Over the years, we have been inspired by touching stories about service cats who bring love and caring into the lives of those they help. There are many fetching stories about felines becoming healing presences in hospitals, nursing homes, community organizations, libraries, and stores. As companions ourselves to three cats we have experienced first-hand the wisdom, beauty, attention, joy, and playfulness of these loyal and devoted animals.

A Street Cat Named Bob is set in London, England, where James (Luke Treadaway), a street musician discovers Bob, a stray orange cat, wandering around his subsidized housing in 2007. The film traces what happens next in this true story starring the real-life Bob in the title role.

James takes the cat around the neighborhood but doesn't find anyone who claims him. When the cat essentially moves into his place, he decides to keep him. A recovering heroin addict, James has to make sacrifices to have a pet. One time, he misses his appointment at the methadone clinic when he has to take Bob to the vet and treat a wound with expensive antibiotics.

Bob follows James around and sits on his shoulder as he sings his songs on the street. Soon the musician with the cat has new and enthusiastic audiences. Bob accompanies him after he gets a job selling a newspaper published by homeless people, and his sales soar. And best of all, Bob is with James as he goes through a painful and horrific program to get clean from heroin.

Two women encourage and support this drug addict as he struggles to turn his life around. One is a social worker, Val (Joanne Froggatt), and the other is an artistic neighbor, Belle (Ruta Gedmintas). But throughout the film, we marvel at the healing and helpful ministrations of Bob, a truly remarkable cat. In an interview in The Guardian, the real-life James says of his fight against heroin addiction:

"It was Bob who gave me the determination to knuckle down and get over it. Using drugs is a selfish thing; Bob gave me something else to focus on."