Cats on the Counter : Therapy and Training for Your Cat

by Larry Lachman, Frank Mickadeit

Cats are wonderful companions, but when they misbehave it can be challenging, if not outright difficult, to successfully treat the behavior problem in order to restore feline harmony to the home once again. In Cats on the Counter Dr. Larry Lachman uses his unique approaches, borrowed from human therapy, to analyze what makes kitty tick, and what happens when his behavior gets out of control. Using a case-by-case format, behaviorist Lachman and journalist Frank Mickadeit deal with common problems such as clawing furniture, refusing to use the litterbox or spray marking in the house, fussy eating, and fighting with other cats. Cats on the Counter is filled with fascinating stories, excellent advice, and empathy for both misbehaving pets and their long-suffering people.

Other topics
The Freudian Feline and Family cat personality and structural family systems therapy
The Jekyll & Hyde cat aggression
Kitty preserving your cat's mental health
the fear of cats and how to treat it
Kidproofing your teaching your children how to care for your cat
Lassie Meets Morris/Morris Meets introducing dogs to cats and cats to cats
The Final Feline pet loss, grief and how to say goodbye
"Holy Cats Batman!": Kitty ESP, catnip treats, and afterthoughts

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 2000

Reviews

[Sophie]

What a random assortment of stuff. I checked this out from the library based on the title - I need to keep my cat off the counter and nudge his other behaviors in a less naughty direction. I've learned more from online forums.

For whatever reason Lachman has chapters on animal ESP, cats in mythology / history, and cat phobia. The sections on cat behavior are actually pretty short, and didn't really help me with the issues that I'm having with Mr Sparkles.

Also, I found it odd that he was constantly referring back to his other book, Dogs on the Couch. It wasn't just once or twice, but all the time - and I don't understand how it was relevant or helpful. All I can conclude is that he wrote the dog book first, and then thought he could make an easy buck copying over half the material into a cat book.

Don't waste your time on this one.

[Rachel Fortin]

I enjoyed the first few chapters which explained the personality specific issues that can arise between cat and owner which I had never considered. It made a lot of sense and I learned a lot from that. Other than that a lot of this book fell flat for me. I didn't jive well with the organization of the topics and found it to be a little bit disconnected.

[H. Carter]

Has some helpful tips on a variety of behaviors. The writing is a little dry. It reads a bit like an academic textbook. A little outdated by this point, but maybe because I read an older edition. Still, the author seems to be proficient in the subject matter if you don't mind the clinical verbage.

[Sofia The Great]

Helpful tips but could have done without psychic cats.

[Liz]

Equal parts cat psychology and people psychology, Cats on the Counter is a mildly disorganized foray into understanding cats and understanding how people interact with cats.

[Casey Nicholson]

I liked this book, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't my favorite. I'm also sure that there are better books about feline behavioral problems and I intend on finding them. The book was good and well written, but a lot of it seemed like common sense to me. I'm not sure if its because I already had some knowledge on the subject or what? I did learn one thing from the book, and that was that Jay and I are letting our cat's dominate us. That was kind of a given also. Its a decent book if you are interested in cat behavioral training.

[Kricket]

picked this up at the library out of curiosity- how trainable IS a cat? it had some great insights on the psyche and behavior of cats, and though we are not currently in need of any of the in-depth training programs (nina has stopped eating shoelaces), i would definitely turn to this should she pick up any bad habits.

[Katie Van Sloten]

Good for someone who is a cat novice - Don't waste your time if you already have a fair amount of cat knowledge.

[Jamie]

A very good guide to help with cat "issues". When kitties don't behave as they should.

[Lisa]

Family-therapy based methods and helpful for our furry "kit-kids", especially the integration chapters.