top of page

Cats' Corner

While we are the Center for CANINE Behavior Studies, we do have considerable interests in cats too. In the CCBS Cats Corner you'll find articles and links about our felines family.

​

Over half of American families own a pet and many have both a dog and a cat. Thus, we think it will be helpful to our cat guardian members to have access to feline information.

​

We intend to focus on pressing issues about cats, such as inhumane declawing, cat aggression, fearful behaviors, compulsions (like psychogenic alopecia and wool sucking), house soiling and urine marking (which is different from simple house soiling) and feline Alzheimer’s disease. 

​

We’re excited to announce that our gradual migration into cat behavior is able to continue thanks to a generous donation from The Michael D. Eder Family Charitable Gift Fund. A dream come true would be sufficient funding to found a Center for FELINE Behavioral Studies, but in the interim we will continue by making cat information available now. Cat’s Corner will grow in time, so if you have a cat in your life watch this space for posts.

​

Welcome to our new venture, which we hope will grow and flourish. Sit, read, and enjoy.

Cat-Content

Curl up in a sunny window and enjoy the cat-centric videos, articles, podcast, and more.

Cat Feeding

Non-Recognition Aggression in Cats

Written by Allison Hunter-Frederick

The IAABC Journal

In this IAABC peer-reviewed article, author Allison Hunter-Frederick draws on her own experiences as well as sound advice from Dr. Nicholas Dodman and other veterinary experts to explain a cat-specific behavior issue called non-recognition aggression.

LEARN MORE
Cat Walking

Self-Awareness in Cats

Written by Dr. Nicholas Dodman

Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, dolphins, killer whales, elephants, and magpies demonstrate self-recognition in the mirror test. Most other animals, including cats and dogs, do not pass this test … or so it is said.

LEARN MORE
Cat and Dog

Cats are from Venus, Dogs are from Mars

Article from The Daily Cat

featuring Dr. Nicholas Dodman

A Tale of Two Different Species
The first step to making the perfect match is to understand and respect the behaviors that make cats and dogs unique.

LEARN MORE
Couch Cat Under Blanket

Scaredy Cats: Fear of the Animate

January 2021

Dr. Nicholas Dodman

There are some cats that seem to be frightened of almost everything unfamiliar, including people and other cats. The question arises, why would a cat become so fearful?  The answer...

LEARN MORE
Cat in Basket

Motivating Kitty to Move Without Force

Vivian Zottola

MSc Anthrozoology, CBCC
CCBS Research Associate

Owner of Boston K9 Concierge LLC

Teaching our pet companions to “operate” or rather come when called is not a difficult skills to learn. It does however rely on... 

LEARN MORE
Caressing a Cat

Why Cats Show You Their Butt, According to Science

November 2020

It’s not what you think.

​

Inverse | Rae Paoletta

LEARN MORE
Image by Asique Alam

SPEAKING CAT

November 2020

A former Amazon engineer is working to answer a question almost all cat owners have: What is my cat trying to tell me?

Javier Sanchez, who worked on Amazon's Alexa, is now a project manager with ...

LEARN MORE
Cat on Counter

FELINE LITTERBOX AVERSION

August 2019

Feline inappropriate elimination made up 56% of feline cases at Cornell University’s Animal Be­havior Clinic between 1991 and 2001, and it appears to be the most frequent type of feline behav­ior problem...

LEARN MORE
Licking Cat

FELINE COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR

July 2019

The most common compulsive behaviors exhibited by cats include wool sucking or fabric eat­ing, over-grooming/hair-barbering or hair-pulling behavior (psychogenic alopecia), and possibly feline hyperesthesia.  By far oral behaviors such as...

LEARN MORE
Cats at Home

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR & AGGRESSION

July 2019

Cats are generally solitary animals that only come together during courtship and mating or in the situation of a mother with kittens.  That said, it is quite possible for cats to develop strong bonds with each other and people...

LEARN MORE
Three Cats Playing

DECLAWING

June 2019

I recently did an interview about declawing cats – a practice I have stood against for many years. As far back as 1997, I was on ABC’s 20/20 discussing alternatives to declawing and subsequently became a member of The Paw Project. The Paw Project first fought against declawing of big cats (tigers, lions, etc....

LEARN MORE
bottom of page