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Cat Sense, by John Bradshaw, is an encyclopedia on cats, with much of the traditional information about the history of cats, peppered with some surprising new facts resulting from studies done by the writer and other experts. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout by Alan Peters, with remarkably life drawings and sketches of cats. Also included are helpful maps and charts.

Bradshaw adroitly developed the book toward an astonishing premise at the end, which could affect the future of cats as we know them today.

He provided a pretty strong hint of that premise on page xxvi of the Introduction "The friendliest, most docile cats are nowadays neutered before leaving any descendants, while the wildest, meanest ferals are likely to escape the attention of cat rescuers and breed at will, thus pushing the cat's evolution away from, rather than toward, better integration with human society."

John Bradshaw is an anthrozoologist, and founder of the Anthrozoology Institute at Bristol University. He has conducted dozens of studies of cats, and refers to studies by other professionals in this book. In addition to this book, Mr. Bradshaw has written Dog Sense, 2011 , and In Defense of Dogs, 2011 (not currently available).

He has personally conducted numerous studies of cats, and refers also to a number of studies done during the last two decades, either jointly, or by other professionals, in this book.

Bradshaw has also made reference to his personal observations of his own cats over a thirty year period. However, he minimizes the value of  those experiences, saying, "Still, I don't feel that, on its own, my personal involvement has taught me very much about what they are really like."

One factor to keep in mind when reading this book, is that cat owners in the U.K., including writers,  have a different perspective and lifestyle than their counterparts in the U.S.. None of us love our cats any the less, but we often look at them through different eyes. For example, Bradshaw appears to be critical of our tendencies to anthropomorphize our cats. Lady Fancifull, in her review of Cat Sense, makes some very insightful comments about Bradshaw's opinion in that respect.

Topics Covered in Cat Sense

 

While the different areas of the book appear to be on widely separate topics, there is one thread in each of them which will all be tied together toward the end of the book.

The Evolution of Cats: Several chapters are devoted to the development of wild cats in ancient history, from Egypt and Mesopotamia to cats in the Orient, Asia, and Europe.  How cats started out as hunters of vermin which destroyed the stored grain, how cats killed rats responsible for the bubonic plague, during medieval times.

All these wild cats shared one trait in common with today's cats: they had a symbiotic relationship with the humans in their environment. They killed mice, rats, and other vermin which ate the grain the humans harvested. In return, the humans fed them, and sometimes took them into their homes.

History of Cat Breeds and Breeders: In different areas of the world lived cats whose appearance was almost identical. In Persia, the Persian cat with its lush, full coat and abbreviated nose appeared. In Japan, the origins of the Japanese Bobtail took place. Much later in Maine, the Maine Coon Cat appeared, one of the most popular cat breeds today. Each of these breeds are distinctive because of their appearance, rather than their personality.:

Toward the end of the book, Bradshaw makes the point that a new approach should be made in breeding of cats: that they should be bred for improved temperament rather than solely for looks.

Every Cat Has to Learn to be Domestic: Chapter 4 is aptly named. It starts with a wonderful discussion of the raising of kittens by their birth mother. This entire section is devoted to the stages of development of kittens, and how the mother cat is involved: how she teaches them skills, such as hunting, in preparation for the day they will graduate to caring for themselves, how she corrects them with a technique we commonly call "scruffing,"  Of high importance is the teaching of social skills, to prepare them for living with humans.

Cats and Their People: The first sentence of Chapter 8 may put many cat lovers' noses out of joint - "The relationship between cat and owner is fundamentally affectionate, surpassed in its richness and complexity only by the bond between dog and master." I chose not to take offense, as every ailurophile knows that cats have no masters. Bradshaw readily acknowledges that cats can develop and show affection toward their humans, and illustrates this belief in stories about his now deceased cat, Splodge, to whom this book is dedicated.This chapter is packed with useful and fun information including how and why cats purr, and an entertaining and enlightening section on cats' meows. Did you know that the meow sound can be spelled thirty-one ways in English alone?

Declawing: Declawing is illegal in the U.K., and in many civilized countries while it is still practiced routinely in the U.S. The author is well familiar with the phantom pain after losing the end of a digit; he writes of suffering phantom pain for 10 years after the nerves in one of his fingers were severed in an accident.

Cats of the Future: Bradshaw makes the case that we humans, often out of only the best intentions, have started to create a world where the future of our cats as we know them today, will cease to exist as loving pets. As I understand it, this will happen in two primary ways:

1. As an ever-increasing number of pet cats are kept, often indoors for safety, or to keep them from hunting wildlife, their social adaptability lessens. Feline housemates fight more, and their behavior becomes less acceptable to their humans. At the same time, the cats' stress and anxiety causes their health to deteriorate. We "cat parents" need to concentrate on training our cats to be more social, to play rather than to fight with their housemates, and to chase catnip mice rather than birds in the wild.
2. The increasing emphasis on the spaying and neutering of pet cats is leading to the potential situation that those male cats who remain whole will be among the wildest feral cats, not candidates for spawning trainable domestic cats. Meanwhile, the most domesticated cats will be incapable of furthering their line. As kittens become less available, people will turn toward the breeders to find kittens.
3. Breeders need to focus on breeding for an improved temperament rather than solely for looks in the show circuit. Physical defects have already been found in breeds such as the "peke-faced" Persian (breathing problems, eye problems, malformed tear ducts, and birth defects); Manx cats (spinal cord problems, arthritis, and bowel disease); and Scottish Fold cats (malformation of cartilage and painful joints), among others

Bradshow suggests several ways of increasing and strengthening the gene pool, including using carefully selected sound domestic stock and some of the hybrid breeds I've described as "the wild look," or other hybrids not yet envisioned.

Is this a utopian dream? If it can be done, it will take someone like Professor John Bradshaw. I for one, simply can't conceive of a future in fifty years without cats and humans enjoying the feline-human bond.