What cats want: An illustrated guide for truly understanding your cat by Dr. Yuki Hattori
Bloomsbury, 2020. ISBN: 9781526623065.
(Ages: 10+) Written by Japan's leading cat doctor, Dr. Yuki Hattori,
this illustrated guide to what cats want is a wonderfully light and
informative book. Starting with 10 rules for understanding cats, the
book has six main chapters broken up into short segments. After the
10 rules, it moves to cat biology (primarily covering cat senses)
and wellbeing (including diet and home environment). The next
chapter covers cat behaviour and how to 'speak cat'. Next up is the
chapter focusing on everyday care, ranging from sharing your home
with a cat to health care. The fourth chapter covers cat happiness
and how owners can best treat their cats to ensure they are content.
The following chapter details how to make your home cat friendly,
while the final chapter describes how to work towards a long and
happy life for your cat.
The topics are covered in such a succinct manner, with illustrations
and 3 main points for each topic. These also have illustrations and
text in two different colours - black indicating facts, history and
useful tidbits; orange indicating suggestions, causes or
explanations. Having had pets throughout my whole life, many of
those being cats (including my girls I rescued when they were
kittens: 16 year old, Mindy, and 12 year old, Persnickety), I found
this book delightful. I could easily associate behaviours exhibited
by my two fur babies, as well as cats I've known over the years. A
few things I learnt include that Mindy is considered a geriatric as
she is 16 (!), and that essential oils are essentially poison (thank
goodness I never use them!). I highly recommend this book to those
who are considering getting a cat, those who have a kitten and those
who have had cats for years. Also ideal for those interested in
animal psychology and wellbeing.
Themes: Pets, Cats, Pet care, Cat biology, Pet wellbeing.
Melanie Phillips