About the book “Life on the Rocks”

“Oh my God, look at the cats!” says a woman who stops in her tracks while out for an afternoon walk along Foster City’s Bay Trail. She is mesmerized and confused by the sight of a beautiful black Himalayan mix and a brown tabby relaxing on the beach, grooming each other. There aren’t any houses within sight, but the cats seem to be perfectly at home. A slight movement catches her eye, and like an Easter egg hunt, she spots one cat after another and excitedly claps her hands while calling out “Come here kitty!” Her reaction is the same as so many others who have discovered the unique sight of 31 healthy, happy feral cats posing on the boulders and beach next to San Francisco Bay. These are just a handful of the 123 felines that comprise Project Bay Cat.

“They’re so beautiful! What are they doing here?” she asks Cimeron Morrissey, the co-creator of Project Bay Cat. A smile grows across her face as she hears about the program and fixes her eyes on the cats. “That’s really amazing,” she whispers. “I had no idea. It’s so cool that this exists! How can I help?”

Professional photographer Robert Barbutti and award-winning writer Cimeron Morrissey are collaborating together to create a book entitled Life on the Rocks. It will deliver this same extraordinary and wondrous experience to people throughout the country by introducing them to Project Bay Cat and feral cats through this artistic and inspirational coffee table book. Using captivating images to draw readers in, Life on the Rocks will change peoples’ perceptions about feral felines by subtly educating them through compassionately told stories about the cats and the program. The book will give readers a new appreciation for free-roaming cats and a clear understanding about how to help them.

Cimeron and Robert are currently considering publishers for Life on the Rocks. If you’re a publisher and would like to contact her, please email Cimeron at cimeron@cimeron.com

About the book “My Lucky Break,” as told by Paolo, the three-legged asthmatic wonder-cat

Everyone deserves a second chance in life, especially if the first go around failed through no fault of your own. A lot of us animals have rough starts because not all people know how to take care of us, and others just don’t care too much about us at all. But we hope and we search, knowing that there’s someone out there that’ll love us as much as we’ll love them. For some pets, this search becomes an amazing, life-changing adventure that takes us places we never knew existed! Places where our sad beginnings turn into happy endings, where sometimes our misfortunes are the very reasons why life turns out so much better for us in the end.

Take me, for example. I would have never known that losing a leg would gain me my dream-life. I used to live on the streets before I injured my foot, scavenging for scraps of food and trying to find dry, safe places to sleep. I guess the bone sticking out of my fur really freaked people out. A nice lady caught me and said she’d get me healthy and happy again. Next thing I know, my back leg was gone and I didn’t know how on earth I’d survive. Little did I know that my ordeal would help me find my human soul mate and make my wildest dreams come true.

The lady who captured me, rehabilitated me, and found me my new home is named Cimeron, and she cares so much about animals that she’s rescued hundreds of them herself. She also works with lots of other organizations and individuals around the country who save animals and help them live happily ever after. She’s got a real talent for listening to us and helping us tell our stories. Cimeron is a magazine writer, and she also writes a popular quarterly newsletter called Cat Tales for a non-profit no-kill rescue organization called Homeless Cat Network.

Cimeron has created My Lucky Break to share inspiring animal tales with people. Our life stories will melt your heart and remind you that the world is such a beautiful place filled with kindness, laughter, love and wonder. Told by all of us cats, dogs, and even some wild animals (with a little help from Cimeron), each story has a unique higher message subtly woven in, such as the importance of spay/neuter, avoiding puppy mills, reducing animal homelessness, and the power of kindness. People of all ages will love reading My Lucky Break because it feels as good as a purring kitty nuzzling against you, or the loving kiss of a wet-nosed dog. Who doesn’t love to hear animal stories with happy endings?

Cimeron is currently considering publishers for My Lucky Break. If you’re a publisher and would like to contact her, please email her at cimeron@cimeron.com

Thank you for caring!

Paolo

Here’s a story from My Lucky Break! More to come soon!

My Lucky Break – by Paolo, the three-legged wonder-cat

I stand on three wobbly legs in the middle of the bed. I realize that I’m at a turning point in my life. Looking behind me, I could try to run. But if I fell off the bed I’d land on the floor – probably on my head. I look ahead. I see, and smell, a delicious piece of chicken. It dangles from the fingers of my foster mom. My stomach leaves me no choice.

I take a shaky hop forward on the bouncy mattress. Dang it, did someone push me over? I get up and steady myself. With two quick hops, I make it to the chicken. My foster mom is so excited that she gives me a delicious belly rub. It feels so good!

At this moment, I decide to move forward with my life. I may be missing a leg, but I’m going for it.

My life took a dramatic change just a few weeks before the bed incident. No surprise, it was all my stomach’s fault. I had been out on my own for a few years since I had been abandoned. It was tough not having anyone to love me anymore and not having anywhere to come home to, but it was even tougher trying to keep from starving. So one night, hungry as usual, I wandered from one backyard to the next looking for any bits of food to keep my tummy from grumbling.

Finally spotting some leftover dog food in a big bowl, I moseyed over for a meal. Just as I was about to take a bite, a nasty mongrel ambushed me! He tried to pounce on me. I ran as fast as I could and scrambled up a fence. Snarling and barking, he was right on me and nearly bit off my tail. I thought I was in the clear as I jumped over the top of the fence, but my foot got stuck. As I cascaded over the other side of the fence, my face slapped against the wood. I’ll never forget that sound: WHACK .

Struggling with all my strength and pushing with my other paws as hard as I could, I could not get free. I desperately tried, but I just couldn’t do it. After several hours, I dangled there helplessly and cried for my fate. So much of my survival had been based on luck until now. Seeing as how it had run out, I didn’t have much left in me anymore as I faced the night alone and upside down. I was terrified, hungry, and exhausted.

When morning came, I hung limp from the fence. I heard a sliding glass door open, then a scream, and saw a lady running toward me. That scared the heck out of me! Why was she running at me?

Frightened for my life, I used every bit of strength I had and pushed myself off the fence. I hit the ground hard, just after hearing a loud snap. There was an awful rush of heat and pain in my leg. I looked down and saw blood, and a bone sticking out of my fur. I hobbled away as fast I could. I had to find someplace to hide.

I’m not sure how long I’d been passed out in the bushes, but given how loudly my stomach was grumbling, it had to have been a couple of days. Even though my leg was killing me, I had to find some food or I knew I’d die. I limped around the neighborhood until I came across a mean kitty that had a food bowl outside. I hoped she’d take some pity on me since I was dragging my leg behind me. Fortunately, she let me have some of her food, but not before swatting me on my head. What a grouch!

I had been here before, and even though the nice lady who lived there recognized me, she screeched when she saw me on this day. I guess my broken leg was kind of scary looking.

The next morning, right where the food bowl used to sit, there was a funny looking metal house with some really yummy snacks inside. I hadn’t eaten like that in years! It tasted so good! But next thing I know, the door on the metal house slapped closed behind me. I tried to push my way out in every direction, but I was stuck in there. Great – what next? My stomach got me in trouble again.

A lady came over to me and said that everything was going to be okay now, and that she was a rescuer with Homeless Cat Network. She touched me through the bars of the cage while telling me that I’d be all right. She took me to an animal hospital, crying the whole way and whispering that I’d be okay.

The vets were really nice to me, and gave me a shot that made the pain go away. As I was falling asleep, I heard them say that I’d live, but not without a fight. Then I blacked out entirely.

When I woke up, I smelled the delicious scent of food, and I was hungry! I got up to make my way over the full bowl, but fell down. Something was wrapped around my body, and my leg tingled. I leaned over to lick my back leg - but my leg was gone! What happened to me?

 I cried softly and tried to get up again, but fell down several more times. Finally, I just dragged myself over to the food, and tried to figure out what happened. I barely had enough energy to eat, and after my meal, fell asleep next to the bowl.

The next day, I was taken to a room where the lady who captured me was waiting to see me. She cried again, and so did I. I cried because I was scared of her, scared of the smells of fear in this hospital, scared of the place where my leg used to be. A guy passed by the room, took one look at me and mumbled “A cat with three legs? You should just put him out of his misery. There’s no shortage of cats, you know.” The lady put her hands over my ears and told me not to listen to that mean man.

But something wonderful happened during that awful day. The lady held me on her lap, and for the first time in several years, I got to be petted. It made me nervous, but it also reminded me of how good it felt to have my head rubbed, to be stroked, and to be loved. It was so nice that it felt like the first time in years that I could relax.

She told me her name was Cimeron and that she’d take care of me and help me find happiness again. She rocked me until I fell asleep on her lap. She came back every day for the next three weeks, and in that time, I learned to walk with just three legs, and she taught me how to purr again.

Cimeron took me home and showed me around. When she set me down, I tried to turn and run, but I forgot that I didn’t have a leg so I fell on my back and rolled around while screaming until I figured out how to get up again. That happened a lot in the first few weeks. Cimeron said not to worry though, and that I’d get used to it with some time and training, like learning to balance by walking on that bouncy bed.

As the weeks passed, I realized that she wasn’t just my foster mom, but also my foster leg. Whenever I needed to scratch my ear, I’d lean in toward the place where my back leg used to be and I’d work my little hip, hoping that somehow I could get that itch. Without fail, Cimeron would run over and scratch my ear for me – sweet relief! I realized that maybe there were some benefits to this missing leg thing…

It took me a while, but I learned to run again, thanks to her cat who had to have been a pro wrestler in his past life. I had to steer clear of that bruiser, so running came naturally. And I found a really comfortable spot on the top of a super-high cat tree, which I could defend by swatting away Captain Bulldozer. Actually, that turned out to be a pretty fun game! My favorite one was catching flies though. My only problem was jumping up, so Cimeron held me in her hand while lofting me high up the wall to catch bugs. I mean, hey, keeping her house fly-free was the least I could do to say thanks.

One day, the doorbell rang and Cimeron looked at me with a giant, eager smile. A lady and a man practically ran toward me, and there they were again – the tears! What is it about me that makes people cry when they see me? They brought me treats, which was fantastic! They obviously knew the way to my heart.

The lady, named Diane, said she wanted to adopt me, so I felt that I had to show her what she was getting into. I climbed down the cat tree and stretched out on my back right in front of her so she could see my missing leg. Interestingly enough, that’s why she said she loved me… for all that I had been through. Diane rubbed my belly and gave me even more treats. I said to myself, “Let me get this straight - missing leg equals love and treats?” That was a tradeoff I could live with.

It was pretty much love at first site, and really, could you blame her? I mean, look at me! I’m handsome, fun-loving, and the best bug-hunter around. Not to mention that I’m an expert at keeping people warm under the covers during bedtime. It was instant love for me as well. Diane is my soul mate, and I love to entertain her and make her laugh.

We’ve got a great relationship where we support each others’ needs. See, I need to be pampered, and she loves to pamper me, so it works great! She lifts me up and kisses me a thousand times while squeezing me, and I purr while rubbing my face against hers. I also groom her by exfoliating her face with my sandpaper tongue and by smoothing down her hair. When it’s playtime, she flings a toy across the room, I kill it and bring it back to her. She also showers me with treats, and I roll around in them to show her how much fun I’m having. What can I say - it’s a symbiotic relationship.

I need a little extra attention now though. Just a few months after she adopted me, I was diagnosed with asthma. I have a kitty inhaler, which I use twice each day, so now I feel 100% again! No more coughing and wheezing. My medicine is pretty expensive, and I worried that my mom couldn’t afford it since she’s just starting out in life, but she is doing everything she can to make it work and we’re doing just fine now. Isn’t she the best?

I love her so much that I often wake up in the middle of the night just to kiss her on her cheeks. My stomach still gets me into trouble though, because when I nibble on her face it reminds me that I could use a midnight snack, so I try to wake her up gently by patting her face with my paws. That always results in a nice piece of chicken or two, but only after she tries to bury herself in the pillows to stay asleep.

Her friends are also really cool. It’s fun to walk into the middle of the room, thumping my third leg loudly for dramatic effect. Then when I have all of their attention, I stretch out on my back and show them my missing leg while looking away. Then I shoot them a look that says “pity me and my tragedy!” which they always respond to by running over to rub me and give me snacks. Diane rolls her eyes and laughs at me when I put on my big act. I can really work a room!

I would never have imagined that losing my leg would one day be the reason why I now feel so complete. I’m just so happy, I love my life, I love Diane, and I feel so lucky. I can finally be me, and I don’t have to worry about finding my next meal or staying dry in a rainstorm. Before all this happened, if someone told me what a wonderful mom I could have and that my life could be overflowing with love, I would have said “I’d give my right leg for that!”

From Paolo’s mom:

“Paolo is the love of my life! He’s such a muffin. He’s so cute that I just want to eat him! I had no idea how much I would fall in love with Paolo. His latest thing is pulling on my hair at night to wake me up so I’ll play with him, which is really cute.

I keep pictures of him at work and show all of my clients – everyone who knows me also knows Paolo. I would do anything for him, and I spoil him rotten. I just love him so, so much! He is such an incredibly wonderful part of my life and I’m so lucky to have him.” 

~ Diane Arnold