MY CAT SPIT McGEE

''I had always been a dog man,'' swears the former Harper's editor, whose My Dog Skip was an homage to the pooch that was ''less my dog than my brother.'' In this remarkably engaging sequel, the confirmed ''cat misanthrope'' -- who died last August -- recounts how he did a pet 180, thanks to his feline-loving wife (a.k.a. ''Cat Woman'') and Spit McGee, a white kitten with mismatched eyes. Whether describing Spit's odd way of sleeping (''on his back with all four legs sticking straight up''), his clash with a possum, or his acrobatic leap when Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run -- no lie -- Morris poignantly captures the deep, elusive kinship between man and kitty. A-