Original subtitles

When Minibar was dropped off at our house, we were told that she was 70 %

domesticated. But she was completely wild.

We couldn't find out even where she was hiding.

We have a cat that we have no emotional bond or connection with.

Duff is really unpredictable.

He could just latch onto your arm and start biting you.

I'll contemplate you putting him to sleep.

I'm Jackson Galaxy.

I'm a musician by night and a cat behaviorist by day.

I've met cats with all kinds of problems.

But I've never met one I couldn't help.

In my career, I've worked with thousands of cats, one -on -one, analyzing their

behaviors and retraining them and their guardians.

When relationships are at an end, getting to the point where I feel

and cat guardians have reached their emotional limit, I want her out.

I'm their last hope.

You got scratched. It's because you've gotten him in a pretty helpless

Cats have nine lives, but humans?

Only have one. I can't believe this is the same cat.

What's the sound you're making?

I'm Brian.

And I'm Coray.

We met when I was working at a restaurant, and Brian came in every day

weeks.

And finally, I got the hint.

We both really love animals, but I'm more of a fanatic.

I've had two cats for seven years. They're very sociable, Bonsai and Fubar.

I really wanted another cat, but I felt like two was enough, and I didn't want

the responsibility.

So we decided maybe it'd be fun to foster a cat since that's more temporary

until it was adoptable.

When we got Minibar, I was really excited at first.

We were told that she was feral, but was about 70 % domesticated and just needed

some one -on -one human interaction.

I'm not sure what that means, because when she got here, she was completely

wild.

Minibar has got lots of issues. I think the main one is that she's incredibly

afraid of humans, so her instinct is just... to hide all the time.

She's being kept in a crate in Brian's woodshop, which is a really crowded

space, a lot of equipment and machinery.

One morning, we opened the crate up in the woodshop, and immediately, boom, she

was out of there.

She was there, I think, for about two weeks, and every day, she would be

in a different spot.

I try to get near Minnie Bar, even if it's a few feet away, just to put her

down by her. She immediately draws her ears back and her shoulders up and

at me and starts growling.

We soon realized that she was so feral that she wouldn't be adoptable. And if

took her to a pound, she'd definitely be put down. So we kind of had to accept

that it wasn't a fostering situation. It was now she's our cat.

One morning, Brian found out where she was hiding.

And he attempted to grab her.

And she freaked out and bit me and scratched me.

He came into the bedroom just gushing blood.

And he ultimately got a 103 -degree fever. His arm swelled up all the way to

armpit. He couldn't move it. I had to drive him to the emergency room.

It's pretty crazy to think about how Minibar attacking Brian could have

essentially killed him.

And that just makes me feel all the more guilty because Minibar wouldn't even be

in the house if it weren't for me.

It's difficult for Correa because she wants Minibar to love her back, and she

gets sad.

Hi, Minnie.

I hope for Correa's sake that Minibar becomes, you know, the cute, cuddly

creature that she craves for in a pet.

All I want to do is just be able to comfort her by petting her.

Hi, Mimi.

I want her to have a relationship with us. I want her to be part of the family.

It's okay.

We have a cat that we have no emotional bond or connection with.

She just lives in a corner in our house.

Family dynamics always affect feline behavior.

The only way to fix the cat is to repair the human relationship.

Hi, how are you? I'm Gray.

Nice to meet you. My first impression was I was really happy that his energy

his whole vibe wasn't crazy cat lady -ish.

So, we got some issues.

Yes, we have mini bar.

Minibar. Yes.

Give me a little bit of history.

We got her from a rescue.

Initially, we were just going to foster her because we were told that she was 70

% domesticated.

70 % domesticated is one of the silliest things I've ever heard. You're either

domestic or you're feral. There's no in -between.

She is not okay with any kind of human interaction at all. She can't be

You can't approach her. She hisses, growls.

She really seems like she's still living like...

A feral cat.

Feral cats are not to be confused with domestic cats that have gone stray.

cats don't have the experience with human beings. They don't have that trust

level. They've never established anything with humans to build off of in

first place.

So you have other cats in the house? Yes. Tell me about them.

We have two male cats. They're both seven, Bonsai and Fubar. And they're

both very sociable and affectionate.

Bonsai has started going poop outside the litter box now. How recently is

Just when Minibar's been in here, and I think she started using the litter box

more. The fact that Bonsai started pooping outside the box right after

arrived lets us know without a shadow of a doubt that this is territorial

marking. And he's letting Minibar know, I own this space.

How do you feel?

I feel a little bit hopeless because, you know, I'm used to my cats where

they're comforted by me touching them.

Or they're comforted by, you know, rubbing up against me.

And with her, it really worries me because there's absolutely no

oh, this person's okay. She sees me and immediately it's, uh -oh.

I feel really disconnected from her. And all my friends said, just give her back

to the rescue, you know, but I will not do that.

I just can't. And I really want to approach her all the time. And I have

like, restrain myself because I don't want to stress her out. Yeah. But I do

really want a relationship with her. One of the things I'm most impressed about

with Correa...

was her ability to admit her failings as an emotional being. She said, I don't

feel connected with this cat. I don't feel a bond. I don't feel anything. I'm

taking care of her. I'm feeding her. That starting point is so crucial, and I

so honored that she opened up that much to me and let me in so that I can help

fix it. It's important that you guys know that she is a pretty extreme case.

You're trying to form a relationship with a cat.

that is frozen in fear most of the time. So we do have a lot of work to do with

her. Now, if you could give me a tour of the territory, that'd be great. All

right, let's do it.

Well, as much as Coray loves cats, She doesn't particularly like the things

come along with cats, like the fact that they need a litter box.

So what I devised was sort of a cat door into a cabinet in the shop space.

It's essentially like having a litter box outside.

This is the one box we've got going on right now. As cool a design as it is,

fact that it's hidden in the wall gives Bonsai an entrance to guard and mark.

Not to mention, with three cats in the home, it's pretty problematic to have

just one litter box.

So what I want to do is pull out... my black light and just go around for a

second, okay?

I use a black light because it highlights any urine, so if it's outside

I'll see it clear as day.

Hello.

We got pee.

It's not fresh.

Usually with fresh, you're going to see more of an orange -yellow, and this is a

little more faded.

When he brought out the black light, I was pretty disgusted and shocked that

there was pee on our walls.

The hunch that I'm working on here is that Bonsai sees this as something to

protect. It's almost as if saying, you know, this is my castle and this is my

moat. You know what I mean? And I'm protecting it from the things I don't

things we use. Minibar. He's basically letting everybody else know I'm not

comfortable with you crossing this gauntlet.

So what we have to do is remove...

A gauntlet. So here's the part where people usually get angry at me, and I

who it's going to be because I see the look in your face. Yeah, I'm really

nervous. We have to bring the litter boxes out to the open, and they have to

multiple. The general rule is that you should have a litter box for every cat

the home, plus an additional one. No top on the litter box is important because

that way there's no entrance to guard or be possessive of. But because Correa is

so upset just at the sight of them, this time I'm going to compromise and

suggest just two to start with. So.

We have litter boxes now. I really never thought that I'd have to deal with an

exposed litter box ever again.

How are you feeling?

I mean, let me get into this. I mean, it sounds really weird. I know that, like,

nobody likes a litter box.

But I have a serious problem. Like, it really stresses me out.

Coray's reaction to the litter boxes was absolutely normal. I see it every day.

People want their cats to be comfortable, but they don't want to see

comfortable. They don't want to see them peeing next to them. I think she'll

accept the challenge. I think she'll embrace the challenge. I have all the

in the world in her. And besides the fact, Brian will help her out.

There's the bathroom.

Now we really try to keep her out of the bathroom because she gets underneath

the bathtub. It's her favorite.

She goes underneath the sink and around the back. There's a bit of an open wall

underneath there. And she was pooping and peeing. Allowing a cat to burrow

small spaces underneath things and low to the ground is allowing them to

manifest a small personality.

I want to manifest a big personality. I want to give her the option to be big,

to be herself. We want to be able to expand the house bit by bit.

I want this to be a safe place for her. I want her to be able to come in here.

So we want the door open and this sealed up. A sign of success is the day that

you guys come in here and she's sitting right there. Or she's sitting on the

toilet. Or she's sitting on the tub.

As opposed to in the tub or under the tub. Under is small and on is large.

And we want her to be large.

All right, so we got the last little piece of graphical information here. The

kitchen. Okay. The unfinished kitchen.

My first impression when entering the loft was, oh, this is lovely and open.

then I turned to the kitchen and it was so packed and crowded and it reeked of

unfinished business.

And of course, that's where a minibar was hanging out.

Her favorite hiding spot is underneath the cabinet.

Let me see if I can see her. The reason that Minibar seeks out small spaces is

that's what she's used to. She grew up knowing that by hiding and waiting for

food source to come to her, she would get fed.

She never had to go out and trust. She never was challenged to go and live like

another cat would.

Your eyes and your face can communicate a lot to her.

Your hands are the last thing that you want to use with a cat like this.

Here, want to take a little whiff?

I present her with my glasses because she can get a lot of information just

my scent.

When a cat doesn't return my slow blink, it really concerns me.

Minibar is in a deep state of fear, and her current environment is not helping

her at all. One of the real problems is this.

We've got to get these boxes out of here. I've got to try to move her out.

a little bit. This has become too much of a safety zone, and because it's a

corner, there's almost nothing that we can do to help her. I'd like to start

talking about how we can seal up under here. This is where I defer to you,

obviously. This is your... Toe kicks.

What'd you say? We'll just put toe kicks in there. Toe kicks.

Fantastic. Now I have vocabulary to use. I am stepping up the challenge for

Minibar. I am saying...

I want you to be comfortable, but you can't get under the counter and corner

yourself anymore.

Brian has to build this in order to lay down a challenge for her. I think we

have a lot of potential here.

Now the work starts.

When I come back next week, I expect to see some physical transformations done.

I want to see those toe kicks in the kitchen. I want to see them in the

as well, because I don't want her to get behind, under anything. No fear of

that. I want to see two litter boxes.

Sorry, Coray. The next step is play.

You guys play with these guys?

I want her to watch them play. If she sees that, she'll imitate it eventually.

Small steps mean a lot with a cat like Minibar. Are you guys feeling a little

more optimistic?

Yeah, I do. I think having an actual plan.

gives me more hope about the situation. There is no such thing as an overnight

transformation when you're dealing with trying to domesticate a feral cat.

That being said, I do think that Coray can have the relationship that she

with Minibar. But it's going to take a lot of work, and I hope she's up for it.

It's been a week since I last saw Brian and Coray, and I left them with a video

camera so they could send me footage of their progress with Minibar. I'm really

excited to go over what I saw with them.

Hey, Chris. Hi, how are you? Hey, Brian. Hey, Josh. How's it going? How are you

guys doing? Welcome.

I could tell there was something wrong the second Coray and Brian opened the

door. So, how have things been?

Up until this morning, everything has been, you know, pretty good. This

Minnie Bar escaped into the woodshop.

So we looked for her for a while and... How are you feeling right now?

I'm just a little disappointed.

I got my hopes up because she was really interacting this week, last week, and

now she's escaped.

Cray and Brian were definitely a lot more upset about Minibar disappearing

I was. It's perfectly natural for a cat with her instincts, after we cut off all

her hiding places, to find others and to disappear again.

Let's shift gears. Let's have you show me what you did when I was gone this

week.

We moved, you know, all the boxes out of here. So we've got the toe kicks down

here. It's all closed off. This is closed off over here.

Good, amazing job, actually.

And in here, we filled the gaps that we had. The toe kick here and another strip

there so she can't get behind the tub.

Is this door open all the time now? Yeah. Good. All right. What else we got

going on?

Well, I shut off the litter box door.

Right, right. And then I put two litter boxes, open litter boxes in the house

ones over here, and there's one in the hallway.

Which I'm sure you love.

They're being used, though. Both boxes are being used right here. Yeah. So now

comes your favorite time. I'm going to break out the black light.

It's really important to establish that Bonsai no longer feels the need to mark

and protect the entrance to the old litter box.

All right, so I see you've still got some residue here, but it looks like

the last time, it looks like you guys tried to clean this, right? Yeah, we did

try to clean it. Didn't quite work, but obviously there's nothing new.

This is all old spots.

It's really significant that there are no new spray marks since my last visit.

That tells me that Bonsai no longer feels that overwhelming need to protect

guard that old entrance.

And Cray can see that the open -air boxes, while not as pretty, have solved

problem. My feeling is we're good here. I wanted to sit down with Brian and Cray

and go over the home videos that they shot, mainly so that I could focus in on

all these positive but subtle body language improvements that they never

have noticed.

So what we have here is Minnie Bar in the bathroom, yes?

Yep. Look at it. She's just a curious cat. She's saying, I can't get to my

normal spot.

And there's the beautiful part. She walked out confidently, tail held

high.

Yay. Okay.

The home video that Coray and Brian shot was a revelation to me. It showed me

that Minnie Bar is this incredibly vivacious character.

Come on, Minnie.

And Bonsai and Fubar were showing her how to play. They would play, and then

would come out, and she would lose herself in play for a moment. It's okay,

Minnie. And then retreat, and then she'd come out further.

Good job, Minnie.

The progress in a very short amount of time was amazing.

What she's doing is watching, watching.

This looks like fun, and here I come.

Fubar and Bonsai were a bridge, and by Minnie Bar watching them play with Coray

and Brian, she could say, wait a minute.

I could do this too.

I really do want to accentuate the remarkable progress that she made. Now

I've demonstrated to Brian and Correa how much progress Minibar has made and

that she's responding to the treatment, it's time to go find her in the wood

shop. Here it is.

Oh, wow.

The workshop is enormous.

It is wood from floor to ceiling, and the ceilings have to be 20 feet high.

Blacklight to look in all the nooks and crannies.

So many nooks and crannies.

It is a hiding cat's playground.

Let's just break this up into little quadrants and start looking for the

reflection of her eyes. Let's do it.

We have to approach this from a CSI perspective of leaving no stone

Even a cat leaves a trace.

She was here. We have paw prints.

Yep, those are her tiny paw prints. Okay, this is a good thing.

Catching a feral cat on the loose takes a lot of patience.

I found her.

Really? In this corner.

Okay, here we go. Our first plan was to have Coray inch her out of that corner,

and me and Brian were standing there ready with our big blanket to just drop

on her, to disorient her a little bit so that I could pick her up.

Here she comes.

Oh, goodbye. She was...

Fast and strong.

There she goes.

Aw, Minnie.

Minnie.

Okay, hey, hey.

It's okay, Minnie.

It's okay.

It's okay.

Minibar had absolutely no intention of coming out from the corner she was in,

but it is possible to get a cat out from that kind of a trapped situation where

they're in fight or flight with no harm to them and very little harm to you.

Hi, pumpkin.

Usually, when a cat's cornered, their pupils will be completely dilated.

be looking for escape every which way, but Minibar wasn't doing that. She was

looking straight at me with normal pupils.

Actually making contact with me, letting me know that it would be okay and I

could get her out of there without a negative reaction.

It's okay, pumpkin.

It's okay.

Are you with me?

Scruffing, which is handling a cat from the back of their neck where there are

very few nerve endings, is the safest way to handle a scared feline. The goal

was to put Minibar into the carrier to get her back into the home.

Unfortunately, the carriers flipped, and Minibar got away from me as I tried to

put her in it.

Lucky for us, she bolted right back in the apartment.

Okay, so she's in the bedroom, which is fine. Bonsai went in after her.

That's fine.

You all right?

I'm just a little bit frustrated and disappointed just because it seems

Before you got here today, she had made so much progress.

You know, she was out and about and around us.

And then it's gone back to what feels like square one. It's not as bad as you

think it is at all.

You're going to see her recover a lot faster than you think.

And we're going to have a plan to facilitate that coming out. She's going

fine. This was never going to be an easy case.

In order for Brian and Correa to be successful with Minibar, they've got to

continue the treatment plan and be consistent.

I'm also going to start visiting Minibar daily to work more intensely with her

one -on -one. This is the only chance we have of breaking through with her.

And now it's time for a kitty bit.

A female cat is pregnant for approximately how long?

Nine weeks, 22 weeks, or 36 weeks?

Find out after the break.

A female cat is pregnant for approximately how long?

They're pregnant for approximately nine weeks.

And the average litter size is three to five kittens.

I'm going to go over to Brian and Correa's apartment daily for the next

some one -on -one work with Minibar. This is crucial to the feral cat

rehabilitation process.

Progress takes place over time and requires consistency to work.

And there is my little girl.

I've decided I really need to be around Minnie Bar in order to gain a little

more trust. And I want her to come out more.

Minnie.

Minnie.

Right now me and her are about five feet apart.

And she's heading away.

She won't come out completely.

And I have to just sort of wait her out.

No matter how good I might think I am with cats, she doesn't care.

What I've noticed over the past couple of days is that she is inching closer

closer.

Good girl, Minnie.

Good girl, Minnie.

That was Minnie Bar about...

Six inches from me.

Yay!

Walking into Brian and Correa's home today, I didn't know what to expect.

I've seen some amazing improvement with Minibar in the intensive time that I've

spent with her. But if Correa hasn't picked up the ball and remained

with play therapy, we're not going to see any improvement at all.

This is how it's going right over here.

I never imagined that I'd be able to pet Minibar. And after just a few weeks,

it's pretty incredible.

This is the first time I've ever pet her.

That's absolutely outstanding.

When I first met Coray, I promised her that she could have the kind of

relationship with Minibar that she wanted.

And it's a testament to the hard work and dedication that she's put in that

she's achieved such amazing results.

Tell me how you're feeling right now.

I definitely feel a lot more connected with her, and I feel like we've

established that bond where she's my baby.

It felt pretty special to be the first person that she has kind of let into her

space and trusted enough.

It's pretty incredible.

Kick ass.

Feel like we're there?

Yeah, definitely. I can't believe that she went from running away from us,

attacking us, running away from you, attacking you.

And just within a couple weeks, she's napping in front of us and letting me

her. It was unbelievable to see Coray petting her because that was the main

that she had at the beginning of this. So today is obviously a very big step.

I'm so impressed by Jackson and so thankful. We were really lost before he

here. This really is one of my proudest moments ever, to take a cat, feral,

surrounded by fear and perceived threats, and...

Now she's happy. She's safe.

There is no better feeling than that.

Duff is really unpredictable.

He could just latch onto your arm and start biting you.

Contemplate putting him to sleep.

Hey, what are you doing, buddy?

I'm Jenny.

I'm Garrett.

I didn't even know we were going to get a cat.

She was like, hey, let's go over here. Let's just look at the dogs and kitty

cat.

I picked Duff out because I was holding the other cats, and they just didn't

feel right.

When I picked up Duff, he was just so calm.

Calm before the storm.

The biggest problem with Duffy is he's really unpredictable.

He can be really nice and playful and let you pet him. Or the next second, he

could just lash onto your arm and start biting you.

It would really tear you up.

The other night, we were sleeping, and he was out of the blue.

I got scratched up pretty bad. I had to go to a doctor and have it looked at. I

get a tetanus shot, and that cat bites all over my back.

I love the cat, you know?

He's one of those cats that takes a while to get to know, but once he really

gets in there, he's just so sweet, and it's such a strong possibility that we

could have to put him to sleep.

He attacks the wrong person.

We had a friend stay with us who had a baby, and the cat started hissing at the

baby, got really close.

Claude, the baby.

Watching him hurt, you know, a little baby, I've contemplated putting him to

sleep.

Sometimes I wish that we never got another cat.

It was so much easier when we just had Izzy.

Part of me thinks maybe it is our fault. You know, I keep trying to blame it on

the previous owners, but maybe not.

I don't think that there is such a thing as a bad cat.

And I meet every cat with the expectation that I can bring Harmony

home. Hey.

How you doing, man? Garrett.

Hey, Garrett. This is my girlfriend, Jenny. Hey, Jenny. Good to meet you.

I was expecting someone more conservative.

And then I see this six -foot -something guy, bald, tattoos.

Got this huge guitar case, and it's kind of weird. You're supposed to be here

for the cats, right?

Great to meet you.

Good to meet you. We're so glad you came.

People think it's a little strange when I walk into the house and I immediately

just want to sit down with them and not deal with the cat.

Tell me, what's going on? The idea is I want the cat to get used to my voice.

About a month after he got here, it started getting a little crazy.

I don't know where Duff is right now. I know he can hear me. Pretty much from

the beginning, he's been acting neurotic.

The vet said it was most neurotic cat.

She's never seen.

We thought it was just because he was a new cat and wasn't used to the

environment, but it's continued.

He scratches, he bites.

You can see my hand.

Yeah.

He's just all over the place.

And then a couple nights ago, we were sleeping, and I awoke from a bad dream,

and I think I scared the cat, and the cat just attacked him. His whole side,

back has vicious bites.

She looked right here.

That's one of them.

When Garrett was showing Jackson his wound, I was thinking, I'm like, God,

our cat really do that? That looks worse than I remember.

And I had bite marks on my back. They're pretty much... Puncture wounds.

They go all the way down his leg. He showed me the wounds, and I got to tell

you, it's bad.

Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night with that happening to you?

You know, I'm at that point where I'm like, okay, you know, we've tried

everything. Nothing's working. And by, you know, having you here, it's

our final straw.

I think from what I've been hearing from you guys, your patience level has been

amazing because he really has beaten the crap out of you, you know, on a regular

basis.

First things first, I need to get a lay of the land.

Back this way is our bedroom.

The smell hit me when I walked in the door, which really was interesting

the smell greets you as a way of saying, this is the only place he lives.

It's in a very small room.

If your world is defined 10 by 9 or 10 by 12, you're going to act out.

We have the curtains and then the litter box.

He always goes on the side over here, and then sometimes he pees, like, right

front of the box. So he sticks his butt out the hole. Yeah, basically. I didn't

react to it on the spot, but that's one of the funniest litter boxes I've ever

seen. I don't think I've ever seen this kind before.

You turn it over, and then it all collects on the side. Literally, you're

turning it around like a cement mixer to get the scoops out, coating the whole

thing in gunky pee.

Who invented that thing? At this point, I want to try something.

So bear with me.

Draw the shade. Get it as dark as you possibly can in here.

And I'll be right back.

So I'm having Garrett and Jenny darken the room.

And then I'm bringing out my black light, a simple black light, and urine

fluoresce.

Let's take a look here.

Okay. Oh, my God.

And that one, that's fresh, wet.

I was shocked.

It was everywhere, on the dirty clothes, the clean clothes, the bed.

How are we sleeping on this bed right now? I mean, I'm appalled.

I'm really appalled.

Oh, hello.

A cat urinating all over your belongings, your clothes, your bed. It's

territorial insecurity.

It's as if they're saying, I belong with you, I belong with you. So they're

taking their scent and melding it with yours.

Jeff always hangs out in the tub in here.

Let's take a look.

Oh my God. When I walk into a room with my black light, I'm used to seeing

traces of urine. But when the urine hit this black light, it was like the 4th of

July in a bad way. See how high he's spraying up? To me, that's a little bit

an indication of how stressed out he is.

So wait a minute, you mean after all this, even with the water running and

Cat pee is some strong stuff.

It's meant to mark territory.

So he's doing a good job of it, right? I feel like I'm getting really clean when

I take a shower now.

This is great.

Hold on a second.

You got a ladder?

I do.

Can you go get that ladder for me?

Sure.

All right, let's use this.

Killer.

This is a killer space up here.

Now, what I'm seeing up here, guys, of cat heaven.

This is how a cat should see the world.

Powerful, secure, confident.

This is perfect.

Viewing Garrett and Jenny's home from a cat's eye view, you don't see any place

to go up. If he's just on the floor, he's small.

And Duff needs not to feel small. Now, if I were a cat who was insecure...

I would look up here and I would say, this is the promised land.

Now, all we got to do is make it accessible to him. This room will become

new seat of his territory.

The potential involved here is amazing.

I mean, this is a great place.

I mean, it's got a playground above the walls and it's being completely

underutilized. I want to spend some one -on -one time with him. And if you guys

don't mind staying out here for just a little bit.

I'll be out in a few minutes.

Or maybe not.

If I'm not out in a half hour, you know, call somebody.

Into the lion's den.

Duff?

When I first walked into the room and I went to say hi to Duff, he let me know

in no uncertain terms that he meant business and he wasn't in any mood to

with me.

So... You have to sort of put your ego aside, back off, and let him come to

Hi.

Hi, Bob.

Hi.

What's happening?

What's happening?

What do you want to know?

What I'm doing with Duff when I first meet him is to very unobtrusively say

That means taking off my glasses.

and presenting him with the ear of my glasses. It's a handshake with my smell

it. That's all it is. My hand is at a safe distance.

Then I can put my glasses back on after I've given him a slow blink, soften my

eyes to him, let him know that I'm no threat to him.

Most of the time a cat will return that to me, if not a full blink, just to

relax their face a little bit, to have their whiskers go a little more neutral,

and then I know we're okay.

There we go.

Yeah.

Hey, bub. You want a little something?

This is what I got for you.

Duff spends a lot of his time inside, on the floor.

That's key.

Our job. Our job is to get him out. Good boy, Duff.

You don't like it? What do you do?

Oh, hello.

Good boy.

My overall strategy when I'm using a toy to get them to know a cat is to get

them unglued from me and glued into their natural instincts.

You're such a good boy.

Yeah, you're okay.

Well, I am really glad to have met you.

We're going to do some good work. I knew everything was going to be all right at

that very moment.

I could breathe because we made connection, and I knew it wasn't going

bad as I thought it was.

Good boy, Duff.

Now that I've seen everything, taken it all in, met Duff, and talked to the

guardians, now it's time for them to get their homework.

We're going to cut to the chase on this one.

His world is that room.

That's just not enough.

Things have got to expand.

I just don't want this house to be a prison. A cat can live inside and not be

prisoner. I want to open up this area.

So we're going to use this bookcase.

And I want to see steps.

A little mini shelf here, a little mini shelf up there.

Let's talk about your litter box.

One thing I'd like to see you try is a dome -shaped litter box.

There's a hole.

He walks up the interior ramp.

And once he's in, he can pee in there. Here's the thing. Cats are not on this

planet to please us. If you want to live with a cat, you've got to compromise.

That's it.

What's at stake is that he's not going to be living here anymore. He's going to

a shelter.

Aggressive cats don't have a great start.

It's unbelievably important that Garrett and Jenny follow through with the

homework. None of this is going to work without their commitment to that

homework.

It's been a week since I last saw Garrett and Jenny, and I had them shoot

home video and email it to me so I can keep track of all the progress they're

making.

Tell me how things are going.

Things are going really well. I'm seeing a lot of improvement.

He was acting a lot nicer, and...

He hasn't really went to the bathroom on that many things.

Jenny, especially when I walked in, was really upbeat, and I was really happy

about that. You changed litter boxes? We did. Do you want to see the new litter

box? She immediately started telling me about all the great work they had been

doing and all the changes they had made, and it was really encouraging.

I don't smell anything in here. I should.

Yeah, you're right.

Well. There we have it. With the new litter box, Duff isn't peeing on the bed

anymore because he's got an appropriate place to eliminate.

No longer does he go into a box surrounded on all sides by his own pee

Now I'm going to get gross on you guys. Yeah.

Stick my hand in here.

I get a little bit of grief sometimes for feeling.

Pee and poo in a box. In the old box, he was just peeing around the entrance.

Yeah. Which is a dominant thing, that's fine. But now, it's getting caught.

It's like reading palms or something. I read litter boxes.

So we're good.

With the litter box problem solved, now I have to address some of the problems I

saw in the home video.

Garrett doesn't realize that he's getting bit because he insists on

like a baby.

Hi. Do I get to hold you? You get to hold him and show us how it's done.

Come here to me. I took him, I held him properly, and he was totally relaxed and

wonderful. Gave him to Garrett.

And once again, Garrett put him in the baby position.

Right now, see where he's looking?

He's looking to get away.

His body hasn't manifested that yet, but his eyes are. It's because you've got

him in a pretty helpless position.

It's like teaching someone a new language. You don't expect them to be

Mandarin overnight.

It takes a little bit of time to become fluent in Cat.

So I'm looking around and I'm noticing what I don't notice.

I still don't see shelving. I still don't see access up there. I don't see

ledges. I don't see the really major environmental enrichment ideas that I

them. Tell me what's going on.

So look, we've looked for different types of shelves.

What I really have to work on here is a sense of urgency.

Duff needs to be encouraged upward.

Being confined to the floor makes him feel small and insignificant and

and that's a major reason why he's acting out. By the time I get back here

week, he has to be able to get up to the shelf, he has to be able to get up

above, down again.

The room is done. There is no tomorrow on this one. If you want him to change,

you have to work with me.

Isn't this a change?

Hi.

They told me that his behavior had really turned a corner.

He was a different cat. And sure enough, when I first walked in the house, he

came up to us. That was impossible a couple of weeks ago. And that's because

the work they're putting into it. No doubt in my mind. You really are the cat

daddy. Look at this. We've got two of them coming.

Hi, you.

And we got, I don't know, you can't see it, but tail up right now. With Duff's

tail up, I can see he's feeling calm and secure and confident.

And I'm just so happy to see this change in him.

I'm proud of him. I really am.

I mean, I think that the thing that makes me the happiest, really, is to

that as close as you guys might have been, that...

He's not going anywhere, and that makes me so happy. Not only is the cat walking

around all confident now, the guardians are walking around all confident, and

that energy feeds on itself, just like the negative energy fed on itself

All right, guys.

It was a pleasure working with you.

And you, I feel so happy because my job is to

keep cats in homes.

I can't believe this is the same cat.

This cat is so loving.

Now they're a family.

Take care of yourself.

It was great meeting you. If it wasn't for you, Jackson, we wouldn't be able to

have kept Duff.

We would have given him away or taken him to have him put to sleep.

You've allowed me to actually fall back in love with that cat again, like I used

to. This is a new Duff.

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