Amazon reviews for The great sicilian cat rescue
5★ Charming, moving and inspiring
This book is so rich in description of the beauty of Sicily but also the struggle cats often face there and the author's courageous and inspiring struggle to help them face a better future. Beautifully written, I was transported to another place and also deeply moved by the dedication and kindness that people can show animals in difficult circumstances. A must-read for anyone with an interest in Sicily and/or cats. I have both, and I loved it.
5★ Just finished reading...
Just finished reading The Great Sicilian Cat Rescue. What a great book. Brought thoughts to my mind, a smile to my mouth, and tears to my eyes, all in equal measure... If you like cats, Sicily, dogs, any animals, or stories of people doing amazing things, then buy it... We have had two rescue cats, my parents had a rescue dog many, many years ago, all these animals deserve a chance and also a home where they can be loved. The work that Jennifer is doing gives some of them that chance.
5★ Excellent book
A great read for any cat or animal lovers, you don’t realise all the hard work done by the rescuers, and all the bureaucratic obstacles and unseen expenses put in their way which they have to overcome.
5★ Having holidayed in Scilly…
Having holidayed in Sicily I am relieved to know there is a group of mainly, concerned women who want to change the lives of the strays and abandoned pets.
5★ Great insight into the Sicilian island
Well written, and at times moving story. Great insight into the Sicilian island, its history, and character of its people.
5★ Fascinating story
Fascinating story but I probably like it so much because I have just come back from Sicily from exactly where this memoir is set. Jennifer has a very engaging way of writing and if you love cats this will tug at your heart strings.
5★ For cat lovers and anyone who thinks they can’t make a difference, read on!
All cat lovers and those who love Sicily should read this excellent book! Having returned from a holiday to Taormina and living in the same area of Sussex as the author, I thoroughly enjoyed this easy to read but thought provoking account of how one woman’s determination to help to improve the health and lives of the Sicilian cat population. Jennifer Pulling showed great resilience while finding a team of caring people and premises to carry out Catsnip operations. Thoroughly recommended!
5★ Five stars
Great book for all cat lovers. The true story about street cats in Sicily.
5★ Aware that animals are important beings and deserve our love and respect
Jennifer Pulling has made Sicily and the world aware that animals are important beings and deserve our love and respect. WHY isn't this book being published in the United States?
5★ A wonderful, heart warming book
I loved this book and applaud the work Jennifer and her tireless band of volunteers are doing to help the cats of Sicily. Her descriptions of Sicily are beautiful and beguiling, as are her accounts of the many cat ladies (and the occasional man among them!) who feed and tend to the cats. There are many heart-warming stories of rescue among the sadder stories. The lengths Sadie went through to rescue and bring to England the little blind kitten Katarina particularly touched me. I myself have also fed the feral cats on many visits to the Greek islands. On one occasion, early one morning, I was feeding the cats who gathered on the quayside when I met a kind Italian man who showed me a mother cat with her kittens sheltering nearby, so that I could also leave some food nearby for her. I don’t speak Italian and his English was limited, but we communicated through our love and concern for the cats. If you love cats and have maybe encountered them on your holidays, you too will enjoy reading this book.
5★ The Compassionate Traveller
If you have ever had your holiday hijacked by some needy animal, fed it, named it, fallen in love, and left it behind; if you're haunted by what happens after you've gone, and wish you could have done more, please read this book and consider how you might help.
In Sicily I see shiny happy dogs responsibly leashed by proud owners, I see shoppers piling food for sterilised cats in their baskets. But on the streets are legions of feral cats, dependent on neighbours, barkeeps and restaurateurs for their food, left unchecked to breed in contravention of official policy, which is not enforced, and often in need of medical attention which should be provided by state vets, but, I am told locally, is not. These beautiful animals are vulnerable to traffic accidents, disease, and the burden of endless reproduction which exhausts the females, creates injurious conflict among the toms, and makes these colonies unsustainable.
It's the actions of the small people, booklovers, curious minds and kindly instincts, who make a difference in actively promoting trap-neuter-return among the ferals and working for positive cultural change. Jennifer Pulling has made a huge difference through her organisation, Catsnip. Please enjoy her book, and give her your support.
4★ Good, informative read
Living in Sicily, this is a really good read. Identifies the ups and downs of life here and how to support the community in the right way.
5★ A chance encounter
A chance encounter with a tiny cat with horrific injuries to her leg, set the course for Jennifer Pulling to almost single-handedly challenge and change the way feral cats are viewed in Sicily. Not wanting to leave the cat to die a slow and painful death, she engaged the help of a local man who then took her to a vet, much to the amusement and bewilderment of the local people. Lizzie, as Jennifer named the cat, was the catalyst for what became a life-long mission to improve the welfare and well-being of feral cats.
Set in the impossibly beautiful Taormina, under the brooding presence of Mouth Etna, Jennifer finds local gattare (women who care for feral cat colonies) are at first suspicious of her intentions to help them, but then they welcome the idea of trap/neuter/return. With a cast of extraordinary women, and willing vets, all prepared to go more than the extra mile to save a feline’s life, Jennifer, time and time again, comes up against the bureaucracy that is steeped in historical mistrust and Mafia-influenced beliefs – where promises are made but immediately broken – and life, especially animal life, is given no importance or respect.
Jennifer’s writing is poetic and beautiful. If you have never to been to Sicily, by the time you’ve finished reading the book, you will be familiar with the twisting cobbled streets, the amazing views, the scent of the almond trees and the colonies of feral cats that live in the shadows.
Not only does Jennifer write about Catsnip, an organisation she set up for the trap/neuter/return of the feral cats, she discusses the historical and cultural history of Sicily, which shapes how decisions are still made today, the corruption and deep mistrust that resides in many town halls and in the hearts and lives of the local people.
The frustrations that Jennifer felt at being given the run-around by the officials in the town halls is palpable. To be so near, yet so far, knowing that hundreds of feral cats needing health care as well as neutering to stop the population explosion and the threat of sickly kittens dying, are what drove her on until she achieved her goals.
Speaking fluent Italian helps but many holidaymakers who encounter feral cats for the first time, who cannot speak the language, often give up in desperation and frustration when seeing a sick cat in need of medical care, and not being able to make their plight understood. Many people on holiday feed feral cats that come begging for food, but what happens to those cats when they return to their own countries?
Bureaucracy and red tape mean that it can be a lengthy process requiring mountains of paperwork, a pet passport, neutering, micro-chipping, and injections against rabies, before a cat can be brought back to the UK. And many airlines will not allow a cat to travel with the person who has adopted it; cats must travel in the hold with the luggage; dark, noisy with noxious fumes – very scary, indeed for a feral cat to experience.
The Great Sicilian Cat Rescue is a book that you will not be able to put down and is one that I would suggest you’d want to read repeatedly, such is the beauty of the writing, and the gift that Jennifer has of painting such a vivid picture of life in Sicily. At the back of the book, Jennifer includes a practical chapter outlining suggestions and what to do and in the final chapter, she lists various organisations that will help cats in Italy and Sicily.
The aims of Catsnip are as follows: ‘To pursue a catch/neuter/return programme of feral cats in Sicily on a longer term and to alter the mindset of local people, particularly young people. To attempt to persuade them to see animals as sentient beings capable of the same feelings as human beings and also with needs and rights, which should be respected, particularly because they cannot speak for themselves. To gain permission to take vets to Sicily on an official basis for catch/neuter/return sessions. To address the running of kennels and catteries in tourist areas, where animals live in atrocious conditions.’ Enjoy!