I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Dodman gave some interesting insight into the mystifying behavior of cats and - more importantly - some of their over the top owners, which is often to the detriment of the animal.

This is one of those books written by someone who is clearly an "expert" in his field, but not a writer. The information about cats and the case studies were interesting, but the mediocre writing was distracting; it was especially awkward in the dialogue/consultation scenes, but less cumbersome in the more academic passages. I had to chuckle a bit over a reference in the intro to "the problems cats face in the 90s," and I found myself wondering how much of the book was out of date.

I don't feel like I came across a ton of information that was really eye opening, and the title made me expect interesting stories about cats instead of a compendium of potential behavioral problems. It gave me a couple ideas of things to try with one of my cat's behavioral issues, but it was a little frustrating that the first line of defense always seemed to be medicating the cat. This always seemed to have amazing results, as I found myself wondering how these owners with cats from hell managed to pill their cats every day. Still, I think Dr. Dodman genuinely cares about cats and increasing our understanding of them, and his balanced perspective on the indoor/outdoor issue, as well as his firm stand against declawing, were refreshing.

I enjoyed this book very much and found the case studies fascinating and at times hard to read.... cats are so poorly understood but thank goodness for veterinarians like Dr Dodman. I would have given it 5 stars but at times this book was outdated but then it is over 20 years old!
Having recently finished a certificate in Feline Behaviour things have moved on a bit but to be honest not that much...... if you want a book to tell you exactly what to action to help your troubled cat then look elsewhere as this isn’t “a how to book” but more a collection of case studies that are very easy to read and understand and incredibly interesting.....
Just remember if you have a behavioural issue with you cat you must first see a vet for a health check before going to see a trained feline Behaviourist who ideally needs to see the cat in its own home environment.......