Cat vs. Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat, by Pam Johnson-Bennett. Penguin, 2004

This cat behavior book focuses on the special problems that can arise when you have a multi cat household. Cats adapt to living together despite not being pack animals, but they do have a hierarchical social structure that is invisible to many humans. Awareness of this structure, and the various cats’ places in the structure, helps immensely in keeping things peaceful. While knowing general cat behavior modification techniques is necessary when you have multiple cats, knowing the signs of dominance and stress, and how to recognize the cats’ territories within your house, is not something addressed in most cat behavior books. This book emphasizes making sure that each cat is secure in their territory, whether they are the top cat or the bottom, and how to keep common areas peaceful. I’m looking at our house differently now!

Is Your Cat Crazy? Solutions from the Casebook of a Cat Therapist, by John Wright, Ph.D., and Judi Wright Lashnits. Castle Books 1994

This book explains a lot about why cats do what they do, and how to work with that so that the cats behave in ways acceptable to humans. Written in an easy to read style, the author takes us on a tour of the world as seen by the cat. Cats are hardwired in some ways, and to ignore this fact is to face failure in dealing with them. Thankfully, what a cat needs is usually not unreasonable and is fairly easy to provide. The authors give concrete advice in anecdotal style. Good reading for anyone with companion cats; I learned a lot, and I’ve had cats all my life. The basic message is to not demand things of cats but to work with their instincts, whether the problem is with scratching, biting, or inappropriate elimination (the most common problem).