The Cat Whisperer(tm)
Book Table of Contents

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Chapters

Introduction: On Cats and How I Learned to See Through Their Eyes

• My Animal Family
• On the Farm
• Cheshires in the Canyon
• The Vet Assistant Years
• The Cat Behaviorist: Filling a Void in Feline Behavior Expertise
• The Cat Bahavior Clinic
• What “Good Death”? The Crisis of Feline Euthanasia
• The Shelter and Abandonment Crisis
• Why I Wrote This Book

ONE: Mind-Throwing: Inside the Being of the Cat

• Anthropomorphism and Its Pleasures—and Pitfalls
• The Anthropomorphic Trap

TWO: Meet Your Cat on His Territory:Using the Three-Part C.A.T. Plan to ChangeYour Cat’s Behavior

• No Punishment, No Reprimand
• What Works: Withdraw Your Attention and Even Your Presence
• You Have the Power to Solve Your Cats’ Behavior Issues
• The Seven Classes of Behavior Problems in Cats
• The Elements of an Effective C.A.T. Plan

THREE: Life on the Wild Side—Where Even the Tamest Cats Live

• Cats: Self-Reliant, Highly Territorial, Champion Survivors
• Cats Can Make Friends, Too
• Cats: Forever Wild
• Taming the Wild: The Socialization Process
• Territoriality, Conflict, and Social Maturity

FOUR: Cat Etiquette: The Art of Introducing, or Reintroducing, Cats to Each Other

• Introductions
• Reintroductions and the Nagelschneider Method
• First Impressions: Desensitization, Habituation, and Counterconditioning
• Step 1: Setting the Stage Before Newcat Comes Home: The Safe Room and Pheromones
• Step 2: Making the First Scent Introduction: The Scent Sock
• Step 3: Mixing Scents Like a Real Social Facilitator: Allogrooming and Allorubbing
• Step 4: Creating Confident Explorers: Trading Places
• Step 5: Making the Visual Introduction—The Art of Smooth Transitions

FIVE: Purrtopia: Transforming Your Cats’ Territory

• The Mating Instinct: Humane Sterilization Reduces Many Behavioral and Health Problems
• Real Estate and Resources
• Dispersal, Time-sharing, and Choice of Paths

SIX: Psychology and Physiology: Does Your Cat Also Have a Medical Issue?

• Good Veterinary Hygiene
• Original Medical Causes Versus Habituated Behaviors
• Better Living Through Chemistry? Don’t (Automatically) Drug That Cat!

SEVEN: Feline Aggression: Accepting and Managing Your Cat’s Inner Wildcat

• What Not to Do: Punish, Reprimand, or Reach For
• Understanding Feline Aggression
• Prevention
• Types of Feline Aggression
• C.A.T. Plan for Play and Predatory Aggression
• Redirected Aggression
• Management of Redirected Aggression
• Territorial
  Aggression
• Fear-Induced Aggression
• Cat-to-Cat Aggression
• C.A.T. Plan for Territorial, Fear, and Cat-to-Cat Aggression
• Petting-Induced Aggression
• Status-Related Aggression
• C.A.T.
  Plan for Petting-Induced and Status-Related Aggression

EIGHT: You’ve Got to Elim-i-nate the Negative: Thinking Outside Your Box to Get Cats into Theirs

• An Unnecessary Tragedy
• Out-of-the-Box Defecation
• Have You Ever Been Invited to a Fecal Ball?
• Maddening Middening, or Just a Stool Away from Home?
• Out-of-the-Box Urination
• C.A.T. Plan for Inappropriate Elimination

NINE: “X” Marks the Spot (or Spots)!: Urine Marking

• Marking for Communication
• What Cats Communicate When They Spray: Territory Marking, Information Gathering, Relational Pmail, Sexual Advertising, Pick-Me-Ups
• C.A.T. Plan for Spraying, Other Forms of Urine Marking, and Middening.

TEN: Yowl!—Excessive Meowing

• C.A.T. Plan for Excessive Meowing

ELEVEN: Destructive and Other Unwanted Behaviors

• Shredders and Snaggers: Why Cats Claw
• Declawing—Unnecessary and Inhumane
• The Story of Charlie Cat
• Prevention
• C.A.T. Plan for Unwanted Scratching
• Counter Crawling and Table Hopping: Why Cats Like High Places
• C.A.T. Plan for Counter Crawling and Table Hopping

TWELVE: The Compulsive Cat

• Overgrooming
• C.A.T. Plan for Overgrooming (Psychogenic Alopecia)
• Wool Sucking and Wool Chewing
• Pica
• C.A.T. Plan for Wool Sucking, Chewing, and Pica
• Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome

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