The Body Language and Emotion of Cats

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and delightful insight!
Review: Being a cat owner myself, when I found this book I was curious enough for an impulse buy. Once I started reading it however, I found it hard to put down. The detail and explanations of daily behaviors that I saw in my own cats cleared up many questions. Forgive the pun, but my curiosity far from killed my cats, if anything it has brought us closer together. I highly recomend this book to any cat owner who wants to better understand their cat!

Rating:
Summary: All the charm of an autopsy
Review: If you're looking for a fun book about cat communication be sure to pass this one by. It's long on physiology - for example, a detailed explanation about how purring is produced - but very short on psychology: There's little discussion of what causes a cat to purr.

The author takes a completely clinical approach to her subject matter. For her cat ownership is obviously a very serious business, fraught with difficulties. She addresses only "problem" behavior - as if cats' actions and antics couldn't also be curiously delightful and funny. She perceives bonding with cats as an obstacle for humans, worthy of an entire instructional chapter.

Somehow I thought that a book with this title would have rich insights into all kinds of cat behavior. I expected some humor; maybe a little anthropomorphizing; and the kind of warmth I feel from the three sweet little furballs now dozing on my lap. No such luck. It has all the charm of an autopsy.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This was a real eye-opener for me. It was amazing to read of the complex range of behaviours and emotions you can spot simply from looking at a cat. Barry, my spaniel, and I often watch Maureen, next door's Persian as she walks across the wall at the end of my garden. We have detected disdain as she walks away from us with her tail in the air and back-eye winking, and smug pity as she eyes Barry's vain yapping from behind the French windows, but I am intrigued to learn that cats can feel pessimistic and have a rudimentary concept of the bourgeoisie and slapstick humour.