Dec 28, 2024
Submitted Photo Pictured is Shubh Mathur, author of a new book on the Westfield Cat Rescue.
Across Chautauqua County there are multiple cat rescues and shelters to be found, and one specific one has become the recent subject of a newly published book.
The Westfield Stray Cat Rescue and their thrift shop, The Thrifty Kitty, was chosen as the subject for Shubh Mathur’s latest book, following her first interaction with the cat rescue 11 years ago.
“I first came to Chautauqua County 11 years ago for a book I was writing, and I lived in Forestville,” Mathur said. “I love living in the country, but I realized a downfall of that was that people will abandon their cats.”
Mathur said while she lived in Forestville she and her family found a batch of kittens that had been abandoned by their house that had clearly belonged to someone and had been socialized. She brought them back to the farm, and it was then that she had her first interaction with the Westfield Stray Cat Rescue.
“I was struck by the shelter’s cheerfulness,” Mathur said. “It seemed different from a lot of other shelters. They had like a playroom for the cats and all of the cats got along, which doesn’t always happen. I looked at the shelter and the cheerfulness of the cats and the people, and thought about the cruelty behind abandoning kittens and the love of people willing to help, which leads to one of the deeper questions of the book.”
Mathur’s book “Helpers and Healers: A Book of Cat Rescues” looks at the Westfield Shelter itself, looking at its history and the people who started it and how it was built into the place it is today. The book also looks to answer the question of the difference between love and power, which, according to the book’s description, is something at the heart of the bond between cats and the humans who care for them. Rather than looking at the cruelty and bad things of the world, Mathur’s focus of the book is on the love and hope that work to hold the world together.
Mathur said the book also takes into account the importance of controlling stray cat populations through TNR, and that it is a fun book about the shelter which people in the area may read, like and even recognize some of the names and the stories.
“I think people locally will be interested, because it highlights something amazing in Chautauqua County,” Mathur said. “I have lived in multiple places in the county, Lakewood, Forestville, and Mayville now, and I see it as a place to learn. There are places around where you live that can get taken for granted, and there is a stigma about the crazy cat lady, but those who run shelters like this are the best of the human spirit, and America. There is so much bitterness and division in the world, and this is a story of hope.”
Additionally, Mathur said the people at the Westfield Stray Cat Rescue have already read and enjoyed the book, including posting a fun review in the Thrifty Kitty’s window showing that the shelter cats approve of it too. Some of the proceeds of the book will go towards the shelter.
Much of Mathur’s past work has been on human rights and cruelties and a lot of her work has focused on violence and cruelty. With her new book focused on the shelter, there is a different focus on love and hope.
“There are two ways people make it through the world, and that is love versus fear,” Mathur said. “This comes together in the work being done by the shelter, which is working to stand against fear and cruelty with love and hope.”
Mathur encouraged everyone to stop by the Westfield Stray Cat Rescue to visit the cats there, and to maybe come away with a lifelong companion. The rescue is located at 59 East Main Street in Westfield. “Helpers and Healers” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at the Thrifty Kitty store.
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