The print version of Book 35 of the Klepto Cat Mystery series, On the Wrong Side of the Paw, was published May 1. The Kindle version should be available just about any day. Watch for the announcement. In the meantime, here’s the description:
The klepto cat digs up a long-held secret. While helping to manage a colony of homeless cats, Rags uncovers what could be clues to an old mystery. In this story, not only does Rags rescue a toddler from a precarious situation, he nearly loses his life saving a litter of kittens, he diagnosis another cat’s ailment in time to get him the proper treatment, and he paws the culprit in a decades old crime.
Readers Reviews for recent Klepto Cat Mysteries.
“There hasn’t been a book yet in this series that hasn’t kept me on the edge of my seat.”
“Rags’s adventures are heart-stopping at times and heart-warming all the time.”
“This is an extraordinary series.”
“Mystery combined with a loving and supportive family provides a wonderful reading experience.”
“These books are such a lovely place to visit with plenty of mystery in the cozy tradition.”
In the meantime, I’m busy at work on Book 36—another story with many twists and turns and a lot of kitty-cat action. Even though I’ve been doing some traveling, I’m the trustee for my mother’s estate since she passed in late March, and I was involved in her care for many months, I’ve managed to continue bringing you six new stories each year and it appears that will be the case again this year.
We all know the rest of that saying—the mice will play. Well, what happens when you go away and leave your cat behind? Some people actually set up cameras so they can watch and even communicate with their animals when they’re gone.
don’t have a camera system to keep an eye on the cats, but we sure see their reaction to us leaving as we prepare
Tips for leaving your cat alone. Leave a freshly worn piece of clothing—pajamas are a good choice—on the bed or someplace else for your cat to cozy up to if she wants to in your absence. Leave plenty of fresh water and kibbles, if you feed kibbles. And try to get someone to feed who can do so pretty much on the 
schedule your cats are used to. Ask them to check on each cat each time they visit. If you have a hidey cat, tell caregiver where the cat usually hides and have them take a quick look to make sure there’s nothing terribly wrong with the cat.
We all love funny cat videos. Cats are fun to watch and to photograph. But they certainly aren’t always obliging to the photographer. Here are a few of my bloopers that turned out to be kinda fun. I won’t bore you with the many shots I’ve gotten over the years of a cat’s tail end. You know how it is when you focus your camera on the cat who is doing something really cute or about to do something you think might be cute and darned if they don’t turn tail just as you take the photo. Instead of an adorable shot of your cat tilting her head inquisitively, sniffing a ceramic bird, patting a baby’s
hand, you get a blur of fur.
There’s something cozy about a cat at a window. I love seeing cats peering out windows when I travel or while I’m walking in the neighborhood. I guess it’s because a cat in the house is a soothing, calming image to start with. Think about how many Christmas cards you’ve seen over time with a cat at a window. I have a few in my collection of cat photos. Here’s one of Lily fascinated this year when serious rain began to fall for the first time here in a very long time. She and I both were glued to the window that day.
This is an interesting question. Is your cat’s toy box overflowing with bell balls, rubber balls, golf balls, wand toys, spongy toys, and crackly foil toys? At our house it’s mostly stuffed toys. Sophie likes the furry toy mice with tails. She tosses them in the air and pounces on them, just like her momma must have taught her with real mice when they lived on the streets. She’ll aggressively chase a wand toy. Lily likes a wand toy when someone wriggles it in front of her, but she won’t go too far out of her way to chase it. She will chase and leap for a wad of paper when I throw it, though.
sizes. And that’s not because she goes online and orders them, nor does she trudge to town and buy them. Oh no, it’s all me. I bring them home from my travels—a baby bald eagle, a grizzly bear, and a moose from Alaska; an otter from a local sea center where we took the grandkids; an owl from the raptor center; a lion cub from a cat preserve; and several teddy bears. She drags them out daily and decorates the house with them, often bringing them to me as gifts. Sometimes she tries to drag around one of my large stuffed animals. Cute!
We’ve talked about this before. Cats have whiskers for a reason—to help them navigate in dim light and to guide them in precarious situations. The theory is that a cat uses his whiskers as a guide in entering a narrow passageway so they don’t inadvertently get stuck in a pipe or other too-small space.
them to eat from a bowl, for example. They’re uncomfortable when their whiskers touch the sides of a bowl. We’re advised by experts to feed cats from a plate or a wide bowl.
Do you collect things—heart-shaped rocks, hat pins, Olympic emblems, anything with snails on it, or interesting vases? I think a lot of us have collections. I used to collect thimbles and I still have about 100 of them. At least they don’t take up much space. I collected tea cups for a while—gave that up when my what-not shelf became too cluttered. Like many of you, who obviously dig cats, I have acquired a lot of items with cats on them, including stuffed cats, ceramic cats, pitchers with cats, stationary with cats, cat jewelry, pillows, pictures and so forth. You know how it goes. And, because in her later years, Mama became interested in cats and had a very special one (you’ve read about Smokey in this blog), people gave her a lot of cat things—things that I inherited in recent weeks. (How could I say no?)
several shirt-tail relatives and friends picked an inkwell from her collection to remember her by. And we encouraged people to take a keepsake ornament from her Christmas collection—of course there were some with cats and I ended up with most of those.
Do you treasure your collections or has it become a rather overwhelming burden over time? You might have stopped actively collecting, but people keep giving you tea strainers, golfing symbols, owl figures, or…yes, all things cat. What to do? I just tend to move something over and fit it in. How can you turn down an adorable new cat knick knack?
Are you old enough to remember the Maypole—a pole with colored streamers hanging from it? At school, if you were a lucky one, you’d get to grab a streamer and dance around the Maypole weaving in and out among other dancers, creating a lovely pattern of color. Great memories.
First, let me announce that it’s National Tabby Cat Day. I will celebrate with Lily, even if she isn’t exactly a tabby—she’s a dilute torbie (a pastel tortoiseshell tabby) and she has only a partial M on her head.
cats don’t usually like riding cars. But that’s not true for all cats. I’ve never personally had a cat that appreciated a trip in the car whether we’re moving, evacuating, or going to the veterinarian. But some cats are great travelers and probably most cats can be conditioned to enjoy a car ride now and then or even extended vacations with their humans. Yes, people do travel with their cats—in RVs and on elaborate vacations abroad. I once read a situational memoir about a couple who took their cat to Europe to live for several months.
What’s the best way to transport a cat? I know people who just allow their cat the freedom to roam during a car ride. I’ve always been concerned about the cat interfering with the driver—a kitten getting under the brake pedal, for example, or a cat climbing onto the dash and obstructing the driver’s view. Cats can leap and claw and spill a cup of coffee and create all sorts of havoc during a car ride. So most cat people transport their cats in some sort of carrier. It’s also the safest way to get the cat to the car from the house and into the veterinarian’s office, for example.
strapped into the seat, for example, and even car seats for cats. There are car seats that adhere to a window so the cat can watch the world go by, seats that you can strap the cat in, and simply comfy seats where the can sleep or sit up and watch out the window. Here are a variety of interesting car seats for cats and small dogs.
