Medical problems often have for first signs changes in your pet's BEHAVIOR. In other words, if your pet's behavior changes, the first thing to do is to check that it’s not due to a medical problem: by going to see your vet.

We can't change behavior if there’s physical pain or discomfort behind it. I won't be able to make you less grumpy if I don't fix your headache first.

When in doubt, call your vet to see whether or not you should go see them or go to an emergency clinic. A cat that strains to urinate but nothing comes out is an emergency; their urinary tract is blocked and they are in danger. Not sure? Trust neither me nor you, because neither of us are veterinarians, and call your clinic instead. It costs nothing and it may save your cat's life.

Tips for Making the Most of Your Visit

When you see your veterinarian, it’s important to understand that they may not be able to tell you what's wrong just by looking at your cat and palpating them. You need to give your veterinarian information about why you are coming in if you want them to be able to help you. Cats can’t talk. They can’t tell the veterinarian that their stomach hurts. Reporting changes in their BEHAVIOR will help the veterinarian know what tests to suggest and what course of treatment to take. Here are some key takeaways:

• Avoid “labels” that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Instead of saying “My kitty seems sick,” explain what you are seeing, such as: He is taking longer to get up when I take out the treat bag and he seems stiff. He is not playing with his toys anymore. He is eating less than before and food is falling out of his mouth. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO GIVE OBSERVATIONS rather than impressions.
• Give the time frame for when the behavior started to change (yesterday, 2 weeks ago, in the last 3 months).
• Give the context in which the behavior started (he fell off the balcony, he fought with a squirrel, you had visitors that you hosted for 2 weeks, etc.).

Understand that your veterinarian will obtain important, but nevertheless limited, information by performing a standard exam. A blood test is the basis for better understanding what is wrong. It and other tests are what allow the veterinarian to be more precise in their diagnosis. If it is relevant to your case, discuss your financial limits and the possibilities for treatment with your veterinarian. If you are aware and comfortable with the limits and risks of not doing all the possible and imaginable tests, your veterinarian can potentially suggest a less expensive initial treatment path and you can follow up to see whether there is improvement or not. This is where, again, observing and taking notes on your cat’s behavior will help. You and your veterinarian are a team. You need to provide information when your funds are tight, when something doesn’t seem to be working as expected, if side effects are occurring, or if you are concerned. Your veterinarian is there to help you, but they can’t know something is wrong IF YOU DON’T COMMUNICATE IT TO THEM.

“YES, BUT EVEN IF THE VET FINDS THE PROBLEM, I WON’T BE ABLE TO GIVE MY CAT THEIR MEDICATION ANYWAY.”

It’s high time we debunked the myth that medicating a cat necessarily involves restraining them and forcing a pill down their throat. It is ENTIRELY POSSIBLE to medicate your cat without stress for you or your cat, often without even having to touch them. We can guide you to find exactly what will work for YOUR cat. This video explaining the basic no-touch medication technique is a good place to start. If you would like us to develop a medicating plan that is right for you and your cat, click here. You CAN treat your cat if the vet finds something wrong. You don’t have to fight with them.

Cats and dogs.

We are trained in both canine and feline behavior. We focus on cases involving cats, as they are the species that have particularly piqued our interest.

We work with problems that humans consider a nuisance, such as:

• Peeing and pooping outside the litter box
• Excessive meowing
• Destroying furniture
• , etc.

As well as dangerous, scary or sad behaviors such as:

• aggression between cats
• aggression between cats and dogs
• aggression towards humans
• anxiety, fearful behaviors and isolation
• lack of cooperation when it comes to providing care
• , etc.

If in doubt, write to us at info@foliesfelines.com

Before the date of the consult, we will ask you to send us the following items. You can decide not to send us anything or to send us only certain items. Just be aware that in order to best help you, we need as much information as possible. To get the most out of your money, do the work before the appointment and send us everything. The first two items are the most important.

• Comprehensive questionnaire on your cat's current daily life, their medical condition, your interactions, the description of problematic behaviors, the factors that may come into play, the environment of your home, etc.
  • This allows us to target the important elements in your cat's life that could be of great importance even if they seem inconsequential or trivial to you and thus to better find effective solutions.
• Hand-drawn plan of your house with the cat's resources clearly identified.
  • This allows us to understand the layout of the house and to list the resources and their position (beds, litter, bowls, hiding places, etc.). We can then also better plan the modifications, if required, by consulting the plan together on the screen.
• Photos:
  • Of the cat, to see their physical condition in order to properly plan our training.
  • Of the litter boxes, to see what needs to be optimized.
• Videos of:
  • The house, in order to see the cat's living environment and the possibilities for improvement for the cat in order to change their way of functioning.
  • Of the cat, in order to see if there are any indications of potential pain that are easy to miss when you live with the cat every day. Please note that we are NOT veterinarians. We are also not trained in feline physiotherapy. However, we can be an outside eye that can provide you with new insight. If relevant, we can edit the videos you send us so that it is easy for your veterinarian to understand why we are referring you to see them. Too often, pain is involved in behavioral problems and veterinarians sometimes cannot diagnose it in the clinic because the cat remains still during the exam. By working as a team, we are more likely to resolve the problem.
  • Behavioral problems. NEVER TRIGGER THE PROBLEM TO BE ABLE TO FILM IT. If you have security camera footage or if the behavior occurred while you were already filming, then it is relevant to send us the video.

During the consult, we will:

• Review the questionnaire and ask you for some clarifications regarding your answers
• Explain the probable sources of the problem (we are not in your cat's head, but we do the required detective work)
• Explore possible solutions together
• Establish an action plan with you that’s adapted to your life in order to change how your cat acts.

Following the consult, you will receive a personalized action plan in pdf format including the steps to follow in order to obtain the desired behavior change. This plan will contain additional resources relevant to you in the form of links to click.

The initial session lasts 90 minutes. Follow-up sessions last 60 minutes.

The consultation is conducted on the Zoom platform.

Actually, no.

Online consultations have several advantages:

• You don’t have to pay for travel costs (time and gas).
• You don’t have to clean the house on the day of the consultation.
• Your cat won’t be stressed by the presence of a stranger in their home.
• You can typically get an appointment faster than if I were to serve people in person, because I don’t waste time on the road.

Are you worried that I’m missing something?

• The questionnaire, the hand-drawn plan of your house and the photos and videos are there precisely so that we have all the information in hand to understand one another. We can look at them together and draw over them on the screen to clarify any important points and plan changes to be made to the environment.
• Even if I were there, I wouldn’t see the aggression that always happens at 8 p.m. or the pee that always happens when you’re away. It doesn’t matter anyway, because I do NOT need to see it. Whether it’s your description of the events, a video taken with your cell phone when it happens or the recording from your security camera, there’s more than one way to get the information we need and I don’t have to be there to do so.

If professional trainers, physiotherapists, interior designers and psychologists can help you remotely, we can help you and your cat online just as much!

To understand why I ask you for photos and videos, go to the What does a consult entail? section above.

No! This is one of the advantages of choosing our services. We are trained in both canine and feline behavior and are therefore perfectly placed to advise you when the problem is a conflict between the two species.

An initial session allows you to get off to a good start in changing your cat’s behavior. Subsequent sessions may be useful if:

• You have gone from a cat that runs away to an interested cat and would like to continue developing this relationship with new goals such as being able to pet them or provide care.
• You are introducing or reintroducing two animals that do not get along. There are several steps that vary from one case to another and must therefore be adapted according to how the interactions progress over the next few days.
• Things are not going as planned and you have identified new elements that we did not know about when we met, because you have now developed your skills in observing and understanding feline body language. These new elements merit a rereading of the situation and the plan.
• You hit a plateau in your training because your cat doesn't understand the next step and you need to reevaluate the plan to make it easier for your cat.

See the About page for my training and professional experience.

Our favorite cases are:

• Fearful cats: especially those who spend their lives hiding in the closet.
• Aggression between animals: cat/cat or cat/dog

We work without threats and without pain. See our Guidelines for more information.

No professional, competent animal behavior consultant will ever guarantee precise results because:

• YOU are the source of change in your cat’s life. If you change nothing, nothing will change.
• Cats are living beings and contrary to programmable robots, they sometimes surprise us in unpredictable ways.

What we can promise:

• We will give you solutions for your problem.
• We will adapt our recommendations to your personal reality and lifestyle.
• We will support you in your journey through behavior modification.
• If you put in place our recommendations, you will see a difference in your cat’s behavior.

We adopt a cat thinking about the future with them with enthusiasm, affection and excitement. Sometimes, however, the cat in front of us does not understand that we want to take care of them and has difficulty trusting us or the environment of our home. It’s always sad and sometimes irritating to see a cat that we would like to love:

• Come out of hiding only at night
• Avoid us
• Hiss at us when we bring them good food
• Walk around with their belly to the ground
• Startle and run away when something happens
• Not be able to live their life as a cat to the fullest

We sometimes feel helpless, because we don’t have the knowledge to help our cat see life differently. We will sometimes try techniques that we find online, where, unfortunately, too much inappropriate advice is still given under the guise of competence. For an overview, read our article.

However, a good understanding of the mechanisms of behavioral science allows us to do much better to help fearful cats to flourish. If you are here, it’s because you have your cat's well-being at heart and you want the best for them. We can work with you to build a plan that will move you toward more positive and enjoyable interactions with your cat and create a new life for your cat, one where they’ll look forward to spending time with you.

We work without threats or pain. See our Guidelines for more information.

To schedule an appointment, click here.

Seeing two animals that we love not getting along breaks our hearts.

We feel like we need to have eyes all around our head to avoid the next fight.

We want to avoid injuries that will take us to the vet and make our animals even more wary of each other.

Some common indications that there is conflict are:

• Chasing
• Isolation
• Avoidance
• Hissing / Growling
• Paw strikes
• Blocking access
• Resource protection (food, bed, etc.)

We would like our animals to get along and live in our home feeling comfortable rather than feeling threatened by one another.

For an overview of the basics of good cohabitation between animals, you can read our articles: cat/cat and cat/dog.

In a consult, we will give you ways to manage the environment, train your animals to act differently, give each one control over their proximity to the other and create positive experiences, all of which will help to create an environment where your animals will be comfortable living.

To book an appointment, click here.

Seeing an animal that we want to take care of attack us is destabilizing, infuriating and frightening.

We find ourselves needing to have eyes all around our head to avoid the next event

It is never healthy for our well-being to share our home with an individual who can hurt us.

You want to protect yourselves and your family, but you don’t understand what’s happening.

Aggression towards humans can take many forms:

• Paw strikes
• Scratches
• Bites
• Grabbing arms or legs
• Kicking with hind legs
• Sudden attack
• In response to an interaction
• Out of fear
• Redirected
• , etc.

Although it may be difficult for you to see it right now, aggression always has a source and a sequence that make it more easily avoidable once you know what to look for.

Animals act in ways that displease us because they feel the need to. When we can change the environment around them, they often no longer feel the need to act in this way.

During a consult, we review all the triggers for your cat's behavior and the factors that can contribute to the onset and maintenance of aggressive behavior. We can then develop an action plan that will address these elements in such a way that your cat will choose to act differently, because aggression is no longer required from their point of view.

To book an appointment, click here.

Providing care for your cat can sometimes seem like a challenge. However, be aware that cats, just like dogs, can be trained to cooperate with their treatment plan. All you need is a good knowledge of training and the ability to set the winning conditions required for each cat, because each cat will have their own particular recipe!

Some of the care items for which we can develop a stress-free treatment plan with you are:

• Administration of medication (tablet, capsule, injections, drops, topical, etc.)
• Nail trimming
• Brushing
• Going in the carrier
• Tooth brushing
• , etc.

Your concern is not in the list and you’re wondering if we can help you? Write to us at info@foliesfelines.com

To book an appointment, click here.

Pee or poop outside the litter box can quickly become infuriating. The smell of urine alone becomes a trigger for our anger.

Problems with pee or poop outside the litter box have several sources, for example:

• medical:
  • infection
  • inflammation
  • urinary blockage
  • pain causing an aversion to the litter box
  • pain in the legs or joints slowing the cat down in their movement towards the box or making it more difficult for them to access the box or making it unpleasant to dig in the litter substrate
  • illness causing increased thirst and therefore a fuller bladder more quickly
  • , etc.
• behavioral:
  • accumulation of stressful triggers
  • blocking access to the litter box
  • inadequate/uninviting litter arrangement
  • presence of stray cats
  • poor relationship between household animals
  • anxiety
  • , etc.

You will understand that when someone asks what to do because their cat pees outside the litter box, you cannot give a good answer in 5 minutes. There are simply too many possible factors and sorting them out requires a comprehensive analysis of the situation.

Even if a cause seems unlikely to you, it’s actually more than possible that it is a factor to consider. Behavior professionals are there to identify what we’re not paying attention to!

First of all, make sure to eliminate medical causes by visiting your veterinarian. See the section above entitled Do I need a veterinarian? for tips on how to get the most out of your veterinary visit.

Once the medical side has been checked, if the problem is still not resolved, we will find solutions together during a consult.

To book an appointment, click here.