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

by Jackson Galaxy

If you want to know how you can sleep through the night, this ritual is IT. It’s all about getting your cat on the rhythm of your household. The Steps: First, Stop Free Feeding: See “Feeding for Mojo” (page 91). Feed in conjunction with play. If you go to bed at 11:00, feed your last meal at around 9:30. Right before that last meal, engage in HCK. Bring your cat to a boil (see “Boil and Simmer,” page” 88), get him pooped out, then go for that second wind; now it will take less time for him to get completely worn out. Then he eats, grooms, and sleeps, and then you go to sleep. Match Their Energy with Yours: Keep them active when the family is active. Again, it’s all about the Three Rs. The Hard Part: It’s 3:00 a.m., and your cat is waking you up. Your cat should be down for the count, but she is not. This is tough, but you have to IGNORE HER. COMPLETELY. You definitely don’t get up, feed, play, get up and go to the bathroom, etc. But completely means don’t say her name, don’t chuck a pillow—play dead. Yes, it will absolutely suck—but any attention whatsoever, negative or positive, is the payoff for her. If you tell her through your inaction night after night that nothing will happen after that behavior, she WILL stop. It might be tough for ten days to two weeks. But then you’ll be good.

plastic bags, might be attractive to your cat because they are rendered with animal fat.

A cat who is licking all over is usually itchy. A cat who is licking in one particular area is more likely to be experiencing pain. For example, some cats with painful bladders will lick their bellies raw.

Thou Shalt Not Camouflage the King of Scent Soakers I only recommend unscented litter, with no deodorizers in the litter, and no air fresheners right next to the box. Same thing goes for other forms of camouflaging—that is, disguising your box as a potted plant, etc.

Nothing can fray your nerves faster than dealing in the moment with an ongoing litterbox issue. No matter how bad it gets, however, it’s so important in those moments to step away from the cat! Remember, all you are doing is ramping up the anxiety, trying to punish when they have absolutely no idea why, all the while doing things in the name of “training” or “teaching a lesson.” So remember: Do not pick up your cat and carry him to the litterbox. Do not rub his nose into his pee or poop. Do not put your cat into a time-out because she peed outside the box. Do not lock her in the bathroom with a litterbox and a dish for the next three days (or God forbid, three months). Do not yell at her. Your cat will have zero idea, after about two seconds post-accident, why you are acting the way you are or doing to them what you are doing (or, through your “discipline,” what lesson you are trying to teach). Literally, all you can do during this process is collect the data, clean up the mess, and move on. Armed with just a few frames of the movie, you’re in no position to assess and in even less of a position to act upon what you see. Besides that, as we discussed in chapter 9, punishment just doesn’t work, so just don’t do it.

Thinking that you have control over the outcome of any relationship will absolutely destroy it. Stay humble to, and remain a student of, the relationship itself. That was the hardest lesson I had to learn in the past, and the source of the most joy in my present.