this is about cats, their breeds, behavior, habits etc ( )

Duidelijke beschrijving van allerlei kattenrassen; bevat tevens veel scherpe kleurenfoto's. ( )

If you are not an ailurophile, don’t waste your time with this book – in fact, if you are not an ailurophile, you probably won’t even know ailurophile means cat lover.

When it comes to Felix domesticus people seldom take the middle ground: cats are loved and hated, adored and persecuted. Sublime indifference is what cats feel for us, not the other way round.

Dutch feline expert Esther Verhoef not only knows her stuff from stac to cats [i.e. backwards and forwards] she is also pretty nifty with a camera and has taken many of the photographs that abound on the 400 plus pages of this encyclopedia.

The first thing most ailurophiles will do when presented with this hefty tomb is turn to part 2: Breeds. Even if your darlings, like mine, are from the SPCA, there are always indications by which one can speculate as to ancestry.

Of greater interest though are the photographers illustrating how the shape, the very definition, of established breeds has changed dramatically over the last century as selective feline breeding took hold.

Pictures from the late Nineteenth Century, by which time cat breeding had become acceptable and no longer regarded as aberrant, show marked differences in the ‘original ideal’ of various species compared to the characteristics we demand today.

The history of cats and their domestication is well known to all ailurophiles but, like all favourite stories, we love to read it again and again, and the encyclopedia is full of cat facts and fiction.

There are also chapters on essential requirements – which include a harness – disorders and diseases [gruesome full-colour illustrations] and diet, which is a kitty wish list including such delicacies as special formula milk lest cow’s disturb their delicate stomachs.

Requiring relatively little grooming, housetraining, space or exercise and the minimum of disciple, cats are the easiest of pets. Unlike dogs they are unable to protect you, but they will groom you, feed you [not always quite dead birds and rodents presented for you delectation] and they will reassure you of their affection in the middle of the night by waking you up with their noses for a kiss.

Long regarded as witches’ familiars, it was expected of all men that they hate cats – yet throughout history most of the famous ailurophiles were men, from Winston Churchill to Isaac Newton to the Prophet Mohammed.

For anyone who’s ever laughed at a Garfield cartoon, stayed up at night to feed an ailing kitten or delayed moving house for the sake of an elderly and incontinent feline friend, the Complete Encyclopedia of Cats is a must ( )