Catwoods: Stories and Studies of Our Feline Companions

Catwoods Volume 1 is about a couple who rescue, adopt, and love cats in their deep woods home in the southern US. These cats are all such original characters that they make every day blissful, giddy, poetic, or even somber, the way the moods and phases of real life unfold. Leah Alford observes domestic felines indoors and later studies wildlings like foxes and raccoons who live outdoors amidst the glowing, dense leaves of the Appalachian jungle. A screaming non-entity in the night might well have been a cougar. This heavily researched volume covers cat coat color and cat genetics, color in nature, cat behavior and affection, multi-cat home dynamics, feral cats, spay and neuter, radial hypoplasia cats, black cat rhapsodies, and more. Communication between animals and humans is the core of Catwoods, as despite the language barrier Alford and her husband have rapport with each cat; with looks, gestures, purrs, and meaningful visual cues, the cats voice their declarations and diatribes. This first volume extends into the year 2004 and revels in the natural world, the luxuriance of birds, insects, and yelling frogs. Covering many decades, Alford also writes of art, music, and writing in a changing South.