Cat Daddy

March 5, 2012
The famed “Cat Daddy” from Animal Planet’s My Cat from Hell, with coauthor Derfner, has written an unconventional memoir documenting his path to sobriety and unexpected career as a cat behaviorist, with instructions and tricks for training and disciplining cats sprinkled throughout. Inspired by his years fostering, training, and eventually adopting an emotionally and physically broken cat named Benny, Galaxy vows to write a book “about how we cohealed, how we refused to let each other live broken ever after.” While Galaxy doesn’t deny his addictions to alcohol, drugs, and food, the gritty struggles of addiction are often glossed over. Instead, Galaxy focuses on the story of his career, which includes developing a consulting business called Little Big Cat, which helps cat owners manage problematic pets instead of dumping them at shelters, and thus reducing the number of cats euthanized because of space. Through his work, he finds his purpose as a “cat whisperer.” Galaxy’s candor earns the reader’s trust, without being hackneyed; he seamlessly weaves his relationship with Benny into the larger story of his life and recovery, which will appeal to a readership beyond cat lovers. Agent: Joy Tutela, David Black Literary Agency.

May 1, 2012
The cat equivalent of Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, Galaxy, star of Animal Planet's My Cat from Hell, decides to spill his life story into 300-something pages. His book reads like an unedited version of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces (2003) yet has more authenticity because of its saving centerpiece: his work with troubled, misbehaving felines. The narrative meanders; it's hard to trace when, exactly, this former musician and animal-shelter worker and Benny (the petite gray-and-white incorrigible of the subtitle) met and bonded; how, exactly, he and his business partner, Jill, determined to make a go of it; and the accumulation of his learnings about cat behavior. The sidebars are useful, since they address many common issues: cat trainability (yes, they are trainable); psychology (three items to remember: the need to hunt, the need to own territory, and their ability to see every room in 3-D); management of new cat arrivals; and stroking versus holding maneuvers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)