A Friend in Need: The Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival by Kirby Lawson and Mary Nethery

Neither Bobbie the dog nor Bob Cat has a tail, and some say that's what brought them together.

Unlikely companions, the shaggy retriever and the gold and white tabby had another thing in common on the day Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. They were left behind by their owner, Bobbie chained to the front porch and Bob Cat sticking by his side while the storm raged and the waters rose.

When the flood began to recede, out of food and weary of waiting for her owner to return, Bobbie managed to snap the hook, and dragging a length of the broken chain behind, the big dog, with Bob Cat by her side, set off to look for someone to care for both of them. The shotgun houses of their neighborhood were water soaked and vacant, with big X's chalked on their sides, and the two lost pets wandered together for months, living, no one knows how, amid the destruction and disorder left in the storm's wake.

Packs of hungry dogs roamed the streets, fighting smaller animals. Bobbie's ribs began to show. Bob Cat's brown sugar markings started to fade to a dull white.

At last a construction worker named Rich noticed the unlikely pair and loaded them into his truck to drive them to an animal shelter. Placed in separate areas, the two friends seemed distraught, with Bobbie barking and howling all night. The sleepless volunteers got the message and soon put the two together in a small pen of their own. It was then that they noticed that Bob Cat was completely blind, following Bobbie's lead whenever she moved.

All that time on their own, Bobbie had been Bob Cat's seeing-eye dog!

Such a loyal pair certainly deserved a home, and when even a pet detective was unable to locate the two Bobbies' family, an television appearance on Anderson Cooper's 360 Degrees brought hundreds of offers to take in the two best friends. Soon the two were adopted by Melinda and her two Boston terriers. Now they are at home in a farmhouse in Oregon, where Bob Cat's favorite game is to turn on the robot vacuum when he wants to play, while Bobbie spends her days doing ranch chores with Melinda. But despite the comfort of their new home, the two devoted friends still snuggle up together every night.

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival is an amazing pet rescue story of a pair of unusual animal survivors. Notable animal artist Mary Cassels lovingly portrays both the odd couple and her New Orleans hometown in realistic watercolor illustrations overflowing with feeling for both the city and the resilient animal pair. A true story, this one is also a parable of survival after Katrina, one which should speak to animal lovers and hopeful humans anywhere.

Cat Fight: Mr. Pusskins and Little Whiskers by Sam Lloyd

Following up on her New York Times best-seller, Mr. Pusskins: A Love Story, author-illustrator Sam Lloyd picks up on the ongoing pussycat saga starring the irascible, but inexplicably beloved, Mr. Pusskins, the pampered pet of the ever-loving Emily.

In her brand-new book, Mr. Pusskins and Little Whiskers: Another Love Story, the perpetually petulant only cat, Mr. Pusskins, has his perfectly pampered life as Emily's adored pet interrupted by the least desired of all fabulous surprises from his mistress--a tiny white kitty with the disgustingly cutesy name of Little Whiskers.

"I'm sure you two will be the best of friends," smiled Emily.

"I'll leave you to play lovely games together."

Mr. Pusskins is overwhelmingly underwhelmed. Little Whiskers turns out to be no pussycat herself. Her idea of lovely games is to pounce on Mr. Pusskin's proud fluffy tail and wreck all of his special solitary time. The final indignity comes when Little Whiskers has a midnight yearning to practice piano--loudly and non-musically. When Mr. Pusskins goes to investigate, Whiskers zips into hiding and Mr. P. gets the blame from dear Emily, who sweeps him up and banishes him outdoors, where he hunkers forlornly in the rain against an overturned trashcan.

"You need to think about what you have done," she scolds righteously.

To make things worse, when Mr. Pusskins lurks longingly at the window, he spies Little Whiskers basking before the fire on his favorite hearth rug.

"That wretched kitten!" he fumes. Mr. Pusskins was FURIOUS!

But it appears that even coddled kittens have a conscience. Unable to enjoy the premier place at the fireside, Little Whiskers regrets his trickery. But how to set things right with Mr. P. and Emily? At last he has a plan.

"Little Whiskers leapt onto the piano.

"BOOM, CLUNK, BOOM!"

"Oh, good gracious!" Emily gasped. "Little Whiskers, it was you that played that terrible tune, wasn't it?"

"Miaow," admitted Little Whiskers.

With Little Whiskers' proper penitence, Mr. Pusskins is called back into the warmth of the fireside and affection of Emily, and the reformed Little Whiskers cuddles up to him as their mistress plays them both a love song on the much mistreated piano.


With tongue well in cheek, Sam Lloyd has created another feline melodrama in which Mr. Pusskins' hilarious facial expressions tell the tale of this humor-filled love triangle.

My review of Sam Lloyd's first Pusskins picture book, posted on March 12, 2007, can be found here.