It’s always nice to greet someone hello, but what drums up a little more excitement? A high-five. Which is why Jackson Galaxy, an animal behavioral therapist and the host of the TV show My Cat From Hell, is on a mission to teach shelter cats exactly how to greet future adoptive family—with a super-cute feline hive-five, of course.
Galaxy’s initiative, appropriately dubbed Cat Pawsitive, aims to maintain shelter cats’ social skills prior to adoption. “The genesis of Cat Pawsitive stemmed from the simple desire to duplicate the ‘AHA!’ moment I had in the early stages of my life with cats as a shelter worker,” he told Mother Nature Network. And the numbers show others want that same type of moment, with over 30 shelters already participating, according to CBS New York. By the end of the year, that number will increase to 80, with another 50 shelters nationwide joining in the program.
And it’s not like Cat Pawsitive *only* teaches felines how to high-five, which is pretty cool anyway: The cats also work on skills like sitting and jumping on command, an impressive feat many cats aren’t otherwise trained to do. (My two, for example.) “[The cats] get the kind of enrichment to show their true personalities to potential adopters, helping them make connections and get adopted more quickly,” said Christine Rogero, the manager of Cat Pawsitive. Which is exactly what Galaxy wanted—with a little bit of humor, too.
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