Bengal Cats by Dan Rice is an absolutely essential book for any bengal cat owner, as far as I’m concerned. With a good balance between beautiful photographic illustrations and information. Dan’s writing style is engaging and easy-to-read yet still conveys his obvious passion for bengal cats.
The book covers everything you could want to know about having a bengal cat(s), split in to sections: an introduction to the breed (covering history of the bengal and hydridization), understanding your cat, owning a bengal, getting ready for your bengal kitten, shopping for your purebreed bengal, bringing your kitten home, nutrition, grooming, showing your bengal, breeding advice, health care, etc.
It basically gives you all the information you’ll ever need to raise a happy, healthy, fun loving bengal cat. Dan even includes a section on training your bengal cat(s) to use a toilet like humans. The drawing of this bengal cat on the toilet made me laugh until my stomach hurt! Needless to say to me a cat is a cat, let them use a cat litter tray – as nature intended.
There are some absolutely stunning photos of bengals in the book and it’s quite a quick read at 93 pages (which includes pages with photos on).
With bengal cats in mind, I thought I’d use this opportunity to post some recent photos of Dylan and Russell (my bengal kittens):
(Dylan & Russell playing with their new tent and blanket. They love that tent!)
(One of them – not sure which saying ‘Hello’ in the tent. Think it’s Dylan.)
(Awe brotherly love. Dylan sniffing Russell’s face, they love doing it to me. I think it’s the cat equivalent of a human kiss.)
(Dylan having a clean. You can tell he’s vain, he just has to be on all the photos.)
(Click on any of the photos for full size image.)
Oh…back to the review. You can buy Bengal Cats by Dan Rice on Amazon. I was unable to find any criticisms of this well written and beautifully illustrated book and would highly recommend if you’ve got bengal cats or are planning on getting some.
Vicky Halls is apparently well known in cat circles as the clever cat woman and The Complete Cat demonstrates her knowledge of the feline species. The book is over 500 pages long and starts with an introductory letter to the person considering getting the cat:
Hello,
Let me tell you what a cat will bring to your life.
A cat is a naturally undemanding creature that usually takes out of the relationship what you are prepared to put in and nothing more. Cats have moments when they seem intensely pleased to see you and yet they don’t sit and pine when you are out. They have a secret life outside your relationship, but when you are there you will be appreciated. They may show you love when you are busy and spurn you when you want a cuddle; it’s not always possible to turn their love on like a tap.
Cats seek out warm, secure places to sleep and so often prefer to share your bed. They see this as a privilege and not a right, so a hammock attached to a radiator or a place near the Aga will do instead.
If you are sad they will fall off the back of the sofa for you or lie with their legs in the air just to make you laugh. They are comedians in fur coats.
They will eat expensive prawns or simple cat food; the trick is to start as you mean to go on. They accept their lot – but the more you give, the more they will want. Be brave enough to have rules and you should still manage to maintain control of the household.
You will struggle giving them pills, hate car journeys with them, be revolted by their hairballs and have every comfy chair in the house covered with a cat blanket. What you will get in return from your cat, if you are lucky, is twenty years of shared experiences, house moves, growing children, heartaches and happiness. You will take a million photographs of him over years and eventually, you will develop your own personal language to understand what he wants and when he wants it. When he is gone you will mourn and marvel at how much you could miss such a small furry creature.
In conclusion, I am recommending wholeheartedly sharing your home with a cat. Once you have experienced the delights you will never regret your decision.
Yours Truly,
A cat lover
Copy Right Vicky Halls (2008).
This letter immediately got me hooked on The Complete Cat, enjoying Vicky Halls engaging writing style. The book covers everything you could ever want to know about cats including: selecting kittens, integrating adult cats, multi cat households, diet and nutrition, health and veterinary care, indoor versus outdoor, cat behaviour, etc. It’s like a one stop reference guide for everything to do with cats. The only criticism I have about the book is that it the information about different pedigree breeds was limited, a paragraph at best.
If you’ve got cats or are planning to get them The Complete Cat by Vicky Halls is well worth buying. I’m sure I’ll be re-reading sections of it as time goes by as a sort of reference guide when I’m unsure. The Complete Cat by Vicky Halls is available to buy on Amazon or at other good book retailers.
Episode 6 starts with Rex seeing Vera incinerated. Rex vows to avenge Vera’s death. Over in Wales with Gwen following her father’s second heart attack he is deemed Category 1 by a doctor. Gwen who approaches the doctor and explains about the secret module and what goes on there. But the doctor already knows and claims she’s just doing her job. Gwen says “Shame on you. Don’t ever call yourself a doctor again.” One of my favourite lines of dialogue. Gwen eventually gets her father out of the over flow camp with the help of Rhys. She drives on a motor bike with the secret module in the background and then puts in her Torchwood contact lenses. Gwen blows up the secret module before escaping. Although a good scene, I found myself thinking: where did she suddenly get that rather nice flashy bike from?
Meanwhile in America Rex and Esther are still in the over flow camp. The director of the camp puts the camp on lockdown following incinerating Vera. Rex needs to get out of the camp and fools one of the soldiers to get his uniform, but Rex gets caught. Rex meets the camp director and Rex tells him all about Vera – unaware that it was the camp director who murdered Vera. Esther can’t get hold of Vera on her mobile and she’s worried about Rex. Esther had gone into the camp under the guise of an Administration Assistant. Esther finds out where the director has gone and follows. But the director realises that Rex and Esther know each other and Esther is forced to kill him in self defence. She finds Rex and releases him, upset that she’s killed someone. Rex reminds her that she didn’t kill him as it’s Miracle Day.
While all this is going on Captain Jack is following his own lead on the investigation. He targets the Chief Operating Officer of Phi Cop using his PA who he’s having an affair with. The Chief Operating Officer tells Jack that he’s sent agents to investigate Miracle Day himself and that he doesn’t know whose behind it. He tells Jack that he’s the middle man as everyone else seems to be and that he’s never seen the system manipulated to such a level politically and economically. He says that whoever is behind it must have been planning Miracle Day for a long time. Finally he says that one of his agents in Italy once described that they had found The Blessing, but that he has no further information on it.
Gwen finally arrives back in America to rejoin the team. Walking through the airport she gets a tannoy call to use the curtsy phone. Gwen picks up the phone and hears one word “lenses” (referring to her Torchwood contact lenses). Gwen puts them in and sees written messages. “We have your mother. We have your husband. We have your child.” Gwen asks what they want and they answer with one word “Jack.” Gwen is faced with a dilemma. Her loyalty for Jack versus saving her family. That ends Episode 6 leaving us wondering what will happen next in what’s turning out to be a fantastic series.
Episode 5 marks the half way point in the Torchwood Miracle Day series. It’s at this point that I’ve finally got to grips with the characters. We already know Captain Jack Harness – Usually immortal, but Miracle Day has switched things around – making Jack mortal and the rest of the world immortal. Played by the gorgeous John Barrowman; we also know Gwen Cooper – Jack’s right hand woman, married to Rhys and has a beautiful baby girl. Gwen’s father in Episode 4 was moved to a “over flow” camp. But what about the newbies?
Well we’ve previously met Rhys Williams – Married to Gwen and occasionally helps out on Torchwood missions, albeit reluctantly. As for the new American cast, we have:
Rex Matheson – A CIA agent who should have died in a car accident but Miracle Day is keeping him alive. He joined Captain Jack and Gwen after those behind Miracle Day instructed agents in the CIA to take out Jack.
Esther Drummond – A CIA intelligence analyst and friend of Rex. She joins the Torchwood team after being set up by those behind Miracle Day to look like she’s been taking bribes to disclose information. She has a sister who can’t cope well with the outside world and is reliant on Esther to look after her.
Vera Juarez – A doctor who has been involved in dealing with Miracle Day. She’s treated Rex after his accident on Miracle Day and been his pain killer dealer of sorts. She has been intimate with him since.
Oswald Danes – Is the openly admitted and found guilty paedophile and murder. Backed by Phi Cop a pharmaceutical company who Torchwood suspect caused Miracle Day.
Jilly Kitzinger – The PR Agent whose managing Oswald and has a connection with Phi Cop, but it hasn’t been revealed what exactly the connection is yet.
So what happened in this episode then? Firstly Gwen goes back to Wales (using a fake identity) to rescue her dad from an over flow camp. Meanwhile Esther discovers that the plans stolen from Phi Cop’s server have a module that’s not on the official plans or maps online. A secret module, Torchwood need to find out what’s going on in these secret modules. So Rex uses his accident to get put into a camp, with Esther going in as a Administration Assistant and Dr. Vera going in as an inspector. Phi Cop get the world to agree to categories of life. Category 1 is most serious and is how you end up in the secret modules, whereas Category 2 is for those injured but still concious and aware. Category 3 is for those healthy and uninjured.
Meanwhile Gwen and Rhys manage to infiltrate a camp in Wales and rescue her dad, only for him to suffer another heart attack and end up being recategorised from Category 2 to Category 1.
Rex get’s Esther to recategorise him as Category 1 so that he can find out and film what happens in the secret module. Dr. Vera comes in under the guise of an inspector and is shown around. Whilst being shown around she finds standards are less than satisfactory (to say the least) and says she’s going to report the man running the camp. He goes mad and shoots her.
Rather than getting her treatment he takes her to the secret module and that’s when you realise something’s not right. The secret modules are tiny imcomparison to the rest of the camp, yet there are probably as many (if not more) people in Category 1 as in Category 2. It’s revealed that the secret module contains incinerators and that they are incinerating Category 1 people.
Meanwhile Captain Jack finds Oswald whose about to make a big speech to the entire American nation and tries to encourage him to tell the truth about what’s going on, giving him a speech. Jilly (the PR Agent) tells Oswald that he needs to go on stage and read a speech ending in “reveal” to show a big Phi Cop logo on a screen behind him. Oswald stutters and stumbles on stage dropping both speeches. Both Jack and Jilly watch nervously as Oswald beings talking, reading neither of their speeches. Oswald says that we were once animals, then evolved to human beings and now we’ve evolved again to Angels. He finishes his speech by saying “reveal.”
Rex finds Dr. Vera as the man guy running the camp is about to incinerate her and that is where the episode ends for this week.
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