The Back Canal Cats: Seven Lives on a Louisiana Bayou (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798249613532)

A story about seven cats, one loyal dog, and the quiet revolution of choosing what to witness.

Seven cats live on a Louisiana street where the pavement ends and the wild bayou begins. Each carries their own way of moving through the world-their own relationship to fear, grief, belonging, and the mystery of being alive.

Boucherie, the pampered white cat, has everything she needs but longs for something more.
Cayenne, born without a tail, watches over them all with the fierce tenderness of someone who knows danger lives at the edges.
Catfish sits at his window every afternoon at 4 p.m., waiting for a father who will never come home.
Hushpuppy, with his ridiculous ears and gentle heart, hears what others miss.
Half-n-Half is learning that leaving doesn't mean betrayal-it means breathing room.
Praline has watched the street change for years and still chooses to love it.
And Boo-Dan, the wild black cat with the hooked tail, teaches them all that the bayou is not a place to conquer-it's a body to belong to.

Together, they gather at an abandoned wharf under the moon, turning their backs on the petroleum tanks and industrial ugliness behind them. They face the water. They face each other. They choose what to witness.

When Hackberry, the loyal German Shepherd who has been their bumbling, devoted guardian, begins to slow, the cats learn the hardest truth: love does not end when the body does. Presence continues. Grief and gratitude can live in the same heart. Nothing essential is ever lost-it only changes where it stands.

This is a book about cats. But it's really about:

• Grief that doesn't need fixing, only witnessing
• The courage to keep showing up when the world feels broken
• Small acts of love when you can't solve everything
• Memory without bitterness
• Belonging without perfection
• Presence as a practice

For readers ages 8 to 108 who have ever loved something that changed. For anyone who has sat at a window, waiting. For anyone learning that healing doesn't mean going back-it means staying present.
A multigenerational story in the tradition of Charlotte's Web, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Watership Down-a book children will love and adults will read twice, quietly, and carry with them long after.

Author: Deane Pope
ISBN-13: 9798249613532
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 02/23/2026
Pages: 204
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.53lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.47d