5 Best Cat Books of 2014

Well, these are my favorite cat books of 2014 – many of them are much older but I added them to my cat book collection in the last year.

It seems that every other website does a round up of the year, so I thought I’d join in and do a list of my best cat books!

I generally get a new cat book every month or so. I read lots of novels and other fiction which I mostly pick up at secondhand bookstores, but when it comes to reading about cats I always find myself on Amazon and looking for the books that people have given five stars – that way they pretty much always live up to the review!

So, in no particular order, here’s the 11 cat books I bought (or got given!) this year that I loved.

1. The Complete Guide To Cats (ASPCA)

I like to think that I know a fair bit about cats, but I still buy and read books about the health, welfare and care of cats – there’s always something new to learn, right?

This is a great source for all cat lovers, covering the basics of bringing a cat into your home for  the first time and covering all the stuff you’d ever need to know about feeding, health care, litter training, and caring for an older cat and lots, lots more.

There’s also lots on breeds, why and how cats became domesticated – and it’s full of great photos. A book every cat lover and cat owner will cherish.

2. Making Rounds With Oscar

This really is an amazing story of Oscar, a cat who lives at a nursing home and who has an uncanny ability to give comfort to those as they reach the end of life. Oscar knows when a resident is nearing the end and his presence brings comfort to them and their families.

The doctor at the home doesn’t believe at first and the book is the story of how amazing Oscar is and the help he brings to all at the home, but it’s also the story of how the doctor comes to trust in Oscar, even though he’s not really a cat lover.

This book is even better than you might think. It  made me cry many times. (We featured a video of Oscar here earlier in the year).

3. Starting From Scratch – How To Correct Behavior Problems In Your Adult Cat

I picked this up at the start of the year when we acquired a cat who was already a few years old and had been living semi-feral on a neighbor’s land. She’d been fed and cared for but had largely lived outside and had very little contact with her owners. When they moved away, I feared for her and offered to take her in – they didn’t actually know how old she was!

Anyway, she took a fair bit of socialising to fit in with my brood, and this book was very useful. In her case it wasn’t so much her behavior that was at issue, more her own socialisation. But this book covered that and more. If you have a cat that needs gently guiding to fix a behavior that’s disruptive in your home, look no further than this great book!

4. The Dalai Lama’s Cat

I loved this book. It’s not really a cat book – it’s more an exploration of Buddhism and mindfulness and how it can be applied to anyone’s everyday life – all wrapped up in the thoughts of the cat of the title.

It doesn’t matter what your faith (if any). It’s a clever book that works it’s way into your head!

Read the Amazon reviews to get more of an idea, but thoroughly recommended for all cat lovers.
 
 

5. A Dickens Of A Cat

My favorite ‘pick up’ book that I bought this year.

It’s a collection of short true life stories of incredible cats and the impact they have had on their owner’s lives. All of them are true life tales written usually by the owner or a friend and then collected together for this collection (which is giving me an idea…!). There are more than 20 heart warming stories in the book and, being prone to a little cry, more than one brought a tear to my eye.

What I loved most was that I could pick it up with one of mine on my lap and quickly read a story or two and then come back to it at another time and read a few more. A great read.

Well, that’s my top five cat books of the year. There were more (I am a readaholic!) but these were probably those that I either found the most useful or that touched me the most. I keep meaning to get a ‘best books’ section written for the site, and when I do I think all 5 of these will be in there.

I’d love to hear what your favorite cat books of the year (or of any time!) are – so do leave a comment below.