a copy of Buckley’s Story!

Ingrid is offering a copy of Buckley’s Story to one lucky Moderncat reader! To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on November 24. One entry per person. This giveaway is open to US addresses only.

Only two more days left to vote for the finalists in the Best Blurb Books Contest! Voting ends at midnight PDT on November 9. Here are some of my favorite cat books from the pet category:

Faces of Felines Inc. by Ingrid from 9 Lives Photography
This beautiful book features photos of cats from Felines Inc., a no-kill cageless cat shelter in Chicago. Stay tuned for another pet photography Q&A with Ingrid later this week!

Popular by Jen Petit
More beautiful photos of shelter cats.

The Soul of Me by Cully Miller
Featuring some very handsome black cats!

Sylvester by Wet Nose Fotos
Spectacular photos of a gorgeous tuxedo-man.

Monsieur Bruce by Mayuko Wong
Monsieur Bruce is an adorable orange Scottish Fold who is, without question, a true Moderncat!

Bob Meowzer’s Stray Tales by Bob “MicBob” Meowzer
Tales of how Bob went from life as a stray to living the good life.

She’s Mine Now by Lydia B. Fiedler
This one’s a tear-jerker!

Nine Cats by A.M. Rousseau
Vintage photographs and drawings of nine cats.

Because You Love Me by Chelle
Chelle was one of the winners of the free bookmaking code in the giveaway here on Moderncat!

Holiday Cats by Alex Baranda
Wonderful photos of cats dressed-up in holiday attire. Includes photos for the major holidays plus National Aviation Day, Mardi Gras, the summer solstice and autumnal equinox, graduation, and Cinco do Mayo. Hilarious!

]]> http://www.moderncat.net/2009/11/08/vote-for-the-best-blurb-books/feed/ 4 http://www.moderncat.net/2009/10/26/announcing-kitty-wigs-the-book-bonus-giveaway/ http://www.moderncat.net/2009/10/26/announcing-kitty-wigs-the-book-bonus-giveaway/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:14:36 +0000 moderncat http://www.moderncat.net/?p=5139

I first introduced you to the fabulous Kitty Wigs last year, and now, just in time for Halloween, Chronicle Books has released the first ever Kitty Wigs book, Glamourpuss: The Enchanting World of Kitty Wigs. Featuring photographs by Jill Johnson and a foreword by the one and only Heather Armstrong of dooce.com, this book is guaranteed to be a hoot! Kitty Wigs are the brainchild of Julie Jackson, also the creator or Subversive Cross Stitch (warning! some adult content here, but it’s humorous!)

BONUS GIVEAWAY Enter to win the book!

Chronicle Books is giving away a copy of Glamourpuss to one lucky reader! Please leave a comment on this post to enter. One winner will be chosen in a random drawing on November 3 and contacted via email. One entry per person. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only.

]]> http://www.moderncat.net/2009/10/26/announcing-kitty-wigs-the-book-bonus-giveaway/feed/ 267 http://www.moderncat.net/2009/10/05/new-book-video-from-simons-cat-plus-your-chance-to-win/ http://www.moderncat.net/2009/10/05/new-book-video-from-simons-cat-plus-your-chance-to-win/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:31:59 +0000 moderncat http://www.moderncat.net/?p=4634

Everyone’s favorite mischief maker, Simon’s Cat, now has his very own book! Simon Tofield, the creator of Simon’s Cat, has been drawing the little guy in his famous YouTube videos since 2007, depicting the hilarious relationship between a man and his cat. Now Simon’s Cat has been captured in a 240-page book. Available in the US from Amazonand in the UK from Amazon UK.

In conjunction with the book launch, there is a new Simon’s Cat video, too! Here is ‘Hot Spot”:

ENTER TO WIN!

And thanks to the book’s publisher, Canongate Books, I have a copy of the book for one lucky winner! Leave a comment on this post to enter. One winner will be chosen in a random drawing on October 11. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere.

Here’s another great contest within a contest that will definitely appeal to all the creative Moderncat readers! If you don’t already know about Blurb.com, you’re going to love this. It’s an online service that lets you publish your own beautiful, full-color books, one (or several) at a time. It looks very easy, you simply download their software to help you create your book or you can create your book in your own layout software and use a pdf to publish it. Either way, the end result is a professional looking, bookstore-quality book. Once you’ve created your book online, you can easily promote it and let others purchase copies directly from Blurb and make a little extra cash for yourself. Both hardcover and softcover are available in a variety of sizes.

2009 Blurb Best Books Contest

Here’s the exciting news: Blurb is hosting the first annual Best Blurb Books Contest, and there’s a category for people passionate about photographing their pets. The grand prize for the pets category is $3,000, and there will be a runner-up who receives $1,000. Anyone can enter a pet-themed photo book through October 22. All you have to do is create a book, order one copy of your book and then enter the book into the contest in the pet category. Get all the contest details here.

To give you a little inspiration, here are some books people created featuring beautiful photos of their cats.

ENTER TO WIN A FREE BOOKMAKING CODE!

The team over at Blurb really wants to see what the Moderncat readers can do for the contest, so they are offering four free bookmaking codes! That means you won’t have to pay the $36.95 fee to create your book and enter it into the contest. So please leave a comment on this post to enter to win one of the bookmaking codes. The winners will be chosen in a random drawing on October 1 and will receive the codes right away so they can start working on their contest entries to have them ready by the October 22 deadline. Good luck to everyone!

Guest book review by Peter J. Wolf

Believe it or not, I don’t actually seek out cat books (the burgeoning kit lit genre). And yet, the minute I was handed Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat, I was intrigued. There’s the book’s title of course, but what really captured my attention was the photo of Homer, a handsome black cat–with no eyes. See, I have a handsome black cat of my own–with one eye. Though I try not to judge a book buy its cover, I’m more than willing to take a closer look. Surely, there was something in Homer’s Odyssey for me.

As it turns out, there’s something here for everybody. Homer’s Odyssey, writes author Gwen Cooper, was written for “the ones who’ve given up on believing in everyday miracles and heroes; for people who love cats and for people who consider themselves firmly anti-cat; for those who think that normal and ideal mean the same thing, and for those who know that, sometimes, stepping slightly to the left of what’s normal can enrich your whole life.” Fair enough. But for some of us, it’s easy to feel a particular connection to the story, to Cooper, and of course, to Homer.

Homer’s story begins with veterinarian Dr. Patty Khuly (whose blog is a treasure trove of news, information, and commentary related to veterinary medicine), who diagnosed the two-week old kitten with a “a severe infection that would surely take his sight, if not his life.” Finding him otherwise healthy, Khuly chose to remove both of the kitten’s eyes–before they’d even had a chance to open naturally. He would be blind, of course, but he would live. The kitten recovered quickly and promptly won over the entire office. “He was eminently lovable,” writes Khuly in the book’s foreword, “at least by all standards except the one with which most humans preoccupied themselves: his appearance.”

Finding a home for the eyeless, nameless kitten was another matter. Even those who could get past his appearance were concerned about how he–and they–would cope with his disability. Cooper had her own reasons for being reluctant, reasons many of us can relate to: two cats at home already, finances tight, etc. Upon meeting him, though, she scooped him up in her arms and said simply, “I’m taking him home.”

Homer was blind–but unlike most blind cats, he’d never known what it was like to see. “Lacking even a concept of vision,” writes Cooper, “I was sure he made things up to account for the world around him.” It was the kitten’s “storytelling” abilities that prompted Cooper to name him after the famous Greek poet (believed to have been blind). And Homer’s stories were, like those of his namesake, epic adventures.

Every leap from a chair back or tabletop is taken on faith, a potential leap into the abyss. Every ball chased down a hallway is an act of implicit bravery. Every curtain or countertop climbed, every overture of friendship to a new person, every step forward taken without guidance into the dark void of the world around him is a miracle of courage.

Homer’s Odyssey chronicles the many wonders of this daredevil cat–snatching a housefly out of the air, for example, or, to the astonishment of all parties involved, chasing away an intruder. But this is also a story about Cooper’s unbreakable bond with Homer (best expressed, perhaps, in her recounting of the three agonizing days following 9-11 when she struggled to reach her apartment, located just blocks from Ground Zero), and, ultimately, about how her life has been shaped by this sightless “wonder cat.” (See a video clip of Homer in action.)

In other words, there’s more here than cat stories–which, let’s face it, can sometimes get tedious even for cat people (and who are, more than likely, guilty of telling more than our fair share). The book’s title hints at this, of course–the timeless wisdom embedded in the dramatic tales of a remarkable cat. By inviting readers into her own life, Cooper shares much of what she’s learned over the past twelve years–perhaps most eloquently when she explains why she adopted Homer in the first place:

“I didn’t adopt Homer because he was cute and little and sweet, or because he was helpless and he needed me. I adopted him because when you think you see something so fundamentally worthwhile in someone else, you don’t look for the reasons–like bad timing or a negative bank balance–that might keep it out of your life. You commit to being strong enough to build your life around it, no matter what.

Reading Homer’s Odyssey, one can’t help but take stock of what our pets–especially if they are among the many considered unadoptable–mean to us. And if that’s all the book accomplished, well–to borrow a phrase from Cooper–it would have been enough.

Guest book review by Peter J. Wolf

Typing “cats” into the search field at Amazon.com turns up more than 495,000 books–to say nothing of the grooming aids, health care products, toys, etc. Although I haven’t read them all, I’m going out on a limb here and suggesting that the vast majority of them are about cats, not for cats; the cats are the subject rather than the intended audience. With one notable exception: The Devious Book for Cats: A Parody.

Inspired by the wildly successful The Dangerous Book for Boys (and the many subsequent books along the same line), The Devious Book for Cats is aimed directly at a feline readership, “offer[ing] today’s discerning kitties words of wisdom and advice on everything they need to know, from in-depth guides on cardboard boxes and catnip to a brief history of the Felinism movement.”

All of which makes perfect sense once you learn that the people responsible for the book (spoiler alert: the authors listed on the front cover, “Fluffy & Bonkers,” are at best fictional) are all past or present writers for the “fake news” newspaper The Onion. If you’re a fan, then The Devious Book for Cats is right up your alley. And even if you don’t care much for The Onion, there’s a lot to like in this book (assuming, of course, you’re a cat person).

The basic premise behind The Devious Book for Cats is no different than that of The Dangerous Book for Boys, really: “Domesticity has dulled our authority and bored us silly…We might be living longer, but aren’t we living less?” Among its many suggestions for living more fully: The Laws of Petting; Choosing the Perfect Gift (birds, mice, or insects); Your First Kitty Condo–Making the Leap; and Outsmarting Your Toys.

As readers of The Onion would expect, there’s some very clever material here. In the chapter Secrets of Daredevil Cats, for example:

“Cats do have clavicles but they are nonfunctional, a chief reason we’re able to perform the neat trick of squeezing through impossibly tight spaces. It also isn’t a bad thing when you’re landing from a fall. Evel Knievel had two collarbones and broke them both.”

Or this, from the What’s in There? chapter:

“It’s not so much what’s on our side of the blankets as what’s on the other side of the blankets. Most cats agree that when we are under the blankets, a monster is on the outside.”

Still, I remain skeptical about the idea of this book being written for cats. Not because they lack opposable thumbs, or the ability to process a complex system of signs (such as an alphabet). No, it’s because as far as I can tell, even the most domesticated of cats knows all these tricks and more. Clearly, The Devious Book for Cats is intended for the people (a.k.a. “staff”) who do their level best to care for their cats–to remind us of what we’re up against and provide comfort when we are (time and again) outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and out-charmed by our small charges.

Like all books, The Devious Book for Cats gives us a rare opportunity to do something our cats can’t do: read. Unlike the others, though, this book spells out in exquisite detail the consequences of getting a little too smug about it.

Hot off the press! Check out the latest book from pet writer Julia Szabo, Pretty Pet-Friendly: Easy Ways to Keep Spot’s Digs Stylish & Spotless. I’m absolutely thrilled because Moderncat is included in the book’s resource guide! Here is what Julia wrote:

Kate Benjamin’s blog ModernCat.net is a must for anyone seeking to live stylishly with cats.

Thanks, Julia!

I just got my copy today, and Pretty Pet-Friendly looks like an outstanding guide to living in style with pets. Julia’s first book Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share With Your Pets was the first decorating book offering practical advice for pet owners. In Pretty Pet-Friendly, Julia presents an expanded and updated approach to interior design with pets in mind. The book covers pet-friendly fabrics and flooring; kitchen, bathroom, living room & bedroom design; cleaning & air freshening; and safety — all with environmentally-friendly tips throughout.

Julia Szabo is a prolific pet writer, having been published in the New York Times “T” magazine, the New Yorker, Town & Country, Travel & Leisure, Interview, and Traditional Home, among others. All pet lovers should check out Julia’s contributions to the pets column in the New York Post. You can also hear her regularly on SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s “Morning Living” on the Martha Stewart Channel.

Get your copy of Pretty Pet-Friendly today!

It all started when Holly Tse adopted Furball, a tiny little bundle of energy who never slept but only wanted to play. To keep her sanity, Holly searched through pet stores for cat toys to entertain the crazy little guy. Finally she began to craft her own cat toys from recycled and discarded items. Holly points out that there over 60 million cats in US households and that reducing the resources and waste used to make toys for these cats would certainly have a positive impact on the environment. So she decided to compile her years of experience in making greener cat toys and share them in Make Your Own Cat Toys: Saving the Planet One Cat Toy at a Time.

All of the toy ideas in the book are classified into one or more of five different play categories:

• Catch – Toys that encourage kitty to leap straight into the air and pretend like she’s snaring a bird.
• Chase – These toys are meant to be thrown across the floor, like a mouse scurrying away.
• Stalk – Interactive toys designed for you to move, like a mouse rustling in the grass, so kitty can practice sneaking up on her prey.
• Wrestle – These allow kitty to test her strength as she grasps the toy in her paws and jaws and bunny kicks the stuffing out of it.
• Lazy Cat - After kitty has played good and hard, she may still want to take a lazy whack at these toys.

Each idea is marked with the difficulty level and estimated time to make the toy. You’ll find ideas for toys made out of everything including packaging, household objects, craft materials, office and school items, and even old clothing. With toys like the Candy Rocket, Tubular Tubes, the Whipper Snapper, and the Kitty Broomstick, you’ll have just as much fun making the toys as kitty will have playing with them. You’ll also enjoy Holly’s tips for greening your kitty’s lifestyle.

Make Your Own Cat Toys is available at Amazon.

BONUS GIVEAWAY!

One lucky winner is going to receive a copy of Make Your Own Cat Toys! To enter, please leave a comment on this post with your tips for making greener choices for your cat. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on Sunday, March 15.

We’ll also be giving away 20 rats from Cat Livin’ in the same drawing, so don’t miss out!

Guest book review by Peter J. Wolf

It was nearly 20 years ago when Library Director Vicki Myron discovered a tiny ginger-colored kitten in the overnight book drop of the Spencer Public Library. “I know melting can be a cliché,” writes Myron, “but I think that’s what actually happened to me at that moment: I lost every bone in my body. I am not a mushy person. I’m a single mother and a farm girl who has steered her life through hard times, but this was so, so…unexpected.”

At the time, the small northwestern Iowa town was just beginning to pull out of the farm crisis that crippled much of the Midwest during the 1980s. And the arrival of little Dewey Readmore Books, as the kitten was soon named, proved to be a very good omen. If nothing else, he was a survivor. After all, the thermometer had dipped down to minus 15 the night he was put into the library’s drop box (how he got there is a mystery that’s never been solved).

But Dewey did more than just survive. As the adopted library cat, he absolutely thrived. Soon, the town of Spencer was undergoing its own turnaround, thanks at least in part to Dewey, as Myra points out:

…I don’t want to make too much of this one turn of events, because Dewey didn’t put food on anybody’s table. He didn’t create jobs. He didn’t turn our economy around. But one of the worst things about bad times is the effect on your mind. Bad times drain you of energy. They occupy your thoughts. They taint everything in your life. Bad news is as poisonous as bad bread. At the very least, Dewey was a distraction.

But he was so much more. Dewey’s story resonated with the people of Spencer. We identified with it. Hadn’t we all been shoved down the library drop box by the banks? By outside economic forces? By the rest of America, which ate our food but didn’t care about the people who grew it?

Twenty years later, Dewey’s story is resonating with people well beyond Spencer. It’s been on The New York Times’ list of hardcover nonfiction best sellers since its release in September (at last check it was Number 2).

The timing is uncanny, of course. The economic conditions described by Myra and co-author Bret Witter sound all too familiar. If there was ever a time for Dewey it’s now. But just as Dewey the cat was more than a distraction, Dewey the book is more than a fluffy diversion. Carefully interwoven with Dewey’s tale is Myra’s own compelling story, as well as a brief history of Spencer–a back-story that provides both context and a human-interest element.

All of which gives Dewey a timeless quality–perhaps the real secret to its success. At its heart, this is a story about how companion animals enrich our lives, and in many cases, actually make us better people–more closely approximating the people we wish we were.

Publishers Weekly suggests that Dewey’s been “anthropomorphized to a degree that can strain credulity,” a criticism–if sales are any indication–easily dismissed by fans of the book (or, indeed, anybody who’s ever bonded with an animal). In any case, given the recent work of Temple Grandin and Patricia McConnell, among others, it’s clear that we still have an awful lot to learn about the emotional lives of animals.

How much of an impact can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? These questions, from the blurb inside the book’s jacket, are far too complex to be answered in any single volume, of course. But Dewey’s legacy doesn’t end with the book, either. In addition to an all-things-Dewey (including book tour dates) website and Dewey’s Facebook page (with nearly 3,000 fans), Dewey makes up a significant part of Spencer’s Wikipedia entry. And, according to Variety, a film adaptation of Dewey, starring Meryl Streep, is in the works.

That’s pretty good for an abandoned kitten from small-town Iowa–not that Dewey would have made a big deal of it, mind you.

The first book of its kind that I am aware of, Luxury for Cats is an exquisite collection of feline finery. This large coffee table book is filled with beautiful photos of everything you could possibly want for your cat. From toys to tiaras, you’ll find only the finest examples in this book.

Written in five languages — English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian — Luxury for Cats includes chapters on fashion & accessories, architecture & interiors, design, beauty & wellness, travel, and lifestyle. You’ll find the fanciest carriers, beds, scratchers, dishes, and more. There are even photos of ultra-posh kitty spas, info on customized cat portraits, and recipes for gourmet treats. Not everything has a modern style — several things are quite over the top — but there is something for everyone in this book.

A must-have for the coffee table of any moderncat owner. Available at Amazon.