Animal Care Resources

Pet care and behavior resources

American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Offers pet care, articles, general pet care, and care specific to the type of animal.


Maddie’s Fund
Video learning opportunity, 70 minutes long:  “Feline Communication:  How to Speak Cat & Understand Cat Behavior. Among many helping videos, geared to volunteers who foster cats:  “Bringing Your Foster Cat Home—flash class”.


Fear Free Pets
Offers a light, positive, learning approach through videos with stylized graphics. Articles are reviewed by board certified veterinary behaviorists. Provides online and in-person education to veterinary professionals, the pet professional community, and pet’s family.


Jackson Galaxy - cat behaviorist and animal advocate
Access instruction videos, expert advice, and connect with others who love cats as much as you do. Find great products such as his books, signature line of toys, herbal remedies, beds, many others, and YouTube videos. Founded by “America’s Cat Daddy", the Animal Planet’s host of “My Cat From Hell”—Jackson Galaxy.  His journey began 25 years ago as an entry level shelter worker in Colorado. The Jackson Galaxy Project works to improve the lives of sheltered animals by transforming the places they live and helping the people who care for them.

His latest book:  "Total Cat Mojo: The Ultimate Guide to Life With Your Cat".  Co-written with Mikel Delgado, Ph.D, 2017.

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The Kitten Lady:  Hannah Shaw.  Based out of southern California, Hannah is a kitten rescuer, a Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return (TNVR) practitioner and advocate, a humane educator, YouTube educational host, and author of books about how to care for kittens.  Her special outreach project is the Orphan Kitten Club, non-profit, dedicated to innovations for kittens with special needs, and a state of the art neonatal kitten nursery.

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Pam Johnson Bennett, catbehaviorassociates.com 

Living in Nashville, Pam was one of the first cat behavior whisperers in the country, publishing her first book, "Think Like a Cat" in 2000.  She returned to school to finish her certified vet tech degree, and began helping the world to understand their cats and kittens with that first book.

Mieshelle Nagelschneider - Cat behaviorist, author of “The Cat Whisperer” and founder of The Cat Behavior Clinic, Portland, Oregon.  
Her book “The Cat Whisperer” addresses an exceptionally comprehensive list of concerns and resolutions to try.  By explaining feline behavior and science’s insights on what people may find as problematic behaviors but what is normal behavior for a cat, she finds the common ground resolving answers between human and companion cat.  Considered the first science-based and scholarly cited cat behavior book for a cat’s people, yet very accessible to understand in Mieshelle’s down to earth style.

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Clicker and Hand signal Tricks Training with Cats, Julie of Cat School, YouTube.

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Simple and easy to understand ways to teach your cat tricks, such as "sit; lay down; spin; high five; high ten; or just help with developing positive behaviors to replace negative behaviors.

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Cat behaviorist and advocate, Samantha Bell. samanthabell.org

Also has trained shelter staff to teach shelter cats tricks and commands, which staff found has enhanced the number of adoptions to rise.



Webinars/ Podcasts:

The Pet Professional Guild   
Founded in 2012, the Pet Professional Guild (PPG), was based on a commitment to provide educational resources to pet care providers and the public, coupled with an emphasis on building collaboration among force-free pet trainers, professional pet care providers and advocates, for mutually agreed guiding principles for the pet care industry.  A holistic approach to the care and training of family pets characterizes the focus of PPG partners, members and affiliates.

The feline division has site side bar choices to explore called:  Feline Guiding Principles; Find Your Professional; Feline Webinars—upcoming and past recorded, many low cost or free, too; Quick Behavior Tips; Feline Articles; Feline Archives.

 
Alley Cat Allies       
A non-profit animal welfare organization, incorporated 1991.  Advocates for reform of public policies and institutions to better serve interests of cats.  Best known for introducing idea of trap-neuter-return (TNR) in the United States.

Cat Behavior Webinar Series:  A three part series:  1. Understanding Your Feline Friend;
2.  Behavioral Enrichment for Your Cat;  3.  Common Behavior Problems in Cats.
Presenter:  Kelley Bollen, MS, CABC.  Kelly has a master’s degree in animal behavior.  CABC: Certified Animal Behavior Consultant.  Among many accomplishments in her field, she lectures in both the Shelter Medicine and Animal Behavior courses at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University.

American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), and the International Association of Feline Medicine (IAFM).  Also, their monthly e-newsletter for cat caregivers: Cat Friendly Homes is an excellent informative newsletter to subscribe to.  Their articles written by their professional membership.    .    

In partnership, these two associations have defined what is a good life for a cat and the following is what they believe a cat cannot live without, called The Five Pillars of a Healthy Feline Environment:
Pillar I.  A safe place.
Pillar II.  Multiple and separated key environmental resources: food, water, toileting areas, scratching areas, play areas, and resting or sleeping areas.
Pillar III.  Opportunity for play and predatory behavior.
Pillar IV.  Positive, consistent, and predictable human-cat social interaction.
Pillar V.   An environment that respects the importance of the cat’s sense of    
smell.

Books/ Memoirs:  

The Cat Whisperer:  Why Cats Do What They Do—and How to Get Them to Do What You Want.  By Michelle Nagelschneider, 2013.

The Cat Who Cried for Help:  Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of Cats.
By Dr. Nicholas Dodman, 1997.

Cat Body, Cat Mind:  Exploring Your Cat’s Consciousness and Total Well-Being.  
By Dr. Michael W. Fox, 2007.

Cat Daddy:  What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me about Life, Love, and Coming Clean, by Jackson Galaxy, 2013.

Catification:  Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for Your Cat (and You!), by Jackson Galaxy and Kate Benjamin, 2014.  Also: Total Cat Mojo:  The Ultimate Guide to Life With Your Cat, by Jackson Galaxy, 2017.

The Inner Life of Cats: The Science and Secrets of Our Mysterious Feline Companions.
By Thomas McNamee, 2018.  *This is one of my favorites.

The Natural Cat:  The Comprehensive Guide to Optimum Care:  By Anitra Frazier, with Norma Eckroate, first printing 2008.

The Nine Emotional Lives of Cat:  A Journey into the Feline Heart.  By Jeffrey
Moussaieff Masson, 2007.

Think Like a Cat:  How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat.  Not a Sour Puss:  By Pam Johnson-Bennett, first printing, 2000.  Also:  Cat Wise:  America’s Favorite Cat Expert Answers Your Cat Behavior Questions, By Pam Johnson-Bennett, 2016.