I admit to being a Mad Cat Woman, in secret, but here is a man who has come out. He's a Mad Cat Man (a little known breed) and he admits it. This is the story of his life-long love for cats and how he currently lives at the beck and call of six of them, with his equally cat-loving wife.
It's a very funny, at times sad, always entertaining book about a man with an obsession. He explains how it started, and how he tried to control it: giving them up completely, and finding himself compulsively chatting up strange cats in the street, before finally giving in when he meets the girl of his dreams and a cat out of a nightmare. He writes about how all their different personalities emerge, and his attempts to understand and deal with them - The Bear: troubled sensitive artistic cat and Evil Genius; Ralph: Pretty Boy Rock Star cat suffering from depression. He explains how difficult it is to find a new house, deal with builders, work to pay for it all, when there are rather a lot of different opinions to take into account. Although he does know each cat's Catch Phrase and Theme Song, he is adamant that he knows they're not children and swears he would never refer to himself as their 'Dad'.
I would recommend this book to anyone, whether Mad Cat Person or ordinary animal lover - it's wryly funny, never over-sentimental and a very enjoyable read. It did make me want to rush out and get a few more cats, though, but maybe that's just me.
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