House Cat: How to Keep Your Indoor Cat Sane and Sound

House Cat: How to Keep Your Indoor Cat Sane and Sound
By Christine Church

As an indoor-only cat, I know nothing about the outdoors, and in spite of reports to the contrary, I’m convinced that it consists of One Big Veterinary Office. Even so, there are cats who have spent the better part of their lives outside, and once they’re brought inside to a safer, more healthy lifestyle, they still yearn for whatever it is that’s so appealing out there. This book addresses that issue, and also contains a lot of good advice to keep indoor life interesting, even for cats like me who have never been outside. Much of the information here is common sense — buying a cat tree that’s in line with the size and number of cats in the house, keeping the litter box clean and up to our requirements — but as we all know, humans have little common sense and need to given exact instructions to carry out. Fortunately the author makes everything quite clear, and also delves into our psychology in an effort to explain why some of our bad behavior is actually stress, loneliness or boredom (didn’t someone once say, “idle paws are the devil’s tools?”). She even explains how to build outdoor cat enclosures and how to harness train a cat (like that’s ever going to happen in this household!), offers health advice (in case your outdoor cat becomes ill and must stay inside), and tells you what to do in case your inside cat gets lost outside. Oh, and there’s also a human-specific section about dealing with cat hair (an issue that really doesn’t concern us cats — we like getting our cat fur everywhere). Even humans who have lived with cats all their lives will learn a thing or two from this book.