Cat Caught My Heart: Purrfect Tales of Wisdom, Hope, and Love - Softcover

Capuzzo, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553762346 ISBN 13: 9780553762341

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 1999

Synopsis

In this captivating and heartwarming book, America's premier pet columnist, Michael Capuzzo, shares astonishing true tales celebrating the unique and unbreakable relationship between people and their cats.  Drawn from history and literature as well as from cat lovers--both famous and not so famous-- from all walks of life all over the world, here are unforgettable tales that take us behind the cool, independent facade of the cat to reveal the sweet, sensitive, devoted creature within.  Here are just a few of the cats guaranteed to catch your heart:

Priscilla, who meowed at her apartment door for two days.  Finally her owners thought to check on their elderly neighbor and discovered that she had broken her hip and was unable to move.

Pearl and Skittles, the Keystone Cats, who watched over their household with total vigilance.  Any problem--a clogged drain in the kitchen, a stereo left on at night--and they sounded the alarm, waking everyone in the house.

Murry, the cat who became the constant companion and protector of a young boy suffering from cystic fibrosis.  His devotion was so great that when the boy's health began to fail, Murry seemed to lose his own will to live.

Nicholas, who every day fed the family pit bull; he jumped up on the kitchen table, grabbed a dog bone, and dropped it down to his pal.  Later each day, as if to repay Nicholas, the pit bull happily licked the cat's head for ten minutes.  

Subway, the beautiful orange tabby who not only survived being shot with a shotgun, but later, apparently killed in an accident, jumped out of the box he was to be buried in and frolicked among the guests at his own funeral.

In Cat Caught My Heart you will see cats in all their glory--their unique personalities, their irrepressible spirits, their gentle souls.  You'll laugh at their antics, weep at their passing, and thank the heavens that these remarkable creatures are part of our lives.

About this title

About the Author

Four times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Michael Capuzzo writes a nationally syndicated pet column that appears in Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rocky Mountain News, and numerous other newspapers.  He is the author of Wild Things and Mutts: America's Dogs.

Teresa Banik Capuzzo has written feature stories for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.  She was the chief researcher for an Inquirer Pulitzer Prize-winning series and the book America: What Went Wrong?  The Capuzzos, who live on a farm in southern New Jersey, are co-authors of Our Best Friends, the companion volume to Cat Caught My Heart.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Feline Scorned

Cats teach us many timeless lessons, not the least of which is this: Beware the woman scorned.  Our cat Olivia, for instance, believes that she really is my husband's master.  She loves him very much, but she rules him with an iron fist.

One late evening when we all retired, we climbed into bed to watch the news.  Olivia, of course, took her rightful place at my husband's side, laying her head next to his on the pillow and her body in the crook of his arm.  This is how he is supposed to spend the whole night sleeping.  When he tired of this and turned over she followed him to the other side.  Not wanting to continue on with this sleeping arrangement, my husband put the pillow over his head.  Olivia, not to be daunted, tried to burrow under the pillow.  When she could not succeed she sat down in contemplation for a minute, deciding what to do.  Ever so calmly she walked around to the other side of the bed and very deliberately walked along his side until she reached his derriere.  There she stopped, promptly and with vigor gave him a firm bite on his posterior as reprimand!  Beware the woman scorned...she walks softly but carries a big bite.

--Anne H. Timpson
  

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0553762346
• ISBN 13: 9780553762341
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288