Feline Minds Cat Behavior Consulting

When I moved in with my partner 2 years ago, we blended our kitty households and suddenly had 4 cats in a 2 story house. Two of our cats did not get along and there was constant hissing, screeching, chasing and tension. This went on for a while and it was very annoying and distressing, especially when the noise woke us up! We tried lots of things to help the cats adjust and nothing seemed to work. Additionally, there was occasional peeing in one of the bathrooms which we (wrongly) assumed was marking territory and was especially disgusting.
We were referred to Feline Minds Cat Behavior Consulting (by our very reputable cat adoption agency) and we worked with Mikel. WOW — what a difference in just one, 2 hour consultation/​visit. She did a thorough assessment and gave us very practical and useful advice, which we followed. We learned a lot as well. After she left, we felt hopeful and much better about our situation. Most of all, we were able to solve ALL of the problems with her advice. Since our consultation with Mikel, the cats are much happier, there has been no further peeing and our household is finally blended with minimal tension. Of course, we are much happier too!
I highly recommend trying Feline Minds Cat Behavior Consulting before making any major decisions about cat problems. It was well worth it.

When my partner and I decided to get a new kitten to keep our young adult company, we may have made… um…a slight miscalculation. After reading and following lots of advice online about integrating them, we knew we needed professional help. We feel so lucky and grateful to have been referred to Feline Minds. Mikel talked to us on the phone, we filled out the very thoughtful intake questionnaire, and got on her schedule immediately. A week later we had a home visit, which was extremely informative, helpful, reassuring – and also fun. Mikel gave us great advice, demonstrated some clicker training, and strategized with us, following it all up with written recommendations and other resources the very next day (a Saturday, even!).
She has been very responsive to follow up questions, which is great because the advice she gave is leading to a lot of positive change and we need to do things a little differently to keep things moving in a good direction.
We now have a clear plan of action and set of tools/​strategies for cultivating long-​term kitten-​cat harmony, and preserving our own sanity while this process unfolds. The reduction in stress and vastly increased hope for calm in our household is WONDERFUL. Without Mikel’s wisdom, experience, and reassurance things would be very different.

I was very fortunate to find Feline Minds to assist with my cats who were re-​introduced to each other after being apart for 5 years. Mikel was extremely responsive and sympathetic to my concerns. She provided great advice on how to create positive experiences between them to help reduce aggressive behavior.
I had an incredibly difficult time finding anyone in my area to provide a consultation and I was incredibly grateful to find Mikel. She was a wonderful listener and really seemed to grasp the challenges we were experiencing.
She provided an excellent and thorough report following the consultation and was incredibly timely in following up six weeks later. She provide specifics that were very useful.
I would certainly recommend Feline Minds to anyone looking for a behaviorist who truly seems to care about animals and their customers.

Feline Minds is really wonderful! I contacted them a few weeks ago after we had moved our two kitties to a new home and we were planning to «reintroduce» them again since one of our kitties can be aggressive towards the other one.
In less than a couple hours after emailing Feline Minds I heard back from them right away and was able to setup an appointment shortly after. Mikel came to my home and was extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and overall made me feel confident that we would be able to work on these behavioral challenges. She even taught me how to play with my cat (one of them just usually looks around at the toys and doesn’t play — but after Mikel gave me some tips on engaging her, she’s been a lot more active!).
Mikel was wonderful to work wit because not only was she knowledgeable, she was empathetic to our situation. I was a bit afraid that having a pro come into our home would just make me feel more incompetent but instead it boosted my confidence.
Mikel wrote us a very thorough report about our situations and recommendations for what to do and how to slowly reintroduce them using some new techniques.
Thus far they have been getting along better and I’m feeling like a better kitty mommy. Plus, the clicker training is great. One of our cats is coming and sitting on command now and the other one is catching up :).

We were at the end of our rope — Henry, our 2-​year-​old cat was not the cat we were expecting to get when we took him home from the shelter. Aggressive, territorial, and downright vicious at times, we had tried everything from the cat behaviorist clinic at UC Davis to Prozac (for him, not us!).
Mikel came to our house and immediately recognized that Henry was an active, curious cat who was playful yet bored. «Status aggression» was the formal term; «Bossy cat» pretty much summed it up.
Among her concrete suggestions were 1) How to avoid negative commands that did not work at all for Henry, and to think about how to discourage him in ways in in which he would not attribute to us (putting sticky tape on tabletops to keep him off, rather than trying to physically remove him. 2) Clicker training, which allowed the reinforcement of desirable behavior, and gave him a context in which obeying us was pleasurable for him 3) Making certain alterations to the layout of our furniture, so as to avoid confrontations that were unnecessary (not placing his perch next to the bedroom door). 4) She also suggested that we consider adopting another cat as a playmate for Henry.
All of these contributed to the solution. Schubert, our adorable second cat, was nothing less than transformative for Henry.
Henry is now a different cat: much more affectionate and much less territorial and he enjoys his regular training sessions. No more psycho kitty!
Mikel also gave us useful advice as to how to help the two cats adjust to each other.
In sum, our experience is that the solution to cat problems is not intuitive. If you get locked into the wrong dynamic with a problem cat, you are likely to make the problem worse. Feline minds provides the kind of counseling that allows humans and cats to get off to the right start together.

Mikel came out to visit us (4 kitties) today, and she was wonderful. I had emailed her a lot of detailed information on my cats/​issues, and she obviously had taken the time to read and think about my concerns. She wasn’t rushed at all, and was very insightful. She had my cat Max sitting and high fiving quickly, as mentioned by another reviewer, and I am so excited to work on teaching him «clicker tricks.» I would give her 10 stars for her personality, her knowledge, and her ability to quickly assess the situation and adapt her approach to each cat.
Thanks!

I wish I could give Feline Minds an extra star – they totally improved the quality of my life! My cats were waking me in the middle of the night to feed them (yes, they had ME trained) and were stampeding around the house, much to the dismay of my downstairs neighbor. Dilara made a 1−½ hour house call, met the cats, assessed their «play drive,» checked out the set up, gave me tons of advice and insights and then followed up with detailed notes and resources, and a check-​in call a few weeks later. I especially like that she provided alternative strategies, since not everything works for every cat. Best of all, I’m enjoying my cats a lot more and EVERYONE is sleeping through the night! If you’re having any cat issues, I recommend Feline Minds most highly.

I’ve been in the field of animal welfare for over 10 years on several different levels and have had the pleasure of working with both Di Lara and Mikel for over 4 years at The SPCA. I have deep respect for these ladies as they absolutely know their stuff. They are both very smart, intuitive, and I highly recommend them to anyone experiencing cat behavior issues.

My cat was driving me crazy! Most of the time she was a perfect angel, but once in a while I would come home to find a rug, a stray towel or a blanket drenched in cat pee. And cat pee does not smell good. Enter Mikel from Feline Minds, ready to solve my cat dilemma. Mikel came over, assessed the living situation, litter box set up, relationship between my two cats and their relationship with me. She came up with a behavior modification plan and even came up with some ideas to help my other cat shed some lbs. Since implementing the improvements in my litter box environment my house has been cat pee free, and that’s a beautiful thing! Unfortunately I can’t seem to get my fat cat to use the food puzzles, I’ve tried two different types. I love my new litter (cat attract) and my cat’s seem to love it as well. Very pleased with the service Mikel provided!

We recently contacted Michael from Feline Minds to help with our adorable 3 ½ half year old grey tabby. Although our tabby can be extremely loving and affectionate, we wanted help with some of her other unwanted behaviors… biting in particular.
Michael made a house visit and spent a very generous amount of time with us and our cat. She is extremely knowledgeable, patient, and a very effective communicator. In fact, in less than five minutes, she was able to get our cat to «sit» and «high-​five.»
After the house visit, Michael sent us a lengthy behavior modification plan full of great information. She also plans to follow-​up with us in 30 days to see how things are going. Our cat has made great progress, and thanks to Michael, we gained great insight into our feline’s mind ;)

Feline Minds are cat behavioral specialists that make houscalls. After multiple moves and other life changes, my cat had had enough and was peeing on the bed with alarmingly increasing frequency. I took her to the vet and medically everything was OK, she had been on antidepressants before, and I had tried everything I could think of. I emailed Feline Minds and Dilara already started coming up with a plan. When she came for the home visit, she took note of the space as well as observed my cat and our interaction. After a detailed history, she made a lot of specific recommendations (changes in the environment like litter, litterbox, bedcover, and changes in our interaction like playtime and feeding) and then emailed me a copy of the consultation. With a stepwise approach, my bed has been cat-​pee-​free. Dilara also checked back in about a month later to get an update. I am so grateful to have her experience with feline behavior to allow me to keep my sanity!