No comments about Treasury of Great Cat Stories: A Collection of Tales That Celebrates the Mystique and Charm of Cats.

2 comments about The Butt Hello: And Other Ways My Cats Drive Me Crazy.

1. I've bought several copies of this book and given it to cat loving friends as going away gifts, B-day gifts and just "cheer-up" gifts. It's a perfect little gift that every cat lover can totally relate to!



2. If your cat has annoying or endearing behaviors then you may see some of them in this great book. The simple folk art illustrations of a cat giving you a "butt salute" or of drinking from a toilet (Perrier anyone?) or of covering your head while you are trying to sleep will make you laugh out loud. A great gift for anyone with a cat. I particularly liked the page with the cat knocking off christmas tree ornaments, which happened in our house one year. I have never had one gnaw on my toes, but I always kept them covered around my cat.

1 comments about Cat Talk.

1. I love Sonia Fitzpatrick books, so helpful!
   
   Here, she talks of how to telepathically connect with animals (not just cats, though there's more on cats in this book).
   
   For more on calming the mind, I'd recommend Personal Power Through Awareness: A Guidebook for Sensitive People (Book II of the Earth Life Series) and more on meditation, plus you may like to tryAnimal Talk: Interspecies Telepathic Communication

No comments about Life Lessons From Your Cat: We're so vain, we probably think this book is about us..

1 comments about Guide to A Well-Behaved Cat (Pet Series: Training).

1. You must be friends with your cat in order to train it.
   
   Sorry - no miracles here. Phil Maggitti will teach you how to work with your cat, not how to overcome its basic nature and turn it into a dog that meows. That one sentence above perhaps best exemplifies why I love this book so much: Mr. Maggitti understands cats. And so will you, by the time you're done reading this book.
   
   Having problems convincing your cat to use the litter box? Maybe it would help to know why he isn't using it. In this book you'll get a guide to many of the reasons why cats stop using litter boxes. You'll also find a whole lot of suggestions for how to fix such problems. (Hint: stop scolding your cat. Start being sneakily manipulative instead!) You'll even find out why traditional recommendations for teaching your new kitten to use his box might do more harm than good.
   
   Having trouble getting your cat to sit still for grooming? There are two pages on that, including a guide to useful grooming products to have. There's information on how to clip a cat's claws safely (for both you and the cat), combing and brushing techniques, bathing your cat (although the book will point out that this shouldn't be necessary very often at all), routine ear care... and that's all before you get to "Basic Cat Training, Part I."
   
   You'll learn about bridging stimuli, intermittent reinforcement, and other simple concepts that are incredibly useful when trying to alter a cat's behavior. (To be honest, this book did a better job of explaining intermittent reinforcement schedules than my psychology textbook did!) You'll learn to see "misbehaviors" as natural cat behaviors, and then find ways to work with or around them to avoid future problems.
   
   There's a good discussion of possible motivations for training - which "tricks" you might want to teach for which reasons, and which tricks it's just silly to teach your cat if you don't have a reason for it. Mr. Maggitti did not write this book so that people could teach their cats stupid pet tricks - he wrote it so that we could better understand and live with our furred companions.
   
   I love the author's tone. He has a quirky sense of humor that lightens the dry material considerably. He has a strong sense of what is good and not good for a cat, but doesn't get condescending and overly-moralistic about it (so maybe people will be willing to listen to him). The sense of scathing sarcasm he applies to certain, ahem, "training aids" and training methods is well-deserved, and hopefully will help new cat owners to get a better sense of the appropriate treatment of a cat. The author very clearly has a deep understanding and appreciation of cats.

1 comments about The Country Vet's Book of Home Remedies for Cats.

1. This is a great little book that will easily fit in your purse or travel bag. There is a lot of information in the book regarding many "cat" issues. I liked that it also tells you when it is best to seek a vet's advice. I found it to be an easy, fairly quick read and I found a lot of good tips that I can use with my 5 year old cat and my 17 year old cat. For example, you can give your kitty a tiny bit of butter to help with hair balls, etc. I really have to say, check out the previews that they put up on the site here.

1 comments about The Metaphysical Cat : Tales of Cats and Their Humans.

1. I had to return this book before I finished reading it. This book wasn't quite what I was expecting. The first part was more like a history of cats. I was expecting cute stories about cats and their people. I can say that the second part of the book did seem to be heading in this direction. Hope to see some more reviews to find out how this ends and if it's worth getting back.

5 comments about Three Cats, Two Dogs: One Journey Through Multiple Pet Loss.

1. Mr. Conglaton took a heartbreaking event and turned it into a joyous remembrance. His skillful writing enables the reader to acquaint themselves with his pets. This is a moving testimonial to his best friends who were taken from him abruptly. Anyone who has owned a beloved pet and lost them before their time should read this book. It will make you cry, but the joy that he and his wife received from these cats and dogs will keep you reading to the very last page. I particularly enjoyed reading the newspaper columns that he wrote about his friends and felt I knew each one. Must Read!



2. First some background--A few years ago some stray and ferel cats started adopting me. Due to the life they led they all came with major medical problems (FIV, FeLk, FIP, kidney failure and more). I loved them all, I cared for them all through very long, painful, illnesses. I had to make agonizing choices, put them through painful proceedures, watch them suffer, and watch them all die. I loss 6 in the course of one year. And others before and after that year. That's why I bought this book.

   I don't want to discount the author's grief over the loss of his pets, which I can wholeheartedly understand and commiserate with, but his "journey" is so unlike anything that any other pet owner on the face of the earth is ever likely to go through, and he was so blind to the gifts that he received that the rest of will never even come close to, that I found myself incensed at his bad attitude and behavior. I could not in any way relate to this mans "journey."

   His animals died quietly in their sleep. He didn't have to live with long terminal illnesses, painful treatments, or horrible decisions. I don't want any of my pets to die, but as they have to, I would pray to have them pass as his did rather than suffer through illness. But was he even remotely grateful for such a quick and painless passing? No.

   He was a public figure so hundreds (no joke!)of people offered their sympathy and support to him. But there were two people who did not...and he was so angred by these two people that he felt it necessary to write about them, by name, in this book. A whole whopping two people were insensitive to his ordeal and this so enraged him that he felt it necessary to lash out at them? Poor baby. If I could find two people who understood what I was going through I'd feel blessed and lucky.

   He got to stop working, due to his grief. Have any of us ever had that luxury? Or did our bosses not want to hear about it? Again, was he grateful? or annoyed when people hinted it was time to come back to work?

   He held a public memorial service for his pets in a theater and it was standing room only. He got to talk about it, share it, let it go. How many of us get any opportunity to talk about our dead pets to anyone, least wise hundreds of people? Most of us know that no one wants to hear about it. We have to keep it inside. Again I feel he was blessed and yet he didn't see it.

   Despite his grief he got twice as many new pets within a very short period of time. But does he enjoy them? No, in fact, he refuses to even celebrate Christmas with new pets. And once again gets irritated when a couple of people don't understand this. This proved to me that he learned nothing from the deaths of the original five....life is short and can be taken at any moment. He should have celebrated joyously that he had new pets...but he "couldn't bring himself" to do so. I barely had time to grieve one death before another was occurring yet I assure you I celebrated Christmas and every other day I could with the new pets.

   The authors attitude annoyed me. He was given the best of everything and it still wasn't enough for him. If he had seen those five pets through long, painful, illnesses one right after the other, and had to grapple with painful treatments and surgeries, when to euthansize, digging a grave in his backyard one night and getting up and having to go to work the next day, all the while having no one to talk to about this...then he might begin to understand what the average pet owner goes through. I don't think he has a clue what it's like for the rest of us....and I hope he never has to.




3. Just finished another interesting paperback book I bought thru Amazon.com titled
   Three Cats and Two Dogs--One Journey Through Multiple Pet Loss by David Congalton. Copyright 2000 Publisher: NewSage Press

   It is a story about a writer who is also a radio talk show host and his wife who lose all their five pets one night in December 1997 to an accidental fire while the couple was out. In the months that followed, not only were they grief stricken and felt a deep sense of loss but also felt a sense of guilt and great emptiness. Within months and after lots and lots of tears, they started to "move on" as best they could. Within two years they had rebuilt their fur family including among them several handicapped animals. At the end of the book, their family consisted of a grand total of nine cats, one kitten and four dogs and they couldn't seem happier although they will always think about the night when all 5 of their pets died.
   This is a great book for anyone who has ever lost a pet and would understand the couple's grieving process. And happily the book does end on a joyous note.
   Happy Reading.




4. Having suffered pet loss in two different forms, ( as a result of death and as a result of a divorce) I could empathise and sympathise with David and Charlotte on losing not just one animal companion, but five. Although I do not by any means claim that I fully understand the depth of their grief, no one truly can. Grief is an individual process and experience, because of the relationships that exist between all individuals.

   As I read this book I could only do so a page at a time, stop to cry and grieve for David and Charlotte and then move on again sometime later, to the next page. Once I read up to Chapter Four (I think it was) I could proceed reading normally, although somewhat bleary eyed.

   This is a truly moving and emotionally draining encounter of love, connection, companionship, loss and grief in the truest sense.

   My condolences and my congratulations to David and Charlotte, not just on their loss and a wonderful book respectively, but also for being able to 'see the light' in a time of darkness, by showing the world how animal companionship is, in its most pure and deepest form, and for being able to 'move on' out of respect for five wonderful soul companions.

   As a result of reading their true story, David and Charlotte inspired me to commit 'deeds, not just words' to the animal kingdom. I have committed my spare time to my local animal shelter (Blue Cross Animal Shelter)...and as a result of that deed, I adopted two cats and a rabbit....(to add to my two canine companions and rabbit!!!!)

   You two should be proud of yourselves...your committment is infectious.

   Well done David and Charlotte.

   Blessings for all Animals. May they always have people such as yourselves to see them in peace and harmony, with love.




5. This book tells me it is okay to grieve and it does it very well. The problem is I already knew it was okay to grieve because I was grieving - terribly. I wanted to find out how to deal with my grief. I read a lot of reviews and a lot of books, but the only books that worked for me were Will Fido Be in Heaven and Cold Noses by the pearly gates.

5 comments about The Cat Who Wasn't There.

1. I'm a fan of the CAT WHO series. This is another fun story. I've read the books published up to 1999, and love listening to them in the car. Sorry to say that the books published after that have a different tone, as if written by someone else. I firmly believe they were, but I am enjoying the earlier immensely.



2. We have read all of the Cat Who series several times and never tire of the antics of Ko Ko and Yum Yum. Being disabled and also with limited "reading" vision, my husband reads to me and the troubles of my world are lifted ten times over! Thank you Ms. Braun!!



3. All of "the cat who..." novels are great! For some reason, I find reading them comforting and calming... They're a good read and I find the characters interesting. I so look forward to reading them after a long, stressful day.



4. It was a charming story but hardly great literature. Enjoyable. I read it because of the Scotland info as I am leaving in a few weeks for my first trip to Scotland and thought it would be a fun story to read beforehand. I was not disappointed. I'm also a cat lover so always enjoy the cats in these stories.



5. If you read more than a few Cat Who's you will find them becoming comfortable, like another "Lake Woebegon." There's not much suspense, mystery, thrill, or romance left by now, but increasing numbers of "tall tales" of Moose County (now collected in a new book) and amusing characters who all seem to have "hearts of gold" whatever their pseudo-rough veneer (except of course for the murderer, almost incidentally). While Qwill, our cozy billionaire journalist and lead character, carefully never says ill of another, there's just enough acerbic comment on somebody's part to keep these stories from terminal cuteness. Besides cat-lovers (especially SIAMESE cat-lovers), these stories will please admirers of the Far North, Arts and Crafts, and things Scottish. Indeed, The Cat Who Wasn't There takes place most entirely in Scotland, which is why it's one of the better ones, since it forces Qwill into new surroundings. The Cat Who Moved a Mountain is one of my favorites for the same reason, besides providing an intriguing other rural alternative to Moose County.
   
   Although there is a comfortable and appealing continuity of characters and back stories from book to book, they might become soporific if you read them one right after another. They are bonbons for the mind, best not overdosed. The series is one you can let kids of any age discover and enjoy, too. The whole family can read them, and perhaps the allusions to historical people, music, styles, and places may excite some additional interest among your young ones!

4 comments about Natural Immunity - Why You Should Not Vaccinate.

1. Yes, there is a bad review written by, of course...a Doctor who vaccinates and learned what the drug companies wanted him to learn in med school! What do you expect? lol...investigate the literature which is available and which continues to add up re: the toxicity of most, if not all vaccinations. Especially their over usage! Do your own due diligence! While you are at it...ask the parent of an autistic kid if vaccines are safe and harmless! I am a breeder and do MINIMAL vaxing...the minimum that's possible and with natural support BEFORE AND AFTER...I hear vaccination horror stories constantly! This is a good book; read it and everything else you can find online about vaccinations...then choose whom you will believe.



2. Pat McKay was a pioneer in animal nutrition over 30 years ago and has led the way to natural healthcare and ways to have happier, healthier, longer lived pets WITHOUT the chronic diseases that plague so many pets today. Her research for the book quotes MANY experts in the fields of immunology and veterinarian science. Readers should have an open mind when reading the book and be prepared for some shocking information. I never felt completely right about vaccinations before I read the book. Its interesting how the truth really will set you free!



3. If you are firm believer in pseudoscience anc half truths, then read on!
   As a fellow medical practitioner I am dismayed that McKay could so misinterpret data and draw the conclusions in this book. Yes, there are no "perfect" vaccines, however the author magnifies the minute risks for the various vaccines to epidemic proportions. The facts that show vaccines work are ignored and the half truths about the failure rates are indulged. McKay has written a socially irresponsible book by further perpetuating the very myths she should be helping to quash.



4. From the very first paragraph of this book, it is obvious that Pat McKay's only concern is to warn people about the toxicity of vaccines and the damage they do to our pets. Even as a veterinarian, she is definitely not "on the fence" about the validity and/or benefits of vaccinations, and after I finished reading this book, neither was I. It taught me a lot, including some compelling historical facts like what was really behind the "Swine Flu Epidemic." Overall, a most radical and bravely informative book. My hat is off to Pat for daring to tell the truth.