How to Rate a Cat: Rate Any Feline Friend from Their Boopable Nose to Their Sweet Toe Beans

by Matthew McGlasson

Charmingly illustrated and hilariously narrated, How to Rate a Cat is paws-itively the best way to connect with your beloved feline friends!

If you consider yourself a pet parent, love looking at cute kittens online, or are just an all-around animal lover, then this is the book for you. Brought to you by veterinarian Dr. Matt McGlasson, aka the Number One Cat Rater, who is known across social media platforms for his fun and adorable videos about all things cats. From one to ten, learn to rate cats based on a myriad of physical and behavioral attributes ( your cat is definitely off the charts). As you go, get expert advice from an experienced vet on how to take care of your beloved pet while deepening your human-animal bond.

From their spiky bedhead to their adorable paw beans to everything in between, identify, recognize, and celebrate what makes each kitty special and unique. Become an expert cat-rater based on signature characteristics

Kitten dangleTeeny tiger strutEmoji eyesTiny bat earsToe beansAnd more!

A sample cat

Chonk 15/10Head 50/10Floofy 11/10Goodest boy 1,000/10!
Read about and share the numerous feline quirks, physical and behavioral, that only fellow animal lovers will understand. Spoil your pets with tips and tricks recommended by an expert vet—they deserve it! Bound to make you laugh out loud, this book is an incredible gift for even the biggest sourpuss. The perfect combination of funny and knowledgeable, How to Rate a Cat will prepare you to defend just why your favorite feline is your best fur-end!

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Cats

144 pages, Hardcover

Published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Jill Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm probably a little biased because my cat is in this book, but every page was an absolute delight. 22/10

[Eva B.]

No rating. Not my cuppa.
See, I LOVE cats. They're my favorite animal. My cat is my best friend and without her I probably would not be alive to write this review. The thing is, I have a very low tolerance for twee, cutesy stuff, which this book had a LOT of. It was cute, though, and I like that it had a section in the back for disabled cats. Also, Rorschach mention!!! Raaaarl!!!

Now I rate my cat but with proper spelling of the categories:
Shelby
Location: [Redacted], Wisconsin
Gender: Female
Age: 10
Type: Domestic shorthair (grey mackerel tabby with some white)
About: A bottle baby foster fail, Shelby has a lot of personality in a small package. She loves going outside in her catio, eating whitefish, playing with her toy snowballs, and cuddling with me while I do my schoolwork.
Face: 100/10, perfectly kiss-sized head with a little tabby M.
Ears: 100/10. Big with long tufts of black fur at the tips like a little Lynx.
Eyes: 100/10. They were blue when we first found her but now they're jade green and so expressive. I love when she looks at me with giant pupils.
Teeth: 100/10. SHARP with silly short front teeth that she will nip my nose with if I'm sleeping and she wants attention.
Nose: 100/10. Pinkish, very kissable, used to nudge my hand often.
Mouth: 100/10. Perfect little :3 shape but sometimes she makes goofy faces, especially when she's overtired or overstimulated. Lots of yawn capacity.
Chonkiness: 100/10. I think she's average but my family keeps making fun of her and calling her fat when she just has a big pouch. Also she's very floofy so that doesn't help her case.
Legs: 100/10. Little stripes up her arms!! Socks at varying lengths on each leg!!!
Paws: 100/10. Again. DIFFERENT LENGTH SOCKS ON EVERY PAW!!!!
Whiskers: 100/10. SO long, like way longer than they need to be. Her snout looks like it has little freckles near where her whiskers come out.
Bellies: 200/10. SWANGIN' primordial pouch. White but you can still see how pink it is. Has a little brown stripe. Very pettable if she lets you.
Floofiness: 200/10. Floofy! And so soft! And she smells like baby powder somehow!
Tail: 200/10. Crooked from when she broke it as a baby. Black tip with a black stripe down it. Looks like a crooked little antenna when she's standing at attention.
Poses: 100/10. SO photogenic. Loves a good loaf and a big stretch.
Vocalness: 100/10. Not very vocal, but she has a strong purr and likes to chatter at night while "hunting" her toys. Needs verbal affirmation that we hear her and she's doing a good job.
Personality: 500/10. Just like me fr.
Catitude: 100/10. In spades.
Color/Markings: 200/10. Despite being a garden variety mackerel tabby, she still looks unique because of her white undercarriage and socks and stripes.
Skills: 100/10. Hunting snowballs, jumping onto cabinets, observing creatures outside, being my best friend.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from edelweiss in exchange for a honest review.


I just cannot resist an adorable book about cats! Especially when it is all about rating those fluffballs!~ I don’t know the writer, according to the blurb he is quite known and makes videos as well, sorry to the kind vet, but I haven’t heard of you. I am definitely curious to check out his profiles now after reading this book though.

Before we start seeing the ratings for each cat we get a starter-course on CRS, Cat Rating System. Because we aren’t just rating a cat willy-nilly, oh no! There are many aspects that a cat can score high on. For instance there is Ears with all sorts of ears like airplane or folded to Chonkiness going from sleek to Oh Lawd, They comin’! to legs and mouths/moufs to personality and much more! I really loved how detailed it was and I will definitely use this rating system when I spy a cat outside! Sadly, allergic to cats so I can only pet them briefly or watch from afar. Only when you know all the bits about the rating system it is time to dive into it.

And we start off with the bebes aka the kittens followed by Adults then followed by Seniors, and lastly a special section featuring fighters. Cats that have been through a lot but pulled through despite a rough start or rough life things happening to them. I think my favourite section was the kittens. Sorry, I just love a kitten. They are so tiny. So cute.

I had a lot of fun reading about the cats (we also get an about and some facts about the cat like age and location) and seeing how they rated on various aspects. The author selects different ones for different cats. For instance with one you may get chonkiness and with the other one you can get purrsonality. It was great fun that it wasn’t just the same. Some really made me laugh. Others made me go aww. And yes, I shared several with my hubby as well.

The illustrations. OH MY GOSH. So cute! So adorable! You just want to reach out and pet the cats!

I loved that at the end we also got small portraits of each of the cats! I would have liked maybe them being a bit bigger, but it still brought a smile on my face, especially given how well the illustrations captured the cats.

All in all, if you love cats, love cuteness, and love some humour, try out this one!

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[MKF · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doesn't actually tell you how to rate a cat instead it's the author rating different cats from fans. The cats he'a rated are illustrated and cartoon like with small photos of each at the end. It would have made more sense to have photos so we could actually see each of the cat. This would have been better since many are described as having unique coloring or details. Many of these don't show up on the small photos of the cats since it's just their faces.
The author said this book was supposed to be funny but I didn't find anything funny in it. The misspelling that I'm guessing is supposed to be cute was really annoying.

[Bonnie Kernene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have followed Dr Matthew McGlasson on social media for a long time now. He is hilarious. This book follows suit. He is just as hilarious in this book as he is on social media. I would want him for my vet for my animals, especially for my kitties! When I got this book, I read it in one sitting. It is fast to read, and you won't want to put it down! And you will laugh until you cry! The way he rates the kitties will have you laughing and then checking your own kitties and maybe your neighbors kitties. Since we do fostering, we will be rating our fosters from now on, too! I recommend this book to everyone!! And read it often! Then rate your own kitties! Thank you Dr. This is the best book I have read in a couple of years!

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to Rate a Cat is a cute, silly book that would look great on a coffee table. I loved that it included cats of all ages and “fighters” (cats with special needs or who overcame health conditions) - a great way to show that senior and special needs cats are as adorable and lovable as any kitten.

I would have liked for the “Wall of Feline Fame” at the end to have been in order so I could have more easily compared the pictures of the cats to the illustrations, and perhaps a page or two of some kind of wind-down/conclusion after the cat ratings, but the book accomplished what it set out to do and was adorable to look through. Now I want to rate my own cats!

[Kristen Barenthaler · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a cat lover like me, you need this book immediately. Super cute cats being rated on their personalities, loudness, loveable-ness, and more! I may need to rate my 2 cats later. But I also may be a bit biased when it comes to them.

[Julian Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to Rate a Cat: Rate Any Feline Friend from Their Boopable Nose to Their Sweet Toe Beans (2025): 7 out of 10: In this illustrated collection veterinarian and social media personality Matthew McGlasson invites readers into the whimsical world of feline appraisal. Drawing from his viral videos, McGlasson introduces the Cat Rating System (CRS), a playful framework that scores cats on various physical and behavioral traits. Importantly, in this affectionate system, no cat receives a score below 10, ensuring every feline is celebrated for its unique charm.

The book features 60 real-life cats, each evaluated on attributes like “peets” (paws), “chonkiness,” “floofiness,” “catitude,” and “purrsonality.” McGlasson’s commentary accompanies each profile, offering insights into the quirks and endearing behaviors that make each cat special. The evaluations are complemented by nice, if simple, illustrations. ​

Structured into sections covering kittens, adults, seniors, and fighters (Which are cats who have overcome significant challenges) the book offers a comprehensive look at the feline lifecycle. The “fighters” section, in particular, highlights the resilience and spirit of cats with special needs or those who have faced adversity.

Overall, How to Rate a Cat is a heartfelt and humorous tribute to cats in all their forms. McGlasson’s blend of veterinary expertise and playful narration makes this book an enjoyable read in little chunks.

The Good: I am a cat person. Thanks to two hurricanes last year and some subsequently rescued kittens, I am more of a cat dad than I ever intended to be.

I really appreciate that the book includes cats that have had challenges, including a tripod. I have a tripod girl that was rescued last year from a sewer and she is both a fighter and a sweetheart. I often roll my eyes at cries for representation in media but I confess I found it emotional to see representation here. Maybe this book will go a little way to make me a better person.

The Bad: I was surprised that How to Rate a Cat was not a larger book. Physically, I mean. It is only 5.8 by 7.8 inches. This kind of book would be better suited for a larger picture book/ coffee-table book size. Particularly considering it really is suited as a gift item.

The stories are sweet, but it really is just what it says on the tin. A brief paragraph about a cat, a nice illustration of the same and the ratings. Repeat about 60 times. This kind of thing works better in one of those once a day cat calenders.

The Ugly: My poor kitty Lara was not happy with her chonkiness rating (I rated her Big Buddy not even the highest rating which is Oh Lawd They Comin’)

In Conclusion: I got this as an Easter gift for a very specific person. A person who every Christmas gets a cat a day calender from me. If you have a person like that in your life, it is a pretty solid gift.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intermittently entertaining bookish object by "Social Media's No. 1 Cat Rater." Likely an uncrowded niche, & for sure self-proclaimed. He asked his followers to send pictures & nominations of their cats for the book. He got 600+, and winnowed these down to the 60 who made it into the book. Their photos and ratings are pretty entertaining: for his rating scheme, no cat can rate less than 10/10!
The highest rating I recall was 666/10. No, I'm wrong: the header (above) lists "Goodest boy 1,000/10!" I stand corrected.

The ratings are fun. Sadly, the artist they hired just wasn't very good. The actual (tiny) photos of the cats are MUCH cuter. Sigh.

So. Overall, for me this was a 3-star book. Worth a look if you are a fellow cat-lover, and see it in your library. OK+. Not a keeper.

In RL Dr. McGlasson is an award-winning veterinarian. He has "witnessed first-hand the life-changing power of the human-animal bond." Um. Speaking as one who just spent 45 min cleaning up the overnight litter-tossing frolix of our two Messy Beasts.... OMG.

[ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for a more informative approach towards cats of different ages, but I still had fun “meeting” all these kitties. The art and colors are lovely, and the vocabulary choices were the key to the book’s appeal.

Many thanks to Rock Point and Edelweiss for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

McGlasson's social media videos never fail to delight. The book is charming and points out any number ways to rate a feline, from floofyness to googly eyes. The artwork was fine but for me it lacked "ooomph." Good news is that there are photos of the actual cats being rated in the back.

[Solarkat · Rating 5 out of 5]

1000/10!

[Peg Albrets · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely the cutest ever

[Sally Hegedus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable and amusing. Loved it! 😻💗

[Michaela Machowitsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic ode to cats and their fussy adorable selves. It does need a glossary so newbies know what "moufs", "teefs" and "peets" are. 😜

[Katra · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a scale of 1 to 100, my cat is 389! It's true. We all know it.

p-n, s-n, v-n