Tracie Hotchner - The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know

Table of Contents

Dedicated to Tim,
my completely
wonderful brother

FOREWORD

CATS ARE NOT SMALL DOGS. I realize this may sound like a foolish statement, but as a veterinarian, Im surprised at the number of people who think getting a cat is like getting a dog, only less work. This couldnt be further from the truth. Although most cats are litter-trained and dont need to be taken for walks, many require more attention and care than dogs, only in different ways.

Providing care to cats in all walks of life is part of my daily routine as a vet. However, these cats do not come into my office by themselves. Each cat is attached to a person with his or her own individual set of concerns and questions. It is my job to provide people with all the information I have, discuss all of the options, and allow the owner to make the best decisions for their cat.

Tracies book is designed in a similar manner. Tracie provides up-to-date, often thought-provoking ideas and information that will empower you to make educated choices for you and your cat. Some of the facts and theories she presents may shock you and even cause you to disagree. In fact, I reacted that way myself in several spots, but then I realized that controversy and disagreement can often be healthy. New ideas and information challenge us to evaluate how or why we do things, and may even result in change for the better.

Ultimately, what is important is what is best for your cat. Tracies approach in this book is to give you information that you can use in your own cats best interests. Each cat is a special, unique individual with her own set of needs. The Cat Bible provides you with the tools to make the best possible life for your kitty. Use this book to tailor your own personal approach to nurturing your bond with your cat. May you enjoy many happy, healthy years together.

Dawn D. Stelling, D.V.M.
Southampton, New York 2007

Dawn D. Stelling got her B.S. in Animal Science at Cornell and went on to get her degree as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. She practices at a small animal hospital in Southampton, New York, where she lives with her husband, Robert, their three small, darling children, Shawn, Ryan, and Summer, and two young dogs, Hobie and Hulanone of which interests her cats, Moet and Jazz, who are certain she cares more about them than anything else. But, being cats, of course they would think that.

FOREWORD

Are you a cat person? After years spent living with and adoring dogs and cats (and a selection of rodents), the realization that I am primarily a cat person came as a total shock to me. I was having a conversation with my husband about the latest antics in our 4-dog, 6-cat household and which critters were responsible for what minor disasters of the day when he proclaimed my feline bias. I was stunned, since I had always thought of myself as an everyone person. But since that day I have come to see clearly that I lean toward cats, and what it is about cats that (in spite of my doggie affections) that makes me a cat person. Its that my cats are more like my friends, while my dogs are more like my kids. I know my cats love me, but they dont hang on my every word and action. They are more my equals, not adoring fans. Although I know my cats love me and that their safe and happy life requires just as much from me as my dogs do, they just seem less needy.

The fact is that cats are seen as more independentmore I can take care of myself, if you willand their welfare may suffer because of that image. Cats are often thought of as low-maintenance pets, and perhaps, compared to a dog who has to be walked 3 times a day, thats true. But too many people mistake low maintenance for no maintenancecats still need love, attention, and a healthy dose of protection to thrive and be happy. We tend to trust that cats will somehow be fine on their own. No responsible dog person would let their pooch out in the morning when they go to work and expect him to take care of himself all day, yet we treat our cats this way and consider it normal, if not vital, to their happiness. (It is neither!)

Think about it. If you see a dog wandering alone in your neighborhood, you most likely think the dog is lost and you try to intervene. Loose cats are seen as just out for the day, and the intervention that might save them often doesnt come. While dogs would surely be thrilled to have the day to themselves for checking out garbage cans and tussling with other neighborhood dogs, we dont allow them to roam alone because we know its not safe. Lost dogs are searched for immediately, while lost cats are often given a couple of days to go off hunting before we start hunting for them. This is a catastrophic mistake in many cases. We should offer our pet cats that same level of protective care.

There are more pet cats in America than there are pet dogs, a shift that happened in the 1990s and continues today. But being popular hasnt necessarily equaled a happy ending for cats. While millions of cats are loved and adored, millions more are abandoned or neglected. Cats are adopted from shelters in fewer numbers than dogs. In most parts of the country, we still have a kitten season, a time in the late spring/early summer when litters upon litters of unwanted kittens surge into shelters. Lost cats are reunited with their owners far less often than their canine counterparts because we dont routinely put collars and ID tags on cats, as we do with dogs. In a recent publicized case in which a large number of dogs and cats were taken away from people who had kept them in cruel conditions, of the more than 100 dogs and 26 cats who were rescued, only 1 cat was adopted, but there was a waiting list to adopt all the dogs. That is a sad reality to face. Saving cats from the myriad of cruelties and tough circumstances they face will take more than the efforts of a national group such as The Humane Society of the United States and all the animal shelters combined. The lasting solutions will come only when a groundswell of cat lovers joins with these types of groups to learn more and then take action to proactively help cats.

I trust that you, as a reader of The Cat Bible, either are a cat person or are on your way to being one. I know that as you read on, youll learn many wonderful things to help you better understand and care for your cat. I hope that youll also take particular note of the portions that talk about less fortunate cats, and that youll decide to extend your concern to those felines as well. Whether by helping to spay and neuter feral cats in your neighborhood or volunteering to pet and groom cats at your local shelter, there are so many opportunities to help, but not nearly enough of us cat people are pitching in and doing it. And really, I think were all cat people... some of us just dont know it yet.