The Dog Who Rescues Cats

The Dog Who Rescues CatsBy Philip Gonzalez and Leonore Fleischer

I want to say right off that I was quite annoyed when my human came home with this book — after all it had a dog on the cover! But she told me to chill out and read it before I came to any rash conclusions. And I hate to admit it, but she was right — even though it’s supposedly about a dog, this book is really all about cats. Ginny was a dog who was rescued from a shelter in New York by a human named Philip Gonzalez. Philip Gonzalez wasn’t a cat person at all, but much to his surprise, Ginny adored cats. In fact, she made it her life mission — and her owner’s — to help as many homeless cats as possible. Ginny even insisted that Philip bring home many special needs cats so they could get the attention and care they needed. Ginny and her human saved the lives of thousands of cats. The two of them even got a formerly cat-hating neighbor involved. This book is about the first few years of Ginny’s cat rescuing — there is also a sequel, The Blessing of the Animals. Ginny has been called the “Mother Theresa of cats,” and in addition to all her good work with helping ferals and strays, I am impressed that she converted two staunch dog people into cat lovers! This book is loaded great stories that all cats will appreciate. I was disappointed to hear that Ginny died in August, 2005 at the age of 17, but there is a website, www.ginnyfanclub.com, that carries on her memories, and her mission.