Kim O. Morgan

Love your cat, but hate its bad behavior? According to The Humane Society of the United States, body language, behavior, and vocalizations are keys to understanding the feline mind. If your cat seems to be constantly aloof or is exhibiting bad behavior, you may often wish you could speak directly to it about what it is thinking. Fortunately, you can communicate and understand your pet by studying its behavior and using the techniques found throughout this book.

By observing a cat’s body language and actions, we can guess at how it might be feeling. Want to know why your cat constantly hisses at strangers, frequently sulks, or attacks your feet while you are sleeping? How to Listen to Your Cat covers major aspects of feline behavior, including social behavior, protection of territory, hunting tactics, reproduction, and interaction with people and other pets. This book explores an array of behaviors often found in cats and what these behaviors should signal to their owners.

Learning to communicate with your kitty can help you know when it’s hungry, ready to play, content, or lonely. You will learn the importance of positive reinforcement, details on how a cat learns, how to develop a bond with your cat, and the basics of cat training. This book explores how to teach your feline friend to use the litter box, come when you call its name, and tolerate touch and grooming. Teach your cat useful behaviors, such as walking on a leash, sitting, staying, and standing, along with fun behaviors, such as shaking hands, begging, and fetching.

Comfort, fright, and hunger are the main feelings displayed among cats. The feelings result in a variety of behaviors. This book provides a breakdown of how these feelings are shown through changes in a cat’s eyes, ears, mouth, tail, and posture. The tone of a cat’s cry, the perk of its ears, and the sway of its tail can provide clues as to its intentions. This book also analyzes the different sounds cats make, including purring, hissing, spitting, and growling, and how these sounds tell owners what their cat is feeling. A variety of emotions displayed in cats will be analyzed, such as behaviors that suggest comfort, satisfaction with food, a welcomed greeting, sleepiness, safety, and much more. This book also offers photos so you can spot similar behavior in your own pet.

Cats are known to have a variety of personalities. These personalities and how they relate to different breeds are explored. Tips on training your cat and preventing or stopping bad behavior are given to promote peacefully cohabitation with your feline friend. Advice is provided for addressing typical problem behaviors among cats, including destructive scratching, spraying, aggression, eating plants, and litter box issues.

We have spent hundreds of hours interviewing veterinarians, animal trainers/behaviorists, and cat owners like yourself to compile useful information that will create a more harmonious relationship between you and your cat. As pet owners, we have a responsibility to ensure our pets are happy and safe; this book will serve as a tool for measuring these factors. Now, with the help of this book, you can love your cat and understand its behavior.