83 books like The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats

By Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson,

Here are 83 books that The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats fans have personally recommended if you like The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat

Celia Haddon Author Of A Cat's Guide to Humans: From A to Z

From my list on cat behaviour, which should be read by vets.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a writer and journalist who went back to study cats after my retirement. I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew. I was out of date and overconfident that experience could beat knowledge. I needed knowledge as well as experience. So I took a degree and a masters. These books will help anybody who wants to improve their knowledge of cats. Rescuers, pet owners, and behaviour people: we need to stay up to date and learn more if we want to help cats lead happy lives.

Celia's book list on cat behaviour, which should be read by vets

Celia Haddon Why did Celia love this book?

Yes, cats can be trained. Training your cat is fun for you and it is fun for your cat. This is the best training manual you can ever buy and it also tells you a lot about cats. Have a go. You won’t regret it! I train my cats, even though I am a very amateur trainer, as you can see from my YouTube channel! They purr while they do it. 

By Sarah Ellis, John Bradshaw,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Trainable Cat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The idea of training rarely crosses cat owners' minds, and we often assume that cats can't and don't need to be trained. But in The Trainable Cat, bestselling anthrozoologist John Bradshaw and cat expert Sarah Ellis show that not only can cats be trained, but they absolutely must be in order to strengthen the bond between pet and owner, reduce their anxiety, and maximize their happiness. Twenty-first-century urban life can be taxing for cats who historically have been wild and solitary hunters, hostile to change and turmoil. Cats today are forced to live within the confines of cramped city apartments,…


Book cover of For the Love of Cats: The Complete Guide to Selecting, Training, and Caring for Your Rescue Cat

Belinda Alexandra Author Of The Divine Feline: A Chic Cat Lady's Guide to Woman's Best Friend

From my list on for cat lovers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Belinda Alexandra is the author of nine bestselling novels and a non-fiction book on the relationship between women and cats, The Divine Feline: A chic cat lady’s guide to woman’s best friend. An ardent cat-lover and rescuer, she is a patron of the World League for the Protection of Animals in Australia and lives in Sydney with her three black cats – Valentino, Versace, and Gucci.

Belinda's book list on for cat lovers

Belinda Alexandra Why did Belinda love this book?

With millions of cats around the world living on the streets or ending up being euthanized in pounds and shelters, simply because they are unwanted, the plight of the rescue cat has come to public attention. Many more people are choosing to ‘Adopt not shop’ and save lives in the process. This is a wonderful book for anyone starting out on the cat adoption journey. It covers everything you need to know about bringing a cat companion into your home and taking responsible care of it. It also includes lots of lovely rescue cat stories. I would give this as a gift to anyone considering adopting a cat and it would also make a great coffee table book for vet surgery waiting areas.

By Mick McAulife, Carol Griglione, Tom Colvin

Why should I read it?

1 author picked For the Love of Cats as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The perfect read before you bring your rescue pet home, For the Love of Cats is a witty and informative book on all things feline-related. Featuring over 250 stunning pictures of cute cats, this resource illustrates the many facets of their personality, provides tips on training, and explains the best ways to care for a rescue cat. Know how to give them the life they've always wanted as you flip through the pages of this books that's as adorable as it is enlightening!


Book cover of Trim: The Story Of A Brave, Seafaring Cat

Belinda Alexandra Author Of The Divine Feline: A Chic Cat Lady's Guide to Woman's Best Friend

From my list on for cat lovers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Belinda Alexandra is the author of nine bestselling novels and a non-fiction book on the relationship between women and cats, The Divine Feline: A chic cat lady’s guide to woman’s best friend. An ardent cat-lover and rescuer, she is a patron of the World League for the Protection of Animals in Australia and lives in Sydney with her three black cats – Valentino, Versace, and Gucci.

Belinda's book list on for cat lovers

Belinda Alexandra Why did Belinda love this book?

Trim was the ultimate ‘adventure cat’. Matthew Flinders was the ultimate navigator and cartographer. Together they circumnavigated the globe 1799-1804 and shared many daring and dangerous sea voyages. If you love both history and cats, I can highly recommend this book which celebrates the bond between a remarkable man and his equally remarkable feline companion.

By Matthew Flinders,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Trim as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

the story of a brave, seafaring cat who, in the company of Matthew Flinders, circumnavigated the globe in the years 1799-1804. to the memory of trim, the best and most illustrious of his Race, the most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants, and best of creatures. He made a tour of the Globe, and a voyage to Australia, which he circumnavigated; and was ever the delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers. Returning to Europe in 1803, he was shipwrecked in the Great Equinoxial Ocean; this danger escaped, he sought refuge and assistance at the Isle of France, where he…


Book cover of Honourable Cat

Belinda Alexandra Author Of The Divine Feline: A Chic Cat Lady's Guide to Woman's Best Friend

From my list on for cat lovers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Belinda Alexandra is the author of nine bestselling novels and a non-fiction book on the relationship between women and cats, The Divine Feline: A chic cat lady’s guide to woman’s best friend. An ardent cat-lover and rescuer, she is a patron of the World League for the Protection of Animals in Australia and lives in Sydney with her three black cats – Valentino, Versace, and Gucci.

Belinda's book list on for cat lovers

Belinda Alexandra Why did Belinda love this book?

This is a book of poetry that will warm any cat lover’s heart – even those that would not normally read a book of poetry. The verses are deliciously insightful and will have many cat-lovers smiling at themselves and their relationships with their cats. It’s a lovely collection of cat lore, logic, and observations.

By Paul Gallico,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Honourable Cat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A foray into cats' behaviour and habits by Paul Gallico.


Book cover of When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals

Ginjer L. Clarke Author Of Animal Allies: Creatures Working Together

From my list on nonfiction about fascinating animal behavior.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m secretly eight years old inside. I love fascinating animal and science stuff, especially cool, weird, and gross facts. Readers of my children’s books see this passion in action. My best-selling and award-winning nonfiction animal books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide since 2000. I focus particularly on reaching reluctant, struggling, and English-language-learning readers by packing my books with lots of action and high-interest topics to keep them turning pages. I’m recommending these top-five narrative nonfiction animal books for adults because these authors have influenced my research and thinking—and because they’re terrific stories!

Ginjer's book list on nonfiction about fascinating animal behavior

Ginjer L. Clarke Why did Ginjer love this book?

Elephants are my favorite animals—for their size and beauty, innate intelligence, and matriarchal structure.

Do you love them too? If so, or even if you just want to know more about these utterly unique creatures and many more, you’ll want to read this insightful book. Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason was a forerunner in writing about socioemotional studies of animal behavior for lay readers.

This was the first nonfiction book I read years ago on this topic, and it remains the one that changed my worldview and approach to animal research, appreciation, and understanding.

By Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Susan McCarthy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When Elephants Weep as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For more than 100 years, scientists have denied that animals experience emotions, yet this remarkable and groundbreaking book proves what animal-lovers have known to be true: wolves, tigers, giraffes, elephants and many other creatures exhibit all kinds of feelings - hope, fear, shame, love, compassion. From Ola, the irritable whale, to Toto, the chimpanzee who nursed his owner back to health, this book collects together for the first time a vast range of case histories which show the extraordinary complexity of the animal world, and the tumult of emotions that govern it.


Book cover of Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Author Of The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals

From my list on animal emotions.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was once a psychoanalyst, but I found that it was almost impossible to understand another human being. Animals were easier: they could not be hypocritical, they could not lie, they could not deceive. Whoever heard of an animal with an unconscious anger problem? If they were angry they showed it, if they loved they showed it. After I got fired from the Freud Archives (that’s a whole other story) I decided I wanted to read ten good books about animal emotions. This was in 1981. But it turns out there were no books on this topic I could read, except Darwin, 1872! So I decided to write my own. 

Jeffrey's book list on animal emotions

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Why did Jeffrey love this book?

This was one of the first of many thousands of books extolling the power of the dog (Note: Nothing to do with Jane Campion's film of the same title). It also happens to be the best, or at least one of the best, and nobody can come away from reading it without recognizing that we are living with the friendliest aliens in the universe, and they, for mysterious reasons, love us!

There are so many good books about dogs that it is hard to pick just one. Pack of Two is another terrific book. But note that it is fairly recently that we have come to believe that we humans have an enormous amount to learn about our own species by observing dogs. I pass dogs every day on my walks here in Bondi Beach, and each time I think: No human has half the joie de vivre of every…

By Ted Kerasote,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Merle's Door as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A moving, insightful love story about the vast possiblities of the relationship between humans and dogs.

While on a camping trip, Ted Kerasote meets a Labrador mix living on his own in the wild. They become attached to each other, and Kerasote decides to bring the dog, who he names Merle, home. There, after realizing that Merle's native intelligence would be diminished by living exclusively in the human world, he installs a dog door in his house, allowing Merle to live both outside and in.

Merle shows Kerasote how dogs might live if they were allowed to make more of…


Book cover of Enter the Animal: Cross-species Perspectives on Grief and Spirituality

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Author Of The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals

From my list on animal emotions.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was once a psychoanalyst, but I found that it was almost impossible to understand another human being. Animals were easier: they could not be hypocritical, they could not lie, they could not deceive. Whoever heard of an animal with an unconscious anger problem? If they were angry they showed it, if they loved they showed it. After I got fired from the Freud Archives (that’s a whole other story) I decided I wanted to read ten good books about animal emotions. This was in 1981. But it turns out there were no books on this topic I could read, except Darwin, 1872! So I decided to write my own. 

Jeffrey's book list on animal emotions

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Why did Jeffrey love this book?

Normally the word "spirituality" in a book title would have me running for the door. Dr. Pribac is so smart, so insightful, and so different in her way of approaching everything, that I was struck with wonder. Warning: A full-throated endorsement of veganism (to my delight).

Normally I do not like academic books about animals. But this book is an exception. The author is different than ordinary academics. For one thing, she really adores her subject. For another, she writes with heart. She is also whip-smart, so just about every sentence is worth reading twice or even three times. I truly believe she will revolutionize the field with her next books. Anyone interested in animals should keep an eye on for this author.  

By Teya Brooks Pribac,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Enter the Animal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Enter the Animal, Teya Brooks Pribac examines academic and popular discourse on animals' experiences of grief and spirituality, which are rooted in our intrinsic capacity and propensity for connections and relations, and highlights important ethical implications of humans' treatment of other species.Praise for Enter the Animal'This path-breaking book engages a surprising range of sources to shed extraordinary clarity on aspects of animal subjectivity that make other species every bit our equal. I could not stop reading.'- Cynthia Willett, author of Interspecies Ethics'Enter the Animal is a fascinating journey into the hearts and minds of nonhuman animals and our shared…


Book cover of Feline Stress and Health: Managing Negative Emotions to Improve Feline Health and Wellbeing

Celia Haddon Author Of A Cat's Guide to Humans: From A to Z

From my list on cat behaviour, which should be read by vets.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a writer and journalist who went back to study cats after my retirement. I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew. I was out of date and overconfident that experience could beat knowledge. I needed knowledge as well as experience. So I took a degree and a masters. These books will help anybody who wants to improve their knowledge of cats. Rescuers, pet owners, and behaviour people: we need to stay up to date and learn more if we want to help cats lead happy lives.

Celia's book list on cat behaviour, which should be read by vets

Celia Haddon Why did Celia love this book?

Cats can be very stressed and unhappy without cat rescuers knowing it. This book will help you be a better rescuer. Cats don’t always show their emotions in a way that we can see. This is a serious book from International Cat Care, the best website for cat rescuers.  If you have a passion for rescuing cats, read it. Many cat rescuers need their knowledge updated and this is a good book.

Book cover of Practical Feline Behaviour: Understanding Cat Behaviour and Improving Welfare

Celia Haddon Author Of A Cat's Guide to Humans: From A to Z

From my list on cat behaviour, which should be read by vets.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a writer and journalist who went back to study cats after my retirement. I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew. I was out of date and overconfident that experience could beat knowledge. I needed knowledge as well as experience. So I took a degree and a masters. These books will help anybody who wants to improve their knowledge of cats. Rescuers, pet owners, and behaviour people: we need to stay up to date and learn more if we want to help cats lead happy lives.

Celia's book list on cat behaviour, which should be read by vets

Celia Haddon Why did Celia love this book?

Cats often don’t get enough space in books about pet behaviour. This is the easiest-to-read scientific book about cats that you will ever need. Students, make sure it is in your university library. It cuts the information into easy chunks and yet keeps all the references that you might need to follow up. Trudi is a top cat behaviourist in the UK with a background as a veterinary nurse, so she really, really understands what makes cats tick.

By Trudi Atkinson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Practical Feline Behaviour as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Practical Feline Behaviour contains all the relevant information that a veterinary nurse or technician needs to understand and handle the behaviour and welfare of house cats, and to offer safe and practical advice to clients. There have been ground-breaking advances in our understanding of feline behaviour in recent years and, to protect the welfare of cats, it is increasingly important that anyone involved with their care, especially those in a professional capacity, keep up to date with these developments. This approachable and down-to-earth text describes the internal and external influences on feline behaviour; on communication, learning, social behaviour, the relationship…


Book cover of Nat the Cat Takes a Nap: Ready-To-Read Pre-Level 1

Jamie Michalak Author Of Frank and Bean

From my list on early readers that are funny.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve never forgotten how thrilling it felt to read a book on my own for the first time. Mouse Soup, Frog and Toad, and Amelia Bedelia are still among my most-loved books to this day. I particularly adore early readers created by authors and illustrators who aren’t afraid to get silly (James Marshall forever!). Stories for beginning readers are my favorite kinds of stories to write, and I always aim to write books that make kids laugh. What better way for them to discover that reading can be fun?

Jamie's book list on early readers that are funny

Jamie Michalak Why did Jamie love this book?

Poor Nat the Cat just wants to take a nap, but the intrusive narrator won’t let him. The incongruity of the narrator’s words and Nat’s actions pack a comedic punch on every page, just as the brilliant See the Cat and See the Dog books do.

Lerner managed to create this gem with few words and sparse illustrations, which is incredibly difficult. And good news—the Nat the Cat books are now a series. 

By Jarrett Lerner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nat the Cat Takes a Nap as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

From Jarrett Lerner, the powerhouse creator behind the EngiNerds, Geeger the Robot, and Hunger Heroes series, comes a hilarious new Pre-Level 1 Ready-to-Read series about a grumpy cat and a long-suffering narrator!

Nat the Cat is taking a nap. Or he would be…if only the narrator would stop interrupting his sleep! This witty story, where Nat’s words keep getting turned upside down and inside out, is sure to make readers laugh out loud.


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in cats, emotions, and Ethology?

Cats 207 books
Emotions 164 books
Ethology 35 books