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Outwitting Cats: Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Persuading the Felines in Your Life That What YOU Want Is Also What THEY Want Paperback – December 1, 2004
| Wendy Christensen (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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"I couldn't think of a single question that wasn't answered helpfully by this excellent book." -Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
"Here's a book your cat would have written for you. Anyone who has a cat, wants a cat or wants to know a cat should read this loving, lucid, comprehensive handbook. It's a gem." -Sy Montgomery
In 1985, silently as fog on little cat feet, cats padded past dogs as America's most popular domestic companion animal. While cat owners love their purring, fuzzy friends, cats can have another, rather unpleasant, side. Some cats spray; defecate and urinate on carpets, in corners, in shoes, on visitors' leather jackets; shred upholstery; chomp houseplants; ambush guests; caterwaul at all hours; and scratch and bite children, sometimes causing serious injuries and infections.
Skeptics will claim that it's impossible to train a cat. Happily, Wendy Christensen knows they're wrong. True, cats are intelligent, adaptable, patient, independent, stubborn, observant, and extremely quick learners. But they're also remarkably self-interested and quick to exploit a good deal. Outwitting a cat means persuading the cat that what you want is also what he wants.
Whatever your immediate, urgent specific cat problem-aggression, bullying, clinginess, refusal to eat-you'll find answers here. Wendy Christensen can tell you what works-and what doesn't. What to do right away-and what never to do. She'll share tips and cat-and-owner-tested secrets to reversing, redirecting, and solving-for good-even the thorniest behavior problems. And she'll tell you how to head off future problems, simply by understanding how your cat thinks.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLyons Press
- Publication dateDecember 1, 2004
- Dimensions5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-101592282407
- ISBN-13978-1592282401
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Here's a book your cat would have written for you. Anyone who has a cat, wants a cat or wants to know a cat should read this loving, lucid, comprehensive handbook. It's a gem." --Sy Montgomery, author of "Spell of the Tiger," "Journey of the Pink Dolphins" and "Walking with the Great Apes"
"Wendy Christensen is a talented and lyrical writer. This book is filled with solid information designed to help feline advocates make responsible choices. As usual, Wendy's concern, compassion, dedication and love for cats shine through every word. I am a fan!" -- Amy D. Shojai, president emeritus of the Cat Writers Association and author of over 20 pet books
"From input to output, adoption to saying good-bye, The Humane Society of the United States Complete Guide to Cat Care captures it all. Refreshingly honest, and extensively researched by award-winning author, Wendy Christensen, the Guide to Cat Care helps us enrich our cats' lives. Since early Egyptians made altars to their felines, generations of cat lovers have followed in their timeless footsteps. 'To honor and obey,' cats wouldn't have it any other way!" -- Bob Walker and Frances Mooney, authors of "The Cats' House" and "Cats into Everything"
"Wendy Christensen offers advice in your cat's best interest. She has tips you've never thought of. Wendy is a guardian angel for cats." -- Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services syndicated columnist, host syndicated "Animal Planet Radio" and "Pet Central" on WGN Radio, senior columnist, Pet Life magazine.
"Libraries with small or outdated collections will definitely want to add this one, while those with more expansive collections should seriously consider purchase." -- Library Journal
"Comprehensive, crisp and clear -- an essential read for all cat lovers." -- Maryjean Ballner, author of "Cat Massage" and "Dog Massage"
"I couldn't think of a single question that wasn't answered helpfully by this excellent book."-Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
"Here's a book your cat would have written for you. Anyone who has a cat, wants a cat or wants to know a cat should read this loving, lucid, comprehensive handbook. It's a gem."-Sy Montgomery
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Lyons Press; 1st edition (December 1, 2004)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1592282407
- ISBN-13 : 978-1592282401
- Item Weight : 12.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,465 in Cat Care
- Customer Reviews:
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Whether or not you agree with the title ("Outwitting" is a series, BTW, and authors had to kinda retrofit their writing to fit the theme - Outwitting Dogs is another excellent entry in the series), this book holds nothing but useful information.
Top reviews from other countries
I'd bought this book intending to give it to a friend new to cat-keeping because so much of getting along with cats is about learning how to read them and how they understand their environment. Let's just say that friend went into adopting a cat thinking of it as a mysterious, little dog. If you're reading this you're likely to have a cat and be shaking your head at the notion! I read the blurb and thought that this book sounded ideal to help my friend get into the psychology of cats. It arrived and I did that thing where I thought I'd flip through the book first and I'm glad I did. I would not recommend it to UK based cat-lovers, even if you prefer to have indoor only cats.
I must admit that the author immediately put my hackles up with her fantasy account of the domestication of the cat. It's all wrong from the sub-species she identifies to her description of Bronze Age vessels. Okay, I thought, one can be brilliant with cats without giving a fig for history, so I set my prejudices aside and read on.
First off, if you've ever looked up anything about cats online you'll know that Americans have VERY strong views about things, especially that letting a cat go outside is tantamount to abuse whereas most British, and dare I say European , cats are indoor/outdoor creatures, indeed, no local shelter to me will allow anyone to adopt a cat to be solely an indoor cat if it cannot be proven that it's always been an indoor cat. I think the publisher made the author put in the line where she grudgingly acknowledges that cats are sometimes let outside because her solution to your cat being aware of neighbours' cats outdoors is TO TRAP THEM AND TAKE THEM TO A SHELTER TO REHOUSE THEM ELSEWHERE and she mentions this more than once. It's clear her goal is to rid the locality of outdoor cats. Let's be clear, she does not mean strays but your neighbours' cats.
The second thing that lost her credibility in my eyes is the authors approach to cleaning up vomit or hairballs. She recommends letting them dry in situ before lifting! Urgh!!!! She also seems to take a dim view of restricting cats from any surfaces such as kitchen bench tops. I love cats and love sharing my home with cats but I would not want to ever visit the author's home. The thought makes my skin crawl.
The third major reason is more nebulous. Her observations and subsequent interpretation often jars with my own experiences. I don't think I'm alone because there are other cat authors out there whose writings accord well with my lived experiences and observations of groups of cats.
That's not to say that there aren't little gems of wisdom here and there but if they were edited into a standalone document it's be a few A4 sheets of paper at most and when balanced against the not applicable to the UK, things that will get you in trouble with the police, and things that in my experience don't apply to any cat I've ever met the book is more a harm than a help. There were better books published before this one and better ones published since, not to mention a wealth of information online these days. I was glad to put this book "beyond use."
