About the Team

Feline Behavior Solutions

About the Team

Feline Behavior Solutions

Dr. Marci Koski, CFTBS, CFTBP

After decades of working with animals in various capacities, I’m thrilled to have my own business working with cats. I’m a certified feline behavior and training consultant in Vancouver, Washington. I earned specialized and advanced certificates in Feline Training and Behavior from the Animal Behavior Institute, and established my business, Feline Behavior Solutions, in 2014. I also have a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Fishery and Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University, and had a career as a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for over ten years, where I worked towards the conservation and recovery of threatened and endangered species.

I’ve always loved animals and decided to put my education, talents, and passion to work through the creation of Feline Behavior Solutions. Cats have always had a special place in my heart, and I’ve always had at least one cat living with me. I currently rely on my four-member feline support staff (see below) to maintain all the cat-related duties of my household.

I’m also involved with the local rescue community in Southwest Washington. I’m a member of the Board of Directors for Furry Friends, a no-kill cats-only rescue, and I volunteer as their cat behavior expert who addresses concerns both in the halfway house, and before and after cats are adopted. I’ve also worked with the Humane Society for Southwest Washington, where I helped connect under-socialized cats with inmates at a nearby minimum-security prison. In that program, I visited the prison every two weeks to teach the inmates about cat behavior and help them socialize cats (with whom they lived until the cats were socialized); the cats were then adopted out to forever homes through the Humane Society. You can learn more about this unique and rewarding program by watching this video.

My primary mission for Feline Behavior Solutions is to keep cats in homes and out of shelters. I believe that the number of cats who are abandoned and/or euthanized in shelters can be significantly reduced if guardians better understand cat behavior, and learn how to work with their cats to encourage desired behaviors instead of unwanted ones. Cats are amazing animals and there’s nothing so rewarding as earning the love and companionship of a cat in your family. I’m honored that I get to teach people how cats and their guardians can live their best lives together – it’s truly a job that I love!

LeeAnna Buis, CFTBS

From a Siamese who welcomed me home from the hospital the day I was born to my two current furballs, a revolving door of fosters, and many others between, I’ve had cats every single day of my life. I thought I knew everything about my feline family. It wasn’t until I reached my 40’s that I actually “met” my cats for the first time.

It all started with a very aggressive foster. I fell in love in less than a week and decided to adopt him, sure that all my years of experience with cats would get him through his past trauma, and we’d be one big happy family. But that’s not how it happened. It was months of scratches, bites, cat fights, stress and extreme guilt over what saving one cat was doing to my resident cats. I didn’t understand why he was reacting so violently when all I wanted to do was save him. We were all miserable, and I was coming face-to-face with the fact that I was in over my head and might not be able to keep him. That’s when I discovered the world of feline behavior and met Dr. Marci Koski.

The more I learned, the more I realized how truly misunderstood cats were in our society. I discovered what unique, fascinating, complex creatures they were and how much I’d been denying my own cats what they needed to live fulfilling cat lives. It wasn’t long before I knew…this was what I wanted to do with my life – help others on a similar journey to truly knowing, loving, and appreciating their cats.

I’m a certified Feline Training and Behavior Specialist through the Animal Behavior Institute and proudly joined Feline Behavior Solutions in 2021. In addition to my two cats, Chloe and Ollie, I foster kitties who need socialization work or are going through medical recovery. In fact, I’ve become the unofficial tripod foster for Emerald City Pet Rescue, having helped multiple fosters through leg injuries and amputations.

Alongside my work with Feline Behavior Solutions, I’m a contributor with Preventive Vet, authoring and editing articles on a variety of pet health and wellness topics, including a series on fostering, covering everything from the how-tos of getting started to the emotional challenges of saying goodbye and the grieving process when experiencing a loss.

House-soiling, aggression, fear, not getting along with other people or pets – these kinds of behaviors can be resolved with a little patience and understanding why cats need what they need and do what they do. That’s why WE do what we do. Keeping families together. Building bonds that won’t be broken. I look forward to reintroducing you to your best feline friend.