Let me start by saying I have only read half of this book so far. However we have implemented several of the suggestions/ideas from this book into our lives and it has fixed our major problems at home. I was impressed by the knowledge of the author and the results from implementing her teachings that I had to give a review. I may update later after I have finished it.
I had one cat peeing outside of the box and it was getting to the point that I wondered if I really could keep him. (And I've never believed in relinquishing your animals unless you medically/physically cannot care for them anymore....it had gotten this bad when I found this book). Living in an apartment made all of this worse because not only was he ruining several of our furniture items, I know we will have to replace some things in the apartment that do not belong to us before we move out. In this book there are several solutions to this problem, you just have to figure out WHY the cat is behaving this way. The author gives different ideas/ways to tell what the problem is and maybe some trial and error in figuring out the problem and then the solutions to change the behavior. She is very thorough in the process.
The author lets you get inside your cats head and teaches you how to read the body language. She also helps you figure out the pecking order of your cats (if you have more than one) and distinguishes the meaning of their reactions to each other. It is all very interesting, even if you aren't having these kinds of problems in your multi-cat home. It all helps you understand what is going on inside that crazy little cat head and then able to help the poor kitty by fixing the problem that he sees in his home. I really like that the author uses 'fixes' that don't associate the owner with a bad feeling. Its all very sneakily set up and the cat won't make the connection to you.
Personally I really liked the toy suggestions in the interactive play time section. I have bought so many cat toys and my cats just don't care about them. You have to find what they like....I'm not a cat toy expert. The author suggested several toys that are a hit with the cats she has worked with and these toys do work! I purchased several of them (even for my inlaws cat) and I even got some interaction out of the least interested cat in the household. We have even started clicker training. It's been successful for the most part (one isn't motivated by food)...I suggest the Cat training in 10 minute book for that.
Here is an overview of the chapters in the book:
1. Get Reacquainted with your Feline Einstein
Body Posture
Ears
Eyes
Whiskers
Nose
Mouth
Tongue
Tail
Vocalization
2. Real Estate Reality Check - Is your Cat's Environment Part of the Problem?
Indoor/Outdoor
Vertical Thinking
Hideaways and Tunnels
Scratching and Climbing
The Litter Box Environment
The Feeding Station
Bedtime
-Feline Home Makeover: Operation Enrichment
-Climbing and Perching
-Stimulation
-Safety
-Familiarity
3. Serious Fun - Play Therapy
Obesity
How to Use Play Therapy to your advantage
Interactive Play
Choosing Interactive Toys
Interactive Play Therapy Techniques
Play Therapy Schedule
Interactive Play Sessions for Multiple Cats
Interactive Play Therapy for Retraining
Solo Play
Catnip
Clicker Training
Clicker Training in a multi cat home
Beyond Basic training
4. Retraining old habits and More Serious problems you thought you had to live with
Retrain with the right 'starting from scratch' attitude
Rebuilding trust
Correcting those Little Annoying Problems
-Counter Hopping
-Door Dashing
-Plant nibbling
-Curtain Climbing
-Computer Crashing, cat style
-Interior decorating with toilet paper
-Toilet water fascination
-Faucet fixation
-Nightly noises and crack-of-dawn wake-ups
-Oliver Twist Syndrome
Correcting More Serious Problems
-Boredom
-Depression
-The grieving cat
-The fearful cat
-Fear of people
-Separation Anxiety
Compulsive Behaviors
-Psychogenic alopecia
-Compulsive licking
-Wool sucking, chewing and pica behavior
-Feline hyperesthesia
Medicating a Cat who doesn't want to be medicated
-Knowing your options
-Pilling
-Administering liquid medication
-Applying ointment or cream
-Eye medication
-Ear medication
5. Tired of those Out of Box Experiences? - Retraining to the litter box
Reevaluate the Current setup
-What we assume cats want
-What your cat really wants you to know
-Why problems occur
-Spraying and indiscriminate urination
Back to the box
-Products you'll need
-Spraying
-Retraining a Sprayer
-Indiscriminate urination
-Retraining and indiscriminater
-Location Strategies
-Turf Claims and overcrowding
-Other deposits that occur outside the box
-Toilet training cautions
6. Tattered and Shredded - Retraining inappropriate scratching
The need to scratch
Declawing
Nail Caps
Refresher Course on Scratching
Rethink the Current scratching post setup
The Retraining process: Operation Velvet Paws
-Furniture Armor: Set the stage for retraining
-The right post
-The right Location
-Retraining
-Bonus retraining tips
7. Mealtime - I want what I want when I want it!
Maybe the Bowl is the problem, not the food
The bottomless bowl: pros and cons of free-feeding
Pros and Cons of Scheduled Feeding
Finicky Eating Syndrome and Fixed Food Preference
Retraining the Finicky Eater
Bowl Bullies
Cats on Different diets
Tubby Tabbies: Safe Mealtime Retraining
Stick to the Plan
8. Spits and Spats - Aggression, Biting, and FIghting
The Biter
Aggression
-Fear Aggression
-Petting Induced Aggression
-Redirected aggression
-Pain induced aggression
-Territorial aggression
-Play aggression
-Predatory aggression
-Intercat aggression
-Status related aggression
-Maternal aggression
-Idiopathic aggressions
The Starting From Scratch Reintroduction Technique
Other Uses and Variations on the Reintroduction Technique
When professional Help is needed
Psychopharmacological intervention
9. Why Can't we all just get along? - your cat and other family members
Is your cat meant to be the only cat in the house?
-Dislike or Fear of the new cat in the home
+Starting from scratch with a proper introduction
Dog panic
Birds, hamsters and other small pets
When the new baby creates kitty crisis
-If the baby isnt home yet
-After the bundle of joy arrives
Kids and cats
Fixing Blended family cat-astrophes
The cat avoiding spouse
The spouse avoiding cat
10. Travel retraining - on the road with your own Mr. or Miss Grumpypaws
Look at travel from your cats point of view
Retrain Your Cat to the Carrier
-The starting from scratch retraining process
-The emergency technique for getting a carrier-hating cat into the carrier
Long Distance Car Travel
Air Travel
Home Alone Kitty: Retraining the cat who hates pet sitters
Boarding Woes
How to reduce anxiety for Vet Visits
Leash Training an Adult Cat
Moving to a new home
-Start early
-Moving Day
-The new home
11. Cat versus Brush - groom your cat and live to talk about it
Look at your current grooming technique from kitty's POV
How the grooming session should be view by kitty and the cat owner
The retraining process
Time for tools
Brushing and combing
Nail trimming
Ear cleaning
Teeth cleaning
Bathing
Hairballs
12. Looking ahead - Senior Cat behavior
Behavior and physical changes
Make adjustments as needed
The litter box
Feline cognitive disorder
Other companion animals in the home
Show patience and tolerance
Enjoy this time together
Pros:
-Understand what your cat is thinking/what he wants
-Understand What you are really saying to your cat by your actions
-More than one suggestion on fixing each problem
-You don't become the bad guy when fixing different behavioral problems
-Great suggestions on items/products that work
-Doesn't just tell you to 'make it more interesting for your cat'...actually gives suggestions on how to do that
-Informative book for the new cat owner and the old cat owner.
Cons:
-I really couldn't think of any....
I cannot vouch that all of the suggestions in the books works, luckily I haven't had all of these problems with my cats. All I know is that the ones that I've tried have worked. My cats are more interactive and I can use what I've read in the book to help in future situations. Example that might not be obvious to all cat owners: I dropped off one of my cats for some dental work yesterday and after picking him up close to 5, I brought him home and my other cat flipped out. She was hissing at him and running up to him acting like she was going to bop him one on the nose. So from the ideas I had gotten from this book, I figured that 1. she had anxiety that he wasn't there all day with her. 2. He spent all day at the vet and smelled like the vet. 3. He was still drugged up and walking funny...causing her more confusion. Before I read the book I probably would have scolded her for trying to smack him around but instead I separated the two cats for awhile until he was acting more normal and hopefully smelled a little more like home. They were both fine after that.
I hope this review helps some people. I definitely recommend the book to anyone with cats or a love of animals. It is a very interesting read either way. ( I purchased the Ebook and I'm very happy with it since you can click on the different titles in the table of contents and go back easily for a refresher.)
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What initially drew me to this book was the picture on the front cover, which could easily have been a picture of my new cat who loves to chew, tear and otherwise destroy any papers or cardboard in his path!! Who ever heard of a cat who chews and pulls apart anything paper related?? This cat has been driving me out of my mind, and I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to make this weird behavior stop. So I bought this book ... and loved it! Pam Johnston-Bennett clearly has a ton of knowledge, yet she was able to share it in a very easy to understand manner. I expected the book to be somewhat dry, but was pleasantly surprised at what an enjoyable read it was, (it's like she's talking to you as a friend). I won't say my, "monster kitty" is 100% reformed, but there has been some positive changes already which I'm incredibly grateful for!!p.s. I'm including a picture that shows my "pre-reformed" cat in his favorite box, (thankfully, he likes the toy that came inside the box as well!!) Be sure to notice the pieces of cardboard around him that he chewed/ripped off the box, along with the cardboard missing from the lid/side flaps of the box. I was actually thrilled when the box became the focus of his destruction ... better that then my bills!! :)
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