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It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. What
a great idea. On iHeartRadio, Welcome

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to Maria's Mutts and Stuff. And
with me is author Deborah Westgate Silva with

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the book her current book, Daisy's
Near Catastrophe. So, thank you for

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chatting with me, Thank you for
this wonderful, delightful book that you wrote,

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Thank you for having me on the
show. I'm excited to be here,

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absolutely So. It's an adorable book, and I know it's aimed at

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children, but I really enjoyed it. So let's talk a little bit about

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what made you decide to write this
book. I mean, I know it's

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well, okay, what made you
decide to write this book? Sure?

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So, Daisy's Near Catastrophe is based
on the story of my nephew's kitten,

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Daisy, who really can open doors. And when the family went on vacation,

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they boarded the pets and the dogs
went to the dog kennel. They

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didn't take cats, so Daisy went
to a separate kennel and she escaped the

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very first night she was there.
Unbelievable. Really, yes, So the

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kennel owners felt terrible and they hired
a Cane nine tracker a dog that is

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trained to find missing pets. And
I had never heard of this before,

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and I was fascinated, and I
immediately thought kids, especially those who loved

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dogs, would think it was fascinating
also, but I also knew because of

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my sister and my nephew, I
could never write the story unless it had

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a happy ending. And thanks to
Hopper, the German shepherd, who is

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the real hero of the story,
Daisy's real life story did have a happy

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ending, which is unbelieva. Well, so Daisy was missing for like a

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few weeks, correct, I believe
it was twenty three days. Yeah,

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that's like three weeks, okay.
And I had also never heard of K

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nine trackers, So I mean,
is this is it a common Obviously it's

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not common that we both have never
heard of it, But I mean,

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are there do you know? Are
there a dozen in the country? Is

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it a very common thing that there
were many that we're just not aware of

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because we never needed one? Well? I do think you know, I

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have done them. I interviewed the
tracker before I wrote the book, and

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she got training somewhere else, and
so I did google research also, and

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there are a few training institutions across
the country. So I do believe.

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I do believe it's a growing field. Yes, yes, amazing. It

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is amazing because I always feel I
mean, and I've seen whether you live

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in a metropolitan area or in suburbian
you see flyers when a cat goes missing,

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and I just and I know there
were different just from cat you know,

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from rescue groups, and I know
the different ways things to do to

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hope the cat comes back. But
to actually have trackers, it's almost like

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having like a LoJack on the cat. It's so I don't know, it

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just it blows me away. It's
an amazing process, you know. When

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I because when I first heard of
it, not knowing anything about it,

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I just had this image in my
mind of you know, the dog actually

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retrieving the kitten and carrying it like
a wild animal might carry its young,

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right, right, But that was
not how it went at all. Right,

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Yeah, I mean, I just
I don't know, not to give

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away your whole book because I want
people to read it and get it and

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read it. But yeah, I
mean, I'm just I think it's something

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I need to do more homework on
because and thanks to your book educating me,

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see, I learned something new,
even though I'm not a child that

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there is such a thing as caneine
trackers. But okay, but the story

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itself, it's just so adorable and
obviously, like you said, it's based

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on on your nephew's cat. But
obviously there's a lesson you know, in

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determination and relationships between the dog and
the cat you know from their home,

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and then the cat that's missing with
the big mean cat that she sort of

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befriends but doesn't because it doesn't let
her eat. So let's talk about some

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of the lessons. I mean,
that was your intent, yes, of

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teaching these little life lessons to the
kids or the people who read the book.

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It's so, you know what,
so what I tried to do,

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and I'm guessing there's not a lot
of children listening to this, to this

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particular show, so I never know
talk about what happens in the story.

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Sure, but he tried to stay
true to the story. So, you

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know, when they were searching for
dat in real life, they set out

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food. You know, they had
flyers, they had some cameras that they

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strapped around trees with these weatherproof cameras
to try to capture the daisy on the

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camera eating from the food source.
Because they knew she ate from the food

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source, she would return there and
that increased her chances of being rescued.

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Right, So, in those twenty
three days, the cameras obviously caught a

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lot of other animals as well.
Sure, so there was a big white

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cat that kept eating the food that
was meant for Daisy. There was a

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raccoon that got into the trap before
the trap captures, oh wow. So

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and there was there was a dog, you know. And so those things

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that are part of the story or
shown in the illustrations were true to what

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really happened, right, And then
you know, so then I took that

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straight cat and the you know,
the raccoon and some of the animals,

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and I just said, you know, I tried to figure out, how

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can I make this relatable to kids? Sure? And so yeah, there

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are lessons and messages about friendship in
there, and I'm saying true to who

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you are and not giving up.
And so I hope that those really ring

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ring true and you know, and
resonate with the adult readers who are often

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the ones reading the stories to the
kids. Yes, no, definitely,

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I mean that's exactly what I was
thinking, because those are the lessons that

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I got from it. And I'm
thinking, well, if I was reading

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this to one of my nieces or
nephews, you know, that's how I

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would read it to them. So
I think you succeeded in that. Thank

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you, Thank you. Know.
I think it's much easier for children,

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like, let's say they are having
a hard time getting along with a pushy

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classmate. Sure, or might be
a bully. Yeah, but yeah,

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it's a lot easier to talk about
it when you're talking about an animal character

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in a story as opposed to,
you know, talking about your your own

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experience. So I think it's kind
of a comfortable way to broach some of

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these conversations with young readers. Yeah, no, absolutely, And I think

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you you succeeded with it, and
you were very successful. So tell me,

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since this is based on a true
story, everything is good with your

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nephew's cat and the dog and everybody. Those animals are all okay, now

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there there there, yes, very
well, okay, they're wonderful. When

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Daisy got home, she was a
little lighter than when she left. Sure,

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their weight goes, but she was
in perfect health and she has been

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great ever since. And and stays
away from doors. That's good. I

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was going to say, it's pretty
amazing that she. I mean, I

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guess she taught herself how to op
because I know some cats are very smart

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that way. I mean dogs are
too, but kat she she taught herself

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to open the door, which yeah, yeah, And so the story opens

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with a scene of her jumping on
the pantry closet door doorknob to open the

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door to get to the treats the
dog treats, and that's she does that

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in real life, in real life. Amazing. Yes, yeah, so

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who can open doors? That's pretty
amazing. Does Daisy have any other tricks

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if they're not tricks, but any
other skills like that? Or is that?

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I mean that's a pretty big one. Does she do anything else that

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you know? Yeah, I think
the big one. That is a big

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one. No, that is that's
very good. It's a good thing.

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You know, dogs don't I mean
some dogs do do that though, So

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it's good. It's a good thing
that they don't all do that, you

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know, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So for you, deb,

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I know, the book just came
out. What's next for you?

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Do you have a part two this
or is there something else that you're working

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on? That's funny. A lot
of people have said this should be a

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part two or that, you know, Harper the service Doll. I can

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have a whole series, sure,
but I am. I do have a

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couple other ideas that I'm working on, but nothing, nothing I can really

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announce yet, just yeah, okay, yes, yeah, okay. I'm

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always I've got usually more ideas than
I have time to actually sit and make

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happen. That's good though. That's
good because sometimes, you know, sometimes

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writers get writer's block. So the
fact that you don't have that, that's

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amazing. That's great. So that
means and I will assume that for the

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next one, and you don't have
to tell me. But will it of

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course include animals? There is an
animal in it. There's more, it's

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more people focused, but there is
an animal in it. Okay, good?

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It plays a very important role.
Yes, perfect. Oka's funny too,

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because, like I, I didn't
realize. Daisy's Near Catastrophe is my

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second children's book. The first one
also involves animals, and I didn't really

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realize this apparently is a theme with
me. It must be see that.

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It's like it's unconscious theme. But
it's a good one. It's a good

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one. So well, okay,
so this just means for your next one,

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when the time is done and ready
and you're ready to talk about it,

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we can talk again because it has
an animal in the you know,

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have an animal in it. But
in the meantime, where can my listeners

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get Daisy's Near Catastrophe? Where can
they get the book? So, yep,

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Daisy's Near Catastrophe. It's great for
pet lovers or anyone looking to spark

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conversations about friendship, empowerment, and
self belief. And it's available on Amazon,

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Barnesandnoble dot Com any of those online
platforms, or can be ordered through

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your local independent bookstore. Perfect Deborah
Westgate, Silva, thank you so much

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for your time and for your delightful
book, and I look forward to your

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next project at our next conversation.
Thank you. It was nice being here,

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Omiator and just not see you Rader
Momigator