Understanding Cats

Amazing that we live with cats and dogs yet both so different. The cat's more solitary world bonded by affection, while dog's pack hierarchy works by aggression. The secret to understanding your cat is to realise its design and lifestyle is that of a woodland hunter.

More people are owning cats, including single parent families, pedigrees, moggies, longhairs and shorthairs. How to choose a kitten, what to look for and what age. How to introduce your new kitten, or cat, to its new home.

Sex and the single cat. The stages that kittens grow through. Learning for adult life. Playing with prey.

Your cat's own patch, where it goes, its territory. How cats see us as part of their group. Signposting with scent, chinning, rubbing and spraying, clawing trees and snoozing spots.

Voice and body language - it's reciprocal. Tail and face expressions and their meanings. How and why cats purr - the gentle bond. Play - mutual expression, juvenile behaviour for us too.

The key problems and how to tackle them, fouling, spraying, aggression. Confined cats and quality time with a cat gym and toys.

Food in the life of the cat, the whole menu. The very special needs of the cat, high protein grants sleep, gives longevity, but at a high price. The grooming ritual, licking and combing. The elderly cat.

The cat and its behaviour have made it an enigma that has been misunderstood for centuries. Egyptian origins of the cult of the cat. Fertility goddesses into witch's familiar. Weather prediction by cats. The never-ending interrelationship of woman and cats.