Original subtitles

I'm a Los Angeles City firefighter. We have a cat named Coco who's crazy.

She was a precious little kitten, and then she just turned.

She has attacked both myself and Brandon.

I can't live like this anymore with her violence.

Foley is currently suffering from what we call the night terror.

Foley!

We're terrified that we're going to come home and that he's not going to open

his eyes.

Oh! Oh, my God.

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.

I'm on my way to go see Brandon and Tawny and their cat, Coco.

Coco is a really violent cat, but Brandon puts his life on the line every

day. He sees danger as a firefighter.

Tawny is done with this cat.

So I'm going to go over there right now and see if I can help put this fire out.

My name is Brandon.

My name is Tawny. And we have a cat named Coco. Oh, here we go.

I'm a Los Angeles City firefighter. We found Coco out in the middle of the road

in front of my fire station.

She was a precious little kitten.

And then she just turned.

We have this cat who is vicious.

She's attacked both myself and Brandon.

She's attacked family members and friends.

Coco. I feel like everybody around me, they're like, why do you still have this

cat?

I love the cat. She's definitely a buddy when I'm home.

His dynamic with Coco is a lot different, I think, than mine because he

lot less fear.

I'm going to pick you up, okay?

No.

As a firefighter, we see a lot of things, so when she's more aggressive,

doesn't affect me as much. I think I'm a little too scared.

We do tend to have arguments once in a while over what we want to do.

I'm kind of in my head thinking we just get rid of her.

I... on the other hand would like to try and keep her inside the house he always

says well i don't want to be the one to find her in the middle of the street

dead i feel irresponsible i don't feel like brandon understands like the

legitimacy of my fear brandon will laugh and i'm like if tani were to come and

tell me she's gonna get rid of the cat i would say no i can't live like this

anymore

Hey, man.

How are you? Hey, Jackson. How are you doing? I'm good.

You must be Brandon.

I'm Brandon. Good to see you. You know, it's good to see you. It's kind of

weird. I mean, I usually would go to my clients' homes to meet them. This time

around, I am coming to your work, but this is where I spend a lot of my time.

All right. Well, tell me a little bit about Coco. When we found her, she

She was this big. She was tiny. Her eyes were so closed.

She was right here?

You got to help a little kitten. I love it, man. You're a cat guy.

I dig it. When you got a guy who's a firefighter and they come out saying, I

love little kittens, man, I love that.

Basically, the problem is she just started to get aggressive.

My wife, she's scared of her biting her. Okay.

She doesn't want to have the cat. That's a challenge, but that's all right. It's

what I do.

Hey. Hi. How are you? Hi, Jackson and Tawny. Nice to meet you. Tawny, good to

meet you. Good to meet you. This has got to be sort of your second home, too,

yeah? Yeah. I come visit him often.

I'm really glad that Tawny came to the firehouse because I really need to know

what turned the sweet kitten that she raised into the cat that she feared.

When did you figure out that you had a problem on your hand?

We had an episode where she ended up biting me. Did she break the skin on

Yeah. But then it became sort of a continual thing. I noticed that when we

visitors, she just goes berserk. We don't have a home that people can just

freely walk in and roam around because we have Coco.

So we have a problem here.

What's your experience with her? I'm able to pick her up and throw her on my

shoulder. I carry her around. Wait, hold on a minute. It's a father -daughter

bond, I guess.

You've been scratched and you've been bit. I have.

A little. It happens. But I expect it, and I know that if she gets scared, I

react to that, and I take care of her, put her down, and then later on, she's

good again.

Now, the one place that you can tell that Tawny and Brandon are not quite on

same page is the way they handle Coco.

Brandon, very confident where Tawny is anything but.

I'm moving every day a little bit closer to having to eventually put her out. I

can't live like this anymore. I have a dangerous cat.

You know, I disagree.

I really think we can work with her.

No pressure.

We don't know much about Coco's history. Her aggression could be caused by

trauma or it could be a trait of her feral background. There's no way to know

how or why she turned violent. I need to see the home. I need to meet Coco. Can

we go there now? Yeah, let's go. All right.

I walk in.

And where is she going to be? She'll come and she'll peek her head through

This is going to have to change. What she wants is an attack angle, and we

to take this away from her. Coco is following a predictable behavior.

Hide low and strike hard. Now, I can't eliminate her natural instinct, so all I

can do is eliminate her hot spots.

I'm not really noticing a whole lot of...

Coco presence in here, and I think it's going to be important as we go along. If

she's territorially threatened, then we're not going to be a happy family at

all. Look around, no evidence of her cat. That means that Coco has no

whatsoever, and that with a cat like Coco is a big problem.

Where's she at?

In the bedroom.

Cool. I'm going to the bedroom then. All right.

Okay, then.

I feel like I'm marching into my doom here. Coco, where you at, baby?

Coco?

I have to find out if Coco's aggression is triggered by Tawny's anxiety, and

unfortunately, there's only one way to find out. I'm going to just plop myself

down on your level. We'll see what happens. Hey, how's it going?

Now, I hear that when someone approaches you scared, you get scared.

Are you going to be nice to me?

They say that you're bad when you get picked up, okay?

Soon,

as Coco picked up on my nervous energy, she started to get herself into a

defensive ball. She started with the low growl.

And as I came in, more and more even shaking with my hand, Finally, bang, she

hit me.

Although I totally sacrificed my hands to Coco, I got the information I needed.

She struck out at me specifically when I came at her with nervous energy.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Angry cat.

It was time to call Brandon into the room because at that point I wanted to

if it was even at all possible that he could calm her down.

I think I need a paramedic. Oh.

Is this kind of normal?

Yeah. I can go ahead and try and pick her up if you want me to. Really? Yeah.

You just have to be fast.

Go for it, man. Okay.

Go, go. It's okay.

Usually I'll let her see who it is.

Let her smell me.

Look at that.

She knows I'm going to pick her up.

He scoops her up, and you see that bond.

You see that 10 -day -old kitten being saved by that fireman. It was pretty

cool. Come on in. All right.

So let me ask you something.

It's so funny you won't even come in. Okay.

Do you feel like it's possible to have that level of calmness with her?

I mean,

I will certainly try.

I see a territorially threatened animal. I see one who has that feral in her for

sure. And now we have to work on a few different things.

And let's go on inside and talk some homework.

Awesome. All right, come on guys, let's go.

I was a little shocked to come in there and just see Brandon just calmly petting

the cat. You could have done it too.

That's what Jack was trying to tell you. I know, but... The way you approach

her. I don't have bravery like he's brave.

I'm going to use some fight or fire lingo here.

At the scene of every fire, there's only one guy in charge, the captain in

charge, Kitty Captain here. That's you. You've got to call the shots.

Everything that Brandon does with this cat is gold. We've got to pass that on

Tawny if she has any chance whatsoever of having a trusting relationship with

Coco again. Right now, I need you to think 100 % catification.

What I want is litter boxes, food dishes, trees, anything of cat furniture

she can claim as her own. These are the things that need to be out in social

areas. The idea of catification brought a little bit of...

anxiousness to me because she's a part of our life, but we don't have to create

our life around the cat.

Another thing, by the way, I want you to block off the underside of this cabinet

here. I do not want to give her that option to lay in wait for people, right?

All right, guys, if you have any questions at all over the next couple

you call me. It's an important time, okay? All right, thanks, Jeff. All

This is kind of it. I have anxiety living in my own home.

I'm at that point where she will get the boot if this keeps up. I really don't

want that to happen.

So I'm here for my second visit with Tawny, their firefighter husband,

and their cat, Coco.

First time I was here, Tawny wanted this cat out of here. Brandon wanted no part

of that, and neither did I.

I had a chance to look at Brandon and Tawny's homework, and I've got to tell

you, they did an excellent job with the catification.

Got multiple scratchers, litter box in the living room.

I'm pretty impressed with the changes I'm seeing in Coco's behavior.

What I don't like is how visitors and Connie approach the cat. It's my

Oh, there's the cat.

I don't like this. I really don't.

Hi, what's wrong with the kitty?

No!

No! I still have a lot of work to do.

Hey! Welcome back!

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

Where's Brandon? He's in the backyard, so let's go join him. Okay, cool.

Hey. Hey, Jackson. How's it going? How are you, man? What's going on, Jackson?

Good to see you again. Good to see you, too.

So, tell me, how are things in the world of Coco?

We're progressing.

Good. Slowly. Good.

He's adapted to the lay of the land. I can tell that she likes having more of

the home be hers.

In the video homework, your brother, he literally walks in the door, looks at

the cat, and he's like, I don't like this.

I don't like this. I really don't.

She's just walking.

She's not doing anything at all. So I see that we got our work cut out for us.

Friends have been scarred by the cat because they've seen her kind of at her

worst. We want to have a home that feels safe to people.

The last time I was here, I gave you the sort of captain's position of really

demonstrating to Tani, this is what this message means, this is what her body

language means. And we worked on that, but there's...

There's still a little fear there.

You're still pretty shaky?

I'm still a little shaky, yeah.

Yeah, I know. She has a little claw. A little claw.

She's got sharp ones.

I speak cat. I understand.

You cannot minimize our cat situation, and you are, and you're doing it.

She still pisses and isn't totally approachable, and to me that's a

have you been doing the homework?

I'm trying, buddy.

And you think it's funny, and you think it's cute.

They're not going to be perfect, right?

It was kind of uncomfortable sitting there with Tawny and Brandon. In terms

their approach to Coco, these guys have got to meet in the middle, or we don't

have a chance.

Here's what I want to do. We're going to get up and take a look around the

house, and, of course, I've got to see Coco.

Okay.

All right, guys.

Well, let's start right here.

Show me now where she hangs out.

Now she's over there, right?

So now, that's a good invitation. Do it again.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, good.

And then this is what I do.

No. Oh, that's the thing that you use. Yeah. Okay, so here's the bad in that

situation. I mean, it's all bad.

It's all bad that she's camped out here waiting, right? And then she's going to

swipe. This is a tool of your fear, right?

This is the thing that says, I'm still afraid of you. I will not touch you.

You're activated in this situation, and I have to use some sort of a blocker to

get you away from me. So this whole situation is bad.

I do have this by the front door. That's the thing we're going to do. Exactly.

You got it. People walk in the door. Do I hand them this? I specifically suggest

your brother. If he were to walk in and he's like, Coco, boom.

And here, and then she goes to play over here. Not only is he in a position of

power, which is a good thing, but she has now cleared her way out of here.

You see that subtle difference. The subtle difference is, do these become a

of fear or do they become a tool of empowerment?

And in that way, it's win -win.

My plan is to give people walking in the house that toy, because the thing is,

if we empower them with a toy, they get to guide her away. Otherwise, everyone

walks in with fear. This way, we're disarming the people and disarming the

All right. Now, last time I was here, I asked you to put litter boxes in

socially significant areas, and you did.

There you have it. Props to you. You were not psyched about that. Yeah, I

it sucks, but I'm willing to kind of embrace it, and she hasn't used one of

bathrooms since this one. Okay, so it sucks for you, but that is one of those

things where the cat is talking loud and clear and saying, I don't feel secure

in this area. Now I do.

I've got to tell you, first off, I'm pretty impressed.

Tawny, I didn't even think was going to do it. She did it.

And double -edged sword here, Coco's using it. She's using it more than the

in the bathroom. She's letting us know, I like this, I appreciate it, thank you

very much. Now don't move it.

By catifying, you've absolutely made it so that this whole area is friendly

toward her. Now do you feel that you're...

Still scared enough of her that none of this worked for you?

There's definitely been, you know, steps, but I'm still afraid.

That's really important.

So I want to try something different, something we haven't done before.

Now, where's Coco at?

The last time I saw her, she's in the guest bedroom.

And that's where we're going to head. All right.

The only way for Tawny to get over her fears is to confront them. And the only

way she could do that is without Brandon sitting next to her. This was a time

for her to be alone without his protection.

First thing I want you to do is take a seat on the bed.

Beautiful. Sitting near the cat.

You just sit.

When someone's suffering from post -traumatic stress, one of the things

use is exposure therapy. Have them walk through the fear that they fear the

most. Here's the next step.

First thing I want to do is I want to blindfold you, all right?

Every step along the way on this thing is you trusting me.

And more importantly, you trusting her. Go ahead.

I get scratched. You're in big trouble, Jackson.

By blindfolding Tani, I'm hoping to change her view of Coco because she

literally won't have one. And by removing her sight, I'm hoping to also

this overwhelming fear of Coco that she has and tap into trust.

And we're uncovered.

I'm a little worried about what Jackson's going to ask me to do, but I

is part of the process, so I guess I'm just going to have to be willing to do

it. Right now, I'm going to have you hold your hand out, put your hand down

this. I'm going to put this tune in your hand.

The last time I was here, I got beat up pretty good by Coco.

The damage was pretty evident, and Tawny got to see that evidence.

So this time around, I had to take a risk.

Just approach her with it.

Closer. Okay.

But right now you look tense, so relax.

Relax.

At this moment, I am just hoping that that cat responds the way I want her to

because I could lose Connie for good.

What is she doing, Jackson?

I need you to relax.

Breathe through this whole thing.

I could feel her little, you know, movement in my hand, which was pretty

It felt like, wow, she does trust me.

How do you feel?

Like I conquered a little bit of my fear.

That's right.

It was pretty amazing to watch Tawny's transformation.

She went from being a scared person, a person with no faith in her own

abilities, to a confident person, somebody who felt a connection with her

animal. Really, one of those one in a million moments.

Hey, mister.

Hey. So, that was pretty cool. I couldn't be more excited.

Tawny was wearing a blindfold, and she fed Coco out of her hand.

That's unbelievable.

Yeah. So, for your homework, I want you to continue this.

Now, that's number one. I think we're on the right track.

Definitely will feel a little silly walking around my house blindfolded. I

you to start teaching other people how to conquer their fear. Put some of the

wand toys right outside the door. As they walk through the door, you tell

what to do and have them lead her through the living room. My plan is to

everyone who's walking in the house that toy because the thing is, if we empower

people by giving them a toy so they can lead her away, they won't walk away in

fear. Now, the next thing you guys are going to do, I want you to get an

electric blanket.

We'll call it the fire blanket. Once she's got her scent really soaked into

think of another place where you can move that electric blanket.

Cats respond to warmth. So we'll put the fire blanket in the socially

significant part of the room, and that way before long, Coco will gain

confidence that she belongs in the room. And when Coco feels secure in the room,

then she won't attack people.

Guys, we've got a lot of work ahead of you, but this time I think you're a

little more prepared. All right?

I'm out. All right. Take care.

Thanks again for coming out. See you soon. Bye -bye.

Bye. We don't know how the next couple weeks are going to unfold.

I'm really hoping that she changes, but session three when Jackson comes, if

Coco can't be fixed, we just get rid of her. I don't like hearing that. That's

not even something that I'm going to think about at this point.

And now it's time for a kiddie bit.

Approximately how many people are bitten by cats in the U .S. annually?

Is it A, 5 ,000, B, 40 ,000, or C, 25 ,000?

Find out the answer after this break.

Approximately how many people are bitten by cats in the U .S. annually?

The answer is B, 40 ,000. Believe it or not, Cats learn most of their social

language before they're even nine weeks old. If you do get bit, clean the wound

immediately and consult a doctor.

So I'm outside Tawny and Brandon's house for my final visit with them and their

cat Coco, and here's what I want to see. A lot less aggression from their cat

Coco, and a lot less fear from Tawny. Those two things together, we got a good

day.

Hey! Hey, how are you? Good, how are you doing? Welcome back.

Good to see you.

Brandon, how are you, man? Hey, Jackson. Good to see you, brother.

Hey, Ben. Good, good. Good, you look good.

So, how are things going with you guys? How's life with Coco? Tell me.

Everything's going pretty good. We have some good news for you today.

Tell me, what's good news? The cat has not been scratched for the past two

weeks. That's a huge change.

That's a huge change.

That's fantastic.

Coco has not attacked a single person. That means change has happened.

I feel like overall she feels that our house has become more of her territory.

You know, we've got more toys, and she kind of feels like, okay, I don't have

to, you know, defend it.

The most important thing is that you can walk through the house knowing that

you're okay.

Seriously pretty amazing news so far. It was time to take a look at video

homework and see what else I could correct or appraise.

My brother Tyson is here.

I'm going to hand you this toy.

It's good that she's not.

Catching you.

Taking a look at Brandon and Tawny's video homework, it's everything I could

have asked for. I think Tawny thinks this is how you play with Coco. Don't be

scared. The video homework shows Tawny practicing her face your fears blindfold

exercise.

Anticipating Coco's cues without being able to see her is a huge step for

Coco is enjoying her eating blanket.

I gave Tawny and Brandon the fire blanket assignment.

Warm blankets create comfort and security.

I'm seeing Coco sitting in the middle of the living room, free from anxiety.

Look at that soft look.

What do you think?

I'm so proud of you. I really, I mean, I don't want to sound goofy about this.

There's just a sense of pride, like, wow, we saw progression, and that's

exciting. Now, of course, Coco's in there, and I want to spend some time

her, so come on. All right.

I want to see Coco and Tawny interacting in a way that I didn't think was

possible a few weeks ago. I know that she's got it in her. I just want to see

with my own eyes.

I actually want you to just reach out, mimic what Brandon's doing right now,

just start petting her.

If Tawny brings fear, it's not just a matter of her getting bit. She's going

set Coco back a few steps also.

It's so important that she take all the lessons I've taught her and bring them

to bear in this very moment.

There you go. Look at that.

There's no way that I could have gotten you doing this the first day that I met

you. Brandon, I mean, you've got to admit, there's no way.

She just has adapted so well, and to see her do this is amazing.

Where's your fear level right now?

I feel pretty confident right now.

It's pretty incredible.

When Jackson first came, I was afraid of my cat. I think I'm a little too

scared. Toning down, you know, my senses and my fear helped her just become more

calm. Now I feel like I'm not in danger.

So I got to put the question before I leave. At this point, are you

keeping Coco?

We definitely want to have her keeping her inside with us. That's fantastic.

Wow. Are you kidding? I mean, not only to say that she can stay in this house,

but to admit that you've changed along with her is, people don't do that. So

that's, wow, that's great.

Guys, I'm going to take off. All right. Well, thank you so much for all your

help. It has been amazing. You have been so fantastic. I really was hesitant to

believe that there was somebody out there that can actually make a

a cat's life, but Jackson can.

Guys, take care. Bye.

Our relationship in general has become better because the cat has some hope.

Tawny's a lot less anxious. The fact of the matter is, happy wife, happy life.

So, thank you, Jackson.

Foley!

Foley!

I'm in Austin.

On my way to go see Joseph and Ruth about their cat, Foley.

Now, in all my years, I've never heard of this before. The cat has night

terrors. What that means is that in his sleep, he flails, throws himself off of

wherever he is, not to mention the cat is attacking the couple while he's in

midst of an episode. I have got to get over there right now.

I'm Joseph.

I'm Ruth. We've been married for a little bit over a year. We are both

students studying music here in Texas. We are the proud parents of Foley, and

is currently suffering from what we call the night terror.

Whenever Foley falls asleep, he will just launch himself. It's like a

He has flung himself into our coat rack, into the computer desk.

And he'll end up flinging himself off of the ottoman, and he'll hit the floor

pretty hard.

It's been going on about a year, a little over a year now.

It looks like he is trying to kill something.

If he can grab onto something, you know, he'll pull it in and he'll kick it with

his back feet.

The first time I tried, that I got scratched, he latched right onto my arm.

I mean, I had, you know, scratches and blood all over me.

One time, his nail, like, snagged on, like, a vein.

My arm was just streaming blood. Every time we take him to the vet, when we

them that we think the cat's having nightmares, they just, like, oh, I've

heard of that before. That's so strange.

Wake up.

I do feel like I sacrifice a lot when I'm on, quote, Foley patrol.

I'll sometimes get frustrated with Joseph when he gets frustrated with the

We'll definitely get really irritated with each other when one of us has to

our work aside in order to watch Foley. And, you know, when we're both under a

deadline, sometimes I do get pretty pissy.

There's definitely still continues to be disagreement about letting him in the

room at night.

I'm absolutely terrified that he is going to seriously injure himself.

That we're going to come home and that.

He's not going to open his eyes.

Hey, guys.

Hi. How are you?

How are you?

I'm Joseph.

Nice to meet you. Hey, Joseph.

I'm Ruth.

Tell me about Foley.

He's having these night terrors where when he's sleeping, he'll start out

twitching a little bit.

And eventually it'll turn into like full on like he's trying to violently attack

and kill something.

And he'll throw himself off of whatever he's sleeping on. Or if you're sitting

by him, he'll latch on to you and start scratching you.

That's awful.

Because of that, we can't really sleep in the same bed anymore because in order

for her to get good sleep or for me to get good sleep, one of us has to keep

fully sort of corralled. You guys must be sleeping like cats.

With one eye open. Yeah, that can't be good for you guys.

No, not really.

Ruth and Joseph strike me as being just completely energetically and physically

depleted. I can't even imagine the stress of your cat constantly being in

of killing himself or you.

The vet has completely ruled out epilepsy or any type of neurological

his night terrors. How old is he?

He's 14. Every single time he falls asleep, he throws himself off the bed.

hurts himself. He latches onto their skin in this complete unconscious

I've never even heard of this before. I don't even know where to start.

Has he injured himself?

There have been times where it'll take him like a minute or two to like sort of

regain himself.

If he flung himself off of something and ended up killing himself, I don't, I

don't, I couldn't.

I don't think I could live with that if I wasn't there to help him. What if he

bends in the air and lands on his neck? That's not a what if. That's a when.

That's a when.

You know why I traveled all the way to Texas? It's for cases like this. For

people like Ruth and Joseph who put their life on hold, their relationship

danger for the love of their animal.

It's time to go in there, take a look around. I'm going to go meet him now,

So, let's take... Oh, look, it's Foley.

And he's sleeping.

Let's just watch.

What he's doing there, is that the beginning of it?

Yeah, he kind of starts out, you know, you'll notice a little twitching and he

starts to... It'll escalate. Oh,

that? Yeah. So you... Oh!

Oh! Yeah.

Oh my God!

Okay. Bully, wake up!

Watching Foley, an elderly cat, violently shaking and crashing onto his

the floor is hard to watch. I mean, at his age, a fall like this could be his

last. The stakes here are through the roof.

So he loves to sleep here.

Usually around this ottoman, we put a bunch of pillows. So problem areas for

literally everywhere that he can get up and sleep is an issue because he can

get... down in a really ugly way all right well that's good information our

stop was the bedroom joseph and ruth uh wanted to show me where uh foley also

tries to sleep where he slept before wakes them up in the middle of the night

only one of you guys are sleeping here at a given time foley has dominated your

marriage for the most part i mean and that's that's incredible that you've had

to deal with that i gotta meet foley where's he at he's in here

Hi, buddy.

Bring him out. Just to sit with me for a little bit so I get to meet him a

little bit up close and personal.

Come on up here.

Come on, sit next to me, guys.

It's so great to meet him in a waking state. I'll tell you that, you know?

Because having met him in a non -waking state was just terrifying.

Let me see if you'll come to me.

Hi.

Hi.

Thanks for letting me meet you, buddy.

After spending time with Ruth and with Foley, I got what I needed. It was time

to go out and to give these guys some homework.

Now, the first thing is, I'd like you guys to go pick up a special bed slash

carrier. It's called a SleepyPod. That way, he can sleep at night, and you guys

can get a full night's sleep. That way, we have more of a normal life. I want

them to use a special carrier, which is also a bed. He can sleep in it, and it

becomes a safe haven.

So the next thing is the concept of the wake -a -bye. The wake -a -bye is I want

Ruth and Joseph to write a small piece of music, something nice and gentle,

using their talents as music people to bring him back into the world in a

way. Now, about his waking hours. I'd like you guys to get puzzle toys. When

Foley is awake, we have to make his waking times more valuable and challenge

him. physically to the best of his abilities. So I want them to design a

toy so that he has something to work on without having to run around and get

frustrated at the same time. I was really disturbed by what I saw.

And because of that, I'm going to bring over a cat sleep specialist.

You guys are going to get to have a consult with somebody who can explain to

more of what you're dealing with. Because right now, it's not just Foley

keeping you awake at night. It's the unknown.

I will be back in a few weeks.

Take care until then. It was really wonderful meeting you.

We've tried so many things with Foley, and we haven't been able to fix it. So

I'm not quite sure that any of the fixes will work.

This is just such a strange situation that we're just not sure what kind of

territory we're going into.

I'm back in Austin to see Ruth, Joseph, and their cat Foley. The last time I was

here, Foley's night terrors were so horrifying, they gave me nightmares.

I watched the video homework, and I got to see Foley safe and sound in his

sleepy pod as opposed to crashing headfirst onto the floor. We got

sturdy now. He's sleeping in, not on. He's absolutely 100 % safe. You could

for anything more.

I also got to see Foley using his puzzle rug, and that kind of play will help

him get a more restful sleep.

And I saw the sleep specialist came over.

I can only hope that we have a medical diagnosis of Foley's night terrors, so I

can focus on treating the behavioral side effects that have torn apart his

family.

Jackson, come in. We're in the music room.

Okay.

Foley, baby kitty cat, time to wake up from your nap. So when I walk in, Joseph

and Ruth are playing the wake -a -bye, the assignment that I gave them the last

time I was here. And it was wonderful. These guys have taken the homework

seriously, and they care about Foley so much.

It's so much fun.

Yeah!

That must have been the wake -a -bye, yeah? That was the wake -a -bye. Cool.

Well, homework check.

Onward. Onward. How have things been here?

Things have been a lot better. Yeah? Yes.

He's not flailing around. He's sleeping.

Oh, fantastic.

Dr. Martin told us about this thing called REM sleep disorder, which they

believe is what Foley has. Dr.

Martin suggested that we give him melatonin supplements each night, and

has not had a night terror since. Really? Yeah.

Oh, my God. That.

It's so amazing.

Melatonin is a natural sleep aid used to help sleeplessness in both humans and

animals. I'm really intrigued by Dr. Martin's recommendation to make sense

if melatonin helps you fall asleep and helps you stay asleep, that it would

with Foley's sleep disorder.

The biggest news from Dr. Martin is that he believes that Foley may have had a

stroke. You know, that is something that we haven't heard before. The mechanism

that makes you not move while you're sleeping, Foley has had that damaged.

So that's why he's acting out exactly what he's doing in his dreams.

Interestingly enough, the signs of stroke in animals is pretty much the

it is in humans. And this includes the loss of motor skills as well as the loss

of the ability to vocalize. And when you think about it, Foley exhibited these

symptoms in his wobbly gait. So now Ruth and Joseph finally have answers to why

these symptoms appeared in Foley. So how are you doing together? How's your

relationship?

Well, you know, working together with Foley has been something, you know, like

fun and bonding that, you know, yeah, sleep, you know, that's extremely

important for everyone's health and attitude towards each other.

Now, Foley hasn't had any episodes whatsoever, and I'm not going to be

about this. I'm sure that's going to happen again. This is the beginning of a

journey for them, not the end of it.

I want to walk around a little bit and see what he's been up to and see him. So

let's get going.

All right.

Now it's time to take a tour of the place and see what's changed.

Talk about this was like a symbol of all things terrible, right? I mean, this

seat was where I saw him hurl himself off, pretty much landed on his head.

He's not on this much anymore, right?

No. Whenever he's on that, he's awake. He's looking out the window. He loves

sitting in the window. He does. But he doesn't sleep there.

Is he sleeping anywhere around here?

He's sleeping on the puzzle rug. On the puzzle rug. He spends a lot of time on

this rug. It's a total relief to see him play here and sleep here. I couldn't be

happier. Let's head in the bedroom.

He'll spend a good deal of time on his new puzzle rug. He'll sleep there a lot,

which is great because it's keeping him on the floor.

Okay. Now, talk about the bed.

At any given point, one of you here, one of you in the day bed.

Right. Now...

Now there are two of us here and nobody in the day bed. It's one of those things

that people overlook. When you have a problem that's this entrenched, that you

wind up sleeping separately, it's just unacceptable.

You know, now that we can both sleep here at night, it's just a much more

refreshing sleep for us. I'm so glad that you guys took that part of the

homework seriously.

Foley's journey has been pretty remarkable right now, and I can't help

thinking about him and how much better his life is, and here he comes, right on

cue.

And the last time I was here, Foley was having night terrors, and because of

that, he was lethargic and shying away from people. Today, he's a confident cat

who walks into the room with his head held high. He was able to walk in and

relax. Look at that. See how he's starting to rest a little bit?

His ability to rest right now, to close his eyes, is a sign of confidence. I can

tell you where he's come and where we need to get to with him. We've still got

some work to do. All right?

Foley has made amazing strides. At the same time, the humans still have a lot

work to do. And with that, I had to give these guys some homework.

We know now we're dealing with a stroke.

Ruth and Joseph have got to become students of stroke, not just about what

causes it, how to rehab it, how to use play and enrichment activities because

won't be able to recover without their help.

Humans and animals have very similar symptoms when it comes to stroke.

So let's take those human rehab approaches and bring them to him, okay?

Now, what we did with the playmat, that's rehab. That's getting his mind

body working again the way a cat's good. Take that as your starting point. What

more can you do? I want Ruth and Joseph to find new and creative ways to engage

fully, things like the play rug, which will help rehabilitate and stimulate

mind and body. The next thing I want is I want you guys to have... Date night,

please. You have no excuse in the world to not move on. I want to give these

guys their lives back, and I want them to have rest. I want them to have time

together in order for them to feel confident so that they can pass that on

Foley. On that note, you've got a lot of work to do still. Even though we've

been able to help Foley with a lot of the sleep behavior, the stroke looks

something that we can't do anything about and that it could happen at any

and just the thought of that.

is terrifying.

Guys, great work today.

It was great to see you. Ruth and Joseph have been really good students so far.

I just don't want their fear of what if to prevent them from pushing Foley into

a positive place of recovery.

I'll talk to you soon.

Bye. Bye -bye.

I watched their video homework.

I got to see Foley getting his mobility back, and I love that. I also saw Ruth

and Joseph having date night. Date night dinner.

I love the fact that they're getting their life back finally. Now, going into

today, I can only hope that this nightmare life they've all been living

finally behind them.

Hey, Justin. Hello, how are you?

Man, it is good to be back here. I absolutely find myself missing Austin

terribly. Tell me something, guys.

How are things going here?

Bully did have another episode where he actually fell off of the ottoman. We

were able to kind of problem solve and figure out, okay, why is he having

episodes again?

And it was that he wasn't getting the full dose of melatonin. He wasn't

it so much because he stopped eating all of his food for a couple days like

he'll do sometimes.

I'm sure it'll happen off and on here and there. Exactly. But, I mean, it's

an all -day, everyday thing anymore.

Was I surprised to hear that Foley had another episode? Absolutely not. But I

was happy to hear how Ruth and Joseph are handling the episodes without

constantly worrying and putting their lives on hold. What else? The rehab is

really working great with him, and his mobility is actually getting a little

better with that. Stop for a second and realize that you guys saved his life.

He deserves it.

You know, this whole process, I think, you know, he sort of saved us, too. You

know, he's really brought us a lot closer together. You know, we're helping

heal him. He's healing us, too.

Now that this situation has been resolved with Foley, we have the energy

space to focus on our relationship now. I think there's a lot more laughter and

fun around here in general.

So I saw in the video homework that you guys went out on a date. Were you out

there worrying about Foley? We weren't out there worrying about Foley. We were

out there just enjoying our time together.

Oh, sweet.

Everything was wrapping up beautifully with Ruth and Joseph. The problem was I

hadn't seen Foley all day, so I wanted to see him for myself.

Oh, hello, my buddy boy.

Hello, my buddy boy.

Oh, he looks so much better. Now, the first time I got here, you want to talk

about a nightmare. And it wasn't just Foley's nightmare. It was Ruth's. It was

Joseph's. And it was mine. We were all powerless. And now we got the knowledge.

And this little guy's got his life back. He's sleeping.

He's playing. And, man, that's music to my ears.

You don't get any more severe.

than Foley was, and you don't get the kind of transformation every day that

Foley has gone through. You can show others anything is possible.

The only thing I would ask of you is to be ambassadors for others with

cats that have had stroke because having those answers is everything.

I mean, if we can help somebody else out, you know, who's going through this,

mean, that would be really fulfilling.

I couldn't leave without giving Ruth and Joseph just one last piece of homework,

and that was to share their knowledge of strokes with other cat guardians who

may be suffering through the same thing.

Jackson, I just want to thank you so much for coming and helping Foley and

helping us.

I guess.

I don't think we ever could have gotten here on our own. Foley's life is so much

better. We can have a happy, healthy family now.

And for that, we're ever grateful.