Total Cat Mojo: The Ultimate Guide to Life with Your Cat

by Jackson Galaxy

If you took the species part out from the equation and just saw your cat as another member of your family, you’d be left with relationship. At the core of this relationship are fundamental elements that dictate your ability to successfully navigate that relationship, like: Knowing—Likes and dislikes, fears, aversions, how their history dictates their present behavior. Listening—When they are soliciting something from you, whether it is affection, protection, or just your time, you bring your attention to them, even if there is nothing you can offer in that moment. Compromising—In any relationship you come to the realization that it isn’t all about you and your needs. You bend to others when in reality it’s the last thing you want to do. Vulnerability—The nature of the relational two-way street is remaining present with the other being, admitting you don’t know everything, admitting that you don’t control the outcome of each and every moment of that relationship. You don’t have ownership over others’ reactions, the way they handle the world around them. You can learn from others just as readily as they can learn from you. In other words, you dare to make yourself available to another, without relying on a safety net of your design and under your control. And of course, the magic ingredient in all of this is loving—a deep knowledge that your life together is better than your life apart, which makes you embrace all of the above conditions (even if you don’t always joyfully do...