What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior

by Gwen Bailey

What Is My Cat Thinking? is an essential guide to understanding your cat to respond to her changing needs. Did you ever wonder why she licks her paws, scratches the furniture or brings dead animals into the house? This book lifts the lid on cat behavior and helps you communicate more effectively with your pet. Includes questions and answer sections and specially commissioned photography.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Cats, Reference, Science

96 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2002

About the author

Gwen worked for a leading UK national animal welfare charity from 1988-2002 and pioneered the use of dog behaviour knowledge in the rehoming of unwanted animals.

She was the first person to be appointed by a national animal welfare charity as a full time Animal Behaviourist, eventually heading a team of behaviourists.

Gwen has successfully solved behaviour problems in thousands of rehomed dogs, helping to prevent dogs with behavioural problems being passed from home to home and improving the rehoming success rate.

Gwen lectures at national and international conferences, runs training courses for staff at animal charities around the world and has written many books & education leaflets. She is a Trustee for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a cat person. This was an excellent book on cat behavior.

My one gripe: I wish Ms. Bailey took some time to explain how much damage cats in the wild can do. Then explain how to raise your kitty to stay indoors. I did that with mine, and she's very happy. Cats do enormous environmental damage to wildlife. Something must be done about it.

[Wallace Hettle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic in the genre of cat behavior.

"the best book ever" Wally's cat.

[Marijan Šiško · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mačke. gotta love them.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Needed this. Trying to understand one cat's behavior with putting her scent too many places and having to do more laundry. Any info out there from other cat lover's? I am putting a phermone scenter (plug in to electrical) in the bedroom where she is doing this. We have these phermone "machines" throughout the house and she doesn't seem to do it anywhere but bedroom. Bedroom did not have one till now.

[Domi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Návod, jak si povídat s kočkou. Naprosté must-read. :))

[MKF]

It's definitely a kids book but my daughter wanted me to read it though I already knew the majority.

[Lisa Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for cat owners new and old! I've owned cats for most of my life, thinking I knew just about all there is to know about them, but I learned quite a bit more from this book. I didn't know that cats have a sense of smell 10 times stronger than humans, that kittens are born with their claws extended, that cats don't start to purr until they're a week old, and why cats are able to lie on very hot surfaces without it seeming to bother them. That's just a few new things I learned.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

For long-time owners of cats, there is really nothing new here. Some of the information is even out of date. For example, we know now why cats play with their prey -- to make sure the suckers are dead or at least stunned before the cat sticks it's face near enough to eat it. This is really geared for first time cat owners or people who know f all about cats.

This was written by a Brit, so there is a UK bias as to cat care. UK cat owners all let their cats out (almost all of them). Yes, they're idiots. Yes, cats by the thousands suffer and die for it. Not only that, but even well- fed cats decimate local wildlife and birds. I lived in the UK for five years. I gave up arguing with them about why they should keep their cats indoors. You'd have an easier time separating Elon Musk from his ego than getting a UK cat owner to keep their cats indoors, where it's safe.

Keep your cats indoors, people. Unless you have a farm, but odds are, you don't.

Although the publisher of the American edition is Thunder Bay Press, this was originally published by Octopus. Now, those of us at a certain age remember Octopus books and how they flooded the market. This was long before the Internet, so your only way of getting books was by going to an actual bookstore. You then had only the books they had to choose from. If you wanted non-fiction books on animals with color pictures, you had Octopus books.

The big problem with these books is that they recycled their photographs. At one point, I had about five Octopus horse books, and all of them had photos you could find in the other books.

Despite this being an Octopus book, there were actually photos taken just for this book. That's gotta be a first. There about 30 photos credited to Octopus photographers like Jane Burton, but all the others are originals. That alone caused me to give this little book an extra star.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I often wonder what my cats are thinking -- to the point that I am seriously considering getting them the FluentPet or similar communication buttons. I am pretty sure that Errol would use them to ask for food, but Molly might have all sorts of things to say. When this book was passed along to me, I figured it wouldn't hurt to read it to see if I could learn a few things.

The best aspect of this book is that it couples descriptions of cat behavior and body language with actual photos of actual cats demonstrating the actual behavior and body language. It made it much clearer than hoping I was imagining what was being described. I found one weakness of the book to be the amount of attention focused to outdoor cat activities, since I live in a very populated area and my cats are indoor only. I did pick up a few interesting tidbits that I didn't know about how cats interact with humans, how they respond to new things, and how they act with each other. Based on the discussions in the book, I do think that Molly and Errol are having actual spats more than just playing at times, because the body language is pretty clear. I don't have any idea how to change that, though, so I iwll have to look for other books to help with that.

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 3 out of 5]

The format and style of writing was odd for me. I would also say that not too much of the information was new to me. Here were some things I learned:

Friendliness is mostly determined by a cat’s father
Purring indicates pleasure and pain
Adults cats are more likely to adjust to a new kitten than a new adult cat
Territory is the most importantly to cats. And they are solitary in the wild (unlike dog packs)
Cats can tell from scent marks about another cat’s age, sex, state of health, and what it has eaten recently. Cat’s smell capacity is 10x better than humans and takes up a bigger part of their brain to decode scent messages.
Female cats can tell how good a mate would be by smelling in his urine how much meat he has eaten to determine how good a hunter he is.
Cats want doors opened even if they don’t go through because they want to check all is well in their territory.
A fit, healthy cat can jump up to 5 times its own height.
Cats aren’t fans of eye contact

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book, only about 100 pages, with lots of illustrations, so it was easy to read in one day. Negatives: the book could have been more carefully edited. I found a period in the middle of a sentence, and a grammatical error that was repeated a couple of times. The positives: I liked all the photos of cats in different poses and the explanation of what the pose (or ear and tail movements) were likely to signify: friendship, aggression, fear, etc. I think it'd be a good book for anyone who is thinking of getting a cat, anyone who has a cat with behavior problems or anyone who wants to introduce a new cat to an existing cat already established in the home. It's written by a woman who is head of the humane society in the UK, and she seems to really know her animal behavior science.

[Sierra 🌸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was a fairly simple, straightforward, and short non-fiction book, so I don’t have too many thoughts on it. I learned some new things. There were some super adorable pictures that I loved flipping through. It could be a bit repetitive sometimes, but it was still a fun time. One small problem I had was how it referred to cats in a way that implied that all cats are or should be outdoor cats. Granted, there are a lot of stray cats in the world, which are obviously outdoor animals, but almost all pet cats are strictly or mostly indoor cats and it was like the author didn’t seem to realize that. But other than that, it was cute and fun and informative.

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting and unique book entirely about cats. I've read many cat books, but none like this. Every subject that it introduced on cat behavior, the book showed a photo of a real cat that was doing what they were explaining. It was great to see what the cat looked like, because so much of what cats do is all about body language. It covers six major aspects of cat behavior: social behavior, territory, fitness and hunting, reproduction, staying safe, and cats and people.
Anyone getting a kitten/cat, or that has one would benefit by reading this book.

[tiger lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Regarding specifically "what my cat is thinking", there is nothing here you wouldn't find in any kind of basic cat care book.
Encouraging owners to free-feed their obligate carnivores dry food (read: junk) is what really made me feel like I'm just reading some random persons' opinions rather than any kind of reliable source. No sources or references, this isn't a serious book. It's okay as a summary or for new cat owners just starting to understand cats, but absolutely heed "advice" on care regarding feeding.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun! I have been a cat owner for nearly 50 years, and still learned new things about my cats from this book. Their behavior and actions are explained with humor and true animal understanding. The photos are interesting and sometimes endearing. If your cat is quirky, lovable, and or sometimes hostile, this book will be sure to explain why you are seeing such behavior. I enjoyed it very much!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read with pictures. Great go-to for deciphering kitty body language
did you know cats don't have sweat glands? they have to cool off using external mechanisms like a cold floor or licking themselves. and male cats have tiny barbs on their penis that cause pain in the female during intercourse but are needed for inducing ovulation and keeping them tied together

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your usual silly picture book about cats, although there are wonderful photos of them throughout which illustrate the scientific points being made about their behavior.
Wish I had read this book years ago, my kitty would have been happier.
We all think we know what cats want and are up to but there is so much more to know.
This is out of print but it's worth searching out a used copy.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a cat person and know cat behavior well. However, there were a few facts I gleaned from this book. The frustrating thing to me was every idea pitched by the author was retold over and over on the next 6 pages.

[Elusive · Rating 4 out of 5]

'What Is My Cat Thinking?' provided useful information on cats with explanations on why they behave in certain ways, their body language, their reactions to people and so forth. These were accompanied by pictures of various cats that were not only helpful but also adorable.

[Brian Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, easy and quick read on cats and their behavior. I learned some things. It might have been better if there were more detail on why some of them have different quirks (if possible). Overall, a very worthwhile book.

[Mandi Hidalgo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, very basic introduction to cats, their language, and behaviors. It is the very basics, though, so I wouldn't rely on it for any kind of in depth care for your cat, but it is handy and a good intro to anyone thinking about getting a cat.

[Becky Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on cat behavior and why they act that way and has good advice. I wouldn't make it the only book on cat behavior you get as there are other really good titles that have excellent information. But this book is nice and has good advice.

[Tanja · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book that explains why cats rub themselves all over you or why they sit on people who don't like cats. Many color photographs give a good idea as to cats' body language and behavior.

[Warren Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the ailurophile.

[Jacq Calvert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not entirely up-to-date, and I would have liked more detail on things like body language, but good basic information and clear, helpful pictures.

[Lucy Siskova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Čekala jsem něco víc a spletla se. Bohužel mi to neřeklo nic, co bych nevěděla. Jen pár drobností, ale zanedbatelných. Škoda.

[Naim Sikei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cat parents should read this

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read and learn more about my cat’s behavior.

[Adrianka · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book in childhood. 😻

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay.