Courtesy: Steve Dale
Cats are funny, funny creatures. Sometimes funny “ha ha” and sometimes funny “strange.” But thankfully we have people like Steve Dale to help us try to figure out these loveable enigmas!
Steve Dale is a syndicated columnist; TV, radio and podcast host; pet advocate and certified animal behavior consultant. He writes two weekly syndicated columns for Tribune Media Services (TMS) and he’s also a contributing editor at USA Weekend, a columnist for Cat Fancy and thecatchannel.com, and a ChicagoNow blogger. So yah, he’s a well respected pet guy.
But he doesn’t stop at writing. Steve serves on the boards of the CATalyst Council (where he is a founding member), Winn Feline Foundation, Tree House Humane Society (Chicago), and the American Humane Association, where he’s a National Ambassador.
I’m super excited to share that Steve has recently released a fantastic, very thorough e-book called, “Good Cat! Practical Answers to Behavior Problems.” Betty White and Pamela Johnson Bennett also contributed to the book.
In it, Steve covers a lot of different topics from scratching to biting to….you guessed it! Litter Box issues! In fact, nearly 20 PAGES are devoted to all things litter box related, like spraying, pooping in weird places, peeing in the bathroom sink and more.
Steve offers practical advice for a variety of litter box issues and taps into behaviorists to add their two cents as well.
He always encourages cat owners to visit the vet when something is amiss, though, and that makes me very happy.
Steve emphasizes that your reaction to your cat’s indiscretions is very important. In fact, one passage I thought was very important in the book was about dealing with the accident on the spot. So many cat parents react in the moment, when that only serves to address the symptoms, not the underlying issue or reason the cat is not doing what he should be doing. As Steve puts it, “Even catching your cat in the act and scolding the pet won‘t help. After all, how can a cat associate your finger-wagging with where she should go? All the cat knows is that she‘s being hollered at for urinating or defecating. The next time she‘s gotta go, she‘ll pick a secret spot, away from you. Hollering only increases anxiety in what‘s often an already anxious pet.”
You’ll come across the standard advice you’ll get on most litter box issues to the “huh! I never thought of that!”
And, it’s an e-book! I love paper books but when you need info fast there is just nothing like a download, is there? You can download for your all of our devices. At $2.99 it’s a no-brainer. If you get just one little tip or insight, it’s worth it. But I’m pretty sure you’ll get more than that.
Check out the book for a variety of readers and let me know what you think!
