Understanding cat behavior often begins long before formal education; it grows from lived experiences, personal loss, and the quiet moments that shape empathy.
For Dr. Rachel Geller, that foundation evolved into a career devoted to keeping cats in their homes and strengthening the bond between families and their animals. Her work blends behavioral science with emotional counseling, creating solutions that address both feline needs and human stress. Through shelter leadership, virtual consultations, and humane education initiatives, she has built a reputation for turning crisis calls into hopeful outcomes.
In this conversation, she opens up about the philosophy, discipline, and compassion that guide her mission to reduce surrender rates and transform how people understand cat behavior.
Let’s begin.
Thank you, Dr. Rachel, for joining us today. To begin, could you please introduce yourself to our readers in your own words and share what first drew you toward dedicating your life to cat behavior, surrender prevention, and humane education?
So, how did I get here? My parents’ views on pets – cats or otherwise – could not have been more different.
My father grew up in Dorchester, MA in a small, crowded apartment that his immediate family shared with his extended family. The apartment did not allow pets – not that there was room – and they were poor, barely able to feed themselves. My mother grew up in a single-family home where pets were part of the family. Later in their marriage, my parents were forced to strike a compromise about pets in our home when their first born (me) seemed to have discovered an endless parade of cats in the neighborhood who really needed me, and who somehow ended up at our house.
I deeply loved the cats and mourned their loss when one died, and at some point I began to memorize the names and faces of all the cats who had lived, loved, and then died at our house. One day, I asked my dad, who was a rabbi, whether all those cats would meet me in heaven and whether they would recognize me and I them. He assured me that they would — that the cats would remember me, and I would remember them. Forever.
Thinking back, the lesson I learned wasn’t so much about the cats, but it was about my father’s assurances that relationships with our cats last. That our relationships with our companion animals have meaning. Our relationships with our cats are enduring, they are important. And to me, it meant that they are worth saving.
When you look back at your early professional journey, was there a specific moment or case that made you realize that surrender prevention would become your lifelong mission rather than just a specialty?
I remember starting to think more seriously about this when I was the Vice President of a cat shelter in Boston.
Traditionally, for a behavior problem-based surrender, as a board we focused on concerns like: it is realistic that we will be able to take in this peeing cat? Will a biting cat be adopted? Do we have volunteers who could work with this aggressive cat? Do we have foster homes who will take a cat that scratches rugs and furniture?
I wanted to look at this from a new perspective; a new way to save cats’ lives. I realized that a Surrender Prevention Specialist certification would reduce intake in 2 ways – the cat stays in the home during the free cat behavior counseling which resulted in the cat staying in the home permanently, and this kept a spot open for a cat who was truly paws on the ground homeless.
You often work at the intersection of cat behavior science and emotional support. How do you personally balance analytical assessment with compassion when guiding overwhelmed cat owners?
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be non-judgmental and empathetic. None of us wants to be judged, especially by someone who answers the phone or responds to an email at the shelter, someone you think you can turn to and at the same time, someone who doesn’t know you at all.
But we find ourselves judging cat owners based on a few sentences, when they are in crisis, and without knowing anything about the full story and their personal situation. When cat owners call us to surrender their cats, we want to be their ally, so it’s crucial that we listen, remain compassionate and avoid making judgments.
Ultimately, we want to keep the cat in the home. So we want this relationship to be good. We want the cat owner to feel as if we are on her side.
Be an ally. Imagine what would happen if a cat owner called to surrender her cat and said she was upset with her cat’s behavior, and you said “Well, you have no right being a cat owner if you’re going to get angry at your cat!” What would this person’s response be? She would probably become defensive and either hang up or ignore your advice. She’s already stressed and wants to remove the cat; a sarcastic or condescending response is not going to make her reconsider her decision to surrender her cat. And of course, it’s the cat who will ultimately suffer. Rather, we want to be on the side of the cat owner. Try to find the positives, try to find the good. Say things like: I can tell you love your cat. You have taken such good care of your cat. You really have tried a lot!
I always remember that people usually call to surrender their cats when they are in crisis and are angry and frustrated. It’s my job to understand this stress and help them see that there is likely a positive resolution to their cat behavior problem that is causing a crisis. After all, almost all of us have at times become frustrated with our cats so we can certainly empathize with cat owners who are frustrated with their cats’ behavior.
Many people still misunderstand the role of a cat behavior specialist. How do you usually explain your work to someone who assumes behavior issues are simply “training problems”?
As a cat behavior counselor, I am often asked: “Why are you helping cats? Why aren’t you helping people?” But the truth is, when you help cats, you are also always helping people.
People tend to assume that if a cat has a behavior problem, the problem must be with the cat. Most of the time, this simply isn’t true. Most of these cats are not difficult and they don’t really have behavior problems; the fact is – their humans have problems or want human conveniences, and this creates problems for the cats.
Whenever a human being has a serious problem such as illness, bereavement, job loss, divorce …..a pandemic, you will often find an animal suffering at the end of it. So you never help a cat without also helping a person.
Yes, I help a lot of people whose cats won’t use the litter box, cats who scratch on everything except for the scratching post, and what to do when you bring home Fluffy as a companion for Puffy – and as it turns out, Puffy did not want a new companion. This is what I try to do every day: work to solve behavior problems so people don’t have to sacrifice the cats who they love.
In your experience, what emotional patterns do you notice most often in cat parents who are considering relinquishment, and how do you gently redirect those emotions toward retention solutions?
Cat owners typically reach out to shelters and rescues when they are feeling hopeless and defeated.
When a cat owner thinks she needs to surrender her cat, she is usually feeling sad or demoralized. This is not what the cat owner expected when she adopted her cute ball of fluff. I let the cat owner know that there is reason for hope and optimism – we can resolve this problem. We can replace this hopeless feeling by sharing optimism that the situation can be resolved.
When giving hope, it’s important to remind the cat owner that she loves her cat and has taken great care of him, and I will be there to help her solve this problem. Things are looking up!
As a Pet Chaplain, you witness grief, guilt, and attachment daily. How has this spiritual and emotional dimension influenced the way you counsel families during difficult decisions?
I decided to become a pet chaplain in addition to my cat behavior work because there were times that the cat’s behavior problem was due to pain and we found out the cat was dying. I wanted to be there for my clients even if the focus changed and wanted to offer spiritual and emotional support for the deep, often unrecognized, grief surrounding pet loss.
With this certification, I learned how to provide a compassionate, non-judgmental presence to help people navigate end-of-life decisions, honor the human-animal bond, and heal from the loss of a pet (in my case, usually a cat). A lot of what I do is validate grief; recognizing that the loss of cat is a major, often undervalued life event.
Regarding the spiritual aspect, I work with grieving cat parents to honor their memories by creating rituals, funerals, or memorial services for their beloved cats.
Fear and anxiety in cats are often misread as aggression. How do you help both professionals and cat parents reframe this misunderstanding in a practical, non-judgmental way?
Often, the cat owner’s description of the cat is not accurate, especially when it comes to aggression. Many times owners misunderstand and misread cats’ behaviors. Because of this, we shouldn’t assume that a cat owner’s assessment of the cat’s behavior is correct. This is why we need to ask a lot of questions.
I try not to reinforce the potentially inaccurate and maybe even hurtful-to-the-cat description by using the same language. For example, if the cat owner says, “My cat keeps attacking me so he’s an aggressive cat,” I reframe that statement by using neutral language such as, “Can you tell me what the cat is actually doing when you observe this?”
When cat owners use words like brat, spiteful, attacking, aggressive, doing things on purpose and doing things even though she knows it’s wrong, I don’t repeat those words back. I do not want to reinforce this language. Rather I ask what the cat owner is seeing and observing in her cat.
Humane education is a core pillar of your work. From your perspective, what cat behavior misconceptions are the most damaging, and why do they persist despite growing awareness?
I think the most damaging misconception is that cats behave badly on purpose. Cats don’t misbehave! Cats don’t think in terms of right and wrong like humans do. They think in terms of fulfilling their needs.
For example, cats don’t scratch a scratching post because it’s the morally right thing to do. They scratch it because they feel it’s the most effective, safe and comfortable place to scratch in the home. And if these same cats are scratching on the couch in the home, they do not think that their actions are morally wrong. They‘re responding to a problem with their current scratching post and choosing somewhere else to scratch that best meets their needs.
So what we call a “misbehavior” is, in fact, a cat’s logical response to her environment. The cat has a problem and is solving that problem as a cat.
In multi-cat households, tension often escalates subtly before visible conflict appears. What micro-signals do you advise caretakers to watch for that typically go unnoticed?
Silent cat conflicts are subtle, non-physical, and often invisible to owners, yet they cause significant stress, resulting in behavioral issues for the victim cat such as hiding, reclusive behavior or litter box avoidance. The aggressor may silently stare down, stalk, or limit the movements of a victim cat, causing tension.
Many times the aggressor will strategically place himself into the path of the other cat, or in a location where he can ambush his victim in the litter box. This is called Resource Blocking – one cat silently places himself in the way of the food bowl or litter box, preventing the other cat from accessing it.
For the uninitiated, it just looks like the cat has chosen place to nap, but in reality that cat has strategically placed himself so that the other cat will get ambushed on his way to the litter box or the food.
Watch for sudden personality changes, such as one cat becoming unusually timid, fearful or avoiding certain areas. The victim cat may develop stress-related issues like a UTI or start eliminating outside the litter box.
What role does environmental enrichment truly play in retention outcomes, and where do cat parents most commonly fall short despite good intentions?
Cats need opportunities to hunt, stalk, kill and then eat their capture.
To your cat, playing is a hunt, so we need to simulate a hunt. This is because cats are natural born hunters. Cats who do not receive time to hunt in the form of interactive play will fulfill that need elsewhere – typically on the humans or companion cats in the household by attacking, scratching and/or biting. So, we want your cat to stalk and pounce and attack and bite – but in a way that does not involve your skin, and in a way that goes through a hunting sequence, so we leave him happy and calmed down rather than stressed and revved up.
So, how do we do this? Most cat parents do not effectively simulate a hunt.
We are going to use a fishing pole or wand type toy. Using this, we will take your cat through the hunting sequence, tapping into a cat’s natural hunt-eat-sleep cycle.
Interactive play for your cat will strengthen his bond with you, provide stimulation, and the good feeling of being a hunter. I recommend twice a day, for 10 to 15 minute sessions. You don’t need to interactively play with your cat for more than 15 minutes at a time because in real life, a cat who lives outside and hunts for his food would not hunt for the same prey over and over for more than 15 minutes.
Many people think the idea is to tire a cat out but that is not accurate – the point is to naturally place your cat into his hunt-eat-sleep cycle, leaving him content and relaxed. We do this by understanding that to us it is play, but to your cat it is a hunt.
Interactive play not only strengthens the cat-human bond, gives a cat more confidence and provides physical activity, but it leaves your cat happy, content and connected to you.
For a successful and beneficial interactive play session, you have to trigger your cat’s prey drive, and the way to trigger it is to move the toy like prey. Alternate fast and slow, high and low,hide behind furniture, scurry out from underneath a table and so forth. Don’t dangle the toy in your cat’s face or move it too wildly about as that creates a defensive reaction, and that is not fun. Think of mimicking how prey would act – prey runs away from a cat not towards the cat. And there is no prey that would voluntarily place itself into the cat’s face!
An extremely important rule of interactive play has to do with success.
For this to be beneficial and fun, your cat needs to have multiple captures. When you are interactively playing with your cat, the game isn’t about how long you can keep the toy away from the cat, it’s about how rewarding the session is for the cat. OK, now it’s been about 10 or 15 minutes for our play session and you are thinking it is time to end – but don’t abruptly end the session. You want to slowly wind down the movements, mimic the prey getting tired or injured. We are simulating a successful hunt! As the toy gets slower and eventually the prey dies, the cat will be able to accomplish his grand, final capture and kill the prey.
Finish the session with a really yummy treat that you know your cat likes. Since play should simulate a hunt, it is especially important – and rewarding – for the cat to enjoy eating his caught and killed prey – his celebration banquet after the final capture. The food after play is important so that we put your cat into his natural hunt-eat-contentment/relax cycle, completing the hunting sequence. Now your cat will happily relax.
The food after play is also important because cats want a catch and kill and then they expect to be able to eat what they caught and killed.
I have found that many people do not end the play session with a final capture followed by food, but this will make a huge difference in your cat’s happiness and behavior. Being a successful hunter feels very good to a cat. The food at the end is critical in terms of making this a successful experience for your cat. The food at the end is a natural signal to the cat that the hunting sequence has been completed, the hunt is over, and it is time to nap. And, the food at the end is the key to a cat not needing to sink his teeth into your ankles or arms or the other cat in the household! Most importantly, eating some type of food after the final capture is the entire point of the hunt.
The food at the end of the hunt makes your cat feel like a grand conqueror, king of his territory, ruler of his home, in charge, confident, successful, proud – and all with you at the helm. Interactive play that simulates a hunt is THE MOST POWERFUL tool in creating a cat-human bond which leads to better retention outcomes.
DEI certifications in animal welfare are gaining recognition. How have inclusion and cultural sensitivity tangibly changed shelter communication and adoption counseling in your view?
I now better understand that there are barriers that prevent people from marginalized and underserved communities from receiving the support they need to keep their cats. I have made major changes by recognizing those barriers and taking action:
- I am dedicated to breaking down barriers that prevent access to cat behavior counseling for all cat owners.
- I go into low-income, underserved communities to reach people who may not have the resources to access cat behavior help or who may not even know such a service exists. For example, I have provided free presentations in communities such as Boston, Chelsea, and
Waltham. - Besides my presentations, I provide free cat behavior counseling and have had these behavior programs translated into Spanish, Chinese, Creole and other languages.
- I also help people who have disablity keep their cats.
- I served as an advisory board member of Cat Companions, a nonprofit that assists people with disabilities who have emotional support cats and need help with cat behavior questions and problems.
- And, I am also the author of the webinar “Activities for Inclusion” which provides solutions and accommodations so that the functional needs population can be included in shelter volunteer programs.
Your book reflects both advocacy and lived experience. While writing, did you find yourself revisiting emotionally intense cases that reshaped your perspective?
Yes! I remembered helping a woman in distress. A woman contacted me to say she would have to surrender her cat. She started off by saying she was sure there was nothing I could do. She had cancer and several small children and was terrified, exhausted and overwhelmed. Amidst all of this, she had an older cat and she was feeling bad because she couldn’t give the cat enough attention.
This woman and I talked for a very long time. I listened to her describe her situation. Eventually I said, “Your children are stressed because you’re sick, but they will feel even more stressed by losing the family pet at the same time.”
I also reminded her that cats are fundamentally loyal, caring and incredibly perceptive animals. If her cat didn’t get the same amount of attention for a period of time because she was getting treated for cancer – well, that cat was part of the family.
With this I also explained that the cat would surely prefer to give up some attention temporarily rather than be separated from her family permanently. Sometimes people just need to be reassured.
By then the woman was crying. She said, “Do you think it would really be okay to keep my cat?” What I learned was that the woman really didn’t want to give up her cat at all; she wanted to do the right thing. She just wasn’t sure what that was. However, she kept her cat, and I promised my help and support. And I thought about how there are many people who think they need to surrender their cat – and simply being there for support, empathy and compassion is all that is needed.
When mentoring new cat behavior consultants, what core ethical principle do you insist they internalize before they ever handle a client case?
The core ethics I insist on are being non-judgmental and empathetic.
Always bear in mind that this person is calling for help wanting a safe placement for her cat. The caller is not abandoning the cat! and The caller is not abusing her cat! The caller is not dumping the cat outside somewhere! Because this person is taking the time to call you or fill out your surrender form, you know that this person has feelings and concern for her cat and she doesn’t want the cat to be harmed. She wants to surrender the cat to a place where the cat will be cared for, safe and rehomed.
Technology now enables virtual consultations worldwide. Do you feel remote counseling can truly replicate in-person assessments, or does it demand a different diagnostic lens?
I think remote counseling is often more effective because most cats do not act the same way when there is a stranger in the home. I’m bringing in all sorts of new smells, sounds, body language and mannerisms. With remote cat behavior counseling, cats stay in their own homes. They can engage in their natural behaviors and are not reacting to the stress of an unknown visitor. I have people send me videos and pictures, as well.
Finally, if you could embed one universal behavioral education module into every adoption process globally, what would it focus on, and why do you believe it would create lasting change?
Starting off with your cat in a small “sanctuary room” is so important and can greatly affect your new relationship. So many people just bring the cat home and let them out into all of that new territory.
Most often the cat is terrified and ends up hiding in a small, far away place and you cannot build a trusting relationship like that.
Start your new cat off in her own room for about 7 days, preferably a small one, because too much new territory too soon will be overwhelming to your cat. Make sure the space is cat-proofed and ready for your new arrival. The room should have a solid door that closes securely. There should be no inaccessible-to-the human hiding places in the room. If there is a bed, bureau or other furniture in the room that a cat could hide under, put luggage, boxes or storage containers underneath. You don’t want your new cat to spend her days hiding from you. Your cat will want to naturally hide to cope with all the changes in her life, so block off under the bed and bureau but give her places to hide that are accessible to you, such as a cat tunnel, cube or even a box on its side.
Starting a new cat off in a “sanctuary room” (a small, quiet, secure area like a bathroom or spare bedroom) is crucial because it helps them transition to a new home without becoming overwhelmed.
Cats are highly territorial and instinctually fearful of new, large spaces, which can cause them to bolt, hide, or injure themselves if given too much freedom too soon.
So many new adopters return a cat stating that the cat is unfriendly, hiding all the time or swatting at them (which will happen when a stranger reaches under the bed to try to pull the cat out). This would create a lasting change because by spending time with the cat in a smaller space, the cat learns to trust you, rather than seeing you as a threat in a larger, open area.
Thank you Dr. Rachel Geller for generously sharing your journey, professional wisdom, and compassionate perspective on cat behavior. Your insights go far beyond techniques and theory, highlighting the emotional realities families experience and the quiet signals cats communicate every day. Through your dedication to surrender prevention, humane education, and inclusive outreach, you continue to shape a more understanding and empathetic approach within the animal welfare community. Your voice not only educates professionals and cat parents alike but also inspires meaningful change, reminding us that patience, science, and kindness can work together to create safer homes and stronger human–cat relationships.
