Interview with Amber, proud owner of Ingrid King

Woof! My special guest today is....

"My name is Amber, and I'm the feline mewse of Ingrid King, the author of Buckley's Story - Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher, a book about my sister Buckley and how she changed my mom's life in ways my mom never could have imagined. Well, I helped with the life changing a little bit, too! After all, I'm the inspurration behind my mom's blog The Conscious Cat, a site dedicated to conscious living, health and happiness for pets and their people. Wow - that's a mouthful, but my mom says that it's important that people learn about stuff like that. I sometimes get to write there, too, I have my own category called Amber's Mewsings."

Thanks for such a nice intro, Amber! Now let's get to the real deal. Describe Ingrid as a writer and as a pet owner. No sugar coating here. This blog is only read by pets, so don’t worry, Ingrid won’t find out what you say. In the event that you find yourself in trouble, I can always offer protection. I have a good connection at the CIA.

My mom is a really good writer (and no, she didn’t bribe me with treats to say this). I say that she’s a good writer because she writes mostly about cats, and how can that not be a good thing!
I can’t comment about her as a pet “owner,” because nobody owns me. I’m a cat! But as a cat mom, she’s really cool. I’ve got her well- trained to indulge my every whim without her even knowing that she’s being manipulated half the time. She loves me so much, and I’m so beautiful, and she just can’t help herself and waits on me hand and paw. The only area where she could use some improvement is when it comes to meal times. She’s good with breakfast – she always serves me my breakfast even before she has her first cup of coffee, but dinner is another story.

Humans seem to have this silly idea that dinner is supposed to be served in the evening. Can I help it that I get hungry halfway through the afternoon? So I have to usually stare holes in the back of her head while she’s on the computer, or weave in between her legs and try to trip her when she’s on her way to the kitchen to get a drink of water, to get her to understand that I’d like my dinner early, thank you very much. Most days, I can get her to cave no later than 4pm.

(Hmm. If she mostly writes about cats--and not DOGS--then how can she be a great writer????) What type of books does your human mom write?

My mom published her first book, Buckley’s Story – Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher, last September. It’s the story of my sister Buckley and the lessons she taught about opening the heart and living a joyful life. It’s also the story of my sister’s battle with heart disease, and how mom coped with that and with ultimately losing her. Mom says she wrote it to share Buckley’s lessons with the world, and also to help others who are going through caring for a very sick pet, or who are sad about a pet that has passed on.

I’m in the book, too. Buckley wasn’t my real sister, but after some initial challenges (that were more mom’s fault than ours, but you’ll have to read the book to find out about that), she and I were so close, we might as well have been sisters. We’re still close. I miss her physical presence, but I talk to her all the time. We cats are better at understanding that nobody ever really dies, we just change form. The heart connection is eternal.

Darn, Amber! Now you made me sad...

So what’s with your name? Did Ingrid choose it? What has that done to your self esteem and what does that say about her?

I love my name! My mom chose it because I have a heart-shaped Amber colored spot on top of my head. I think it purrfectly reflects my inner and outer beauty. I loved the day she gave me my name. It made me feel so special, like I finally was part of a family.

What does Ingrid do besides writing? Is she a hermit or does she actually set her foot outdoors? My mom has to be dragged outside.

My mom helps other pets and their humans in a lot of different ways. She can do a lot of it from home, and I think she really likes working from home. I’ve heard her say that she really likes it that she’s in charge of her schedule. I don’t really know what that word means, but I think it has something to do with her still being in her jammies at lunch time some days. Hmm, she might not want people to know about that. I think it probably also means that it gives her more opportunities to serve me throughout the day.

She writes lots of articles about how to help pets live healthy lives that she publishes on her blog The Conscious Cat (which I inspired!) and in her online newsletter News for You and Your Pet. She also offers phone consultations for pet parents on how to keep pets healthy, how to mange caring for a sick pet, and how to cope with losing a pet. And she’s a Reiki Master Practitioner, which I think means she transfers healing energy to other pets (and their people, too).

What is the best part of having an author as a mom? The worst part?

The best part is having her home with me a lot. I love that! I don’t know that there really is a bad part, except maybe that I have to fight her for the computer when I want to write one of my Amber’s Mewsings columns!

Woof! Woof!