cover image The Cat Who Came for Christmas

The Cat Who Came for Christmas

Cleveland Amory. Little Brown and Company, $22.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-316-03737-2

It is fitting that the founder and head of the Fund for Animals personally rescues and takes in strays, and one incident proved to have a profound effect on him. On a snowy Christmas Eve, Amory helped capture a scrawny cat and took it to his apartment. How does a new cat-keeper train a creature accustomed to fending for itself in Manhattan's alleys? Slowly, with patience and respect. Amory offers an entertaining, if precious, re-creation of his first year with Polar Bear (his account of selecting a name takes 20 pages). One highlight is a visit to the vet where the receptionist was a cat. During this time he also housed a dog and a grounded pigeon, and consulted a cat psychologist as well. Interspersed with tales of Polar Bear are many digressions involving the author's work with animal-rescue and animal-rights organizations. Polar Bear was invited to be ship's cat on Sea Shepherd (Greenpeace), but Amory declined on behalf of the cat. Mainly for aelurophiles. (October)