The Cat Whisperer - Why Cats Do What They Do - And How to Get Them to Do What You Want

by Mieshelle Nagelschneider, Gwen Cooper (Foreword), James R. Schultz Jr. (Preface)

In this 310 page book, author Mieshelle Nagelschneider, one of the nation's most renowned and sought-after cat behaviorists, shares her wealth of knowledge, gained from years of experience, about cats and their behavior. From the rear cover: "In her book, Mieshelle Nagelschneider explains the behavior of the house cat in an unprecedented and most accessible way, offering unique insight into the often misunderstood companion animal that is as wild as we have become civilized!" and "[The author] is a wizard at demystifying cat behavior and providing easy-to-follow steps for solving vexing problems." and "Pet owners despairing of getting their cats to behave will find new hope in this comprehensive guide. This book more than meets Nagelschneider's goal of guiding owners to the strategies for behavioral and environmental change needed to address such issues as urination outside the litter box and aggressiveness." In his preface, veterinarian, Dr. Schultz writes "I will be recommending this book to all of my cat clients!".

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats, Animals, Psychology, Self Help, Reference

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[VampireNovelFan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a reference book, this was a very engaging and interesting read filled with tips, facts, and hilarious anecdotes. As a cat owner myself, it's a great to put a term to the things my cat does. It's also nice to see what behaviors my cat does NOT exhibit because even though he's not perfect, it could always be worse.

There were a few detailed directions on several subjects from retraining to introducing multiple cats in one household to clicker training. The book is broken into sections which makes it a lot easier to skip to the chapter you're looking for if there's a specific topic of interest.

While I found it to be informative, a lot of it wasn't relevant to my actual cat. The one thing I haven't been able to curtail with my little guy still has no clear or ideal answer. My cat is a serial cord chewer. I've lost many an electronic device(expensive ones too) due to his habit. The one solution is to wrap my cords in no chew tape; it's what veterinarians use to wrapped around a pet's leg after surgery to keep them from picking at their wound or stitches. It's just very expensive to buy roll after roll for every cord.

While helpful, it didn't provide a clear solution to my cat's chewing habit. It suggests a bitter apple type of spray, but I've tried that in the past and I know that my cat is not phased by the taste. At best he is simply annoyed when it's sprayed at him directly, but an ordinary spray bottle with water does the same trick.

All in all, while this was one of the most interesting reference texts I've ever read, it didn't completely solve my issue nor did it suggest the pseudo solution provided by my vet, so in the end I had to take away a star. I think all cat owners and potential owners should read it, but it is not the be all end all to problematic behavior.

*ARC Provided by Edelweiss

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author claims a 90% success rate, but only if you follow her methods. She has a lot of good ideas, but damn, it would take a hard core committment (not to mention money) to really follow her requirements. Take, for example, litter boxes. One litter box per cat plus one extra, can't be in the laundry room (too scented) or the bathroom (too damp), can't be tucked away in a corner or hidden, can't be the covered kind of litter box, must be at least a foot away from all walls. In my very small house with my three cats, this means that I need to have an open litter box in my living room, kitchen, and each bedroom, somewhere close to the middle of each room. I really love my cats and I wish they were happier with each other, but I am just not willing to turn my house over to the litter boxes.

The author does make some good suggestions that I've implemented with at least a bit of success (working to create a group scent, distracting my more aggressive cats when they are staring each other down), and a few more that I think will also help, and I think her basic C.A.T. plan is good, but it would be nice if the plan were presented in a way that would make it more doable for the average person, instead of just leaving us feeling guilty for apparently not being truly committed to the happiness of our cats.

[Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book for review. There was no contract other than a request that I write a review. No payment was made to me for doing this, other than the receipt of the book.

Millions of cats are needlessly euthanized every year due to behavioral issues. Some people take them to the vet; others drop them off at animal shelters where they will be put down after a short time waiting for an adoption that never comes.

This book as an attempt to help the reader understand why cats may behave in undesired ways and how to rectify the situation. From a young age Mieshelle had an affinity for understanding cat psychology. Starting as a vet tech she perfected her ideas and now has over 33,000 hours of experience in cat behavior analysis. She claims almost 100% success in most issues, and over 90% in others.

For that alone, if you are struggling with a cat “pooping outside the litterbox” issue, this book probably warrants a read.

The book outlines how we project our feelings into what cats think, and how we are totally off in understanding what they actually are thinking.

Chapter 2 helps outline how the successive chapters will be laid out, so that the reader can skip ahead to the (probable) reason they bought the book.

There is a lot of “how to” of dealing with new cat introductions, cat antisocial behavior and other problem behaviors. And there is even some cool stuff on training your cat to do simple tricks (the author has a soft spot for the “high five”.)

I only have a couple criticisms of the book.

The first is that there was a lot of space used in the beginning for the author’s backstory. It was all very interesting and helpful for the reader to realize that this is someone you should possibly pay attention to, but it was a lot. Like 20% of the book.

I also think that her methodology of introducing two cats would take too long and possibly freak out a cat stuck in one room even more than just introducing the cats in the beginning.

And finally (and this isn’t really a criticism per se) the book doesn’t seem to be written for someone to read straight through. You probably wouldn’t in a real-world situation since Fluffy shredding the drapes is different than Patches spraying.

If you’ve read this far, there is also a graphic description of how cats are declawed. I did it in the past, but now that I really understand I’ll never consider it again. Sorry about that one, Sparky. At least you never held it against me.

*Interestingly, the day after I finished a book on animal behavior, it was eaten by my dog. Really.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started reading this book, but as a cat lover I felt it was a must read. There are plenty of great tips and so much advice for us cat owners that it is difficult to pinpoint what I loved best.

I have to say I did not always agree with what the author had written on the subject, having been a cat owner all of my life I have found some techniques work brilliantly well, whereas the author definitely would never recommend them. But given her extensive research into this subject matter I would never say she is wrong, just that we have differing opinions.

I would highly recommend this book if you have never had a cat, or if you have a cat with problems. The advice contained within it will undoubtedly save you a lot of hard work and possibly heartache. This book is also an invaluable read for any cat lover out there, helping you to understand your feline friend a lot better and maybe even see the world through her eyes.

Recommended.

**** - 4 stars.

[Hobart Frolley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written and arrogant in tone, this book does nonetheless have some decent information in it and the author does know what she is talking about. I am in the field and have been for 10 years and I found a lot of her recommendations unrealistic and disagreed with a few things she had to say such as (seemingly) taking a disproportionately level of credit for her involvement in the promotion of feline behavior modification. I do recommend this book for the behavior information, but I think that it would be helpful for anyone looking to solve behavior problems to also consult websites like catsinternational.org and books by Dr. Nicholas Dodman, Carol Wilbourn and/or Pam Bennet-Johnson.
Based on information alone, I may give this 3 or 4 stars, but the tone and low quality of it's execution forced me to rate this one a lowly 2.

[Iola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mieshelle Nagelschneider, cat behaviour specialist, covers seven major behaviour problems (litter box issues, spraying, multiple-cat tension, aggression, yowling, destructive and otherwise unwelcome behaviours, and compulsive behaviours), and demonstrates with case studies how each can be overcome using her CAT plan – Cease, Attract and Transform. She guarantees results, but warns that it could take owners 30-60 days of consistent training to achieve a positive result, depending on the severity of the problem and the personalities involved (feline and human).

The Cat Whisperer is a well-written and easy-to-read book, based on over twenty years of experience working with cats (and another dozen or more childhood years playing with and taming feral cats, among other animals). She has a humorous writing style which quotes both Alice in Wonderland and Rudyard Kipling (but not Garfield). It seems to me that used methods such as these to refine cat behaviour is a lot more sensible that banning the domestic cat, especially given Nagelschneider’s point about what happened the last couple of times a nation tried to get rid of cats (no cats meant the rats were free to spread the Black Death).

My one area of disagreement with the author is cultural: she prefers that cats live indoors (which she says is the status quo for 75% of domestic cats in the US). I prefer that cats be permitted outside, partly because that is normal in my non- American culture and partly because my cat is a stray who adopted us and was initially scared to come inside. Her description of declawing (an operation performed primarily on indoor cats) made me feel physically ill (and glad that I live in New Zealand, where this operation is apparently illegal).

As a result, while she went into great detail about litter box etiquette and providing appropriate environmental stimuli for indoor cats, nothing was said about resources for outdoor or indoor-outdoor cats. Do I need to do prey play with my outdoor cat when she can stalk real birds and rats? And the author’s preference for indoor cats means she doesn't provide advice for dealing with one outdoor cat issue: what to do when they bring you a 'present'.

Despite this, I think this is a valuable resource for cat owners whether or not they currently have behaviour issues (after all, prevention is better than cure). It will be especially useful for those with indoor cats or those with more than one cat. Recommended.

Thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

[Laura Brose]

I thought I knew a lot about cat behavior, psychology, and medical conditions because my family has had cats for over 20 years. But the author, who not only had a number of animals in her life when she was growing up, and previously worked as a vet tech, also had access to apparently recent research in cats' use of scents and pheromones which I hadn't been aware of but which made sense given some aspects of cat behavior and physiology. She also gives some practical applications of that information: for instance, even most people who know about cats only do it half-right when they bring a new cat into their household and initially isolate the new cat in a separate room or crate: what they don't know is that they should gradually introduce the scent of the new cat to the resident cats and that they should brush one cat and then another, and then back to the first cat brushed, in order to mingle the scents and produce a "family scent" to strengthen household-sharing cats' bonds. Most people who know cats know that many of their behavioral issues can start from medical or territorial issues and become habituated behaviors even after the problems that started them have been resolved. However, since most ordinary people don't get to see surgery or post-operative recovery in the vets' office, they don't know how the true extent of how painful declawing is and how it can lead to a whole host of other medical as well as psychological, and thus behavioral, problems for cats.

[victor harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regardless of how much you know about cats, you will find some valuable insights into cat behavior and how to apply humane corrective measures to some of their their less desirable conduct. Lengthy treatment of how to get the new cat in the house interacting with existing cat residents. Also stresses the importance of methods in nurturing kittens in the vital early weeks of growth.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very helpful for anyone with an issue or concern about their cat(s). It will answer almost every question you have and is very detailed. The author has been using these techniques herself and advising people for many years, and she claims that they work.

I am currently trying out some of her techniques but it will take some time before I know whether they have helped or not. Most of her techniques make sense but seem long and drawn out.

I was surprised at the long process to introduce a new cat or kitten to the current resident cat. She really believes in the use of pheremones (plug in or spray), and mentions it many times in her book.

She has a handy checklist at the end of the book, which can help you make sure you are going one step at a time. This is the best cat behavior book that I have read to date.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have two old cats and we've had our ups and downs over the years. They've lived through several moves over thousands of miles (each time) and different living conditions (sometimes completely indoor, sometimes almost completely outdoor and usually a mixture of both). They were our babies long before we had babies and have suffered the inidignities of being (somewhat) ignored when our girls were very little. They've put up with my fairly frequent travels and disruptions to their routine.

Now they are in their twilight years (our female cat is almost 16 and our male cat is almost 15). Our girls adore them and help me to give them lots of love and snuggles. They do not venture outside much anymore and usually it's for less than a minute. They sleep an awful lot and haven't really given us much trouble...until recently.

Our male cat had another episode with a urinary tract infection and started associating the litter box with pain. Then he started peeing on our bed and our couch. We have had a difficult time getting both of our cats to retrain to the litter box and to modify our expectations of their abilities. They've also had to adjust to the addition of two dogs to our household, both of which tend to pay more attention to the cats then the cats like.

This book has been extremely helpful in reassuring us that our cats are not simply being malicious and spiteful. For example, ever since our cat's unfortunate medical troubles, I have been convinced that we needed to add a kitty litter box in our bedroom where the cats spend the majority of their time. As much as I hated to find a place for it, it solved our issues in that room virtually overnight. We're still working on the couch, but as the book tells us, sometimes these retraining efforts need to be followed for 30 days or more. So I will be patient. Most of her suggestions are common sense and are things that I've at least considered doing, but it's always good to have the advice of an expert.

Throughout the book, Mieshelle Nagelschneider refers to her website, http://www.catwhispererproducts.com/, where she sells items to help cat owners solve their cat's behavior problems and offers recommendations for what works and what doesn't. She refers to her website often and while it could be considered a bit of a marketing ploy, it wasn't too distracting. I only went to her website when I started to write this review, and so far her techniques have been very helpful, even though I haven't purchased any of her products (yet).

Her advice is broken up into sections relating to the undesired behaviors. I read the book straight through once and then reread and reviewed the sections that pertained to our cats. Others may decide to just read the parts they find to be applicable to their own situation.

One final comment: I found her section on declawing/toe amputation (pp. 242-247) to be enlightening. One of our cats used to scratch a lot and we weren't sure what to do about it. We had even scheduled her for a declawing, but I just couldn't do it. I knew in my heart that it was a cruel thing to do and I am so glad that we decided against doing it. We used the plastic nail tips for a bit, but then I just started clipping her nails every month. Once our cats got used to it, they didn't fuss too much, even if they don't love it. And the behavior stopped for the most part.

interesting quotes:

"Imagining that our cats feel and think as we do helps us feel closer to them and contributes to our taking better care of them." (p. 28)

"But as any human over the age of twenty-something knows, the difference between love and pleasure is all the difference in the world." (p. 32)

"I am a cat behaviorist, but the first behavior I modify is always human." (p. 38)

"Indeed cats are so finicky that cat food manufacturers are forced to use humans to test cat food because cats themselves refuse to do it." (p. 100)

"At least thirty thousand feral cats must die every day just to keep the population stable. It should be clear that the enormous feral cat population, up to 70 million in the United States alone, constitutes a humane crisis." (p. 131)

"We have email; cats have pmail." (p. 212)

"Interestingly enough, meowing is a form of communication that is mainly directed at us. Adult cats rarely choose vocalization to communicate with other cats, and when they do it's usually to communicate fear or aggressive intent. Cats communicate with one another primarily by way of scent marking and body language. But being the most vocal of all species, we humans respond most readily to vocalization, so cats who live with people have learned that meowing is the best way to communicate with us and get us to pay attention to their wants and needs. In fact, a recent study demonstrated that many domestic cats have evolved a sort of purring (or gurgling) meow that seems specifically targeted at humans, who apparently find it hard to resist." (p. 234)

new words: altricial, digitigrade, middening

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found quiet a lot of good info in this book. She gives very detailed info/steps for retraining your kitties. She also gives reasons for kitties different behaviors which helped me understand my babies a lot more.

The only negative thing is personally I found her tooting her own horn on how much she knows throughout the book became annoying. In the beginning she tells you her history and trainings that gives her the ability to help. However she should have stopped there and not told you over and over again how much she knows and can help in every chapter.

I would recommend this book for anyone who has problems with kitties getting along, getting a new kitty and any kind of potty problems.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so thick with Mieshelle Nagelschneider's ego and excessive arrogance while she is throwing such a sales pitch for her business that it is really hard to sift out the good information. She takes credit for basically inventing cat behavior training and is sometimes completely unrealistic with her ideas and regiments.

For instance, if you were to introduce a new cat into your home that already have cats, you would have to have a spare room that you don't use, and be able to leave a cat in there to live for (by my math) a few months while you slowly got all the cats used to scents and the like. In addition, you have to spend time every day with each cat separately. Sure, this would be ideal and probably merit good results. But could a normal person do this? Well, hopefully everyone who wants to bring a new cat home, because if you don't do 100% of what she says, it will not work. Okay.

She is also unrealistic about her requirements for setting up a cat friendly house. She wants a litter box in every inconvenient place you can think of, lots of different kinds of toys, trees and scratchers, and she's big on manufactured pheromones. She doesn't cover more advanced cat training techniques like harness and leash training or toilet training. I would think if she is as amazing as she thinks she is, these topics would be on tap. I did both of these things with my cat relatively easily, and I'm not nearly as wonderful as she is.

I also think her opinions on diet and free-feeding are bullshit, but that is a whole other rant.

If you want some REALLY good information on cat behavior and training, read John Bradshaw (I think she even references him - aha! she did NOT invent cat training!). I really liked "Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet" and "The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat." He goes deeper into cat psychology and doesn't make me angry while reading.

[Myra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the strength of this book is the explanations on why cats act like they do - how they learn cat social skills, how their brains works, how they view the world, etc. I was impressed by that and some of this did make me think. And I think that most of her ideas would work if the humans involved are willing to do them.

However, there wasn't really that much new information in here about the techniques to change your cat's behavior. MN does go into a lot more detail that many other books, although at times I wish there had been more. For example, she talks about using wand toys and doing the "prey sequence." And while she describes this generally, with as much as she talked about it as a tool (and as much as she was willing to give detailed, step-by-step instructions for other things), she didn't really describe anything new. I was hoping for some really developed technique there. Instead, I learned nothing I didn't already know about how to use wand toys. I will be trying some of the techniques regarding aggression.

I think a lot of people are going to find her techniques too slow and time-consuming. Based on my experience working in animal care, people are looking for a quick fix. I don't know anyone who is going to take weeks (perhaps months) to introduce two cats. And people with small homes are going to find some of the techniques challenging just from a space perspective. I also found her writing to be a bit arrogant (especially that introduction) and I think she could have mentioned her product website a lot less. It started to feel like she was promoting that every couple of pages.

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Cat Whisperer by Mieshelle Nagelschneider, Associate Certified Cat Behavior Consultant (ACCBC), explains how to think like a cat and turn your home into “purrtopia!” Nagelschneider grew up on a farm and naturally became an observer of animal behaviors. She was not allowed a pet cat, so she socialized the barn cats, learning what they liked by observation and experimentation. Problem behaviors, from spraying to shredding the drapes yield to her “C.A.T.” method -- “Cease the behavior; Attract attention to desirable behaviors; Transform the territory.” From plugging-in friendly pheromones to providing litter boxes all over the house, the book tells all. Nagelschneider's websites http://www.thecatbehaviorclinic.com and http://www.catwhispererproducts.com offer personal consultations and product recommendations, as well.

I was astonished to discover $500 cat trees for sale. I learned why our cat lost interest in the one we got her, and why I will never be a cat person, after all.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone with a multiple cat household. Even owners of a single cat can learn a lot from the Cat Whisperer. This book was available at the right time. We have an older cat who has been the only cat for about one year. Recently we adopted a kitten....and the mayhem began. For a brief period of time I thought I was going to have to return the kitten to the shelter because the two felines could not be in the same room at the same time.

Enter Mieshelle Nagelschneider. The book gave me useful strategies to reintroduce the cats. Although I have been a lifelong owner of cats, I did not know nearly as much about their behavior as I thought. The CAT strategy made sense as did many of her explanations.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand their feline better and live in harmony!

[Emily Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! It's very useful and full of interesting, in-depth knowledge about how cats think, what they want, and why they do what they do. I bought the book because one of my two cats spray marks. Ms Nagelschneider's book revealed that the sprayer is actually the nervous one, and the one I thought was nervous was the one who was making him nervous. By following her advice about how to change access to my cats' key resources (food, water, litter box) and how to counteract the bad habit of spraying, I am reducing the nerves (for all of us) and bringing the spraying to an end.
This book provided information I hadn't heard anywhere else. And, since the advice seems to be working, I think the author knows what she's talking about. Lots of cat problems are behavioral rather than medical issues. When your vet tells you there is nothing he/she can do, turn to the Cat Whisperer.

[Casey Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on cat behavior - I have never owned a cat before so I knew very little about them except that they are different than dogs. This book was eye-opening to me and showed me that cats can be amazing pets if you take the time to understand them. I heard many negative stereotypes about cats over the years and this book helped me understand where those false stereotypes came from and how cats are so much better than I have been told! I feel much more prepared to adopt a cat, I know what to expect, how to best care for them, understand them, and train them. And plus this book was easy to read and had funny stories to boot! Five stars.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live in a household with five cats and I was really impressed with this book. We had one cat that was overgrooming. We put into place one of the author's suggestions, an additional feeding station at the other end of the house, and that cured the cat's problem. She gives several suggestions for unwanted cat behavior. Some parts of the book were disturbing, like declawing and what that means. She is definitely the kind of person who is willing to try all kinds of things to cure unwanted behavior before doing drastic action. See my full review at http://bit.ly/16LOdpS.

[Therinia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful. I learned a lot about my cats, and we've been together for 16 years...,

[Claire Binkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I liked so much about this book were both that it helped me with my feline-related enquiries AND it had Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass quotes -I STRUGGLED SO HARD through understanding that book when I was this snivelly little fourteen-y. o. I remember holding this huge library book. This one that I am reviewing now is a smaller library book, and the cats on the cover are different from the cats in that book from the 19th century. But I still really enjoyed its contents!

Ergo, Cora (AND I HOPE MAYBE ALSO TILLY) and I are planning our trip to the bucolic lands I originally saw depicted in that book in high school as soon as may be.

This book told me about "middening." I think I may have seen the word before but didn't know what it meant. The dictionary websites don't have an answer, but I googled "Middening
Midde-what? Middening is a fancy way of saying territorial poop marking. I highlight it because I hear a lot of people say their cat is pooping to mark their territory when middening is actually pretty rare. If your cat is pooping outside the box, start with a trip to the vet. That includes before booking a consultation with me. If medical causes of the house soiling are ruled out, your cat may be showing signs of middening if they are pooping in prominent locations and not attempting to bury their poop after they go."

What I most like is that the author of this book is against declawing (toe amputation). There are other interesting things that I didn't catch but my attention span might not be as long as it once was.

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book completely transformed my difficult relationship with my cat and made me change a lot of things I was doing that weren't helpful. I was struggling with her incessant meowing at mealtimes, and we've gone from having a contentious relationship to having a much, much happier one now.

Every cat owner should give this a read- there are a lot of things like the way you have the cat amenities located, that could be inadvertently causing stress. Especially if you have more than one cat. It's a very complicated situation that you have to navigate with a lot of deliberate care if you want them to get along. And chances are, you won't even know that they're not. It'll manifest in other problem behavior.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the library to get advice on introducing a new cat to our household. Most of the advice was very good, although the author assumes that the reader has a relatively normal cat to begin with. Since our existing cat is a former feral, she does not allow the type of handling recommended to introduce and mingle scents. Other than that, the advice was very helpful, and I enjoyed reading and learning from the chapters which applied to problems that we (thankfully) do not have.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t read this book because I have a cat problem. I read it just to learn more about cats and cat behavior. I was so impressed that I ordered copies for three more family cat households. Chapter Four provided us excellent guidance (we followed closely but on a schedule to seemed to fit out cats) when we added a second four-month-old kitten to our house. We now have two kittens who are definitely best friends. They groom each other, play together, sleep together, and have a rollicking good time. The book is full of details about cat behavior that I find endlessly intriguing.

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. Nagelschneider offers solid advice and reassurance in an easy to read, factual book. For the first time of being on the staff of cats for over 40 years I've been having a problem with a biter who also does not want to socialize with my senior kitty. Ironically the senior cat is the one who wants to be friends and it is the kitten that is the aggressor. I'm implementing her re-introduction suggestions and fingers crossed -- so far so good!

[Amber Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was hoping for more general tips like how to keep my strong willed cat off the bed. My cat was also peeing in bad places. The advice in this book agrees with what my vet told me about fixing the problems...she seems to concentrate on more multicat behaviors. I was looking for more general cat training/reeducation tips.

[IrinaPaints · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книга напомнила ситуацию, когда спрашиваешь у бабушки рецепт варенья. И знаешь, что рецепт у неё отличный, и готовила она варенье не раз, но бабушка уже подробно рассказала и о тёте Кате из Харькова, и о смерти деда со всеми подробностями, и об урожае клубники в Воронеже в прошлом году, но к рецепту так и не приблизилась. Многословно и раскидисто. Терпения, тебе, читатель. 

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book for the most part. However, most of the material seemed geared towards dual- or multi-cat households. I have never owned more than one cat at a time, and don't plan to change that situation.

[Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative on all cat needs with a bit of history explaining why they act they way they act.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good advice about cats. It taught me a few things I didn't know and I grew up with cats.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly compelling when read cover to cover ... rather repetitive, in fact. But useful as an “owner’s manual” to be consulted for specific cat behavior problems.