Lili Chin on deciphering cats’ physique language, the affect of her personal cats Mambo and Shimmy, and the issue of anthropomorphizing cats.
By Zazie Todd PhD
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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 type to feline communication. Lovable drawings of all types 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 make it easier to perceive simply how expressive your cat is.
You possibly can hear Lili Chin speak about Kitty Language at Bark! Fest, the e book pageant for animal lovers. She’s on a panel referred to as Caring for Cats with Lili Chin, Mikel Maria Delgado PhD, and Lucy Hoile.
Kitty Language is obtainable from all good bookstores, together with by way of Bookshop (and Bookshop UK), in addition to my Amazon retailer.
Beneath, 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 yr, 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 sources that focus particularly on cat physique language, in comparison with what was accessible for canines. With Kitty Language I needed to share what I used to be studying, and likewise current this info in a enjoyable and accessible means. Additionally, I take pleasure in drawing cats!
What are the primary themes of your e book?
The primary goal of Kitty Language is to encourage folks to be extra curious and delicate observers of their cats. There are all the time 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 will see how they’re feeling and the way their emotions change. In the identical spirit as Doggie Language, I deal with our companion animal’s perspective and take 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 a giant 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 dwelling from the vet. Our cats are a bonded pair, they’re usually 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 surroundings round vet visits, I may be certain that this incident by no means occurred once more.
One among my favourite visible sources 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 wonderful useful resource was the catFACS guide which comes with a collection of video clips. These actually helped practice my eyes to see refined adjustments in cat faces. Mates additionally despatched me pictures of their cats who served as fashions for the cats on this e book.
I additionally realized quite a bit immediately from cat conduct professionals. I despatched movies of Mambo and Shimmy to get their skilled interpretations – normally after I was uncertain if my cats have been taking part in or preventing, or what their dialog may be about. The suggestions I acquired was all the time 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 finest to make use of on a regular basis language, and to keep away from jargon phrases (e.g., “territorial”, “dominant”) that might 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 sources, most cat sources 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 more durable to search out. (This is similar for different companion animal species like rabbits, guinea pigs and so on. There isn’t a standardized terminology for a lot of non-dog behaviors)
I discovered that folks usually mislabel their cats as “unhappy” when they aren’t unhappy, “imply” when they’re scared, or “aggressive” when they’re taking part in. Individuals are likely to anthropomorphize their cats’ poses and expressions. They do that for canines too, however I feel that at this time limit, maybe much more has been debunked within the canine world than within the cat world.
Who will particularly take pleasure in this e book?
I hope that any cat-loving or cat-curious particular person will take pleasure in this e book; together with people who find themselves new to cats, or who’ve just lately adopted a cat. The e book is totally illustrated – there are many footage and guides for what to take a look at – so it’s a straightforward introduction to cat physique language for readers of all ages and cultures. (To this point, Kitty Language has been translated to 17 languages)
What are you engaged on proper now?
After Kitty Language, I began engaged on my subsequent present 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 not await 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.) making ready for a cat conference – Catcon 2024, and taking part in lots of board video games.
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