There was a time when cats were considered the easy pet, meant for those who wanted a furry friend without all the fuss. But as the animal behaviorist Zazie Todd, PhD, explains in “What Cats Need” on page 16, the complex lives of our kitties mean we’ve got to put in the work. Throughout this issue, we go beyond the basics of food and litter boxes, explaining what cats require to thrive and live with joy: novelty from social play with owners and a rich assortment of toys; constant motivation, in the form of positive reinforcement, to help them learn; and easy access to a vet. Cats also need the sense of territory and privacy the wild endows—requiring the kind of specialized resource distribution within our homes that animal behaviorist Mikel Delgado describes in “At Home on the Range,” on page 38. Elevating the house cat’s life is made easier by advances in science, from research showing how cats track humans through buildings to new technologies for translating a cat’s meaning into the spoken word. If you want to give your kitty her best life, this issue is a start.
