Getting into trouble

Ever since I adopted Chessie four and a half years ago, none of my cats have ever messed with the books in my bookcases in the living room.

That changed this morning when I went downstairs and found one of the books on the floor with a shred of the cover missing. I'm sure they knew that I wasn't happy by the way I kept saying "Bad!" and didn't give them their morning treats. Both have been trying to be especially affectionate since I found the damaged book.

Any suggestions on how to keep them from messing with the books? I can't move them to another room or anything since I don't have the space for that. Also, does anybody else have incidents like this happen where the cats will suddenly start messing with things they normally wouldn't?

Oh yes, something can be in one place for YEARS and then one day, they discover it!

Only thing I know to do it put the "it" behind a closet door. :rolleyes:

Here's where the book was prior to their getting it off the shelf.

http://chatanuga.org/pics/misc/catbook01.jpg

Here's the damage they did to the cover jacket of the book yesterday morning.

http://chatanuga.org/pics/misc/catbook02.jpg

This morning, they got the same book off the shelf and destroyed the cover jacket.

http://chatanuga.org/pics/misc/catbook03.jpg

Apparently, they don't like Dr. Phil.

It certainly appears that they don't like Dr Phil, or maybe the idea of a diet either. :p:D

Is it possible you had the book out while cooking and some aroma
of the food transferred to the paper book cover? Cats are great at sniffing
out smells.

That book has never been in my kitchen. Any recipes that I do have are kept in a kitchen drawer that they can't get into. As far as his books go, I have yet to read any of Dr. Phil's books all the way through and haven't even opened them in almost four years. Only times that those books have been handled is when cleaning.

Last night, they did have the book partly pulled out on the shelf but haven't touched it since. Came home this evening, and everything was in order.