Book Review: The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten, by Philipp Schott, DVM
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten, by Philipp Schott, DVM
c.2022, ECW Press $17.95 280 pages
Oh, those tiny little claws are sharp!
You don’t expect something that small to draw blood, but there it is on the back of your hand. Fortunately, the pain is overwhelmed by the big ears and the huge eyes and the tail like a car antennae. You fell in love with your kitten one-point-three seconds after it landed in your hands and in the new book “The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten” by Philipp Schott, it does more than purr!
Philipp Schott has the best job.
He is a veterinarian and chief of staff at a pet hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and his days are filled with soft eyes, silky ears, warm purrs, growls and yelps. Humans are also his clients, and after many years of caring for pets, he has a few stories…
He writes, for instance, about a tiny Chihuahua-something named Chico who was the victim of “BD-LD,” or big dog (BD) attacking little dog (LD). Sweet-tempered, happy-go-lucky Chico was with his owners on a daily walk when a large cur approached with intent to kill. Once Chico got to the hospital, Schott saved his life but Chico later had scars on his outside.
“On the inside,” says Schott, “there was only joy.”
Vaccines can be controversial things for some people and, apparently, for some animals. Schott writes of a client who “didn’t believe” in getting her dog his vaccinations, even though he explained the risks. Then there was the German shepherd that required three staff members and twenty minutes for a four-second procedure. Schott writes about a kitten named Emily that didn’t care about Manitoba’s COVID rate, or the fact that he was a boy cat. Schott dispenses advice for humans caught in the “Cat Wars,” he explains why obsessive licking is sometimes a good thing for your pet, he muses on how different jobs are similar to that of a veterinarian, and he writes about the easy fixes: they don’t happen a lot, but when they do, it’s magical.
Quick: what’s cuter than a fluffy baby animal? Not much, that’s a fact, but the stories inside “The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten” come pretty close.
A few pages into this book and you can probably imagine how much fun it could be to have author Philipp Schott at a cocktail party.
Here, he tells a very sweet story of a bunny owner and a rabbit cam because you can’t be too safe. He affectionately writes about “Cat Ladies” over there, along with plenty to make feline owners happy. Dog tales, check. And human foibles go hand-in-paw with animal tales in this book, as Schott seems wonderfully, perfectly willing to tell on himself, too.
These are super-short anecdotes that are super-long on endearment, with subtle advice hidden in the tales, a few LOLs thrown in for good measure, and an occasional tear-wipe. Animal lovers ages 13-to-adult will want to curl up with “The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten.” Don’t wait to get your claws on it.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 13,000 books.