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a reference in the intro to "the problems cats face in the 90s," and I found myself wondering how much of the book was out of date.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.