Daisy's Near CATastrophe: Based On a True Story!

Maria chats with author Debra Westgate-Silva about her book Daisy's Near CATastrophe, a tale about the friendship between a cat and a dog...and based on a true story! When Daisy goes missing...we follow her as she searches for her dog sibling Bear. Although the book is written for children, adults will enjoy it as well--I did! I also learned about K9Pet Trackers--have you ever heard of them?
Give a listen and then enjoy Daisy's Near CATastrophe!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea. On iHeartRadio, Welcome
to Maria's Mutts and Stuff. Andwith me is author Deborah Westgate Silva with
the book her current book, Daisy'sNear Catastrophe. So, thank you for

(00:24):
chatting with me, Thank you forthis wonderful, delightful book that you wrote,
Thank you for having me on theshow. I'm excited to be here,
absolutely So. It's an adorable book, and I know it's aimed at
children, but I really enjoyed it. So let's talk a little bit about
what made you decide to write thisbook. I mean, I know it's

(00:47):
well, okay, what made youdecide to write this book? Sure?
So, Daisy's Near Catastrophe is basedon the story of my nephew's kitten,
Daisy, who really can open doors. And when the family went on vacation,
they boarded the pets and the dogswent to the dog kennel. They

(01:08):
didn't take cats, so Daisy wentto a separate kennel and she escaped the
very first night she was there.Unbelievable. Really, yes, So the
kennel owners felt terrible and they hireda Cane nine tracker a dog that is
trained to find missing pets. AndI had never heard of this before,

(01:33):
and I was fascinated, and Iimmediately thought kids, especially those who loved
dogs, would think it was fascinatingalso, but I also knew because of
my sister and my nephew, Icould never write the story unless it had
a happy ending. And thanks toHopper, the German shepherd, who is

(01:53):
the real hero of the story,Daisy's real life story did have a happy
ending, which is unbelieva. Well, so Daisy was missing for like a
few weeks, correct, I believeit was twenty three days. Yeah,
that's like three weeks, okay.And I had also never heard of K
nine trackers, So I mean,is this is it a common Obviously it's

(02:15):
not common that we both have neverheard of it, But I mean,
are there do you know? Arethere a dozen in the country? Is
it a very common thing that therewere many that we're just not aware of
because we never needed one? Well? I do think you know, I
have done them. I interviewed thetracker before I wrote the book, and

(02:38):
she got training somewhere else, andso I did google research also, and
there are a few training institutions acrossthe country. So I do believe.
I do believe it's a growing field. Yes, yes, amazing. It
is amazing because I always feel Imean, and I've seen whether you live
in a metropolitan area or in suburbianyou see flyers when a cat goes missing,

(03:04):
and I just and I know therewere different just from cat you know,
from rescue groups, and I knowthe different ways things to do to
hope the cat comes back. Butto actually have trackers, it's almost like
having like a LoJack on the cat. It's so I don't know, it
just it blows me away. It'san amazing process, you know. When

(03:25):
I because when I first heard ofit, not knowing anything about it,
I just had this image in mymind of you know, the dog actually
retrieving the kitten and carrying it likea wild animal might carry its young,
right, right, But that wasnot how it went at all. Right,

(03:45):
Yeah, I mean, I justI don't know, not to give
away your whole book because I wantpeople to read it and get it and
read it. But yeah, Imean, I'm just I think it's something
I need to do more homework onbecause and thanks to your book educating me,
see, I learned something new,even though I'm not a child that
there is such a thing as caneinetrackers. But okay, but the story
itself, it's just so adorable andobviously, like you said, it's based

(04:09):
on on your nephew's cat. Butobviously there's a lesson you know, in
determination and relationships between the dog andthe cat you know from their home,
and then the cat that's missing withthe big mean cat that she sort of
befriends but doesn't because it doesn't lether eat. So let's talk about some

(04:30):
of the lessons. I mean,that was your intent, yes, of
teaching these little life lessons to thekids or the people who read the book.
It's so, you know what,so what I tried to do,
and I'm guessing there's not a lotof children listening to this, to this
particular show, so I never knowtalk about what happens in the story.
Sure, but he tried to staytrue to the story. So, you

(04:56):
know, when they were searching fordat in real life, they set out
food. You know, they hadflyers, they had some cameras that they
strapped around trees with these weatherproof camerasto try to capture the daisy on the
camera eating from the food source.Because they knew she ate from the food

(05:19):
source, she would return there andthat increased her chances of being rescued.
Right, So, in those twentythree days, the cameras obviously caught a
lot of other animals as well.Sure, so there was a big white
cat that kept eating the food thatwas meant for Daisy. There was a

(05:40):
raccoon that got into the trap beforethe trap captures, oh wow. So
and there was there was a dog, you know. And so those things
that are part of the story orshown in the illustrations were true to what
really happened, right, And thenyou know, so then I took that

(06:01):
straight cat and the you know,the raccoon and some of the animals,
and I just said, you know, I tried to figure out, how
can I make this relatable to kids? Sure? And so yeah, there
are lessons and messages about friendship inthere, and I'm saying true to who
you are and not giving up.And so I hope that those really ring

(06:25):
ring true and you know, andresonate with the adult readers who are often
the ones reading the stories to thekids. Yes, no, definitely,
I mean that's exactly what I wasthinking, because those are the lessons that
I got from it. And I'mthinking, well, if I was reading
this to one of my nieces ornephews, you know, that's how I
would read it to them. SoI think you succeeded in that. Thank

(06:47):
you, Thank you. Know.I think it's much easier for children,
like, let's say they are havinga hard time getting along with a pushy
classmate. Sure, or might bea bully. Yeah, but yeah,
it's a lot easier to talk aboutit when you're talking about an animal character
in a story as opposed to,you know, talking about your your own

(07:12):
experience. So I think it's kindof a comfortable way to broach some of
these conversations with young readers. Yeah, no, absolutely, And I think
you you succeeded with it, andyou were very successful. So tell me,
since this is based on a truestory, everything is good with your
nephew's cat and the dog and everybody. Those animals are all okay, now
there there there, yes, verywell, okay, they're wonderful. When

(07:36):
Daisy got home, she was alittle lighter than when she left. Sure,
their weight goes, but she wasin perfect health and she has been
great ever since. And and staysaway from doors. That's good. I
was going to say, it's prettyamazing that she. I mean, I
guess she taught herself how to opbecause I know some cats are very smart

(07:58):
that way. I mean dogs aretoo, but kat she she taught herself
to open the door, which yeah, yeah, And so the story opens
with a scene of her jumping onthe pantry closet door doorknob to open the
door to get to the treats thedog treats, and that's she does that

(08:20):
in real life, in real life. Amazing. Yes, yeah, so
who can open doors? That's prettyamazing. Does Daisy have any other tricks
if they're not tricks, but anyother skills like that? Or is that?
I mean that's a pretty big one. Does she do anything else that
you know? Yeah, I thinkthe big one. That is a big
one. No, that is that'svery good. It's a good thing.

(08:43):
You know, dogs don't I meansome dogs do do that though, So
it's good. It's a good thingthat they don't all do that, you
know, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So for you, deb,
I know, the book just cameout. What's next for you?
Do you have a part two thisor is there something else that you're working
on? That's funny. A lotof people have said this should be a

(09:05):
part two or that, you know, Harper the service Doll. I can
have a whole series, sure,but I am. I do have a
couple other ideas that I'm working on, but nothing, nothing I can really
announce yet, just yeah, okay, yes, yeah, okay. I'm
always I've got usually more ideas thanI have time to actually sit and make

(09:30):
happen. That's good though. That'sgood because sometimes, you know, sometimes
writers get writer's block. So thefact that you don't have that, that's
amazing. That's great. So thatmeans and I will assume that for the
next one, and you don't haveto tell me. But will it of
course include animals? There is ananimal in it. There's more, it's

(09:52):
more people focused, but there isan animal in it. Okay, good?
It plays a very important role.Yes, perfect. Oka's funny too,
because, like I, I didn'trealize. Daisy's Near Catastrophe is my
second children's book. The first onealso involves animals, and I didn't really
realize this apparently is a theme withme. It must be see that.

(10:13):
It's like it's unconscious theme. Butit's a good one. It's a good
one. So well, okay,so this just means for your next one,
when the time is done and readyand you're ready to talk about it,
we can talk again because it hasan animal in the you know,
have an animal in it. Butin the meantime, where can my listeners

(10:35):
get Daisy's Near Catastrophe? Where canthey get the book? So, yep,
Daisy's Near Catastrophe. It's great forpet lovers or anyone looking to spark
conversations about friendship, empowerment, andself belief. And it's available on Amazon,
Barnesandnoble dot Com any of those onlineplatforms, or can be ordered through

(10:56):
your local independent bookstore. Perfect DeborahWestgate, Silva, thank you so much
for your time and for your delightfulbook, and I look forward to your
next project at our next conversation.Thank you. It was nice being here,
Omiator and just not see you RaderMomigator