CATification

A new book, recently released by Animal Planet's Jackson Galaxy, is called Catification. I havn't read the book, but did listen to the "My Cat From Hell" star discussing what he terms CATifying your home.  It is not a new concept.  It it commonly called "adding vertical space" to your home.  And it is a recommendation that I commonly make when doing a Behavior Consultation involving aggression problems between cats in the same family.
Mr. Galaxy talks about adding a super highway above floor level so that felines can get from here to there without interacting with too-active dogs, too-inquisitive toddlers and too-scary visitors.  But this vertical space also allows Miss Shy more control over her interactions with Mr. Toughguy.  Miss Shy can chose to perch above the chaos that we call LIFE, watching it all from the safety of her six foot high perch or shelf or overlook.
One of my cats is a shy cat.  Her name is Posie ( a Neenah Shelter rescue)  that is frightened by just about anything but absolute silence.  She can be found "above ground level" 95% of her day.  Vertical space allows her to adapt to a household with 2 other cats and 2 dogs. 
You may have a cat with similar anxieties.  Many cats without "vertical space" chose to hide under the bed, or in the basement.  Consider CATifying one room in your home  or your whole house and see how the cats respond.  Be creative!  Better yet, send us photos of your CATifying project that we can share on facebook so that we can share the CATtification!

Oh, and the new book, Catification,  may be a great Christmas gift for the cat lover in your life!