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The Lion in the Living Room

How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World
Jan 07, 2017jeffreyochsner rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I thought it would be a book that celebrates cats, and I was all set to celebrate cats! Instead, this book is a description of all sorts of negative things about cats. There is a chapter about how the populations of wild cats (both large and small) have been decimated the world over, because they eat exclusively meat and they need a large habitat to find enough food to survive. There is a chapter about how house cats hunt and drive other species to extinction (people are especially rabid about this in Australia). On the other hand, the author says that cats are not nearly as good at keeping rats and mice under control as their reputations would have you believe. There is a chapter about how hopeless it is to think that we will ever get feral cats under control; no matter how many cats we trap, neuter/spay and return, others will keep breeding forever. There is a chapter about how unnatural it is for cats to live indoors with people in small spaces and never get to go outside. (The author makes the point that cats frequently live in homes with more than one cat, while dogs are often the only pet. Dogs are more suited to living with other dogs, while cats really want to be the only cat.) There is a chapter about diseases transmitted to humans by cats, and what those diseases can do to our brains (bad things). There is even a chapter about how cats and kittens have taken over the internet. On the whole, this book is not enjoyable and is really rather depressing.