“I think the blessing and the curse of not having a lot of information out there was that someone like me could still find their way to making a difference by combining the book learning and the in-the-moment learning,” he adds.

In addition to his dedication to learning everything he could about cat behavior, he was also fortunate enough to have a boss who was willing to help facilitate his commitment.

“I went to her and said, ‘Listen we’re just taking in too many cats, and if people call in to surrender, I should be able to go out to their homes and help them out,’” Jackson shares. “And then that turned into my career.”

Despite all of his success and fame as a TV personality, Jackson has never stopped working with shelters, and says that it is still around half of what he focuses his time on.

“I’ve brought a lot of programs into a lot of shelters and tried to fulfill the promise I had made to myself back then,” he states. “If I ever had the opportunity to bring this to a wider audience, I would always do it.”

Although Jackson is going into people’s homes to address behavior issues with cats less and less, he says he still helps out in the more high-pressure situations, where it could be a matter of life or death for the cat.

“The more I teach shelter and rescue people and foster parents, the more the word gets spread throughout the community, which just comes down to hours of the day,” he explains. “So I will spend the day doing shelter work, working on my new book, making content, and running a business.”

It goes without saying that Jackson considers veterinarians to be a very important part of caring for the cat population.

“I think the one thing that [veterinarians] should have is a really holistic relationship with the community,” he suggests. “Meaning that you have a relationship with the shelters or rescues in the area, with the TNR groups, with trustworthy behavior consultants, and pet sitters. This is key because not one sector of the community can be responsible for keeping cats out of shelters.

“People come to me for, let’s just say, a litter box issue,” continues Jackson. “I tell them to go to the vet to rule out anything physical first. And if it’s not physical, it shouldn’t be expected that the veterinarian take them through all of the vagaries of litter boxes issues. There are professionals for that.”

Since starting his work with cats 30 years ago, Jackson says the vet care that is now available for cats has come light years. He also notes that there is a lot more energy spent on the comfort and the safety of cats, both in veterinary clinics and shelters, especially since the emergence of Fear Free.

“I think cats have always come in second in terms of knowledge to support the sort of subtleties around who they are,” he shares. “And when you compare the amount of guardians who take their cats to the vet for exams versus dog guardians, it’s not even close. I think the core reason behind that is, from my perspective, that cat guardians feel like they’re torturing their animal in order to bring them.”

Jackson says these issues can be addressed on two different fronts. One is to change how cats and their guardians relate to cat carriers so that it’s not a traumatizing event for both parties every time they need to go somewhere.

“Teach your clients how to have a better relationship with a cat carrier and provide them with solid tips on how to do it proactively,” he advises. “Ask the questions, ‘Do you have a really fearful cat? How do they normally do in the carrier?’ And then maybe recommend a single dose of something to help them function better when while being examined.”

The second aspect of facilitating a less stressful vet visit, he says, is about creating a calmer environment. Jackson recommends focusing on the least amount of exposure to dogs possible and getting the cats into quieter rooms where they can move around and aren’t restricted to just a carrier or a table.

“There are easy things that we can do to bring down stress in the exam room based on basic design principles,” he adds.

In addition to making the practice environment more inclusive for cats, Jackson stresses the importance of educating pet owners on spay/neuter.

“Don’t assume that people know,” he states. “The education—or lack thereof—about population control coincides with the economic realities. Think of Bob Barker back in the 70s, asking people to please spay and neuter their pets. We’re still having to spread that message in a very real way.”

With all of his past and present work with shelters and TNR, Jackson highlights the struggle of finding vets to do the surgeries, saying any chance that anyone who has the skills to be able to volunteer or offer low-cost spay/neuter services right now is a huge need.

“It’s not an exaggeration or hyperbole to say that we are in critical nature in terms of not being able to keep up with the demand,” he states. “We’re burying the next generation of animal welfare workers in those animals.

“We’re all insanely busy. We all work too much. But there’s trouble on the horizon. We have a responsibility to take care of the cats. It’s on us,” concludes Jackson.