About.com Rating
A Street Cat Named Bob is one of the most widely read books about cats, published in twenty-five countries.
Reading about a cat who saved a human's life is not at all unusual these days. We have read newspaper articles about cats who have awakened their owners at night to a house fire. Several best-selling books have been written about this same topic:
- Cat Daddy
Jackson Galaxy let it all hang out when he recounted his experience with alcoholism and drugs while working an animal shelter, and his long climb out of the morass after adopting Benny. Jackson saved Benny, and in return, Benny saved Jackson.
- Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat
Vicki Myron, the Librarian of the Spencer, Iowa, Library, heard noise in the book drop one cold winter morning, and investigating, found a tiny orange kitten, huddled in a corner, with frostbitten feet. Ms. Myron had her own history of loss of her home, an abusive alcoholic husband, and breast cancer. and the bond she and Dewey shared, was eventually shared by the world of cat lovers for eighteen years. - Making Rounds With Oscar
Oscar has lived at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center since he was a kitten, and performs his magic with patients suffering their last years as dementia patients. Although to my knowledge, Oscar has not saved any human lives, he has the uncanny ability to sense pending death, and is their hospice guide into permanent peace from their suffering. Oscar is feared by some of the patients' relatives, revered by others, but he has had a profound effect on all who have known him.
About This Book:
- Author: James Bowen
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press (First Published in the U.K.)
- ISBN: 978-1-250-82946-1
- 279 Pages, Hardbound
- Jacket Design by Kerri Resnick
- Jacket Photograph © Hatchette UK Ltd.
- Copyright © James Bowen and Gary Jenkins
Synopsis of A Street Cat Named Bob
James Bowden led a nomadic life for most of his youth, moving from the U.K. to Australia, and back with his mother, than with her second husband, with whom he shared a mutual dislike.
At one point, when he was five or six years old, he had a white kitten while living in Melbourne, Australia. He recalls that they may have gotten it from a farm, because the poor thing was being literally eaten alive by fleas. Although his mother took the baby to the vet, it was too late, and the poor kitten died within two weeks from the time they had rescued him.
James eventually had a falling out with his family, and moved back to the U.K. He was already an alcoholic, and drug abuser, having started in his early teens. In London, he was living rough on the streets, using drugs and barely scraping by. By the time he was in his late 20s, James was a recovering heroin addict, and addicted to methadone, the synthetic drug, prescribed to ease the cravings. He was living in a fifth floor apartment of a welfare building with his best friend Beth, whom he had formerly dated.
The setting was ripe for his first meeting with Bob. At that time, James was making a meager living "busking" around Covent Garden for donations from those who enjoyed his guitar playing and singing. One day when he came home, he heard what sounded like a cat meowing toward the bottom of the stairs, and saw eyes glowing in the near-dark. The red tabby cat wasn't at all afraid, but studied him as if he were deciding whether he wanted to associate with this stranger. Bob squatted down to introduce himself, and tried to pet the cat, who was now rubbing up against him. He noticed that the cat's coat was matted, and that he obviously needed more food than he had been given. Inquiries revealed that no one seemed to know who among the tenants owned the cat. The next morning, the cat was still there, but by the time Bob returned from Covent Garden, he was gone.
Eventually, the cat stopped playing "hide and seek," and started following Bob all around. It was inevitable that he now had himself a cat to care for. When the cat developed an abscess in a wound on his right rear leg, James took him to the RSPCA clinic, where he was patched up. The vet discussed micro-chipping Bob, gave James a prescription fill, told him he should return later for neutering.
James could not leave Bob at home every day when he left to work, so he started taking him with him to Covent Garden, first tying a "leash of shoe strings" to him, and later carrying him on his shoulders. Amazingly, many of the people who saw this odd couple, were immediately attracted to Bob, and his usual take of a few pounds rapidly increased exponentially. Women would bring Bob toys, treats, and hand-knitted scarves. Couples would stop and ask if they could take pictures of Bob. It was inevitable that many of those photos made it to the Internet, where, unknown to James, Bob was attaining international fame.
Inevitably, James got into trouble with the officials in the area he had been busking near the tube station, and he was forced to find a new career. Since he had a criminal record, and wasn't qualified for even the lowest paying employment, he decided to take up selling magazines for Big Issue, an organization designed to help people in the same kind of situation he was in, and to keep them off the public dole. Since he had worked for Big Issue previously, he was able to get his permit back, and even to get Bob's photo printed along with his on the permit.
As luck would have it, there were problems with Big Issue too - complaints that he was invading other sellers' territory, and taking unfair advantage by bringing Bob to work with him. There were also problems with those who were called "chuggers," solicitors for various charities, The name is a contraction of "charity" and "muggers," because these scoundrels use aggressive tactics to solicit donations, almost akin to "muggers." They so alienated passers-by that those people avoided even legitimate vendors, such as James.
A Happy Ending for James and Bob
Finally, after some harrowing experiences with Bob, including one involving a big vicious dog, the story ends happily when James discovers Bob's international fame. You can confirm that fact by checking out Bob's links:
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.