Latest Articles
How Cats Are Made: Nature, Nurture, and the Now
It is not uncommon for adopters to base their decision primarily on the cat’s outward appearance and be less interested, or not interested at all, in the cat’s socialization history, life experiences, and behavior.
In Karsh’s study on placing adult cats, she found that “appearance of ...
Building a Feline Behavior Volunteer Program…from Scratch
At Friends For Life Animal Shelter, keeping pets with their families is at the core of our mission. But Houston has a problem: there are an estimated 1.4 million pet cats living here (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2017) and very little behavioral support available to caregivers. ...
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From Foes to Friends
By Tori Ganino
By the end of the ...
Feline Behavior Unmasked: Wakefulness, Whisker Fatigue, and Water
By Paula Garber and Tabitha Kucera
Cats’ whiskers are very sensitive because they are filled with sensory collecting nerves that collect information about objects, vibrations, and wind currents around the ...
Calm Vet Visits
By Victoria Blais
For cats, less really is more. This means less noise, less handling, less restraint, fewer loud voices, fewer odors, fewer bright colors, and fewer lights. When I arrive for at the ...
Thinking Outside the (Litter) Box
By Marilyn Krieger
Litter box avoidance is one of the most common reason cats are surrendered to shelters and euthanized. It is so sad and so unnecessary. Although the problem is hard to live with, it is also ...
Friends, Foes or Something in Between?
By Paula Garber
Unlike free-roaming cats who self-select their social group, owned cats living in multicat households don’t—owners do the choosing instead. And when people add cats to a household, they ...
The Effects of Declawing
By Bridget Lehet
It is estimated that “the vast majority (80 percent) of declawed cats have at least one complication resulting from surgery, and over a third develop behavior problems after undergoing the ...
Notacatperson
By Caroline Kocman
When one knows and understands how an animal communicates, it becomes easier to appreciate that creature. Cats have their own communication system that is both similar and disparate from ...
Money in the Bank
By Patience Fisher
People often assume their cats are fine because they are not doing anything to upset the people in the home. Cats avoid broadcasting stress—in terms of survival, showing weakness could be ...