James Bowen was a homeless man selling magazines on the street when he met Bob, an outgoing kitten in need of a friend.
Bowen noticed a boil on the cat’s leg, so he scraped up enough money to pay for treatments in an attempt to help him find his way home. However, once healthy, Bob never left. Instead, the two became inseparable.
“When his treatments were done and I was trying to get him to find his own way home,” Bowen said. “He just started following me…”
Just like that, the two became a team. Bowen taught Bob new tricks including how to sit on his shoulders and play patty cake with locals.
The friends eventually grabbed the attention of local newspapers until one day, a book agent from New York approached them with the opportunity that changed it all.
With the help of Mary Pachnos, signer of the Marley & Me author, Bowen published his first book. A Street Cat Named Bob — and How He Saved My Life became an international bestseller, paving the way for the two to move into their own apartment and produce four more books.
Amazingly, it doesn’t end there.
The triumphant story was retold in a film which mirrors the title of his first book. The film debuted in 2016.
With their growing fanbase of 73,000 Facebook likes and 92,000 Twitter followers, Bowen and Bob make friends everywhere they go.
“I can’t move five feet without somebody wanting a photograph or an autograph,” Bowen says.
“Always look on the bright side of life,” he says. “You never know what is around the corner.”
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