If you were a cat, and you could choose your owner, you would want someone who could really understand your needs. Well for nine lucky cats, this is exactly what they got when Inga Mackellar adopted them.

Inga’s interest in animals started at an early age when, encouraged by her father, an émigré Polish Count, she became fascinated by the books of leading behaviourists and zoologists such as Konrad Lorenz, Jane Goodall and Gerald Durrell. Throughout her life she has been involved with animals and, as well as having her own pets, has acted as a fosterer for both Cats Protection and the Cinnamon Trust.

Inga Mackeller with Boris

Her professional career, however, initially took a different route and Inga entered the world of advertising, publishing and marketing. When she was in her late thirties she became aware of a specialist pet behaviour course at Southampton University and, as a mature student, obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour Counselling in 1998, followed by her Masters Degree in 2000.

Inga now holds a Masters degree in Companion Animal Behaviour Counselling and has just been accredited as a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist.

‘It was a fascinating course – but hard work. I couldn’t have done it without my husband’s support and encouragement. The beauty of the course was that it was modular - I was still working in marketing and used my annual leave time to study – so I didn’t have a holiday break for about four years! Many of the students on the course were ‘doggy’ people but I’ve always had a great love of cats as well. Many cat owners don’t realise that they can get help for their cat’s behaviour problems. The most common enquiry I receive is for indoor toileting or spraying.

Owners often think that their cat is doing this to spite them – this is not the case – there isalways a reason. The worse thing that the owner can do is tell their cat off as this makes it anxious which can lead to an increase in the problem. I only work on veterinary referral, as it’s important to make sure that there’s nothing physically wrong with the cat. For example, cats can develop lower urinary tract infections, which may cause toileting problems.

Behaviour is a fascinating subject and I always try to keep up with latest research by attending several conferences each year. I was delighted to have received my accreditation as a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist as this will help reassure both clients and vets that I have the appropriate qualifications and experience, unfortunately, as the law stands at the moment anyone can advertise themselves as a behaviourist’

Inga is also Full Member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (www.apbc.org.uk) and serves on the APBC Committee as the Press and PR Officer. Based in the South-East, she has been helping pet owners throughout Sussex, Kent and Surrey with their problem dogs and cats since 1998. She is a co-author of the ‘APBC Book of Companion Animal Behaviour Counselling’, having contributed a chapter on ‘The Importance of Positive Reinforcement’. As awareness of pet behaviour has grown, so has media interest, and Inga has appeared on local (Sovereign Radio), regional (BBC Southern Counties), national radio (BBC Radio 4) and on BBC TV.

Inga lives in rural East Sussex with her rescue family of four dogs, those very fortunate nine adopted cats and a very tolerant husband! She can be contacted on 01323 870558, inga@petbehaviour.co.uk or via her website: www.petbehaviour.co.uk