Kitten and cat fantasy book, I read in the late 90s-early 2000s

[Jackie]

I don't remember the author or title of this book, the genre was fantasy and it was a children's book. It was in American English, roughly 200 or less pages, with an image of a real black & white cat in a tree on the cover. I think it had chapters, I don't remember if they had titles. It was about a kitten who meets a cat and they have to protect an item, either a scroll or amulet I think. The cat might've been called "Professor", his first name might've started with "P." The kitten's name was maybe "Small", "Little", or "Lost" Paws, the kitten was also a boy. There were other animals they had to protect the item from, they called the animals a name that started with "G." There was a scene where the kitten pounced on the cat's tail and got his ears clouted when the cat was trying to lecture him. There was also a chase scene in a forest, with the animals chasing after the kitten for the item. There might've been an owl or some other non-feline animal the kitten befriended, there might've been a library in the story. I do not know the exact year it was published or how many copies were sold. I read the book as a young child, so it's possible I'm not remembering all the details with 100% accuracy. This has been bothering me for years, I've searched online with no luck. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Chloe]

I haven’t read this book in a really long time so I might be off base, but is it Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams?

[Scott]

The Wild Road?

[Rosa]

Tailchaser's Song for Leanora’s suggestion.

[André]

Jackie, I think I've been looking for the same book! Did you ever figure out what the name of it is?

[Jackie]

I haven't been on Goodreads for a while, sorry it's taken so long to respond! It might be "Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria" by Rahma Krambo, but I haven't read it yet so I'm not 100% sure. The cover looks different than the book I read as a kid (the book I read as a child had a black-and-white cat while "Guardian Cats" has a silver-grey cat on the cover), but maybe the cover got updated or I'm mis-remembering what the cover of my book looked like since I was really young when I read the book.

I hope Guardian Cats is the same book-if not, I hope we find it eventually!

[Rosa]

Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria for the link.