The Cat Owner’s Problem Solver:
How to Manage Common Behavior Problems by Thinking Like Your Cat
By Margaret H. Bonham
Although this is not a big book — it is well under 200 pages — it offers excellent, to-the-point solutions to many human-cat issues. And while it is human-written, the author does a pretty nice job of explaining issues from a cat’s point of view. For example, she compares a dirty litter box to a gas station restroom (thank you!) and notes that scratching is a necessity for us, not an option that can be discouraged just because a human finds it inconvenient. And she offers solutions to make the cat-human relationship work better. True, she does it from a human perspective, suggesting that we cats can be trained to keep the same waking/ sleeping hours as the humans we live with (rather than training the humans to conform to our hours, as I would prefer), and giving methods to keep us off of counters and other areas humans deem improper (frankly, I would have insisted that humans just suck it up and cope). There’s a lot of good information on broad issues like aggression, litter box problems, creating a good environment for us kitties, down to little details, such as how to gracefully accept a dead mouse or insect that your cat has gone through the effort of catching for you, and my favorite tip, making old cat toys new by putting them in a catnip-filled container. That last bit of advice is worth its weight in cat treats, and something every human should know! So until I write my own book about how humans should stop trying to think like a cat and just give in to all our desires, this book will do very well.
If you wrote an advice book, I would buy it and read it to Livvy every night! 😀 (She cannot read yet).
I will have to check it out! Another good book I just finished, even though directed at doggies, has lots of useful info on how to be an advocate for your cat, too. I highly recommend it…Speaking for Spot.
“Suck it up and cope” Excellent advice.
This book sounds like one all human kitty owners should read! Thanks for letting us know about it Sparkle!
Hmm, I need this book for my human.