Customer Reviews

The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Whoa. I am a cat lover. In fact, I am a lover of all animals. Anyone who "gives away" their animals, as far as I'm concerned, might as well be abandoning their children. And that's why I cannot recommend this book.
On page 252, Hotchner blithely discusses giving away 2 cats, Bert and Ernie, after acquiring a third dog. Huh? This is the same woman who chides the reader for not understanding that a cat is a 10 to 20 year commitment? I don't get it.
Well, apparently she acquired a puppy, which then created a pack mentality among the dogs. "So I gave the cats to a friend."
She was about as emotional as discussing discarding day-old bread.
So the cats had been living happily with your two dogs before you brought a new puppy into the home? Wouldn't it make sense to find the relatively emotionally unattached puppy a new home rather than destroying the lives of your two devoted cats?
Bottom line: I wonder if the DVM who endorsed this book thoroughly digested that heartbreaking nugget...ditto the humane society endorser.
The subhead of this book should be altered to read: Everything your Cat Expects You to Know: Please don't Abandon Me. I will Bond to You. I need to Know You are There for Me forever.
If someone writes a "Cat Bible" it would help if 1) they actually had credentials in the veterinary field and b) they actually liked cats.

When I hear the word "Bible" I tend to think of a definitive, comprehensive source regarding the topic...however, this book was a collection of prejudices strewn together without a lot to back it up. The "cat nutrition" issue and pet vaccine sections espoused in her book were off the mainstream but only mentioned 2-3 people that could support this viewpoint.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that her "advice" is often inconsistent--for example, "all cats should be spayed and neutered, there is a horrible overpopulation problem, kittens are dying..." but it's great to breed cats if they're "genetically pure." (My cat did not appreciate that, she is lovelier than any purebred, without the inbreeding mutations!...and she is spayed) Having a cat is a joyful, lovely experience, and this book was more of a diatribe against cat owners who would dare raise their cats differently than this (completely-unqualified) journalist recommends. "Cat-a-log" is a much more cat-inspired, humorous book that manages to fairly present as much information that this so-called "Bible" presents.

This book directly contradicts itself about raw diets and flushable cat litter, making these two confusing subjects even more confusing. Did an actual editor read this before it was printed? Overall, the information in this book doesn't rise above "obvious" very often.

The author has very strongly stated opinions, but she is not always consistent. For example: she goes through a list of all the "bad" things that can be found in cat food, then gives a list of "recommended" brands and flavors. One of the recommended flavors--which happened to be the only one I had on my shelf--is full of the "bad" and has none of the "good" ingredients she talked about.

The author claims that "The Cat Bible" is all-inclusive. However, she intentionally does not address the issues of pregnancy and birth because she feels that ALL cats should be neutered with the exception of purebred breeding stock. (p. 321) I love cats, but I don't particularly want to own a purebred cat. The book definitely does not help me with the care of the pregnant stray I just took in.

I'm sure there is a lot of good information in this book. However, I would want confirmation from another source rather taking taking this literally as my "Cat Bible." Therefore, I feel that this has been a waste of money.

Tracie Hotchner has once again provided pet owners with the ultimate guide to owning and caring for their pet!

The Cat Bible contains information that is essential for a happy healthy life for both the cat owner as well as the cat. With detailed information on wise food choices and insight into those interesting cat behaviors, The Cat Bible is a resource and reference that owners will return to time and time again.

Tracie Hotchner shares her expertise in a way that is easy to read, and keeps you turning page after page. This book is nothing short of FANTASTIC! I highly recommend it to seasoned cat owners or those thinking of adopting a new kitten into their home. Hotchner is the "Dr. Spock" for pet owners!

Seriously, don't bother with this book. Go to reputable vet sites, and read the articles there, that is all you will need. This woman is not a cat lover. Give them away, get dogs instead. What an intellegent marketing strategy for this cat book! She is not the Martha Stewart of cats, and she will insult your common sense.

When I first read this book it was to see if there was something more I could do to make my cats happier. After reading over some of her pretentious and oftentimes preachy advice I found that by using it, I simply irritated my cats. Here is some advice for anyone with a pet, love that pet, treat them like a person, they have feelings too, keep them safe, fed, and you will have a happy cat. As for this book, Haku and Niwa had more fun chewing and shredding it than any of their toys....

After adopting a stray cat as my first pet, I felt I needed to learn as much as I could about caring for her. This book was perfect! It covers everything you could think to ask and is written in such a delightfully readable style that you won't want to miss a word. The section on wet vs dry food is a real eye opener. Don't believe the cat food manufacturer's endorsements; learn what they don't want you to know about cat nutrition and why many brands are harming our felines. Also includes litterbox issues, visiting the vet, bathing and much, much more. I'm buying extra copies for friends. Thanks to the author for an excellent reference.

I bought this book hoping to find good, practical advice about owning my first cat. Instead, I found the book to be extremely condescending and preachy. Rather than giving truly practical advice about cat-related matters, I was treated to Ms. Hotchner's personal diatribes on issues such as declawing, cat food, spaying/neutering, etc. I would have vastly prefered a more dispassionate discussion of the pros and cons of these issues rather than Ms. Hotchner's one-sided opinions.

I am not sure I would call myself a cat person, but I would call myself an animal lover. As one of the other posters has said, I would agree that giving up any of my pets would be like giving up a child (from the tiniest crab to my giant 32 pound cat). I have three cats, all of which were adopted 2 from no kill shelters and 1 off the streets. Ages 3, 7, and 8. With that said I admit not buying the book. However I did down load what was a rather sizeable sample on Amazon Kindle. What I got I did not like, the sample is as far as I got with reading this book. I am siding with the rest of the negative reviews as they seem to be the only ones that bothered to read the book in detail.

The author makes claims that you should buy her book because she does what other authors have not done. Even though she admitted prior to this being totally lost on how to connect with her cat. I am not a cat expert, but I have never had a time that I could not connect with my cats, nor has there been a time I did not understand them. Not having this connection prior to starting the book makes me question how she can call herself a cat expert. She also made claims about so many cat books out there are about cats understanding our language and are physic. I have yet to see any books claiming cats are physic, but I am pretty sure that cats do understand some of our words not to mention body language, they after all are very cleaver animals. Cats train you, you don't train them. I can say its bed time and my youngest cat's ears will perk up. When she sees me go to the bedroom she runs and jumps to the usual spot where she sleeps. They are not English experts and going to write a novel, but it does not take an expert to know a certain sound equates to a certain activity. She also makes claims that books do not cover what would stimulate your cat, for that she needs to browse Amazon to see how wrong that claim is. There are so many books whose only subject is on how to entertain your cat. One of my favorite books on cat stimulation is Bird Watching for Cats, published long before her book was out. A favorite past time for my cats and myself (quail being the favorite to watch of the big cat), and when I say "time to feed the birds" they all run to the window to watch me refill the feeders.

Because of her claims of their not being any comprehensive books on cats, I can tell you she did not do enough research. I have probable spent an hour total in the last 20 years to acquire 12 books on cats . You would think she could have spent at least a few weeks on researching the books of her competitors.

Then there is her whole thing about how a $15 toy is worthless and its better to get bottle caps and such. My cats have mostly similar interests in toys, they like the paid for stuff, and the free stuff. My two girls like the little noisy plastic balls, while one of the girls and my big guy love paper bags. Another likes a $16 toy that I previously reviewed on Amazon, while the other two cats do not. Then there is the stuffed toy rabbit with a pink ribbon my niece left that the big boy cat like to sleep with. The list of what each cat likes is long and complicated where one toy is failed with 1 or 2 cats there is a cat that likes it.

Perhaps it's the sample, but the formatting sucked. After the whole you should buy my book because its better then everyone else's book, she broke into the questions that you should ask yourself before getting a cat. I really felt the questions if not the whole sample was condescending. Frankly the people that she was hoping to talk out of getting a cat are the same people that would not bother getting books on cats. Chances are the person that would buy a book on cats would already have one or more. I buy books on cats to make sure I can offer my cats the best possible living conditions. Granted many of the books I have were before my three cats, but bought when I had other cats.

Without any break she goes in to a whole tangent on why you should get pet insurance for your pet. Which is great since pet insurance is a fairly new and growing product and people should know where to get pet insurance and what to look for in a policy. This is information that should be under a chapter on pet health care, not taking up more space then the rest of the questions that you should ask yourself before getting a cat. Soon after she goes into how to acquire a cat, that soon changes to breeds of cats.

Based on the sample I have to discourage anyone from buying this book if they want serious information for their cat.