Customer Reviews

The Cat Who Cried for Help: Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of Cats

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I started fostering for Siamese Rescue and quickly realized that I needed a lot better grounding in cat psychology to effectively manage a multi-multi-cat household -- not to mention to help the cats who came to us with behavior problems. Being obsessive-compulsive, I ordered 8 cat behavior books. This one was the best by a pretty wide margin -- after reading it suddenly most of the various cats' behaviors began to make sense! ("Twisted Whiskers" was second best and also a very good book.)

Dodson writes well and describes cats with affection. In virtually every case, however, the afflicted cat ends up being treated with buspirone. (Dodson does not mention any tips on how to get cats to take the pills.)

I STOPPED reading on page 115--about half-way through the book when yet another cat was medicated. At the bottom of page 115 Dodson reveals that he has a patent on buspirone. Dodson has, according to the back jacket of the book "four patents for the pharmacological control of behavior problems".

While behavior problems can and should be humanely addressed, I wonder if forcing pills on cats cannot end up being counter-productive. Certainly it can help some of the time, especially if your cat likes to take pills. But the book ends up reading like one long advertisement for feline SSRI's.

This book was entertaining, but... there is only one 19-page chapter dedicated to the problem of "inappropriate elimination" (peeing/pooping in the wrong place), even though the author himself describes it as "the number one behavior problem". He says "No other problem causes so much grief and leads them so often to consider the final solution of euthanasia". I want to ask the author: given that, don't you think most people are buying the book for that reason and you should have dedicated more time to this topic??? The stories in that chapter did not contain any revelations for me - his examples all had fairly obvious causes and were easy to fix, such as the owner changed the litter box, boyfriend moved in, owner had 2 litter boxes for 6 cats, or the cat is doing it out of anxiety and responds nicely to medication (lucky them). Throughout the book, I wish he had spent less time making cute anecdotes and more time detailing possible effective interventions.

This book saved my sanity and the life of the rescue/stray cat I adopted into my household.

My stray kitty came with the usual feral physical problems. He also came with a feral mindset that I couldn't break through. As a noctural creature, he slept all day while I was at work, and was up all night, and I do mean ALL NIGHT. He frantically went from window to window trying to escape, he howled, he loudly meowed, he jumped up on my bed for some cuddling, jumped down to eat, urinated on all my furniture and on me, while I lay in bed trying to sleep; and in general, kept me and my resident cat (who is very quiet, by nature) up all night. I thought I would go crazy from lack of sleep.

Then I read Dr. Dodman's book. It is a revelation. I had no idea there were pet behaviorists, no idea there were veterinarians who prescribed mood altering drugs for behavioral problems, such as Elavil, Prozac, Valium, to name but a few. My vet turned out to be quite knowlegeable in this field, and prescribed an effective medication which immediately saw positive results. All of the psychological problems vanished after I gave my cat its first tiny pill.

The information concerning animal behavior is excellent and up to date.

I cannot recommend this book too highly.

BUY THIS BOOK, IF YOU OWN A CAT!

Dr. Dodman's book, "The Cat Who Cried for Help" is incrediably insightful and informative in an easy to read format. It is apparant that he has an exceptional understanding of feline behaviour and that he truly cares for the well being of cat and owner. His explaination of prescriptions used in behavior modification gave me the confidence to move forward this with method of treatment. When you have a problem with a cat you love and when parting with that cat is absolutely not an option, Dr. Dodman comes in with welcome, practical and sound advice. Anyone who loves cats will appreciate and benefit by reading this book.

I have four cats, all of whom have had behavioral problems due to abuse and/or abandonment issues. Reading this book gave me great advice and step by step guides on modifying inappropriate behavior. "The Cat who Cried for Help" is an entertaining and easy read that uses the author's own cases as examples of success and sometimes failure. I use the book often as a reference since each topic is broken into chapters with a clever title and funny case story to start.

For example, the chapter "The Writing on the Wall" deals with problems of kitty "bathroom" issues such as litter boxes, spraying/marking, UTI's, ect... Understanding why a cat does what it does, and what it's trying to tell me in the process has made our home a much happier, and cleaner, place! The importance the author puts on being patient is key to making this book successful. Solving feline problems doesn't happen over night- in our case it took about 5 months, but if you follow Dr. Dodman's advice and don't expect an immediate miracle, you will end up with a happy kitty (and owner)!

Having five cats in my home, I found this book truly informative. I often find that vets, hoewever professional, are limited in their knowledge of my cats behavior "problems", or what I perceive as a problem. Dr. Dodmans book made me believe for the first time that someone really knew what was going on in those precious little minds. I have two "sprayers" in my home, until this book, all I could get from the vets was, you have too many, get rid of some. Not as easy as all that for me, I love these cats. Dr Dodmans book gave me hope. I searched until I found a DVM that was willing to work with me in trying to help my cats get along with one another and hopefully curb their need to reestablish territorial boundries a dozen times a day. Thank you Dr.Dodman.

This is an older book, but the best written on the subject. If you are having problems with your cat, this book could easily save your cat's life! It covers all kinds of problems, like cats that don't get along, cats that "spray", etc., and the reasons for them, and how to stop them. I have used it for several years on several problems that seemed "impossible", and it worked every time.

I frantically read numerous cat behavior books desparately looking for a solution to a problem between my two cats before I finally came across Dr. Dodman's book. It is lightyears better than all others, no wonder since Dr. Dodman, who I subsequently contacted to work with me, has achieved a well-deserved reputation for being lightyears beyond any one else in his understanding of cat behavior. His work is inspired by a lifelong mission to solve cat behavior problems that result in the destruction of literally thousands of cats each year, and this book I'm sure has saved many a cat to date. A wide range of problems are discussed in wonderfully written case studies from Dr. Dodman's practice, including inter-cat aggression, the problem that led me to read the book. What shines through every story is that no behavior problem is impossible to resolve, if not one way, than another. This gave me the faith to continue working on my cats' problem long after other vets had said to give it up & give one cat away (something I could never face). I'm happy to report that thanks to this book, I now have two happily co-existing cats. It never would have happened without this book, and without Dr. Dodman--he is truly a lifesaver! Thanks again, Dr. D!

I cannot recommend this book enough. I adopted a 4 year old female from the humane society. Little did I know I was bringing an avid biter into my home. After 2 months, I was afraid of her.
Reading this book was an eye-opening experience and basic education on why cats do what they do. I learned I was the victim of dominance agression. Learning the reason for her agression and how to approach it helped me to help her overcome this affinity for biting me.