The Cat Handbook Book

It seems I am in the minority here, but I thought this book was just okay. It was billed as a story about a cat's ability to sense when dementia patients in a nursing home were approaching death and his dedication to remaining with them during their final hours. The real focus of the book, however, was on Dr. Dosa's experience treating his patients with dementia. That subject is certainly important and interesting, but the approach of revealing almost the entire story through dialogue between himself and the nursing staff and/or family members of the patients (most of which seemed stilted and manufactured) wore thin after a while. He brought up some serious issues in his own life, including a chronic health condition, but then left them as loose ends, making me wonder why he brought them up in the first place. [return][return]Dr. Dosa started the book by admitting that he is not a cat person, but that he wanted to understand more about how Oscar knew to do what he did. Aside from that initial curiosity, there was no real understanding of why he was so interested, nor any major conclusions revealed through his experience. Although technically a dog person, I love all animals, and anyone who spends any amount of time with them would not be at all surprised by Oscar's gift. I wish the book had focused more specifically on the patients' families perspectives on Oscar rather than the doctor's.[return][return]Finally, the book went on for too long. The story was initially published in a medical journal. The story would have been better served by taking that essay, putting it into lay terms and publishing it as a magazine article.[return][return]Nonetheless, I learned quite a bit about the disease of dementia, and the book was an easy and quick read. Not great, but not horrible.