Space Cat and the Kittens is the fourth and final book in Ruthven Todd's Space Cat series. The kittens are Marty and Tailspin, the offspring of Flyball the Space Cat and his mate, Moofa, the red Martian cat who was introduced in book 3, Space Cat Meets Mars. The kittens are red and gray with red tails. They look the same except for the gray tuft at the end of Tailspin's tail. Marty is the elder by a few minutes and is so proud of that fact.

The first chapter tells readers about the kittens' antics on Luna Port, where they were born. (The soup incident made me feel sorry for the chef.) It's a good thing the residents like the cat. Flyball is somewhat reluctant to take the kittens on the latest space trip, but Moofa says they must.

Not only will this be their longest voyage yet, but there will also be another human along, Bill Parks. Flyball's human, Colonel Fred Stone, brings Bill home to meet the rest of the crew. Luckily for Bill, the cats do not reject him.

This voyage will be on a new, faster-than-light rocketship named 'Einstein'. They're heading for Alpha Centauri.
The voyage takes up chapters three and four. Bill is kind enough to provide the kittens with an impromptu toy. I smiled at Fred having to get the kittens into their space suits. They may be used to traveling from the moon to Earth and back, but they hate their suits. Of course, Flyball and Moofa don't like their suits either, but they're adults and put up with Fred suiting them up.

The astronauts do find a livable planet, although it is considerably smaller than Earth. It's apparently a case of parallel evolution, although the new planet is well behind the home planet. The pygmy mammal and pygmy dinosaurs encountered make sense, given what happened to large animals stranded on islands over generations here.

Bill gets in some action, but the real danger involves Marty and Tailspin being rescued by Fred and Flyball.

I loved the fact that Flyball has implied he was better at catching birds and mice than he actually was to his sons. I also enjoyed finding out how Moofa knows when the boys have actually tried to clean themselves off or not. Marty and Tailspin are definitely chips off the old Flyball block.

While I liked Fred's comment about the natural balance of life on the new planet, and that the thought of what human settlers would probably do to the native fauna made him sigh; I am not happy that he said it was none of his and Bill's business. I also didn't like Moofa being left behind with Bill during the rescue.

Other than those things, this book was every bit as charming as its predecessors. I wish there were more Space Cat books. ( )