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The animals in my life and my book.
I love my cat so much, I wrote a book and made her the heroine. In Cattitude, she changes bodies with a woman, and of course she hates it. If you were sleek and strong in a lovely cat body--never having to worry about bad hair days, cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping--wouldn’t you want your cat body back?
I didn’t make the transition easy for Belle. I piled on the problems, including a murderous beauty queen. In real life, though, Belle is the queen of the house. She’s a bit arrogant (and who can blame her?) but never malicious. She loves to cuddle and is a great mouser.
Belle - the star of Cattitude!
English Setter Sky
Not only is she old and arthritic, but when we got her she was obese, smelly, with a flatulence problem, and she snores. Despite all this (and some bathroom issues), I love her. Absolutely. She’s already gone from obese to stocky. Because her diet’s better now, the flatulence isn’t quite so bad. We’ve learned to take her outside more often, even when she doesn’t want to.
Beagle Rose
Her whole body comes to attention and her face lights up, as if she’s thinking “There you are! I’ve been waiting for you!” Then she bounds toward me, ears flapping, tail wagging madly, her mouth open in a giant smile.
Rose - look at her cute grin!
I’ve already decided she’ll be a character in the next book I write. One of my characters will reluctantly adopt a smelly, flatulent, snoring old beagle who will be completely loveable. Or I could make her a human character. The heroine’s smelly, flatulent, snoring old uncle who is a loveable rogue.
If you have a pet, what character would yours be in a book?
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Thank you so much for visiting today Edie! Edie Ramer is the author of a lovely paranormal romance story called Cattitude where the heroine Belle is a cat who ends up swapping bodies with a human and falling in love with her former owner Max. This is a great story & you can read my review here. Edie has also offered to giveaway a copy of Cattitude to one of my readers so click here to enter (Giveaway closes 22nd October 2010)
Find out more about Edie and her work here - Website / Blog / Twitter / Facebook
Find out more about Edie and her work here - Website / Blog / Twitter / Facebook
For more information about the Author's Animal Antics feature click here
Sarah, thank you for inviting me. I love talking about my pets. And you did a great job formatting with all the pictures and the links.
ReplyDeleteI love how the author make a story based on her pets. That's very cute and adorable!
ReplyDeleteDarlyn, that must be my writer's imagination. In real life, I give them a lot of feelings and thoughts they probably don't have. lol But they do have a lot of love, that's one thing I do know.
ReplyDeleteMy cat Bella is a Russian Blue, your Belle looks like one too! I would give anything to know what my cat is really thinking. That's why I like the premise of your book so much!
ReplyDeleteKelli, we got Belle from an animal shelter, and they had no information about her breed. She was about 5 months old and the friendliest cat, which is what we wanted.
ReplyDeleteI just looked up Russian Blue cats. she could be one. She looks small when she curls up, but when she uncurls, you can see that she's long. The last time I weighed her, she was under five pounds.
@ Edie - thanks so much for writing such a lovely guest post :o) I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDelete@ Darlyn - I thought it was a great idea to write a story with Belle as her main character & you can really tell that Edie is a cat lover when you're reading the book! Belle reminded me a lot of my cats as I was reading :o)
@ Edie - I don't think you're the only one who gives their pets feelings & thoughts - I talk to my cats all the time & I swear I can tell what they're thinking sometimes from the looks on their faces! I'm sure I'll end up as a crazy cat lady LOL
@ Kelli - My friend has a British Blue & she is a beautiful cat. I love Blues & you're right that Belle looks a lot like one :o) I'm sure you'd pick up a lot of what your cat is thinking from reading this story!
@ Edie - I think Belle looks quite like a Russian Blue. British Blue's tend to have a rounder face that looks a lot like a teddy bear, she does look similar to them too though so she could be either breed. She is very cute whatever breed she is :o)
I just found a website with a bit more info on the differences between British & Russian Blues:
ReplyDeletehttp://fanciers.com/breed-faqs/british-sh-faq.html
"What is the difference between a British Blue and a Russian Blue?"
British have gold or copper eyes. Russians have green eyes. British have a denser harsher coat, the Russian coat is thick but soft and tends to not be as dense. A British has a heavy semi-cobby body, fairly large and built for strength. A Russian is a lithe moderate cat, a smaller leaner build that is great for speed and quickness
Belle's eyes look gold in the picture so I guess that means it's more likely she's part British Blue :o)
Sarah, I enjoyed being here. I always like talking about my pets.
ReplyDeleteBelle is always talking to me. Sometimes when I don't understand what she's saying, I can feel her frustration. She tries so hard to get through my dense human brain.
Sarah & Kelli, Belle's eyes look gold in the picture, but they're green. She's lean and small, so I think she must be more Russian. It's funny, because I have Russian ancestors.
ReplyDeleteOr else she could be just a short-haired gray cat. lol And she is cute.
It is funny that Kelli's cat is similar and to mine in looks and in name. The name Belle just seemed to fit her.
Hi Edie, I think my cats often get frustrated with me. Not always because I don't understand them but because I refuse to give them as many meals as they would like LOL.
ReplyDeleteBelle's eyes definitely look more gold in the picture but if they are green then she probably does have some Russian Blue in her. Funny that you both probably have Russian ancestors :o) Even if she doesn't have Russian Blue in her she is definitely a cute cat!
Sarah, my cousin's cat screams until he feeds her. LOL At least yours don't scream.
ReplyDeleteBelle's a picky eater. I had to shop around until I found cat food that she liked. Or course, if I gave her tuna, like Belle in the book, then she'd be very happy.
LOL Edie, it would drive me crazy if either of my cats started screaming for food. My youngest one is bad enough when she decides you've had too much sleep & she climbs onto the headboard to leap on top of you. She does that repeatedly until you give in & get out of bed!
ReplyDeleteNeither of my cats are picky eaters which is good. My friend has a cat with a sensitive tummy & she has to buy really expensive food for him. If she buys the cheaper stuff it has a rather explosive effect on poor Fudge LOL. I have to say both of my girls are rather partial to tuna but I tend to give it to them more as a treat than a regular meal :o)
When I drain water from a can of tuna, I drain it into a dish and give it to Belle instead of water. She loves that. But lately I've been getting tuna with olive oil and can't give her any of that. Poor Belle.
ReplyDeleteIt's my beagle that wakes me up, not Belle. Belle is very well mannered. We're lucky to have her.
I can't stand tuna so the only time I open a can is when I'm giving it to the cats & they love the fish & the water :o) Mine always have plain water & cat milk available to choose from so they're not too hard done by LOL.
ReplyDeleteMy younger cat can be a nightmare at times, she has far too much energy and brings me far too many presents home but she has such an adorable face that you have to forgive her anything! I may complain about her at times but I wouldn't be without her really :o)
Sarah, it is hard to look into their cute faces and be mad at them. Not just cats. I'm the same way with my dogs.
ReplyDeleteI made salmon patties the other day from canned salmon, and gave Belle some. She loved it!
Hi Edie, I think most animals have that cute face - just like children LOL
ReplyDeleteBelle is very lucky to be given salmon for a treat - I think my poor cats would like to move in with you! I don't eat seafood so they only ever get tuna for a treat! Although they also get cat milk, cat treats and as much food as they ask for so they're not too hard done by :o)
Sarah, your cats sound lucky with treats and milk.
ReplyDeleteI have treats in my pantry but hardly ever give them to Belle. She has a weak stomach (meaning she pukes a lot). I give her extra petting instead of extra treats.
Hi Edie, I'm lucky that neither of mine have tummy problems. They have milk all the time because they both prefer it to water & I worry that they don't seem to drink enough if they don't have milk available. Treats they don't get every day but they both love those meaty sticks so I give them one of those a few times a week :o)
ReplyDeleteMine are both quite cuddly cats, especially now we're coming into the winter again so I always tend to have one of them sitting on my lap and they both tend to come to bed to snuggle when it's cold which is nice.
Of course they cuddle. You give them milk! They know when they have it good. lol
ReplyDeleteMy sweetie is more likely to sleep with me when it's cold, too. We've been having a nice October, but it should cool down soon.
LOL I probably do spoil them both :o) They're worth it though!
ReplyDeleteIt's already started getting really cold here so it's quite nice to have a couple of warm cats to snuggle with at night