A few months back we adopted Scout, a week after she was found wandering the grounds of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. For us it was love at first site. For our "incumbent" cat Rosie -- not so much. Snarling, hissing and general bedlam ensued. We tried doing some online reading on the subject and got information overload. So we went back to the Web to see if we could find a cat behaviorist, which is how we found Ingrid Johnson.
Several things impressed me in our first conversation. First, she really listened. Then she asked some questions that helped dig deeper into the situation. The result is that I felt she was the right person to help us out. We scheduled a home visit that exceeded expectations. She took her time talking us through the basics of how cats think, which helped us get a cleared picture of what was going on.
But the best thing was before leaving she gave us a strategy to get things a little happier between Scout and Rosie. Not suggestions, but a real program of action. Since then we have been working with our cats and are starting to see the progress Ingrid told us to expect. Things are moving in a good direction and I expect co-existing kitties soon.
I also have to say that when she offers follow-up support via phone and email she really means it. She's helped us tweak the program a bit, patiently answered our questions and kept things moving in the right direction.
As you can tell, we're very happy we're working with Ingrid.
Jim and Carol Osterman
Marietta, Ga.
