I try not to read every dog or cat book that comes along, mainly because there simply aren't enough hours in the day. But also because they pretty much always end the same way: with euthanasia or natural death. I deal with death plenty on the job as it is, and don't need to be reading and crying about it on my off-hours, too.
But I was recently loaned a copy of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched The World by Vicki Myron, and it came with a glowing recommendation. So after sitting on it a couple of weeks and finishing up a Wendell Berry book of essays and while still not half done with rereading Aldo Leopold, I decided to make a marathon weekend project of it.
This book really struck a chord with me, probably because we have had many of our own mascots here at Cat's Meow Veterinary Clinic over the years, and in part also because it reminded me a great deal of how my cat Eddie came to his end last December. So I went through a whole lot of tissues at the end.
I'm gonna rate this book a Must Read for all but the most hard-hearted and leave the rest for you to discover. It's a wonderful story. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I managed to miss this cat when he was in the news during the 90's - I probably had my face buried in some veterinary journal at the time.
