Griff Shares Heart and Humor Behind ‘Cats and Puppies’
Arlen “Griff” Griffin is making it clear: the title of his new audiobook is Cats and Puppies — not Cats and Dogs — and as he told Melissa Wade during a warm, funny, and moving interview on The Light 103.9, it is “not a book about animals.”
The newly released audiobook, which arrived April 1, 2026, is Griff’s deeply personal reflection on motherhood, raising sons, and the kind of resilience that shapes whole families.
Written and narrated by Griff, Cats and Puppies also features a foreword from his mother, a detail he said still shakes him emotionally.
Speaking with Wade, Griff explained the central idea behind the title through an analogy that is both playful and profound. He said he once learned that if something happens to a mother dog, a cat can raise the puppies as her own.
But while that cat can give the puppies love, care, and protection, she can only teach them what she has seen dogs do, not what she has lived herself. That image became Griff’s way of talking about mothers raising sons.
In his words, “men are puppies, women are cats,” and the book explores the gap, the grace, and the love inside that dynamic.
Griff said the audiobook is really “a love letter to my mom,” who raised five children, including three sons, after becoming pregnant at 15. He praised her strength, saying he watched her overcome obstacle after obstacle while building a life for her family.
The interview balanced laughter with real emotion, which has long been part of Griff’s appeal as a comedian, radio host, and storyteller.
When Wade asked why it was important for him to narrate the project himself, Griff kept it simple: “It’s my book. Who else gonna read it?” He added that listeners will likely be most moved by his mother’s foreword, which tells her story in her own voice.
Griff also described the audiobook as a message for more than just mothers. He said it is for sons, men, women, and anyone trying to understand growth, struggle, and the journey through hard seasons.
As he told Wade, life is not just about the destination. It is about learning how to “eat manna and not complain” while crossing the desert.
That mix of humor, wisdom, and testimony is what gives Cats and Puppies its emotional power — and why Griff believes it can truly change lives.
