Jonathan Van Ness Talks Being a Cat Parent and Future of ‘Queer Eye’ (Exclusive)

Jonathan Van Ness is a big animal supporter which has led to him having his share of pets in his home. And to further his support, the Queer Eye star has partnered with Fresh Step to inspire cat and kitten adoptions. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Van Ness about being a cat parent and working with Fresh Step.

“Well, National Kitten Day is on July 10th, and I love National Kitten Day. We are a big fan of that,” Van Ness told PopCulture. “I have five cats and being a cat parent and just a pet parent in general, but especially a cat parent has just been a huge part of my life. It’s been a huge part of the way that I have kind of healed and found a lot of joy in my life. And without cats, I would just — really, honestly, not even hyperbolically, not being hyperbolic — I don’t even know where I would be. Cats have just brought so much love into my life. And also some of my best friends and favorite people I’ve met through being fellow cat parents or fellow cat lovers. And so I just think it’s really important for us to celebrate cats and kittens and what they bring to all of our lives. It’s really real. It’s really real what cats and our little animals bring to us.”

Van Ness went on to say that 2.1 million cats entered shelters last year and half of them didn’t get adopted. “So that’s 1.1 million cats who need beautiful homes,” he said. “They need loving homes and look at how gorgeous they are. And also a source of a lot of why cats end up getting re-homed or brought back to the shelter is because of litter box rejection, or it’s marking around the house or not using the litter box correctly.”

To help cats and kittens find homes, Fresh Step is covering adoption fees at all Best Friends Animal Society locations from July 10 to July 16. “This is a really good way to get in there and save,” Van Ness explained. “And I really appreciate Fresh Step going out of their way to partner with Best Friends Animal Society because they have helped so many cats. They provide litter, they provide resources, finances, they provide a lot to help more cats find homes. And if you’ve ever thought about it, I just can’t tell you how much joy they bring to your life.”

Along with supporting cats and kittens, Van Ness is getting ready for a potential eighth season of the Netflix Series Queer Eye. The seventh season premiered in May, and while no news on Season 8 has been officially announced, Van Ness is ready for more action. 

“Chopped style, honey. Let’s do 27 seasons,” he said. “I’m ready to go to different cities when I’m 64 with the boys. Just give it to me and Tan [France], he’s already silver, but I’ll just look exactly how I am now but with really silver hair and probably 15 cats. Because maybe I’ll have three houses next door to each other so it would be okay to have that many cats.”

As for Season 7, Van Ness enjoyed helping people in the New Orleans area. “It was really fun. I didn’t know what to expect exactly because I’d never… I mean, my first experience with New Orleans was moving there for four months,” Van Ness said. “The people were just amazing. And I was so proud of our heroes this season. I mean, I think our heroes brought in so much vulnerability and so much courage to speak to their stories, because it’s a lot to get up in front of all of the Netflix subscribers and talk about some of your biggest pain and some of your biggest trauma.”