Tomorrow, October 29, is National Cat Day. I am owned by three cats, two of whom are blind. The 12 year old Maine Coon is a spirit cat – one that needs lots of love and care. He’s blind with FIV. His name is Mister, like Harry Dresden’s cat. His buddy, 8 year old Breena, has been blind since birth. Then there is Meriwether, the kitten. He bounces off walls and drives the other two cats crazy. We call him Meri or Merricat for short. Literature fans will recognize the name Merricat from Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived In The Castle”.
That brings me to the topic of this month’s post – Famous Cats in Literature.
- Crookshanks – Hermione Granger’s magical cat in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban by J, K. Rowling. Cats have long been associated with witches as their familiars. Crookshanks in the movies looks like a Maine Coon.
- Cheshire cat – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Louis Carroll. The Cheshire cat said the famous line, “We’re all mad here.”
- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. I grew up reading Dr. Seuss. I’ve always liked this cat’s top hat.
- Puss in Boots from Jerry Pinkney. My favorite fairy tale. My erotic fantasy “Trouble In Thigh High Boots” is my smutty retelling of this story. You may find it under Kindle on Amazon.
- Tom Kitten from Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Tom Kitten. Tom Kitten was a very naughty boy! When my son was a child he loved Tom Kitten. I even bought Tom Kitten baby bath products from Crabtree & Evelyn. Sadly, that product line isn’t available anymore.
- Church from Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Cats can be scary, too.
- Mog from Mog The Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr. I discovered Mog in a British commercial for Sainsbury grocery store. These children’s books are very popular in U. K. households.
- Koko and Yum Yum from “The Cat Who…” book series by Lilian Jackson Braun. These cats owned reporter Jim Qwilleran. Koko and Yum Yum are two Siamese cats who help Qwilleran solve his cases. The whole concept is adorable.
- Mister is Harry Dresden’s cat in “The Dresden Files”.
Cats are wonderful writing muses. They walk across your keyboard and change the names of your files. They want to sit in your lap when you’re trying to write. They want to eat. All. The Time. They want to play as soon as you begin writing that action scene that had been pestering you for hours. They spill your coffee, hopefully not on the computer.
Halloween (aka Samhain) is in three days. Cats, especially black ones, are at the center of this day. Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday. It means decorations, candy, endless horror movies, fall baking, and honoring the dead. The religious aspect of Samhain is similar to our Memorial Day. I always have chocolate on hand for the kids who may stop by the house trick or treating. Although black cats have a reputation for being bad luck (an unfair reputation in my opinion), I have always considered them very lucky. I have been owned by three black cats – Fido, Speedy, and Mulder. Yes, I had another cat named Scully. Mulder and Scully were always together. So fitting. Black cats make wonderful companions.
So, on this National Cat Day, pick up a book that features a cat in some way. Or watch a cat-centered movie like “Bell, Book, and Candle”, which is the perfect romance for this time of year.
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Elizabeth Black writes in a wide variety of genres including erotica, erotic romance, horror, and dark fiction. She lives on the Massachusetts coast with her husband, son, and her three cats. Her story “The Beautiful Move in Curves” appears in “Dangerous Curves Ahead”, an anthology of sexy stories about plus-sized women. Look for it at Amazon. Her new paranormal erotic shifter romance novel “Full Moon Fever” will be for sale in 2020.
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You can’t mention Crookshanks, without also mentioning Mrs. Norris, who saw the refection of the Basilisk in the water and got a bit stiff as a result.
Glad you mentioned Koko and Yum-yum. I enjoyed all those books.
Stephen King introduces another cat, an important character, in “Doctor Sleep,” the sequel to “The Shining.” Azzie comforts the grieving and assists souls in transition (the dying).
There’s also Austin, the talking cat, a main character in Tanya Huff’s “Keeper Chronicles.”
You’re a marvelous and special person to adopt blind cats. All the cats I’ve/we’ve had were sighted, although some did have other ailments. Seventeen cats in all, with eight being the most at any one time. Of the last three kittens we adopted in 2003, Spot (the black cat and the last of those three) died just over a year ago. First time in 43 years that there hasn’t been a cat in our house. I keep thinking there might be a couple of kittens in my future, but it’s a big decision as my age and this time of my life.
I do keep checking out the kitties available for adoption as the Central Vermont Humane Society (which is where we adopted Jasper the dog). I just know it’s going to happen eventually.
Happy International Cat Day!
Rose 😉
At this point, I can’t imagine living a cat-less life. We have two rescue felines. One has an amputated paw – when she was brought in to the vet from whom we adopted her, she had such a horrible infection they had to cut off her toes to save her life. It doesn’t slow here down at all.
The other was kept in a cage for the first ten months of his life. It’s hard to believe, given his sweet, mellow disposition.
We have a policy of no more than two at a time. We live in an apartment and if there were a fire, we want to be sure we could carry them out safely. Couldn’t do that with eight!
We do, periodically, get tempted by other kitties, though.
And…I have a cat in my erotic pentalogy, a stray who took over a house (as they do), named Hermann.
Rose, how could I forget Mrs. Norris? That cat looks a lot like my cat, Mister, minus the red eyes.
“Doctor Sleep” is on my reading list. I know little if anything about it. I like the idea of a cat that comforts the grieving. I’ve heard of animals like that for real. Thanks for the compliment. Yes, we adopt the outlier cats no one wants. We had a cat with a heart murmur, but she died a few years ago from a heart attack. She was a fun cat. I have to avoid shelters since I want to adopt all of the kitties. 🙂
I hope you do adopt a kitty in the near future. We have a kitten now who gives the two blind cats a run for their money. Enjoy your future kitty!
Lisabet, you sound like us – you adopt the cats who need it the most. I commend you for that. I also can’t imagine living without a cat in the house. We’ve placed our current limit at 3 although we always want more. We should move to a farm, LOL.
Rupert, I wonder how many writers put their pets in their stories? Probably lots. My late kitty Oreo starred in one of my erotic short stories, and she acted in the story pretty much the way she acted in real life. Hermann is a great name for a cat.