An Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle
\ “And you thought cat ladies were crazy and hopelessly unhip: Like the untamed creatures they adore, they can also be rock-chick-cool. Nina Malkin proves it, smashing tired stereotypes with her seriously funny, on-target memoir of rescue and redemption. I loved this book from head to tail.”\ —Julia Szabo, Pet-Reporter.com\ \ “Kudos to Ms. Malkin for by-passing those overworked villain-victim clichés in favor of a delightful albeit necessarily bittersweet celebration of this most challenging...
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Who in their right mind would try to befriend the wild cats in her backyard? In this first ever feral cat narrative, writer Nina Malkin does just that. Publishers Weekly In a tone that's delightfully sassy, Malkin, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., describes her escapades with feral cats beginning when Flaca wanders into her backyard. After Flaca leaves for parts unknown, a hungry mother cat with four kittens arrives. Malkin, already an owner of two cats, and her not-so-cat-friendly husband, Jason, do not attempt to domesticate the strays, but find themselves naming, feeding and bonding with them. This leads to several unavailing attempts to find new owners for the kittens. She and Jason then employ the TNR (trap, neuter, return) strategy, which aims to control the feral population in the immediate area. The strategy not only aids the cat population, but protects Malkin's reputation as the "crazy cat lady." Malkin's background as a magazine journalist serves her well as she relates humorous anecdotes: building the cat shelter in their basement, watching the kittens' antics during a snowstorm and surviving a raccoon invader. Malkin interjects useful information on cat care and cat behavior along with her story, and only occasionally does she show her "crazy cat lady" side with overly feline-infatuated prose. This sprightly tale will please cat lovers everywhere, and maybe even convert a few dog lovers along the way. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Preface ixLaws of Cattraction 1Bastards of Young 7Why Can't We Be Friends? 21Hello Kitty Creeps Me Out 37Gimme Shelter 51Trick, Neuter, Return 67Aqualung 79How to Trap a Feral Cat in One Easy Lesson 93Burial at Curb 107Balls 121Ain't No Stopping Us Now 131Making Plans for Nigel 145To Purr Is Feline 155Epilogue: Point of No Return 163Got Ferals? 179Acknowledgments 181
\ Publishers WeeklyIn a tone that's delightfully sassy, Malkin, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., describes her escapades with feral cats beginning when Flaca wanders into her backyard. After Flaca leaves for parts unknown, a hungry mother cat with four kittens arrives. Malkin, already an owner of two cats, and her not-so-cat-friendly husband, Jason, do not attempt to domesticate the strays, but find themselves naming, feeding and bonding with them. This leads to several unavailing attempts to find new owners for the kittens. She and Jason then employ the TNR (trap, neuter, return) strategy, which aims to control the feral population in the immediate area. The strategy not only aids the cat population, but protects Malkin's reputation as the "crazy cat lady." Malkin's background as a magazine journalist serves her well as she relates humorous anecdotes: building the cat shelter in their basement, watching the kittens' antics during a snowstorm and surviving a raccoon invader. Malkin interjects useful information on cat care and cat behavior along with her story, and only occasionally does she show her "crazy cat lady" side with overly feline-infatuated prose. This sprightly tale will please cat lovers everywhere, and maybe even convert a few dog lovers along the way. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalMalkin, a magazine writer and editor for 20 years, did a stint at Teen People magazine, which might explain the flip and often sarcastic humor throughout this book. In her two-page preface, she offers a superficial overview of the feral (a.k.a. homeless, a.k.a. domestic-gone-wild) cat problem in the United States and claims the population to be "ten million and the number might be as high as ten times that." The reader, then, might expect the book to take a more appropriately serious look at the problem. Instead, Malkin writes about her experiences with a family of stray cats in her Brooklyn, NY, home. Not wanting to be labeled "one of those crazy cat ladies," Malkin comes off as just that. If you're looking for another memoir about someone's cat, you might like this book. But if you prefer your memoirs with more substance, pass on it. Not recommended.-Edell M. Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., WI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \
