Companion Animal Psychology

I've got a new post on my Fellow Creatures blog at Psychology Today. Ian Livesey/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd PhD The post looks at 2 ways to make your cat (even) happier . Check it out over at Psych Today, or for more on cats, check out all about cats . 

I've written a piece for BBC Science Focus magazine. Photo: Fabio Lamanna/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd PhD There's nothing better than curling up with with a cat on your lap and a good book to read -- especially if the book is about cats. So I considered the many cat books on my bookshelf and wrote about seven of the best cat books to help you understand your feline friend . Check it out!

On 7th June, Hub City Bookshop is hosting me for an event about the science of making your cat happy. By Zazie Todd PhD Join me for a conversation about my new book Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy . This event takes place on Tuesday June 7th from 6pm to 7pm Eastern time (that's 3pm to 4pm for those on Pacific time like me). Come and join in the conversation and ask me questions about the special cats in your life. This event is free but registration is required. You can also get your copy of Purr from Hub City Bookshop. Details are here. 

What dogs teach us about our relationship with them — and others. Photo: Christian Mueller/Shutterstock By Koltan Nelson This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. To Whomever is Concerned with Respect: Let us dive right in and begin our discussion with a clarification of what “respect” is:         "“respect” noun         re-spect | \ ri-‘spekt         1 : a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc." ( Merriam Webster ) For the purposes of this discussion, we will narrow our definition of the word “feeling,” which will here mean an “emotional state or reaction.” ( Merriam Webster ).  Then, in as plain English as we can muster, we have “an emotional state of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.” To further break this down, we will remove the word “good,” as dogs cannot make moral jud...

I've got a new post on my Psych Today blog, Fellow Creatures . It looks at some new research that finds pet cats know the names of other cats in their household. Kari Shea/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd PhD But cats in cat cafes don't know the names of the other cats there (perhaps not surprising as there are often more than 30 cats).  As well, it seems that some cats, especially if they have lived in the home a long time, know the names of the people too. Read all about it here: Pet cats know their fellow cats' names, study shows . 

Making memories while they are still here, remembering pets after they are gone, and disenfranchised grief. Photo: Enna8982/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd PhD After the loss of a pet, support from family and friends can make a big difference. But what about the things we do to memorialize our beloved pet? Memorials are a common way for people to cope after losing a pet and can help people to still feel connected to them (Park, Royal, and Gruen 2020). A pawprint can sit on the mantel as a reminder, as can ashes, which might instead be scattered in a special place or even turned into jewellery. Pieces of fur or favourite toys can be keepsakes. Photos and portraits of pets can remind us of their character long after they are gone. People may also like a stone, tree, or special spot in the yard where they will think of their beloved animal. And posts on social media or on pet memorial websites allow us to share our memories with others. An unusual idea is to commission a piece of music to m...

A new post on my Psych Today blog Fellow Creatures looks at some common misconceptions about cats. Photo: Krysten Merriman/Pexels By Zazie Todd PhD As my new book, Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy, is published, there are some questions that people keep asking me. So my new post answers those questions. You can read it here: 3 common misconceptions about cats . 

Why did my cat attack me? I answer this - and other important cat questions - for Breakfast Television . By Zazie Todd PhD I appeared on Breakfast Television to talk about cats and one of the questions was, "Why did my cat attack me?". As well as, "Why did my friend's cat want to attack me?"  I talked about how to make cats happy and as you can tell, some of the questions were a bit different from the usual ones. Watch it on Youtube or below. This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy  is available from all good bookstores. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

What does a cat's slow blink mean, and should we slow blink to our pet cats? I explain to CTV's Your Morning .  By Zazie Todd PhD I answered that and other common questions about cats on CTV's Your Morning .  Watch it here or on Youtube .  The slow blink is a really lovely affiliative communication signal between cats - and they love it when we slow blink at them too.  As well, we talked about how many litter boxes you should have, why you should never punish your cat for going outside the box, whether adult cats meow at each other, why you shouldn't use a spray bottle to punish your cat for scratching furniture, and whether it's true that feeding just 10 extra pieces of kibble a day can cause significant weight gain in your cat over a year.

In two recent TV appearances, I answered some common questions about cats. By Zazie Todd PhD Cats don't get a lot of publicity, but many people have questions about their feline friends. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to answer two common questions about cats on Global TV. First up, I spoke with The Morning Show about how to make your cat happy . Watch it below. We talk about the fact that cats aren't actually low maintenance pets and will do better if we put more effort into our relationship with cats. As well we talk about how to tell if your cat is happy or stressed, and what you can do to make them happier. And viewers sent in their questions (complete with adorable footage of their cats) so I answer those questions too. Then, I spoke with Global News Morning BC for their Ask an Expert segment on cat happiness . Watch it below to learn more about feline happiness.  We talk about how cats like having their owners at home, why people think that cats don...

Get tips for an even happier cat in my book, Purr , published today. By Zazie Todd PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Today’s a very special day for me because it’s the day that Purr is published in the US and Canada. As you can see from the photo, my tortoiseshell cat Melina approves. Purr is available from all good bookstores, including your local indie  (Indiebound).  If you're in Canada, signed copies are available from Black Bond Books with this link: blackbondbooks.com/purr (and also of Wag : blackbondbooks.com/wag ). Of course Purr is also available from  Chapters/Indigo    Bookshop    Barnes & Noble   Amazon    Blackwells    Waterstones    and all places books are sold. Like Wag , Purr is based on science and full of tips to help you with your cat, as well as stories about my own cats, Melina and Harley. I hope you enjo...

"The book brims with Roach’s irreverent humor, which particularly shines when she experiences human-animal conflict firsthand... A blend of modern science and history, with Roach’s flair for spotting hidden absurdities... As another entry in Roach’s canon of books, Fuzz stands tall (and hairy), educating as much as it entertains."― Bethany Brookshire, Science News . By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. This month, the Animal Book Club is reading Mary Roach. From the back cover,  "What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discip...