Published Jan 28, 2025
Carole C. Wilbourn / Thecattherapist.com
The world of cat experts has suffered a great loss with the recent death of Carole Wilbourn, the pioneer of feline psychology who used a variety of techniques to treat misbehaving cats – and, who taught us humans that a cat’s behavior always reflects its feelings.
Wilbourn’s sister, Gail Mutrux, confirmed to The New York Times that Wilbourn – often called the “Kitty Freud” and “The Cat Therapist” – died on December 23, just before Christmas, at age 84. This is a loss not just for the in-purrson cat clients Wilbourn would visit in New York City and beyond, but the millions of people who read her books, followed her on social media, and watched her videos. This woman knew her Felinese, and spoke it fluently!
Her cat clients suffered from anxiety, depression, jealousy, and a gamut of other painful emotions, to which we all can relate. The cats she worked with were acting out in ways like attacking household members, shredding furniture, house soiling, chewing on electric cords, and going on hunger strikes.
To every feline problem, Wilbourn seemed to have a solution. Wilbourn’s therapy techniques ranged from playing New Age and classical music, along with whale songs, to the cats; offering catnip; feeding treats; and even doing Reiki sessions with the cats.
Wilbourn had a keen understanding of the feline psyche, and she knew that, just like us, cats have feelings. They cannot express them verbally, so they communicate with behavior.
“A cat behaves badly when it’s trying to communicate,” Wilbourn told the Los Angeles Daily News in 1990. “It’s sending an SOS. It’s saying, ‘Please help me.’”
Wilbourn’s career began in 1973, when she co-founded The Cat Practice – Manhattan’s first animal hospital only for cats – with a veterinarian, Dr. Paul Rowan. Wilbourn said she was the nation’s first cat therapist, and as far as we know, nobody disputed that claim. She said that she treated an estimated 13,000 cats during her career, and Wilbourn claimed she had a success rate of fixing 75 to 80 percent of cats she saw for behavioral problems.
“She was very attuned to the animals, to their emotional states,” Dr. Rowan told The New York Times. “It was very unusual for the time.”
Wilbourn’s six books included Cats on the Couch, published in 1982. This book featured many case studies on cats Wilbourn had worked with, to help other cat owners learn from their experience. In her 1978 book called The Inner Cat: A New Approach to Cat Behavior, Wilbourn called out people who claimed to be allergic to cats: Some such people, she said, actually just don’t like cats. And it’s no wonder, with the feline’s trademark independence and what we nowadays jokingly call “cattitude.”
In The Inner Cat, Wilbourn wrote this about some people’s dislike of cats: “A cat is a free spirit and will not be subservient. People who derive their gratification from giving commands that others must obey can be threatened by a cat. It’s hard to assert your sense of power over a cat.”
Ain’t that the truth?
Wilbourn’s most recent book came in 2010 with Cat Talk: What Your Cat is Trying to Tell You. I have this book, and it is very informative.
Thankfully, Wilbourn’s memory lives on with her Instagram page, where her last post was hauntingly recent: November 17. The post shows her Siamese cat, Orion 2, taking a nap. Wilbourn’s 1,831 Instagram posts show many images of the beautiful cat, and we hope the page stays up as a memorial.
Wilbourn’s YouTube page also has 262 cat videos that we can still enjoy. The videos include Wilbourn talking about how she does a reiki session with a cat, sweet cat-dog moments, funny cat antics, and more. Hopefully, this YouTube page long outlives its creator, too.
We want to express our gratitude for Wilbourn’s many years of work and passion in helping us understand our cats better. Godspeed to you!
