What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Live with a Neurotic Cat
Cat owners know the truth: cats, in fact, own them and their feline needs must be met—sooner rather than later. In this delightfully irreverent book, highlighted by Jackie Geyer's evocative illustrations, the author of the highly successful, How to Live with a Neurotic Dog , offers coping mechanisms for those who struggle with the endless task of keeping their cats pampered and therefore happy.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
13 people are currently reading
279 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baker
96Ìýbooks6ÌýfollowersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. .
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
May 3, 2019
I have had, over the years, so many cats. There is nothing cuter then a little kitten. I am a proud unashamed cat lover! I love them all, whatever shape or size. All cats are cute bundles of fluffy fur.
So this book is utterly hysterical and a must read for any kitty lover. Packed with information o f an extremely fun nature, you will find much of your own kitty's strange behavior has an explanation .
Also the truth of it is this book is almost as adorable as the cats and kittens it is written for. It is an homage to all our fluffy ones. I highly recommend you get yourself a copy and read it with your little Meow by your side.
So this book is utterly hysterical and a must read for any kitty lover. Packed with information o f an extremely fun nature, you will find much of your own kitty's strange behavior has an explanation .
Also the truth of it is this book is almost as adorable as the cats and kittens it is written for. It is an homage to all our fluffy ones. I highly recommend you get yourself a copy and read it with your little Meow by your side.
August 20, 2018
(3.5) Sure, it’s a novelty/humor gift book, but so much of it rang true (apart from cats eating anything they can get their paws on, including from the trash). All cats are neurotic, apparently, and these tongue-in-cheek suggestions for diet, exercise, grooming and sleeping habits are unlikely to do anything to solve the problem. I especially loved the daily schedule. Sample entry: �7:41 A.M. Cat goes back to sleep on the floor. Owner trips over him and falls on his face. Cat follows owner to the living room and goes to sleep on the living room couch.� The black-and-white illustrations by Jackie Geyer really make this book.
March 17, 2014
Absolutely hilarious book. A must read for cat lovers especially if you find that you have cats taking over your bed at night. I swear the get bigger and longer as the night goes on! And how many cats are neurotic well 100% if not more. And who makes our cats neurotic well us of course. [It just made me think about that poor cat who was not consulted about getting an addition to the family. Does anyone know how to turn off a baby (Maybe I should swat at it . . . or maybe not.). Poor thing. Next thing it knew dad was trying to kick it (Maybe I should go after the dog . . .)] So learn how to make your cat less neurotic (hint: give it everything it wants and sleep on the floor).
January 18, 2016
Fun and true and a quick read. Only one flaw -- the author continually used the word "owner" when referring to the human in the cat/human relationship. Correct words include "staff", "human servant", "bipedal roommate", "lap provider", "living can opener" -- but cats do not have owners. The first page of the book points out that even God finds them uncontrollable.
August 21, 2021
I don’t think this writer even has a cat.
October 17, 2020
"Nie niepokój się, jeżeli twój kot wydaje się nienormalny. U kotów to normalne".
Jestem zaprawioną w bojach właścicielką dwóch futrzastych kulek. Nasza zażyłość doszła już do etapu: "w domu, w którym są koty, sierść to przyprawa". Za każdym razem zanim nałożę skarpetki, wycieram stopę o pufę, w celu pozbycia się żwirku. Zabieg jest nieskuteczny, ale przeszedł w nawyk. Codzienne odkurzanie nie wchodzi w rachubę, koty odkurzacza boją się bardziej niż pustej michy na żarcie. Odkurzam w wyjątkowych sytuacjach, przywykłam więc do życia z wszechobecnym żwirkiem. Co jakiś czas wytrzepuję go z butów, kiedy już naprawdę nie da się w nich chodzić, to najskuteczniejsze rozwiązanie. W związku z wegetariańskimi zapędami moich obydwu kocic, rośliny zielone znalazły się na niezdobytej dla nich wysokości. Miejsca te są również trudnodostępne dla mnie, może dlatego moje mieszkanie bywa cmentarzyskiem kwiatów doniczkowych. Biorąc kolejną paprotkę z Biedronki, zawsze ją przepraszam. To nie jej wina, że padło na nią.
Takich historii właściciele kotów mają na pęczki. Część anegdot z " Jak żyć z neurotycznym kotem" nie pasuje do moich pupilek, część się zgadza. Spodziewałam się bardziej zabawnej treści, dlatego ocena tylko 5/10. Dla kociarzy nic nowego, dla ludzi nieposiadających w domu mruczących kulek książka nie będzie zbyt wartościowa, może być niezrozumiała, lub co grosze- wypaczać obraz wspaniałej kociej natury.
Jestem zaprawioną w bojach właścicielką dwóch futrzastych kulek. Nasza zażyłość doszła już do etapu: "w domu, w którym są koty, sierść to przyprawa". Za każdym razem zanim nałożę skarpetki, wycieram stopę o pufę, w celu pozbycia się żwirku. Zabieg jest nieskuteczny, ale przeszedł w nawyk. Codzienne odkurzanie nie wchodzi w rachubę, koty odkurzacza boją się bardziej niż pustej michy na żarcie. Odkurzam w wyjątkowych sytuacjach, przywykłam więc do życia z wszechobecnym żwirkiem. Co jakiś czas wytrzepuję go z butów, kiedy już naprawdę nie da się w nich chodzić, to najskuteczniejsze rozwiązanie. W związku z wegetariańskimi zapędami moich obydwu kocic, rośliny zielone znalazły się na niezdobytej dla nich wysokości. Miejsca te są również trudnodostępne dla mnie, może dlatego moje mieszkanie bywa cmentarzyskiem kwiatów doniczkowych. Biorąc kolejną paprotkę z Biedronki, zawsze ją przepraszam. To nie jej wina, że padło na nią.
Takich historii właściciele kotów mają na pęczki. Część anegdot z " Jak żyć z neurotycznym kotem" nie pasuje do moich pupilek, część się zgadza. Spodziewałam się bardziej zabawnej treści, dlatego ocena tylko 5/10. Dla kociarzy nic nowego, dla ludzi nieposiadających w domu mruczących kulek książka nie będzie zbyt wartościowa, może być niezrozumiała, lub co grosze- wypaczać obraz wspaniałej kociej natury.
October 26, 2015
I read How to Live With a Neurotic Dog so when I saw How to Live With a Neurotic Cat at my library I check it out. It wasn't as funny or amusing as I thought it would be. There were a few smiles and a couple of raised eyebrows (who throws their cat at a wall? Or for that matter throws a telephone book at their cat? Or even thinks these things in the first place?) and quite a few yawns to be honest. Maybe reading about all the sleeping made me sleepy. It was okay, some of it struck true, a lot of it really didn't (I think this book focused a lot more on less desirable cat behavior - but not necessarily normal cat behavior - one of my cats used to love the bunnies we had, as well as the dogs and none of them were super destructive or as sleepy as the cats in this book are). It was okay, readable but nothing to really get excited about.
August 23, 2020
What a fun book! Deftly illustrated, every cat own empathize with the main message conveyed here. Cheers to all the neurotic cats of the earth - you will forever be cherished, and indeed, the world is your oyster (or mouse!)!
October 4, 2020
I got this for Christmas from a friend as a bit of a joke, but honestly I loved it. It made me giggle. Cats are such strange little creatures (I have 2) and they definitely have neurosis. I definitely recommend if you enjoy cats and want a bit of a laugh.
December 17, 2015
Review pending...
September 1, 2013
Meh. The introduction made me smile --
Unfortunately the rest of the book, while being cute, didn't really deliver the laughs. I don't think I even chuckled out loud once. Plus there's a bit too much dependence on the same old "cats sleep all day" jokes (and not much else), so it gets a bit repetitive. But it's not like this a book you're going to invest a lot of time in, so it's perfectly adequate for whiling away half an hour or so.
"And then God created a furry lump which for lack of a better term He called the Cat. He looked at His creation and shook His head. It wasn't exactly what He had in mind.
He held the thing up in the air and it hung limply from His finger. He dropped it to the ground and it spread out in all directions as flat as a pancake.
...
He rubbed His beard incredulously. He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. He knew of course that what He had just created was less than a miracle."
Unfortunately the rest of the book, while being cute, didn't really deliver the laughs. I don't think I even chuckled out loud once. Plus there's a bit too much dependence on the same old "cats sleep all day" jokes (and not much else), so it gets a bit repetitive. But it's not like this a book you're going to invest a lot of time in, so it's perfectly adequate for whiling away half an hour or so.
January 4, 2013
This is supposed to be humorous but I chuckled maybe twice. It just didn't describe my cats at all. They're unusually active and it was mostly about cats sleeping (well, yeah, they do that but they also chase lasers and jingle balls round-the-clock) and scratching things (mine are trained pretty well -- they scratch the cardboard scratchers I've got everywhere and pretty much leave the furniture alone), what a cat's day is like (there was no knocking things off dressers -- how can anyone do a cat book in which the cats don't knock things down to get attention?). Can't let this be my final book of the year, so I'm going to whip through a middle reader by an author I trust.
Update: Love this review -
Update: Love this review -
April 2, 2017
I love the last page........ Cant the neurotic cat be cured? No.
It is a little outdated, but its to be expected when the book was published 2 years after I was born. The majority of the jokes still hold up and as the staff of an elderly cat we recognized a lot of the behaviors. I read a few paragraphs out loud to my husband and our cat got rather annoyed and looked at the book as if she was trying to figure out who told all her secrets.
It is a little outdated, but its to be expected when the book was published 2 years after I was born. The majority of the jokes still hold up and as the staff of an elderly cat we recognized a lot of the behaviors. I read a few paragraphs out loud to my husband and our cat got rather annoyed and looked at the book as if she was trying to figure out who told all her secrets.
May 10, 2020
This is cute. It's definitely one you can get a good laugh over when you are a cat owner. It made me look at all my cats a little more suspiciously here and there. Though I do have an older edition of the book, I think that the newer version would make a great gift for cat lovers or simply cat owners everywhere.
September 6, 2011
I've read a couple of cat books lately, and this one was disappointing, really. I expected more from it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as entertaining as I thought it would be. Ah well. You win some, you lose some, I guess.
May 15, 2017
A quick funny read, and pretty accurate to my cat, at least. I think my favorite part is the Intro, in which God creates the Cat, and is left utterly bemused and bewildered.
October 5, 2017
Excellent bathroom reading. Accurate instruction manual for cats.
November 21, 2017
😻 legit what I was feeling as I read I loved it. It was probably the most relatable book I've ever read!
November 26, 2017
True cat owners will make comments on the various observations. Some of them are universally accurate, many of them depend entirely on the cat. Fun read
August 2, 2018
This was probably more funny in 1985 before I could see every cat meme imaginable online. There are a still a few gems, though. Quick read.
August 19, 2018
A lighthearted fun read for cat lovers.
February 7, 2019
How to live with a neurotic cat? You can’t. I have no hope.
November 21, 2019
This was a fun, quick read. It made me laugh and accurately described some of the quirky tendencies of cats. Would be a great gift for a cat-loving friend!
December 3, 2019
If you like cats this is cute
March 15, 2020
DNF at 50%
I did not enjoy this book at all. It was very clear that it was meant to be funny, but I just didn't find it funny at all. It just wasn't my type of humor I guess
I did not enjoy this book at all. It was very clear that it was meant to be funny, but I just didn't find it funny at all. It just wasn't my type of humor I guess
November 27, 2023
A well written book I hope was written as a joke. I don't appreciate the mention of declawed cats like declawing is ok. All of my cats are well trained. Even the strays I feed and house are well behaved and learn the rules of my yard quickly. People train their cats to be neurotic. Cats raised without people or by people who understand them are not neurotic, they just have quirks.
November 14, 2018
I enjoyed the humor as well as considering some great ideas about hot to deal with my domestic cat who is a neurotic mess at times. This book is very helpful, as well as cute and humerus. Loved it.
October 27, 2019
Very funny and cute
May 25, 2020
I just didn't like it, at all.
November 19, 2020
After reading this, I'm embarrassed that it has been on my bookshelf for so many years. Overall not funny and occasionally even mean. Can't get this one in the "donate" box fast enough.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.