Here are some of our favorite cat-related books. The links are Amazon Affiliate links, so if you end up purchasing the book through Amazon.com after visiting this page, we will get a few cents per sale, which we hope will help us defray some of the costs for hosting this site. However, if you just want to use the page to find out more about the book — such as reviews from readers, ISBN numbers for ordering the books from your local independent bookstore, etc. — that’s fine too. Please don’t hesitate to leave us a recommendation if you don’t see one of your favorite cat books listed here!
Behavior Issues
Think Like A Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat and Not a Sour Puss by Pam Johnson-Bennett. A good book for people on how to understand cat behavior and provide proper socialization and training.
Starting from Scratch: How to Correct Behavior Problems in Your Adult Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett. Geared specifically toward guardians of adult cats, this book covers every aspect of your cat’s lifestyle, behavior and environment. Offering specific techniques to help seemingly set-in-their-ways cats change for the better, this book is a great addition to your library.
Cat vs. Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett. This book explains the dynamics of inter-cat relationships and gives a wealth of information on how to defuse tension, prevent squabbles, blend feline families, or help elder kitties adapt to younger ones.
Cat Scene Investigator: Solve Your Cat’s Litter Box Mystery by Dusty Rainbolt. Is your cat peeing or pooping all over the place? If so, this book is for you! It’s all about inappropriate elimination problems and how to solve them. Read our review for more details on how awesome this book is.
The Cat Who Cried for Help by Dr. Nicholas Dodman. Dodman, a veterinarian and animal behaviorist, discusses cases where cats’ behavior problems were solved with a combination of psychopharmacological drugs and behavior modification techniques.
The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats by Jeffrey Moussaief Masson. In this book, Masson observes the many cats living on his property and describes nine particular types of emotions he witnessed and how those emotions play out in inter-cat behavior.
Health Issues
Complete Care for Your Aging Cat by Amy D. Shojai. This book will show you how you can make life easier for your senior cat and keep his or her health optimal. It also has a chapter on animal loss and making the decision about euthanasia.
Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health Care for Dogs and Cats by Dr. Richard H. Pitcairn and Susan Hubble Pitcairn. This is generally considered one of the foundation texts on holistic health care for animals. It also contains vet- and animal-tested homemade food recipes for dogs and cats.
Four Paws, Five Directions by Cheryl Schwartz, DVM. This book is about using Traditional Chinese Medicine to restore animals to health. Note: This is an advanced-level text and would probably overwhelm anyone without a good deal of knowledge about animal anatomy, acupressure points and Chinese medicine’s underlying philosophy.
Cats and People
The Heart That Is Loved Never Forgets by Kaetheryn Walker. Veterinary homeopath Kaetheryn Walker takes readers through a narrative-format series of case studies in which homeopathic remedies were used to help animals suffering from the loss of an animal or human companion.
CatSmart: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Caring for, and Living With Your Cat by Myrna Milani, DVM. This is an excellent resource for people considering adopting a cat for the first time. It discusses behavior, cats’ physical and emotional needs, what level of emotion, money, etc., you are willing to commit to keeping your cat health, and more. Even if you already share your life with cats, some of the questions posed in this book will give you “paws” to think.
Animals as Teachers and Healers by Susan Chernak McElroy. Inspirational stories about how animals have helped their humans recover from an array of physical or emotional problems, and how these animals have taught them what’s truly meaningful. Unlike some books of this nature, this one does not have a bias toward a particular religious path, so Christians, pagans, new-agers, old-agers or whatever will not find their spiritual sensibilities offended.
The Cat and the Tao by Kwong Kuen Shan. This beautiful little book has a series of delicately drawn paintings featuring cats and sayings from the Tao.
Maverick Cats: Encounters with Feral Cats by Ellen Perry Berkeley. In this book, Berkeley writes about her years of taking care of a small feral cat colony living on her rural farm. The stories are touching and they remind us that animals need us as much as we need them.
Feline Fiction
Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams. A fantasy story about a young ginger tomcat named Fritti Tailchaser, who sets out on an epic adventure to rescue his best friend, Hushpad, after she goes missing.
The Wild Road and The Golden Cat by Gabriel King. A pair of fantasy novels about the adventures of a runaway kitten named Tag and his mentor, a black cat named Magicou.
The Fur Person by May Sarton. Told from the point of view of the Fur Person himself, this sweet story is about a cat and the two women who welcomed him into their home and took care of him until his last days.
The Silent Miaow: A Guide for Kittens, Strays, and Homeless Cats by Paul Gallico. This text, allegedly an autobiography written by a cat who made his way into the hert of tough-minded sports writer Paul Gallico, is heartwarming and lovely. We thought it was out of print, because the edition Mama has is a hardcover published in the mid-1960s. But now we see it’s available on Amazon.com, and it still comes with beautiful photos by Suzanne Szasz.
The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Michie. Starving and pitiful, a mud-smeared kitten is rescued from the slums of New Delhi and transported to a life she could have never imagined. In a beautiful sanctuary overlooking the snow-capped Himalayas, she begins her new life as the Dalai Lama’s Cat. Through each chapter, this noble kitty learns about the philosophy of Buddhism and begins to apply it in her life.
The Dalai Lama’s Cat and the Art of Purring by David Michie. Before leaving for a teaching tour to the United States, the Dalai Lama poses a challenge to his beloved feline: to discover the true cause of happiness. Little does she know what adventures this task will bring!
The Dalai Lama’s Cat and the Power of Meow by David Michie. In this book, the Dalai Lama’s cat is on a mission: to think less, to experience more, to live in the moment. She soon learns the proper phrase for this, being mindful, or, a concept better known to her as the power of meow. What ensues is a journey to discover her own true nature, to gain a deeper understanding of her mind, and to experience life’s greatest job, the here and now.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. Possibly the only non-depressing piece of poetry ever created by the writer of “The Waste Land” and other post-World-War-I angst canticles, this is the book on which the musical Cats is based. Of course, the book is better. Mama says she learned how to read from this book!
JaneA Kelley is a punk rock cat mom and award-winning blogger. She is a regular columnist for Catster Magazine, and she and the Paws and Effect Gang share a home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.