Catspeak: How to Learn It, Speak It, and Use It to Have a Happy, Healthy, Well-Mannered Cat

Rating:
Summary: A dog trainer does NOT a cat trainer make.
Review: Dibra may be the big Hollywood dog trainer but he doesn't know cats. He and Randolph don't make a smooth transition into cat expertise very convincingly. I found myself repeatedly thinking I was reading old cliche information rather than firsthand knowledge.

The writing style is clumsy and outdated and didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about my cats. This book confirmed what I always suspected about so called "trainers to the stars". They spend too much time rubbing elbows with the famous and not enough time developing true expertise.

Rating:
Summary: The author needs to check his facts
Review: I haven't finished the book, so I might revise my review later, but so far (about halfway through the book) I haven't learned anything new. In addition, I've found several bits of information that are either outdated or completely wrong. There is no bibliography in the book, which leads me to believe there was no research beyond the author's observations. In my opinion, a much better book on cat behavior is "Think Like a Cat" by Pam Johnson-Bennett

Rating:
Summary: A cat behavior, not an animal communicator, book
Review: Mr. Dibra is clearly an animal lover (cute picture on the back cover), and thus I wanted to be able to write a better review than this. Frankly, I was disappointed by this book and found the byline misleading (How to Learn It, Speak It, and Use It to Have a Happy, Healthy, Well-Mannered Cat). I was looking for a higher level of insight and awareness into "catdom" than this book presented. And I still don't know what "catspeak" means, other than loving one's animals (which most people do or they wouldn't buy a book like this!).

I did learn some interesting facts, but critical parts of the information were outdated. The book recommends: regular vaccines/boosters (now known to be very dangerous); warming cold catfood in the microwave (demolishes enzymes); and clay litter (can get impacted in the cat's colon). To be given incorrect information mixed in with helpful facts gets confusing and diminishes the author's credibility.

Lastly, I found the tone distant and somewhat demeaning to this majestic species. I'm less interested in getting my cats to do what I want than to see them happy and thoroughly understood.

To end on a positive note, I think this book deals well with the issue of cat selection and initiation into a new home, and the breed profiles are succinct and nicely articulated.

Rating:
Summary: Thank goodness for this book!
Review: My unruly cat was driving me absolutely crazy--scratching the furniture, swatting at my dog, and being generally ornery. She was driving me crazy! Well, with Dibra's tips and advice, I have trained her to stop wrecking my furniture, to get along with the dog, and behave in a pleasant, affectionate way. This book saved my cat's life--and made mine less of a hairball.

Rating:
Summary: CAT ADOPTION 101
Review: This is a comprehensive book about the intial stages of selecting and adopting a cat, how to take care of it, and how to give it rudimentary training in behaving itself. It does not go beyond that. The style of writing is easygoing and accessible, but it offers no spark of insight into feline behavior you might expect from a great animal trainer. If you know anyting about caring for a cat, this book will offer little or nothing new, and an encyclopedia like Cats for Dummies might be a bit more worthwhile since it comes packed with more data. For those of you seeking quality writing about cats, "Do Cats Think?" is a much better book written by a naturalist with a passion for felines.