A bit of cat wisdom and lots of talk about addictions. Would rather preferred more of the former and less of the latter. ( )

I read this after losing my girl Reno after 20 years. I related to Jackson's experience of loving his cat so deeply and wanting the best for them. I don't want to give away anything, but if you love cats I recommend this book. ( )

As with other books written with a co-author, the writing is not excellent. But the story is clear and well-told. Like many others, I am a fan of My Cat from Hell, the Animal Planet television show starring Jackson Galaxy. I knew from the first episode that this was The Guy. He gets cats completely. And he essentially learned by intuition. Yes, he read a lot of books while working with cats in a Boulder humane society, but he didn't swallow everything he read. He tested it against his own intuition, which became stronger the more he observed cats.

But I'm jumping a little ahead here. The story is primarily a biography of Galaxy as he wends his way from a somewhat heady existence as a drug-abusing musician to a sober cat behaviorist. He lays it all bare here, and I'd be surprised of there are many who can't relate to some of his addiction stories. In between the confessions about his personal life he talks about how he learned Cat, and especially about his relationship with a kitten that he fostered, then adopted - Benny. Clearly Benny was the original Cat from Hell. Galaxy says he learned it all from him, or almost all. He had to learn to set his ego aside and watch and listen, and not go in with preconceived notions. This approach has served him well over the years that he has worked as an in-home consultant, working with cats with behavior problems.

He actually works more with the cat guardians, although he actually has trained some cats using a clicker. Many guardians do not know what cats need, or what their particular cat needs. Some Guardians need to learn how to hold a cat and when it's okay to do so.

Ultimately, this is a success story. We don't learn about when Animal Planet contacted Galaxy (or if it was the other way around) but we do learn how he got to be the behaviorist he is, without benefit of degrees. And we learn how he learned to be vulnerable, perhaps the biggest step of all in his ability to reach out to cats. In some parts this is a highly moving book, certainly it is a remarkable story. ANd it has many cat tips besides! Such a bonus! I am keeping it in my permanent collection, for reference. ( )

Jackson Galaxy, star of Animal Planet's My Cat From Hell, is an unlikely cat behaviorist; he looks like a biker gang member, and begins his story as a down-and-out rock musician with a drug problem. But during that period, he got a job at an animal shelter, to keep money coming in while leaving his mind free to write songs, and he unexpectedly connected, with the animals and with the work.

Galaxy tells his story, starting in Boulder, Colorado at what was undoubtedly an extremely low point in his life, with energy, unflinching honesty, and even humor. A big part of that story is a little grey-and-white shorthair cat named Benny, who comes into his life with a broken pelvis and labeled "unbondable" by his surrendering owner. Benny is his first experience in fostering, a formative experience in learning to understand and communicate with cats on their terms, and, of course, his first experience with what many people in animal rescue call "foster failure," i.e., the foster parent winds up adopting the foster pet. (Galaxy himself doesn't use that term in telling his story.)

In a relatively short book, there's a lot here about cat behavior, understanding your cat, and making life better for both of you. There's also a lot about simply learning to be a human being, about embracing life rather than shutting oneself off to avoid pain, learning to take responsibility for one's own choices, and at the same time letting go, not just recognizing but accepting that you can't control the world or the choices of others in it, and that's okay.

Galaxy reads his own book, and does so in a clear, expressive, compelling voice.

Recommended.

I bought this book. ( )

I have only seen a couple of episodes of Jackson Galaxy's show and it's been a long time, but I was curious to know more about him. I found the tips on cat-raising in the sidebars to be good, and if I ever get another cat or two, I'll definitely use them. I had to put a cat to sleep recently, so I felt his pain when he had to have Benny put down. ( )