Original subtitles

Max is on guard at all times. He attacks.

My children haven't come over here at all ever since Max has become this

My grandchildren mean everything to me. I love them. Don't say your family comes

first if the cat comes first.

I'm all he's got.

When Capri acts out, Summer, her mother, will console her. She doesn't punish

her. I don't like people yelling at her.

I should feel comfortable in my own home, and I don't.

Now I eat dinner in my room in my bed, and I should be able to sit on the couch

without having something trying to attack me or hiss at me. Honestly, I

really care if other people are upset about Capri's behavior.

I'm going to move out if Capri's attitude doesn't change.

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?

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

Whoa!

I'm heading over right now to see Anna and her son Chris about her cat, Max.

Oh. Max's aggression is so off the charts that basically Chris refuses to

her grandchildren around anymore. This aggression is about to break up this

tight -knit Italian family, and I'll tell you what, I'm not going to let that

happen.

This is my mom, Anna. And this is my son, Chris.

We are a big Italian family.

I'm the youngest of ten.

Full of life. We're a very animated crowd.

We love each other. We love to hate each other. It's just great.

Some of my best memories of my Nona.

We're spending like a week with her.

Nona is the Italian word for grandmother.

I would love for my children to have that with her, but she has an evil cat

named Max.

Max, he's a rag doll, and he's eight years old, and he's been with me since

eight weeks old.

I'm the one who actually brought the cat home to my mom, who was mourning the

loss of a beloved cat. And he was fine. He was a very playful kitten for, I

think, the first year.

Then something changed.

He started being really aggressive.

Max is on guard at all times. He attacks.

And it's not even a playful attack. It's a, I'm going to kill you attack.

Being a Nona is everything. My grandchildren mean everything to me. I

my grandchildren to have good memories of me, but I tend to be alone a lot,

and I love Max.

But Max could do harm to my son.

I'm not coming here. Why should I subject myself or my children to that

If we can't fix Max, then either it's him or my family.

Hey, how are you? I'm great. How are you doing?

I'm fine. I'm Anna. Hey, Anna. I'm Jackson. Good to meet you. Come on in.

The moment I saw Jackson, my heart lifted.

It was like Superman had arrived.

Oh. We have a cat problem?

People have called him the psycho cat.

Max is my cat.

He's eight years old. He's been with me since he's eight weeks old. And he's a

rag doll.

Oh, he's a rag doll? Yeah.

Now ragdolls are known to be mild -tempered cats. They actually go limp

pick them up. They're not known to be aggressive at all. So I was really

intrigued to see what would make a normally docile cat so ferocious.

When you call him psycho cat, is he more psycho than he is not psycho? Not with

me necessarily, but when other people are around.

It's anybody but her.

When was the last attack that happened?

That was this morning with me.

He bit me in the hand. These are all bites?

Yeah, that's one from one bite.

That's pretty bad looking.

Did you clean that up? Yeah, I'm a firefighter paramedic, so I can clean

this stuff up. Yeah, you know what you're doing.

But I'm very standoffish from him because every time I'm here, he's angry.

don't like being around the cat.

I don't. Wow, Chris is a firefighter, and even he's scared to deal with Max.

bad is this cat?

You are still holding on to Max. You're not letting go. No.

I'm all he's got, and I don't want to give up on him. Right.

I love Max.

You know, I do.

My kids grew up with their Nona being very involved in their lives, and I want

to be that for my grandchildren.

But don't say your family comes first if the cat comes first.

Do something with the cat. Either fix him or find a kitty farm somewhere.

I look over to Anna.

And she looks tortured.

My mom, she said, well, why don't you come on over for dinner? And I was like,

we can't. We've got the kids.

And she's like, well, bring the kids with you. Not with that cat around.

We're at the point that since your two kids have been on this planet, you

haven't been here for dinner.

That's like anti -Italian. You can't do that. It's pretty simple. Either the cat

changes or we don't bring the kids around.

I feel horrible for Anna because for the love of her cat, they basically

isolated her. And that's a problem on so many levels, not just for Anna and her

well -being, but for Max's as well.

Let's get up and start walking around, okay? Okay.

The first place I wanted to go was the most important place in the Italian

and that's the kitchen. Tell me exactly where you'd be worried about.

Christopher likes to just walk in the kitchen. Christopher, if you're older.

Son. Your older son? And I would imagine Mac here.

Because you'd be cooking.

Yeah. That means Mac's here. Right. And he's just, he's here. Yeah.

Cats are territorial, so we have to make a safe environment so that Chris's

son's presence doesn't make Mac feel threatened. At the same time, his son's

to feel safe to explore his known as house.

You guys hang out. I'll be back, all right? All right. In order to do that,

time for me to spend a little bit of time with Mac.

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

Where are you, Max?

Max?

Where are you, man?

Oh, hey.

Oh, God, man.

When he just flew by my face and out there, I'm telling you, my heart skipped

beat. Hey, hey, where you going, buddy?

Where are you going?

All right, Max.

Come on, buddy.

It's okay, buddy.

We're about this close.

Are you okay?

I know.

Come on, mister.

Don't go back up there again.

Let's go.

This cat has some muscle behind him. When he hit me, it hurt. You're like a

boxer. Come on, Max.

Okay. All right, dude.

I pushed Max enough for one day, and I've seen enough at this point.

Max, buddy, I'm going to leave you alone now.

And I'm going to get out of this room before I get bit. Bye, Max.

Okay, guys.

Max is clearly agitated with my presence.

He was hissing at me a lot. His growling is pretty menacing. He's a big cat.

Max is out of control.

It's completely unacceptable.

And if she doesn't take action, I'm going to take action. And my action is

not bringing my family or myself over here to see my mom.

You guys ready for some homework?

Okay.

Now, the first thing I want to talk about is block off unders and build up.

I want him.

up in places where he's going to feel a little more strength. I want to

encourage the vertical world for Max. That way we can get Max up feeling like

he's safe, not trapped.

The second thing that we noticed was the personal bubble spaces around you that

he's built. He's saying Ana is the most important piece of the territory in his

life. I call that a bubble of protection.

So we have to start taking that bubble of protection and just bursting it. And

the way we're going to do that, Chris, is you're just going to come over here

and sit.

in these bubbles with your mom.

Socially, we have to bring him the knowledge that people are good. I want

to come over to the house. I want him to just sit there and find out where Max's

challenge line is. And this way, we can push that line back more and more and

just deflate the bubble altogether.

Also, I want you to find interactive toys and really work him out. Now, my

biggest goal by the time I leave here, I want to see a family dinner here in

this home.

I want to see the kids here. I want to see everybody gathered around that

And I want to see the trust that Max has gotten because he's earned it. All

right. Good?

If the cat is mellow, then sure.

I got you.

All right. It was wonderful to meet you.

And I will talk to you very soon.

I definitely have my doubts that Jackson can help Max.

And if he can't help Max, then we can't come over here. I won't allow my

children to come over here.

I'm here for my second visit with Anna, her son Chris, and Anna's cat, Max.

The last time I was here, Max was so aggressive that Anna didn't even have a

relationship with her grandchildren because Chris wouldn't bring them over

fear that Max would attack them. Now, I've given them homework to hopefully

bring this family back together again and allow Anna to be the Nona, or

grandmother, that she's always wanted to be.

Hello. How are you? I'm so glad you came back.

You didn't think I was going to come back?

No.

Hey, Chris.

Hi, Jackson. How you doing, man? Good. How are you? I'm great. Good to see you.

So, guys, tell me, how's it been? How's Max?

He's a lot calmer, and I play with him now, and he's totally enjoying it. Good,

good, good.

Have there been any attacks?

No. Hey, that's great.

Chris, how are things going with you?

They've been progressing and getting better. We blocked out under the couches

and tables and beds.

Don't even think about going down there.

Good. It's working okay. He's still trying to hide. He'll go in a corner

somewhere and curl up into a ball.

He's getting a little anxious.

That is definitely something we have to work on because, again, we've got a

couple weeks and we're going to have a dinner over here, right?

Tell me honestly.

Honestly. At this point, do you feel like you can bring over your wife and

No. No.

You're telling me also that we've got a long way to go?

We do.

Okay. That's what we have to work on. Things seem to be moving in the right

direction with Max, but he didn't even hesitate when he said no.

Flat no.

I need to get this guy's buy -in if we have any prayer of making this work. You

guys shot some video for me. I've got it here. So let's take a look at your

video homework.

First of all, I got to see Chris doing his homework, putting up all the shelves

in the living room and taking it seriously, which I love to see. He did a

job. The only thing I didn't get to see was Max actually using those shelves.

I saw that Anna discovered something huge about Max. He loves to play.

I didn't think he would play.

I haven't seen that in years.

I love seeing that because that's what a normal cat does.

Here we are, breaking up the circle of protection.

The last time I was here, I needed Chris to puncture that circle of protection

around Anna. He's strapped. He's shaking.

But he didn't get any worse with you sitting down.

There was no hissing. There was no growling.

That's huge news.

Great work. You guys are telling me some great things. We should get up. Let's

walk around. Show me what you guys have done, okay? We head into the living

room, and immediately, the work on the shelves is just out there for me. It was

really good work. Hey!

Wonderful. I love this, guys.

This is fantastic.

Now, tell me what your reasoning here was, what you built here. Tell me how

working. Well, my thoughts were this table could be the first step.

Okay. And then he bumps up to this one, and then it could go either direction,

whichever he prefers.

Fantastic. And then if he wants, he can make it to the mantle from that one.

and kind of gives him some options.

I've got to give Chris some props.

He made sure that Max always had a place to go so that he won't corner himself.

That's going to help us out a ton.

First of all...

Fantastic work. I love the way it looks in this room, actually. I mean, it

really works well. Yeah, it does look nice. And it doesn't look like you did

something for the cat and sacrificed you in the process.

No, it looks good. I mean, over time, you could do things like stain it

color you wanted to stain it. But in the meantime, I love that it is height

-wise, I think, perfect.

Maybe there's this one where your son can get up and put hands up if he wanted

to. tippy toes get up there but we're just not gonna let that happen uh

we do want max to believe over time that this is a safe place to be and this is

a safe place to watch the world i love that scratching piece um and uh has he

laid on it yet has he done anything he he

actually laid on it for the first time today. Good, good. Yeah. The thing that

love about that particular piece, it works as a scratcher, but for some

cats just love laying on it. Yeah. And even the big guys like him. Yeah. So

again, what I would like to do with that, because if you look at it right

the positioning of it is neither here nor there. It's not serving a purpose in

here. So let's think of a place in here. I mean, I love, again, that you blocked

off this end table over here. But what I want to see is everything in here has a

purpose.

And that just seems to me to be a little, I don't know, a little not

So we'll think about what to do with that. You know, again, I'm working on

trying to open up this area just a little bit.

But maybe there's other windows in the home that we can really be opening up

him. There's something about this area that's really tricky to me. We'll talk

about that a little bit.

Anywhere that he could get under an ambush is gone, and we are encouraging

the world.

That's what we wanted from Max, and they did a great job in achieving that.

What I need to do, just like I did last time, is I need to check in with Max,

okay? Okay. Come on.

Ana and I go into the bedroom, and in that moment, I was thinking, oh, my God,

the last time I was here was not a lot of fun. Come on.

So this time I'm just hoping for a better outcome.

Oh, hi, mister.

Let me tell you what I'm up against here. Yes.

Every time I meet Max, he goes and corners himself.

So I need you to bring that calm to him, okay?

Okay. All right, let's go for it.

Hi, baby.

Pick him up and just go onto the bed with him. Okay.

All right, buddy.

Hi, buddy.

I am just going to keep making my way, just like I did last time. You just keep

him calm.

I want to push Max's challenge line a little bit. I want to get him used to

being with somebody else besides Anna. I am going to start petting him, and then

I want you to slowly pull your hand away.

So, I wanted to use a technique that I call the handoff, and that's using

somebody's energy that Max trusts and then transferring it to me.

Good boy.

I know.

Good boy.

And you can bring your hand away.

Prowl a little bit.

Good boy.

That's my good boy.

He's not even moving.

The handoff was a complete success. It was amazing because he didn't even

flinch. He didn't give me that look. He just accepted the touch.

Let me tell you, I mean, there is a huge difference in him between the last time

I was here and now. He's actually purring.

So then it hits me. I got it all wrong.

Max's circle of protection around Anna is not him trying to protect her. It's

him seeking protection from his mom.

So let's go join Chris.

Okay.

I'm going to give you guys some new homework. Okay. Okay, come on.

In that moment, I realized who he was, that he wasn't an offensive cat. He was

defensive. That's the starting point that we have needed all the way along

Max. Now we got it. So moving forward, I got some homework for you.

What we just did in the room was really pretty amazing.

I wanted to pet him, and then I had you.

Take your hand away so that I was the only one petting him. That's called the

handoff. And I want you to start involving other people doing that. And

way of bursting this bubble this time around, okay? Okay.

The second thing, you're going to build some ramps. so that we can go from shelf

to shelf without jumping. At the same time, you're going to entice him around

these shelves by the newfound love of playing and with treats as well.

Now, one last thing I'd like you to do, I want you to bring a few people over

here and do an activity that has nothing to do with him. If he's ignored and

he's in there and he has his out, I think it's going to work really well

I am convinced that he will not go after anybody.

Chris, I still have this, like, gush feeling like you're not going to jump on

board in terms of bringing everybody over here.

It's time to get the grandkids here.

My wife, I don't think that she 100 % buys in on this whole deal. Ah.

So your sons have never been exposed to Max before.

No. There we go. So.

Our goal is to get the family over for dinner. I want kids here, your wife. I

want to make sure that kids get to spend time with their grandma.

So I need a commitment from you that you'll at least trust me that we can do

this.

Yeah, I believe you.

I'll trust you on that. For sure.

Deal. Make a deal.

Great, man. That's fantastic.

Next time I come back here, I want to see Max around the family. I want to see

the dinner, kids running around, Max feeling safe. It's a lot to hope for.

if these guys embrace this homework, I think it could happen.

Thanks, Jackson.

All right, man. We'll talk to you guys soon, right?

A hundred things could go wrong, and I would not have free access to my

grandchildren. Max and I would be living in isolation.

We'd be back to square one.

Now it's time for a kitty bit. In what herb family is catnip found? A, mint, B,

alfalfa, or C, eucalyptus?

The answer after the break.

Now it's time for a kitty bit.

In what herb family is catnip found? And the answer is mint.

Catnip is a perennial herb and member of the mint family Labiate.

Catnip releases inhibitions. So for some cats, it works wonderfully in calming

them down. For some, it ramps them up. You just have to know your own cat.

So I'm here for my final visit with Anna and her cat Max and her son Chris.

Now Max was so violent when I first met Anna. She had basically isolated herself

from her family. Either the cat changes or we don't bring the kids in.

Now on the video homework, I got to see Max really taking to his shelves. That's

my buddy.

He's walking around, so that was great to see.

Oh, you're letting Carrie pet you.

I also got to see Max being pet by some of Anna's friends. Yeah, Max was being

pet.

Hopefully I'm walking in here today where we can have a big family gathering

the end of the day. So my fingers are crossed on this one.

Hi, Jackson. Hey, Chris. Good to see you, man. Good to see you. How are

going here? Well, I've had people come in and out several times. And Max will

just, you know, sit and watch people on his own. I didn't have to drag him out.

That's amazing.

I didn't have to drag him out.

And now he's, you know, just kind of cruising around and not really too

about what's going on around him. Hi, baby.

That's all the work that we've been doing here. Now, our goal here today was

bring over your wife and kids.

Are your nerves bigger than your sense of optimism?

I feel okay with what's going on with him right now, but I'm still a little

leery. Not only does Max have to earn people's trust, I think people have to

earn his trust, too.

We want to make sure that we're staying positive about the experience today, but

I think we have a lot of reason to be positive. So come on, let's get food

for everybody coming over. Okay.

I just want to see Max in the same room as us, not fearful.

I don't want him running away. I don't want him running at anyone. I don't want

to see any aggression. Very simple. If that can happen, brilliant. We're done.

Success.

Hi. Hi, Dad.

Come on in.

Hi.

Say hi, Nona.

Hi, baby.

I'm Jackson. Hi, Jessica.

You got to remember, Jessica has not been over to this house since she was

pregnant with her first child because of Max's violence.

I am sweating bullets.

My fingers are crossed. I'm just hoping things are going to go well. You look

pretty calm about everything, actually.

Are you?

Yes, because Max isn't out right now.

So I send Ana into the bedroom to bring him out. Sit with him on the couch for a

second. See if we can get him to be a part of it.

Anna, how are you feeling over there?

We're doing good here.

Max is purring.

Wow. I was not expecting that.

Of course, it wouldn't be me if we didn't push this just a little bit.

And I'd love for you to come on and join us.

Try to Max.

He's on the couch.

Seriously,

look at him.

Look at him.

I am so excited to see him singing. How are you feeling?

I'm pretty shocked.

I'm sitting right next to Christopher. He's making some serious noise. He's

making like a symphony with his silverware. It's loud. He's talking.

And Max just is hanging out.

He's not going anywhere.

That is worth the price of admission right there. It's pretty amazing, yeah?

Yes, very.

All this noise, I'm really amazed he's still there.

It's nice being able to see him out and comfortable, and he seems pretty relaxed

right now.

Jackson would have to be a miracle worker to pull it off. Well, it looks

has, because now my children can come over here, my wife will come over here,

and not have to worry about the psycho cat coming out and clawing you in the

when you're not looking.

All I wanted was to have Max in the same room with you guys. Baby sounds galore

going on. He's just hanging out there.

We got it.

And I'm going to leave you guys, okay?

Have a wonderful rest of your night. Thank you very much. You're totally

welcome. It was great to meet you. Pleasure. I feel really secure walking

here today because this is mission accomplished.

Max is not attacked at all because of all the work that Ana and Chris put into

this, blocking up and building up so that Max couldn't corner himself, play,

inviting people into Ana's circle and bursting that bubble of protection. We

to where we are today.

And you?

Thank you so much.

I'm happy that it looks like I'm going to get that relationship with my

grandchildren that I've always wanted.

Bye. Take care. Bye. Bye.

I'm heading over to see roommates Adrian and Summer in Summer's cat Capri.

Capri's violence is so bad that it's threatening to break up their happy

Capri has been violent towards Adrian and anyone else they bring over to the

house. I can't live in fear in my own home.

And Adrian has said that Summer either brings her cat under control or her bags

are packed.

I'm going to make sure that that doesn't happen.

I'm Summer. I'm Adrian.

And we're roommates.

Capri's my cat. And I can't stand Capri.

Capri is eight. I've had her since she was a kitten. She's the love of my life,

but everybody seems to think she's the devil.

She smacks people a lot, sometimes across the face.

I met Capri when I first moved in, and she terrorized me.

The only place I could be is in my room.

I walk out of my room and the cat's just like standing right there, cornering me

in my own room.

She thinks she owns the house.

And if you even reach your hand out, he will attack you. Oh, my gosh.

When Capri goes after other people, at first it used to amuse me.

I can't help but laugh.

Honestly, I don't really care if other people are upset about Capri's behavior.

I think that that cat is spoiled rotten.

Oh, whatever.

It's a prima donna.

A lot of people say that I baby my cat because I walk her in a cat stroller and

I feed her water out of my hand.

If Summer had to choose between me or Capri, she would choose her cat.

It would totally suck if Adrienne had to move out because I really enjoy having

Adrienne as my roommate.

I'm hopeful that we're going to be able to fix things, but if I'm going to move

out, if Capri's attitude doesn't change.

Hi, I'm Jackson. Hi, Summer. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Come on

in. Hi, I'm Adrienne, Summer's roommate.

Good to meet you. I'm Jackson. Nice to meet you.

Oh, guys.

Tell me why I'm here today. What's going on?

You're here to help my kitty, Capri. Yeah. Well, tell me the story about

When I first had her, she was really sweet to everybody, but then she became

vicious. Seems like overnight. Overnight. She is a...

A little devil to everybody else but me. She loves me.

And then people also say that I baby her too much, and that's why she is the way

she is. I sometimes will walk my cat in a cat stroller.

I don't know if you ever heard of anybody doing that.

What's that face?

You think she enjoys being in the stroller?

Well, not initially.

She doesn't. You know, she meows the whole time, and then she's like, oh.

crying. She doesn't want to be in the stroller. She's like, okay.

Summer treats Capri like a child.

spoiled child.

She's being coddled. These are all the kinds of things that send up a lot of

flags for me.

When I moved in here, Capri was immediately growling at me, very

I couldn't even sit on this couch with her.

Wow. I'm scared to sit on the couch. I'm afraid she's going to attack me.

Is that why you're never out here? Yeah. You're never out here? I'm never out

here anymore.

Now I eat dinner in my room in my bed and I watch TV in my room. That's crazy.

And you're laughing right now. She thinks it's funny. Look at her.

I mean, she's not happy right now.

And I assume you don't find this funny. No.

I usually punish her when she does. How do you punish her? Put her in the

shower. I'll close the door for like two minutes.

And I'll come back inside and she's like, meow.

Really? I guess it sounds pretty bad when you do that. It sounds awful.

You know what's funny to me? People who think they can punish a cat.

Bad girl.

There's no way, nor should you try.

Cats don't know what you're saying to them. They don't get the concept of

punishment. All they know is that when you raise your voice and shake your

they should be scared of you.

Adrian, this is probably the last thing you needed.

Yes, absolutely.

Are you done?

We're good friends, but yeah, I don't think I can live this way for much

I want to look for another place to live.

Adrienne is saying that she's one foot out the door. If I can't fix Capri,

basically, she's leaving.

Come on, let's get up and walk around. All right.

So this is our kitchen.

Okay. And this is where Capri likes to terrorize me mainly.

She'll usually come to about right here. She usually doesn't come any closer

because I'm yelling.

You're yelling? I'm yelling at her. I yell, no, get out of here, dumb cat.

Did you grow up with cats or no? No. I have dogs my whole life. Never a cat.

Tell me where else we got problems, okay? Let's go take a look. Okay.

And here's my bedroom.

Okay. So this is, you know, her bedroom too.

What I really want to do is spend some time alone with her. So I'll let you

go on your merry way.

All right. Sounds good.

I asked Summer and Adrian to leave the bedroom because I knew that Capri was in

there and it's time for me to spend some alone time with her.

Where are you?

Oh, there you are.

How's it going?

Come on up. Ow!

As soon as I got down there, she was telling me in no uncertain terms to back

off. Ow!

Ah, damn it.

So before I pushed Capri's challenge line as far as I was comfortable doing

now I wanted to push her trust.

It's okay.

It's okay, baby.

It's okay, my little one.

My baby.

Ooh, what's that?

Oh, that smells good, right?

It took her a little bit, and then she made that move. Took the food. That

trust in that moment. You gotta think, a couple of minutes ago, Capri was

striking at me, trying to bite me. Now, she's eating out of a dish that is

maybe, I don't know, six inches between us? This I could work with. Very nice

work.

We like that.

So I loved ending my time with Capri on a high note. I wanted to go and share

what I had seen with Summer and Adrian.

All right, guys, I want to give you homework based on a couple of things.

one of the first things is Capri has no destination whatsoever, nowhere.

So I want you to start thinking of destinations in the most socially

areas in this home, the living room, the kitchen. I want to see beds all over

this home.

I want there to be a vibe in this house of inclusion.

That's why I want to have beds around the place. Give her something to own in

socially significant area. I really believe that you're holding her back a

little bit, Summer. I mean, if you're the only one giving her good things,

why would she ever turn to anybody else? So I would like Adrienne to start being

involved in giving treats and food.

The thing that I'd like you to do also, Adrienne, is play with her.

Summer's got to open up the world to Capri. She's got to let other people in.

And I want other people, specifically Adrian, to take on treats and playtime

feeding meals. So she gets to just have good times with her that they just don't

have right now.

Summer, the stroller. It might have worked at some point. Now it doesn't.

means no more stroller.

Summer, another thing. I don't want to see any more of the shower thing. None

it at all. It doesn't help.

Guys, it was great to meet you. If you run into any trouble, you call me, okay?

All right. Thank you for your help. You're welcome, guys. I'll talk to you

I don't want to have to find another place to live, but I've been living with

this for eight months, and I won't be surprised if it doesn't work.

I'm going in for my second visit with Summer and Adrian in Summer's Cat Capri.

The first time I was here, Capri was a really violent cat, but also she was

being treated like a baby from Summer. I'm going in right now to see if the

homework I gave them worked.

Hi. Hey, Adrian. Come on in.

Hey, Summer. Hi.

So, how's life with Cat?

Promising. Talk to me about it.

Well, she's become more social, as you can see. I was going to say.

She's become a little bit more social.

That's a positive thing.

The first time I came here, Capri was lashing out.

Now she's coming out. She's part of the social scene. And according to Summer

and Adrian, attacks are just not happening right now. And that's the main

that I wanted to accomplish the last time I was here.

Tell me what else has been going on.

Okay, and then I have to confess something.

Okay. So I put her in timeout.

You didn't put her in the shower.

I put her in the shower. You did. You put her in the shower.

But I didn't close the door. Why did you put her in the shower?

I have no idea what Summer is thinking. People misinterpret all the time. They

think, well, my cat gets it. They don't get it. They're just scared.

So are you afraid of her still?

Oh, yeah. If her and I can't come to terms and...

Live in peace, and yeah, I will move out. At this point, I can tell that

Adrienne is still frustrated. She said, I don't know whether I'm staying or

going. All right, I have your video homework right here, and let's go over

little bit together.

The first thing I got to see was they put the bed in the living room and

actually used treats to lead Capri. I was trying to see if she'd get to the

and then I'd reward her.

Nice, you see?

You get that cat into the box, she lives in there now. She doesn't go on the

couch. Adrienne's spending more time in the living room. I really felt great

about what I saw Adrienne doing on the video homework. She's trying to do what

asked her to do, which is feed Capri. You see, I brought the food to her

she wouldn't even go to her bowl.

And Capri will not eat from her at all. You don't want her to give it to you?

you i know adrian's gonna be doing something wrong and i'll find out what

is that's me trying to play with her go go get it it's not like playing fetch

this is a cat she needs to hunt but at least if she's got that investment then

can teach her more hey listen let me tell you something first of all video

homework fantastic now here's what i want to do see this toy right here he's

already eyeballing it now watch this

And she's off the couch. I wanted to show Adrian how to play with Capri, so I

brought out an interactive toy.

I've got her occupied because I'm not just flinging it around.

I am treating it like it's prey.

I want specifically Adrian to play with her. Show her that you care that she's

still in the house and know that if we drain that energy off in a positive way,

this cat won't attack her. When we have this idea that we're having them hunt,

well, this is what they do in the wild. What's the next thing we do?

We feed her. Now she's ready to eat. Let's do it.

Okay. Come on, let's go. After playing this cat out, now it's time to reward

and have her eat.

Adrienne, I just need you to be vocally very present.

I kind of, like, suggested to her, like, nom, nom.

We're going to do basically exactly what Summer just did, and I want to see what

happens. Okay. Go ahead and grab some food.

Let's see your feeding with her.

there she goes. The reason why Adrian's able to feed Capri in front of me this

time is because she finally changed up that vocal tone and she's approaching

with more confidence.

She's mimicking Summer's voice that she uses during feeding and because of that,

Capri's responding.

Good work. Let's keep moving. Come on, guys.

After the feeding ritual, Capri was just so much more relaxed, so much more

inviting, so I sat down, took the toy. Good girl.

and started trailing it around my legs, and she followed my legs. Up onto the

couch next to me, she followed that. I then brought her onto my lap.

Good girl.

I am so proud of you.

When Capri settled in my lap, I turned, and I saw Summer, and she was crying.

Why is it making you cry?

It's so sweet.

It is sweet.

She is. She's a sweet cat.

I just can't believe this is happening. I can't believe that she's sitting on

your lap. I mean, she's not a lap cat.

I just freaked out and started crying. I was so happy. I never thought that that

would happen, that Capri would sit on his lap. Not that fast, no way.

Here's the cat that would not let me touch her the first day I came here.

She's now in my lap, hanging loose.

We got no problems, right?

When Capri was in my lap, just settling in.

It was important that I show Adrienne so she could have proof and hope that she,

too, could have this moment with Capri down the line. It makes me happy. I like

to see her happy. I got to tell you, I was encouraged. It was time for Adrienne

and Summer's homework.

All right. First of all, you guys have done fantastic work so far.

Adrian, I want you to be the main player here. And I want you to do exactly what

I was saying, which is you do the big play, you really poop her out, then you

for the feeding.

Okay. You got to remember, she came to me today because I was playing with her.

And then I was able to get her on my lap from there.

So, Adrian, I want you to do it by the next time I'm here. I want to see that

cat in her lap.

I don't think that Capri can sit on my lap. You know, she's still lashing out

me.

So I'm scared.

We're in the homestretch here. I don't want you moving out at all.

That's our goal.

And if you have any questions, call me, okay? All right. Thank you. Good to see

you.

So I'm here for my last visit with Summer and Adrian and Summer's cat

who, when we first started out, was a pretty violent cat, so much so that

was totally ready to move out of here. This time I'm going to walk in here and

hope that we got Adrian and Capri together.

Hi. Welcome. Hey, how you doing?

Adrian. Hi.

You look kind of cheery, which is a good thing.

Are you really?

Yes. Things going well?

Things are going well. Capri and me, we're getting there.

Okay. Like, we definitely progressed.

It looks like it actually genuinely makes you happy, too. Yeah, absolutely.

I like how we can share a bond. Absolutely.

Adrienne, the first time I came here, you were trapped in the room. Yes. Is

still on the table?

You know, with your help, now I'm able to come out to the common area, and we

can all hang out in here together.

If you had to narrow it down, And this is why Capri is better than she was.

Tell me, what do you think?

The beds.

Okay. Yeah. I think it's the toys and rewarding her with kitty treats in the

living room area rather than in summers or only.

Adrienne has a much better relationship with Capri right now. I was really proud

of her. I know you guys filmed some homework for me.

All right.

I play with her often, and she loved that.

Love it.

That's her favorite toy, that mouth one.

That's so adorable, though.

We have been giving her the most treats, it seems like, in the living room, so

now she just kind of comes up to me.

Nice.

She was giving Capri treats while Capri was heading towards her lap, which,

again, takes a lot of nerve for somebody who is frightened of a cat.

Kind of standoffish when it comes to my lap. I totally got it. It's easy.

Easy breezy.

Everything that Adrian did worked to the letter, and I'm sure it's made their

relationship a lot better.

Fantastic.

Now, what I want to do is do a little bit of playtime with her, maybe try to

her on your lap today.

Sounds good. All right.

So I wanted to stop in the living room. My goal in this moment is to get Capri

onto Adrian's lap. That, to me, says we have trust we didn't have before, and I

can go home.

I'm going to get a toy out of here, and then I'm going to have you start playing

with her. Okay. Then what I want you to do is sit here, okay?

And you just try to guide her up to your lap.

So let's get the toy that she'd like.

Oh.

Look at these guys. Look at what's going on. Look at that. She's starting to get

her prey on her. We started playing.

Adrian was getting it going, and Capri was following.

Come on, Capri. Get it. Oh, they say. Get it.

My goal was to get Capri onto her lap. If I could do that, I know I could leave

here with a huge feeling of success behind me. Good girl.

But Capri just stopped responding, and I couldn't get her up to where Adrian

was. She was stuck under a table, and I'm thinking to myself, this is it?

This is where we have to leave it? You take this risk in saying to Adrian this

will happen, and it may not.

So, knowing that Capri was food -motivated, I brought out some treats.

There we go.

Good girl.

There we go. I started trailing her towards Adrian with treats.

Good girl.

There you go.

Go, you go.

Let's go for that one more treat, my love.

One more.

Good girl.

Yay.

You have a cat on your lap. I know.

This is as good as it gets. We have Capri on Adrienne's lap eating treats,

settling in. She just wanted a little bit of love from this cat and no more

violence. And now we got it.

Honestly, seeing her up here, to me, huge, huge deal.

Yeah. Huge deal.

Makes me really happy that Capri is still sitting on her lap.

It was really great to see her warming up to other people. It's really

to see how much she's come around.

I mean, the fact that we're sitting here doing this is pretty outstanding

compared to the first day. Of course, you being completely trapped in your

bedroom. How are you feeling about her today? I'm happy that she's willing to

come and sit on my lap.

She's never done that before.

That's pretty huge.

I've tried getting her on my lap so many times.

I never thought that Capri would sit on my lap. No way.

And I just couldn't believe that she felt comfortable enough to come up to

So, Adrienne, the first time I came here, one of the biggest deals was that

might want to leave here.

You can tell me.

Nope. You promised me.

Promise. Obviously the best news of the day. Adrienne said, I'm staying. Not

moving anywhere.

That, to me, was mission accomplished.

All right, guys.

Take care, okay? Thank you so much.

Thanks to Jackson, Capri is a lot more social, and I can share her without

jealous. My relationship with Capri has gotten so much better, and I am looking

forward to getting to know her more.

That's a good kitty.

Will she let me pet her?