A Feral Cat Story

Hi Peeps!  I’m turning my blog over to my Mom today because she wanted to tell you about a book she read that has a special place in her heart.  Why?  Well, because it’s a true tale about a little feral kitten and how she captured the hearts of the writer and her family on the island of Cat Cay.

Take it away Mom……… 😀

“Thanks Sam – mighty generous of you to let me borrow your audience to tell them about this book.  The book is called “Taming Me:Memoir of a Clever Island Cat” and the author is Cathy Unruh.  I was sent an Advance Reader Copy of this book by the publisher several months ago and was saving my comments to post closer to the time the book would be published.  When is that exactly??  Well, it’s being published on October 16th which just happens to be National Feral Cat Day!  

Many of you know that Sammy was/is a feral cat; perhaps at this point, 13 years after we adopted him from the shelter, we can truly call him “formerly feral”.  Because I always felt bad for the little ginger cat we saw in the shelter all alone and scared I wondered what his life had been like up to that point even though there had only been about six weeks of life for him then.  “Taming Me” gave me a true vision of what it probably WAS like and that’s why this book will always be a favorite of mine.

The book follows the life of a little kitten who ultimately was named Lucy Miracle by the family who one day took her home.  Lucy was all alone on an island where cats were treated like vermin – trapped and destroyed.  There is much of this book that’s been fictionalized, but there’s also much that sticks to the reality of Lucy’s life on Cat Cay as she struggles to survive.   This little cat had such spunk!  I was rooting for her from the first page as she struggled to find food and shelter with her Mother and siblings.

Cathy Unruh’s writing style was perfect for this story – she truly does have an incredible talent for “becoming” a cat in the way she related everything Lucy saw, felt, did…..the awkwardness of a kitten – the shyness of a feral – the fear of the unknown.  It was all so well done through the eyes of Lucy.   The endearing story captured me from the first page and held me throughout the entire book.  I cried when Lucy’s Mother died but in a way it was truly the beginning of Lucy’s new life as a housecat in her “forever home”.

 

I won’t say more because I’d like to recommend that you visit Cathy’s website and pre-order the book to read for yourself.  You won’t forget the read – I can promise you it will be on your library shelves forever.  The book can be pre-ordered through Barnes & Noble.

 

Click HERE to visit Cathy’s website……while I’ve never met Cathy, I feel like I know her as a kindred spirit in her love of animals.  You will too!

Here’s Lucy!

Another dear friend of mine, Caren Gittleman from CAT CHAT (and Dakota’s Den!) did a really wonderful review of this book too on Cody’s blog a while ago……Caren does spectacular book reviews, so if you’d like even more information or just want to hear from someone else who loved this book, please visit Cody and Caren at CAT CHAT to read her review.   Click HERE to read.

Happy Friday Sammy’s friends!  Now, Sammy, come here so I can give you a GREAT BIG MOMMY HUG for letting me use your blog today!!!”

Love, Sammy and his Mom Pam 😀

P.S.   HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DADDY TODAY……Thanks for being such a great Dad……….I love you………..

Daddy and me when I was a little guy…..

 

Early Morning Walk With Mom

Happy Friday!  Well, I won’t have a picture to show you of what my blog is about today because my walk with Mom was IN THE DARK!

Yep – we haven’t done this in a long time but I decided to ask yesterday morning if she would pretty please put my harness on and take me outside while it was still dark and Dad was still snoring sleeping.

I don’t often ask anymore because we have that cat that visits us fairly regularly named “Stevie” who sometimes is outside in the mornings and she and I don’t exactly get along well.  She probably just wants to play with me but sometimes she jumps on me and it scares me SOOOOOOOO if I see her out there, I don’t ask to go.  Well this morning she was NOT out there!  

I went to the basement door and gave Mom “THE LOOK” after she’d finished cleaning my litter box for me.  She keeps my harness and leash right by the door and I help her to put it on me – I lift my paws up one at a time so she can put the harness on and snap on the leash…..Oh I just get SO excited!  The door opens, she turns on the light so we can see, and out we go into the dark……..

I had a bit of a nibble on the grass – even though Mom mowed a couple of days ago there’s always a few spots (and of course I know where they are!) where she can’t get the mower so that’s where I go for a munch. 

Then we slowly started around the side of the house…..I guess I wasn’t moving fast enough for her (well, it was starting to rain a little bit and I wasn’t in a hurry) so she picked me up in her arms and we kept walking.   She talked to me the whole time and I purred and purred back……it was nice for her to hold me and keep me nice and warm because it was a little bit coolish!  We didn’t see any other animals but the birds were just starting to wake up and make some noise in the big leyland cypress trees. 

Finally we got to the back yard and I started to squirm a bit in Mom’s arms because I wanted her to put me down…….why?  Well because it’s a big game we play as to who can get to the basement door the fastest!!!

She put me down and let go of my leash and WHAMMO – fast as a cheetah I ran to the door and beat her!  YAY SAMMY!

I may be old but I’m still fast………….when I wanna be!

Happy Friday……..

Sammy the Cheetah

Whole Lotta Quakin’ Goin’ On!

Minding my own business when the walls started shaking!

Gee…..who’d have thought that a nice quiet afternoon in my tent would turn into an EARTHQUAKE…..but it sure did!  My tent walls didn’t move around much but the rest of our house was twisting and rumbling and making all kinds of scary noises.  SO – you know where I went the minute I knew something was happening right?  Yep – MY BASEMENT SAFE PLACE.  I stayed there for a couple of hours too even though Mom and Dad came to reassure me all was well.

We had pictures fall off the wall, and Mom’s computer screen fell off her desk – a couple of things COULD have broken except we have mostly wall to wall carpeting so they fell on something soft!  It seemed like it lasted a long time too – all that noise and rumbling – for a ‘fraidy cat like me it was pretty traumatic.  When Mom and Dad went outside of the house after it stopped, EVERYBODY was outside their houses checking for damage to foundations and stuff like that………..we heard people felt it all up and down the East Coast too so I hope all of my friends out there who visit my blog and live where you could feel it are OK???? 

I missed out on some good nap time yesterday afternoon because I was squished flat under the sofa in the basement hiding until I felt safe………so I’m hoping today is NICE AND QUIET and I can catch up on sleep.  YAWN…….I do need my beauty sleep you know! 🙂

If you felt the earth quake yesterday – let me know what it was like for you!

Sammy, One Spoiled Cat (who isn’t too crazy about earthquakes!)

p.s.  Kitty Hugs and Kitty Kisses to those of you who emailed me and Mom to see if we were OK……XXOO