“Wake up Monty, it’s time to go to work.”
Monty is the locally famous bookstore cat at The Eclectic Reader in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was adopted from the Larimer Humane Society after an online search for a cat with a gregarious personality. It was June 2012 and we were in the middle of the tragic High Park Fire at the time of his adoption. In fact, smoke often filled the air and black grit seeped inside the bookstore. Monty was in a foster home due to lack of space at the shelter because of all the animals rescued from the fire.
Being that he was an orange cat, I wanted to name him something to honor the firefighters. The perfect name came to me rather serendipitously.
Ray Bradbury had just died on June 6th. Bradbury’s famous novel, Farenheit 451, is about a dystopian future where firefighters burn books because knowledge can cause people discomfort. Guy Montag is a firefighter who begins to wonder what it is about books that causes people to risk their lives having them. He sneaks some home. By the end of the story Montag has converted to one of the Book People.
Monty has been the ideal cat for a bookstore. His warm and loving personality accepts unconditionally. He just wants everyone to love him. He doesn’t want to fight other cats and he seems to like dogs if they don’t chase him. He even plays with them.
Monty’s work week begins on Tuesday, after two days off spent chillin’ at home with two other cats. He may run and hide when it is time to leave. He does this when it is time to leave the bookstore as often as at home. Willingly and eagerly he steps into the cage once he is caught. He travels well…usually without a single meow, lying in his cage like a sphinx, enjoying the sights. 
The Eclectic Reader 