Winter Whiskers: Keeping Your Cat Safe with Jackson Galaxy
Winter might seem like business as usual for your cat, but Jackson Galaxy is here to share the inside scoop! Known as the "Cat Daddy," Jackson has a unique ability to view the world from a cat's perspective. In this episode, he reveals some surprising winter and holiday hazards that could put your feline at risk—and offers tips to help you prevent a CATastrophe. Plus, discover if Jackson will be visiting a city near you!
Listen to Episode #139 Now:
BIO:
Popularly known as “The Cat Daddy,” Jackson Galaxy is the host and executive producer of Animal Planet's
long running hit show “My Cat From Hell.” Jackson, an animal advocate and cat behavior and wellness
expert, is also a two-time New York Times best-selling author with more than 25 years of experience
working with cats and their guardians. He is on a mission to educate people about cats and deepen the
human and cat bond, while reducing the number of animals that end up in shelters.
Long before Jackson was known as “The Cat Daddy,” the working musician found he had a unique ability
to connect with cats when he took a job at a local animal shelter. During the decade that followed, he
worked with thousands of cats, successfully lowering the euthanasia rate at his shelter. His work at the
shelter led to a private practice of working with cat guardians and cats in their homes, which helped keep
cats out of the shelter in the first place, and became the premise for “My Cat From Hell.” An immediate
hit, the show has been a broadcast staple for ten seasons and has become a global phenomenon, placing
Jackson at the forefront of a worldwide obsession with all things feline.
All along, Jackson has stayed true to his roots as a shelter worker, educator, fervent advocate and in-home
cat family therapist. At the root of Jackson’s unique approach is a philosophy known as “Cat Mojo,” which
teaches cat guardians the skills to help their feline friends build confidence and thrive within their
environment, and to better the human/cat relationship at the same time. Jackson has extensively detailed
his work and life in his growing collection of authored books. His first, “Cat Daddy,” is a memoir, telling
the story of a life-changing relationship with a cat named Benny during his years as a musician, shelter
worker and an addict struggling to find a path towards recovery. His subsequent books, co-written by Cat
Style Expert Kate Benjamin from Hauspanther.com, “Catify to Satisfy” and “Catification,” which both
landed on the New York Times Best-Sellers List, focuses on designing a home that works for both cats and
humans. His latest book, “Total Cat Mojo,” is a comprehensive guide to his approach on total cat wellness
and eliminating behavioral problems by understanding cats and their instinctive behavior.
Jackson has always been committed to bringing better products to the market that live up to his high
standards. Jackson Galaxy Solutions, the only line of flower essence remedies designed by a behavior
specialist and a veterinarian, has been helping animals live happier and healthier lives since 1995. More
recently, his partnership with Petmate has brought a 20-year vision to fruition, providing innovative toys
and products for every stage of a cat’s life.
True to his goal of helping to save all animals, Jackson started the Jackson Galaxy Project in 2015, now a
Signature Program of GreaterGood.org, which seeks to better the lives of at-risk animals by transforming
the places they live and helping the people who care for them. Jackson spends much of his time these
days devoted to growing the reach and impact of the life-saving JGP Programs and partnerships, including
Cat Pawsitive, which focuses on giving shelters and rescue workers the tools to train cats in their care in
order to help them find their mojo and get adopted, Safe Haven, which retrofits domestic violence shelters
so victims can bring their pets when leaving an abusive home, and Operation Homeward Bound, which is
a transport program that flies cats and dogs to shelters around the country that have more room to find
them new homes.
Jackson has been featured on 20/20, The Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with
Steven Colbert, The Tonight Show, EXTRA, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post and
more.
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Hey, cat lovers!
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Welcome to Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I'm your host, Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kathryn Primm, and I'm a small animal veterinarian and cat lover.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Today is a really special day because I have a special guest with me, Jackson Galaxy of the Cat from Hell fame and some really cool other things that I'm gonna get him to share with you.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: We'll be right back with Jackson Galaxy right after these messages.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Hey there, cat lovers, it's Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat from Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: You know the expression, cats have nine lives.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, what if you can give them one more?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: The Give Them Ten movement is on a mission to help give cats an extra life.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: How?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: With spay and neuter.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Spaying or neutering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life, and it helps control free-rumming cat populations too.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Learn more about the benefits of spay and neuter, and meet Scooter, the neutered cat, at givethemten.org.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: That's givethemten.org.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets on petliferadio.com.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Welcome back to Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat on Pet Life Radio.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm super excited that we have Jackson Galaxy here with us today.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Welcome, Jackson.
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Jackson Galaxy: Thanks for having me.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So you've got some really exciting things coming up, and I've got a lot of stuff that I want to cover with you.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And first, I want to hear about all the cool stuff that you're doing and how you kind of got here.
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Jackson Galaxy: To the present moment?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: To the present moment in your career.
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Jackson Galaxy: I started off working, well, I was a working musician, and as such, I was absolutely broke.
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Jackson Galaxy: And so I really just was looking for a job where it was something different, maybe something where I could be of help.
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Jackson Galaxy: And I just took an entry-level position at an animal shelter, and really, that's what led me here.
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Jackson Galaxy: I found at that moment that I had an affinity for cats, and they, more importantly, had an affinity for me.
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Jackson Galaxy: And it just was one of those, how can I save lives here?
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Jackson Galaxy: Because we were losing a lot of them back then.
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Jackson Galaxy: So a lot of what you see today was all inspired by that time, where it was figure something out, or this cat gets euthanized today.
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Jackson Galaxy: So it was pressure-filled work, but it got the job done, you know?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, so I agree with you, and I kind of like cats myself.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I think we've come a long way as an industry and as a world in doing better by cats and understanding cats a little more.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And my favorite thing about you is that I can watch you or I can read something you've written.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I agree with you.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And what does that say about me?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: That I like people that I can agree?
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Jackson Galaxy: I'm with you.
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Jackson Galaxy: But you know what's interesting is that I think that we have come an incredibly long way.
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Jackson Galaxy: I do think that we've got a long way to go.
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Jackson Galaxy: I think that from a public standpoint, from a shelter standpoint, even by and large from a veterinary standpoint, I think that there's a basic level of what it is that makes cats tick and what it is that they need in every home to make sure that they're happy.
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Jackson Galaxy: And listen, I feel like I'm always going to have a job, so that's great.
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Jackson Galaxy: But yeah, I do think that from the 25 years when I started in this to this moment, we have come a long way, but there's still work to be done for sure.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Absolutely.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I love your book, Total Cat Mojo, and here in my animal hospital, it actually is kind of required reading for my team because I need a crash course in how to understand cats.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so thank you for writing that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I really love it.
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Jackson Galaxy: You know what?
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Jackson Galaxy: That means a lot.
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Jackson Galaxy: Thank you for saying that, and that's why I wrote it.
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Jackson Galaxy: I wrote it for people first and foremost in my industry, and of course, by extension, the vet industry.
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Jackson Galaxy: It was really just to view things to hand out to people, just so they have an excuse not to know they're cats.
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Jackson Galaxy: And it'll help keep them away a lot of times from the shelter, from the vets, from me, if they just have that basic info.
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Jackson Galaxy: But it does mean a lot to hear it from somebody who does work in my world.
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Jackson Galaxy: So, thank you.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I like it.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: It's all in one place, and it sort of makes it easy.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, I'm glad you have some other exciting things.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Before we get to the actual meat of the matter that I wanted to talk with you about today, you have a tour going on, don't you?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: You are coming up.
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Jackson Galaxy: Yeah.
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Jackson Galaxy: Yeah, we have a 16-city tour coming up, and it's called Total Cat Mojo Live.
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Jackson Galaxy: And a lot of it is the stuff that's in the book.
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Jackson Galaxy: It's about trying to get that basic hook into what your cat's world is about, but it's also entertainment.
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Jackson Galaxy: It's not just me standing up on a stage doing a PowerPoint.
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Jackson Galaxy: It's a lot of moving around, animations, music, puppetry even.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, whatever that's going to turn this into a party is what I'm doing.
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Jackson Galaxy: So it's not what you expected.
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Jackson Galaxy: But yeah, 16 cities.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: That is awesome.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, you know what?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I think that every day in my interaction with clients, if I can make it fun and I can make it interesting, they're a lot more likely to listen to me.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I applaud you in your efforts there.
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Jackson Galaxy: Yeah, I'm telling you, I mean, as adults, we're not that far away from being kids.
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Jackson Galaxy: And if we can make it into a pop-up book and instead of a textbook, all the power to us, you know what I mean?
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Jackson Galaxy: I constructed Total Cat Mojo with a lot of pictures for me because I hate reading books.
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Jackson Galaxy: You know what I mean?
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Jackson Galaxy: I love to be entertained.
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Jackson Galaxy: I shouldn't say that as an author, but yeah.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, and some people learn differently.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So not everybody can read text and get the point, but if you throw in other things, I think you reach more people.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I want to reach a lot of people.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I have a lot of listeners here on Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat, and my goal is to educate people about things they might not have thought of about who Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat is and things in their home that might be good or might be bad.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And this particular show, I wanted to kind of touch on some winter things that we might need to know about Kat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So some things in our homes that maybe could be better or are of risk to our cats.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Any tips that you could maybe share with my listeners about winter time and holidays?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Can you come up with something?
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Jackson Galaxy: Well, there's a lot of stuff.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, first and foremost, I think one of the biggest things that we tend to forget about is cats and Christmas trees.
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Jackson Galaxy: And that is something that you got to think about.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, and I know this is a very unpopular view, but if you got a house full of cats, you might want to think about a fake tree because the attraction of the actual tree to a cat is kind of tough to avoid, you know?
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Jackson Galaxy: And I get a lot of complaints about trees winding up on the floor and delicate ornaments that are on the floor.
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Jackson Galaxy: And also it's dangerous for cats to drink the water that the trees are planted in.
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Jackson Galaxy: It's just a whole lot easier.
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Jackson Galaxy: But there's a lot of small things.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, and here's the thing, when it comes to Christmas, when it comes to decorations and flowers, and you know, all the things that make the holidays for you, if you have animals in your home, everything needs to be looked at under a microscope.
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Jackson Galaxy: It's like having babies in the house.
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Jackson Galaxy: You really have to think about all those things.
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Jackson Galaxy: So that's one of the most common things that I hear about.
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Jackson Galaxy: Beyond that, you know, it's having as much daylight coming into your home as possible is really a great thing for your cats, and by the way, for everybody else.
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Jackson Galaxy: But because the days are shorter, and cats thrive on following the sun around your home, they're like little sun dials, and because of the vitamin D they get from the sun, those shortened days can be made a lot better if you just keep the shades open, you make sure that you've got light coming in from all directions.
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Jackson Galaxy: And then finally, one other thing I can tell you is that cats, even though you're not going to find anything in textbooks or studies about this, I can tell you for sure that cats experience seasonal affective disorder as much as humans do.
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Jackson Galaxy: We are changing up their basic, the things that make them tick, the things that make them crepuscular, which is to say they're most active at dusk and dawn.
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Jackson Galaxy: We're changing up dusk and dawn.
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Jackson Galaxy: We're changing up the length of the days, and unless you really bear down on their daily rituals and you keep them active, you really up your level of play, you make sure you're feeding meals at certain times of the day, they're going to have the blues just as much as we did.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I'm so glad that you brought that up because in almost every show, I try to put a plug in for environmental enrichment for cats and play times, like scheduled kind of play time.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm really glad that you brought that up.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I would like for my listeners to maybe hear a little bit directly from you, from the Kat's mouth about how important it is about activity and enrichment.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, I think the first thing you hit on, Dr.
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Jackson Galaxy: Kat, was the importance of what I call the three Rs, and that is routine ritual rhythm, that you build a day for your animals very similar to yours.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, our days, we don't live in anarchy.
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Jackson Galaxy: We wake up, we do our thing, which is maybe we wake up, we shower, we drink our coffee, we eat a little bit of something, we get the house ready to go, we get dressed, we leave.
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Jackson Galaxy: And that level of predictable every day bang that happens to us, and then the lulls that happen during the day, and then up again, then down again, we have a rhythm to our day, and our animals need that same rhythm.
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Jackson Galaxy: So when we're talking about meal times, which I think is crucial to sort of end the epidemic of free feeding, and also play time that leads in to meal time, these are really important things for your cats.
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Jackson Galaxy: What I say over and over, like a broken record, if you have a dog, you have a collar and a leash, and you take them out for a walk, you do it every day, they expect it.
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Jackson Galaxy: The same goes for interactive play for cats.
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Jackson Galaxy: It's not a luxury, it's a necessity.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Oh, I'm so glad you agree with me again.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm all about the meal times because I think that it is not natural for cats to have somebody just set a plate in front of them with their meal right there.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So yes, I love that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Yay.
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Jackson Galaxy: Yeah, I mean, listen, one of the things about having cats do for you the things that you might want them to do, good luck if you're free feeding them.
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Jackson Galaxy: Cats aren't going to do anything unless they're motivated to do so, and food motivates them.
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Jackson Galaxy: And more so than with dogs who are genetically engineered at this point to please us, you know, to look for guidance and direction.
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Jackson Galaxy: Cats don't have that built in to them.
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Jackson Galaxy: So you're constantly leaving out food, having those automatic feeders, thinking that it's okay to do that is just wrong.
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Jackson Galaxy: And on so many levels, I mean, we need to structure our day around when we need nutrition.
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Jackson Galaxy: We burn that nutrition, we need more.
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Jackson Galaxy: Cats are no different.
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Jackson Galaxy: And to just mess that up by letting them graze like that really does harm them on a bunch of different levels.
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Jackson Galaxy: And of course, from your perspective also, I mean, I don't think it's any coincidence that we're dealing with a diabetes epidemic in cats.
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Jackson Galaxy: And part of that is because we're making them fat.
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Jackson Galaxy: You know, we're just feeding them constantly, and they're just not built to do that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I agree with you.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I tell people all the time, boredom eating is a thing.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: It's a thing for me.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: It's a thing for everybody, and it's a thing for your cat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So they need to kind of work for their food.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: It's more natural for them.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I know that you agree with that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm excited to highlight that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I actually, back to what you said about Christmas trees and Christmas ornaments, I've actually had to remove a Christmas ornament from a cat's intestinal tract before.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I didn't know it was a Christmas ornament until it came out and we cleaned it off and we were able to tell what it is.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So you're right.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: If you have cats, it changes what you can have at Christmas.
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Jackson Galaxy: And just think about every aspect of it, even the ribbons that you you hang from the trees, or maybe you even hang your ornaments from those ribbons.
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Jackson Galaxy: I'm sure you've dug plenty of those out of intestinal tracks before.
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Jackson Galaxy: It really does come down to everything in your home, just like you would child proof.
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Jackson Galaxy: You got a cat proof.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I think people forget all the electrical cords that Christmas things come with and the extension cords and stuff.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: That's pretty enticing to cats too.
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Jackson Galaxy: And very easy to take care of.
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Jackson Galaxy: I mean, there are a few very simple things that you can do.
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Jackson Galaxy: Just go on Amazon right now.
00:13:19.289 --> 00:13:21.249
Jackson Galaxy: There are wire covers.
00:13:21.249 --> 00:13:24.689
Jackson Galaxy: There are hard plastic covers that you just run your cords through.
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Jackson Galaxy: Boom, you're done.
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Jackson Galaxy: And on top of that, if they're still trying to chew at it, spray bitter apple on top of it.
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Jackson Galaxy: There are little gauze tapes that you can get that you wrap your wires in that are bad tasting and will keep your cat away.
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Jackson Galaxy: There's a lot of things that you can do that are not a lot of work, but it's a lot more work to take them to the emergency room.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Right.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I think it's all about finding alternatives and finding little things to make this easy.
00:13:49.929 --> 00:13:52.929
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So you can enjoy the holiday, but so can your cat.
00:13:52.929 --> 00:13:53.789
Jackson Galaxy: Absolutely.
00:13:53.789 --> 00:14:02.269
Jackson Galaxy: You know, I mean, it's incredible how many things, if you really take a critical eye to it, how many things can hurt your cat around holiday setups.
00:14:02.269 --> 00:14:04.009
Jackson Galaxy: It's really, it's incredible.
00:14:04.009 --> 00:14:06.689
Jackson Galaxy: I mean, we haven't even talked about the pine needles.
00:14:06.689 --> 00:14:08.149
Jackson Galaxy: I mean, those little needles.
00:14:08.149 --> 00:14:11.189
Jackson Galaxy: I've got a three month old kitten in this house, four month old kitten.
00:14:11.189 --> 00:14:18.689
Jackson Galaxy: He wants to put everything in his mouth, everything, including my dog's snout, which I have to sort of bring him out of.
00:14:19.689 --> 00:14:22.549
Jackson Galaxy: But I mean, pine needles are weapons.
00:14:22.549 --> 00:14:24.449
Jackson Galaxy: They're dangerous in the mouth of a kitten.
00:14:24.449 --> 00:14:25.629
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Let's take a quick break.
00:14:25.629 --> 00:14:27.069
Dr. Kathryn Primm: We'll be right back.
00:14:29.449 --> 00:14:32.449
Announcer: >Pet Greens is proud to support Nine Lives with Dr.
00:14:32.449 --> 00:14:34.449
Announcer: >Kat on PetLife Radio.
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00:15:42.109 --> 00:15:55.969
Announcer: PetLifeRadio.com PetLifeRadio.com PetLifeRadio.com
00:15:55.969 --> 00:15:56.229
Announcer: Back to 9 lives with Dr. Kat.
00:15:56.540 --> 00:15:59.060
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm here with Jackson Galaxy.
00:15:59.060 --> 00:16:09.480
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I think something I hear a lot every holiday season is cats that get out through open doorways with guests coming in and out carrying boxes and that kind of stuff.
00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:12.900
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I would like to alert everybody to watch out for that.
00:16:12.900 --> 00:16:13.860
Jackson Galaxy: Yeah, absolutely.
00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:20.140
Jackson Galaxy: I mean, if you're having a party for more than a couple of reasons, I mean, don't forget, cats are not dogs.
00:16:20.140 --> 00:16:25.480
Jackson Galaxy: They're not built by and large to be these incredible social party animals.
00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:29.420
Jackson Galaxy: Having a whole bunch of people invade their territory usually causes stress.
00:16:29.420 --> 00:16:31.140
Jackson Galaxy: So why not do them a favor?
00:16:31.140 --> 00:16:38.660
Jackson Galaxy: Put them in their base camp, put them in the bedroom, give them all their really important things in the bedroom just for those few hours.
00:16:38.660 --> 00:16:45.920
Jackson Galaxy: When you have people coming in and out, it's very hard to keep an eye on your cat while you're keeping an eye on your guests at the same time.
00:16:45.920 --> 00:16:51.000
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I think that that is a really important point that you make with all of your things, and I try to make a lot.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:58.200
Dr. Kathryn Primm: But your cat is not a small dog, so try to see the world the way your cat might, not the way you would.
00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:00.020
Dr. Kathryn Primm: I think that's an important message.
00:17:00.020 --> 00:17:12.420
Jackson Galaxy: Yeah, I mean, if you take a look at Total Cat Mojo, one of the major departure points from the entire book is the problem that we have as a culture of looking at cats through dog-colored glasses.
00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:21.580
Jackson Galaxy: Not only do we look at them thinking they have the same needs, both nutritionally and behaviorally, but it doesn't do them any favors.
00:17:21.580 --> 00:17:25.680
Jackson Galaxy: We get disappointed in them because they don't seek approval from us.
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.420
Jackson Galaxy: We want them to act and react like dogs.
00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:33.800
Jackson Galaxy: We think that the wagging of their tail means they're happy, which is of course the opposite.
00:17:33.800 --> 00:17:38.720
Jackson Galaxy: We think that when they roll over on their back, they're inviting us to rub their bellies, which of course they're not doing.
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.440
Jackson Galaxy: We have to see them in their own very unique light.
00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:47.180
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Yeah, I don't really know a cat that would roll over and let me rub its belly and like it.
00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:50.440
Jackson Galaxy: Oh, hey, you should enter my world for a day.
00:17:50.440 --> 00:18:03.380
Jackson Galaxy: I get if I say anything, like literally anything, if I look on Facebook about an hour later, there's at least 10 people who are like, well, you're completely wrong because my cat loves belly rubs, wads his tail when he's happy, you know, acts like a dog.
00:18:03.380 --> 00:18:04.720
Jackson Galaxy: I mean, I get that all the time.
00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:08.620
Jackson Galaxy: So that's why I always say generally or by and large or, you know.
00:18:08.620 --> 00:18:15.060
Dr. Kathryn Primm: We can create some controversy maybe, but yeah, most cats don't want me as their veterinarian touching their belly.
00:18:15.060 --> 00:18:18.380
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I can honestly say that and not be wrong.
00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:19.900
Jackson Galaxy: Especially as a stranger, man.
00:18:19.900 --> 00:18:25.240
Jackson Galaxy: If I walked into somebody's home, and not only that, it's an insult to the cat.
00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:36.380
Jackson Galaxy: It's like if a total stranger walked up to you and just sort of, you know, pinched your cheek or messed up your hair or something like that, did something that was incredibly intimate, you know.
00:18:36.380 --> 00:18:38.060
Jackson Galaxy: It's not okay.
00:18:38.060 --> 00:18:40.660
Jackson Galaxy: And by the way, same thing goes for dogs.
00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:48.120
Jackson Galaxy: You go in, you crowd their space, you know, you go for the big cat, you're going to ask for trouble, and then you're going to get mad at them.
00:18:48.120 --> 00:18:53.380
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, so you may know already that I am the nation's first Fearfree Certified Professional.
00:18:53.380 --> 00:18:57.480
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I have all this extra other behavior training.
00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:04.680
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so I spend my days teaching pet owners that the body language they're seeing may not mean what they think it means.
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:08.820
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm so glad that I have your voice to help echo what I'm teaching.
00:19:08.820 --> 00:19:09.600
Jackson Galaxy: Good.
00:19:09.600 --> 00:19:15.580
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Okay, so I want to tell you about something really cool that I have discovered, and it's called Pretty Litter Cat Litter.
00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:23.740
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Now, you might think that cat litter is not really something to get excited about, but I'm a veterinarian, so gross things tend to excite me.
00:19:23.740 --> 00:19:37.740
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Now, the cool thing about Pretty Litter, though, is that it has a built-in health monitoring system, so it changes colors and kind of helps you keep tabs on your cat's urinary health so that you know when it's time to call your own veterinarian.
00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:41.260
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Other things about it that are super cool is that it's lightweight.
00:19:41.260 --> 00:19:46.800
Dr. Kathryn Primm: The whole entire bag only weighs four pounds, and it lasts for an entire month for one cat.
00:19:46.800 --> 00:19:53.200
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, no more dragging these 20 or 30 pound bags of cat litter and buying them every time you're at the store.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.720
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Pretty Litter is delivered straight to your door every month with free shipping.
00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:03.080
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, it's pretty convenient, it helps keep your cat healthy, and it's easy for you to carry around.
00:20:03.080 --> 00:20:16.280
Dr. Kathryn Primm: The best part about Pretty Litter, though, is if you go to prettylittercats.com and you enter the code 9LIVES, N-I-N-E-L-I-V-E-S, you can get 20% off of your first subscription order.
00:20:16.280 --> 00:20:18.900
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So go and give it a try and tell me what you think.
00:20:18.900 --> 00:20:27.440
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Okay, so there is another part of winter that I know is kind of close to your heart, and that is the feral cats.
00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:37.460
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I was wondering if you could kind of share with my listeners some ways that we might could make winter a little bit better for those wild cat populations out there.
00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:39.960
Jackson Galaxy: Well, I mean, I think, you know, thanks for bringing that up.
00:20:40.120 --> 00:20:45.940
Jackson Galaxy: And yes, the world of community cats is something that I'm pretty deeply involved in.
00:20:45.940 --> 00:20:57.360
Jackson Galaxy: And as a matter of fact, we just aired the season finale of My Cat from Hell, where we went into Philadelphia and spent a large amount of time trying to help educate and help the community cats of Philly.
00:20:57.360 --> 00:21:08.340
Jackson Galaxy: And that really opened a lot of people's eyes to the cats that in your neighborhood might be completely invisible, but they're there in every city, in every town, in the world.
00:21:08.620 --> 00:21:13.620
Jackson Galaxy: We have feral cats and they deserve our love and our attention and our protection.
00:21:13.620 --> 00:21:21.500
Jackson Galaxy: And really, the number one thing you can do, whatever the season is, is to embrace what we call TNR, Trap, Neuter, Return.
00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:30.160
Jackson Galaxy: Basically, there are groups in every city that go out there, trap these cats, neuter them, put them back out to their colonies so they don't reproduce.
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:43.440
Jackson Galaxy: But then we also owe it to them to maintain those colonies, to keep an eye out for them, to see if there's goopy eyes out there, or drooly mouths because their teeth are so bad, so that we trap them again and get them to the vet.
00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:51.980
Jackson Galaxy: But in the winter time, and of course, depending on where you live, but in cold weather, it's very simple to build them little houses.
00:21:51.980 --> 00:22:04.500
Jackson Galaxy: And those houses consist basically of those rubber made, the containers that sort of coolers that you can cut a hole out of, you can line it with styrofoam, put some straw in there to keep them warm.
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:16.140
Jackson Galaxy: And that's where you put the food in, and they can stay warm all winter long, because it can be really brutal at a lot of places, and you can't assume that those cats can stay warm.
00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:18.500
Jackson Galaxy: And we found that out the hard way before.
00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.260
Jackson Galaxy: So those houses are a real easy way to do it.
00:22:21.260 --> 00:22:25.460
Jackson Galaxy: You can find out how to build those houses at places like alleycatallies.com.
00:22:26.600 --> 00:22:31.440
Jackson Galaxy: My good friend, Hannah Shaw, the kitten lady has a tutorial on her website how to deal with that.
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:32.940
Jackson Galaxy: So there's a lot of places to learn.
00:22:33.020 --> 00:22:37.640
Jackson Galaxy: It's very simple, and you can do a huge favor for your community cats.
00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:42.120
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I think the cats are out there because of people, and so we owe it to them.
00:22:42.120 --> 00:22:42.300
Jackson Galaxy: Right.
00:22:42.300 --> 00:22:43.820
Jackson Galaxy: That's the problem.
00:22:43.820 --> 00:22:44.340
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Yeah.
00:22:44.340 --> 00:22:46.460
Jackson Galaxy: So there are throwaways.
00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:46.820
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Yeah.
00:22:46.820 --> 00:22:47.760
Dr. Kathryn Primm: It's our problem.
00:22:47.760 --> 00:22:49.680
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so if we can make it a little bit better.
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:53.240
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So that's a great idea in an economical and easy way.
00:22:53.240 --> 00:23:06.640
Dr. Kathryn Primm: I appreciate you sharing ways to find out a little bit more about that too, because I would love for all my listeners to make that sort of a wintertime project to provide shelter for some of our feral cats out there.
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:11.340
Jackson Galaxy: Yeah, I think that really it's just, it's a simple question that we need to ask ourselves.
00:23:11.340 --> 00:23:16.000
Jackson Galaxy: Is our love for cats dependent on the walls within where they live?
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:22.480
Jackson Galaxy: Meaning you've got a cat probably right outside your home that lives in the street under your car.
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:28.460
Jackson Galaxy: And just because they're out there, it's still your community which makes them your cats, and they deserve your love.
00:23:28.460 --> 00:23:29.300
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, amen.
00:23:29.300 --> 00:23:30.000
Dr. Kathryn Primm: That's wonderful.
00:23:30.460 --> 00:23:33.480
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, this has been so awesome to talk with you today.
00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:37.740
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, possum to talk with you today, and I really appreciate your time.
00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:39.760
Dr. Kathryn Primm: I'm pretty excited about your tour.
00:23:39.760 --> 00:23:49.960
Dr. Kathryn Primm: I encourage all of my listeners to go to jacksongalaxy.com to see if he's gonna be in a city near you because it sounds pretty awesome.
00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:51.340
Jackson Galaxy: Thank you so much for saying that.
00:23:51.340 --> 00:23:53.240
Jackson Galaxy: And yeah, folks, I would get on it.
00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:55.460
Jackson Galaxy: A lot of cities are actually sold out at the moment.
00:23:55.460 --> 00:23:59.000
Jackson Galaxy: We also have sort of VIP meet and greets before the show.
00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:00.660
Jackson Galaxy: Those are selling pretty quickly too.
00:24:00.660 --> 00:24:03.640
Jackson Galaxy: So yeah, get on the website and get your tickets.
00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:04.840
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, that is excellent.
00:24:04.840 --> 00:24:17.040
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I would love to thank all of my devoted listeners because this particular show was just named to the top 10 podcasts about cats by petslovebest.com.
00:24:17.040 --> 00:24:20.640
Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I was really pretty psyched to get that reward.
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:33.840
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I'd like to thank our awesome producer, Mark Winter, and most especially Jackson Galaxy for taking time out to educate us about some winter time safety tips and cat loving tips today.
00:24:33.840 --> 00:24:35.640
Dr. Kathryn Primm: Thank you so much, Jackson.
00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:36.820
Jackson Galaxy: You're very welcome, Dr.
00:24:36.820 --> 00:24:37.780
Jackson Galaxy: Kat, anytime.
00:24:37.780 --> 00:24:46.800
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And if you listeners would like to find me, of course I am out there on Facebook, Kathryn Primm, DVM, and a lot of other social media.
00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:52.720
Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I want you guys to all go out and have a perfect day.
00:24:52.780 --> 00:24:57.800
Announcer: Let's Talk Pets, every week on demand, only on petliferadio.com.
