The Founding Mother of Cat Psychology

Cat therapist Carole Wilbourn is still consulting, and still writing books. I think of her as the founder of present cat psychology, since she's been doing this for thirty years, in a field that many people pretend does not exist. She started from a radical concept.

Cats have feelings.

When I was discovering cats, in the early 1980's, it was Carole Wilbourn's books which opened the door to being fascinated by cats.

This was when psychological dog training started to be noticed as well. I used it on my dogs with great success. I was thrilled to find there was this writer who talked about the importance of looking at things from the "cat's view." When I began interacting with my cats based on her principles, I discovered what she said was true, and how much understanding and love could come from this realization.

The "Wilbourn Ways" of curing and preventing cats' behavior problems has contributed greatly to my own understanding of cats.

Known as "The Cat Talker" and "The Kitty Freud," she publishes regularly in magazines and newspapers, and had a monthly column, "Cats on the Couch," which ran for 16 years in Cat Fancy magazine. The column now appears on Carole's page on the In Defense of Animals website. She was also co-founder of the first hospital for cats only, located in Manhattan.

I have linked to her website, The Cat Therapist, in my More About Cats link list.

Unfortunately, a hard drive crash has wiped out her email newsletter list. So I'm posting this appeal to let people know they can sign up from either of the links in this post, to get the latest information on cat psychology and cat rescue.

I've been meaning to do a post about her anyway, as a way of saying thanks and acknowledging the Cat Mentor who started me on my own path. Because it's true what she says:

"One cat just leads to another."


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