The final chapter is all about Harriet, a stray mama cat whose spine was broken by a dog bite just a few years ago in Tucson.
Her story could have ended there, but she and her kittens were found by a good Samaritan who took the feline family promptly to the Pima Animal Care. There, however, someone else intervened and took the gravely injured mama and her kittens to Pawsitively Cats No-Kill Shelter, which is a no-kill shelter.
“I immediately thought of Harriet because her story is so compelling,” said Susan Miller who is a Pawsitively Cats volunteer who ran across an opportunity to share the rescue story in a book being published by Los Angeles-based FitCat Publishing.
“It’s a miracle that she survived what she did,” said Miller, who submitted about 1,500 words about the paralyzed cat.
FitCat selected Miller to tell Harriet’s story for the book, which won the compilations and anthologies category back at the 2015 San Francisco Book Festival.
Next Sunday, Jan. 31, CataVinos Wine Shoppe is hosting a Happy Harriet Wine Tasting for to benefit Pawsitively Cats.
It will include a flight of six wines with palette cleansers, with 10 percent of wine purchases being donated to Pawsitively Cats. In addition, all of the proceeds from books sold that night ($12.99) will benefit the nonprofit shelter. Yvonne K. Foucher regularly opens CataVinos to the nonprofit for benefit events.
Harriet has lots of friends, human and feline, at the no-kill shelter.
The book will also be available for purchase at smile.amazon.com and locally at Antigone Books at 411 N. Fourth Ave., Clues Unlimited at 3154 E. Fort Lowell Road, OK Feed & Supply at 3701 E. Fort Lowell Road and The West Inc. at 5615 E. River Road at Craycroft Road. A third of the proceeds from sales through February will go tobenefit the shelter.
Miller will be present at CataVinos to talk about Pawsitively Cats and sign the book. Harriet herself will also make an appearance.
On account of her injuries, Harriet will live out the rest of her life at this particular shelter, however, she and other special needs cats can be sponsored.
“She’s very happy. She scoots around and she has her best buddies in the shelter — both human and feline,” Miller said.
The nonprofit, which has rescued homeless cats and kittens in Tucson since 2010, moved just last year into a new 2,600-square-foot shelter that today provides a home to more than 240 cats and kittens. Cats who are not adoptable can live out the rest of their days at the shelter without the looming threat of euthanasia.
Organizers urge people to consider buying a few extra copies of the book for friends, nursing homes or schools — “any place that could use some uplifting stories.”
The shelter is also always looking for more volunteers, said Miller, who organizes the wine tastings and pitches in with cleaning the shelter and taking care of the cats. Anyone who might be interested can call 289-2747.
Photo credits: Pawsitively Cats