The New Natural Cat. A Guide for Caring Owners

Here is the definitive handbook for concerned cat lovers everywhere, now thoroughly revised and updated with an all-new health encyclopedia. Offers basic tips on choosing a vet, dealing with litter box problems, selecting a scratching post, proper grooming and diet, caring for sick cats, and much more. 20 line drawings.

Frazier, a professional cat groomer and behaviorist, and writer Eckroate here update the manual they first published 10 years ago, because "owners want to know about visualization, Bach flower remedies a form of homeopathy, interspecies communication and all manner of new and expanded home nursing techniques that can be applied to those wonderful cats and those who cherish them." While the authors' views on cat nutrition and tips on how to become a savvy visitor of the veterinarian are persuasive, readers who cherish cats for their inscrutability and independent spirit--or who don't subscribe to what is probably best described as the authors' New Age outlook--will be better off choosing another handbook. Frazier and Eckroate strain both credibility and prose. Since "the human mind is better equipped than the cat's for learning other languages," they suggest that owners make a concerted effort to imagine how their cats feel being left at home for long periods. They urge us to tell ailing pets, "I know how you're feeling . . . (Describe in detail how his body is feeling)." Blinking is recommended as communications tool. Whether truth or foolery, such advice seems likely to inspire a skeptical feline yawn.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This new and revised edition of The Natural Cat ( LJ 6/15/81) covers all aspects of caring for a cat. Drawing on her experience as a nutritionist and groomer to develop her holistic method of raising cats, Frazier advocates natural foods and gives recipes for maximum nutrition. She advises against flea collars and deplores declawing. Her simple cleaning routine solves litter box problems. Anecdotes show how and why her advice is effective, and both owners and cats will benefit from her grooming and handling suggestions. New is "A Guide to Common Feline Health Problems," a list of physical disorders with symptoms and possible solutions. Recommended as a first purchase or an update.
- Helen Sondrol, Lincoln Univ. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.