This is a manifest for Real (yes with a capital R) cats versus mass-produced boring cats. And really, Prachett must have a cat because he is so on the point of their habits and customs. He goes through how to get a cat, like buying a house in the Country because a cat will without doubt just pop up on your doorstep, advice on naming a cat, because remember that once you will have to scream his name in your dark neighborhood when you will have lost him or weird illnesses and how to give a pill to a cat. A funny little book with cute illustrations for people who love cats.
“You take the pill in one hand and in the other you take a large kitchen towel with one angry cat head poking out of the end. With your third hand you prise open the tiny jaws, insert the pill, clamp the jaws shut and, with your fourth hand tickle the throat until a small gulping noise indicates that pill has gone down. You wish. It hasn’t gone down. Because it’s just gone sideways. Real cats have a secret pouch in their cheeks for this sort of thing. A Real cat can take a pill, eat a meal, and then spit out the slightly damp pill with a noise which, if this was a comic strip, would probably be represented as ptooie.”
