Interpretation of Cats: Understanding the Psychology of Our Feline Companions

Interpretation of Cats: Understanding the Psychology of Our Feline Companions by Claude Béata, translated by David Watson

Cats are not dogs. They are not humans either, but they do have social and mental challenges. This book is from a veterinarian who serves as a kitty psychiatrist. Cats can be very different. They generally like to spend time outside. However, some are homebodies. They need their own safe space. They like people to attend to them at times. At other times they want to be alone. It is difficult to apply experiences from one cat to another. They are both predator and prey. They are quite compex! 

Royal Rescues: The Naughty Kitten

Royal Rescues: The Naughty Kitten by Paula Harrison, illustrated by Olivia Chin Mueller

A princess rescues a kitten. She loves the kitten. However, she is not supposed to have the kitten in the castle. After sneaking it around, she gets caught. However, the kitten does some good and now the princess is able to keep the kitten. The book is targeting young girls that like kittens and princesses and follows the common formulas.

Socks

Socks by Beverly Cleary

A kitten is purchased by a couple. They pamper him. Then they have a baby. This causes many changes in the cat's life. The cat has trouble being "second". He gets in a cat fight and the family helps him get better, showing they still love him. It is told mostly from the cat's point of view. Many of the cat behaviors are very recognizable to anybody that has had a cat.

Itty Bitty Princess Kitty: Mystery at Mermaid Cove

Itty Bitty Princess Kitty: Mystery at Mermaid Cove by Melody Mews, illustrated by Ellen Stubbings

This book is geared towards beginning readers that love cats and princesses. The princess cat notices that the mermaid chimes are off. The mermaids chime the hours, but now they are not doing it right. The kitty rows out to see them and tries to hunt down the problem. She traces it to a narwal that is singing on a different schedule. They get him to sing with the mermaids and all is good. It is good for people in the target audience, but very sanitized for others.

Cat

Cat by Matthew Van Fleet, photos by Brian Stanton

This big board book has a lot of pictures of cats doing cat things. The pictures look nice. the book however, fell apart and is making it to the recycling bin.

Into the Wild: Warriors, Book 1

Into the Wild: Warriors, Book 1 by Erin Hunter

A housecat meets up with some wild cats and decides to join them. As part of the initiation, he has his collar ripped off in a battle. Now he can start to be a true cat, and not a kitty cat. The cats have their culture and society. They are divided up into clans with distinct ranges. They also have their conflicts, both internal and external. One clan wants to expand hunting grounds and is battling with others.

The new cat is portrayed with contemporary morals. He is less bloodthirsty. He permits an enemy to survive, rather then finishing her off. This comes to help as this cat becomes an ally. (She ends up helping them multiple times despite other cats often falsely accusing her of wrong-doing.)  However, another cat in his clan is willing to kill of a member of the clan in order to bring about advantage. Only this cat and his friend know that. They can see the duplicitous nature of the cat, yet are stuck in a hierarchical society. Luckily, the current clan leader also has some understanding.

The book is an interesting exploration of the life of feral cats. It is an adventure story, yet they are clearly in our world, and occasionally run into backyard pets.

What a Good Kitty

Little Critter: What a Good Kitty (Mercer Mayer's Little Critter: My First I Can Read) by Mercer Mayer

The kitty gets into all sorts of mischief. It does things to anger the whole family and even the dog. The fire department needs to come to rescue it from the tree (along with Dad who went up to get it.) Then at the end, Kitty scares off a mean dog and all is forgiven.

Each page has a spider and mouse that are reacting to the story and add a bit of comic touch.

The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World by Abigail Tucker

Now I don't want a pet cat anymore. Cats are an interesting species of animal that have seemed to domesticate humans rather than be domesticated by us. Most felines live a fairly solitary life hunting their prey. Humans development has nearly led to the extinction of big cats. Yet, house cats out flourishing.

Cats have adopted humans. Their facial features remind people of young humans. This helps their popularity. They like to hunt small animals, such as rodents. Studies show that their role in controlling rat populations is overrated. However they have done a great job of hunting other species towards extinction. 

Cats had often sailed with ships. From this they intentionally (or unintentionally) colonized many islands.

Cats can bread. Controlling a cat population is very difficulty. Spaying and Neutering works if it is comprehensive. However, fixed cats are less attractive partners. Cats will seek out fertile partners and continue to bread. The breading also makes culling a cat population less effective unless it is complete. The remaining cats will continue to reproduce.

Cat lovers prefer to fix cats and then release them. This leaves the cats to continue to do their damage in the world. Yet people like cats. It is easier to disparage wind turbines for their damage to the bird population than attack cats that cause more damage. 

People have often had cats "adopt" them. Today there are more inside cats and cat breeding programs. Some of these inside cats will likely not survive well in the wild. Yet there are still many cats on the loose.