The mystery of the bookstore cat
Have you ever gone to a used bookstore to get a bestseller only to be assaulted by the resident book cat? There is an overwhelming trend of used bookstores taking in cats as guardians of the stacks, whether it is to fend off mice from eating pages out of books or the owner simply wanted to bring their pet to work.
Although cats have merit enough to justify their presence on the highest reaches of bookshelves, most used bookstores like Book Buyers serve as temporary foster homes for cats of all ages. Fostering pets in this way allows heightens their chance of adoption simply by giving more opportunity for people to interact with them.
Why Not Dogs?
This raises questions from people who are allergic to felines but have no problems with hair of the canine variety, such as “Why can’t we have a dog corner? Corgis are cute too!” One feasible answer would be that unlike their more energetic counterparts, cats are almost self-sufficient making it easier to leave them unattended around books and small children.
One prime example of why its bookstore cats instead of bookstore dogs is my grandmother’s dog, Otis. He is a relatively well behaved black lab but even at his sweetest, Otis is constantly on the move. Imagine trying to reach the top shelf for a copy of War and Peace only to get bowled over by a 75-pound ball of hair chasing a treat. It’s not exactly a prime reading environment. Cats can be just as disruptive, sitting on books that you’re trying to read and grumpily knocking things from the shelves for the heck of it, but if you give them a good sunbeam they tend to remain stationary for an extended time.
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