My biggest takeaway from this book is that it is pretty surprising how little scientists have actually studied cats. There have been a jillion studies about dogs and their body language and how their brains work and how they interact with humans, and hardly any actual research into cats. The studies that Bradshaw does cite usually involve just a few cats, so it's hard to really trust their conclusions.

Bradshaw's main argument is that cats are not nearly as domesticated as dogs, and that we need to treat them like the barely-tamed predators they are for them to be healthy and happy. I was expecting some chapters about how to pander to an indoor cat's instincts, for instance by providing them with places to climb or certain kinds of toys, but his discussion of how to improve the situation for cats focuses on breeding programs.

As a life-long owner and observer of cats, I really didn't learn much from this book. If you're new to cat ownership, there's probably some useful stuff in here. ( )

This fascinating book explores the domain of the world's most popular pet, the domestic cat. Surprisingly, very little scientific research has been done on the cat, but Bradshaw compiles the outcomes of recent research in this book. The book begins with a natural history of cats and how they developed a relationship with humans.

The famous independence of cats comes from how they first were first domesticated. Cats were "hired" to be mousers, a job that they did on their own as opposed to the more social aspects of the dog's work of herding, hunting, and guarding. Despite their independence, the affection of cats is real. In addition to touch and grooming, a raised tail is a signal of friendliness. While cats meow often with humans, it's rarely used among wild and feral cats. While cats can bond with humans (especially if they're socialized before they reach 8 weeks) they are less likely to want to spend time with other cats due to their territorial nature. Getting a second cat to keep your original cat company rarely works. In fact, a cat coming to a new home may find that they yard of their humans' property is already marked by a neighboring cat, leading to stress and standoffs.

The issue of allowing pet cats outdoors on their own is a contentious one. Bradshaw argues that the evidence that cats decimate local wildlife are built on faulty data (although cats can be bad for certain environments, such as islands, and feral cat communities anywhere). In some cases, cats may be beneficial to bird populations since they hunt other predators such as rats. Nevertheless, Bradshaw offers a lot of tips on how best to allow cats outdoors should you choose to do so as well as enrichment to help keep indoor cats happy. Bradshaw believes that when cats leave a dead animal as a "treat" for their humans that they simply remembered once they got home that there was much tastier store-bought food and lost interest in the animal they caught.

The last chapter is a little strange in how Bradshaw considers how to select traits in domestic cats in order to breed them to be better companions to humans and to living indoors. He does make a good point that the growing practice of neutering pet cats means that future kittens are more likely to come from feral cats who have traits opposite of what we desire in cats. Overall it's an interesting book that's taught me some new things about my favorite pet.

Favorite Passages:

"Unlike the dog, which was domesticated much earlier, there would have been no niche for the cat in a hunter-gatherer society. It was not until the first grain stores appeared, resulting in localized concentrations of wild rodents, that it would have been worth any cat’s while to visit human habitations—and even then, those that did must have run the risk of being killed for their pelts. It was probably not until after the house mouse had evolved to exploit the new resource provided by human food stores that cats began to appear regularly in settlements, tolerated because they were obviously killing rodents and thereby protecting granaries."

"Cats’ hearing is therefore superior to ours in many ways, but inferior in one respect: the ability to distinguish minor differences between sounds, both in pitch and intensity. If it was possible to train a cat to sing, it couldn’t sing in tune (bad news for Andrew Lloyd Webber)."

"We could consider some of this behavior manipulative, but only to the extent that two friends negotiate the details of their relationship. The underlying emotion on both sides is undoubtedly affection: cats show this in the way they communicate with their owners, using the same patterns of behavior that they employ to form and maintain close relationships with members of their own feline family."

"pet cats rarely hunt “seriously,” often watching potential prey without bothering to stalk it. A hungry cat will pounce several times until the prey either escapes or is caught; a well-fed pet will pounce halfheartedly and then give up, probably explaining why pet cats, when they do kill birds, usually succeed only when they target individuals already weakened by hunger or disease. Furthermore, pet cats rarely consume their prey, often bringing it home as if to consume it there, but then abandoning it."

( )

Only one or two points of interest that weren't "no, duh" moments, even for non-cat owners
But well-written and enjoyable to read anyway ( )

Lot os areas to just leaf through. Facit: we simply don’t know cats. ( )

As a full fledged on her way to be certifiable crazy cat person, I was really excited to learn more about cats. Reading this book definitely opened my eyes to things I didn't know about before and changed the way I look/think about my cat's behaviors. I think my favorite part was learning more about black cats and how they came to be as they have a special place in my heart. All in all, I really learned a lot from this book and have been spouting facts at anyone who will listen (and even some people who don't want to). ( )