The Community Cat Chronicles is a collection of linked stories about the cats, not quite house pets and certainly not strays, who live around the apartment blocks of Avenue 1. They mark and defend their territory, but share it with the human residents who devote time and resources to keeping them fed and healthy. A tender, heartwarming portrait of a neighbourhood shared by cats and humans, The Community Cat Chronicles is filled with rich storytelling and vividly drawn characters, and is sure to be beloved by animal lovers everywhere.

Theodora Tuxedo wasn’t the only feline to arrive and stay with Eugene’s family at Block 223. Firstborn, a son Satu (also a tuxedo but in white mess dress), would plop out with a mewl into Stepdad’s pyjama pants one early Sunday morning, with tortoiseshell Dua and calico Tiga to follow. There’s a lot to learn if you’re a kitten: how to use your whiskers, how to know when a rat is a rat (and when it isn’t) and how to accept the tail you’ve been born with. Loving her life now as an indoor cat, shunning her past life as a stray, Theodora can’t understand the kittens’ eagerness to venture back “outdoors” into the community. Along with Theodora’s (and Zigzag’s) unexpected offspring, The Community Cat Chronicles 2 – New Kittens on the Block delightfully shares imagined stories of real residents, both two legged and four, around the housing estates of Avenue 1.

Satu, Dua and Tiga have spent their entire kittenhood together on Avenue 1 but their mother, Theodora Tuxedo, toughened from an early life on the streets, is anxious for them to each find their own way in the world, worried they’ve become too pampered as ‘house’ cats. The siblings have become part of the community and can’t understand the hurry (or need) to leave, since they’ve made dear friends with neighbourhood felines and various other species. As they quickly approach the time they become officially ‘cats’ and no longer kittens, their human family also worry the chances of finding them forever homes will diminish. Based on genuine experiences and observations of real cats and "two leggeds", The Community Cat Chronicles 3 are the continuing stories of Avenue 1.

It all started when a rat ran over her husband's foot and author, Dr. Anne E. Beall, began a journey into the world of feral cats. The Bealls had experienced rat problems for a long time. Then, a neighbor told them about a program called Cats at Work where one could get feral cats that would take care of the rat problem. In Community Cats, she tells how she and her husband entered the world of feral cats when they signed up for the Chicago Cats at Work program with Tree House Humane Society. Tree House practices TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), and they trapped, neutered, and relocated a feral cat colony to Beall's home. She narrates what she learned about the unique world of feral cats and about the people who are involved with feral cats and who advocate for them. Community Cats shares the story of what initially began as a creative solution to a rat problem and became a journey that led her to reach out to others in the feral-cat world. Beall interviewed other colony caretakers and leaders in the TNR movement and learned about how feral cats live, how they relate to one another, and how they relate to their caretakers. She also conducted survey research on American's attitudes toward stray cats, TNR programs, and spaying/neutering. Beall learned that feral cat programs have a huge impact on the caretakers of the colonies, on the neighbors, on the community, and on the cats themselves and details those findings in Community Cats.

It all started when a rat ran over author Dr. Anne E. Beall's husband's foot outside their Chicago home. The Bealls had experienced rat problems for a long time. Then, a neighbor told them about a program called Cats at Work where one could get feral cats that would take care of the rat problem. In Community Cats, she tells how she and her husband entered the world of feral cats when they signed up for the Chicago Cats at Work program with Tree House Humane Society. Tree House practices TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), and they trapped, neutered, and relocated a feral cat colony to Beall's home. She narrates what she learned about the unique world of feral cats and about the people who are involved with feral cats and who advocate for them. Community Cats shares the story of what initially began as a creative solution to a rat problem and became a journey that led her to reach out to others in the feral-cat world. Beall interviewed other colony caretakers and leaders in the TNR movement and learned about how feral cats live, how they relate to one another, and how they relate to their caretakers. She also conducted survey research on American's attitudes toward stray cats, TNR programs, and spaying/neutering. Beall learned that feral cat programs have a huge impact on the caretakers of the colonies, on the neighbors, on the community, and on the cats themselves and details those findings in Community Cats.

It all started when a rat ran over a family member's foot and Dr. Anne E. Beall began a journey into the world of feral cats. Beall had experienced rat problems for a long time. Then a neighbor told her about a program called Cats at Work, where one could get feral cats that would take care of the rat problem.In Community Cats, she tells how she entered the world of feral cats when she signed up for the Chicago Cats at Work program with Tree House Humane Society. Tree House practices TNVR (trap-neuter-vaccinate-return), and they trapped, neutered, vaccinated, and relocated a feral cat colony to Beall's home. She narrates what she learned about the unique world of feral cats and about the people who are involved with feral cats and who advocate for them.Community Cats shares the story of what initially began as a creative solution to a rat problem and became a journey that led her to reach out to others in the feral-cat world. Beall interviewed other colony caretakers and leaders in the TNVR movement and learned about how feral cats live, how they relate to one another, and how they relate to their caretakers. She also conducted survey research on Americans attitudes toward stray cats, TNVR programs, and spaying/neutering.Beall learned that feral-cat programs have a huge impact on the caretakers of the colonies, on the neighbors, on the community, and on the cats themselves, and she details those findings in Community Cats.

This is a heartwarming story told by Abby, a veteran stray cat who insists "We are not strays, we are community cats Just as humans are citizens of their countries, we are citizens of the communities we live in "It brings to life the many stray cats who live in almost every community giving each cat featured in this book a face, a heart, feelings, thoughts and the same fears and happiness of the humans who can make their lives a blessing or a curse.Abby, the macho yellow male cat walks us through his very colorful adventures and experiences as he and his siblings and friends live each day to the fullest of their nine lives, never knowing whether they will be alive at the end of the day There is never a dull moment and some harrowing matching of wits with those who hate their very existence and believe that community cats should neither be seen nor heard The lead star of this witty community cat drama is Abby, strong, arrogant and adventurous, he is the boss and what he says goes Then there is Choc, his brother, good natured, sanguine and a perfect gentleman who is wise and calm beyond his cat years It has even been said that a woman would choose Abby for a lover and Choc for a solid dependable husband There is Calico, Abby's friend and "crush," pretty, precocious with a temper to match and her direct antithesis, Sister, a surly, snarling aging matriarch of the neighboring cluster of community cats whom Abby calls "the ugliest and meanest feline that ever existed." Each cat is a vibrant character of its own that you will mostly love as they share their lives with you. There is this rhetoric that every creature is created for a purpose so what on earth are community cats created for? Perhaps to bring out the compassion and better qualities in humans manifested here in the much loved "feeders" who feed and care for them, giving of their time and money to make the lives of these less fortunate creatures of God, tolerable The story ends with this haunting rhetoric, "life will go on till our lease on earth runs out. I think I still have many good years left and I absolutely refuse to think what old age and dying on the streets might be like. I have no thoughts about the future because living life to the fullest this week is more important than next week "