Month: December 2009

Book Review: Cat Tales by Dr. Sharon Eisen and Linda Francese

Cat Tales book

Cat Tales is a heartwarming and inspirational collection of stories about cats that will make you smile, laugh and cry, sometimes all at the same time.  The stories will most certainly bring fond memories of all the cats that have graced your life, and they will make you love and appreciate your current feline companions even more.  These cats that come and go from our lives leave indelible pawprints on our hearts, and the authors have captured many of these special cats in the tales they share in their book.

There’s TiVo, the shy orange cat who tended to avoid human contact, and who broke through an autistic boy’s seemingly impenetrable shell of silence and showed him that it’s not so bad to be a little different, and in the process, taught the boy’s mother to be a little more patient and have a little more faith in the future.  There’s Chloe, the cat who saved her human’s life who was going through cancer treatments.  There’s Bentley, an international winning show cat whose beauty and huge spirit touched everyone he came into contact with and who turned his human from a die-hard dog lover into a cat-loving, cat-fancying addict.  There are many more stories like these, and they all touch the heart.

The book is interspersed with fascinating and entertaining facts about cats, and the photos that accompany each story enhance the tales being told.  Cat Tales celebrates cats in all their wonderful variety and glory, and it illustrates how much these wonderful creatures impact their humans’ lives in often unexpected ways.  A must read and a wonderful gift for any cat lover.

Dr. Sharon Eisen has been a practicing veterinarian since 1984.  In 1991, she realized her dream and opened a feline-only practice in Brookfield, CT.  The Complete Cat Clinic was the very first cat only hospital in the state.  In addition to devoting her career to the care and well-being of cats, Dr. Eisen has an abiding interest in the human-animal connection.  She has conducted programs in elementary schools to teach students about pet care.  She has led pet bereavement groups, and has brought cats and dogs to nursing homes to serve as pet therapists.

Linda Francese is a well-known radio personality for over 20 years, fulfilled a lifelong dream in 2004 and began working with cats as the head technician at the Complete Cat Clinic in Brookfield, CT.  A year later, she joined Dr. Eisen as co-owner of the Plaid Plus Cattery, breeding British Shorthair cats.  Mrs. Francese’s serious interest in the healing powers of the human-animal connection inspired her to co-author this book.

About the author

Book Review: Dear Sparkle – Advice from One Cat to Another by Sparkle, the Designer Cat

DearSparkleMedRes300

There are lots of books on the market that give advice on how to care for cats, provide information on cat behavior, and address other aspects of living with a cat.  Dear Sparkle:  Advice from One Cat to Another, authored by Sparkle The Designer Cat and edited by Janiss Garza, is unique in this genre.  It combines solid advice with humor, and gives us an insider’s look into what and how cats think.  Sparkle  is a seven-year-old pedigreed Somali who speaks out on anything from how to address trouble with family members (both human and feline) to hairballs to culinary delights and disappointments.  A significant portion of the book is devoted to addressing questions about human foibles.  Writes Sparkle:  “Humans are complicated beings, and very hard to train.”

Sparkle, the internet’s premier cat-to-cat advice columnist, brings her feline point of view to help her fellow cats figure out human behavior and deal with the day-to-day frustrations that living with humans can bring for a cat.

Some samples of the kinds of questions Sparkle answers are:

My human used to give me treats at dinnertime, but the vet put me on a diet and now I’m starving!  How do I get these treats back?

A tom cat invaded my backyard and now my roommate hates my guts!  What happened, and what do I do about it?

My human brought home a snotty new kitten – how do I show him who’s boss?

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, often laugh out loud funny book filled with practical information presented in a unique style.

And if you can’t get enough of Sparkle’s advice from the book, you can visit her on her website at www.sparklecat.com.

Sparkle is a kind-hearted and generous cat and wants to help kitties who are less fortunate than she is.  For the rest of the year, she will donate $1 for every book sold through her website to Tabby’s Place, a cat sanctuary in Ringoes, NJ.  For more information about Sparkle’s mission to help Tabby’s Place, click here.

About the author