The Secret Thoughts of Cats was written and illustrated by Steven Appleby

Steven Appleby

Steven Appleby is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Britain. He is a dual citizen of the UK and Canada. His humour is usually observational or absurd....

, and first published in 1996.

Also known as the Infinite Subtlety of Cat Expressions, it focuses on the fact that cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

 expressions are always the same, no matter what the situation (apart from when asleep or dead). It has a picture of a cat with the same expression on every page, and a description of what it’s thinking or doing underneath. It finishes with ‘Afterthoughts’ of cats, a selection of observations made on cat behaviour. The first page is a picture of cat hairs, the last, cat hairs on cushions.

It was written in memory of: Terry, Dibble, Sally, and for Jim.