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"Sheltering an Animal’s Perspective"
By Gregory Simpson
Humanitarian and Nobel Laureate, Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) reflected that, "There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." For me, it would be cats and books. So what could be better than great books about cats?
There are literally thousands of books about cats, so many in fact, that Claire Necker compiled the bibliography, Four Centuries of Cat Books. This classic text covers the four hundred years between 1570 and 1970. In the thirty-plus years since 1970, hundreds of additional books about felines have been published.
As more is learned about our wonderful companion animals, the books keep getting better and better. One of my all-time favorites is The Body Language and Emotion of Cats, written by veterinarian Myrna M. Milani in 1987. This readily readable book covers such topics as: feline sensations, nocturnal behavior, territoriality, sexual behavior and predation.
The late 1980s was an especially fertile period for quality cat books, including Roger Caras’ In Celebration of Cats and A Cat is Watching. For dog lovers, he wrote the companion volume, A Celebration of Dogs. A prolific writer, ABC television news correspondent and President of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), he penned over fifty books on pets and wildlife.
The late 1980s also saw two books by noted animal behaviorist, Desmond Morris. His companion works, Cat Watching and Dog Watching, were followed by Cat Lore. A few years later, in 1994, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, wrote the widely popular, The Tribe of Tiger. She had already written The Hidden Life of Dogs.
Old stand-bys, worthy of anyone’s cat book library are the books written by knowledgeable cat therapist and long-time CAT FANCY columnist, Carole Wilbourn. Her superb books include: Cat Talk, The Inner Cat, Cats Prefer It This Way, and Cats on the Couch.
A favorite of my colleague, MEOW President and veterinarian, Mary Huhndorf, is The Cat Who Cried for Help: Attitudes, Emotions and the Psychology of Cats. She is so enamored with this book that she buys extra copies and gives them as gifts. It was written by Dr. Nicholas Dodman who also penned The Dog Who Loved Too Much.
Newer is Jeffrey Moussaief Mason’s The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats. This terrific book follows his immensely popular Dogs Never Lie About Love. A psychoanalyst by training, he provides a fascinating analysis of the emotional lives of our beloved companions.
The Character of Cats is an illustrative book covering the history, biology and psychology of cats by Stephen Budiansky. This correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly magazine previously authored The Truth About Dogs.
Personally, I am fortunate to have as a mentor one of the leading experts on feral cats, Ellen Perry Berkeley. Ellen was pivotal in my own efforts to work with ferals in my neighborhood. She is the author of the award-winning, Maverick Cats: Encounters with Feral Cats." This classic book, now updated, was included in CAT FANCY’s list of "100 Great Moments for 20th Century Cats." Ms. Berkeley will generously donate $4.00 to Meriden Humane Society for each copy of Maverick Cats sold through the shelter’s efforts. One may write order directly from Ms. Berkeley at Box 311, Shaftsbury, Vermont 05262. Include a check for $14.95 and a mention to send the $4.00 donation to the Meriden Humane Society.
The examples of great cat books are almost limitless, as there are plenty of informative books available to help us understand and appreciate our companion animals just a bit better.
For me, it’s like the sign in a Norwich, Vermont bookstore that says:
Outside of a cat,
A book is man’s best friend.
Inside of a cat,
It’s too dark to read.
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