Reviews

Just by being there, our cats exert a profound influence on our lives.  Yet so many of us fail to appreciate how much they care for and calm us, how necessary they are to our emotional equilibrium, and how integrally they contribute to our inner happiness. 

Ingrid started to find it increasingly difficult to leave Buckley at the office on weekends, but she was torn, because though she intuitively understood that Buckley longed to live in a real home, she wasn’t sure that Amber would welcome another cat into their close-knit family.  She made two failed attempts to commingle the two cats, but admitted that her own conflicted emotions were interfering with  Amber and Buckley’s ability to form a feline friendship.  Finally, though, when Ingrid decided to relinquish her position as the manager of the veterinary hospital to devote herself to writing and to developing her Reiki practice, she realized she couldn’t leave Buckley behind.  And sure enough, within a few days, Amber and Buckley worked out their own ground rules, and peacefully shared the same space:

And, in the process, Ingrid found herself changing, too.  The petite cat who she thought she had rescued was actually saving her:

“The process of bringing Buckley home, with all the emotional ups and downs it brought for me, is ultimately a testament to how much this little cat opened my heart. . .I was set in my ways. . .Buckley’s exuberant energy and big heart required me to open myself to change.”

As Ingrid plunged into her new careers, Buckley happily settled into her own new roles as “official greeter” and assistant Reiki practitioner:

“Buckley taught me how to stay in the moment and not get ahead of myself with worry.  Despite being in considerable pain prior to having her teeth removed, she never spent any time worrying about the upcoming surgery, anesthesia, or recovery. . .I had learned that I could help her more by focusing on her well-being rather than worrying about whether she was going to get better.  It was a constant process of redirecting my thoughts to something positive, whenever the old pattern of worry reared its ugly head.”

As Buckley’s condition deteriorated, I found myself tiptoeing through the chapters with a sense of foreboding and dread, though Ingrid infuses them with introspection, wisdom, and an unexpected twinge of optimism about her beloved cat’s fate:

“We can choose which story we tell from moment to moment.  We can focus on what we want and tell the story the way we want it to be, or we can focus on what we don’t want or don’t like and tell the story the way it is. . .So rather than telling the story the way it  was–she had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition and had been given a poor prognosis–I choose to tell the story the way I wanted it to be:  she was a happy little cat who was enjoying her life to the fullest.”

I felt some of the same emotions as I faced the death of my own dear cat, Casey, whose life on earth ended just two days before Buckley’s, in November of 2008.  But I wish I had shown the same grace Ingrid did, as she readied herself to finally let Buckley go.  A year later, as I came to the end of Buckley’s Story, I cried for Buckley, for Casey, and for myself.  But not for Ingrid King, who has written a heartfelt gem of a story that will resonate with me, and with anyone who reads it, for a long time.

Review by Maureen Harmonay, The Animal Communication Book Club

Ingrid King has written a remarkable book with a title that is a little misleading. The touching, informative memoir of a loving person’s insightful relationship with a delightful tortoiseshell female cat, both her teacher and “little girl,” could just as easily have been called “Ingrid’s Story,” as these two original characters mix and mingle in each others’ worlds.

We are fortunate that one person in this pair was generous enough to write about it and create an unforgettable record of their relationship. King’s generosity should not be taken lightly, nor should the emotional courage it must have taken to write such a clear-eyed and honest account.

Ingrid King is the author of The Conscious Cat, one of the finest blogs about cats on the web, as well as Healing Hands, a professional guide to Reiki healing and well-being with a slant toward cats and their human companions. She knows how to write, and does so with wisdom and even a little daring. The conventions must earn their respect when this woman is in the room.

If King had written a less personal and instructive book about her experiences with Buckley, who could blame her? She’d have taught many of us a great deal about our feline friends and aided us in supporting their health and happiness. Instead, along with all of that, she’s given us a warm, loving, dramatic and direct account of the joy Buckley brought to her life and that she, by implication, must have brought to Buckley’s. As a bonus, she introduces us to her other resident and more reserved cat, Amber, who finally learns to accept and appreciate the rambunctious and high energy Buckley.

Buckley first makes a trial adoption of Ingrid (I know, we see it the other way around, but cats don’t) when she shows up as a stray at the veteranarian offices where King is office manager. This little tortoiseshell with a hobbled hind leg she refuses to let disable her applies for and gets the job of office cat, ignoring the fact that there already is one, and winning a new position through charm and uninhibited affection. Buckley shows signs of having a tough life before this, but is unwilling to let that track record inhibit her relationship building with the busy office manager and others.

Readers who have experience with cats will recognize Buckley’s ability to get away with whatever antics she gets into, even when they lead to extra work for professionals on the staff. It really is uncanny how the cleverest of cats can get away unscathed with blunders our best human friends cannot. On the other hand, they probably let us get away with a lot of relationship errors we never even find out about. (You’re going away for a week without me?)

As Buckley settles into the office routine and thrives, tensions arise as King makes a commitment to pursue her personal goal of beginning her own, home-based business. This means less time with each other and, eventually, a complete separation. Although the transition is painful, King honors her other commitment, to Amber, already an established partner in her home, and does not risk upsetting a sensitive cat who may or may not want to share. She is similarly reluctant to introduce Buckley into a home where she might not be able to stay.

After a good deal of transition time, which thankfully gives King the opportunity to share with readers insights into the challenge of introducing new cats into established environments, the situation is resolved, and Buckley completes a happy threesome. One of the most memorable accounts in the book is King’s description of finding agreeable sleeping arrangements, a challenge many of us face with less success.

King and her veteranarian friends can only make educated guesses at Buckley’s age or her prior health history. When the cat begins to run into serious physical issues, they manage them with wisdom and care, never taking this delightful feline or her needs for granted, never putting her at risk for more pain or discomfort than they would for themselves in similar situations.

We see King bravely standing up to a demanding vet who has not won her confidence and, thus, into whose care she will not surrender Buckley. King languishes over her decision, but her insight and intuitions about the cat turn out to be correct. We see her exercise the consideration, love and attention she would give to a threatened relative, and remarkably, we see her do this in a way that respects Buckley’s right to her individuality and honor. King puts Buckley right up there with her human contacts without pretenses about one being better or greater of more evolved than the other. As readers, we are fortunate that she has the skill to do so with style that is in no way condescending or pretentious.

And that is the most easily missed attribute of this wonderful book–that King’s deceptively simple (as in Hemingway) writing style is so direct it rings bells with almost every sentence. Her genuine expressions are intensely unadorned. They are also undressed. We read and understand, but we also feel every word she has written.

Recommending this book for cat lovers is easy. You won’t find better. Recommending it for others who are curious about the hold these magical creatures have over us is obvious. There are lessons about love, acceptance and humility all of us can gain from this reading, even if no cats were involved.

Review by David Stone for HubPages

 There’s little doubt that we Americans love our pets. According to the American Pet Products Association, we’ll spend an estimated $45.4 billion on our non-human dependents this year alone. And what do we get in return? Well, that’s not so easily put into dollars-and-cents terms. The value our pets bring to our lives is, of course—both literally and figuratively—immeasurable. Thankfully, we have authors like Ingrid King to remind us of this fact.

In Buckley’s Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher, King introduces us to Buckley, a tortoiseshell cat rescued from a farm in southwest Virginia who’d become the office cat in the veterinary hospital King managed. Despite her rough and tumble past—or perhaps because of it—Buckley took to her new life with great enthusiasm (though not without some of the expected “tortitude”). “Buckley loved everyone,” writes King. “She checked out anyone who came into the office and, with rare exceptions, she would end up in a visitor’s lap.”

When King left to start her own business (using Reiki on pets), she was astonished by how much she missed her office buddy. “While there had been animals I had come across in my years of working at veterinary hospitals who had tugged at my heart strings,” King writes, “there had not been one that I fell for as hard and as fast as I fell for Buckley.” And so, despite her misgivings about integrating a new cat into the quiet home she shared with her cat Amber, King adopted Buckley.

Amber and Buckley, it seems, knew all along that it was the right move. “I was the only obstacle,” recalls King, a self-proclaimed worrier, “in making the process go smoothly.” While King was getting settled into her new career, the cats were getting settled into their new lives together. But their easy existence was interrupted when, during a routine visit, Buckley’s vet discovered a heart murmur.

Such diagnoses—however unsettling for us humans—seldom mean much to our cats. Indeed, Buckley was thriving with her new family. “The word that probably defined Buckley more than any other,” writes King, “was ‘joy.’”

“She was a joyful being and she brought joy to everyone who came into contact with her… Her entire being was an expression of joy, and her every activity was infused with the essence of joy. She played, ate and loved with abundance… Buckley demonstrated to me how to find joy in every day. By living in the present without worrying about the future or letting thoughts of the past drag her down, this little cat showed me how to find the small joys in each moment.”

Finding those small joys proved increasingly difficult as Buckley’s health took a turn for the worse, and King began devoting more and more time to caring for her. The last few chapters of the book, in which King chronicles Buckley’s decline, are to be savored—though not without a fresh box of tissues at the ready.

•     •     •

There’s something rather magical about certain pets, the ones with which we form an immediate, intense connection. Regardless of how much time we spend with them, they leave an indelible impression. Buckley had been with King for only three years, but, writes King, “I was not prepared for the depth of my grief… it was as deep as if she had been with me my whole life. When these special animals come into our lives and then leave us much too soon, they leave us forever changed.”

Buckley’s Story is sure to resonate with animal lovers, whether they’ve suffered the loss of a beloved pet or not. King’s memoir illustrates the powerful nature of the human-animal bond, and—in sharing Buckley with the rest of us—reminds us of what we love in each of our own cats.

Review by Peter J. Wolf for Moderncat

I will say right off the bat that I am a sucker for animal stories.  I love them.  And so, on the one hand, I can be extremely biased toward any type of animal story.  On the other, I can be more critical because I am such a fan.  I knew when I agreed to read and review Buckley’s Story that it would be an emotional experience for me.  I too am a cat person and I have been a parent to three cats over the last almost twenty years.  As author Ingrid King did, I have had to make the humane and yet agonizing decision to allow two of them to pass on.  And like Ms. King, I have also learned more about life and myself from these little masters.

Buckley’s Story is a wonderful, happy and emotional read whether you are a cat person or dog person.  Ingrid King writes solely from the heart.  Her delight over Buckley, relief that Buckley and her ‘sister’ Amber form a bond and grief over Buckley’s loss resonate from every page.   Reading Ms. King’s recollections of Buckley’s diagnosis, illness and eventual passing away made my soul ache in remembrance of what I had been through but at the same time, it was strangely cathartic.  Knowing that the pain I felt at losing a pet – - something not everyone understands and acknowledges – - was shared by Ms. King felt like a soothing balm.  And reading too that I was not alone in feeling the spirits of my deceased little ones still with me, and getting signs from them, was akin to joining a secret club. 

I fell in love with Buckley – - with her determination to find her forever home, her tenacious nature and her joyful demeanor.  Her exuberance at greeting life each and every morning gave me pause and should give every reader pause to think about life and how very thankful we should be for every moment.

The subtitle of Buckley’s Story is Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher and that is no exaggeration.  Buckley taught Ms. King many different things during their time together and Ms. King has honored Buckley’s memory by sharing those things with us. 

Buckley’s Story isn’t a big read – - it comes in at 118 pages – - but what it lacks in volume it makes up for, tenfold, in touching your heart and spirit.   This is one book that will be a permanent fixture in my library.  I cannot encourage you enough to read this book and share it with friends and family – - but keep a box of tissues handy.

Reviewed by Lori Hedgpeth at Psychotic State  

If you’ve ever had the great honor to share your life with a pet, “Buckley’s Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher” will not come as any surprise to you, but it will certainly make you shake your head in agreement and cause you to smile often, particularly when you’ll reach some parts which will greatly remind you of your pet’s habits. Animals could – and do! – teach us so much, if only we stop for long enough and truly listen to them.

Buckley was a small cat with a huge personality and an even bigger heart. She entered Ms. King’s life with a whisper, as the “office cat” in the veterinary hospital which was managed by Ms. King at the time. An extremely affectionate tortoiseshell cat, she became a constant companion who was very much missed when Ms. King decided to explore other career paths and left the hospital. After a couple of not immediately successful attempts to assimilate into Ms. King’s household, Buckley finally came home for good. Amber, the “original” cat sharing Ms. King’s home, had to adapt to the new situation, and she learned to share “her human” with another cat quite quickly. Sadly, Buckley was diagnosed with a heart condition after two years of her arrival into the new home, and the second half of the book deals with the treatments, challenges and final acceptance of the situation. The many moments of pure joy were always tainted with sadness over the inevitable final outcome of this situation, and Ms. King managed to capture the process of ultimate acceptance in incredible vivid detail.

Warm, intelligent and wise, this is a beautiful book that will touch the hearts of animal lovers, particularly those who are grieving over the loss of their companions or who are living with the knowledge that their companions will not be able to share their lives with them for much longer. It shall also prove useful to anybody who might be thinking of adopting an older and possibly not so healthy animal, showing very clearly why that might be a particularly good choice. The detailed information on Buckley’s diagnosis and treatment course, with clearly described challenges and rewards, might very well make some pet owners reconsider the path they are taking and make them realize that oftentimes we would do better to follow our instincts more and feel less obliged to blindly accept the mainstream information. And more than anything, “Buckley’s Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher” by Ingrid King should make you realize again how much we should and do learn from the animals who graciously share their love and life with us.

Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views
http://www.readerviews.com/ReviewKingBuckleysStory.html

Most true animal stories will break your heart, and Buckley’s  Story by Ingrid King is no exception. At the same time, when pet lovers take the time and energy to share the story of their beloved animal, they’re sharing the love and joy that animal brought to their life. King’s book, Buckley’s Story, is subtitled Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher because of the lessons the author learned in three short years from her beloved Buckley.

King first met Buckley at an animal hospital in Virginia, where she worked as office manager. The tortoiseshell cat immediately captured King’s heart, and in the next year, Buckley’s spirit pushed King to spread her own wings, going into business for herself. She started a business called Healing Hands, doing Reiki for animals and humans, but it took her a couple tries to make the big step of bringing Buckley home from the office, and adding it to her small family, Ingrid and her cat, Amber.

Unfortunately, Buckley had health problems, and over the next couple years, they only grew worse. But, Buckley had taught Ingrid lessons in that short period of time. One lesson involved enjoying every day, and focusing on the joy of life. So, King says, “Rather than telling the story the way it was – she had been diagnosed with a serous heart condition and had been given a poor prognosis – I choose to tell the story the way I wanted it to be: she was a happy little cat who was enjoying her life to the fullest.”

Anyone who regularly reads animal books will know where Buckley’s Story ends. Even so, it’s always inspiring to read of the love that animals bring into lives, and the changes they cause. Ingrid King choose to tell Buckley’s Story to share those lessons of day to day life, lived with joy and love.

Lesa Holstine, Lesa’s Book Critiques http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/

Ingrid King has composed a thoughtful memoir about the life lessons learned from an exuberant little cat named Buckley.  Buckley’s love, and her eventual transition, deepened Ingrid’s own belief that souls continue on, communicating with us in whatever ways they can and letting us know they remain a loving presence in our lives.

It’s not easy to describe and navigate the medical and emotional terrain of caring for an ill companion animal, even when you have a background in veterinary medicine as Ingrid does.  Yet, Ingrid does this beautifully, letting readers witness her decisions, triumphs, disappointments, and ultimate feelings of peace and well-being.

I recommend this book for anyone who feels there must be a larger purpose to the ‘love and loss experience’ of sharing life with a beloved pet.  Let Buckley lead the way to a deeper understanding of the human-animal bond and to a greater opening of your heart.

Laurel Lagoni, M.S., Co-founder and former Director, Argus Institute for Families and Veterinary Medicine, Colorado State University’s James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital and current Director, www.veterinarywisdom.com and co-author, The Human Animal Bond and Grief.