Selected Pages from the Diary of an Indoor Cat
by THE cat
edited by W.R. Runyan
Trafford Publishing

book review by Carolyn Davis

This delightful collection of feline recollections is authored by an enterprising tuxedo cat, whose second family (The first one moved away while the author was rambling and paying scant attention to the calls of the departing humans.) consists of the female "D" and the male "W." THE cat finds D and W fairly predictable and useful. For example, our author transcribes his notes through W only when something called a computer is turned on. THE cat has been, in turns, an alley cat (after the first family's departure), an afternoon companion to an elderly woman ("I really did do some community service today."), and a Pavlov-like human trainer. His experiences are those of an Everycat who has an indoor/outdoor existence: hunting and trapping a snake, gekkos, and rodents, dodging opossums, explaining the Felinese language, and learning to cooperate with humans while maintaining his individuality.

The tone of the stories are matter-of-fact, mostly first-feline reporting. THE cat is a master of strategy, whether he's dodging a predator, explaining his geneaology, courting a potential human family, or telling a joke. Life is as he finds it—there is success—"I can now get [D] to feed me when I'm hungry... It was pretty hard, but I was also able to convince her to get up several times... to put out food when the hunger pangs struck me." There are surprises, as in THE cat's description of "hardheaded... obtuse, inflexible, stubborn..." W: "(I don't know how to translate that last word into English, and that is probably just as well.)" Cat lovers will enjoy this small volume. A work of fiction that's examples are filtered through at least two, and frequently additional, species interactions, it's verisimilitude in its descriptions of a variety of episodes of a cat's life is forthright and refreshing.

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