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He’s got a lion’s head, huge paws and a face everyone’s soon gonna know and love.

Meet Starsky, one cool cat and the subject of a brand-new children’s book, “Kitty Humbug’s silver jewelry Christmas Tail.”

Written by Tucson artist Diana Madaras and illustrated by Madaras and Ric Nielsen, a graphic artist with the city of Tucson, the book is a colorful takeoff on “The Night Before Christmas.”

When Santa’s arm is broken early in the trip on Christmas Eve, guess who takes over spiriting the sleigh ’round the world?

Starsky, of course, though in the book he’s known as Kitty Humbug, a grouch of a feline until his sick little friend, Kitty Klondike, melts his heart where both live at the animal hospital.

Just like Kitty Humbug, Starsky is a rescue cat who now lives at a pet clinic — in this case, the River Road Pet Clinic.

Kitty Klondike was real, too, modeled after Madaras’ handicapped cat, Klondike, who died last May.

Madaras, a devoted animal lover, also takes her dog, Tango, to the River Road Pet Clinic. One day silver earrings at the clinic, she saw a photo of Starsky sporting a Santa cap — and looking none too happy about it.

“I just had to do a painting,” says Madaras. Then her sister, Sandy Levine, who lives in New Jersey, came in June to shoot a video of Starsky at his pet-clinic lair.

The six-minute video, “Kitty Humbug,” with musical accompaniment by local composer David Glinski, has been getting heavy traffic ever since it went up on YouTube in September. You can watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_IM-yQn_A

Someday, Madaras thought, she might do a book. “And then I went to Portugal this summer. It was a 10-hour flight, so I put down some thoughts on the book. Ten hours later, I had written the book — though I rewrote it 20 times.”

Other Kitty Humbug items also have been created, ranging from coffee mugs to T-shirts.

On Sunday, Madaras will sign her book. Its tale of friendship and redemption is no less heartwarming than that of its real-life counterpart.

A Himalayan-Persian mix, Starsky, now 6, was living at the Hermitage Cat Shelter five years ago when he was spied by veterinarian Geren Thurston, an associate at the River Road Pet Clinic.

“I was volunteering at the Hermitage (cat shelter) when I saw Starsky among all those other cats,” says Thurston. “He just stood out.”

After a brief stay at Thurston’s home, Starsky wound up at the clinic, where he had several ailments that needed attention.

“He had urinary issues, bladder issues, eye issues and an upper respiratory infection, says the clinic’s owner, veterinarian Richard Panzero. “Over time, he became a normal, healthy cat.”

And, it would seem, an integral part of the clinic.

“We had another clinic mascot, another cat named Galvez, but he was fading and died shortly silver key rings after Starsky’s arrival,” says Panzero.

In no time at all, Starsky was ruling the roost.

“He has his own run, with a cat tree donated by a client, that we fixed up,” says Panzero.

Starsky also roams the clinic at will, frequently tiptoeing around the computer keyboards at the reception area and greeting clients and their pets alike.

“He gets along very well with the pets that come in,” says Panzero. “There are a couple of dogs we know that have no fondness for him, so we put him away before they come in.”

Clients also come in just to visit Starsky from time to time, says Panzero. “He gets a fair amount of goodies, especially at the holidays.”

Others pop in who don’t even have pets.

“We have an assisted-living place close by, and a lot of people from there come in,” says Panzero. “Many of them have lost their pets.”

As for where Starsky got his name, it comes from the 2004 movie “Starsky and Hutch,” which has Ben Stiller in the Starsky role, whining that he’s bored.

“The staff picked up on that,” says Panzero. “This cat will have extreme activity followed by legendary sloth. So they started saying, ‘Starsky’s bored.’ The name just stuck.”

Boring, however, is far from the label anyone who’s met him would attach to this blue-eyed — and very cool — cat.

IF YOU GO

Diana Madaras will sign her book, “Kitty Humbug’s Christmas Tail” ($17.99 hardcover), from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at silver necklaces Madaras Gallery, 3001 E. Skyline Drive.

A portion of the proceeds, including money from other Kitty Humbug items, will benefit animal charities. Find more information at www.madaras.com

DID YOU KNOW

The Hermitage Cat Shelter is Arizona’s first no-kill, no-cage cat sanctuary and adoption center.