If you are thinking of adding a feline to your family, consider adopting a cat from your local animal shelter or humane society. The animals have been carefully screened for adoptability and have usually been worked with to enhance sociability.

Unfortunately, many people think that only "bad" animals wind up in shelters. Actually, opposite is true. People relinquish their pets to shelters when they are no longer able to care for them. Sometimes this is because owner was unprepared for responsibility that comes with caring for a pet.

If there is no indication of 'reason for surrender' on cage at shelter ask - a cat that has been given up because of bad behaviour may not be best choice - no matter how cute she is.

Often, however, caring owners struggling with life-changes or trying to cope with family tragedy realize their pet would be better off with someone else. They bring them to shelter because they know animal will be well-cared for and placed in an excellent home.

Shelter staff carefully evaluates each animal for physical and behavioral soundness. They make note of quirks, and work with specialists to eliminate negative behaviors. Most shelters have adoption counselors who interview potential adopters to understand their needs and lifestyle so they can make perfect match.

At some time or another even sweetest cat "misbehaves." Ironically, a cat's bad act is usually quite normal behavior for her, but may have a result humans don't like or want. Screaming at cat or physically punishing her won't alter negative behavior. The best way to change undesirable behavior is to eliminate opportunity and/or distract cat to an acceptable alternative.

Immediacy is vital: even seconds late may be ineffective. You must do it as soon as cat starts misbehaving.

Distracting a cat away from an act is not very difficult. A loud, unfamiliar noise will quickly get her attention. Some cat owners use a low growling sound, others imitate grating sound of a game show buzzer. Keeping sound low-toned and harsh is important, because you want to save high-pitched sounds for praise and reinforcement of positive behaviors.

One well-known way to distract a misbehaving cat is to give her a blast with a spray bottle. While this works, it has some drawbacks. First, you must have bottle in your hand at exact moment cat is about to act in a way you want to discourage. Unless you follow your cat around all day with a spray bottle in your hand, this is unlikely to happen. The second problem is that this technique seems to lose effectiveness after a while with some cats.