When Kat fulfils her dream of running a cat sitting business little did she know that using a dead squirrel to entice a flea-ridden cat indoors; being dive-bombed by a demonic budgie and stumbling across one client’s shocking boudoir secrets would form part and parcel of her daily duties.
The Opening Chapter features Nanda, a huge Norwegian Forest cat whose party piece consists of impersonating a heavy fur stole on a sizzling summer’s day. Unexpected water-related behaviour, a muddy bottom and embarrassing sweat patches are all consequences of Kat and Nanda’s first expedition.
Chapter 2 takes Kat into the home of ageing musician Griff and his family of five rock-star named felines who live in glorious harmony; not a word that can be used to describe his tribute band ‘Grunts ‘n Posers’. Whilst Griff is on the road, Kat enjoys a wonderful summer with the cats and their amazing collection of wooden erections, though a broken egg spells disaster...
Fur, feathers and hairless tails all feature in Chapter 3 which focuses on unusual cat companions. There’s ferocious cat Fortune and her surrogate kitten, a rat called Herbert; a large, loved-up hound called Marx and the object of his devotion, Groucho, a grumpy Persian cat. A budgie called Crazy, takes hostility to new heights and chickens also prove problematical as Kat tries to coax them into their coup, watched with bemusement by brothers Biscuit and Barrel.
Chapter 4 sees Kat putting a dead squirrel to good use in an effort to persuade a menacing moggie to come indoors. If only she’d thought about the fleas first.
In Chapter 5 Kat visits Squidge, a cat besotted with lava lamps and who, manages to charm the local constabulary. Elliott, Kat’s husband creates an alarm disaster; and then there’s the dreaded ‘Pants Flat’...
Kat gets a shock in Chapter 6 as a Snake called Sydney, dark lipstick and thigh-length PVC boots all point to one thing in the home of Gordon and Camilla.
Chapter 7 features nosey neighbours. There’s Darren, the obsessively tidy teenager; meddling Marjorie who has marriage in mind for Kat and her cake-loving son Bernard; Petronella who takes her duties as an army reservist almost as seriously as she does her platoon of pussy-cats, and Kitty and Meg, a lovely pair of tipsy twins with a surprising past.
In Chapter 8 Kat puts ‘operation poo eradication’ into place as she deals with Twiggy’s ‘nervous tummy.
Veterinary visits are occupational hazards for Kat who, in Chapter 9 is humiliated by the embarrassingly named Catywampus and tormented by worry over accident prone Smarty’s latest misadventure. What she hadn't bargained for was being the centre of her very own car crash catastrophe.
Chapter 10 illustrates the lengths to which Kat has to go to cater for her more finicky felines. As well as discovering luxury foods that would delight the most discerning food critic, Kat delves into the world of raw food recipes and hand-feeding.
The Final Chapter, Drooly Madly Deeply, describes the precious moments Kat shares with her geriatric cat clients: Polly who spends her time holding court on the sofa; Boo with his intense stare and list of set requirements for Kat’s visits, and Kitzie who’s relationship with Kat for the first three and a half years was based on mutual ignoring...until one day it all changed.
Some elements of the book have foundations of truth (based on my own experiences as a cat-sitter) which have been elaborated and embellished and others are completely fictional.
After 17 years spent working in London for for organisations such as the BBC, Bloomberg and Reuters, Clare Hemington took voluntary redundancy to follow her dream of working with animals. She went on to complete a short course in cat behaviour before taking on various roles within a number of small animal welfare charities. The turning point came when she was taken on by an established cat behaviourist with whom she spent nearly seven years, at the end of which she qualified as a fully accredited cat behaviourist in her own right. She believes that this experience, along with many years spent running her own cat sitting business gives her a unique perspective on, and insight into the 'funny ways' of not only the cats she looks after, but their human owners too! The Hairy Tails of a Cat Sitter is Clare's debut book.
