Lili Chin on deciphering cats’ physique language, the affect of her personal cats Mambo and Shimmy, and the issue of anthropomorphizing cats.
This web page accommodates affiliate hyperlinks which suggests I’ll earn a fee on qualifying purchases for free of charge to you.
Lili Chin is understood for her pleasant and informative drawings of canines and different animals. Kitty Language: An Illustrated Information to Understanding Your Cat brings her signature model to feline communication. Cute drawings of every kind of cats are accompanied by clear, concise textual content to create a cute, entertaining, and illuminating information to feline physique language. This e book will assist you perceive simply how expressive your cat is.
You’ll be able to hear Lili Chin speak about Kitty Language at Bark! Fest, the e book pageant for animal lovers. She’s on a panel known as Caring for Cats with Lili Chin, Mikel Maria Delgado PhD, and Lucy Hoile.
Kitty Language is offered from all good bookstores, together with by way of Bookshop (and Bookshop UK), in addition to my Amazon retailer.
Under, Lili Chin solutions my questions on Kitty Language.
Why did you write this e book?
There was a surge of requests for a cat model after my e book Doggie Language was printed in late 2020. When my husband and I adopted our cats Mambo and Shimmy the next 12 months, I used to be obsessive about observing them and studying about cat conduct. I learn cat books – the primary of those being Purr – and realized that on the time, there weren’t as many visible assets that focus particularly on cat physique language, in comparison with what was out there for canines. With Kitty Language I needed to share what I used to be studying, and in addition current this data in a enjoyable and accessible method. Additionally, I get pleasure from drawing cats!
What are the primary themes of your e book?
The principle objective of Kitty Language is to encourage individuals to be extra curious and delicate observers of their cats. There are at all times memes going round that cats are much less human-social, and fewer expressive in comparison with canines – and I wish to assist debunk these myths. After we take note of our cats, acknowledge their many refined behaviors, taking complete physique actions, particular contexts, species-needs, and particular person personalities into consideration, we are able to see how they’re feeling and the way their emotions change. In the identical spirit as Doggie Language, I give attention to our companion animal’s perspective and have a look at behaviors which may be generally misinterpreted.
Inform me one thing about your analysis course of and the way it formed this e book.
My very own experiences with our cats Mambo and Shimmy have been an enormous affect. Within the Scent chapter, for instance, the “non-recognition aggression” got here actually from seeing Mambo assault Shimmy the primary time she got here residence from the vet. Our cats are a bonded pair, they’re typically tremendous affectionate with one another, and so this sudden sniff-and-lunge-bite got here as a shock to me and to Shimmy! In understanding the occasion from my cats’ views and studying to handle their atmosphere round vet visits, I might be certain that this incident by no means occurred once more.
One in every of my favourite visible assets was What’s my cat saying? Feline Communication 101 by Jacqueline Munera and Carol Byrnes (it’s bought in Powerpoint-CD format by Dogwise.com) One other superb useful resource was the catFACS guide which comes with a sequence of video clips. These actually helped practice my eyes to see refined modifications in cat faces. Pals additionally despatched me pictures of their cats who served as fashions for the cats on this e book.
I additionally realized rather a lot immediately from cat conduct professionals. I despatched movies of Mambo and Shimmy to get their skilled interpretations – often after I was not sure if my cats have been enjoying or preventing, or what their dialog may be about. The suggestions I obtained was at all times enlightening and helped refine my very own understanding of what my cats have been doing, together with nuance and context. Cat conduct professionals additionally recommended behaviors to incorporate within the e book and checked the manuscript for accuracy. As with Doggie Language, I did my greatest to make use of on a regular basis language, and to keep away from jargon phrases (e.g., “territorial”, “dominant”) that may very well be simply misinterpreted.
What shocked you when you have been writing the e book?
Kitty Language was a bit extra of a difficult course of than my earlier e book. In comparison with canine assets, most cat assets that I referred to got here with fewer footage, and after I searched Youtube and social media for particular cat movies and pictures, it appeared that accurately-labeled cat behaviors have been tougher to search out. (This is identical for different companion animal species like rabbits, guinea pigs and so on. There isn’t any standardized terminology for a lot of non-dog behaviors)
I discovered that individuals typically mislabel their cats as “unhappy” when they don’t seem to be unhappy, “imply” when they’re scared, or “aggressive” when they’re enjoying. Folks are inclined to anthropomorphize their cats’ poses and expressions. They do that for canines too, however I believe that at this time limit, maybe much more has been debunked within the canine world than within the cat world.
Who will particularly get pleasure from this e book?
I hope that any cat-loving or cat-curious individual will get pleasure from this e book; together with people who find themselves new to cats, or who’ve not too long ago adopted a cat. The e book is totally illustrated – there are many footage and guides for what to have a look at – so it’s a straightforward introduction to cat physique language for readers of all ages and cultures. (Thus far, Kitty Language has been translated to 17 languages)
What are you engaged on proper now?
After Kitty Language, I began engaged on my subsequent reward e book – Canine of the World: A Gallery of Pups from Purebreds to Mutts, which options my artwork of canine breeds and village canines from world wide. I spent all of 2023 engaged on this e book and am nonetheless finessing it, and I can’t look ahead to it to be printed in 2025! Within the meantime, I’m additionally engaged on commissioned animal infographics (eg, Guinea Pig physique language, Bunny physique language, and so on.) getting ready for a cat conference – Catcon 2024, and enjoying a number of board video games.
Disclosure: In the event you purchase books linked to our website, we might earn a
fee from Bookshop.org, whose charges help impartial bookshops.
As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
