The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat

by John Bradshaw, Sarah Ellis

Overview

A New York Times Bestseller

"I have to hand it to Bradshaw and Ellis: Once you suss out their basic cat-training philosophy, their methods totally work." —Slate

We often assume that cats can't be trained, and don't need to be. But in The Trainable Cat, bestselling anthrozoologist John Bradshaw and cat expert Sarah Ellis show that cats absolutely must be trained in order to enrich the bond between pet and owner. Full of training tips and exercises—from introducing your cat to a new baby to helping them deal with visits to the vet—The Trainable Cat is the essential cat bible for cat owners and lovers.

"I doubt you'll find a more well-informed or scientific book on cats that better shows you how feline thinking works."—Times (UK)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465093717
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	10/10/2017
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John Bradshaw is the foundation director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol and the author of the New York Times bestsellers Cat Sense and Dog Sense. He lives in Southampton, England.

Sarah Ellis is a feline behavior specialist at the charity International Cat Care and a visiting fellow at the University of Lincoln. She lives in Wiltshire, England.

Table of Contents

Sarah's Preface ix

John's Preface xiii

Conventions used in this book xv

Introduction: Why Train a Cat? 1

Chapter 1 How Cats Learn: And what you can do to make it easy for them 25

Chapter 2 Understanding Your Cat's Training Requirements 41

Chapter 3 Our Training Philosophy: Mastering the key skills 61

Chapter 4 How Cats Adapt to Living with an Alien Species (Us!) 93

Chapter 5 Cats and Other Cats 115

Chapter 6 Cats and Other Pets 141

Chapter 7 Cooped-up Cats 161

Chapter 8 Touch: Insult or indulgence? 181

Chapter 9 Flight, Fight or Freeze? Cats don't take kindly to stress (especially visits to the vet's) 205

Chapter 10 Cats at Large: The big outdoors 227

Chapter 11 Shredded Drapes and Bloody Corpses: The less appealing sides of cat behavior 257

Conclusion 289

Acknowledgments 297

Further Reading 299

Notes 301

Index 313

Editorial Reviews

09/12/2016
Renowned anthrozoologist Bradshaw (Cat Sense and Dog Sense) and feline behavioral specialist Ellis provide readers with a comprehensive look at what motivates cats, and explain how to train cats by understanding the way they perceive the world. Training cats, the authors assert, benefits owners and cats by making shared environments less stressful for cats and more pleasant for all. Practical training tips and explanations as to why cats behave as they do—such as scratching furniture or attacking their owner’s feet—are provided in each chapter. Exercises include crate training a cat, ensuring tranquility in multicat or multi-animal homes, and safely clipping a cat’s claws. Cat lovers will appreciate the sensible advice and in-depth explanations of feline behavior. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Interesting premise.... The goal here is not to get your cat ready for the Big Apple Circus, but to make it easy for you to get your cat to do all the things many cats resist: swallow a pill, go to the vet, take a bath, or stop trying to disembowel your new cat."—Judith Newman, New York Times

"Do you want your cat to come when you call it, stop destroying the furniture or killing birds, and enjoy taking a walk on a leash? Then this is the book for you."—Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard To Think Straight About Animals

"You can train a cat to do just about anything a dog can do, except a cat may do it better! John Bradshaw and Sarah Ellis illustrate how cats are trainable, but, more importantly, the authors bust long-held myths about cats and cat behavior along the way. As a result, both experienced stronger bonds with their purring pals."—Steve Dale, Certified Animal Behavior Consultant and author of The Good Cat!

"This book should be required reading for all cat lovers, including all veterinary professionals who work with cats."—Ilona Rodan, DVM, board certified feline specialist and coauthor of Feline Behavioral Health and Welfare

"Read this book. Your cat will thank you."—Julie Hecht, MSc, author of the Dog Spies blog on ScientificAmerican.com

"John and Sarah have demystified cat training, making it accessible to all cat lovers—from professionals to owners alike."—Miranda K. Workman, clinical assistant professor, animal behavior, ecology, and conservation, Canisius College

"I love this book! We often greatly underestimate the capabilities of our pet cats, and The Trainable Cat is a thorough yet completely accessible resounding YES in response to the question: Can you train a cat?"—Mikel Delgado, certified cat behavior consultant, scientist, and blogger

From the Publisher