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The Cat Rescue Diaries: 56 True Life Stories of Cats Who Found Their Forever Homes, and the People Who Saved Them
Thousands of years ago, a cat purred, and humans listened. We were fascinated. Today, we're still fascinated by the purr, but in many cases, we've let our feline companions down. There are millions of homeless and hungry cats. These are but a few of the stories of the lucky ones, rescued from bad situations and given a place on easy street.
You'll be inspired, you'll be awed, and you'll say "awww" over stories about cats like these:
Ms. Sammy, the cat delivered to her "furever" home by the coroner.
Lima, the kitty with a horribly infected tail, but who never stopped purring in appreciation of her human's efforts to help her get well.
Hanuko, the rescue with two human mommies.
From tales of cats rescued from a warehouse, a barn, and even a coffee can, to heartwarming stories of feline determination and human compassion, every story in The Cat Rescue Diaries is evidence of what happens when good people seek out the purr and find their "purrfect" feline match.
You'll be inspired, you'll be awed, and you'll say "awww" over stories about cats like these:
Ms. Sammy, the cat delivered to her "furever" home by the coroner.
Lima, the kitty with a horribly infected tail, but who never stopped purring in appreciation of her human's efforts to help her get well.
Hanuko, the rescue with two human mommies.
From tales of cats rescued from a warehouse, a barn, and even a coffee can, to heartwarming stories of feline determination and human compassion, every story in The Cat Rescue Diaries is evidence of what happens when good people seek out the purr and find their "purrfect" feline match.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 12, 2014
166 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 17, 2019
This is way outside of my normal reading realm! lol I read it because I do own a cat that I adopted from my local shelter over a year ago. Within these pages are heartwarming stories of cats that have been rescued and adopted from dire situations. This about people that have gone above and beyond to take in these cats so that the cats can live out their lives being loved. The kindle edition has pictures of the cats after the people took care of them. It is a short read as I read it within a day. I would recommend this book to all cat lovers! Four stars for this one.
June 13, 2021
This was an incredibly cute concept, but the actual product was lacking just a bit.
I've taken courses in journalism where we learn about show, not tell. While there are some forms that don't need this as much, personal anecdotes do not fall into this category. For most of these stories, there simply wasn't enough of them for me to get a feel of the cats, and they started to be repetitive.
Some of the longer stories addressed this better, but I do have to wonder what questions Kurt Schmitt asked people to get these stories. As a former yearbook writer and editor (in high school), I learned that the only way to get the in depth answers that you want is to ask open-ended questions, and be willing for stories to be longer than expected. It did not seem like Schmitt put as much thought into the questions he asked for this book. It shouldn't just be, "tell me about your rescue cat," there needs to be more asking about stories and helping those stories to come out.
I will say that the stories that addressed how/where the cats were rescued often did so in a more relatable way than some of the shorter stories. However, there were still missing pieces in terms of the human emotion that comes with these stories, as well as getting to know the personalities of both the cats and the humans, and why they were such a good match. I wanted to know what was unique about each cat, but this book managed to perpetuate the stereotype that all cats are the same.
At the same time, it is adorable to read about the ways people can bond with cats, especially as a dog person myself. It does make me wonder if, given the right circumstances, I could ever become a cat person through the rescue or assistance thereof.
I've taken courses in journalism where we learn about show, not tell. While there are some forms that don't need this as much, personal anecdotes do not fall into this category. For most of these stories, there simply wasn't enough of them for me to get a feel of the cats, and they started to be repetitive.
Some of the longer stories addressed this better, but I do have to wonder what questions Kurt Schmitt asked people to get these stories. As a former yearbook writer and editor (in high school), I learned that the only way to get the in depth answers that you want is to ask open-ended questions, and be willing for stories to be longer than expected. It did not seem like Schmitt put as much thought into the questions he asked for this book. It shouldn't just be, "tell me about your rescue cat," there needs to be more asking about stories and helping those stories to come out.
I will say that the stories that addressed how/where the cats were rescued often did so in a more relatable way than some of the shorter stories. However, there were still missing pieces in terms of the human emotion that comes with these stories, as well as getting to know the personalities of both the cats and the humans, and why they were such a good match. I wanted to know what was unique about each cat, but this book managed to perpetuate the stereotype that all cats are the same.
At the same time, it is adorable to read about the ways people can bond with cats, especially as a dog person myself. It does make me wonder if, given the right circumstances, I could ever become a cat person through the rescue or assistance thereof.
May 13, 2015
I loved the idea of this book, tales of rescues, however the editor really should have done more editing on some of these tales. Or maybe been a little more discerning when deciding which stories to use. (Not everyone has a talent for telling a good story, and some of these I think could have been really heartwarming if fleshed out a bit.)
February 19, 2019
Good read
Various stories about 🐈 rescues. Most are heartwarming. Some are sad. Good pics of the cats too. A fast read.
Various stories about 🐈 rescues. Most are heartwarming. Some are sad. Good pics of the cats too. A fast read.
July 5, 2022
Aww, very sweet kitties! The color photos really helped. But each chapter was written like a schoolkid writing an essay for remedial English class.
November 22, 2023
This was a cute concept, but wasn’t done very well. I felt like someone wrote “tell me about your rescue cats” on Facebook, then copied and pasted the replies to make this book.
I’m curious as to why the editor chose to insert themself to tell you about how many cats a rescue organization has saved, but never said “cats don’t only purr when happy,” or “don’t feed your cat cow milk, and especially don’t give your cat some other cat’s medication” after any of the related stories. Those (especially the latter) are far more important than letting you know about one of the rescue organizations (especially since said organization wasn’t even the place that OOP didn’t like in their story). They didn’t even correct the spelling errors that were submitted (and there were a handful).
I think there were only two stories I absolutely loved, but there were many that had some sort of problematic content in them. Thankfully most posts had a cat photo with then. They hint at making more books after this. I have zero intention in reading more of them, but I hope for future readers’ sakes that they took feedback to heart and made changes to them. I’d just rather stick to Reddit cat subs for cute/fun kitty content.
I’m curious as to why the editor chose to insert themself to tell you about how many cats a rescue organization has saved, but never said “cats don’t only purr when happy,” or “don’t feed your cat cow milk, and especially don’t give your cat some other cat’s medication” after any of the related stories. Those (especially the latter) are far more important than letting you know about one of the rescue organizations (especially since said organization wasn’t even the place that OOP didn’t like in their story). They didn’t even correct the spelling errors that were submitted (and there were a handful).
I think there were only two stories I absolutely loved, but there were many that had some sort of problematic content in them. Thankfully most posts had a cat photo with then. They hint at making more books after this. I have zero intention in reading more of them, but I hope for future readers’ sakes that they took feedback to heart and made changes to them. I’d just rather stick to Reddit cat subs for cute/fun kitty content.
December 29, 2021
sweet!
A mixture of heartwarming tales of rescue and love. It frustrates me that people would abandon or simply leave their cats to fend for themselves with no regrets. My parents cats are all rescues and my baby boy is a late age rescue (9 years old) who we were told would never be near us. He is now the most amazing cuddle monster. Always rescue as you will be saving more than one life!
A mixture of heartwarming tales of rescue and love. It frustrates me that people would abandon or simply leave their cats to fend for themselves with no regrets. My parents cats are all rescues and my baby boy is a late age rescue (9 years old) who we were told would never be near us. He is now the most amazing cuddle monster. Always rescue as you will be saving more than one life!
May 26, 2020
Had the cat photos not been in this book, I would have given it one star.
The stories were submitted by the cat owners themselves. From the way the stories read, they were not edited at all. They appear to have been slapped in the book the way they were submitted. I did not appreciate this quality and after reading several poorly written stories back-to-back, I gave up.
The stories were submitted by the cat owners themselves. From the way the stories read, they were not edited at all. They appear to have been slapped in the book the way they were submitted. I did not appreciate this quality and after reading several poorly written stories back-to-back, I gave up.
March 28, 2023
Great stories of kitty cats and their hoomans
Every story of love for these fur babies is uplifting. Cats are special creatures and it is sometimes only the exactly right person (hooman) who is meant for them. Their stories are quite encouraging for adoption. I enjoyed every one.
Every story of love for these fur babies is uplifting. Cats are special creatures and it is sometimes only the exactly right person (hooman) who is meant for them. Their stories are quite encouraging for adoption. I enjoyed every one.
September 27, 2023
My cat loving heart absolutely LOVED this book! So many stories warmed my heart of cats finding their forever homes. My heart broke at a few stories of loss as well. I know all too well the pain of losing a pet and it’s always SO hard. If you’re a cat lover, read this book. It was so fun seeing all the pictures of the cats as well. In conclusion, this book was PURRRRRRFECT 😻
March 31, 2024
The Cat Rescue Diaries - Book 1
Lots of extremely short stories about cats who were rescued or adopted from shelters.
Despite having several different authors, all the stories seem to be written by the same person. This is probably a case of over-zealous editing, but it takes away some of the impact of the cats' stories.
Lots of extremely short stories about cats who were rescued or adopted from shelters.
Despite having several different authors, all the stories seem to be written by the same person. This is probably a case of over-zealous editing, but it takes away some of the impact of the cats' stories.
August 19, 2018
.
It only deserves this rating if not more. I have grown up with kitties my whole Life.I loved the stories so much, and can relate to them all. I would recommend this book to my family, whom are all 🐈 lovers. Thank you for a GREAT book
It only deserves this rating if not more. I have grown up with kitties my whole Life.I loved the stories so much, and can relate to them all. I would recommend this book to my family, whom are all 🐈 lovers. Thank you for a GREAT book
April 13, 2019
I love this collection of cat rescue stories.
I read this after a particularly stressful week. It did my heart a lot of good. This is a collection of uplifting cat rescue stories. Cute pictures are included.
I read this after a particularly stressful week. It did my heart a lot of good. This is a collection of uplifting cat rescue stories. Cute pictures are included.
September 28, 2019
Multitude of cats
Chose rating because book was very interesting.
Not a cat lover however I warmed to stories. They all had different personalities. I would consider getting a cat now.
Would recommend book to friends.
Chose rating because book was very interesting.
Not a cat lover however I warmed to stories. They all had different personalities. I would consider getting a cat now.
Would recommend book to friends.
October 19, 2019
True rescue stories
Uplifting true rescue stories, these are American stories but proves that cats around the world are the same and weasel their way into our hearts before we know what is happening. Loved them all.
Uplifting true rescue stories, these are American stories but proves that cats around the world are the same and weasel their way into our hearts before we know what is happening. Loved them all.
January 13, 2020
This is a fast read, with lots of tales of folks and their rescue cats. Very heartwarming, but not a lot of substance, just individual stories. Some need editing but I guess that’s to be expected in this kind of book.
March 13, 2020
Happy Forever Home Stories
If you like cat rescue stories then this is a 5 star book for you. There is no plot, just story after story of animals being put into forever homes. A very nice read for a slow day. Curl up and enjoy.
If you like cat rescue stories then this is a 5 star book for you. There is no plot, just story after story of animals being put into forever homes. A very nice read for a slow day. Curl up and enjoy.
March 19, 2021
Rescue Cats
I really enjoyed reading the various stories about the cats. I liked the fact that the subject of feral cats and TNR was mentioned in some of the stories. Looking forward to reading the next book.
I really enjoyed reading the various stories about the cats. I liked the fact that the subject of feral cats and TNR was mentioned in some of the stories. Looking forward to reading the next book.
April 25, 2023
Heartwarming
Each story in this book touched my heart. I want so much to adopt an older cat from the local shelter, but my grown daughters say no. My heart yearns to be shared with a kitty! Living alone, I just know a kitty would be a blessing.
Each story in this book touched my heart. I want so much to adopt an older cat from the local shelter, but my grown daughters say no. My heart yearns to be shared with a kitty! Living alone, I just know a kitty would be a blessing.
December 22, 2017
Great book
November 15, 2018
Heart warming stories.
November 26, 2019
Loved all the rescue stories and the pictures that accompany (most) of them.
Sure to please cat and dog lovers alike.
Sure to please cat and dog lovers alike.
February 21, 2020
Endearing
It was heartwarming to see the photos and dad the stories of the rescues of these sweet cats and kittens!
It was heartwarming to see the photos and dad the stories of the rescues of these sweet cats and kittens!
Read
March 11, 2020My little goses like this
My mom
says i sould read and stop crying my self to sleep cuz my friend who stole my crush and
Spread roumers
My mom
says i sould read and stop crying my self to sleep cuz my friend who stole my crush and
Spread roumers
June 15, 2020
Heartwarming
Great to see some lovely stories proving humans can be kind to our fur ball friends. Loved reading this book.
Great to see some lovely stories proving humans can be kind to our fur ball friends. Loved reading this book.
January 13, 2021
A book that is exactly what it claims to be: rescue stories. I can't help think that it would have made a better TV show than a book.
I wouldn't reread or recommend.
I wouldn't reread or recommend.
April 19, 2025
Touching
This book is full of fun and touching stories. The people involved are all heroes. Heart warming and touching. I teared up a few times.
This book is full of fun and touching stories. The people involved are all heroes. Heart warming and touching. I teared up a few times.
December 20, 2022
Poor writing and no editing. This felt like a first grade class project.
October 18, 2016
I love it
I have a cat myself and seeing how other cat owners got their cat is an interesting thing to me
I have a cat myself and seeing how other cat owners got their cat is an interesting thing to me
July 11, 2017
This is a great book full of stories about cats and the wonderful people who rescues them. I recommend this book for everyone who loves cats.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews