Cats, no matter how aggressive and naughty they are, mean the world to Jackson Galaxy, a cat behaviorist better known as the Cat Daddy.

Jackson Galaxy, the host of reality television series My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet, has been dealing with troubled cats for more than 20 years in the US, home to some 96 million cats.

“There are always human factors that cause cat’s problems in almost all the cases I have worked,” Galaxy said in Jakarta when promoting his series’ latest season.

The series, aired on the network since May 2011, centers on Galaxy’s effort to help people who cannot live in peace with their cats by teaching the cat owners to communicate and compromise with their pets better.

Carrying a guitar case filled with cat toys, the Cat Daddy looks more like a rock star in the series, which has entered its sixth season. It is aired every Wednesday at 9 p.m.

In real life, he usually visits the house of his client’s cat three times and each visit lasts up to 12 hours. The problems that he finds range from bad sanitation and violence to a cat owner’s limited knowledge.

He recalled that once his client was a stressful woman whose cat refused to litter in its box and did it everywhere in her house.

“If this case happens, the first thing I always advise to my clients to do is bring their cats to veterinarians immediately. Maybe the cats are sick,” Galaxy said.

He also advised cat owners to observe changes happening in their houses, such as the presence of new pets that may drive their cats to leave their litter boxes.

Not all of the cases he has taken care of were hard ones, but in most cases he was bombarded with simple questions, such as why their cats refused to eat dry food bought at pet shop. “Refusing to eat is the cat’s way of telling their owners they do not like the dry food. I then ask them to provide wet foods,” Galaxy said.

As a Cat Daddy, he is used to facing aggressive and even vicious cats. Once, he was attacked by a cat at the house of his first client. The owner had warned him that his cat was aggressive and when Galaxy saw it in the house’s stairway, it suddenly jumped at his face.

“While the cat was screaming, I was just running around to release him from my face. I was bleeding. When she [the owner] came, she was shocked,” he recalled the experience that he called as the worst in his career as a cat behaviorist.

A. Kurniawan Ulung

Born 49 years ago as Richard Kirschner, Galaxy never dreamed of being a cat behaviorist. “I always wanted to be a rock star. Music is a joy for me and it is my passion,” he said.

He loves writing songs and has played guitar since he was 10. As a guitarist, he had even joined some 15 bands. Back at home, he has five guitars that he plays during his leisure time.

“Jackson is actually the name of my guitar,” he said, adding that the name of Galaxy just came to him when he was composing a music album at a studio.

However, after getting a degree in theater from Iowa University in 1991, he decided to work at an animal shelter, the Humane Society of Boulder Valley in Colorado instead of pursuing a career in music.

He said he worked at the shelter for nine years, training hundreds of cats at the same time on a daily basis.

“I worked there because I wanted all cats to have homes and stay in there instead of roaming the streets,” Galaxy said, adding that it is the same reason that motivates him until today and drives him to continue hosting My Cat From Hell.

In 2002, he founded Little Big Cat, in which he provided private consultations to cat owners to help them connect with their pets.

Five years later, Galaxy moved to Los Angeles to develop his business and he met Animal Planet. They then took the initiative to make a TV program about cats. “Cat always has an audience. I am very lucky as my show is the first,” he said.

In the US, a country of 319 million people, approximately 37 percent of households have a cat, according to the American Pets Product Association.

Galaxy said his series often remind him of Rabbi, the first cat he took under his care.  

“In 1990, I found a 6-week-old kitten sitting at the door, looking at me. So I took him,” said Galaxy, who grew up with dogs in his hometown at the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Right now, Galaxy said he has five cats and two dogs at home.

He disagreed with some people who said a dog is a better pet than a cat, saying that cats’ behaviors could be easily misinterpreted since they were not easy to recognize. “When dogs say ‘I love you,’ we know what they look like, but when cats say so, we don’t know what they look like. That’s why I am here to teach you.”

He said dogs and cats should not be compared with one another.

“I am so lucky for having cats and dogs. They complement each other beautifully,” Galaxy said.

Courtesy Of Animal Planet

Cats, no matter how aggressive and naughty they are, mean the world to Jackson Galaxy, a cat behaviorist better known as the Cat Daddy.

Jackson Galaxy, the host of reality television series My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet, has been dealing with troubled cats for more than 20 years in the US, home to some 96 million cats.

'€œThere are always human factors that cause cat'€™s problems in almost all the cases I have worked,'€ Galaxy said in Jakarta when promoting his series'€™ latest season.

The series, aired on the network since May 2011, centers on Galaxy'€™s effort to help people who cannot live in peace with their cats by teaching the cat owners to communicate and compromise with their pets better.

Carrying a guitar case filled with cat toys, the Cat Daddy looks more like a rock star in the series, which has entered its sixth season. It is aired every Wednesday at 9 p.m.

In real life, he usually visits the house of his client'€™s cat three times and each visit lasts up to 12 hours. The problems that he finds range from bad sanitation and violence to a cat owner'€™s limited knowledge.

He recalled that once his client was a stressful woman whose cat refused to litter in its box and did it everywhere in her house.

'€œIf this case happens, the first thing I always advise to my clients to do is bring their cats to veterinarians immediately. Maybe the cats are sick,'€ Galaxy said.

He also advised cat owners to observe changes happening in their houses, such as the presence of new pets that may drive their cats to leave their litter boxes.

Not all of the cases he has taken care of were hard ones, but in most cases he was bombarded with simple questions, such as why their cats refused to eat dry food bought at pet shop. '€œRefusing to eat is the cat'€™s way of telling their owners they do not like the dry food. I then ask them to provide wet foods,'€ Galaxy said.

As a Cat Daddy, he is used to facing aggressive and even vicious cats. Once, he was attacked by a cat at the house of his first client. The owner had warned him that his cat was aggressive and when Galaxy saw it in the house'€™s stairway, it suddenly jumped at his face.

'€œWhile the cat was screaming, I was just running around to release him from my face. I was bleeding. When she [the owner] came, she was shocked,'€ he recalled the experience that he called as the worst in his career as a cat behaviorist.