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Pamela Merritt is the publisher of the way of Cats blog. drawing on 30 years experience of solving cat problems, Pamela shares her approach to solving behavior problems such as litter box issues, scratching, marking, and fighting on the blog. now Pamela has compiled years of advice into a new book, The way of Cats: how to use Their Instinct to Train, Understand, and love Them.

Pamela’s approach is based on a philosophy which emphasizes communication and understanding each cats’ unique needs. In the book she addresses:

How to read, and speak, Cat

Bringing cats to the negotiation table

Learning the cat types

How to pick the right cat for you

How to get the cat to love you

Learning the right ways to explain and train

Talking to your cats so they will listen

I’ve always liked Pamela’s approach to taking care of cats, because it’s all about understanding how cats’ instincts drive everything they do, and using that information to create a loving relationship of mutual respect. This book is filled with lots of information, wonderful stories, and advise any cat parent can put into practice, all delivered in Pamela’s warm, conversational writing style.

The way of Cats is available from Amazon.

*The conscious cat is a participant in the Amazon services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This means that if you decide to purchase through any of our links, we get a small commission. We only spread the word about products and services we’ve either used or would use ourselves.  I received this book from the author. receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review. All reviews on The conscious cat will always reflect my honest opinion.

Ingrid King

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7 comments on Review: The way of Cats

Marge says:

July 13, 2018 at 12:07 pm

Like others, I prefer real books and do not have any “e-readers”… I also have about 44 years of cat relationships… I know all my cats, their likes, dislikes, normal vs not normal behavior. I have also been through many issues including loss of cats to outside perils (cars, feline leukemia, thus no one goes outside since at least 1993), lymphoma, heart issues, kidney tumor, ideopathic hypercalcemia, hyperthyroid, etc. I have not had to deal with diabetes and hope to avoid that along with other conditions (mostly caused by dry food, eliminated years ago!). CKD is progressing very slowly in my 19+ yo, but she also has developed lung tumors of some kind – reading up on that I think it is likely best for her to stick with palliative care (surgery and chemo are probably not the best for this old girl, with about 25% kidney function and still about 4lbs less that her original weight, mostly due to “treating” the hyperthyroid with medicine rather than going for the gold treatment, which we successfully did last year. She is up about 1lb from a low of 7.5 – it is difficult to get weight back onto an old cat! I have also avoided the prescription foods as a lot of cats don’t like it – at this stage, I feed her what she likes!)

Behavioral issues among the many here are mainly personality conflicts, resolved by separation (screen doors in hallway entrances suffices for most, the other is kept in a separate room with a new buddy after the loss of her brother.) Although there are ways to introduce cats, sometimes there is no other option as time and attempts were not successful – knock down drag out fights were not going to get better!

The last issue is “separation anxiety” in one – when I am on the other side of the screens she wants to be in here, but is intimidated by the others and will pee inappropriately! I have to put her in the cat playpen about 3x per day, so she will use the litter box, not the hall floor (yes, I had her checked, no uti, just wants to be with me!)

So, the big take away is spend time with your cat(s), get to know all their personalities and normal behavior, temperament, likes, dislikes. If they appear to be out of sorts, give it a little time to see if it resolves and if not, off to the vet! You are your cat’s advocate, so if you feel the vet doesn’t address the issue at hand or you don’t like the “plan”, stand your ground (you know your cat best!) and/or seek another opinion.

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Johnny says:

July 6, 2018 at 8:23 pm

Looks like an interesting book, but like many others… I don’t have a kindle.

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Cheri says:

July 6, 2018 at 8:13 pm

Disappointed: I don’t want kindle, either.

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Nanci Crock says:

July 6, 2018 at 1:09 pm

I’d like to buy the real book …. not an Ebook …. help!

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Enid says:

July 6, 2018 at 11null