How to Talk to Your Cat

by Jean Craighead George

There's more to cat talk than meow and purr Let animal lover and Newbery Medal winner Jean Craighead George show you how to interpret your cat's often intricate body language, discover feline facial expressions, decode and demystify cat behavior -- and best of all, teach you how to better communicate with your pet for a deeper and more loving relationship.

Genres: Cats, Nonfiction, Childrens, Picture Books, Animals, Humor, Pets

116 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1986

About the author

Jean Craighead George wrote over eighty popular books for young adults, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and the Newbery Honor book My Side of the Mountain. Most of her books deal with topics related to the environment and the natural world. While she mostly wrote children's fiction, she also wrote at least two guides to cooking with wild foods, and an autobiography, Journey Inward.

The mother of three children, (Twig C. George, Craig, and T. Luke George) Jean George was a grandmother who joyfully read to her grandchildren since the time they were born. Over the years Jean George kept one hundred and seventy-three pets, not including dogs and cats, in her home in Chappaqua, New York. "Most of these wild animals depart in autumn when the sun changes their behaviour and they feel the urge to migrate or go off alone. While they are with us, however, they become characters in my books, articles, and stories."

Reviews

[Calista]

Jean did a book like this with Dog language. I am reading her ‘Julie of the Wolves’ and it’s obvious that Jean has done a lot of research into animal’s language and signs. Cat talk is Scent, touch and Sound. She goes into what each of these signs are like and what they mean. You pay attention to tails, whiskers, eyes, ears, if they rub on you, listen to their different meows.

Reading this, I remember the cats we had as a kid and I can totally remember our cat doing all of these things. It is actually interesting. I want to meet a cat so I can try some of these things out on them. She also goes into the history of cats in this book which the first cats in Egypt were Felis Sylvestris. It made me realize that looney tones cat was named Sylvester and I’m sure they did this on purpose. They were smart people.

This is purely non-fiction and there is not a story here, but it’s still interesting. The kids thought this was pretty cool and they too wanted to try it out on cats. The nephew tried to rub his head with the dog, but we told him, the dog doesn’t speak cat. He was disappointed that he couldn’t use this. He forgot all the tips for speaking to a dog. I’ll have to get that book again. The niece found this interesting. She gave this 3 stars. The nephew gave this 4 stars. I’m impressed that they were this into a book so serious. Yeah!

[Judy]

I'm not a cat fan. I might like them if they'd always stay indoors, but unfortunately, they don't. They use my gardens as litter boxes and they kill birds. Those are unforgivable offenses.

However, I do like this book for a couple of reasons.

1) The Content: It is a detailed description of animal behaviors, and there are suggestions for how a human can communicate with an animal. (The most obvious but unstated requirement is to become familiar with the animal.)

2) The art: Here I see a whole new side of Ms George. She had to have a sense of humor to let herself be photographed interacting with cartoon cats. Fun!

[Heather McC]

Informational and fun, the book is to be taken with a grain of salt as not all cat situations are alike. I found the different 'meows' to be fascinating, along with the various cat stances and poses.

[Cheryl]

I came across this book at a church rummage sale and thought it would be worth a try. My cat has become more vocal recently and I was hoping to get a clue as to whether she wants something and what it might be. I did learn quite a lot about the behavior and language of cats, as well as some things about other animal behaviors, but alas, it was not a cat dictionary. I did discover why she has to climb over me to get to certain things (I am in the way of her normal path) and had it confirmed as to why she has to be involved in the book I am reading and why she scratches the furniture at specific times. All in all, I would say this is the best/most informative of the cat behavior books I have read, despite the fact that it didn't answer all my questions or give me a more authoritative way of speaking to my cat so that she obeys.

[Laura Z]

While the photos and illustrations are cute, I did not agree with some of the advice. She speaks of allowing a house cat complete access to the outdoors, even for the entire night, speaking of the cat fights cats get into as a matter of course. As I understand it, a cat allowed access to the outdoors lives, on average, a life 1/3 the length of one kept inside for their lifetime, something that should be mentioned in the book as well. This is a book that should be read for fun, but I, personally, feel advice about cats would best be sought elsewhere.

[Sexyhotcat23gmail.com]

I showed this to my five year-old daughter (whose reading skills have really been advancing quickly in her new IB/AP program) before reading it myself and only thought to when she came up to me with a big innocent look in her eye and asked "Mommy, what does 'thrust' mean?" I cannot believe the porn-like way in which the animals mating is described. I was vividly reminded of my honeymoon, in addition to my all-time favorite "50 Shades of Gray." What in heaven is this book and why does the author have a seemingly erotic view towards cats mating? #Disgusted.

[Katie]

My daughter and her cat, Frankie, short for Frank Sinatra, moved in awhile ago and my husband and I have been trying to get to know him. He is very vocal and has started to allow us to be his buddies, but the way he looks and interacts with my daughter is so sweet! He just adores her. All the signs of affection listed in the book, he shows her and maybe more. He truly has decided that she is his property. Very interesting book and hopefully will help me develop a better relationship with this feline visitor.

[Penny]

I am desperate for information to help me resolve a civil war that has sprung up within my tiny cat family, and I found a copy of this lovely little book at the Humane Indiana thrift store. George is a wonderful writer and an animal lover who is a keen observer of their behavior in captivity and in the wild. I learned a few things that have already proven helpful. For example, I can now tell more about how a cat is feeling by watching how it holds its tail. And I have a few new strategies for calming the storms that occur. Paper bags! A quick read by a good writer.

[Kathy]

This is a children's book my daughter picked out at the library. We had lots of fun reading it together.
The illustrations by Paul Meisel are a hilarious mixture: photography of a white-haired woman interacting with colorful, painted cats.
The text very acurately describes the way cats interact with people. It was useful and informative. Even taught me, a lifelong cat owner, a few things.
My daughter is very into nonfiction books about animals, so I've read several. This is the best so far.

[Dolly]

This is a wonderful book with step-by-step instructions for how to understand what your cat is trying to communicate by the sounds he makes and his body language. It also offers good techniques for you to communicate back to him. It's a fun book, with lots of good information, but not too much. We still read this over the course of several days so our girls didn't get overwhelmed with the amount of info provided.

[Julie H. Ernstein]

Since they can't speak to us in language we readily understand, why not improve ourselves by learning to understand what they are trying to tell us. This is also a wonderful primer for kids in learning how to "read" the cat, how and when to approach (or not), and just a good way to learn why it is that that little ball of fur insists on head-butting you. The illustrations are charming, too.

[Cindy Minnich]

This is a book that would make most cat owners smile. Cats do choose us. They own us - hardly the other way around. There's plenty to learn here about cat communication, but it's not written in scientific expert language. This is light-hearted and I could see using it to show students that voice doesn't be to be sacrificed in order to be informative.

[Megan]

This book is all about how to talk to your cat. It also shows the way your cat can talk to you. It shows the motions it moves to show how it's feeling. For example: if it rubs its head against your leg it show it is happy to see you. There is a lot of information in this book.

[Sue]

Although I was saddened when I saw that Jean Craighead George died earlier this year.. I loved this cute nonfiction book that explained basics of cat behavior and how to recognize different facial and body cues in your cat, and even sometimes how you can 'talk' back to your cat.

[Molly]

This is a pretty cute book for kids about the language of cats. I do wish the author had mentioned that outdoor cats tend to live shorter lives as she seems to promote letting cats outdoors. The illustrations are also fun.

[Colleen]

A very helpful book. A very easy read so that anybody can learn how to their cat. I now know what my cat is saying when she head buts me. She's saying "hello"! And best of all, it is written by one of my favorite authors, Jean Craighead George!

[Fredtrumpet]

Set up like a children's book with cute illustrations, but really a pretty informative pocket guide to feline facial, tail, and body communication. :)

[Anna]

I didn't care for this.

[Sarah]

Don't judge me.

Evidently, this isn't the work of genius I thought it was at age 10, but I still think it's a valuable resource. She also has one about dogs.

[Atticus]

I learned how to talk to and how to interpret your cat.

[Jenny]

We checked this book out from the library for our 5 year old son, and found it to be both humorous and informative.

[Melissa]

I remember reading this about 20 times with a little second grader I was mentoring a few years back. She wanted me to write down passages of it for her to keep, so I eventually gave her a copy.

[Karen]

This book is hilarious. I'm not sure if it is meant to be hilarious, but it is.

[Miss Ryoko]

This was written by a crazy cat lady. It's silly, and not in a good way.

[ashes ➷]

Very cute volume! Short and to the point; it illuminated a lot for me.

[Tabetha]

Just read it while sitting in this cat cafe in Houston. It was so cute and made me laugh a lot. 💗

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins]

This book was written by one of my favorite authors...Jean Craighead George. Her photos are really in the book, with the picture of the cat drawn in.
I learned so much in this book, and I've had cats since I was a little girl. It would be a great book for a family that was getting a cat. I say cat, because Jean advises that if you are getting new kitties, it's okay to get 2 from the same litter. However, if you already have a cat, and bring home another one, they will fight all of the time. Good to know.
The book mentions how self-sufficient cats are. If you leave for the day, they don't really miss you, until you come home and they give you a "talking to". Cats do talk quite often, but they have to initiate the conversation.
Like I said, I learned so much; more than this. A great book.

[Susan]

I loved this book.
This is a very practical book! It describes how your actions are interpreted by a cat. This book would be good for any cat owner to read.
This is a children's book, a picture book, but has more words than most picture books.
Any person (even an adult) who likes cats can learn from this book.

[linds]

on one of my first dates ever i told a boy that i loved this book so much when i was like 8 and on our first anniversary he had bought it for me. it now sits in the bathroom at every house i've ever lived in. currently in a bathroom i no longer live in though. miss you

[Trina]

I disagreed with her statement that cats do not get along. Rubbish! My four do. Another statement she made said that cats only purr around humans. I can be in the hall and hear one of mine in the bedroom!
Other than that, it was a sweet, cute children’s book with adorable illustrations