Be Well: Johnathan Van Ness Talks Mental Health Benefits of Being a Pet Parent

<div class="block">Johnathan Van Ness, &#39;Queer Eye&#39; host, joined Cheddar News to talk about the importance that pets have in his life. He also talked about why pet adoption is important and offers some advice for pet parents-to-be.</div>

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Be Well: Johnathan Van Ness on Mental Health Benefits of Being a Pet Parent

Why are pets such a big part of your life? I mean, cats have just given me so much joy and so much connection in my life. I mean, like, honest to gosh, when I was like in my late teens, about my first cat bug, the first, he brought so much positive change and stability and just love and joy into my life. And I think just like my whole adult life, like I don't have human kids, my cats are kind of my, my chosen family and I, they just give me stability, they give me schedule, they give me something to kind of focus on outside of myself and all minor rescues. Um I just, I love cats. They're just so unique and amazing. Like all of them have their own little personality and they're also cute and fun. Some are than others, but that's half the fun. So for those who are thinking about getting a pet or a cat, why do you think rescues are the great way to go all across the country? We've had 2.1 million cats last year, um, found their way into shelters and only about half of them got adopted. So that's like about 1.1 million cats across the country who need loving homes. And when I think about all the joy and love that cats have brought in my life, I just want other people to get to have that as well. And also fresh step is literally so laying the game because they are partnering with Best friends Animal Society to cover all the adoption costs from July 10th to July 16th at all their locations all across the country. And so July 10th to July 16th, you heard it here first? And it's not only adoption fees that covers their microchip, it covers their spa and Neutering it. I mean that's, that's really a good deal. Honey. Inflation. They said not today. They said we're gonna come help you make a place and you're gorgeous home for these kittens. It's not just a kitten. So if you want an adult cat, if you're, if you're more like, you know what I want, give me that seven year old cat vibe. Uh we got those too and this is Jane and Jacob and they're all Jacob. Yeah, they love, they love it and they love each other. Although you know, you can just get one if you want but like look at the pair like why have one when you, we have to split them up. Yeah, we love them. But you know, a lot of people that may be thinking about adoption, they may not know what they're in for because you've been honest about the reality of having all of your animals as well. So what advice would you give to those people that are thinking about adopting? So, I think really if you already have cats at home, there are certain ways that you can, there are best practices to make sure that the integration of your cat that you've already had in your new addition, get along really well because if you do just like, put everyone in the same room right away, it can be a little bit much and cats, they do need to kind of like have a certain like quarter of introduction. And actually, if you go to a best uh to best friends animal society dot org, they have really good lists and really good resources for how to integrate the animals um together best. So that that is really helpful, but it's not too hard. It usually takes about like 10 days to two weeks and then if you take it slower at the beginning, like it's gonna, you're gonna have a much higher success rate at the end. Um And also interestingly, this is part of why we did this partnership. So many of the reasons why cats get re homed or why they get returned to shelter or just return to rescue shelters, uh whatever, wherever they came from, it's because of like litter box rejection. So and a lot of times Yeah, it's like, so the amount of cats you have, you need to have that many litter boxes. So if you have like three cats, you should have three boxes. If you have two cats, you should have two boxes. They like their territory. They do, they, and they also like privacy, just like humans. When we go to the bathroom, you're not trying to like do your business in front of 50 people, you know, so they like they like to have some privacy and also if it's too dirty, they may not use it. And again, those that information is on Best Friends Animal or Best Friends Animal society dot org or their Instagram, which is a good follow and there's benefit to it as well. Not only being cute and cuddly things is, yeah. So how does that help you? Have you used them for that? Well, I think I certainly I didn't know it at the time but, you know, when I was in my late teens, when I say that like the animals and, you know, my cats and dogs have brought a lot of healing into my life, they have brought a lot of healing and recovery because a lot of times if you're going through any uh tough situation in your life, like having something else outside of yourself to focus on, to show up for and make sure that you're like taking care of them. Sometimes that can help you inadvertently learn how to take care of yourself. So, it certainly did that for me. And it also, I think there is something about the dopamine and the endorphins when you, like, when you're just like holding your little kitten, it's like, it's hard to be as stress when you have a cute little kitten to cuddle. Um And you do make endorphins and you do make dopamine, which I think have been shown to lower stress and to lower anxiety. So she's like, where's craft services? I know. Right. I really, she's like, I really want, she's like, I really want crafty. Whereas the smoked salmon, no, no one told her they were so salmon here. She feels resentful, wants to know where it is. It's a shake. Maybe it's like a baby baby shake or what? What were you saying? I'm so sorry for, oh, no, I was gonna say because you're so busy. You're doing your television shows, you're doing your tour, you're doing books, you're doing everything. How do you balance it all? And what do you do with them when you're going? I have a really supportive husband, um, who helps me, uh, take care of them. We also have, we have really, really good house sitting support. So that is the thing. If you have five cats, three dogs, we do have like several house sitters who we go to, who stay at our house to take care of them. Um, and you know who we know that, like, give them the amount of love that they need and like, we'll make sure they do like the feeding at the right time of the day and everything. So that's like a whole thing. So, yeah, we have really good house sitters and, um, but also I usually travel with my oldest dog Elton, so usually I take him with me so that I don't get like hard core homesickness. Yeah. Yeah, because that anxiety lowers a little easy to take in. But wait, are you the type of person that is like, always wants to take him home like, oh yes, II I trying to get, I'm trying to convince my husband to let me take home to her over there of this orange tabby over here. He's five. He's gorgeous and he's chill. So you're so busy. What's next for you? Uh We have a really exciting launch that we're doing for JV and hair coming up in July or later in July, beginning of August. I'm really excited about Anthony and I have some fun things coming up um with our yum stuff. Yeah, with our, I'm also going on tour in North America. You can go to Jonathan Vanessa on tour to see dates and get tickets. Now you mentioned JV and hair. I know you're great at taking care of human hair. What tips do you have for us to take care of our? Really a question. Really good question. Um I mean, I think typically they're, uh, they do a really good job of cleaning up after themselves. Um, but if sometimes when you have puppies or kittens, even sometimes accidents happen and sometimes they do get covered and stuff. Um, I do love like a white where you have a lot of fans in our office and some of them wanna know. How do you stay so positive? You're always so positive. How do you stay? So, yeah, I don't think I am always that positive. If you go on my Tik Tok, you'll see lots of times that I'm not being super positive. If I'm talking about like the influx of anti trans legislation or, you know, if someone can't stop bleach and toning their hair and going to different stylists, I'll tell you about it. So uh I'm not always super duper positive. I think that, but I will say that even when I think that I'm being a nightmare, people are like, oh, that really wasn't that nightmare. So I'm like, oh my gosh, really? So maybe, but I do think that generally like, I'm really excited to be alive. I'm really excited that I get to experience this life and I love people. And um you know, I've been through a lot that, you know, I didn't know if I was gonna get to experience this life. And so I think the fact that I made it through that and I get to experience it, I'm like really excited to be here. All right. So we know we have so many beautiful pets here and at home. But have you ever met a famous pet? I have, um, you know, I have at home. Uh and also just kidding, but I met Doug the pug, not to name drop, but I have met Taylor's cat. Um, they were a little elusive, you know, they were doing their own thing. They were busy but I did see, I think I saw, I think I saw MEREDITH uh walking in the house, I think um I'm not sure which one that was but I did. Uh So I think those are the, oh, and how could I forget? Um Justin Thoreau's stunning dog, Cuba, who he loves so much? Gorgeous Cuba or no Cuba who says that KKK? Get it together? Jonathan, those continents. Throw me for a loop.