Jackson Galaxy to help 911 cat

Lux, now well known on the internet, is an Oregan cat who trapped his human family and the dog in their bedroom after an aggressive incident caused the cat to respond with aggression. The family famously called 911 to have someone come and calm down the cat. Sadly, the family initially chose to turn Lux over to a local shelter, but has since decided to bring him back into their home. Luckily, Jackson Galaxy, famed cat behaviourist, is heading up to Oregon to meet the cat and try and get to the bottom of this ordeal.

In a great article by the Washington Post, Galaxy says that there is no one way to deal with a stressed or threatened cat, but offers excellent advice of where to start when dealing with a situation like this.

1. Don't leave a child unsupervised with a cat.
    
2. Take your cat to the vet once a year, and look for suspicious behaviour.
    
3. Have a space where your cat can always escape to. The higher the better.
    
4. Give your cat a timeout by letting them be alone in a comfortable spot where they can feel safe.
    
5. Use pieces of cardboard to separate fighting cats. This will give them a visual break and ease tension.

Galaxy asks all cat owners to take a step back and "don't set the cat up for failure" when trying to deal with problems like this. Cats have different needs in stressful situations, and that has to be a consideration when dealing with cats who seem to "terrorize" their families.

via The Washington Post