The New Natural Cat

Frazier, a professional cat groomer and behaviorist, and writer Eckroate here update the manual they first published 10 years ago, because ``owners want to know about visualization, Bach flower remedies a form of homeopathy, interspecies communication and all manner of new and expanded home nursing techniques that can be applied to those wonderful cats and those who cherish them.'' While the authors' views on cat nutrition and tips on how to become a savvy visitor of the veterinarian are persuasive, readers who cherish cats for their inscrutability and independent spirit--or who don't subscribe to what is probably best described as the authors' New Age outlook--will be better off choosing another handbook. Frazier and Eckroate strain both credibility and prose. Since ``the human mind is better equipped than the cat's for learning other languages,'' they suggest that owners make a concerted effort to imagine how their cats feel being left at home for long periods. They urge us to tell ailing pets, ``I know how you're feeling . . . (Describe in detail how his body is feeling).'' Blinking is recommended as communications tool. Whether truth or foolery, such advice seems likely to inspire a skeptical feline yawn. (Nov.)