Do I Need a Feline Behaviorist? Why can’t I just read a book or look for help online?
Learn all about what a Feline Behaviorist does, how to choose one and how to become one.
Cat behavior information has become readily available on the internet as well as publications such as magazines and books. This has been great for cats, as their humans learn more about their needs. While there are certainly some great resources available, it can be difficult and time consuming to review the literature and pick out the parts that apply to you and your cat, and avoid the parts that include misinformation and can actually do more harm.
What does a Feline Behaviorist do?
If you are like most people, reading about cat behavior and training is interesting, but applying that information can be challenging. A Feline Behaviorist is trained to analyze your cat’s behavior from a scientific standpoint and create a specific plan to modify it. Most cat behavior issues have several factors or components that interact to create complicated behavior problems. Having a Feline Behaviorist come to your home and evaluate your cat’s environment, behavior, and relationships helps uncover and tackle these complex issues. Once the behavior is better understood, a solid and custom plan can be implemented to give your cat the best chance of success.
How does one become a Feline Behaviorist?
Becoming a Feline Behaviorist takes some planning and effort. When focusing on the behavior of your cat’s issues, you’ll need to take a scientific approach as to why a cat does what it does. Behaviorists have taken special courses at the graduate level to learn about behavior and how behavior modification works. To become a certified behaviorist, you’ll need a good foundation in animal learning theory and behavior analysis. Experience in the field fills in the gaps and gives you the additional skills you will need to help other people understand their cats.
Yody has been helping cats since the early 90’s and worked with cats exclusively for the first 5 years. She continues to learn new things every time she meets a new cat client, as cats are the greatest teachers! Having a solid foundation and understanding of the science of Animal Behavior helps tremendously in learning how to read their body language and understand them in a unique way as you learn to solve their behavior issues, which can often be complicated. Solving challenging litter box issues and feline rivalry issues continues to be a main focus for us at Companion Animal Behavior. It is how we started, and will always be one of our favorite species to learn from.
What others are saying…
We are almost at the end of the two month consultation and I wanted to provide an update on Mia and Snow. I think things have gone really well – Mia ignores Snow and Snow is no longer scared of Mia! Surely, the work isn’t done but we’ve come a long way and I wanted to thank you!
– Anita, Falls Church, Virginia
“Again, I can’t thank you enough for all of your help. We are still high-fiving when we hear Spookie using the new litter box. I have sung your praises to everyone I know! It was life-changing for us and for Spookie, it means she gets to stay in the only home she’s ever known.”
Thanks again,
– Gayle