so how many videos do I have where I'm telling you what to do do this for your cat you really if you love your cat do this if you really love your cat do this now of course I don't expect you to do all of those things but today's video is the seven things not to do to your cat and I would say out of these seven don't do all seven does that make sense to you fine if it doesn't rewind then do it again out of these seven don't do all seven let's get right into it at number seven [Music] oh don't feed your cat milk I mean this is one of those historical things that you always see a cat with a saucer of milk and cats drinking milk here and there you know it's that the farmer giving his cat the fresh bowl of cream it's not cool cats are by and large completely lactose intolerant in fact I can't even count how many homes I've been into where they say my cat has the worst poops ever and as we start to narrow down what the factors could be it was milk yeah your cat made just absolutely love or crave milk or ice cream whipped cream whatever they do crave that really high fat content but that doesn't mean that it's going to love them back in fact it's probably going to do the opposite so if you love your cat don't feed the milk what not to do to your cat number six don't skip annual vet visits now I get it a lot of people do not bring their cats to annual vet visits in fact just a fraction of people who have dogs versus cats I mean dogs go to the vet a whole lot more often than cats and a big reason behind that is it makes cats a lot more miserable they hate going into their their cat carrier which by the way they don't have to hate it watch this video to find out more but they just make a much bigger deal out of it by and large and so we go I'm not going to put my cat through it please don't do that take your cats to their to their annual vet visits cats can experience very rapid physical changes especially as they get older you know past the age of seven eight up until that point you just want to make sure that you're on top of those changes and even if just to find out what's the tartar deal here how are my cat's teeth do they need to have a dental do they need to have teeth removed these are things that are crucially important as much as you would bring your children to the doctor every year just to make sure that they're okay you really need to do that for your cat as well so don't skip out even if it doesn't make them all that happy we all have bad days so there are things on this countdown that are going to make you go really you know like the milk thing oh really well get ready for this one number five don't dress your cat up please don't dress your cat if I know it's cute I know like you know putting your cat in a taco costume just for Halloween is adorable or putting those little melon hats on them although I never really understood that one either yeah I'll even look at something sometimes and go oh that's kind of cute but no don't do it one of the major reasons are that and I'm going to say most cats really don't enjoy it there is this foreign pressure that's going on around their body and cats fur and the whiskers that really are all over their body not just coming out of here are highly sensitive and there's so much of their body that's built on that sensitivity and and to just cloak them in something uh is just not physically pleasurable to them in any way if your cat had a vote do you think that your cat would love that taco get up and I know there's plenty of you going well my cat feels awfully Regal in their bow tie or and their top hat and when they look like Mr Monopoly well maybe your cat does love to look like Fred Astaire or whatever more often than not they don't number four on the what not to do to your cat Hit Parade is Don't Force interactions with cats I mean no matter how much you want to no matter how cute Chester is sitting there just with that cute little nose and maybe he's even doing a little blip and you're just like oh I gotta squeeze that face don't do it cats are very much about their personal bubble and if you go up to them when they don't want it and you continue to do that and you're like I want you to sit in my lap cat then you're making that that that Association they have with you just less valuable forced interaction also means petting if your cat really isn't all that into just all that petting and you'll know because they get over stimulated they'll run away their tail will wag or maybe they'll even give you a little Chomp and yet you still do it because you like to pet your cat you got to know the individual cat and if they are just like three pets and I'm out respect it don't force it because again all that means is that you'll have a really nice time with them but they'll hate it cats really are about coming to you I know people hate to hear about all this yeah of course you can bribe your cat and say hey you want to come sit in my lap here's a treat and they come and sit in your lap that's fine but the whole forcing think about it this way you know you've got that friend who comes into your house and that friend is all about like I'm a cat person and cats love me in fact people tend to call me the Cat Whisperer hey Chester come on over to me and they go there and they force that pick up and put down whatever you think the Chester likes that person no I don't think Chester likes that person Chester would love that person even more if they sat there and they waited for Chester to come up and rub against them and maybe now we give them a little treat now that person is like the cat's Santa Claus so don't force interactions with your cats as badly as you want to let it be sort of a mutual decision now in the middle of this list of all the things you shouldn't do there is something that you should do which is subscribe to this channel it really helps us to make more content believe it or not and a lot of you who think that you're subscribed you're actually not so join the party subscribe to the channel make sure you hit the Bell so you know when I'm going live and when new videos are coming out and give us a like why not number three don't punish your cat and I mean ever and by punishment there are a bunch of things that I'm going to lump in here but they are all straight up destructive to your relationship without any upside whatsoever you may think that punishment will get you somewhere in terms of having your cat not repeat a behavior no no no so let's first start with the squirt bottle do not squirt your cat with water sure you think after a while if they go up to the couch and you're sitting over here and they start scratching you go hey and you squirt all they are knowing is the presence of that thing sure it means water it also means what's attached to the squirt bottle so now it's every time you pick it up they run away that's about you that's not about the squirt bottle and by the way it stops working you think that your cat isn't scratching that couch when you're out of the room that means that the squirt bottle is not doing anything and speaking of that yelling at your cat when they're doing something that doesn't work either again it comes from you it's your voice the same voice that says oh Chester I love you and no Chester don't do that now again if it's scratching the couch maybe it gets him away from the couch for a minute every other minute of the day when you are not in the room he's going to scratch the couch so what have you gotten out of that you've gotten fear and that's it and that's really what ties a lot of these together whether it's a little Pat on a butt or a spank or a flick on the nose or anything like that or whether you Chuck something at them that's never going to solve anything all it's going to do again is make your cat fearful of you here's the thing about if you're going to have any sort of behavior correction and I really do think that you want to focus on positive rather than negative but even if it's that little Air Canister that tells a cat don't come up on this couch it has to happen every time it has to happen with the same intensity it has to happen within about 2 seconds of the action or it's just not going to work so whether it is the spank the the water bottle the yell the the time out so to speak all of those things give you nothing but distrust and an erosion of your relationship with your cat and number two on the what not to do to your cat countdown again this is one of those things where you guys are going to be like really Jackson I mean come on really and that is don't do anything that your cat wouldn't want in order to make content I'm gonna let that sink in because you know we're on YouTube here and a bunch of other platforms and I don't care whether it's you know Tick Tock or or reels or or you know Facebook or whatever YouTube I I'm not being platform specific here whether it is dressing your cat up whether it is surprising them by putting a cucumber behind them whether it is running them under the bath just to see how cute they are when they're are wet you know all of these things that your cat if they had a vote would be like yeah I don't I don't I don't wanna making them do that in order to have the the potential of a viral video is just in my opinion an absolute abuse of the relationship that you have with this cat and if you catch them in a little sleepy position and you want to make that part of it or you catch them doing something fun go with it but please don't put them in a situation where they are not going to have a good time in order for you and your subscribers to have a good time and number one on the what never ever ever never not in a million years things to do to your cat [Music] don't declaw your cat period and now I know that there are a lot of people who are like yeah but if I don't declaw my cat I'm going to have to re-home them I have to have a declawed cat because Beyond I value my furniture and it's really expensive and I can't get them to stop scratching or I have a baby and I'm afraid my cat's gonna scratch my baby or even I'm immunocompromised or it doesn't matter there's always a way around the behavior always a way around the behavior without having to mutilate your cat and that's what declawing is it's straight up mutilation we are not just cutting back their claws what we're doing is de-knuckling them that's what it is I don't care what anybody tells you I don't care what your friendly neighborhood vet says right before they give you the deal hey I'll spay your cat and declaw them it's a deal don't do it there's a reason why over 27 countries in in the world have outlawed it there's a reason why we're making this effort to criminalize it in different cities and states around the U.S we're trying desperately to to pass this message along that it's not good for your cat and there's also the the argument that is patently ridiculous and disproven through statistics and studies which is well declawing your cat is a whole lot better than having to surrender them to the shelter no it's not basically what you're doing is you're you're doing a short-term solution there's a there's a real good probability you're going to have a longer term solution you're still going to give them to the shelter and those behavior problems are going to follow them through their lives I have seen cats and I've been doing this for a very long time and it's always been the case whether it is cats who refuse to use the litter box afterwards you're worried about them scratching well now you're going to have to deal with pee outside the litter box and you're dealing with a cat who once they've lost that preliminary line of defense which is their claws now they're going to bite much more more often much more readily so you're worried about for instance you have a toddler you're afraid of what's going to happen with those claws so you get them declawed now you're going to have a cat who's going to more readily bite so whether it's the pain that they go through whether it's just the the destruction of their natural cat Mojo whether it is problems that now will arise because of the quick fix that you went for none of it works and what I will tell you is there's a pathway through that will work behavioral techniques that I tell you about whether it's in my books or my videos I tell you about it all over the place you can get nail caps that you can put on your cat's nails you can just trim them every couple of weeks so those points aren't as bad as they were before if Chester is scratching on my beautiful little purple chair here well we can start with something like sticky Paws you put sticky Paws right here you have the wide ones and the narrow ones you put it against here every time he reaches up it's like uh you can get these on the Jackson Galaxy website along with the yes part of this which is a nice beefy scratching post that would go right next to my beautiful purple chair so we're saying no chest or not here but yes right over here there's ways through all of this none of it calls for a shortcut please do not declaw your cat so that's it everybody that is your top seven list of what not to do to your cats I'm sure that you've got plenty of additions to this so I would love to see them in the comments so let me know and also if you have any other ideas for videos let me know that as well I know that there are some things in this list that made you go yeah no never and there were some things like ah really you know whatever it is across the Spectrum here just know that everything that I've said is really just strictly for the love of your cats and that's why I'm here for the love of cats so join me next time until then all light all love all cat Mojo to you foreign [Music]