The Cat Behavior Answer Book: Practical Insights & Proven Solutions for Your Feline Questions (Answer Book (Storey)) (Paperback)

Cats can be difficult to understand. They often seem secretive, aloof, and maddeningly independent. But they also earn deep love and devotion from millions of cat owners who cherish that incomparable feline spirit. For cat lovers everywhere, pet expert Arden Moore explores cat behavior in an inviting, browsable Q&A format. She answers the questions that come up again and again among devoted cat owners, opening an intriguing window on the feline brain and physiology.

How, for example, can a cat in deep sleep three rooms away from the kitchen come zooming in within seconds of the refrigerator door opening? It's not just instinct. Cats really do have amazing hearing. Their ears are perfectly designed to pick up more sound vibrations and at higher frequencies than either humans or even dogs. And what does it mean when a cat's tail swishes slowly from side to side? That cat is probably getting ready to pounce on a mouse—either a toy or the real thing. Tail swishing is part of the cat's predatory positioning.

In addition to explaining why cats do what they do, Moore shows readers how to prevent many common feline problems. Her practical advice and workable solutions help cat owners work with their pets to banish bad litter box habits, nighttime howling, and destructive clawing. Even finicky eaters can become feline gourmands with a little gentle encouragement.

There are hundreds of tiny quirks and kooky habits that make a cat a cat. This sturdy, fun-to-read handbook explains those catticisms and opens every cat lover's eyes to the complexity of feline behavior. To know them is to love them!

About the Author
Arden Moore is the author of 17 books on cats and dogs, including The Cat Behavior Answer Book, The Dog Behavior Answer Book. She is also the editor ofCatnip, a monthly newsletter for cat lovers, and managing editor of Fido Friendly magazine. Moore has appeared on CNN Headline News, HGTV’s Smart Solutions, and Steve Dale's Pet World radio show. She lives in California with four very well-behaved pets. Visit her at www.ardenmoore.com.

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Drinkwell Original Pet Fountain

My aging cat, like many others, needs to be encouraged to drink as much as possible. I read lots of reviews for cat fountains, and decided on this one (there are basically two other options that I know about.)

I have a pergo floor that isn't impervious to water, so I varnished a thin 2'x2' piece of plywood to set the fountain on, to catch any random splashes.

Maisie wasn't sure about the thing at first, though maybe the smell of the varnish was putting her off. After a few days she has taken to it fine. I don't know if she LOVEs it, as other owners have seen, but she does use it, which is all I could reasonably expect.

Good:
- It is quiet. The motor is virtually inaudible. I don't know why some other people complain about the humming or buzzing noise. I don't hear a thing, and mine is sitting on a hard floor (on top of a sheet of 1/16" plywood.) It can make a trickling water sound at the high setting, but apparently some people like the sound, and anyway turning down the flow almost eliminates it.

- It holds a fair amount of water. I don't have to worry about it going dry every few days as I did with the old water bowl. So Maisie always has water to drink.

- Doesn't splash water everywhere. In fact it doesn't splash at all. The water has a landing ramp that lets it down easy.

- Stable, not easy to tip over.

Not so good:
- It does need to be refilled every few days, not because it will run out of water, but because the impeller pump requires a fair amount of water so it doesn't run dry. It complains if the water level falls below the top of the intake in the bowl, which is maybe 1/2" above the floor of the bowl. It becomes noisier, making a sucking, thrumming sound, since it is pulling in air as well as water. If the water level falls below that, the pump will run dry and possibly burn out, and that can happen while there is still water in the bowl. But I would rather the motor burn out than have the water run out, which was the danger with the old water bowl. The large add-on reservoir might be a good idea.

- It isn't that easy to clean. I clean mine every week or so, which is often enough, it appears. It doesn't take me 30 minutes as it does another reviewer, more like 10. I don't have the problem with cat hair (I brush Maisie twice a day) but I do get a bit of brown or pink slime (just as I did with the water bowl.) That is anaerobic bacteria, just like you get on the lower edge of your shower curtain, and it isn't dangerous to your cat. But it is icky.

The fountain was designed with absolutely no thought to making it easy to clean. There are several nooks and cranies that are hard to reach and would have been easy to eliminate. For example, in the water reservoir there is a deep, round cavity about 1/2" in diameter and about 4" deep, closed at the bottom. It serves no purpose other than to align the reservoir assembly with the base, and it is continuously filled with water. To clean it well requires something like a test tube brush (long thin round brush with bristles on the end.)

So instead of cleaning it with a brush, I am experimenting with simply rinsing it with white vinegar, which should kill most of the bacteria, and unlike dishwasher detergent or spray cleaners, it leaves no residue and especially, no odor (once it is rinsed away.)

Or I will just use the dishwasher. The fountain is top-shelf safe, but a different plastic would have made it anywhere-safe. Also, it would be hard to position it so that it won't collect dishwasher water (with little bits of coffe grounds, etc.) somewhere inside.

For those reasons, I give it four stars. The filter, by the way, is nice, but it is quite thin, and I don't know that it does very much. Nor do I know if it is really necessary. It is supposed to remove tastes and odors, but there wouldn't be much in tap water, and Maisie certainly doesn't mind when she drinks from the faucet. Also, it filters water that has already passed through the pump. It would have made more sense to put a screen or filter in the water flow in front of the pump where it can keep hair out of the impeller.

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