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All My Patients Are Under The Bed: Memoirs of a Cat Doctor
Dr. Louis J. Camuti, America's most beloved, prestigious and inimitable cat doctor, has been treating felines for nearly sixty years. In anecdotes both funny and tender, the feisty but charming Dr. Camuti makes astute observations about his patients and their owners, and he writes with fondness about the myths and mystiques of "cat people" in particular.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
February 21, 2023
This book caught my eye a few years ago, because of the look on the cat's face on the front cover. Those eyes, those whiskers, that look of sheer superiority. Yup, that's a feline. While I don't believe the words "good" and "cat" should ever be in the same sentence, I nevertheless snatched up this volume to read about a legendary cat doctor, who was a feline specialist before the current cat-yoga/cat-internet/cat-everything began.
To a cat, human beings are an inferior, servile race, always to be kept in their places, with occasional rewards if they perform well. To love a cat is uphill work, and therefore very rewarding.
'Uphill' is an understatement. One really needs to create a salesforce-type CRM system, based on a cat's moods, food-of-the-hour, sun location, bedding changes, and time of the year. If I had the time, I would create such an app. In the meantime, one has this wonderful collection of stories told by Louis J. Camuti, who was the first veterinarian to devote a practice solely to cats. In New York City, no less! As a child, he was sick at home with fever when a stove accident started filling his house with gas. His cat jumped on his chest to waken him. At that point, he decided he would become a cat doctor when he grew to be an adult. Sweet.
Mr. Camuti tells some marvelous tales, remembrances of the adventures he would face every day as he made his round of house calls. There are celebrity memories and some wacky escapades...wacky being an adjective any cat owner would use at least once to describe feline relationships. Camuti was also one of the first specialists to advise against buying kittens from breeders, a stance which put him years ahead of his time.
Let's face it - if you are going to get a kitten from a pet shop or a breeder you are running the risk of getting a sick animal.
This is a book I will probably re-read in the future, preferably on a rainy day when The Cat and I are both stuck in the house. Just one year after this publication, the elderly doctor was dead, but thankfully his love of the feline race lives on in his words.
As I write this, Creampuff the Cricket Killer is in Full Indifference Mode.
Oh, to be a gato.
Book Season = Winter (nap, nap, nap)
To a cat, human beings are an inferior, servile race, always to be kept in their places, with occasional rewards if they perform well. To love a cat is uphill work, and therefore very rewarding.
'Uphill' is an understatement. One really needs to create a salesforce-type CRM system, based on a cat's moods, food-of-the-hour, sun location, bedding changes, and time of the year. If I had the time, I would create such an app. In the meantime, one has this wonderful collection of stories told by Louis J. Camuti, who was the first veterinarian to devote a practice solely to cats. In New York City, no less! As a child, he was sick at home with fever when a stove accident started filling his house with gas. His cat jumped on his chest to waken him. At that point, he decided he would become a cat doctor when he grew to be an adult. Sweet.
Mr. Camuti tells some marvelous tales, remembrances of the adventures he would face every day as he made his round of house calls. There are celebrity memories and some wacky escapades...wacky being an adjective any cat owner would use at least once to describe feline relationships. Camuti was also one of the first specialists to advise against buying kittens from breeders, a stance which put him years ahead of his time.
Let's face it - if you are going to get a kitten from a pet shop or a breeder you are running the risk of getting a sick animal.
This is a book I will probably re-read in the future, preferably on a rainy day when The Cat and I are both stuck in the house. Just one year after this publication, the elderly doctor was dead, but thankfully his love of the feline race lives on in his words.
As I write this, Creampuff the Cricket Killer is in Full Indifference Mode.
Oh, to be a gato.
Book Season = Winter (nap, nap, nap)
February 20, 2023
Feb 19, 445pm ~~ Review asap.
8pm ~~ Another choice from the Veterinary-author pile, this is Camuti's second book, published in 1980, just one year before Dr. C died. (He had a heart attack while on his way to treat a patient. He was 87 at the time.)
I had forgotten that I also have Camuti's first book, Park Avenue Vet. So I have set that one up as my current Currently Reading. Both books are part of that infamous Haven't Read These In At Least 35 Years Club, so I can easily forgive myself for not paying closer attention when I yanked all these animal doctor books out of my bookcase.
This book was fun for me to read, and I think I would have enjoyed working with Dr. Camuti, or at the very least following him around for a day or two. There is a great picture on the back cover that shows him standing by the trunk of his car, with his doctor's bag on the car and a license plate that reads CAT. He has a tiny smile on his face: before I read the book and became reacquainted with his character I thought that little smile was his way of saying 'I'm cool, I'm cool.' Now I think he was probably wishing the photographer would hurry up, because 'I have places to go and cats to see.'
He tells a lot of stories about the different cats he has seen over the years, but he also tells about his own life. How his family came from Italy, how his ancestors were nearly all doctors, how he flipped a coin to decide whether to be a doctor who treated people or a doctor who treated animals. I liked how he met his future wife when they were mere children and only when he grew up did he recognize what he calls the 'cosmic urge'. He describes his early years in practice and how he eventually dealt exclusively with house calls and cats. He had rules that were not always followed for the day of his visits, and he himself admits that he has been called a curmudgeon.
I liked this from Chapter 7:
"I've had several clients tell me that I am a saint because I make house calls for cats in New York City. . . . Well, that's fine for them, and I appreciate the kind thoughts, but frankly, I think of myself as some kind of nut."
He goes on to say how crazy the traffic is and then to explain just how his house call practice developed and why his wife always rode along and stayed in the car while he was up treating his patients. (After he got them out from under the bed, of course.)
Very enjoyable, with lots of tips about cat behavior and care too. and now I am off to Park Avenue to see what else this curmudgeon has to say. Will he be the same way twenty years earlier? I imagine probably so: they say leopards don't change their spots!
8pm ~~ Another choice from the Veterinary-author pile, this is Camuti's second book, published in 1980, just one year before Dr. C died. (He had a heart attack while on his way to treat a patient. He was 87 at the time.)
I had forgotten that I also have Camuti's first book, Park Avenue Vet. So I have set that one up as my current Currently Reading. Both books are part of that infamous Haven't Read These In At Least 35 Years Club, so I can easily forgive myself for not paying closer attention when I yanked all these animal doctor books out of my bookcase.
This book was fun for me to read, and I think I would have enjoyed working with Dr. Camuti, or at the very least following him around for a day or two. There is a great picture on the back cover that shows him standing by the trunk of his car, with his doctor's bag on the car and a license plate that reads CAT. He has a tiny smile on his face: before I read the book and became reacquainted with his character I thought that little smile was his way of saying 'I'm cool, I'm cool.' Now I think he was probably wishing the photographer would hurry up, because 'I have places to go and cats to see.'
He tells a lot of stories about the different cats he has seen over the years, but he also tells about his own life. How his family came from Italy, how his ancestors were nearly all doctors, how he flipped a coin to decide whether to be a doctor who treated people or a doctor who treated animals. I liked how he met his future wife when they were mere children and only when he grew up did he recognize what he calls the 'cosmic urge'. He describes his early years in practice and how he eventually dealt exclusively with house calls and cats. He had rules that were not always followed for the day of his visits, and he himself admits that he has been called a curmudgeon.
I liked this from Chapter 7:
"I've had several clients tell me that I am a saint because I make house calls for cats in New York City. . . . Well, that's fine for them, and I appreciate the kind thoughts, but frankly, I think of myself as some kind of nut."
He goes on to say how crazy the traffic is and then to explain just how his house call practice developed and why his wife always rode along and stayed in the car while he was up treating his patients. (After he got them out from under the bed, of course.)
Very enjoyable, with lots of tips about cat behavior and care too. and now I am off to Park Avenue to see what else this curmudgeon has to say. Will he be the same way twenty years earlier? I imagine probably so: they say leopards don't change their spots!
August 23, 2010
I'm sure I've bored many MANY people by repeating the stories I read in this book, but it's impossible to resist. I mean just think about it, a veteranarian who makes house calls, many times in the middle of New York City. The entire book is filled with ancedotes about cats, CRAZY cats, and their even crazier owners, pet exams that take place in hospital rooms or in apartment staircases, and celebrities who give new meaning to the word "eccentric". There's also dogs, monkeys, pidgeons, and anything else that can be smuggled into an apartment. And it's not just a lot of stories, but stories that are told really really well. I need to put this one down for a re-read, since it's been several years since I even looked at the book, and that's sure to start up my whole "Oo, there was this one time, in that cat-doctor-who-makes-housecalls book" schtick. My immediate friends and family can consider themselves warned.
May 4, 2017
A bit dated but overall an okay read. Disappointed it focussed more on his famous clientele than the medical treatment of his feline patients.
February 11, 2012
I usually find memoirs written by vets to be disappointing because so often they're quickly churned out stories by essentially uninteresting people who are trying to capitalize on the popularity of James Herriot's books. But All My Patients Are Under the Bed is a nice, odd little book, dictated by veterinarian Louis Camuti and written/edited by Marilyn and Haskel Frankel, who were friends and clients of Camuti's.
Camuti is a bit of a crank, but that's to be expected considering he dictated this book when he was in his late 80s and still practicing veterinary medicine. Born in 1893, he continued to work right up until his death in 1981, dying when his pacemaker failed on the way home from visiting one of his cat patients. Although he had started out with a conventional practice, first in Mount Vernon, New York, and later in the city on Park Avenue, his practice eventually became a house-call only business. He would start late in the afternoon and end around midnight, accompanied by his wife who worked as his assistant. Although most of his patients were cats, he treated a variety of animals both ordinary and exotic. Many of his clients were famous -- he has stories about James Mason (who was potty about his cats) and Marlene Dietrich (whom Camuti didn't initially recognize and thought of only as his client's annoying mother), as well as a number of people I think I'm supposed to have heard of but since they were Broadway stars in the 30s and 40s, I have no clue who they are.
Camuti was no doubt was a good vet, but some of his pet care advice is long out-of-date and probably shouldn't be followed (e.g., feeding a cat an exclusive diet of chopped beef baby food, courses of geriatric inoculations, using gin as an antiseptic). Otherwise, it's a good book, albeit more for cat people than the general reader.
Camuti is a bit of a crank, but that's to be expected considering he dictated this book when he was in his late 80s and still practicing veterinary medicine. Born in 1893, he continued to work right up until his death in 1981, dying when his pacemaker failed on the way home from visiting one of his cat patients. Although he had started out with a conventional practice, first in Mount Vernon, New York, and later in the city on Park Avenue, his practice eventually became a house-call only business. He would start late in the afternoon and end around midnight, accompanied by his wife who worked as his assistant. Although most of his patients were cats, he treated a variety of animals both ordinary and exotic. Many of his clients were famous -- he has stories about James Mason (who was potty about his cats) and Marlene Dietrich (whom Camuti didn't initially recognize and thought of only as his client's annoying mother), as well as a number of people I think I'm supposed to have heard of but since they were Broadway stars in the 30s and 40s, I have no clue who they are.
Camuti was no doubt was a good vet, but some of his pet care advice is long out-of-date and probably shouldn't be followed (e.g., feeding a cat an exclusive diet of chopped beef baby food, courses of geriatric inoculations, using gin as an antiseptic). Otherwise, it's a good book, albeit more for cat people than the general reader.
February 2, 2022
Charming and often hilariously funny. The memoirs of Dr Louis Camuti, 'the fastest shot in the East' (injection-wise that is!) are beautifully told, and I love hearing about his methods such a long time ago (we are looking at 1940s onwards) including using booze as an antiseptic and smuggling cats into his hospital ward when he was sick so that he could continue to treat them. He dearly loved all cats, even if they didn't return the affection, and it was clear he had a strong affinity and tenderness for their needs and wants. Some of the stories he describes are so heart-warming, especially when it comes to certain celebrities.. mentioning no names.. cough cough Tallulah Bankhead.. James Mason... and it's clear celebrity itself does nothing to dampen the adoration and obsession some owners have for their balls of fur. It was a very poignant memoir, and I immensely enjoyed it.
January 23, 2016
From page 220:
"With dogs and people it's love in big splashy colors. When you're involved with a cat you're dealing in pastels. I like that about cats."
Amen.
"With dogs and people it's love in big splashy colors. When you're involved with a cat you're dealing in pastels. I like that about cats."
Amen.
January 11, 2019
I picked this book up on a whim at a library book sale a few years ago. Found it again on a dusty shelf in my house last month. It looked as if it would be a fun read and for the most part it was. I've always been fond of eccentrics and the author, Dr. Camuti, sure was one. He was the first veterinarian in the USA whose practice was devoted to cats (a "Fun Fact" I looked up in Wikipedia). He and his wife lived in NYC and he only did house calls. This is definitely not a James Herriot type of book. Dr. Camuti wasn't a touchy-feely kind of guy. If a cat owner was too crazy he would pack up and leave. He liked name-dropping his famous clients. Some were such oldies I never heard of them. The stories were meant to be funny but I didn't always find them so. In 1981 he was on his way to see a patient when he died at the age of 87.
December 3, 2023
3.5 stars
Dr. Louis Camuti was a veterinarian from the 1920s(?) and throughout much of the 20th century. This is a memoir of some of his clients and patients, as well as just a little bit of his own life. He was in New York City, specialized in cats and, unusual for the time, eventually did only house calls.
This was enjoyable. I’ve read many of these veterinarian memoirs, now, so it’s hard to keep all the anecdotes in my head, but I certainly enjoy the stories while I am reading them. Despite him practicing some decades ago, I feel like he might have been slightly ahead of his time on many things (his views on indoor/outdoor cats, declawing, cats shouldn’t really drink milk, adopting rather than buying from breeders, etc).
Dr. Louis Camuti was a veterinarian from the 1920s(?) and throughout much of the 20th century. This is a memoir of some of his clients and patients, as well as just a little bit of his own life. He was in New York City, specialized in cats and, unusual for the time, eventually did only house calls.
This was enjoyable. I’ve read many of these veterinarian memoirs, now, so it’s hard to keep all the anecdotes in my head, but I certainly enjoy the stories while I am reading them. Despite him practicing some decades ago, I feel like he might have been slightly ahead of his time on many things (his views on indoor/outdoor cats, declawing, cats shouldn’t really drink milk, adopting rather than buying from breeders, etc).
October 12, 2016
Very enjoyable. I liked it very much......
December 6, 2017
I LOVED this book. Dr. Camuti writes of his career as a vet that specialized in cats. But there are also a few other tales included in his memoirs, such as the rat that daily stole a bar of soap. I think all cat lovers will love this book.
August 4, 2018
Someone gave me this and I ignored it for a long time, thinking I'd find it unbearably twee and saccharine. But I finally picked it up--and it's actually a really fun, smart read. Great anecdotes. Camuti is quite a character.
March 18, 2024
As a cat lover, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all Dr Camuti’s wonderful tales! What a joy to immerse myself in his life/work and forget about the world around me. I will definitely reread it some day.
July 6, 2021
Charming, funny stories from a New York City-based veterinarian who made house calls and specialized in cats. Some of his most colorful anecdotes are about cats of celebrities he treated.
August 26, 2022
This is about the most charming thing I can even imagine.
January 4, 2025
This is such a sweet book!! Perfect for cat lovers 🥹
January 15, 2018
In the same vein as “All Creatures Great and Small”, this is a vet’s memoir. Instead of the English countryside, though, Camuti works in New York City, doing house calls. He found that a routine of starting his rounds in late afternoon and finishing around midnight worked best for his clients. His wife drove him around, and stayed in the car while he treated his patients. Some of his clients were show business folks; some were even famous. But fame doesn’t mean anything to Camuti; he judges his clients on how much they love their cats.
The book intersperses the doctor’s biography (he was born in 1893, so we get a lot of stories from the early parts of the century) with stories about this clients, both human and fuzzy. While some of his advice is out of date (book was written in 1980), the book is primarily enjoyable for the cat anecdotes. Five stars.
The book intersperses the doctor’s biography (he was born in 1893, so we get a lot of stories from the early parts of the century) with stories about this clients, both human and fuzzy. While some of his advice is out of date (book was written in 1980), the book is primarily enjoyable for the cat anecdotes. Five stars.
September 28, 2018
As a veterinarian in a third world country, i feel myself very single and alone in the way of thinking about the animals, i don't have access to the book but one person has written in the comments, that Dr camuti was the first veterinarian in his time who was proposing people not to buy kittens but adopt them, i am very glad now and feel well to hear that, it's for years that i do that in my community and as an assistant professor i have been teaching my students in my county (Iran) the real and logic way of thinking about animals. Happy to hear that there was a kind doctor who made his community better and started such a brilliant way of behavior with the animals. Rest in peace dear Dr camuti.
January 10, 2014
This is a terrific pet/vet memoir that is set back in the thirties and forties New York. An enjoyable, laugh-out-loud book about a curmudgeonly old Italian vet that makes house-calls and specializes in cats.
I had to order this used from Amazon, it can be a little hard to find, but well worth reading and passing around to your friends with pets.
I had to order this used from Amazon, it can be a little hard to find, but well worth reading and passing around to your friends with pets.
July 30, 2020
i enjoyed this book so much and wish it had been on kindle because there were so many passages i wanted to highlight! and back of the book just made me so happy:
May 21, 2013
Very good memoir from a vet that made house calls in NY. Lots of name dropping, funny stories about cats and lots of love. Excellent afternoon read. 4 stars
June 18, 2018
This is my all time favorite Book! I've read it several times. I want to read it again!
July 12, 2020
I suspect I would have liked Dr. Camuti, curmudgeonly behavior and all. He cared about the animals and that was his primary concern. He practiced long enough that he didn't care as much what his human clients thought of him as he did what they thought of their animals. Over his long career he met some real characters, both human and animal, and his tales are presented in short snapshots that are highly entertaining. Some people and animals make multiple appearances, and it varies whether it was the person or the animal that was the most memorable, but they all have the feeling of fond memories. Very easy read.
May 4, 2021
I think this book is very good for its time. I believe it was written in 1985, so it is pretty old. I enjoyed all of the tales that he had to tell. This book is very funny, but also can be sad and sort of dark at times. Mostly things were kept light though. Of course, the sad parts had to do with the hard parts of being a veterinarian. As small as it is, I do have one thing I didn't like. The number of times he had Siamese cats for patients was a bit much. They needed more variation with the types of cats. You'll see what I mean. Again, a very small thing, so not a big deal at all. I did like this book a lot. Very good and amusing. (:
September 21, 2025
There are few things I love more than a collection of animal stories. And, the fact that these stories were all about cats made it that much better. It was interesting to read a book published more than 40 years ago, because it highlighted how much has changed in the world of veterinary medicine while, at the same time, much has remained the same. I do wonder, however, if there are still any home-based veterinarians who make house calls in the city, or if that is a practice that has fallen by the wayside. In any case, I enjoyed Camuti's self-deprecating humor and his clear love for his patients.
August 15, 2019
The various books that I am working on left me feeling a little restless, so I picked up this one that surfaced during a cleaning. It proved to be a quick and enjoyable read and a relief for the frustration of my cable being on the fritz this week. Dr. Camuti was as enjoyable as Dr. Jeff (Rocky Mountain Vet), as conniving as Dr. Pol (The Incredible), as mobile as Dr. Dee (Alaska Vet), and as understanding of his charges as Tia Torres is of put bulls. It was a good cure for my Animal Planet withdrawals. And I learned a few things about being a better pet parent.
April 24, 2020
This is a fun and quick read for cat lovers, and even cat likers. Dr. Camuti was a housecall (mostly) cat vet in NYC for over 50 years. His stories of cats', and their owners’, personalities, foibles, habits, and downright craziness, are engaging. He does a fair bit of name dropping (Tallulah Bankhead, Marlene Dietrich plus others before my time or awareness,) and doesn’t hold back when he thinks a cat owner isn’t living up to its obligations. I kept thinking, did ALL of these people give him permission to use their names? An fun and intriguing little book.
February 12, 2024
This book was a delight! Full of stories from an old veterinarian in the mid to late 1900s NYC, who specializes in cats.
I’ll be honest, when I grabbed the book, I didn’t read too closely about what it’s about or who wrote it, so I thought it’d be a silly fiction book about a cat who is a doctor. Imagine my confusion and surprise when I started reading it! lollll.
That said, this was a fun, charming, and heartwarming memoir.
“So I haven’t got one last great story. But maybe, if you see things the way I do, every cat is a great story within itself.”
I’ll be honest, when I grabbed the book, I didn’t read too closely about what it’s about or who wrote it, so I thought it’d be a silly fiction book about a cat who is a doctor. Imagine my confusion and surprise when I started reading it! lollll.
That said, this was a fun, charming, and heartwarming memoir.
“So I haven’t got one last great story. But maybe, if you see things the way I do, every cat is a great story within itself.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2025
Overall I found this book to be a good time.
I loved James Herriot books growing up. This was in the same vein but very different.
This is small story after small story that is told almost in a train of thought way. Some stories are logically connected. Some aren't.
Dr. Camuti isn't nearly as likable as James Herriot either though it sounds like he really loved his work.
There is also some (now likely outdated) cat care tips.
If you are a cat lover or an animal lover I feel like you could appreciate these stories.
I loved James Herriot books growing up. This was in the same vein but very different.
This is small story after small story that is told almost in a train of thought way. Some stories are logically connected. Some aren't.
Dr. Camuti isn't nearly as likable as James Herriot either though it sounds like he really loved his work.
There is also some (now likely outdated) cat care tips.
If you are a cat lover or an animal lover I feel like you could appreciate these stories.
February 24, 2018
This book is fun. The author is a curmudgeony f**t and he knows it which makes it more funny. The stories about cats, and their people, are interesting. It was written back in the 80s but it doesn't matter. He is a vet who ends up treating mostly cats, and he goes to peoples homes. He says that some people think he's really amazing for doing this but he says, "I think I'm some kind of nut." I enjoyed the book a lot.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews