Cattitude - Episode 281 Toby, Gus & Me: Choosing a Life Plus Cats with Rebecca van Laer

<v Speaker 1>He Live. This is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
<v Speaker 2>Hello outdline friends, Welcome to Cataitude. I'm your show host
<v Speaker 2>Michelle Bourne. Today we have an author who has written
<v Speaker 2>the most amazing book. You're going to want to stick
<v Speaker 2>around for this, so stay tuned. We'll be right back.
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<v Speaker 4>Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
<v Speaker 2>Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Rebecca van Layer.
<v Speaker 2>She is the author of a Cat Welcome Rebecca.
<v Speaker 5>Hi, Michelle, thank you so much for having me today.
<v Speaker 2>I'm very excited to have you and I have to
<v Speaker 2>say in reading your book, it kind of is what
<v Speaker 2>I think a lot of people, especially women, would like
<v Speaker 2>to say to the world. As you know, women that
<v Speaker 2>I have cats, because there's so many taglines and this
<v Speaker 2>that are negative out there, especially for women cat parents.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, yeah, I definitely wanted to think about the idea
<v Speaker 5>of the crazy cat lady and the kind of pervasive
<v Speaker 5>attitude that the worst thing that could happen to you
<v Speaker 5>is that you end up alone with cats and take
<v Speaker 5>that head on, since having cats has been one of
<v Speaker 5>the greatest sources of joy in my life, and there's
<v Speaker 5>nothing sad about that.
<v Speaker 2>I agree, and I don't know why it became so negative.
<v Speaker 2>I don't even know why it became so negative. If
<v Speaker 2>women decide they don't want to have kids, if guys
<v Speaker 2>don't have kids, that's okay.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, So that's also a big focus of the book.
<v Speaker 5>It's a two year story. I always knew I was
<v Speaker 5>writing a book about my cats, but I actually didn't
<v Speaker 5>know that it was also a book about my decision
<v Speaker 5>not to have kids for like the first year I
<v Speaker 5>was writing it. And it turned out to be both
<v Speaker 5>to be about the pleasure and the value of connection
<v Speaker 5>with beings who we don't make and they're being just
<v Speaker 5>as much in that as a life choice.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for writing that. And I know what I
<v Speaker 2>said before I mean, of course, biologically men cannot have kids,
<v Speaker 2>but there are all kinds of households today, and there's
<v Speaker 2>I know plenty of male couples that I know, some
<v Speaker 2>that have kids and some that don't have kids, and
<v Speaker 2>there's no stigma attached. If you're a woman and you
<v Speaker 2>decide you don't want bio kids, then there's a stigma attached.
<v Speaker 2>So that in my mind is screwed up. So again,
<v Speaker 2>thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, so you have
<v Speaker 2>a PhD in literature, Yes, so I should call you really,
<v Speaker 2>doctor Rebecca van Lair.
<v Speaker 5>I almost never use that, although I do put it
<v Speaker 5>on my tickets when I book a plane, so then
<v Speaker 5>the flight attendant knows that I'm the doctor you know,
<v Speaker 5>can't help anyone in a crisis. But yes, do you
<v Speaker 5>have a PhD?
<v Speaker 6>Yeah?
<v Speaker 5>So this book is through Bloomsberry's object Lesson series, and
<v Speaker 5>a lot of the people who write for it are
<v Speaker 5>writing much more academic books and just picking up a
<v Speaker 5>book that's called cat people might not know what they're
<v Speaker 5>getting into. So I did want to provide facts and
<v Speaker 5>research and yeah, definitely having that background made that part
<v Speaker 5>of it easier. And then there's also a chapter toward
<v Speaker 5>the end of the book, where I'm talking a little
<v Speaker 5>bit about other writers who've written wars on cats and
<v Speaker 5>try to do a little bit of an analysis of why.
<v Speaker 5>I think some of those books end up having violence
<v Speaker 5>in them, which is often a surprise to cat people,
<v Speaker 5>including about my book. So the analytical component there, I
<v Speaker 5>think that comes from my graduate training. But also sorry
<v Speaker 5>to all of the people who didn't want to read that.
<v Speaker 2>You know what, I could kind of tell as it
<v Speaker 2>got there. I don't have a PhD, I have an MBA.
<v Speaker 2>I don't feel like I used that all the time
<v Speaker 2>that I should start putting that on. Yeah, when I fly,
<v Speaker 2>why not?
<v Speaker 5>It takes work, so it like acknowledge it in the
<v Speaker 5>situations when it can be that might just be flights
<v Speaker 5>or the dentist.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, and we worked hard for those freaking absolutely, I
<v Speaker 2>don't know. Supposedly it made me more analytical, so I
<v Speaker 2>don't know. I think it made me more risk averse
<v Speaker 2>than anything, because a lot more stats classes, which it's
<v Speaker 2>not my best thing. It's like, to quote an old
<v Speaker 2>stats teacher, it's like the haircut like of anyway, let's
<v Speaker 2>get back to your book. When you added Toby and
<v Speaker 2>gusts to your life. Did you ever think you would
<v Speaker 2>write a book where they would be the stars?
<v Speaker 5>No, it was not on my radar at all. And
<v Speaker 5>at that point in my life, I was in graduate
<v Speaker 5>school and I was working mostly on critical research, but
<v Speaker 5>I was also writing fiction, so knowing, yeah, I had
<v Speaker 5>no idea that I would ever write a memoir, much
<v Speaker 5>less that it would be so focused on those two
<v Speaker 5>precious goal.
<v Speaker 2>For ball, you know what I have to say, and ctitude.
<v Speaker 2>Especially the last few months, I've had a lot of
<v Speaker 2>books come through, and I just noticed I'm at my
<v Speaker 2>two hundred I think it's about two hundred and fiftieth show,
<v Speaker 2>because there was about seventeen or so from their first host,
<v Speaker 2>so they had a lot of books. And I really
<v Speaker 2>like your writing style. I'm not going to critique any
<v Speaker 2>of the ones before, but what I liked was there
<v Speaker 2>was a lot of story to it, but also a
<v Speaker 2>lot of real life with still making it very story.
<v Speaker 2>The voice of the book was fantastic.
<v Speaker 5>Thank you so much. Yeah, that's that matters so much
<v Speaker 5>to me. And then also just having the cats fully
<v Speaker 5>come across as characters matter so much to me, like
<v Speaker 5>all of us who are cat people, this is like
<v Speaker 5>one of the most important beings in your life, your cat.
<v Speaker 5>But then at the same time, when you try to
<v Speaker 5>describe them to someone else, the first thing you just
<v Speaker 5>want to say, as well, they're perfect. So then making
<v Speaker 5>them a fully fledged character in a book was something
<v Speaker 5>that yeah, I got to take on.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And at one point you said you wanted to
<v Speaker 2>be a cat.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, yeah, so I think can you relate to that?
<v Speaker 6>Every day?
<v Speaker 5>I just look at how relaxed Gus is, you know,
<v Speaker 5>just taking his little nap or stretched out just like
<v Speaker 5>I kind of wish I were you.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for the relaxing part, for the no stress part,
<v Speaker 2>because they never look like they're stress. I grew up
<v Speaker 2>with dogs first, so and I've had dogs and cats,
<v Speaker 2>and now I just have cats because both dogs are
<v Speaker 2>in doggy Heaven or wherever they go for special dog creatures.
<v Speaker 2>So I wouldn't say I want to be a dogs.
<v Speaker 2>They seem to work hard.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, they have a lot of expectations on them. They're
<v Speaker 5>supposed to behave a really particular way, whereas cats have
<v Speaker 5>I think more flexibility.
<v Speaker 2>And they get away with everything too.
<v Speaker 5>They do.
<v Speaker 2>So tell us about the personalities of Gus and Toby.
<v Speaker 5>So Gus is a friend was doing commissioned paintings of
<v Speaker 5>both of them, and he asked me, is Gus a
<v Speaker 5>cozy boy or a mania? And I thought that was
<v Speaker 5>so funny because Guss is complete cozy boy. He lives
<v Speaker 5>to nap. He's an absolute artist when it comes to napping.
<v Speaker 5>He's always finding both a new place and a new position.
<v Speaker 5>He's a very flucky white cat with one blue eye
<v Speaker 5>and one green eye, so he's got this air of
<v Speaker 5>kind of magic and whimsy about him. And he's also
<v Speaker 5>a very gentle creature and soul. Now he's on thyroid medication,
<v Speaker 5>and he's the sort of cat where like you can
<v Speaker 5>easily just put a cream in his ear and he's
<v Speaker 5>absolutely not going to fight you much less like or
<v Speaker 5>scratch or anything like that. He's just kind of like, okay, Rebecca.
<v Speaker 5>And that's actually the voice that I do for him
<v Speaker 5>that he talks to me in. So soft is Gus's thing.
<v Speaker 5>And Toby, on the other hand, Toby is more of
<v Speaker 5>a tough guy. Toby is originally from Alabama, but I'm
<v Speaker 5>at him in Providence when I'm met my partner Seamen,
<v Speaker 5>and you know, he would start a fight with any
<v Speaker 5>creature that crossed his path. When he was an indoor
<v Speaker 5>outver cat, possome cat, whatever he wanted to be, dock cat.
<v Speaker 5>And even when he came inside and started living with Gus,
<v Speaker 5>when Stephen and I moved in together, he was really
<v Speaker 5>nice to Gus. They got along beautifully. But he's still
<v Speaker 5>like you know, top cat, tough guy. Even when he walks,
<v Speaker 5>you can tell that he's strutting and maniac as well.
<v Speaker 2>So they're kind of opposite.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, absolutely, which is nice because you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, I have a hat. Curb three one is she
<v Speaker 2>was feral till she was fourn and Charlotte I think
<v Speaker 2>is just misunderstood, is how we she's afraid. She looks
<v Speaker 2>like an ard bark, you know. She hisses at me,
<v Speaker 2>my partner. She loves him, but me, no, even if
<v Speaker 2>I give her shrimp or something. No, No, I'm evil.
<v Speaker 2>And so sometimes I think, I know, sometimes I could
<v Speaker 2>be it like that, but not always. Most of the time,
<v Speaker 2>I'm pretty cool, you know, So you know, we all
<v Speaker 2>have our inner bach kind of comes out from me.
<v Speaker 2>And then my diva cat is Mollie, who my significant
<v Speaker 2>other is love with. So that's the other woman. And
<v Speaker 2>that they have Dennis, who's.
<v Speaker 5>Chillboy because the boy of the household.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and he was my first cat, which the universe
<v Speaker 2>picked the right cat because he's part of Maine coon,
<v Speaker 2>so he's a dog of cats. He's not that big,
<v Speaker 2>he used to be bigger. I think he's chinking a
<v Speaker 2>little as he gets which happens. He definitely has nine
<v Speaker 2>lives and he's just chill. He could yeah anything, and
<v Speaker 2>he's very chill boy. But it's interesting how you could
<v Speaker 2>just tell their personalities and cat's personalities I don't think
<v Speaker 2>are as obvious as dogs, but they definitely have different personalities.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, when you spend time with them.
<v Speaker 2>Have you heard that before?
<v Speaker 5>I don't know if I've heard it put that way before,
<v Speaker 5>but I do think that because dogs are in public,
<v Speaker 5>like people just get to know their friends, and dogs
<v Speaker 5>in this way where they're you know, on the there
<v Speaker 5>at the park, they're coming to the picnic, whereas cats
<v Speaker 5>take more time to open up with people, so outside
<v Speaker 5>of the people who they live with, other people are yeah,
<v Speaker 5>can be slower to get to know who they are.
<v Speaker 5>And then also they I guess like from an evolutionary
<v Speaker 5>biology perspective, do have less expressive faces than dogs, so
<v Speaker 5>there's maybe an air of mystery just in the way
<v Speaker 5>that they look. So yeah, it takes definitely, I think more.
<v Speaker 5>You should be close enough to the cat and you
<v Speaker 5>have to pay enough attention to the cat to get
<v Speaker 5>to know their personality. But when you do those two things,
<v Speaker 5>then you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, yeah, when you know, you know, all right, we're
<v Speaker 2>going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
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<v Speaker 2>Welcome back, everyone, we're talking to Rebecca Van lair. She
<v Speaker 2>has written the book Cacked. So, Rebecca, in the book
<v Speaker 2>your partner says it's okay to quote divest from the
<v Speaker 2>fantasy end quote of having children. So what does this
<v Speaker 2>mean the contests of the book, even though we talked
<v Speaker 2>about that a little little bit in the beginning of
<v Speaker 2>our show.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, so I think that you know, before it has happened,
<v Speaker 5>while it's Schrodinger's baby rather than a Schrodinger's cat, you
<v Speaker 5>have no idea what it's going to be like. But
<v Speaker 5>in our culture, there is a fantasy that there's kind
<v Speaker 5>of like nothing better than having a child, that that's
<v Speaker 5>how you establish a legacy in this world, that that's
<v Speaker 5>how you experience unconditional love, that that's how you kind
<v Speaker 5>of like become a full adult. And of course all
<v Speaker 5>of that is really a cultural fantasy. And I think
<v Speaker 5>everyone I know who's a parent would say that when
<v Speaker 5>it comes down to it, it can be some of
<v Speaker 5>those things, but it's also incredibly challenging. It can be
<v Speaker 5>incredibly difficult, and it doesn't always work out the way
<v Speaker 5>that you want it to, whether it's that you never
<v Speaker 5>have that child, or whether your relationship with that child
<v Speaker 5>just isn't what you fantasize would be beforehand. So it
<v Speaker 5>stands for all of these kinds of change and peak experiences,
<v Speaker 5>but at the same time, for me personally, was weighing
<v Speaker 5>that against the other important goals that I've established for myself,
<v Speaker 5>which don't necessarily involve like eighteen years of childcare or
<v Speaker 5>beepless nights or any of that that involved my intellectual life,
<v Speaker 5>my writing, what I might broadly call just like my
<v Speaker 5>relationship to the environment, my cats included, and divesting from
<v Speaker 5>the fantasy meant taking that cultural expectation and the idea
<v Speaker 5>of what it might be and putting all of that
<v Speaker 5>aside and thinking about the things that I actually want
<v Speaker 5>and whether parenthood is compatible with those. And my answer
<v Speaker 5>was no. I think that for a lot of people
<v Speaker 5>it's still yes, but that fantasy just plays such a big,
<v Speaker 5>big role that it can be hard to even see
<v Speaker 5>it clearly.
<v Speaker 2>I think I think you're right on with that, because
<v Speaker 2>there's even listening to you. I'm not twenty something, but
<v Speaker 2>I'm not ancient either, So to give you an idea
<v Speaker 2>of where I'm coming from, my listeners have see my
<v Speaker 2>picture said they no, I'm not twenty something, but I
<v Speaker 2>will never be old in my head. So having said that,
<v Speaker 2>hearing you, and I'm thinking, you know, people always say,
<v Speaker 2>even if you're not married these days, oh but you
<v Speaker 2>know you're not having kids. Why aren't you having kids?
<v Speaker 2>And it's not selfish to decide No, I want my
<v Speaker 2>life to look like this. This is what it's going
<v Speaker 2>to be, and it's my choice. What's wrong with that?
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, nothing wrong with that. I mean, you know, it's
<v Speaker 5>really unselfish in a way because you free yourself up
<v Speaker 5>to be a fun ants to all the other kids
<v Speaker 5>in your life, to participate in community care, to give
<v Speaker 5>yourself to people in different ways. So not to say
<v Speaker 5>that it is selfish to have kids at all by
<v Speaker 5>any means, but I don't think there's anything selfish about
<v Speaker 5>choosing not to. It's just a different use of time.
<v Speaker 5>Because again it's like the how is it selfish if
<v Speaker 5>there's nothing here that you're depriving anyone else of only yourself?
<v Speaker 2>Right, And I don't think it's bad for you. I'm
<v Speaker 2>talking more society.
<v Speaker 5>Staneah, Yeah, yeah, absolutely, it's.
<v Speaker 2>So much harder for women, even though, like that's why
<v Speaker 2>I said my age, I'm not you know, what is it,
<v Speaker 2>gen z? But maybe either are say you guys on
<v Speaker 2>somewhere in between. And even with that mindset, well, these days,
<v Speaker 2>and we're recording this and almost fall of twenty twenty five,
<v Speaker 2>these days, without getting too much into politics, things have
<v Speaker 2>gone a little backwards. I think my personal opinion with
<v Speaker 2>as far as women's rights, but that's all I'll go
<v Speaker 2>for with that, because this is not a political show.
<v Speaker 2>It's about cats. So I do think though, that women
<v Speaker 2>and men should be able to make those choices and
<v Speaker 2>not feel pressures from society. They if you don't want kids,
<v Speaker 2>don't want kids, want to cats instead, go for it.
<v Speaker 2>Be the best pair, aren't you can? Because I'd say
<v Speaker 2>be the best you know, two lagged parent you could
<v Speaker 2>be too, so and be happy to help with your choice.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, there's a lot of cats that need parents. For
<v Speaker 5>anyone listening, who needs one? Or do more cats?
<v Speaker 2>Yes? So many, so many? Okay, So here's something another
<v Speaker 2>question from your book. So another line in the book says,
<v Speaker 2>if dogs are our servants, cats are our shadows. What
<v Speaker 2>do you mean by this?
<v Speaker 5>So that's a part of the book where I'm thinking
<v Speaker 5>a little bit more about well, I'm not thinking more,
<v Speaker 5>but I'm confronting the literature that calls cats and invasive
<v Speaker 5>species and a driver of basically environmental destruction. So, you know, dogs,
<v Speaker 5>they live a very controlled life, I would say, you know,
<v Speaker 5>especially here in the United States, like their movements are
<v Speaker 5>very much controlled by the people who they live, with,
<v Speaker 5>their routines, everything about their lives. Cats as a species
<v Speaker 5>have a lot more freedom, and they have historically because
<v Speaker 5>they haven't been in service to us. They don't work
<v Speaker 5>for us. Some people say that they actually domesticated themselves,
<v Speaker 5>that they just came closer to us because they could
<v Speaker 5>basically get food from us in human communities, and we
<v Speaker 5>just thought they were cute, so we let them stay
<v Speaker 5>even though we can't make them work. So in that case,
<v Speaker 5>they've followed us around kind of their own volition. But
<v Speaker 5>thinking specifically about the environment, there's obviously a lot that
<v Speaker 5>humans do to you know, raise ecosystems and areas that
<v Speaker 5>were once wild and cats, especially outdoor cats beral cat
<v Speaker 5>colonies historically and now have a lot of freedom to
<v Speaker 5>take advantage of that and kind of hunt the areas
<v Speaker 5>that where maybe we've already taken out the apex predators
<v Speaker 5>or we've created an environment where there's just a maybe
<v Speaker 5>it's even a nature preserve, like cats get into those.
<v Speaker 5>So I think that they do what we do in
<v Speaker 5>a way that we sometimes don't like to confront because
<v Speaker 5>we don't like to confront what we do either, And
<v Speaker 5>maybe that's a little bit why people have historically been
<v Speaker 5>afraid of cats sometimes.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe maybe because you you definitely have more and I've
<v Speaker 2>done shows on this. There's definitely more negative connotations about cats.
<v Speaker 2>And I've always around Halloween's coming up, so always rund
<v Speaker 2>Halloween talk about the stigma with the black cats, which
<v Speaker 2>is such boloney. So but yeah, there's always that that
<v Speaker 2>there's something evil or mystical or probably because we just
<v Speaker 2>don't understand them as well because they're stoic creatures. But
<v Speaker 2>that's the fun of cats.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, yeah, and I think that their mystery is something fun.
<v Speaker 5>But also if you're willing to look at them as
<v Speaker 5>a mirror and think, Okay, they do this thing in
<v Speaker 5>what ways do we do it too? Like to identify
<v Speaker 5>with them more can be interesting.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, it can. Okay, let's talked about at one point
<v Speaker 2>you brought a new cat home named Milton, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>not going to go into detail, but that is a
<v Speaker 2>dear relative of mine that's no longer with us, So
<v Speaker 2>it's kind of funny to see the name. So what
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to call attention to is the fact that
<v Speaker 2>you challenge the bet about five feline immuna Let's see
<v Speaker 2>what I say, this feline immuno deficiency virus, and you
<v Speaker 2>were correct and you switched vets. I applaud that actually,
<v Speaker 2>because I think that some cat pet parents, pet parents,
<v Speaker 2>you know, are not comfortable confronting their veterinarian and medical doctors.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, we're talking about veterinarians for this show.
<v Speaker 2>So what would you say to them? I've done this,
<v Speaker 2>and I when I spread this part, I was like, yes, yes,
<v Speaker 2>go ahead, Yes you're right, you know, and mine was
<v Speaker 2>over here on the clothing a little bit. But what
<v Speaker 2>would you say to people that are just kind of
<v Speaker 2>have a little fear of, you know, confront in the
<v Speaker 2>event and saying no, I don't want to do this,
<v Speaker 2>or this is not right, or you said something and
<v Speaker 2>I have, you know, different information to show you that
<v Speaker 2>what I'm telling you is is correct.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I mean, you know, I think that for most
<v Speaker 5>of us, if we heard something from a medical doctor
<v Speaker 5>either about ourselves or a close family member that didn't
<v Speaker 5>sit right or seems wrong, we might go out and
<v Speaker 5>get a second opinion. And with veterinarians, I think that
<v Speaker 5>it's just as valid, Like, yes, they're experts in their fields,
<v Speaker 5>but at the same time, they might not be really
<v Speaker 5>keeping up to date with like really recent research. Their
<v Speaker 5>training might be a little bit outdated, and they also
<v Speaker 5>might just not know your creature as well as you do.
<v Speaker 5>So if you're in a situation where something is just
<v Speaker 5>like rubbing you the wrong way, then I don't think
<v Speaker 5>that you have anything to lose by questioning it and
<v Speaker 5>also doing your own research. That means search, like looking
<v Speaker 5>in a cat community Facebook group where there might be
<v Speaker 5>experts or even people who've had cats with similar issues.
<v Speaker 5>It might be like me actually like going and reading
<v Speaker 5>peer reviewed research because I can't help myself. But you know,
<v Speaker 5>if you bring that information to your vet and they
<v Speaker 5>can't tell you why you're wrong, if they're just kind
<v Speaker 5>of like, I don't know, or that's how it is,
<v Speaker 5>like that wouldn't be a good enough explanation for any
<v Speaker 5>other family member. If you question something, they should have
<v Speaker 5>a really solid explanation for you. And if they don't
<v Speaker 5>you know, get a second opinion or if you need
<v Speaker 5>to a new veterinarian.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I like what you said, and I would say
<v Speaker 2>though you said some good points about reaching out to
<v Speaker 2>a cat community. There's a lot of social media these days.
<v Speaker 2>Don't necessarily rely on, as they say, doctor Google or
<v Speaker 2>doctor Ai because that nation is not always correct. It's
<v Speaker 2>a sweet and some of it can be very outdated
<v Speaker 2>because some things are listed without dates, so don't look
<v Speaker 2>at that as the end all. There's also a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people that are in social media that are technicians
<v Speaker 2>that do a wonderful job of communicating different things to
<v Speaker 2>the public. So there's a lot of good information there.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, do your homework. Don't do the AI doctor
<v Speaker 2>Google business and think that's enough exactly.
<v Speaker 8>Yeah, now that our kitties are getting a little bit older,
<v Speaker 8>there's a little kidney stuff and I don't know if
<v Speaker 8>you've ever talked about Tanya's Guide to CKD, but it's
<v Speaker 8>like a website that looks like it was made in
<v Speaker 8>the nineteen nineties.
<v Speaker 5>And there's also, you know, a Facebook group of kidney cats,
<v Speaker 5>but it's more up to date than what you would
<v Speaker 5>get by looking at TRAGYPT. It's a labor of love
<v Speaker 5>by people who real people who really research this and
<v Speaker 5>know what they're doing. And so that's the kind of
<v Speaker 5>information that you're looking for, information from other real cat
<v Speaker 5>people with names like Tanya.
<v Speaker 2>No, but I will check into that. I hadn't heard
<v Speaker 2>that before.
<v Speaker 5>If you end up having kidney stuff, the go to resource.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for that. So, if Toby or Gus could
<v Speaker 2>have given you one piece of advice, what do you
<v Speaker 2>think it would have been?
<v Speaker 5>Oh? I think they would be with they're very different personalities,
<v Speaker 5>it would be very different advice.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So what would Toby say?
<v Speaker 5>I think Toby would say try harder, like you know,
<v Speaker 5>and he always did.
<v Speaker 2>Nope, I'm wrong. It is you'r a feisty cat.
<v Speaker 5>Oh yeah, he's a icy one, yes Toby.
<v Speaker 2>I okay.
<v Speaker 5>Toby would say try harder to keep going yeah, and
<v Speaker 5>Gus Gus would say it's going to be.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, okay. Thanks. So lastly, i'd like to ask what
<v Speaker 2>do you hope readers take away from reading your book.
<v Speaker 5>I think that I want readers to read my book
<v Speaker 5>and embrace just like the well range of emotional experience
<v Speaker 5>that you can have with a cat, like they're not
<v Speaker 5>just there to be cute for us that. I think
<v Speaker 5>that almost anything you can experience in a friendship, you
<v Speaker 5>can experience with one with a cat. And I hope
<v Speaker 5>that people open themselves up to that by reading the
<v Speaker 5>book or revisit the relationships they've had with their cats,
<v Speaker 5>and also just take that out with them with cats
<v Speaker 5>but also with other creatures.
<v Speaker 2>Well, thank you Rebecca so much. What kidies do you
<v Speaker 2>have now in your house?
<v Speaker 5>Guts and Milton, that's what I thought.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you didn't talk about Milton alat but what's his personality?
<v Speaker 5>Milton is an absolute clown. I've never known another cat
<v Speaker 5>who is just so profoundly silly. Every single time I
<v Speaker 5>look at him, I start laughing and then also say,
<v Speaker 5>don't look at me like that. And how he's looking
<v Speaker 5>at me, it's with a combination of goofing off and
<v Speaker 5>trying to get my attention and judging me a little,
<v Speaker 5>and just all that he's a funny guy.
<v Speaker 2>Oh that's funny. So tell us where can people buy
<v Speaker 2>your book?
<v Speaker 5>Pat is available wherever books are sold, That includes Bloomsberry,
<v Speaker 5>the Publisher, Bookshop dot Org, Amazon, or best of all,
<v Speaker 5>place in order at your local indie bookstore.
<v Speaker 2>Okay again, thank you so much for coming on Patitude.
<v Speaker 5>Thank you, Michel.
<v Speaker 2>This was so fun. I hope everyone enjoyed this show.
<v Speaker 2>This is a really good book. It's called Cat by
<v Speaker 2>Rebecca ben Blair, and I just thought it was a
<v Speaker 2>wonderful book. I want to thank Rebecca for coming on Platitude.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you my loyal listeners of Platitude. I appreciate you
<v Speaker 2>so much. Thanks to my cat crew, Dennis, Charlotte and Molly,
<v Speaker 2>all different personalities, and you know, they've taught me a lot,
<v Speaker 2>not just about cats, but about life. So if you're
<v Speaker 2>listening and just thinking maybe I should get a cat,
<v Speaker 2>you know what, get two. They should be not sold,
<v Speaker 2>they should be adopted in pairs because too are better
<v Speaker 2>than one. And of course, thank you to my amazing producer,
<v Speaker 2>Mark Winter for all you do. Thank you so much. Mark,
<v Speaker 2>and hey, Lisa Attitude, have Alatitude.
<v Speaker 4>Let's Talk pets every week on demand only on petlight
<v Speaker 4>Radio dot com.