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Cats: General

If you want to buy a book, clicking on the book cover will take you directly to that book on the Amazon.co.uk web site.

See also:
Cats: Single breeds
Cats: Behaviour
Cats: Health and nutrition
Cats: Fiction dealing with cats
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The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Cats, Cat Breeds & Cat Care

Alan Edwards, with veterinary consultant Trevor Turner, B. VET. MED. and M.R.C.V.S. Southwater (2 Mar 2010)
ISBN-10: 184476897X
ISBN-13: 978-1844768974


A handy, compact, fat book that packs a punch. This is a very good reference book for people interested in cat breeds, and it also gives a lot of useful advice on cat care, from buying and choosing a cat, vaccinations and other health issues, keeping cats safe indoors and outside, nutrition, grooming and training. The second part of the book, The Breeds, describes and illustrates all the main cat breeds. It's a very useful guide if you want to know about showing and colour variations, as well grooming needs and how big the cats grow. Well, it's a lovely book overall, both for the useful basic advice, and for anyone curious about breeds. The pictures are enchanting, even for those of us who love our moggies and wouldn't change them for the world.

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RSPCA Complete Cat Care Manual

Andrew Edney
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley (30 Mar 2006)
ISBN-10: 1405314672
ISBN-13: 978-1405314671


This RSPCA manual is a good general guide for cat owners, giving help with key issues like choosing a cat, bringinging up kittens, grooming, health and disease, nutrition. The book is very well illustrated, so is especially attractive for children who are learning about cat care. It gives you enough information if you are starting out, but it's not really an in-depth book, so anyone who wants information on specific areas like cat breeding will find they have to look at more specialist works. However, as a general guide to caring for cats, this is one of the best, especially for children because of the excellent illustrations.

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One Hundred Ways For A Cat To Train Its Human

Celia Haddon
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; (18 Oct 2001)
ISBN-10: 0340786051
ISBN-13: 978-0340786055


Celia Haddon has written a very funny book which views cat-human relationships from the point of view of cats. Humans need to be trained, as all cats know. Cats also need entertainment. This book describes how cats can best train humans, and find fun things to do, in and out of the house. Celia Haddon is a keen observer of cats, and most owners will recognise the feline ploys that she describes so well and so entertainingly.

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Test Your Cat: The Cat IQ Test [Hardcover]

E. M. Bard
Publisher: HarperCollins; Re-issue edition (7 Feb 2005)
ISBN-10: 0002555026
ISBN-13: 978-0002555029


This is a very entertaining book, which looks at feline intelligence from different points of view. Many of the tests are related to observing what your cat does, while the tasks are likely to be enjoyed by your cat. This is a fun book, rather than a serious attempt to define and measure feline intelligence. All the same, it is an intriguing book, which prompts serious questions as to how cats think. It would make a very nice present for anyone who dotes on their cat.

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Entertaining Your Indoor Cat: 50 Fun and Inventive Amusements for Your Cat

Kevin Kelly
Sellers Publishing, Incorporated (30 Sep 2009)
ISBN-10: 9781416205173
ISBN-13: 978-1416205173
ASIN: 1416205179


Indoor cats tend to have more intense relationships with their owners than do cats free to come and go. Humans don't just supply food and comfortable places to snooze, they have to serve as 'prey', to be pounced on, and generally serve as sources of entertainment. Play between human and cat becomes very important for indoor cats. Entertaining Your Indoor Cat is a useful resource to give you ideas for enjoyable games. There is a wide range of games, so it's easy to find an activity to suit cats of all ages and personalties. The book is also well illustrated with original drawings. Perhaps the best general book on indoor cats is Katrin Behrend´s (also on this page), but Entertaining Your Indoor Cat is a very useful supplement.

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Playing with Cats

With more and more cats living indoors now, play is an important factor in preventing kitty from becoming bored or frustrated. This little book tells you how you can help you cat live out its natural instincts to watch, stalk and ultimately catch prey, using toys and games. The section on behaviour and how cats learn helps you to understand why play is so important. Ideas for creating a stimulating playground for your cat range from a simple cardboard box to more elaborate ‘obstacle courses’ involving shelves and climbing posts. Great book for those owners who want to keep a little bit of the tiger in their lap cat. Older children would enjoy this book too and would have great fun with some of the ideas for playing with the family cat.

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Indoor Cats
Katrin Behrend
Barron’s
ISBN 0 7641 0935 9

This book covers all the basic care of cats such as health, feeding and behaviour with a particular focus on the needs of indoor cats. Each chapter ends with a useful question and answer section. The importance of providing a safe yet stimulating environment is discussed and there is an intriguing idea on how to incorporate a cat trail into your living room with a few simple ramps and shelves. This book would be equally useful for both new and experienced owners, and I can see older children, probably 10+, enjoying reading and carrying out the ideas for entertaining the family cat.

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Bird Watching for Cats - An entertainment guide for indoor felines

Its well known that indoor cats can sometimes suffer from boredom and this book aims to help you brighten up their lives by setting up bird tables and feeders right outside the windows to provide an ever-changing view. The book states that cats will be able to satisfy their hunting and stalking instincts without harming any birds, but I do have slight reservations about this. There is no doubt that cats will be fascinated by the actions of birds so close to hand, but its possible the cat could make a sudden dart at the window pane and end up with more than just a bad headache! Nevertheless, the concept of keeping indoor cats entertained in this way is a good one, but with some degree of caution. There are some lovely photographs and the book would equally be of interest to keen gardeners and bird watchers.

Review by Gillian Harvey

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Cat Sitters Handbook

This is a bit like a driver’s manual, but for cat sitters! And it is a great idea for those cat owners who end up writing copious notes on scrappy bits of paper for their long suffering cat sitter! Its everything your cat sitter needs to know about your cat/cats all conveniently set out in a compact format, you just fill in the blanks. It gives a little advice about choosing a good cat sitter, followed by the all-important section detailing your cat’s particular foibles and fancies. There are some helpful tips for the cat sitter and there is even a feedback form for the cat sitter to fill in so that you can read all about what your cat got up to while you were away.

Review by Gillian Harvey

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Catlopaedia

J.M. Evans & Kay White
Ringpress Books Ltd
ISBN 1 86054 018 X

There is a mine of information in this excellent book, covering cat management, feeding, anatomy and physiology, diseases, first aid and behavioural problems. It would be suitable for first time owerns who are keen to know more about their pet, but also for the experienced cat owner/breeder. The sections on signs and symptoms of illness and behavioural problems take the form of 'what if' questions, for example 'what if my cat scratches the furniture'. There are also highlighted 'history tips' throughout, which emphasise information which might be significant to a vet when making a diagnosis of health problems. Highly recommended.

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277 Secrets Your Cats Want You to Know

This is a fun book which is packed with information from the most trivial cat facts to some deep insights. It's worth reading just for pleasure, and those moments of recognition when you look at your cat and start to undertand more. It's also a very practical guide to enjoying life with your cat, with tips on a wide range of topics, from litter boxes to communication between humans and felines. This is an ideal book to dip into, and is a surprisingly good reference book, as well as being very funny.

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Wild Cats of the World

This new book on wild cats is a delight for cat lovers. It's a fat book, which is well-illustrated, and it brings together a lot of information on wild cats, big and small. Understanding wild cats is one way of understanding our domestic cats, and why they behave the way they do. The authors make explicit links between wild and domestic felids. Critics may quibble at some of the entries and interpretations, but it is a massive task to bring together up-to-date information on the world's felids, and make it accessible and enjoyable to read for a non-specialist readership. This book is very well illustrated, and a delight to browse through, to discover the numerous species of smaller wild cats that few people know exist.

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