Today it’s Respect Your Cat Day and to celebrate I am treating myself to a copy of Dr. Mikel Delgado’s new book, Play with Your Cat!
At Shel Graves Animal Consulting, we believe that humans could do more to learn more about the non-humans animals in our lives. That certainly includes cats.
Often it’s the animals closest to us, who we depend upon the most, who we are least likely to devote time and resources to scientifically study. For a long time, “domesticated” animals were not considered interesting or worthy of study.
Fortunately, that’s changing. One of the best conferences I have attended is the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants Pounce! conference. Isn’t that a great name for a conference?
It’s also a fantastic gathering of the cat behavior community which brings together some of the latest research on cats.
Doing our best for animals requires getting to know them and knowing details about them yields results which can improve our lives together.
I loved the research by Kristin Vitale, PhD which shows cats do prefer our company to food, scent, and toys and love interactive play. Then there are studies with really practical information such as cats’ litterbox preferences. Did you know cats prefer 1-2 inches of litter for example?
Of course, cats are individuals and getting to know the specific preference of the cats in your life is key. Consider a Happy Cat Plan to spend more time really getting to know and enjoy your cat.
I will absolutely spend time playing with Mary Shelley cat today. I remember visiting the Seattle Art Museum’s Impressionist exhibit and viewing Renoir’s Woman with Cat. This painting made me realize it was time to heal from my grief over the loss of Sophie cat and bring another cat into our home.
We adopted Mary Shelley from the Everett Animal Shelter where the staff gave us this excellent directive: “Be sure to play with her!”
Here are some other great resources for cats and their people:
Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy by Zazie Todd
The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide for Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat by John Bradshaw and Sarah Ellis
Food Puzzles for Cats –Mary Shelley’s favorite is the TRIXIE Fun Board
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