Jonathan Van Ness’ home around the holidays will be a bit busy this year, despite the pandemic. While there won’t be throngs of people gathering, the Queer Eye star’s place will be buzzing thanks to his dog and four cats. His dog is Pablo, the shelter pup Van Ness adopted in Austin, Texas, while filming Queer Eye‘s upcoming sixth season. The cats are Matilda, Genevieve, the 2-and-a-half-year-old Russian blue Liza Meownelli and Larry, the 7-year-old gray tuxedo cat who stars in some adorable Instagram videos. Needless to say, things can get hectic.
That craziness is all the more true during the holidays. Deliveries are being dropped off, presents are being wrapped, and owners might have to step out to send packages or buy holiday goodies. After a year where most people have stayed indoors and by their pets’ sides, all these routine changes can cause stress for our furry friends. That’s one of the reasons Van Ness partnered with Purina and its senior behavior expert, Dr. Annie Valuska, Ph.D., to come up with some treat-filled ways to distract and relax pets during the holidays.
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“Let’s be very clear, in the words of Elizabeth Warren: We are actually in our cat’s homes,” Van Ness told PopCulture.com in our recent PopCulture @Home episode. “We’ve been in their space, and they are wondering just as much. They’re very anxiously anticipating a return to a world where we leave our house more often because we are really in their space. And they’re wondering just as much as we are.”
He added: “My animals have always been stressed out around Christmas time. I’ve never hosted a gigantic Christmas or Thanksgiving, but my cats still get stressed out with wrapping presents because they think that they’re packing to leave somewhere. So that’s always just kind of stressed them out. Just a lot of that. Because I think people with cats know, when you do something way out of the ordinary, at first they want to play with the boxes. But then when it’s like continued out of the ordinary, they were like, ‘Oh man, are we going somewhere? Like, what’s happening?’ And so it’s really fun with the treats to just create kind of a distraction.”
Van Ness has implemented a little game for his feline friends, which serves as a crafty holiday project and a way for Larry, Liza Meownelli, Matilda, and Genevieve to burn off some energy. He admits it’s made them “a little spoiled this year,” but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We did these DIY kind of hide and go seek treats with the cats where you just hold onto your empty egg cartons. You can hide the little Fancy Feast Savory Cravings in a few of the little pockets. And then you can take bows or ornaments or just a little folded up little piece of wrapping paper and wad it up and cover the little egg casings,” Van Ness explained. “And the cats will just be looking for treats. It takes them like 45 minutes, and they just love it so much. So that’s something the cats have really been into. And I’ve also just been getting so many more toys for the cats. And then sometimes they’re like, ‘I don’t want to play with your toy.’ And then I’m like, ‘But what if there’s a treat?’ And then they’re like, ‘OK.’ So that’s just been getting them more into the idea of playing with toys. And that’s just been wearing them out more and using more of their energy. And with all this more togetherness, that’s been better for them.”
Pablo has been at a training program back in Austin, while Van Ness has traveled back to New York for work. However, he’s set to reunite with his whole family before Christmas. In Austin, though, Van Ness made sure to find plenty of outdoor time for the pup. Hula hoops, Beggin Strips treats and more fun activities kept Pablo excited and engaged.
“With Pablo, we’re obsessed with outside. We’ve gotten so into kind of agility stuff in training him and that way to gain confidence and have him use his mental stamina,” the 33-year-old Gay of Thrones star said. “We have a hula hoop. We’ve been getting them to walk through the hula hoop for the reward of a treat. He loves that. We will take it off the ground a little bit, which he can also do. He loves that. We got one of those little pyramid agility training things for his confidence, and he’s really into that.”
“I think also just playing hide and go seek with his bones. So that’s another thing that he likes to play outside. Pablo’s definitely a dog who gets a little bit like, ‘Hey cats, those are my toys, and this is my bone and my Beggin’ Strips, and we play with them inside.’ So the cats have their playroom where their toys stay, with a kid divider where Pablo doesn’t go in there. And then Pablo gets his toys and his treat outside because, for our family, they do it best separated. But yeah, it’s really fun to just, anything to take up your extra free time and wear out the animals. They all get along better.”
Details on Van Ness and Purina’s holiday pet activities can be found here. Every episode of Queer Eye is on Netflix, and episodes of Gay of Thrones are available on Funny or Die’s YouTube channel. PopCulture’s full chat with Van Ness can be seen above.
