Rescue Meeeee

Sundays are reserved for book reviews and interviews but we’re so excited about the upcoming documentary about the world’s largest no-kill cat sanctuary, we couldn’t wait. The Cat House on The Kings is home to 700+ cats on 12 acres in California, and the life work of one woman who is crazy about cats, but not crazy. You’ll want to stay home next Sunday, July 30 to watch.

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As someone who loves cats and founded a cat rescue group The Annex Cat Rescue in 1997, in Toronto, Canada, I know how daunting the work is. A bottomless pit of need can exhaust the most dedicated and intrepid cat lover. Only the most dedicated rescuers slog on year after year. It’s with that devotion in mind, I began reading the follow-up book to the huge best seller, Dewey: The Small-Town Library cat Who Touched The World. I read the book and loved it along with millions of others. I felt a tinge of marketing manipulation though with Dewey’s Nine Lives the new book from Vicki Myron, with two new Dewey stories intertwined with seven additional stories honoring the human-feline bond that cat lovers everywhere can relate to. So what if we’re pawns in a marketing juggernaut of books, products, tours and soon to be film about Dewey. It’s touched a nerve because it rings true.

Why stop at nine lives or nine stories? Cat lovers will always lap up a good story. My cynicism shortly melted (along with a few tears) with the first story about a shy woman who used to visit Dewey with the same devotion she bestowed on her cat Tobi, a Siamese cat, her only true friends. Let’s hope it paves the way for more untold stories about our beloved felines.

320 pages. Published by Dutton in 2010

Rating: four paws