Name: Marilyn Krieger
Number of cats: Three Bengals and one Savannah
City: Redwood City
Position: Certified cat behavior consultant, aka “The Cat Coach”
J.: You’re the resident “cat behaviorist” at Cat Fancy magazine, and in 2011 you wrote the cat training advice book “Naughty No More!” How does one wind up on this career path?
Marilyn Krieger: Well, I’ve always had cats, always loved cats. But up until 2005, I was actually an engineer with a large tech company. I had started studying cat behavior because it was interesting to me … and then when I was laid off I decided to pursue this as a career, and become certified. I took lots of classes, and I still take classes in order to retain my certification.
J.: Where did you grow up?
MK: I grew up here, and went to Burlingame High School, was confirmed at [Peninsula Temple] Beth El. I’m actually a fifth-generation Californian, and as I understand it my family was one of the original settler Jewish families in San Francisco around 1849.
J.: Do you come from a “cat family”?
MK: That’s my mom’s side. She always had cats. Her mom had cats. We have daguerrotypes [pre-1900 photographs] of some of my relatives, and there’s one of the sister of my great-great-grandmother, and she’s kind of lying there with a cat perched on her chest.
J.: What are some of the most common issues clients come to you with?
MK: Litter box issues, introducing cats to each other, scratching furniture and aggression — both inter-cat aggression and aggression with people. Of course, there are different kinds of aggression within that: there’s play-aggression, there’s neglect aggression.
J.: How exactly do you train a cat?
MK: I use clicker training, in which you teach your cat to associate the sound of a clicker with a reward, a treat. Everything I do is force-free training, not based on punishment. That said, there are times when squirting a cat [one that is prone to dangerous exploration] with water can save its life.
J.: Can you “teach an old cat new tricks”? Or does training work better if you start young?
MK: You can start clicker training when they’re about 6 weeks old, but it works throughout life. My Maulee is 19, and she started clicker training when she was 12. I’ve worked with senior cats who have cognitive issues and they’ve been clicker trained … I actually think simple tasks, rudimentary training, can make a difference as far as cognitive decline and dementia are concerned.
J.: What are some of the biggest misconceptions you hear?
MK: One thing I get a lot of is: “My cat is mad at me, so he’s scratching me, being bad, etc.” And it’s always, “Well, no — there are reasons for the behavior, and we can figure out what they are and address them.” People also don’t believe cats can be trained … and then I teach them clicker training.
A lot of people also just don’t believe what I do. I’ve definitely been called a crazy cat lady. But everything I do is based on the science of behavior and species knowledge. I’m not an animal psychic or animal communicator.
J.: Any nutty cases in your eight years as a cat coach?
MK: Oh, there are a lot of fun cases. I had one where the cat was going around to all the neighbors’ houses and stealing socks and underwear and bringing them back to the house. That turned out to be pica [an eating disorder], which can be helped with some behavior modification, and sometimes meds.
J.: Were you cooking lunch for one of your cats before this phone call?
MK: Yes, Maulee, the 19-year-old. She’s allergic to all commercial cat food and most proteins. The only protein she doesn’t have an adverse reaction to is pork, so I cook a diet of pork and peas for her. It’s definitely not kosher.
“Talking with …” is a j. feature that focuses on local Jews who are doing things we find interesting.