The Cat-astrophic West: No animal in the Old West was more revered nor more reviled than the domestic cat. Sought for their rodent control, but despised for their nocturnal noisemaking, cats lived a schizophrenic existence on the American frontier. In Cat Tales of the Old West , Spur Award-winning author Preston Lewis brings pioneer pussycats into the light of modern America with a collection of amusing and eclectic excerpts from dozens of frontier newspapers reporting on cats West of the Mississippi River. Through a selection of poems, puns and articles from period news journals, Cat Tales of the Old West provides an entertaining, enlightening and sometime alarming take on kitties, both feral and domestic in the West. Cat Tales of the Old West is both engaging and educational for lovers of cats and Old West history.