Best/Worst Cat Care and Behavior Books

I really like Pam Johnson-Bennett's books. I also like House Cat by Christine Church. I bought the first version when I got my first 2 cats. I had never had indoor-only cats before. The updated version is just as good.

I haven't read a lot of cat care books, but of the ones I've read my favorite is Complete Kitten Care by Amy D.Shojai. The absolute worst is The Cat Bible by Tracie Hotchner. I'm still looking for a really good book about caring for pregnant cats. I was at a total loss a year ago when Goldy first came into my life. Fortunately, she did everything herself. Now I'm hoping to foster cats and expect that at least once in a while it will be a pregnant cat.

The Cat Bible is obviously written by a "dog person". She apparently wrote a good book about dogs so someone suggested that she would be just the person to write a cat book. (She basically says this in her introduction). I'm sure there is a lot of good information in the book. However, because of the inconsistencies, I question just about everything she's written. I would certainly want to verify the information through other sources.

The author says that getting a cat or kitten is a 10-20 year commitment. True! She has a full page of hints for cats living with dogs. However, on the same page (p. 252) she tells about her own situation. She had two dogs and two cats who had been living together peacefully. Then she added a puppy and all the dogs started attacking the cats. Her solution? Get rid of the cats!

She has very strongly stated opinions which often sound like preaching/ranting, but she is not always consistent. For example: she goes through a list of all the "bad" things that can be found in cat food, then gives a list of "recommended" brands and flavors. One of the recommended flavors--which happened to be the only one I had on my shelf--is full of the "bad" and has none of the "good" ingredients she talked about. So why is it recommended?

The author claims that "The Cat Bible" is all-inclusive. However, she intentionally does not address the issues of pregnancy and birth because she feels that ALL cats should be neutered with the exception of purebred breeding stock (p. 321). I love cats, but I don't necessarily want to own a purebred cat. The book definitely did not help me with the care of Goldy who was pregnant when I took her in. Very disappointing when that was the main reason I had bought it.

I get all my books from the library and recently checked out the Cat Bible. I just never got into it and only skimmed. Thought I wasn't paying attention, but hey maybe it just isn't a very good book?

If she'd included information about cat pregnancy and birth and discussed extensively the potential complications, that would have been useful for people who had a pregnant cat show up and probably convinced people to get their cats fixed.

I thought Cat vs. Cat by Johnson-Bennett was pretty helpful.

I have really enjoyed The Cat Who Cried for Help by Dr. Nicholas Dodman. We got it on the recommendation of our old vet when Fiona was losing her fur and she suggested it may be due to stress (it turned out she really was developing abscesses, which somehow the vet missed.. see why she's our OLD vet?), and while it wasn't helpful in that specific situation, it was a very interesting read.