Nagelschneider M. Bantam Books, New York, USA. 2013. 310 pp. ISBN 978-0-553-80785-1. $29.95.
As a practicing small animal veterinarian, I have been faced all too many times with the emotional rollercoaster that is feline inappropriate urination. This, and other difficult feline behavioral issues made me interested in reading Ms. Nagelschneider’s book, “The Cat Whisperer.”
The book starts by providing insight into the author, and how she became involved in the field of feline behavior. This is followed by sections on introducing (or reintroducing) cats to each other, evaluating the cat’s territory, and a discussion of some of the health problems that can cause behavioral issues. Finally, there are chapters on feline aggression, inappropriate elimination, marking, excessive meowing, destructive behaviors, and compulsive behaviors.
Over-all, I was quite pleased with the book. I felt that Ms. Nagelschneider’s approaches to behavior issues make a lot of sense. I appreciated that she consistently reminds readers of the need to have cats examined by a veterinarian early in the process so rule out possible illnesses or injuries that might be at the root of the problem. She also touches on a personal soapbox of mine, which is declawing. She explains in great detail how and why this is a negative procedure for cats, which should be avoided. The author worked as a Veterinary Assistant and a Veterinary Technician for a number of years before she began her work as a cat behaviorist full time.
Ms. Nagelschnerder emphasizes that cats don’t have an “agenda” with their behavioral issues, and strongly recommends avoiding anthropomorphism in these situations. This is an important recommendation, given that dealing with behavior problems can be difficult for owners, especially if the owner believes that the cat is somehow doing it on purpose. Throughout the course of the book, the reader learns to recognize patterns of mistakes that human caregivers make, which lead to conflict between cats and their owners, as well as between cats in the household. This ultimately helps the reader recognize how the cat’s environment shapes their behavior, and how simple changes can be made to improve the cat’s quality of life and avert the problematic behavior.
I do, however, have a few minor complaints about the book. The introductory chapter is excessively long in describing how the author befriended feral cats as a child by feeding them tuna fish sandwiches. I felt that this could have been much shorter.
Several times, Ms. Nagelschneider recommends free-feeding cats. She asserts that food scarcity causes stress in cats, and may lead to conflict between cats, and anxiety that can lead to behavior problems. While I appreciate that feeding only one or two meals a day may be stressful for a cat, and that maybe feeding many small meals throughout the day would be better, I strongly disagree with her belief that most cats self-regulate if free-fed. This may be anecdotal, but most cats I know do not self-regulate, and unless their feedings are carefully controlled, they have a tendency to become overweight. To be fair, she does mention what to do if a cat doesn’t self-regulate, but I feel that the amount of time spent recommending free-feeding is out of proportion to the number of cats who can handle it.
Finally, I found the Feline Aggression chapter needed to be massaged a bit, editing-wise. The problem is that there are many sub-types of aggression and then further sub-types of several of these. The chapter became confusing, as the author would lump different types of aggression together when presenting the CAT plans for them, and it became difficult to differentiate which recommendations were for which type of aggression. Hopefully this issue can be remedied in later editions of the book.
In conclusion, I do recommend this book, both for veterinarians and clients. I think that it contains valuable insight into why cats do what they do, and it gives readers the tools to recognize what might be causing stress in a cat’s life, how that might be causing behavioral issue(s), and how these stressors can be avoided or re-configured to keep everyone happy. Ms. Nagelschneider works hard to show people that there are many options aside from euthanasia to deal with even the most frustrating of behaviors, and I think she succeeds in giving cats a fair shake.