Mikel is outstanding! When we started working with her, our cats were unable to be in the same room without fighting. Through a gradual process of positive reinforcement, they are now able to be together. They play with each other, chase each other, and are starting to relax and rest together. Mikel is available when we need her, and we are deeply grateful for her guidance. read more

When my beloved cat was diagnosed with asthma, our vet suggested training him to inhale his medication through the Aerokat mask & chamber unit, to avoid the systemic effects of an oral steroid. This proved easier said than done! Step-by-step video tutorials showed cats responding in ways that my boy just would not. I was at a loss, veterinary behaviorists had months-long waits, and "live" help was surprisingly hard to find. Some online research led me to Mikel, the only cat behavior specialist I came across. Mikel put me at ease from the start, with an accessible demeanor, wealth of knowledge and even personal experience with feline asthma. Mikel is smart, supportive, insightful about cats, and a clear communicator, offering a series of positive training strategies, tailoring them to my cat's idiosyncrasies, always seeking his cooperation, never relying on punishment. Mikel guided us over a series of very fairly priced telehealth sessions. The process helped me realize that cats can actually be trained (who knew?!), and that the experience can even deepen our bond with our fur babies. I highly recommend Mikel and Feline Minds. I'll undoubtedly be reaching out to them again. read more

Mikel suggested I feed the cats treats together in an attempt to try to get one cat to stop hissing and intimidating the other cat. That was fine for over a month until the hissing cat struck the other cat's ear. After a $520 vet bill, the cat's ear has a drainage tube in it and he has to wear a collar for 3 weeks. read more

Absolutely fantastic group! They came highly recommended by the adoption agency we got our most recent kitty from. We originally reached out because adding a new cat to our household changed the entire dynamic and our resident cats became uncharacteristically nervous and aggressive. Our rescue was extremely shy and the behavior from my resident cats was not helping things. We are so lucky to live locally from Feline Minds, but we definitely would have benefitted from virtual visits too. They review extensive video footage and provided detailed advice in the form of write ups, along with example videos and recommended products. We had to wait a couple months to get squeezed in because Feline Minds is so popular and trusted in the area, but it was well worth any wait! Dilara and Mikel have been extremely kind and helpful throughout this stressful process of managing our cat problems. We mostly worked with Dilara, but I also read Mikel's book and it was excellent! I learned a lot from it, even as a longtime cat owner and professional cat sitter. Feline Minds is a very reasonable cost for animal training as well. No detailed success story yet because we are still in the process of working things out with our three cats going through their inter-cat aggression, but we definitely see improvement just in the last 1-2 months. The cats are calmer and more relaxed, and there is notably less agitation when the new cat is visible. Our rescue cat went from barely tolerating our presence to purring when we enter the room and sometimes begging for pets. The squabbling between my resident cats has finally stopped too. I have full faith things will become even better with Dilara's help. Thanks so much Feline Minds! And thank you from Calypso, Bobo, and Willow-Soufflé! They are much happier now! read more

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Mikel gave us our life back. Our cats were having major litter box issues for the past 5 years. Nightly wake up's with being urinated on in bed at least 3-4 nights a week. Walls and carpet destroyed, one cat put on Prozac for four years, because she must have anxiety. You can imagine, I was this close to putting them outside and feeling like I wanted to give them away. I figured there had to be another way, so I research and found Feline Minds. It turns out.....it was the litter system we were using. Mikel explained that cats' paws are very sensitive, and the type we used was like walking on rocks for our cats' paws. Mikel was so thorough in her job; she asked us a lot of questions and gave us some useful tips. Mikel is a cat whisper and will change your life if you're in doubt do not hesitate, call her now, I promise only good things will happen. read more

I was a little hesitant to do a consultation with Feline Minds because I wasn't sure how many sessions we would need to resolve our problem, and the rate for remote consultation ($200 for one hour over skype plus follow ups) seemed pretty steep. I wanted to follow up here and share that I actually think this was an excellent deal - we used Feline Minds to get advice on two separate sets of cat behavior issues and only needed one session each time. We only needed one session because Mikel did a really good job providing a written up plan of what to do. She was proactive about checking in and I never felt like she was keeping her responses short to get me to spend more money on another session. Throughout, she was responsive, thorough, and genuinely excited when our cats made progress. I'll also add that you don't have to be in a totally unmanageable situation to see a benefit from this kind of work. The first time we had a session, we had just one cat, and she was becoming somewhat aggressive (chasing and ankle swiping) with one of the humans in the house around meal times. She'd also started trying to pester and wake up someone to feed her around 4-5am even though we don't get up and feed her until 7am. She was really persistent and even though I felt like we'd done a good job of not rewarding her behavior, we got good insights from Mikel on ways we were subtly reinforcing the behavior and were able to get her to stop through a combination of no reinforcement and adding some entertainment to her meals and day to make her less cranky. The second time we worked with Mikel, it was a session for integrating two new kittens into our household. We weren't having major issues, but I was concerned about our older cat being too aggressive with them and also the kittens being especially shy, afraid of carriers, afraid of the front doors. They've made a lot of progress with the help of Mikel's tips and I'm happy to say they both love sitting in their carrier and snuggling with our older cat. Highly recommend if you're getting a new animal and have some concerns or have some cat annoyances- it helps! read more

I've worked with Feline Minds several times over the past seven years and every time has been a pleasure. Mikel offers extremely practical suggestions and schedules for regulating bad habits between owners and cats. So grateful for their gentle and firm guidance on how to have a more harmonious home life with my furbaby. read more

Our household of two people and two cats has rediscovered the joy and play that makes family feel like family. The investment of time with Mikel has provided our family with a treasure trove of new ideas and renewed energy that we will all be able to sort through our issues and help every human and feline find rest inside a home they enjoy living in. I have been so excited about our session with Mikel that I have shared the name Feline Minds with countless friends and coworkers - including the ones who don't even live with cats! We had an excellent experience, through and through. read more

We took in an aggressive and scared cat who would attack our shy house cat. After biting one of us, and other difficult behaviors, we contacted Feline Minds. Mikel made a house call, observed everyone's behavior, including ours, and gave a full report with solid, great advice. It was a long-term project that ended up being one of our most rewarding experiences. We learned so much about what cats need and how to make the house a happy place for everyone. read more

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 :). read more

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. read more

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! read more

We recently contacted Michael from Feline Minds to help with our adorable 3 1/2 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 ;) read more

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! read more

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. read more

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. read more

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. read more

Before getting a kitty companion for your cat, make sure that 1) your resident cat actually wants a companion, and 2) the new cat is energetically compatible with your current cat. I did not heed my own advice. (Having been a dog-person all my life, my assumption was that every creature needs a companion! I clearly knew nothing about cats!) My husband and I fell in love with Kaiju, a Cat Town kitty in need of a home, and after having him for a trial-stay, we decided we would be his forever home. Satchee, our resident cat, did not like this one bit and she hissed and growled at him every time he approached her. Not only was Kaiju 5lbs bigger than Satchee, but he was also younger and a lot more energetic. His response was to chase her until a fight ensued - and the fights usually SOUNDED worse than it actually was. This was very upsetting to me. To Cat Town's credit, they called in Feline Minds to help us integrate the 2 cats. Feline Minds, and Mikel in particular, came over to our house and for a couple of hours, observed the two cats in their environments. At that point, we kept the cats separated by an x-pen barrier. Mikel suggested that the cats needed to build positive experiences with one another and that it was possible to do this through play and treats. She demonstrated several play techniques that would get the cats to interact positively through the barrier. She also recommended and demonstrated clicker training with the cats. She suggested adding vertical space to certain areas of our house so the cats could get away from each other when they needed to. After spending a couple of hours observing the cats and demonstrating solutions, she wrote and sent us a report that detailed our cats' specific issues and needs, and outlined recommendations to help with those issues. I will not lie and say that integrating the cats was an easy process. There is no magic cure - the recommendations were very detailed and in retrospect, common sense stuff. The interesting thing I discovered was that the cats looked forward to the play and training that Feline Minds recommended. They recognized the sound of the box opening as I retrieved the toys and they would both start purring and run to the barrier that separated them for their play session. They both loved clicker training and would immediately go to their mats for their treats. We did this for a couple of months and eventually we removed the barrier. Mikel followed up by email and answered all our questions thoroughly. Her expertise helped me to gain insight into our cats' behavior and I began to accept that though they will not be the best of friends, they could at least live in peace with one another. Before you give up on your cat or cats, I highly recommend contacting Feline Minds! You may be surprised as to how simple the solution may be. In our case, it took a lot of time and patience and it helped knowing I could email Mikel with questions and have an expert respond with specific solutions. read more

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. read more

We had Mikel our last year to help us address some issues with our new kittens--scratching furniture, crazy energetic behavior in the evenings, knocking over our water glasses, etc. Nothing too terribly urgent, but she assessed our situation and met our boys and put together some easy suggestions, routine changes, etc to help address the issues. I was so pleased with the behavior changes we saw (and she helped us save our new couch from the cats!). Fast forward to a month ago when we had a more serious behavior issue surface. I reached out again and she took a lot of time to assess again what was going on and explained some easy ways to support a positive behavior change. I'm so grateful for her time and expertise in this area. The time and attention she took to help us both times really shows not only her depth of knowledge, but also how much she cares about her clients. Like others had mentioned, I was nervous spending the money to have her come out, but it was so worth it to save our sanity. Many many thanks to Mikel! read more

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 1-1/2 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. read more

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! read more

We had the MOST amazing experience with Dilara, she helped us turn our "hellish" cat into a lovebug. We love that she explained exactly what the behaviorism are and how to fix them...we appreciate and respect her opinion so incredbly much! I still consult with her very often with any little questions or concerns. Dilara often checks in with us regarding our cat and asks for updates. We recommend Feline Minds to anybody and everybody we can. Dilara knows her stuff, and can help turn around any situation. Thank you so much for your help and support!!! read more