The Cat Who Came for Christmas

While I was still reading this book I added a special note to begin my book review! I am so very disappointed that the adorable little white kitten on the cover is pictured with blue eyes rather than the GREEN eyes that the author mentions AGAIN and AGAIN throughout the book! The team responsible for this title at the publisher's office at Back Bay Books for the Reissue Oct-2013 edition was NOT paying attention to details and sadly missed the mark on this one!

I'm sure that the individual that gave me this book for Christmas saw the cover and thought it would be a cute story nestled with joyful blips about the delight of a kitten's arrival at Christmas. Other than the 'rescue' of the kitten on Christmas Eve 1977, this story has nothing show more to do with Christmas or the holiday season. It is instead rather like a memoir of the little white kitten's first year in residence with the author Cleveland Amory, renowned for his devotion to animal rights. [His wonderful legacy continues particularly with The Fund for Animals and at the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch / Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Murchison, Texas.]

The book details Cleveland and the little kitten coming to terms with kitten/cat "ownership", naming of the kitten as Polar Bear, developing a feeding schedule, the first trip to the veterinarian's office, learning how to "pill" a cat, Polar Bear's first excursion of airline travel, fitness program, and foreign and domestic policies. Interspersed throughout the book are many historical facts about cats as well as details of significant events in the history of the animal protection movement and rescue operations by the author's The Fund for Animals. As long as the reader can move away from perhaps an initial expectation of a Christmas story, and particularly if the same reader has ever lived with a kitten / cat for any length of time, this book will be a most enjoyable choice.

As I dearly miss our little fur face that our family shared life with for slightly over 21 years, it was a trip down memory lane with laughter during some of the author's descriptions and explanations. As anyone that has ever lived with a kitten / cat knows, "Dogs have owners, cats have staff!" Read and smile, read and laugh out loud. show less

Every December I look for a few books that are lighthearted and funny. The Cat Who Came for Christmas fit the bill for the most part, being both a memoir about a specific stray cat coming into Cleveland's life and a didactic nonfiction containing interesting facts about cats. Here are a few examples: Cleveland delves into the theory of a cat having nine lives; he provides names of politicians and rulers who either loved or detested cats; he shares the dirty secrets of animals shelters, testing on animals (ouch), and price gouging of veterinarians. He shares stories of his work with animals rights organizations. It is not just a warm and fuzzy story about a cat named Polar Bear. But let's be fair. Polar Bear is the star of the show. The show more full blown, complete sentence dialogues Cleveland would have with his cat are hysterical.
Cleveland is in good company of famous people who enjoyed cats: Mark Twain, Colette, Walter Cronkite, and Robert De Niro to name a few. show less

The droll wit that permeates this book is a welcome change from the current style of letting it all hang out. After reading some of the reviews of this book, I wonder if a few readers understand this type of humor.

I absolutely loved this hilarious book! It’s probably the best book about cat psychology that I’ve ever read. Make that heard – as I listened to Allen Sklar do a terrific job on the audio (CD) of this book. Along with the story of Mr. Amory’s beloved white cat, he presented us with cat facts aplenty on which to ponder. He also brought into the story many of the episodes of animal activism in which he engaged during his life. He was quite an interesting fellow.

The only two things I didn’t particularly like about this book were its title (I thought the book was going to be about a cat as a Christmas present) and the cat’s eventual name (I would have picked something different - although I’d already thought of such show more possibilities as Chairman Meow and Santa Claws). Other than that, I found the rest of the book just perfect. The author describes the cat’s personality exactly right. Truly, the cat is an animal of independent means and uses man to his best interest - as the author so aptly points out. I’d recommend this book mostly for cat lovers as I don’t think that others could tolerate so many details about a cat’s personality. show less

On a snowy Christmas eve, Amory was contacted by a friend who had been trying to gain the trust of a stray cat who had been hanging about in a nearby alley. Ruth was sure that with the two of them working together they’d be able to capture the skittish feline. Against his better judgment, Amory went out in the snow and eventually they succeeded. But now where to take the cat? Thus this (eventually discovered to be white) cat came into Amory’s life, and they developed a close relationship (or as close as anyone can get to a cat). Polar Bear filled a hole in Amory’s life, and the animal advocate certainly ensured that Polar Bear not only survived, but thrived.

This book is a memoir of their first year together and the ways in which show more man and beast became a team.

I’m not much of an animal lover, but I found this reasonably interesting and entertaining. There were some quite humorous episodes (the first “bath”). Amory was a dedicated animal advocate and he uses this story to expound on many of his efforts, including stopping the slaughter of baby seals. I thought many of these sidelines detracted from the central story of a Cat and His Man.

Despite the title, there was nothing particularly “Christmassy” about the book. show less

This a a great classic Cat Tale, featuring curmudgeon Cleveland Amory and his now famous rescue cat, Polar Bear.

It is wonderful funny reading with often enlightening episodes in Amory's amazing quest for worldwide rights for animals.

My only reason for not keeping it to read again next Christmas is the inclusion of horrifying examples of animal cruelty.

This book was not what I thought it was, nor what, I suspect, the person who gave it to me thought it was. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

It's a memoir of how the author came to have a particular cat in his life, & how they changed each other for the better.

If you've ever lived with a cat, all of these tales will ring true for you. There's humor, truth, & a lot of poignancy, particularly in light of the fact that both the human & the cat in this story are curmudgeons.

A great gift idea for the cat - or animal - lover in your life.