The Inner Life of Cats

The Inner Life of Cats PDF Author: Thomas McNamee
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316262862
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Our feline companions are much-loved but often mysterious. In The Inner Life of Cats, Thomas McNamee blends scientific reportage with engaging, illustrative anecdotes about his own beloved cat, Augusta, to explore and illuminate the secrets and enigmas of her kind. As it begins, The Inner Life of Cats follows the development of the young Augusta while simultaneously explaining the basics of a kitten's physiological and psychological development. As the narrative progresses, McNamee also charts cats' evolution, explores a feral cat colony in Rome, tells the story of Augusta's life and adventures, and consults with behavioral experts, animal activists, and researchers, who will help readers more fully understand cats. McNamee shows that with deeper knowledge of cats' developmental phases and individual idiosyncrasies, we can do a better job of guiding cats' maturation and improving the quality of their lives. Readers' relationships with their feline friends will be happier and more harmonious because of this book.

Cat Sense

Cat Sense PDF Author: John Bradshaw
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN: 0465031013
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
Cats have been popular household pets for thousands of years, and their numbers only continue to rise. Today there are three cats for every dog on the planet, and yet cats remain more mysterious, even to their most adoring owners. Unlike dogs, cats evolved as solitary hunters, and, while many have learned to live alongside humans and even feel affection for us, they still don’t quite “get us” the way dogs do, and perhaps they never will. But cats have rich emotional lives that we need to respect and understand if they are to thrive in our company. In Cat Sense, renowned anthrozoologist John Bradshaw takes us further into the mind of the domestic cat than ever before, using cutting-edge scientific research to dispel the myths and explain the true nature of our feline friends. Tracing the cat’s evolution from lone predator to domesticated companion, Bradshaw shows that although cats and humans have been living together for at least eight thousand years, cats remain independent, predatory, and wary of contact with their own kind, qualities that often clash with our modern lifestyles. Cats still have three out of four paws firmly planted in the wild, and within only a few generations can easily revert back to the independent way of life that was the exclusive preserve of their predecessors some 10,000 years ago. Cats are astonishingly flexible, and given the right environment they can adapt to a life of domesticity with their owners—but to continue do so, they will increasingly need our help. If we’re to live in harmony with our cats, Bradshaw explains, we first need to understand their inherited quirks: understanding their body language, keeping their environments—however small—sufficiently interesting, and becoming more proactive in managing both their natural hunting instincts and their relationships with other cats. A must-read for any cat lover, Cat Sense offers humane, penetrating insights about the domestic cat that challenge our most basic assumptions and promise to dramatically improve our pets’ lives—and ours.

Feline Philosophy

Feline Philosophy PDF Author: John Gray
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374718792
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 99

Book Description
The author of Straw Dogs, famous for his provocative critiques of scientific hubris and the delusions of progress and humanism, turns his attention to cats—and what they reveal about humans' torturous relationship to the world and to themselves. The history of philosophy has been a predictably tragic or comical succession of palliatives for human disquiet. Thinkers from Spinoza to Berdyaev have pursued the perennial questions of how to be happy, how to be good, how to be loved, and how to live in a world of change and loss. But perhaps we can learn more from cats--the animal that has most captured our imagination--than from the great thinkers of the world. In Feline Philosophy, the philosopher John Gray discovers in cats a way of living that is unburdened by anxiety and self-consciousness, showing how they embody answers to the big questions of love and attachment, mortality, morality, and the Self: Montaigne's house cat, whose un-examined life may have been the one worth living; Meo, the Vietnam War survivor with an unshakable capacity for "fearless joy"; and Colette's Saha, the feline heroine of her subversive short story "The Cat", a parable about the pitfalls of human jealousy. Exploring the nature of cats, and what we can learn from it, Gray offers a profound, thought-provoking meditation on the follies of human exceptionalism and our fundamentally vulnerable and lonely condition. He charts a path toward a life without illusions and delusions, revealing how we can endure both crisis and transformation, and adapt to a changed scene, as cats have always done.

The Lion in the Living Room

The Lion in the Living Room PDF Author: Abigail Tucker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476738254
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
A New York Times bestseller about how cats conquered the world and our hearts in this “deep and illuminating perspective on our favorite household companion” (Huffington Post). House cats rule bedrooms and back alleys, deserted Antarctic islands, even cyberspace. And unlike dogs, cats offer humans no practical benefit. The truth is they are sadly incompetent mouse-catchers and now pose a threat to many ecosystems. Yet, we love them still. In the “eminently readable and gently funny” (Library Journal, starred review) The Lion in the Living Room, Abigail Tucker travels through world history, natural science, and pop culture to meet breeders, activists, and scientists who’ve dedicated their lives to cats. She visits the labs where people sort through feline bones unearthed from the first human settlements, treks through the Floridian wilderness in search of house cats-turned-hunters on the loose, and hangs out with Lil Bub, one of the world’s biggest celebrities—who just happens to be a cat. “Fascinating” (Richmond Times-Dispatch) and “lighthearted” (The Seattle Times), Tucker shows how these tiny felines have used their relationship with humans to become one of the most powerful animals on the planet. A “lively read that pounces back and forth between evolutionary science and popular culture” (The Baltimore Sun), The Lion in the Living Room suggests that we learn that the appropriate reaction to a house cat, it seems, might not be aww but awe.

Second Nature

Second Nature PDF Author: Jonathan Balcombe
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0230613624
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
With vivid stories and entertaining anecdotes, Balcombe gives the human pedestal a strong shake while opening the door into the inner lives of the animals themselves.

We Are the Cat

We Are the Cat PDF Author: Terry Bain
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 9780307339188
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
Do you wonder what your cat is thinking while stalking the tablecloth fringe or racing through the living room on clearly important but ultimately mysterious business? As a mere human being, or “Lap” as they call our kind, you might never guess the complexities of the feline mind. But fear not, dear reader, you are about to be taken into the confidence of a cat. The Door “When we are inside the house we are often thinking of the outside, of how many cats may be walking through our yard, sitting on our fences, leaving scentmarkings for us to find. So we go to the door and wait at the door and wonder, again, what on earth is the purpose of the door.” A Paper Bag “We have spent many hours attempting to discover the secrets of the paper bag, to no avail. Even when we surprise it, leaping from a high place, the paper bag acts exactly the same way, and we find no creature inside. How does that work? By what physical laws does it operate? It is a mystery. And we do love a good mystery. Just not at our expense.” In the Sink “We do not understand or appreciate your fascination with our occupation of the sink portion of the household. The reasons we are here, in the sink—despite the risk of wetness—are obvious, are they not? The sink is cooler than most places in the house. The coolness from the sink surrounds us as no other coolness can surround us. If there was a sink Out of Doors, that would be one less reason for us to come home at night. But there isn’t a sink Out of Doors. So here we are. In the sink. Trying to sleep. Just a nap, you know.” Hilarious and clever, silly yet profound, We Are the Cat brings you into the inner life of cats, revealing the many joys hidden in a piece of string, the deliciousness of sleeping in a sink or in the sunshine, the endless mystery of what is on the other side of the door, and what our cats really see as they observe us from their perches. A NOTE FROM AUTHOR TERRY BAIN’S CAT Dear Reader, When we first heard that the “author” of this book—or, as we sometimes refer to him, Scratch—was writing about us, we were nonplussed. But then we gave it some thought. Some timely and careful consideration. And we have come to the following conclusion: We are not inclined to allow him to write a book about us. We have been watching him, and reading what he’s written so far—the book about dogs and such, with references to us scattered about—and we do not entirely approve. (We also would ask why on earth he would choose to write about dogs before writing about cats. This we feel speaks directly to his character, and we therefore must assume that he is more seriously flawed than we previously thought. So, no, he should not write this book.) It isn’t that we don’t agree with much of what he has written about dogs (though what we have read makes little sense to us. We understand “reading,” and “language,” but the sense it makes is much like dogs themselves—that is, not much sense at all). We would hope that should he write a book about us that we will not be made the butt of his jokes. We are in favor of people knowing us better so as to leave us alone more often (when we want to be left alone), or to appreciate us as they should (when we want to be appreciated). But we are not in favor of a book that does not take us seriously, or that paints a picture of us that is untoward, or that is otherwise not written by a cat. He is not a cat and therefore should not be allowed to write such a book, no matter how seriously he writes about us, no matter how catlike he seems to be at times (or doglike, as it were, which we think should disqualify him altogether). We do not wish him to speak for us. We will speak for ourselves. Kind regards, Swiper

A Cat's Tale

A Cat's Tale PDF Author: Baba the Cat
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250217717
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
A “fun, fanciful, and even informative” history of felines as revealed by a very learned tabby with a knack for hunting down facts (People). Since the dawn of civilization, felines have prowled alongside mankind as they expanded their territory and spread the myth of human greatness. And today, cats are peddled on social media as silly creatures here to amuse humans with their antics. But this is an absurd, self-centered fantasy. The true history of felines is one of heroism, love, tragedy, sacrifice, and gravitas. Not entirely convinced? Well, get ready, because Baba the Cat is here to set the record straight. Spanning almost every continent and thousands—yes, thousands—of years, Baba’s complex story of feline survival presents readers with a diverse cast of cats long forgotten: from her prehistoric feline ancestors and the ancient Egyptian cat goddess Bastet to the daring mariners at the height of oceanic discovery, key intellectuals in the Enlightenment period, revered heroes from World Wars I and II, and the infamous American tabbies. Baba, a talented model in addition to a scholar, goes beyond surface-level scratches, pairing her freshly unearthed research with a series of stunning costume portraits to bring history to life. A paws-on journey through the feline hall of fame, with in-depth research and four-legged testaments that will make you rethink who defines history, A Cat’s Tale is a one-of-a-kind chronicle that introduces readers to the illustrious ancestors of their closest companions and shows, once and for all, that cats know exactly what they’re doing. “Almost certainly the most unique cat history book ever published.” —Smithsonian Magazine

The Secret Language of Cats

The Secret Language of Cats PDF Author: Susanne Schötz
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 1488099618
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Book Description
Have you ever wondered what your cat is saying? Cats do not meow randomly, nor do they growl or hiss because they have nothing better to do. Cat sounds have a purpose, and they can carry important messages, whether for us or other cats. Susanne Schötz is hard at work on breaking the cat code. She is a professor at Lund University in Sweden, where a long-standing research program is proving that cats do actually use vocal communication—with each other and with their human caretakers. Understanding the vocal strategies used in human-cat communication will have profound implications for how we communicate with our pets, and has the potential to improve the relationship between animals and humans within several fields, including animal therapy, veterinary medicine and animal sheltering. In The Secret Language of Cats, Schötz offers a crash course in the phonetic study of cat sounds. She introduces us to the full range of feline vocalizations and explains what they can mean in different situations, and she gives practical tips to help us understand our cats better.

The Trainable Cat

The Trainable Cat PDF Author: John Bradshaw
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465096492
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
"I have to hand it to Bradshaw and Ellis: Once you suss out their basic cat-training philosophy, their methods totally work." -- Slate We often assume that cats can't be trained, and don't need to be. But in The Trainable Cat, bestselling anthrozoologist John Bradshaw and cat expert Sarah Ellis show that cats absolutely must be trained in order to enrich the bond between pet and owner. Full of training tips and exercises -- from introducing your cat to a new baby to helping them deal with visits to the vet -- The Trainable Cat is the essential cat bible for cat owners and lovers. "I doubt you'll find a more well-informed or scientific book on cats that better shows you how feline thinking works." -- Times (UK)

Where They Purr

Where They Purr PDF Author: Paul Barbera
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1760762288
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Inspirational interiors and the enigmatic felines who call them home. Cats can be notoriously aloof, yet they have a special knack for commanding a room. What can these curious creatures reveal about their owners’ personal style and design sensibilities? Where They Purr showcases twenty-eight inspirational houses and their stylish interiors, along with the charismatic felines that call these places home. From a historic Victorian terrace to a modern farmhouse with panoramic vistas, an art-filled inner-city apartment to a cozy rental that melds classic pieces and clever design, discover each cat’s domain and their predilection for sunlit nooks, midcentury furniture, or rooms with a view. Through stunning photography, Paul Barbera captures these enviable homes complemented by the enigmatic qualities of those most contrary of domestic companions: our cats.
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