Pam Johnson-Bennett

I really like this genre of animal-related, animal-positive non-fiction - James Herriot and Gerald Durrell, Jackson Galaxy, and so forth. I also adore felines. So I am the perfect reader for this book. I enjoyed the author's accounts of various cats and their human companions that popped up in her practice. Most anecdotes were amusing, but 0ne of the stories was so touching that it brought tears to my eyes, no shame felt.

Yeah, yeah, you think you have a handle on this stuff until you get that one last cat who throws your whole house into chaos. Ask me how I know this. Still, some fascinating stuff on cat body language at the beginning, and mostly good advice on introducing new cats to the household. Until you get that one superfreak cat, and then all bets are off. Harriet, I'm looking at you.

The best cat book we own. Johnson-Bennett's stories are always great and her advice really shows an understanding of cats. Following her advice really helped us raise our cats to be well behaved and affectionate. Good for behavioral issues. By following her advice on using playtime and positive reinforcement, you can really avoid many of the problems that people think are "natural" with cats. Her advice on socializing two new cats to like each other worked like a charm when we brought home a show more new kitty. show less

The title is a bit misleading. As a general guide for cat ownership and behavior, this is a fine book. But I didn't get as much info as I'd have liked about helping multiple kitties coexist peacefully. Also, sometimes I felt like this book was one big advertisement for Feliway (which we've tried, but doesn't seem to work) and other commercial cat products.