Monthly Archives: June 2011

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My Cat from Hell is a Winner

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Despite the off-putting title, My Cat from Hell, Cat Daddy Jackson Galaxy’s message rings true: Your cat isn’t bad. He’s a cat.

When I first heard about Animal Planet’s new show, My Cat from Hell, I cringed. Just what we needed was another show reinforcing negative kitty stereotypes! But I kept an open mind, and I’m glad I did. Despite the off-putting title, the show’s a winner and so is the behavior advice from the show’s star, Jackson Galaxy. His message: Your cat isn’t bad. He’s a cat.

Galaxy, who wears a shirt with Cat Daddy embroidered over the pocket and sports amazing cat tattoos on his arms, drives a super cool 1964 Chevy Nova during the show’s intro. By day he’s a cat behavior consultant, but by night he’s a rock musician. The plotline sounds like it came straight off the SyFy Channel or MTV. But Galaxy really is a musician who also works with frustrated cat owners to overcome behavior problems.

A lot of people come to me because vets tell them to euthanize their cats, Galaxy says. “It’s my mission to keep cats from being euthanized, out of shelters and off the streets for reasons that are preventable.”

The first episode I watched featured Duff, an aggressive cat who was constantly biting his owner and the JacksonGalaxyCatDaddyguy’s girlfriend. Like so many cats with “behavior problems” Duff was destined for the pound if the attacks didn’t stop. Galaxy’s prescription: create vertical space for the cat and exercise (not just flopping the toy around, but hop-till-you-drop running and chasing). He also taught the couple the difference between appropriate play and inappropriate play.

Over the next three weeks, the couple completed their assignments and supplied the appropriate trees and climbers. Instead of exile to an animal shelter, Duff developed into an affectionate, enjoyable member of the family.

Galaxy didn’t pull a magic solution out of a hat. He simply observed Duff’s surroundings and family interaction, and educated his clients (and his audience) about natural feline behavior.

Galaxy drives home the point that people must provide outlets for natural feline behaviors like climbing and hunting.

“From my show people are getting the concept of vertical space,” Galaxy says. “If you look at it the way the cat sees the world, it makes sense. Let’s get a catio (a cat patio). Let’s get some cat shelves, condos, and hutches. Provide some “via points,” (furniture that allows your cat from point “A” to point “B” without having to get on the floor.)

Galaxy started his behavior career working at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley scooping poop at six in the morning. He observed that more cats were being killed than dogs. That’s when he took on the mission to help these feline victims of circumstance. Around the shelter he earned the reputation as a “cat guy” eventually going by the moniker, “Cat Daddy”.

At some point his bosses realized Galaxy could not only rehabilitate frighten felines, he could educate the other shelter workers, too. When people contacted the shelter with a “problem cat”, Galaxy would counsel with ways them to keep the cat in the home.

“I want cat guardians to know that by and large their cats aren’t doing this thing to spite you,” he says. “The idea of them getting even or mad at me is all nonsense. Your cat isn’t acting up intentionally—his world is upside down. He feels threatened. Get the human drama out of it. You have to change your brain.

People have to go from an unsympathetic approach, where the owner basically says, “I hate you Kitty for what you’re doing to me,” to a sympathetic approach in which you understand that the problem is caused by something stressing the cat.

Kitties acting out are no different than the Grimm’s Fairy Tale about the lion with the splinter in his paw. He was mean until the thorn was pulled out. In reality, he wasn’t mean; he was in pain.

People are learning to look at things from the cat’s eye view, Galaxy says. This not only prevents problems, but it increases your empathy and appreciation of all cats. Arm yourself with what your cat wants. And, of course, spay or neuter your cat.

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Animal Planet hasn’t placed an order for new episodes of My Cat from Hell, but I hope they do. Until then, you can enjoy encores of the two episodes of the three finished this Saturday, June 11. Get more information about Jackson Galaxy and My Cat from Hell at http://jacksongalaxy.com Galaxy’s website.

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The Cat Who Said Goodbye-Lilian Jackson Braun

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Lilian Jackson BraunCat mystery writer, Lilian Jackson Braun, died on Saturday, June 4 in hospice in Landrum, S. C. just 16 days short of her 98th birthday.

Just ask any cat-loving mystery reader and they’ll be happy to recount their favorite Lilian Jackson Braun novel regaling the adventures of journalist-turned-detective Jim Qwilleran. His mere presence brought death and mayhem to those around him. But with the help of his Siamese cats KoKo and YumYum, Qwilleran always pinned the killer. Ms. Braun’s groundbreaking series created an entirely new genre when the first book, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, was released in 1966.

Although she wrote up until the end, her career in cat mysteries concluded after 41 years with publication of the 29th and final novel, The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007.) According to her husband of 32 years, Earl Bettinger, Braun was working on her 30th Cat Who book at the time of her death. Sadly, The Cat Who Smelled Smoke, has been cancelled.

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967) and The Cat Who Turned On and Off (1968) quickly followed her first novel. However, the publisher wanted mysteries with plenty of sex and carnage. Ms. Braun’s GP-rated cozies didn’t fit in with the lusty late 1960s.

“By the time I had written the fourth one, tastes in mysteries had changed, Ms. Braun once said. They wanted sex and violence, not kitty-cat stories. Gore was not my style, so I just forgot about The Cat Who.

With the encouragement of her husband after her retirement from The Detroit Free Press (1984), she again tested the water bowl with The Cat Who Saw Red (Berkley Publishing Group, 1986.) G. P. Putnam’s Sons and Berkley went on to publish twenty-one more Cat Who novels. She wrote every one of her books in long hand and then typed them herself.

Ms. Braun’s books became staples on The New York Times bestseller lists. They have been translated into sixteen languages and are distributed worldwide, allowing readers everywhere to follow Qwilleran, his quirky friend and his feline companions. Ms. Braun often said her characters and settings were composites of people and places she knew. She created a male protagonist with a moustache so that people would not think her fiction was autobiographical. She described Qwilleran’s Moose County as “400 miles north of everywhere.” Often asked where the fictional Moose County really was, Ms. Braun would say, “In my head. It can be anywhere you want it to be.”

After working less than a week as a waitress, Ms. Braun went to work for Detroit department stores, beginning as a copywriter and eventually becoming the director of public relations. She took time off to write her first three books and then accepted a position with The Detroit Free Press where she wrote feature articles on interior design, art and architecture, as well as reviews of kitchen gadgets and other household products, for 30 years.

Toward the end Ms. Braun didn’t have cats of her own, according to her husband because she was losing her eye sight and nearly fell three times over her new kitten. The couple had about five cats over the years, all Siamese and all named either Koko or Yum Yum, he said.

Lilian Jackson Braun was preceded in death by her first husband, Louis Paul Braun; sister, Florence Jackson; and brother, Lloyd Jackson. She is survived by her husband of thirty-two years, Earl Bettinger.  No memorial services will be held. Donations may be made to Hospice House, Landrum, SC, or the Polk County Public Library, Columbus, NC.