A French veterinary psychiatrist puts cats on the couch in new book

PARIS – Even dog people must admit that cats are having a moment.

In a year when US Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance’s comment about “childless cat ladies” touched off a political firestorm, and a New York magazine article called Is My Cat A Prisoner? positioned people’s pets as windows of their souls (or lack thereof), a book by a jovial Parisian veterinary psychiatrist has steadily climbed the French bestseller lists.

Recently translated and published in the US, Claude Beata’s The Interpretation Of Cats puts cats on the couch – as well as their human companions.

“What do we do with cats?” Beata asked over aperitifs in a cafe not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. “Today, they are iconic. But yesterday, they were devils – witches’ familiars. And tomorrow, maybe they will be devils again. Because we don’t understand them. We just project.”

He added: “Cats are not as easily understandable as dogs. Dogs are a social species. It’s easy to talk with them. Cats are strangers.”

In The Interpretation Of Cats, Beata, who is in his 60s, explains feline behaviour by introducing readers to the hyperactive Nougatine that wreaks chaos wherever it goes; the hypervigilant Caramel; the fiercely territorial Kiss and Cheri; and others, many with appetising names.

But the book was not written just so people can understand why their cats act as they do. It is also a fount of practical tips for cat owners.

Beata recommends, for instance, that people give cats a drinking place, an eating place and a sleeping place they can claim as their own: “They are individuals and we have to respect them.”

Some of Beata’s advice is culturally specific. The French do not have a concept of “cat people” as the natural adversaries of “dog people”, and Beata often suggests that his human clients get one of each.

Also, the French tend to be more sex-positive when it comes to their pets. For Beata, to deny an animal the ability to reproduce is, in some sense, curtailing their liberties.

Many of his prescriptions are universal, however. For example, he wishes to tear down the stigma against keeping cats indoors. As he points out, cats are a relatively new arrival in the human home – far more recent than dogs. They are still wild animals – small ones, programmed for vigilance (and, sometimes, violence).

When they venture outside, they are both predator and prey. As such, cats that are free to wander may find it harder to relax in your lap, and they are also less likely to play – they are too tired. Outdoor cats live an average of four years less than housebound cats, a difference that Beata attributes partly to stress.

Cat owners, he said, should always remember that their pets like to keep to themselves. That is why the Covid-19 pandemic was hard for cats, compared with dogs.

“In general, dogs were so happy that the people were there. But cats, the first day they would say, ‘Wow, interesting’. The second day, they say, ‘okay’. The third day, they say, ‘When are you going back to work? I’d like my space, please’.”

If The Interpretation Of Cats has one overarching refrain, it is the uselessness – the cruelty, but especially the uselessness – of trying to punish a cat. As cats are fundamentally asocial and, unlike primates or canines, they are not hard-wired for hierarchy, negative reinforcement does not register with them, except as a turn-off.

They may remember a swat – indeed, Beata says, cats can hold a grudge for life – but they will not learn from it.

This does not mean people cannot learn from them. In fact, cats are excellent teachers and can help people internalise important lessons about intimacy and consent.

“When the #MeToo movement happened, and everyone was speaking of respect for the body, I was thinking, cats are the perfect teachers. Cats say, ‘Don’t touch me if I do not allow you to’.” NYTIMES