Best cat breeds books according to redditors

I read somewhere (sorry couldn't find source) that the warmth of the human hand is similar to their mother's tongue, so when we pet them it reminds them of the good times with mom cleaning them with her tongue.

Edit: ok, found source. This article [sorry, it's in chinese] mentioned it and quotes the source as Desmond Morris' book, Catworld: A Feline Encyclopedia

I may be exposing myself as a crazy cat person, but there's an excellent book on this topic called Cats are not Peas: A Calico History of Genetics. The author has/had a male Calico and she got interested in how this freak of cute could exist after her vet told her it was basically impossible.

Your problem is... you have a kitten.

Honestly, all of this sounds like a normal young cat with a lot of energy who's bored out of her mind. Different cats have different energy levels, and your mom also had multiple cats together. Your kitten is alone, so all of her entertainment comes from you or from finding things to do herself, many of which won't please you. I would check out something like this book, which is a quick, easy read and covers strategies for all of the problems you're having. In brief, here are some things to try:

• Scratching: Offer lots of acceptable scratching surfaces, both vertical and horizontal. Sisal posts and pads as well as cardboard are all great and really cheap. Put them in areas where your kitten likes to scratch. If you see her scratching the carpet, pick her up and gently move her to the scratching toy. If necessary, reward her with a treat the first few times she uses the toys.
  
• Scratching: At the same time, you want to make the carpet less appealing to scratch. Try putting down double-sided tape or tinfoil in the affected areas. Both of these are cheap, easy to remove, and won't hurt the cat or the carpet.
  
• Scratching: Keeping the cat's claws trimmed will also reduce her need to scratch, but keep in mind that scratching is completely healthy and necessary for all cats. (For one, it's how they stretch their back muscles.) If you're totally unable to get the scratching under control with toys, you might also look into getting Softpaws for her, but you probably won't need to.
  
• Activity at night: Cats are most active in the evening by nature; they're technically crepuscular. To help you get your sleep anyway, you'll need to do multiple play sessions in the afternoon and evening. Yes, that takes time, but it's a pretty fun investment in a good night's sleep. Laser pointers, Da Bird-style toys, and this weird thing are all great for high-energy play. Cat playtime should mimic hunting and stalking prey, so avoid just waving a toy in her face (which can get the cat frustrated and more wound up). Hide the toy in various spots around the house, peeking out just a bit, and make her hunt it. Make her run and jump. With my 16-month-old, playtime isn't really done until he actually starts panting. (Be reasonable with this, obviously.)
  
• Meowing: I would revise feeding times. Ideally, you should play with the kitten before bedtime, then feed her. That way she'll be worn out and ready for a long nap when you go to bed. If you're currently free-feeding, consider moving to one or two distinct feeding times. This will allow you to make food a bonding event, and if you play with her before feeding time, you'll also reinforce the sense that she's hunted successfully and can now settle down. Important: Avoid feeding her first thing in the morning, which will encourage her to meow at your door to get you out of bed. My cats eat dinner when I come home from work, then have playtime and treats right before bed. (They eat high-quality dry food for treats, but they're kind of weird.)
  
• Activity at night: Simply speaking, your cat gets bored at night, so offer entertainment that doesn't involve harassing you. There are lots of inexpensive toys she can use by herself, including puzzle toys that dispense treats. Leave her with one or two each night; change it up to keep her interested. A cat tree by a window can be a good way to let her observe nocturnal wildlife and secure her territory, and it can be a good place for her to sleep as well. If you can get her sufficiently worn out before bedtime to make this feasible, I've found that letting my cats sleep in my bedroom actually keeps them calmer and quieter. They take their cues from us settling down and going to sleep, and they feel safe to do the same. My older cat would meow at the door all night when she was young too, and we didn't start getting normal sleep until we let her sleep with us.
  
• Deterrents: You've already figured this out, but punishing cats doesn't really work. They don't understand what's going on and can get anxious and neurotic, and if they're sufficiently bored, even getting water sprayed at them can be a fun way to get attention. The best way to modify cat behavior is usually to offer more fun and interesting alternatives, while making the undesirable behavior less fun and more difficult. In your case, your kitten has figured out that meowing at your door will get you to interact with her for a solid hour and a half. To avoid this, something like the Ssscat may be a good way to keep her away from the door at night without interaction from you. However, you'll have to do this in addition to, not instead of, all the stuff above; otherwise she'll just meow at your door from three feet away.
  
  Good luck!
  
  Edit: I fail at Reddit formatting, apparently. ;_;

I know you're kidding, but there are actually some really helpful books for cat owners.

Here's some super-careful advice from a book by Amy Shojai called ComPETability: Solving Behavior Problems In Your Cat-Dog Household on how to introduce a dog to a home that already has a cat. I was about a tenth this careful when I brought my second dog home.

• Ask a friend to bring the new dog into the house out of sight of the resident cat so kitty won’t associate you with the “scary” critter.
  
  
• Keep the isolation room door shut for at least the first week, and longer if necessary. Resident cats become upset at the sight of a stranger but may be curious about the smell or sound.
  
  
• Isolating Rex allows the resident cats to feel less threatened while learning to accept the new smells and sounds of that dog-behind-the-door.
  
  
• Schedule Rex’s potty breaks to keep them from seeing each other too soon. Put Sheba in your bedroom during the dog’s travels to and from the back yard.
  
  
• Offer Sheba the opportunity to check out the “safe room” while the dog is outside, to become more familiar with the dog’s smells. Just leave the door open and she’ll explore at her leisure, but don’t force her into the room. Let it be the cat’s idea.
  
  
• Next, replace the isolation room door with a baby gate so the pets can see each other, and sniff or paw pat through the opening while they’re safely separated. Your cat can control the interaction by jumping over or winding through the baby gate, if she really feels the urge to check out Rex.
  
  
• If you don’t have a baby gate, and the dog is small enough, you can place Rex inside a crate or pet carrier for the cat to approach in a safe, controlled way. Watch both pets’ reactions closely and delay taking the next step until you are satisfied they feel comfortable.
  
  
• Put Rex on a leash before removing the baby gate, so he and the cat can finally meet. Remember, these initial introductions should be between the new pet and only ONE of your resident animals, not everybody at once.
  
  
• Keep Rex under leash control but give him some wiggle room or a tight leash can make him feel tense.
  
  
• Make initial meetings as pleasant as possible. If your cat feels proprietary toward you, engage her in a fishing pole game while another family member handles Rex, so that the cat associates the dog with good things for her. You can also give each animal a plate of food on opposite ends of a room, to distract them and reward the fact they ignore each other.
  
  
• Use a dab of vanilla extract—or your favorite perfume or cologne—and dab just a bit on the back at the base of the tail, and on the back of the neck of both pets to make them smell alike. Making the new dog smell like the cat goes a long way toward encouraging Sheba to accept him as a family member.
  
  
• Whenever possible make initial meetings in an open room with lots of space, and lots of cat second-story perches available. That way, Sheba can check out the dog from her cat tree, well beyond nose-sniffing range, and feel more comfortable.
  
  
• Keep first nose-to-nose meetings to only five or ten minutes, and then give everyone a break and return the dog to his room.
  
  
• When the dog and cat willingly nose sniff, the cat cheek rubs the dog, and/or Rex play-bows an invitation to a game, that’s great! Allow play for a few minutes at a time, but interrupt before either pet becomes overexcited.
  
  
• Continue to offer planned meetings for another week, monitoring the dog until he can control himself and respects the cat even when off leash.
  
  
• Segregate the new pet alone in his “safe room whenever you are not able to directly supervise, until you are satisfied that the cat and dog get along well, and both have “safe places” they can retreat when necessary.

Cats and what stresses them, can be hard to resolve. I like to remind owners you don't need to cut all nails in one sitting, do one a night! Over fast, less injuries and stress for everyone. Also, great book for cat owners dealing with behaviour issues https://www.amazon.ca/Cat-Whisperer-Cats-What-Do/dp/0553807854
Good luck!

For me there were 2:

The Sister's Brothers by Dewitt

The Cat's Table by Ondaatje

Time to go back to day 1 and reintroduce the cats. I highly, highly recommend getting a copy of "The Cat Whisperer" by Mieshelle Nagelschneider and following the chapter on reintroducing cats. It goes really in-depth and has the best step-by-step plan I've seen for reintroducing the cats to each other with the highest possibility for success.

have you seen this book Cat vs Cat? i found it pretty useful when i had three cats.

Kitten proof the house, make an appointment to take the kitten to the vet, get some of the food of the same type as it's been eating, litter box, litter, food dishes, and get used to watching where you put your feet so you don't accidentally step on kitty. Toys are also good, especially if your kitten is young and teething. Bitter Apple can be used to prevent your kitten from gnawing on things you don't want him/her to; but you'll still have to be vigilant to make sure kitty doesn't chew on electrical cords for your computer, tv, etc, or get into the habit of using your couch as a scratching post.
If you have other animals, make sure to pay attention to them as well as the kitten, so they don't feel abandoned/unloved.

I'd also second the getting the kitten used to the house one room at a time. For me, I started with the bathroom, keeping its litterbox, food, and itself in there (with the toilet seat lid down so as not to worry about kitten somehow ending up in the toilet). I also left her toys, and blanket in there. It kept her out of trouble, and kept any messes easy to clean up; when I was at home, let her explore the next few rooms with me around. The first day I didn't try to pet her or play with her, just let her get used to me, and ended up falling asleep on the bathroom floor with the kitty after the long drive home. Woke up to her on my shoulder, purring.

I just got a kitten what do I do? is a decent starter book for more help, and the kitty basics.

And you would be wrong. There are dozens of strains, independent of one another, and more can be made as needed. To make a bengal, you take an Asian Leopard Cat and a domestic tabby, breed them and take the offspring of that pairing and breed them with the offspring from an another independent pairing. That's the beauty of a cat that comes from hybridization, it is not a purebred, and there is a virtual endless pool of genetics. There are tons of books on the subject, such as this one or this one that go into the history of the breed and the care taken to create it, as well as the intelligence of them as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Kittens-Year-Picture-Day-Calendar/dp/1523506768/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3ONY64BQ5575V&keywords=2020+kitten+calendar&qid=1575085354&sprefix=2020+kitten+caldn%2Caps%2C342&sr=8-5 Even though 2020 is a leap year, so maybe they miss a kitten out that day.

Well, to some extent this is just how they play. When my cats were newly adopted they would just hiss at each other for hours for about a week. Usually they grow used to each other, but I did things like feeding them together, playing with toys and rewarding both equally, and I think it helped a bit. This book also helped tremendously to get insight as to how cats think and respond to new environments. I used Feliway as well, but I don't think that's really what helped.

> extremely territorial with other cats

Just FYI: if you know and have access to the cat you may adopt. there are steps you can take to make this easier for you (her). it's not a deal killer, it just makes in more challenging.

EDIT: There are great books on the topic. Doing this successfully takes time on your part (up to a month or two), but biology is on your side. You may be able to make it work.

Look into: http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Vs-Keeping-Peace-ebook/dp/B001QL5MSW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381274840&sr=8-2&keywords=multiple+cats+book

The author is legit; I own this book from her, as well as others.

The best advice I can give is to slowly reintroduce the cats. Here's an article on how you can do that and here's a book by the same author that I've heard good things about. Since you already have a gate, you can use that as an extra step to lead into the open door stage. It sounds like you're already site-swapping and letting them be together sometimes, so you'll need to take a bunch of steps back and start at the beginning. The advice I've gotten on behavior issues is "if you think you're going too slowly, go slower." You should always introduce cats slowly, and since your cats already have a negative history with each other, it's going to take a long time in each stage. Try to be patient!

A few other things:

• Punishment is really, really unlikely to work. Cats don't know what timeout is, and spraying is ineffective. Shock collars are ineffective and cruel.
  
• It's fairly common for owners to think one cat is only the aggressor and one cat is only the victim, but that's often not the case. A cat falling on its back is not something I'd think of as submissive, and I wonder if there's more going on here.
  
• Consider the cats' environment. Do the cats both have their own places where they can be left alone? Do they both have a mix of vertical space to climb and spots closer to the floor? Are you playing with them enough? (It's often helpful to play with the cats in separate rooms) Are they fed separately? (Even friendly cats don't normally eat together)
  
• Cats are tricky! Even if you do everything right, it can be really hard for them to get along sometimes. Your veterinarian may have behavior advice, or refer you to a veterinary behaviorist. Best of luck!
  
  Edit: Just saw that your vet recommended timeout and the spray bottle. Might want to consider a second opinion with a vet who has more up-to-date knowledge about behavior, or jumping straight to a veterinary behaviorist.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


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I honestly don't know but I know I got the [Complete Kitten Care] (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Kitten-Care-Amy-Shojai-ebook/dp/B003I851O6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499777483&sr=8-1&keywords=kitten+care) book when my family got a new kitten in May. I liked it, I didn't get very far into it since it was a present for my sibling but she enjoyed the book and said it helped her through the tough baby stages.

I volunteer at a shelter. I've seen too many cats that have been seriously crippled by declawing. One had a front paw that was all twisted because of declawing going wrong. Declawing is almost always optional and not necessary.

That said, there are times where it is necessary (as seen in some of the examples in this post). But it should be a last resort not default.

There are lots of other options. Kitty caps/soft paws are amazing. My cat has them and she still loves her scratching post. Also, Complete Kitten Care gives awesome advice on how to train your cat. Seriously, this woman is genius.

Sorry it's one breed, but it's called, "The British Shorthair Cat: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual. With Special Chapter: Understanding British Shorthair Cats." In November of 2009 the cheapest used was $109, and new was $399. Today used it is $6.04 used and $56 new, because some wise ass apparently decided to crash the market (statement may or may not be true). It's this book and it is wonderful.

I am going through the same thing. I'm at the tail end of the process. Still some work to do, but overall, much better than it used to be.

My vet recommended a book called "The Cat Whisperer". There's some really great steps for the reintroduction process. The book is great to have on hand and there's no need to read through all of it to get what you need. I read bits and pieces from the relevant chapters.

Start by exchanging scents (she recommends using a clean sock or a blanket) and slowly move into viewings. Separate them before anyone can have a bad time and continue to extend the visits for longer. Make sure good things happen when they're around the other cats.

Also, a behaviorist recommended to me that we ensure the cats have plenty of vertical space and that there's plenty of food, water and litter so the cats don't get overly territorial.

I recommend Michelle N's book on cat behavior, it really helped me fix some behavior problems my cats were having after we moved. She describes fixing litter box problems as "making them an offer they can't refuse" with a clean litter box in an ideal location for the cat. Turns out my cats hated to new super expensive flushable corn cob litter I'd switched to after being fine with it for 3 months. I switched back to the pricey arm n hammer I'd been using, no more peeing on the furniture. And they needed daily excercise with a chase toy with a kill and a hot dog treat to stop howling all night. Anyway looks like you're on the right track, good luck!

Edited to say I know that book had ways to get rid of the neighbors cats and deter them, don't remember how it worked.

I highly recommend Cat Vs Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennet, and part of what this book will tell you is to separate them and then take things very, very slowly for several weeks. This book will give a step-by-step guide to how to re-introduce these cats to each other. We followed this when we added a cat to our household, and things went really well.

Edit: I have no affiliation with the products I suggested, I just love them :-)

To stress the point already made, please know introductions take time. Be patient!!! Very patient. Keep conscious of your emotional reactions and be neutral. You need....and I mean need, Feliway spray and plug-ins. I had aggression issues etc with my multi-cat situation and this spray was a god send. I'll never be without it!! It also works for spraying and stressful vet visits and also bringing the cat home from the vet smelling funny to the rest of them. Use it everyday till they calm down and then use when needed.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=feliway+&x=20&y=13


The new cat should for at least a week, have it's own room or space so as to acclimate and become secure in its new environment. Introductions through partially blocked doors(enough to sniff but not attack) should be the norm for awhile. Feed all the cats together, the aggressor on one side of the door and the others on the other side. This begins to get them to have a positive association with each other. Do this also if you give treats and play with them using the cracked open door as a safe guard but keeping them doing the same activity in a positive way. As your new cat settles in, each time it gets aggressive, start over by putting it in its 'safe place'. This can take months. It's okay and normal and shake off your own stress about the time line and work involved. Remember they pick up your stress so if your neutral or positive they will eventually fall in line.

Another product I've used with much success is 'Rescue Remedy' for pets. This product works serious wonders when a cat is stressed, anxious, fearful etc, and is phenomenal when used with the Feliway spray. It's a liquid and they make act freaked out when they first take it. Give it to the cat in a calm safe room and do not react to it's reaction....the cat is fine! Mine got to the point where if I put the drops on the counter they will lick it up. The first reaction tho was to run away and hide. After about twenty minutes I would usually find them in their favorite spot napping or at least right as rain!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=rescue+remedy+pet+formula&rh=n:1055398,k:rescue+remedy+pet+formula&ajr=3

Get a few books from amazon for a multi-cat household and learn more than you do now.

http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Vs-Keeping-Peace-When/dp/0142004758/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299807101&sr=1-3

Remember to relax and don't react to any aggression in a negative way and don't ever punish a stressed cat. (unless your a pro like my vet, who has a dreamlike quality to handling stressed animals) The reaction to getting punished when they are stressed etc could be more aggression and a longer acclimation time.

Also make sure you have enough high spots for them to perch on. Three or four cheap book shelves that you can staple carpet to and hang, kitty trees or the top of regular bookshelves will work.

I hope this helps. This coming from a cat person who it took months to get my peaceful home back and a huge learning curve. Now I have the situation under control, now that I have the right tools!!

All my best to you!!