An evening with Jackson Galaxy

Blessed Sunday all! As you know, we had tickets to go see the Cat Behaviorist from the Animal Planet TV series, "My Cat From Hell" last night at The Santander Arena & Performing Arts Center in Reading, PA. During the show, he had announced to us all that his series just recently finished taping their 9th season and some of the episodes were actually shot in Philadelphia. How cool is THAT?

Anyway, the show was scheduled to begin at 7:30PM, but there was a dinner served at The Mezz which was also located in the building from 6:00 to 7:30. So we parked in the Double Tree Hotel parking lot just across the street from the Santander Performing Arts Center. As we were walking past the parking lot entrance, I had taken these pics. A piano in the middle of the entrance lanes decorated with all scenes from the City of Reading ...

Our food at The Mezz was very good ...

 DINNER MENU:

• Cream of Potato Soup
• Toss Salad with Dressing
• Cranberry Relish
• Roast Turkey Breast with Herb Stuffing
• Sliced Top Round of Beef with Mushroom Demi Glaze
• Potatoes Au gratin
• Honey Glazed Baby Carrots
• Harvest Dinner Rolls with Butter
• Pumpkin Pie
• Coffee, Water & Iced Tea
• *Includes One Drink (cocktail, beer, wine, soda)

We arrived inside the center at about 7:25PM and took our seats which were located in the left balcony section of the theater. Jackson made his appearence on the stage around 7:55.

He started off the evening by giving everyone a brief history about where he came from and why he is so passionate about his work and why he does what he does. He is very heavily involved with animal shelters and he tours all over the world in order to spread the word about saving the lives of both cats and dogs by adopting, becoming a foster guardian and the like. 

He was exactly as I imagined he would be - completely and utterly caring as he shared many of his own personal stories about the cats he has dealt with since he began working with them 22 years ago. He was entertaining, charismatic, and extremely honest. In other words, 'what you see is what you get' with him. He involved the audience by asking for volunteers to join him up on stage to demonstrate the topics he was discussing. Topics which are covered in his new book, "Total Cat Mojo." One of the sections of his book talks about the three general categories which indoor cats can be broken up into. The first is what he describes as the "Mojito Cat" who is so confident in his surroundings that he actually welcomes anyone who dares enter "his" home. Jackson asked one of the members of the audience to pretend she was knocking on his door and as he opens it he shows everyone an example of how the Mojito Cat would react as the guest walks through the door - immediately rubbing up against their legs performing a figure 8 and vicariously placing their scent on the unsuspecting guest. Now, the only way to get the full effect of this scene is to click on the first pic then continue scrolling forward to show the rest ...

Then there is the "Wallflower Cat" who is just the opposite of the Mojito Cat as they are the ones who always hide, most especially when there are guests in the house. Last, there is what Jackson refers to as the "Napoleon Cat." This is the cat who continuously pics on other indoor cats in order to assert his dominance - attacking, chasing, biting, jumping on top of, even urinating in the house because he does not feel his very own space/territory  i.e. "Cat Mojo." 

Jackson also answered a few questions from the audience. He even gave a fan who asked a question about his cat a special cat toy to take home which he had used earlier in the show while demonstrating proper ways to play with your cat ...

After which, he wrapped up his show, thanked everyone, took a bow, blew a little kiss to all and said, "Peace and I love you!"

On the way out, I picked up a t-shirt as a little souvenir from the night. The tipped ear represents the practice of TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release). My Tabitha was a TNR when we found her ...

Had a great time and learned a lot of interesting things about cats I never knew before!