Author: Vicky Halls

ISBN:0593055640

Britain’s leading cat shrink Vicky Halls doesn’t rest. Following the successes of “Cat Confidential” and “Cat Detective” she has now published her third book “Cat Counsellor” and is currently working on a TV series about cats and their behavior problems.

Her first two books gave the reader a firm idea of what a cat counsellor can do to help a moggie get back to its normal self, and give the cat-loving reader the tools to figure out solutions for his/her cat’s problems. “Cat Counsellor” concentrates on the human-cat relationship and the impact the owner’s tensions can have on their cat. Cats are psychologically influenced by their relationships with their humans, as well as the relationship their owners have with other humans. Behavioral problems manifest themselves clearly - urinating, aggression, self-mutilation and others.

The problematic issue of multi-cat households is also covered. Cats are loners, who are not designed to live together - with exceptions to the rule of course. When they don’t get on, they can display aggression towards each other and wreck the owner’s place by urinating everywhere. Halls illustrates this with several case histories and shares her solutions.

Territorial behavior is dealt with too. When cats are allowed to explore outside they sometimes find themselves a second home. A testing time is when cat owners move house. As cats are very territorial, they may try to return to their old home and favoured hunting ground. Unfortunately some cats (often male) can be quite aggressive – to the detriment of the neighboring cats and their stressed owners who have to shell out for hefty vet bills. Halls illustrates this with the story of Tinker, a friendly Bengal, which would regularly unleash hell in the neighborhood. There is also a discussion of British law and your cat and an appeal to make sure not only your own cat is safe, but also that you listen to your neighbor’s grievances if your cat happens to be a devil in disguise.

Cats can form unusual relationships with other species and Halls discusses different interspecies relationships and gives owners advice on what they should think about when introducing other pets into the home.

Do we consider what can go wrong when people decide to move in together with their cats? Often it’s not only cats, which don’t like each other, but also cats that don’t take to the new partner or as illustrated by the author herself that the new partner is allergic and an ailurophobe! Finding a satisfying solution can be challenging, putting a strain on the human-human relationship and doesn’t always end happy for all parties concerned.

Nervous cats are either born that way or made that way by over-anxious owners. However with the latter it’s up to the owner to radically change his/her behavior to improve their cat’s life.

Having to deal with an aggressive cat is every owner’s worst nightmare. Halls shows the reader how to change an aggressive cat’s behavior. Cats become dependent on their humans as much as humans become dependent on their cats. Over dependency on both sides is not healthy and can make life stressful for both cat and human. She discusses examples of extreme dependent behavior and ways to improve the situation.

Halls also investigates the question of “Why do we love our cats so much?” and she outlines her own theory. In the case of female owners she thinks that the attraction apparently lies in the way cats tend to share behavior with “bad boys” - dismissive and aloof.

I can’t agree with this as I don’t find bad boys attractive and love my cat because she is loyal, funny, cute, affectionate and still her own boss.

The final chapter analyses results of the relationship survey, which gives an interesting insight into how readers of her last book view their relationship with their cats.

Cat owners who read her earlier work will love this book and might even gain a new insight into their own cat-human relationship.

The above review was contributed by: Helen Kaut: Helen has an MA in art history, English and philosophy and she has been working as a freelance journalist since 2001. Since 2002 she has been based in Cardiff, Wales. Helen writes in German and English and has been published in the German media as well as in TheTimes, The Guardian and Sec-ed. She writes about education, careers, health, cats and animal welfare. To read Helen's reviews CLICK HERE