All language subtitles for My.Cat.from.Hell.S3E03

Oscar bites and claws at me.

Something is not right in his head. He
started howling. It sounds like a baby

distress.

I can't keep living like this. I'll
probably have to go to a shelter where

they'll put him down.

We own a cat. Her name is Riley.

We don't know if she's bipolar or just
angry.

I'm a veterinary technician, but...

She's kind of a hard case to crack.

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.

Oh, hello. 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, I
don't have many more options than to

leave. And cat guardians have reached
their emotional limit. Just get rid of

her. I'm their last hope.

Are you all right?

Sorry, I don't know. Cats have nine
lives, but humans only have one.

I'm on my way over to see Travis and
Diane.

These guys have joint custody of a
sphinx cat named Oscar, and he is

all hours of the day and night.

He's peeing all over the house. He's
driving his guardians insane with his

behavior.

And they told me that if I can't do
anything, Oscar's on his way to the

A cat like Oscar goes into the shelter.
He doesn't come out again.

His life is on the line. I got to get
over there.

I'm Diane.

And I'm Travis.

And we've been best friends for four
years.

We are co -parents to a beautiful six
-year -old Sphinx cat named Oscar.

I had Oscar for the first four years of
his life.

Then Diane went on a work trip and asked
me to babysit Oscar for a while.

But when I got him home, he started
howling.

It sounds like a baby in distress.

I work from home a lot, and I spend a
lot of time on the phone.

And Oscar bellows and yells and screams.

Oscar makes it very difficult to work
from home, and that ends up costing me

money.

I've had Oscar and these problems now
for two years. I feel like Diane tricked

me, and I didn't hear many of the
negatives.

It was just about what a great caddy he
was. I just said to him, Diane, I can't

keep living like this, so you should
take him back, and at that point it was.

I can't because he's too difficult to
handle.

Now I keep him, but then when I travel
for work, I leave him here with Diane.

He's a really endearing cat, but I don't
feel like I can ever leave because he

makes Diane's life miserable.

Something is not right in his head. He
has bad, negative feelings towards me.

Oscar bites and claws at me.

Blood will actually come through my
clothes.

The problem is Oscar despises me because
I'm the one who maintains his

cleanliness.

He looks at me like I'm going to be the
one picking at him.

If we can't get him to stop doing all
this crazy stuff, then I can't work. I

can't travel.

Diane doesn't want to take him. He'll
probably have to go to a shelter where

they'll put him down.

Jackson, hello.

How are you? Nice to meet you. Nice to
meet you. Hi. Hi. I'm Diane.

Nice to meet you, Diane. Nice to meet
you. And it's Oscar.

Hi, baby boy.

Hi.

I think Jackson just has a sixth sense
with Oscar. Right away, Oscar was drawn

to Jackson.

I'm really excited to see what he's
going to have to say about Oscar.

Let's get down to it.

Why is Oscar ruining your life?

So he's totally cool with you? Yeah.

Because I think he really uses his
voice. He uses the screaming to leave

alone. So you can't give him a bath. You
can't cut his toenails. You can't

because he knows the screaming.

Everybody will stop and let him go.

He'll scream, but you'll still give him
a bath.

Spinks needs baths every week. I don't
believe he needs a bath every week. I

probably have a different opinion on how
to raise animals because I grew up on a

farm. I think it irritates his skin to
give him a bath all the time.

Sphinx are nearly hairless. They secrete
a lot of oil out of their skin, and

they need to be bathed at least once a
week. This feels like classic sort of

joint custody.

Also, Oscar is a spiteful urinator.

Okay.

So, the spiteful urinator thing. I mean,
you know the cats don't operate the way

we do, right?

For certain, cats don't spitefully
urinate.

No, I think he does. You really think
that he's trying to get to you? Yeah.

You will go in front of the litter box.

You will not go in the litter box.

As long as you believe it, my job is to
change your mind.

Okay. Even beyond the urine, I run most
of my work from home, and so late at

night, I'm doing a lot of calls.

He howls and screams.

Very loud fellow.

A neighbor called in. You got a noise
complaint from Oscar? From Oscar, yeah,

and it was like he didn't sound like a
cat either. He sounded like a little

baby.

One unique thing about the Sphinx is
that they are very much a look at me,

at me, I want to be the center of
attention type of breed. And part of

the set of lungs these guys have on
them. They can be really deceptively

The big issue is Diane needs to be able
to watch him. I travel for work, and if

he can't be watched by Diane, then I
don't know where I can put him.

I spent the last... 17 years in
shelters, if he's peeing, if he's

don't care where you bring him. He's not
coming out of that place. If he dies,

we just got to fix this.

Yeah.

I read humans about as well as I read
cats. And I'm telling you, there's a big

level of resentment that I think Travis
has towards Diane. Hey, listen, you

dumped this cat on me. And now you come
back here and you say, I want to be a

part of this. And why isn't he being
nice to me?

I think it's justified resentment.

I want to see you guys hold him, okay?
Let me see what happens with you. Oh, I

know.

Hey. He's also talky.

How are you doing, buddy?

You put this cat in Travis's arms, and
it's rockabye sweet prince.

Look at that belly, too. That's fun,
this little.

And you give him over to Diane.

And this is every time.

Yeah, every time.

Poor Diane doesn't know what else to do
but keep going.

Please respond to me while the whole
time he's saying, just let me go, I

stand this.

What a crazy day.

I know.

I have felt that Diane has smothered
Oscar previously and it was nice that

Jackson,

Oh, okay.

I know. I'm so sorry.

You look so sad.

I'm used to Oscar treating me terribly.

I love Oscar, and I really want to work
this situation out.

It's very sad for me, too, because I
mean, I know how much Diane loves Oscar.

Yeah, yeah, I know. The one thing that
you notice from Diane spending any time

with her is how sad she is. There's this
insult.

that every time he tries to touch him,
love him, and say, remember me? Remember

what I used to be for you?

He says, we're not that anymore.

Of course, he said. I get it.

Yeah, I'll show you the upstairs.

This is nice.

You work here.

Mm -hmm.

There's his little, pay attention to me,
Purge. Yes. So he sits over there, and

he's like, hey!

That's right. This is where I'm finding
the biggest issue. He'll come up here

and he'll look at me and then he'll
start howling. It's definitely, you

it's very pertinent to the whole idea of
I have to be able to work.

I think a really interesting thing that
Travis was showing to us was like, you

know, I've given this cat this great
space to run around. And every night he

runs back and forth and then he bothers
me. Well, you have to be a part of

getting that energy out of him. And then
he's not going to scream at you. Does

he have his claws?

Not in the front. Oh, he's declawed.

Is he sensitive about his paws when you
touch them?

He is with me.

He is with you. Well,

that's another whole ball of wax we've
got to deal with in terms of the peeing.

All right, where's the litter box?

Oh, in the bathroom. All right.

So, is that him?

Yes. Let's first take a look at the
litter box.

I can pretty well tell you I think I
know what's going on.

Over the 15 years that I've been doing
this, I've seen more and more declawed

cats see outside the box. What the cat
does is they go into the litter box

the declaw, they step into the litter,
and they go, ow!

Their paws hurt.

Do what you would normally do with him.
I wanted to see Diane interact with

Oscar without Travis around.

Do the pet that you would normally do.

Hey, bud.

Bing.

As soon as you bring in that over
-touch, he says, it's overstimulation.

all it is. Diane clearly smothers and
overstimulates Oscar even when he's

screaming for her to stop.

So, Travis, you've got to do some of the
stuff that's causing him to really

dislike her.

You've got to be the tough parent. So
your homework that I want you to do is

bathe him.

And, Diane, I want you to release.

some of the stuff that you have to do.

Diane's homework is infinitely more
difficult than my homework.

My homework is to do nothing and let
Oscar come to me.

I have to throw him in a bucket of water
and, like, clean his toes.

We have to even out this classically
negative association with you. We're

rebuilding right now.

Co -parenting a cat is a unique
situation, but it can work.

But Travis and Diane have to be on the
same page about how to parent Oscar. I'm

going to...

I recommend a litter for you guys to
use, just smaller pieces.

And I'm going to have you add another
litter box.

Unfortunately, we see it with declaws
all the time. What happens is we say, I

don't want him scratching the furniture.
We declaw him, then they pee on the

floor. You think it's because he has a
declawed? Yeah, totally.

I think there's discomfort in his paws.
I found that to be very interesting

because we've both battled with this for
years. And I've never, from reading and

following up and trying the different
things, I've never heard that.

Now, about the owling.

If you can just get him worn out, you're
not going to get the, hey, because he

can't just entertain himself. You've got
to be part of the equation.

That's it for your homework.

So I'm going to take off, all right?

I thought Jackson was great, but if this
doesn't work, then, yeah, we'll have to

consider taking him to a shelter where
they'll probably put him down.

Two weeks ago, co -parents Diane and
Travis really had their hands full.

was getting attacked by Oscar because
she was the only one bathing him.

And Travis' job was basically on the
line because of Oscar's yowling.

So I gave them homework, which included
changing Oscar's litter box, having

Travis do the playing and the bathing,
and I had to have Diane step away for a

couple of weeks and not smother Oscar so
much. Let's see how they worked out.

Hi, Jackson. Hey there. How's it going?

It's going good.

I see tremendous progress with Oscar,
and I think, Jackson, I'll be pretty

pleased. What I want to do now is I want
to take a look at your homework that we

did last time. You sent me some great
footage.

Let's just watch.

It's like fishing.

Very curious.

What is that thing that I play with
every day?

That was really good. Now tell me what
you're noticing.

When I start to work, if he seems like
he's starting to get fidgety, I'll play

with him a little bit, even while I'm on
a conference call.

By and large, you're not getting the
back and forth, back and forth thing?

Right, like he has not once ran around.

It's amazing. Travis was very specific
that Oscar hasn't screamed at all. Now

that's some progress.

I've been sitting back and letting Oscar
come to me.

You know, my homework was to not, you
know, pet him and not bug him. And he

already trusts me more just in these
last two weeks from the last time that

were here. That's clear. As we're
sitting talking about their progress,

jumps up and he actually solicits
attention from Diane two weeks ago.

And now he's coming up there and saying,
hey, you're all right.

That's an amazing turn of events.

I think you put too much. I put too
much.

You brought in the new litter box.

Wonderful. Show me.

Sounds great. Let's do it.

So this is brand new litter, right? Yep.

This is the one I recommended to you,
which is much finer than the other

that he uses.

Being a declaw, he's got sensitive paws,
and going into that box affected him.

There's proof positive. Last time I was
here, we talked about, Diane, your

notion of spiteful peeing.

Yes. And what are we seeing now?

He hasn't gone at all. At all? No, not
one. Which tells you.

He doesn't spitefully urinate.

He doesn't spitefully urinate. Exactly
right.

Travis and Diane added a different type
of litter to the litter boxes.

In two weeks, he hasn't peed outside the
box just by changing litter.

Case done.

There's always stuff that you're not
seeing. So I want to grab my blacklight.

Travis and Diane are telling me that
Oscar hasn't peed anywhere outside the

in two solid weeks.

They had to bring out my blacklight. I
wanted to explore the litter box.

He was doing a lot of it out here.

All right, so he would go here in this
area.

About the toilet, nothing.

Anything right by your feet?

Good.

And even right next to the box, zero.

You're not lying.

Sure enough, there was nothing.

This, what he's doing here, is something
that I want to work on because this box

is only so big. And there's so much
litter in here. This just looks like

getting on his paws maybe.

Maybe something you don't want around
the rest of your house. You're certainly

right.

Overall, though, amazing news.

Congratulations. You want to shake my
hand on it? Maybe later. Maybe later.

He really knows the litter box now. And
I wanted to show them by showing them

what he had gifted.

I gave Travis the sole homework of being
the bather.

Good.

Oh, I know.

All right, guys, some great stuff in
there, and some stuff that needs some

So let me break it down for you. The
great stuff I saw from you was your

was full of reassurances.

Now, on the other hand, what I didn't
see from you was the full Monty. I mean,

you've got to give him a bath.

And on that note, sit there for a
second.

I got something I want to show you guys,
okay?

So I left the room for a minute to come
back with my present for these guys I

was kind of excited about.

All right.

Wow. Obviously you can tell what this is
all about.

Jackson came in with this big tub.

It's great to break the association with
the kind of cold metal thing. I think

it'll be really cool.

Let's take a little trip.

Diane's methods in terms of bathing
Oscar are obviously wrong.

Travis, although he's trying, is not
doing it correctly either. So I'm going

take them to a professional groomer
today to show them how to properly bathe

sphinx.

Hello there.

Hi. This is Travis and this is Diane.
Nice to meet you. Hi. And this is Oscar.

Sphinx need to be bathed once a week.
Because they have oilier skin, sphinx

more prone to feline acne. Therefore,
proper skin maintenance is a must.

And we have Oscar.

Okay. We got to teach the guy that once
a week or so, his face has to get

washed. Okay, I agree. So let's go ahead
and place him here on the table. It's

so crucial for Diane, first of all, to
see the way that she handles him right

now is completely wrong. And she now
needs to redefine her physical

with him.

Simple hypoallergenic shampoo.

Something that doesn't have a scent.

Diane and I have always had differences.

on how to bathe or groom Oscar.

The big part, though, was also how to do
it.

Any

time

that he goes to the sink for a bath...

I've seen the cat go.

Slowly put him in.

Insane.

On a sphinx, you've got to imagine that
without the hair.

He made a little bit of noise. That's
how he knows how to get out of things,

she wouldn't let him out. Did you see
how I placed him in?

Yep. Okay.

That's the only way to do it. Slowly put
him in. Let his head touch. Kind of

work from behind to front with a cool
washcloth. Kind of going from the neck

down.

Okay. Just to get the water all over the
body.

I know.

They're going to scream. They're going
to try to squiggle. They're going to

wiggle and try to move out. They are
going to do that. After a while, he'll

that this behavior is not good.

This is a pretty huge moment because
he's getting this back. He does his

every now and again. It's really just a
lot of noise and nothing else.

Yeah, he's perfectly fine. He's fine.

Now, with a cup.

You can go ahead and rinse them off. I
think Jackson's idea of going to the

groomers was really great because one of
the big issues that we've had going

forth is what kind of maintenance he
needs and how it should be done.

And so we got a lot of the questions
resolved today.

I thought we had a great time today.

Shonda was fantastic.

I'd like you to take the lessons that
you learned from her and apply it here

because we really do have to undo the
trauma.

And I will talk to you guys in a couple
weeks.

The next time I come back here, I expect
to see Travis and Diane complete the

picture that I have in my mind of co
-parenting, which is they both bathe

Not only do they bathe him, they use the
things that I brought in today to just

create a new experience for Oscar.
Within a few weeks, he's just going to

have the repetition of trauma.

I'm about ready to go in for my last
visit with Travis, Diane, and their

cat, Oscar. I really feel like if they
just stayed the course.

that we're going to see complete
success.

But I don't know. I'm about to find out.

Hello. How's it going?

Look who's back.

How are you?

The last time I was with Travis and
Diane and their cat, Oscar, we were at

groomers. He did pretty well, but that
cat has a set of lungs on him.

So I want to see you bathe him one more
time. I want to be a witness to it.

Now, I asked Travis and Diane to bathe
him again.

Is he going to get through the bath
again? Is he going to scream his head

don't know.

Here, let's... Excited?

All right.

Wait, wait, wait. Let him get
comfortable real quick.

There we go.

All right.

Isn't that fun?

That's amazing.

It really is.

He's not disturbing the neighbors.

He's not disturbing me, that's for sure.
Yeah.

During the whole time, you know, he had
a little bit of moaning and a little bit

of, oh, I don't want to be here.

But there was not the Oscar scream.

He just knew this was something I have
to get through. But because they were

building a new association for him, he
also knew that it was going to end. In

terms of what I saw the last time, what
I heard.

The first couple times, this is a night
and day difference.

It's a huge difference.

Yeah. Let me scratch my nose.

Thank you.

Now that's teamwork.

That's right.

Travis and Diane, just a few weeks ago,
in terms of co -parenting, they couldn't

have been on any further plane.

But it seems completely different now,
and they got the job done.

So now you both did the bathing
together. That was good.

We're getting along quite nicely. And my
relationship with Oscar has really

changed. He comes, sits on my lap now.

It's pretty amazing, actually.

You like this, Oscar?

I've just never seen him so relaxed with
me before.

I know.

It's completely different.

Right now, you've got a cat that's half
asleep while Diane pets him. No hissing.

No biting.

No peeing. Is that him? No yowling.

No nothing.

I mean, these guys can't take for
granted the magnitude of this change.

How many times has he hissed?

After secured.

We never thought that we could be in
such a good place.

Again, you guys have done an amazing job
with him. It was great to meet you.

When we first started this process, he
was miserable when I was around.

Now he trusts me.

Now it's a really pleasant experience to
have him around. He's fun.

He's honestly like a new cat.

Oh, baby, what?

I'm on my way over to see Vincent and
Esther. They've got this cat named Riley

that's suddenly turned violent.

Now, Esther is a veterinary technician.

She can't even figure out what's going
on. So I'm on my way over to see if I

just help them put together these puzzle
pieces.

Hi, I'm Vincent. And I'm Esther.

And we've been together three years now.

Married for a year and a half.

And we own a cat. Her name is Riley.

I got her from the veterinary hospital.

I'm not a cat guy. I'm a dog lover. And
when I saw Riley, I fell in love with

cats. She was cuddly. She was cute. You
could hold her in the palm of your

hands. And then one day, I just all did
a 180.

Baby, be good.

Ow. We don't know if she's bipolar or
just angry.

Be good.

Ow.

She bathed. Yeah, she got me.

I'm a musician.

And I'm a veterinary technician.

Which means that I should know more
about cats and their behavior.

So I definitely feel like I'm failing
our cat.

Sometimes when I get home, Riley and I
get into it right away.

I'm in a terrible mood.

Esther comes home. There's friction
right there, which is the only source of

friction. Riley the cat.

What happened?

She's just too bad.

There have been times that I've just
told her, just get rid of her. Just give

her to somebody that will deal with this
properly.

It would be very hard for me to let
Riley go to another family. It would

like I was the biggest failure because
she's so loving.

When you have an animal under the same
roof as you and you can't get along with

it, it's taxing on a marriage.

It would be nice if Jackson could help
us get that harmony that just is not

right now.

I'm about to go in and visit Vincent and
Esther and their cat Riley for the

first time. Now, I've heard that Riley
is a handful. She's incredibly

aggressive. I've got a feeling I've got
my work cut out for me.

Hey. Hi.

I'm Esther.

Hey, Esther. I'm Jackson. I'm Vincent.
Hey, Vincent. Nice to meet you. We

definitely were very hopeful of Jackson
being able to come in here and help.

It's always the big question mark of,
like, Oh, gosh, are we going to have

weird cat that can't be helped?

Oh, I'm glad I could get here because I
heard things were not lovely here.

Yeah, it's been a little rough.

Tell me about her.

Well, we got her as a kitten. She was
great until she passed teenagerhood into

being a big cat, and then she turned
into a wild schizophrenic.

She's part loving and part...

Just on a dime, man. She's just
impossible to handle or read.

What?

You have faith in the fact that the way
you handle her is proper and everything?

I mean, I'll see you do it later, but...
Yeah.

No way. Not me.

There's been times where I'll put her in
a towel, and I'll just restrain her

like that forever, you know, hoping that
she'll see I'm her caregiver.

You know what I mean? It's
inappropriate, I know. And I am an

it's driving me nuts that I'm at this
point. That she pushes your butt. Yeah,

course. It's ridiculous. Yeah.

He's saying he's sorry. Well, sorry
doesn't really cash the check because

the thing, you keep doing it. There's
another issue entirely is the potty

training thing.

Oh, you potty trained your cat?

Dude, it worked.

Cats are not meant to go in the toilet.
They're meant to go all over the place

and mark the entire territory. To me,
it's one step away from training your

to ride a unicycle and juggle chainsaws
at the same time. It's an insult.

After plays with her. Then she flips
over and, like, kicks and bites.

Do you ever get bit at work, scratched
at work?

I've rarely been bitten at work.

So you come home and you get beat up.

It's got to be frustrating.

Well, sometimes coworkers will be like,
oh, what cat got you? And I'll be like,

my own.

I wanted to take a tour of the home, and
I just wanted to see.

All the places that Riley has lashed out
before.

This is kind of a haven for her amongst
those dads and whatnot.

But this has also been a traumatic area,
too. Tell me what.

When her and I have been tussling or
whatever, having a disagreement.

A disagreement. Yeah, she'll,

you know, make this her little nook.

But this down here becomes a problem
area for you. Yeah, and... Something

in fear of is me reaching at her, you
know, to pull her out. Why do you pull

out again? Just, you know, it's my
shortcomings as a pet owner.

It's ridiculous. I've never felt like
this before about anything.

He will not let her be when she's under
there. When she's stressed out, he feels

like he must pull her out. Come through
our hallway.

Okay. Where we have the bathroom here.

Okay. And... Infamous toilet. Allow me.

She's pooping outside?

No, she's in. No, no, she's now finally
in. She's now finally in. We had to go

revert back to the level previous to
this one to get her to start

doing it before we moved. You had a lot
of work in there. We did. A lot of, you

know, my missteps were while, and I was
simultaneously imploring Esther, can we

just, can we just nix this?

When the cat, I would walk in and all of
a sudden it's on the floor.

I didn't handle that well.

You know what I mean? I would
immediately pick the cat up, like you

you know what I mean? Like their nose in
it? No, not their nose in it, but you

know what I mean? You would pick up the
cat and go, what'd you do? You know what

I mean? Like a dog. This did not work.
This resulted in flailing.

Probably more anxiety around the toilet.
Like I said, you know, I'm hip to it

all now. I get it. I understand my
missteps, but I'm still, you know, I'm

good with this. Okay.

This is the bedroom.

Okay.

She loves to go under the bed and climb
into the lining, almost like a hammock.

So there have been points where I've
taken that bed and pulled it up and

the cat out and put her in a different
room. You know what's really interesting

to me is that I can't imagine you
getting to this place where you pull

bed up and pull her out of here.

Vincent's not picking up on the fact
that every time he gets worked up, Riley

gets more worked up. By the way, I just
can't help but looking at this. If I was

to go up to her right now, she may...

Freak out.

Well, you know you just invited them, so
please.

What I do in approaching cats, first of
all, let them introduce themselves to

me, and then I'll follow their lead.
That's the important thing.

All right.

This is my look. The hand that feeds
you.

There you go. Do it again.

Now.

Now she got you. Yeah, yeah, she's
definitely done a job on you before,

It's very clear to me that there's
something in the dynamic of Vincent and

Riley's relationship that is to blame
here. Can you switch for a second?

Ralph!

What's up, girl?

Hi. Oh, I know.

She'll probably want to play. There we
go.

So this is how you two play. This is how
she plays.

Okay. Now that I've seen the response
that Vincent elicits and I've seen the

response that Esther elicits, it's time
for me to get in there and see what I

can do.

What I'm going to do immediately is cut
off escape, which I would never do to

you ordinarily, baby.

And I'm going to present hands kind of
the way that I thought you'd do it. In

experience, when I approach with hands,
it's limp, palm down, and not grabbing

at something. You grab at them, they're
going to grab back.

So, it's all in the hand.

What's that look that you're seeing
right now?

She's definitely questioning what you're
going to do with your hand. I think

she's mad at your hand.

Did you see what happened there? Yeah.
The minute you have a fist, her eyes

dilate. So we're going to mellow out
again.

You see what happened? Did you see that?

So as soon as my hand went down, I can
breathe again, right?

Where do I got to push you to the point
where you lash out? When I went from

flat hand to fist, she did this to me.

Thank you for hurting me. That's cool.

Now I want to see, it's okay, baby. Lip
licking, eyes looking for escape, ears

flat. Lip licking is a sign of
nervousness. Ears back, a defensive

which means she can attack at any time.

Now, her natural instinct at this point.

It should not just be fight. It should
be flight.

All right.

From that position, now you have escape.

You see?

She's so fixed on that that she's not
seeing escape.

She doesn't know better than to not
corner herself.

This is one of our biggest problems
right now because now...

I try not to ignite any friction between
me and Riley, so I don't see that side

of her very often. I don't see her in a
corner with her ears back. I don't see

her striking like that.

I don't try to ignite the friction
either, just to clear up the record.

If you don't mind, let's get out of
here.

Okay, so let me tell you the good, the
bad, and the ugly.

So, first of all, the fact that you get
pushed to a point... where you flip that

bed up.

We saw in there that really concerning
thing that I'd put a flat hand out, no

problem. I'd fist up.

And it was a huge problem.

Yeah. This is threatening to a human. If
I'm like this to you, you know.

This to a cat doesn't seem like it
should.

No. I'm telling you, this hand thing is
learned.

Something's happening here that is
threatening the hell out of her.

So your homework this week is pretty
simple. I want you to start journaling.

she's going through her space and say,
Zach threatened, put masking tape on the

floor in an X. So when I come over here
next time, I see where those X's are, do

it. On the other side, I can't stand
toilet training cats.

This to me serves no use except for you.

Get rid of it this week. Yeah. Now.

Vincent, I got to say this up front. I
need to know when she pushes you, and I

need to know exactly what you were
thinking when you get to that place. Oh,

got it, man. I'm going to document every
thought, every moment. In the same

time, put an end to hand play
altogether.

Yeah. No more playing with hands, no
more pulling out with hands. So what

means is you find those interactive toys
that...

you can both be involved in. Because
next time around, we're going to start

getting rid of all the things that
threaten her.

Good? Yeah. You down?

All right. Thank you very much.

You're very welcome. Great to meet you.
Good to meet you. Great to meet you.

Today I saw a cat that has obviously
been conditioned towards fear.

Now I got to get to the bottom of this.
I have to find out how far Vincent has

taken this, but it's not going to be fun
to find out.

So it's been a few weeks since the last
time I saw Vincent and Esther and Riley.

Hey there, Vincent.

Nice to see you again. Yeah, you too.

Hi. Now, the last time I was here, I
left completely bloodied up. That cat

whipping on me, so I didn't really know
what to expect walking back in again.

So, tell me a story. What's going on?

Well, we've been following the plan.

We've been handling Riley 90 % less.

Are you... Playing less with hands.

We've seen massive results right from
the beginning.

Riley has developed the best word for
it. It's trust.

Tons of trust. And I've watched it bloom
into this beautiful play interaction

between the two of them. Nice. It's
crazy.

Nice.

Let's do a quick hand check here. I
always love to do this at the beginning.

are you guys doing? Oh, yeah. I have no
new fresh cards at all. No, no. None of

us do.

The first bit of big news was that there
hasn't been any attacks.

I thought that in itself was amazing in
the time that we've been gone, only

three weeks. I'm really excited to get
to the video homework because you guys

did a lot in here, too. So let's take a
look.

This is going all day long.

I really love the fact that Vincent and
Esther were playing with Riley plenty in

this video homework.

The cat was just running with wild
abandon, no hands involved, which is

Remember, she's still scared of hands,
but she still likes to fetch.

All that was great to see.

Good stuff.

All right.

So, with all the detail that we saw in
the video, I'm absolutely excited to

start walking around here, starting with
these exes.

Last time I was here, I asked Vincent
and Esther to start marking places on

floor, what I called hot spots, with X's
where bad interactions were happening

with Riley.

Girlfriend.

So, tell me something. The last time we
were here, we had a lot of moments in

here that I found kind of... I pull out
a hand.

Honey.

So as soon as I started gesticulating,
just a little bit, I'd set her off.

So we know exactly right now how halfway
we are.

That's information I needed to see as I
put my hand in my back pocket. Look at

this. I looked over at Vincent and
Esther. They were concerned.

I had to let them know this is only the
50 % mark of this process. We're going

to see retreats like this. So let's go
back to this crazy.

cat algebra on the floor that we got
going on. The best way to do this is to

come out here, and I'll show you what
this was.

This door, this door was right here.

See, she's doing it right now. She's
trapping herself.

See that? Yeah. Hey, baby, I'm going to
put this there.

That was just about there.

Sorry.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait one sec.

Look what's happened. Yeah, right?

Yeah, it was a hand.

It was a hand.

And then she came out. Right.

Last time something like that happened,
the cat froze in the corner and started

lashing out like a trapped animal, which
she was.

This time, she chose escape.

That in itself is a game changer. You
went down there with a hand in the

picture. She was like, oh, I want out.
That's amazing. Give me some.

Riley seems to be on the right track,
but she's still scared of hands.

I had to talk to Vincent.

He has been prone to fits of rage around
this cat. I had to know if he followed

that rage all the way to the end and
struck her.

So, you know, you went flipping the bed
and all that stuff. So when you did the

bed, how did that end? What did that
look like at the end?

At the end, it wound up me, you know,
fishing her out by the back of the neck,

you know. And I'm sure, no doubt, it was
traumatizing.

It doesn't make sense.

I mean, because honestly, I got to know
at some point if you hit her.

No. You've never hit her? No, I've never
hit her. I've whipped her up. I've

picked her up by that back of the neck
quite a few times, you know.

You would scruff?

Hold that one more time, because me and
you are both doing it right now. She's

feeling that, right? The aura of a fist
right on her person.

Thank you. I mean, the thing is, you
know it's wrong when you're doing it.

know it's counter -effective, but it's
like... Well, first of all, thank you so

much for your honesty on this one. Of
course. Thank you, man. No, but...

I didn't put myself out there. You did.

So let's go rejoin Esther in the living
room. Go over some homework. Cool.

Of course I can feel for Vincent.

He's not an animal abuser. He's never
struck the cat, but he has traumatized

her, and now we just have to move
forward from there.

All right. Let's talk some homework now.
Okay. I feel pretty strongly right now

because of the information you gave me.
Thank you again.

Of course.

And now we get to counter -condition
that.

Now we're going to start desensitizing
and counter -conditioning the experience

with hands.

And that includes the fifth, but you're
praising at the same time. So with all

that, that's all your homework.

I'm off, and I will see you very soon.

All right. Sounds great. Take care.

I'm going in for my last visit with
Esther, Vincent, and Riley, and all I'm

hoping for this time is a little bit of
peace. I just want to make sure that

Riley is grounded.

Is not attacking. And also, at this
point, I'm hoping that hands are not the

thing to send her over the edge.

Oh, baby, what?

The bedroom.

The bedroom. Now, this has been the
scene of many a tragic circumstance.

Have you had any incidents with her in
the corner? How has she reacted? She

really hasn't backed herself in any
corners.

So big, it's so important.

What I really needed to see was Vincent
using his hands with Riley, because if

you go back to day one, all of the
trauma was based around his fist

her.

Come here, baby.

Come here, Ralph.

Come here.

Hi, baby. Good girl. Hi.

Good girl.

Hands are no longer a problem for Riley.

Closed fists, open hands, wiggle the
fingers, no problem whatsoever.

I want to see this cool trick that
you've done, fist treat.

Vincent told me something very
interesting, that what he's been doing

my exercises one step further and
presenting a prize in the fist. I never

thought of that. Look at that, baby.

What's in there? What do you think's in
there?

Oh, my God.

That was amazing, man.

Riley and I, we're buddies.

I handle her a lot less, and then when I
do handle her, it's always positive.

And now she's with you, and then I do my
little sitting dance. Right, right,

right. We do a little sitting dance on
that one.

Vincent and Esther have done everything
I've asked to help out their cat, Riley.

They've reconditioned her so she's not
afraid of hands anymore.

Vincent has changed his behavior
completely around her, and therefore she

doesn't corner herself and lash out in
fear anymore.

Thanks so much, dude. We couldn't have
done this without you. It was amazing. I

mean, I have so much gratitude for this.
You know what? Me too, because I

learned a lot through your process.

Thank you, because I want to take it to
the next group.

It's always great to see a cat change.

It's almost more amazing to see a human
change.

Even though I've worked with a lot of
cats in the veterinary hospital.

I do not feel like a failure like I did
before.

The tools that we've been given and the
insight we've been given helps us to see

results.

I feel the exact opposite that I did
three months ago when I wanted to get

of Riley. I was absolutely fine with her
being gone, and today she's a fixture

of our home, and I love her. She's a
good cat.