Mikel Maria Delgado, PhD, on the importance of natural behaviors (like hunting) for cats, and keeping the science nerds happy while including practical tips.
By Zazie Todd PhD
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In Play With Your Cat: The Essential Guide to Interactive Play for a Happier, Healthier Feline, Mikel Maria Delgado PhD explains why play is essential for cats’ wellbeing and how you can make playtime even better. This entertaining book is packed with tips on toys and play styles and is delightfully illustrated by Lili Chin. Everything you need to enrich your cat’s life (and have fun in the process) is here.
You can hear Mikel Delgado talk about the book at Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers. She’s on a panel called Caring for Cats with Lili Chin, Mikel Delgado PhD, and Lucy Hoile.
Play With Your Cat! is available from all good bookstores, including via Bookshop (and Bookshop UK) which support independent bookstores, as well as my Amazon store.
Below, Mikel Delgado answers my questions about the book.
Why did you write this book?
I wrote Play With Your Cat! for two main reasons. One is that I had been researching play in non-human animals including cats. In 2019 I published a scientific review paper on play behavior in cats with my friend Julie Hecht (who is currently completing her PhD looking at cat play behavior!). I was really excited about translating the science of cat play for a broader audience.
The second reason I wanted to write this book is because I see so many benefits to playing with our cats, and so many of my behavior consulting clients were not playing with their cats much, if at all. I wanted to help cat owners understand why cat play is so important, and how we can do it well!
What are the main themes of your book?
The premise of the book is that for cats, play is pseudo-predatory behavior, meaning that it is very similar in form to hunting behavior. For good welfare, we expect animals to be able to express species-typical, natural behaviors, which for cats includes hunting! We can simulate hunting for our cats by playing with them with interactive toys that resemble prey (wand toys, with a wire/string and lure on the end).
Another important theme in the book is that we can improve our relationship with our cats — through play!
What surprised you while you were writing the book?
How long it takes after you write a book for it to be published!! I finished the manuscript in September of 2022, and the book was published in March of 2024.
Tell me something about your writing process and how it shaped this book.
The tough part was keeping the book under the word count — I had a lot to say about play! My editors really tried to keep me on track. It was relatively quick to write the book as I had recently written the scientific review about cat play so a lot of the science was close in my mind. I had written two sample chapters as part of my book proposal that my agent shopped around, so it was nice to have that head start. Since I was working a full-time job AND seeing cat behavior clients at the time, I just tried to make writing a daily habit – even if it was just for 10 or 15 minutes a day. That way things stay fresh in your mind and you can easily pick up the next day where you left off the day before.
Who will especially enjoy this book?
I hope that all cat lovers will enjoy this book! I included enough science that I hope it will make the science nerds happy, but I also tried to include so many practical tips and options for people that they would find answers to any questions they might have about playing with their cat. And Lili Chin did amazing illustrations, so I think it’s a really lovely book to look at as well!
What are you working on right now?
I have a scientific paper coming out soon (written with Drs. Judi Stella, Candace Croney, and James Serpell) comparing fetching behavior in cats and dogs. It was a pretty fun paper to write and people might find some of our findings interesting! I’ve also been working on some handouts about cat welfare for Annenberg Pet Space with Dr. Kristyn Vitale and Lili Chin. I have a few book ideas but I’m not quite ready to dive into writing another book yet! Otherwise, I work for an animal welfare lab part-time as a senior research scientist, and I see cat behavior clients regularly. Now I’m trying to find some new ways to promote Play With Your Cat! and spend more time relaxing, exercising, and having fun (always a challenge to find the work-life balance!).
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