Cats and Dogs

Book excerpt: There are cat people, and there are dog peopleand then there are cat and dog people. For those of us who love both, Cats and Dogs offers invaluable tips and strategies for living with pets and taking a look at the world from their point of view. Praise for Cats and Dogs Frania Shelley-Grielen combines personal affection for animals, a synthesis of a wide range of research in animal biology, and long experience as an animal behaviorist to give a unique and insightful account into the social and interactive lives of animals. She not only dispels common myths (cats are solitary) and answers important questions for humans seeking to share their lives with animals (how to choose the right match, how to introduce animals to your home, etc.); she also gives us a picture of the mental lives of animals and helps us to understand where they are coming from. She addresses animal communication and indicates conclusively that not only are nonhuman animals capable of it, but that humans usually fail to pay heed to important ways that animals express their moods, dispositions, and desires. This book combines vital practical information for improving the shared lives of human and nonhuman animals; it also peers behind the curtain of important cutting-edge research in animal mind and sociality to give us a glimpse of what amounts to no less than a renaissance in our human understanding of the matter. Jeffrey Bussolini, BSFS, PhD, feline sociologist, co-director, Center for Feline Studies/ABMSC