Original subtitles

You're peeing on the wall.

Her cat Frankie is turning our dream home into a nightmare.

Frankie, stop.

Frankie was the perfect cat before my mom brought Sawyer.

Then Frankie started peeing. Our bedroom has become the litter box. What are you

doing? I'm cleaning up your cat's urine all over the place. Go.

It's not sanitary for the kids.

Kids, stay away. Stay away, Oliver. That's disgusting. It's killing our

relationship. I'm done. I'm done. It's me or the cats.

When Dinah and Sugar fight, they blow up. I really think that the cats should

fight it out. Well, I disagree.

My biggest fear, honestly, is that one's going to get hurt.

Sugar's more my cat, and Dinah is more of your cat. And Dinah is the boy, so

we have to get rid of her.

I'm Jackson Galaxy. I'm a musician by night.

and a cat behavior 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

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

I'm their last hope.

You all right?

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

I'm on my way to go see Daniel and Desiree and their cat Frankie.

Frankie, who has turned their gorgeous house into his own personal litter box.

I'm giving the kids a bath, and he's in here pooping on the bed.

Daniel is so completely over this, and Desiree is holding out hope that I'm

going to come in and save the day. So, wish me luck.

I'm Desiree. I'm Daniel.

And we've been married for six years.

We just moved with our family to our big, beautiful dream home in Calabasas.

And her cat Frankie is turning our dream into a nightmare.

You're peeing on the wall. Oh, my God.

Frankie is nine years old. He's called a flame point Siamese. I adopted Frankie

when he was six weeks old. I promised Frankie the day that I adopted him that

would never feel sad or scared again.

He's my baby.

We have three children.

We have twins that are three.

Zoe and Oliver.

And then we have Amelia, who is 10 months old.

My mom came to help me with the children and brought her cat, Sawyer. My cat

won't leave Frankie alone.

This has been causing a lot of tension between my daughter, her husband.

I don't want to hear it. But you're part of this family. Figure it out. I'm

done. I'm done. I think they're going to get divorced over Frankie. Frankie was

the perfect cat before Sawyer. Then he started peeing in the room.

Oh, my God. Daniel is going to kill you, Frankie.

I come to our bedroom every night before we go to bed. I think our bedroom has

become the litter box. What are you doing?

I'm cleaning up your cat's urine all over the place.

It's not sanitary for the kids.

Kids, stay away. Stay away, Oliver. That's disgusting. It's killing our

relationship. Frankie is Desiree's cat.

It's Desiree's responsibility to fix this problem.

It's our responsibility because he's part of our family.

I didn't take an oath with respect to Frankie. You took an oath with respect

me.

I've seen Jackson work miracles.

I don't know if he could work them here.

It has to help.

He has to fix Frankie.

Me or Frankie.

Hey, Jackson.

Hi. Thank God you're here.

We've been waiting for you. I assume so. Well, good.

I'm Desiree. Desiree, I'm Jackson. Good to meet you. Good to meet you. Guys, I

know a little bit about what's going on with Frankie, but fill me in.

Frankie has been part of our life for nine years. Okay. My mom moved in to

us with our children, and she had to bring her cat, Sawyer. And right after

moved in, Frankie started acting out.

He started with pooping on our bed.

Oh, no, no, no.

Now, when a cat poops in your bed, they're not doing it out of spite. It's

desperate cry for help. Now, I haven't met Frankie yet, but normally it's a

that a cat is really territorially insecure.

Then it went to peeing on the wall. But it's primarily two walls, one in our

bedroom, right next to our bed, and one in the family room where the kids are

playing. Cats 101.

Cats do not like change. They can become very territorially insecure. You've got

to feel really, really sorry for Frankie. I mean, he had a perfect life.

a sudden, they move into a new house. They have twins that are born.

Desiree's mom moves in with another cat. I mean, the whole world exploded. I

have no patience for Frankie. Oh. You can't come home and live in this

disgusting environment.

I mean, I hate to say it, it's me or the cat.

Seriously? Yes.

Daniel said it's me or the cat.

You don't hear that all that often, that someone puts that kind of an ultimatum

on the table while I'm standing there. So if that's the case, it is serious.

I got here just in time.

Oh, well, here we go. Hey, how are you? This is my mother -in -law, Cheryl.

Cheryl, good to meet you. This is Oliver and Zoe, our three -year -old twins.

Well, hello, Oliver and Zoe.

Amelia, our two -month -old is sleeping upstairs.

How do you do?

What? It's the funny cat guy.

Oh, is this Sawyer?

Oh, my God, he's huge.

Sawyer's a beast of a cat. Seems friendly enough, but if I were Frankie,

kids and new people and a new house and a 20 -pound cat, yeah, I get it. This is

nothing here. I got to tell you right now, man, I don't have kids. I have

and I'm telling you, when I walked into that room and the three -year -olds were

running around like that, I could feel it. Let's keep moving. Come on, guys.

Let's go.

So this is our bathroom.

Okay. Well, okay, we've got a litter box here. So we head upstairs to the

bathroom, and the first thing I see on the floor is a litter box. First litter

box I've seen all day. At least that's a good sign. That's a step in the right

direction. I like that.

Why did you place it right there?

Just because we really...

don't want a litter box in our bedroom.

Oh, okay.

Or in the middle of the floor.

The cats make a mess with it. Is there anything about his box behavior that

you've seen you don't like? Like, for instance, when he's in the box, does he

cover? Does he run away from the box? Does he shake his paws when he leaves

box? Does he act paranoid when he leaves the box?

I've never seen him pee in the litter box.

You've never seen him pee in the litter box? I've never seen him pee in the

litter box. Ever? No.

When he was a baby, I did. So when you say you haven't seen him pee in a litter

box. In the last four years.

That every time this cat pees, and most cats pee two to three times a day, it's

somewhere else in your house besides a litter box. I think so.

Wow.

That's pretty incredible. Yeah, I have not seen him. That's a lot of pee.

What other behaviors do I need to know about in here?

Frankie.

occasionally will poop not in the litter box, but beside the litter box. But

beside the litter box, okay. And we actually had a situation one time where

kids were here right after he did it. Kids, stay away. Stay away, Oliver.

disgusting. The kids almost putting their hands right into the poop.

When we were in the bathroom talking about the fact that Frankie actually

outside the box, right outside the box, which is interesting, to me, it gets

upsetting to Daniel.

Is that something that has amped it up for you in terms of Frankie's behavior?

mean, it was one thing before the kids were born.

Well, it just makes it that much worse because it's not just me having to deal

with the terrible smell and my wife having to deal with me dealing with the

terrible smell. It's my poor kids. They didn't do anything to deserve this. They

don't know it's a bad thing. But I can't imagine it's good for them to be

playing in cat feces all the time. No, of course it's not. Daniel knows that

kids are getting closer and closer to actually handling these feces. They want

to know what's going on outside that box. I don't think that his reaction is

even remotely in proportion to what's going on.

Jackson, this is our bedroom.

What's with the suitcases? This is our attempt to stop this lunatic cat from

peeing all over my wall. This is where problems are concentrated?

Yes. He's taken over the entire room. Well, let's talk about that for a

So, you didn't think I didn't notice this, Tarp. This is not normal. It's not

normal to walk into your master bedroom and for it to smell like cat poop. It's

not normal to have a cat taking a shit on your bed.

Yeah. Watching Daniel get really upset, I'm picking up on who he is. Yes, he's a

control freak. I'm thinking, man, it's okay. This will be okay.

Then he starts to explode.

This is not normal.

No. This is not how normal people live. And we've been doing this for three

years, and I'm done with it. Yeah. No, I hear you. I hear you.

This is not how people with pets live. Pets are supposed to enhance your life.

The animal's taking a poop on my bed.

He's peeing all over my bedroom. I sleep in this bedroom. What are you doing?

Why are you doing this?

Hello, Frankie, my love. Hi.

It's okay, baby boy. It's okay, little scaredy cat.

Siamese are known to be genetically more sensitive.

than other cats see how dilated the eyes are right now and how weepy the eyes

are right and also you can tell he manifests stress i'm seeing it even

it's me sitting here and everything now frankie is a really scared cat the fact

that he's marking their bedroom tells me that this is the one place that he

feels the safest but i know the atmosphere in the house is affecting his

behavior so i need to give them some homework and help frankie better adapt

his new family okay guys

Let's start talking some homework here. As for you, Desiree, it's time for you

to have a little bit of mommy time with Frankie. So I want you to start trying

to lead him out of that bedroom.

Play, love, do whatever, because here's the thing. If he is feeling separated

from you, then for some reason he might be doing what he's doing. Frankie is

experiencing separation anxiety.

Frankie's world has changed, and the only thing that's been consistent in his

life is Desiree. Now it's up to her to help him feel more secure.

Guys, obviously the suitcases are not working.

We're going to replace suitcases with five different litter boxes in the area

where he's been peeing in the first place. Let's make him successful in that

room that he's choosing to mark. Let's put down litter boxes instead of

suitcases. I want to have an experiment here and see if there's anything,

anything that he will use to do his business besides the bed and the walls.

Is there anything you recommend we do with respect to Sawyer?

I would like you to do this. Hold on one second.

This here is a collar cam, okay? I'd like you to put this on Frankie and just

let it go. You're going to get a view into his life that may include a lot

bullying than you think.

All right, guys, I'm going to take off. If you have any questions at all, you

call me, all right? Thank you. Great to meet you. Take care, guys. I know this

is going to help him. I'm feeling very optimistic.

The eternal optimist. I hope it pays off.

And if not, Frankie's gone.

All right, I'm out in front of Daniel and Desiree's house for my second visit

with them and their cat, Frankie. Now, the last time I was here, Frankie was

pooping and peeing all over the house, but the energy in the house wasn't

helping. From rambunctious children, to grandma's cat, to angry guardians.

We've been doing this for three years, and I'm done with it. Yeah. I got a

chance to take a look at their video homework.

I got to see these guys putting five different litter boxes. I saw Frankie in

Mommy Time, which was great to see.

Thank you, Miss Mommy.

And I saw the best thing of all.

Collar cam. Frankie's collar cam was a wealth of information, and I will

definitely use all of it. Hopefully, this time around, I come back. The

are being addressed. Daniel's temper is coming down a little bit, and we are

getting somewhere, but that's hoping for a lot.

Hey, Desiree. How are you? Good to see you again. I'm doing okay. Thanks. Of

course, the most important thing here, how are things going with Frankie?

Well, Frankie has stopped pooping on the bed. Whoa!

It hasn't happened once since you put the boxes down.

Congratulations. Yes. Great.

Daniel's been a little better spirits with Frankie. Even petted him this

morning. I like him a whole lot more now because he doesn't pee in my bed

anymore. Ugh.

Ever since we put the five litter boxes down, for the first time in three years,

he's actually using the litter box to pee.

What? That's amazing, man. So putting the litter boxes against the wall where

Frankie was peeing anyway was giving him an appropriate place to do his

business. So no pooping in the bed.

No peeing anywhere but litter boxes.

Well, well, we went away on vacation for a few days. Within a couple days after

we got back, Frankie was peeing or spraying on the wall behind the litter

Desiree and Daniel say as soon as we get back, he starts peeing, which is to say

it can't be a problem with the cat litter or separation anxiety since the

anxiety happened when they got home. I am really excited to take a look at your

collar cam on Frankie, and this is what Frankie saw.

Up in the window?

What's up?

That's interesting. He looks out the window, then heads straight for the

boxes. Now, here we go. Five litter boxes.

He's going from box to box to box. Now, this is the one that he likes the most.

Yes. Which is why I'm so glad we have this collar cam.

Oh, and what's that?

Whoa, look at that.

Oh, oh, there it is. That was Sawyer.

And of course, he freaks out. He has every right to be territorially

His territory is actually threatened.

Those eyes piercing out of the dark, that made me scared. So think how

must feel. That's pretty amazing footage right there. Now we know in the past

what probably happened is that he went to the litter box and he was scared out

of there. Okay, we know that since Desiree's been spending one -on -one

with Frankie, he stopped pooping on the bed.

We know that giving him litter box options, he's peeing in a box for the

time in three years. We've seen in the collar cam footage that he's running

because he's spooked by Sawyer. What we haven't figured out is why he's still

spraying the wall. So I'm ready to find the last piece of the puzzle.

Yeah, there we have it. There we have it. Five litter boxes lined up along the

wall where Frankie likes to pee.

So you guys told me that when he started marking behind the litter box, right

under the window.

Okay, now I saw on his collar cam, he opened the window and he's like, there,

I'm going there.

So what I want you to get is just sight blockers, something that goes on top of

the window itself so that when he's sitting here, he's looking, he's seeing

nothing. Let me get into the mind of Frankie for a second. He may think

something outside trying to get him.

Maybe he doesn't think that way until the stress level in the house has gotten

so high that he starts getting freaked out in the first place. So it's real or

imagined outside.

That's inconsequential.

What's important is that we've got to keep his stress level inside down.

Guys, now the most important thing that we can do is spend some time with both

Frankie and Sawyer today. There's one thing that's still really bothering me,

and that's the dynamic between Frankie and Sawyer, or lack of dynamic. I don't

even know yet. The thing is, there's only one way to find out. I've got to

those two together.

Okay, well, hi there.

Sawyer. All right. Hey, guys, let me have some time with these guys. I'll

out and get you guys in the bed, okay?

Hi, Sawyer. How about if I take a seat here?

Hi, Frankie.

Hello, Bubba.

Oh, good boy.

Come here, my man.

Come here. I'm going to lift you up here.

This is how we get social.

Frankie.

Definitely not the cat I met last time. This cat is coming out. He's soliciting

attention even. He's allowing me to pet him. There were no problems whatsoever

in terms of him acting scared, wanting to get away, acting like prey.

None of that was happening, and the best part about it was he was totally

ignoring Sawyer.

I think that what we're seeing right here, this is a failure to communicate.

I think they kind of throw you guys together and hope you're going to work

out.

Now look at this. Look at you two.

Watch that.

They're both looking this way.

Not looking at each other.

You're just going straight towards Sawyer? This is perfect.

First day I met you, there's no way you would have done that.

Sawyer doesn't care about you at all, Frankie.

Frankie gets up off my lap. He walks right by Sawyer. He doesn't pay him any

mind. We're seeing bully victim?

No. I'm seeing two cats who have never been introduced properly.

Everything about their relationship is right there in front of my eyes. I got

everything I need.

That was incredibly interesting.

So what did they tell you?

I think we have two cats who weren't introduced properly, nor for a long

period of time. I don't understand this whole, we need to formally introduce the

cats.

What do we need to do? Put Frankie in a tuxedo with a little top hat?

Put Sawyer in a beautiful dress? Maybe they'll dance together to really form a

tight -knit relationship?

Cats are not people. I don't understand them.

Are you guys ready for some homework?

First thing, when they have meals, they're in the same room. Also, playtime

happens while the cats are in the same room together because then they're

associating each other with just the most positive things in the world.

Now, I would like to establish a timeout room for Frankie.

Timeouts for animals are totally different from timeouts for children.

It's not think about what you did wrong.

It's I want to allow you to settle back into your skin.

In that room.

We're going to have his favorite types of things, toys and whatever else, okay?

When the energy rises in this home, put Frankie in the time -out room. Let him

out again as soon as things quiet down, okay?

All right, guys, I'm going to leave. You can stay right there, and I will be

back in just a couple of weeks, okay? Thank you, Jackson.

If Jackson can't solve this problem 100%, I'm not having a cat. That pees on

walls. He has one more chance.

But if he pees on my walls one time,

he's out.

Now it's time for a kitty bit.

Cat pee is a favorable term used to describe the aromas in what kind of

A, Chardonnay, B, Sauvignon Blanc, or C, Zinfandel.

The answer, after this break.

Cat pee is a favorable term used to describe the aromas in what kind of

The answer is B, Sauvignon Blanc. The term usually means grassy or tangy and

the result of the phenolic chemical compounds, not cats in the vineyard.

All right, I'm outside of Daniel and Desiree's house for my last visit with

Frankie. Now, the last time I was here... We're really getting somewhere.

His pooping and peeing issues were down, but not altogether gone.

Now, I've watched their video homework, and they've put up sight blockers,

they've created a time -out room, which is a place where Frankie can go and be

by himself a little bit when the house is getting out of control, and they've

been working on reintroducing Sawyer into Frankie's world.

Coming out, guys.

Today, I want to see that Frankie's confidence is up, because that should

translate into no accidents whatsoever, and I'll be a happy guy. I can't wait to

hear. Tell me how Frankie's doing.

Well. Perfect.

Perfect? You got no pee on the walls? No. You've got no poop on the bed? None.

No pee anywhere in the house? No.

Yes.

Fantastic, man. Daniel and Desiree tell me there's no accidents whatsoever since

the last time I was here.

Hallelujah. So, guys, tell me what made the biggest difference from the homework

I gave you. We put the side blockers up all over the master bedroom so we can't

see out any window. The transformation.

Unbelievable. I love that.

Now, what about the whole time out room? How did that go?

He seems really happy in the room. He really likes it, and he's really

comfortable in there. Yeah. Last time I was here, I saw the cats starting to

interact in a really positive way.

Have you seen any changes in their relationship?

I haven't seen Sawyer chase Frankie, which is really good. I think with them

playing together in the room, it helps them be more calm around each other.

I first met them, the place was a zoo, and they didn't even know it. They had

become numb to the whole thing. Now they get it because they're looking through

Frankie's eyes. And through Frankie's eyes, this place is a little bananas.

Daniel, I mean, you had just about had it with Frankie. How are you doing with

him at this point?

Things have really changed. I don't have all the terrible...

energy around frankie anymore because frankie's being a really really

cat daniel has turned around completely he was seeing red and yelling at me the

first day that i met him and today he is very genuinely talking about how he's

regaining the friendship that he had with this cat that to me is the miracle

here fantastic news Here's what I'd like to do.

I'd love to see Frankie in his time -out room, and I want to see the kids in

there. So, Daniel, you come with me, and Desiree, maybe you can get the kids and

just meet us up there, okay?

That's great. Come on.

Success in each case is measured differently. Right now, I don't need to

cat jumping from cat tree to cat tree. I don't need to see a social cat ready to

play. Right now, I need to see a cat who's confident, energetically balanced,

and most of all, relaxed.

And there's my man Frankie.

Hello, Frankie.

This is a nice time -out room between the cat who wanted to get away from us

first day and that.

I mean, that's a huge difference.

Well, hi.

Come in, guys.

Look at how adorable you guys are. Hi.

So do you guys like the cats?

You do? Good.

Right now, we're in a quiet place, okay?

Whenever we got cats in the room, this is what we do. Ready? Go like this.

For a couple of three -year -olds, these kids were quiet. And because of that,

Frankie didn't notice them at all.

You guys have come so far.

And I just want to give you guys all of the credit in the world.

Everything about Frankie that's changed is because the energy in the house has

changed for him. This room is sort of the key to why he's so much better. So I

think that's pretty amazing. Thank you, Jake.

I'm going to leave you guys, okay?

So if there's anything you guys need at all, you let me know, okay?

Wait, bye -bye.

Before Jackson started helping us solve this problem, every time I would look at

Frankie, I'd want to slaughter the cat.

Now, I like Frankie.

I'm not stressed to come home anymore.

Jackson, thank you so much for restoring balance in our home and to make our

household happy again.

Dinah.

I'm on my way to go see Joey and Leanne and their cat, Dinah. Now, they got

Dinah to be a companion for their other cat, Sugar, and ever since then it's

been cat on cat chaos.

Really pulling this couple apart.

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

I'm Joey. I'm Leanne. We've been together four years.

And we recently got engaged.

We have two cats.

This is our team, Dinah. This is Sugar.

Sugar's more my cat because I adopted her before we were together.

We just recently got Dinah. When Dinah and Sugar fight, they just blow up.

Dinah sees Sugar.

Sugar doesn't know what to do. She can't get away quick enough.

So I really think that the cats should just fight it out. Then they'll be able

to know who's dominant and they won't be scared anymore.

I believe the opposite. I hate to see them fight. My biggest fear is that

going to get hurt and we're going to lose one. It's so bad that we have to

Dinah locked up during the day when we're not here.

This is Dinah's room, also known as our guest bedroom.

She is not allowed to be out in the house because she wants to kill my cat.

Come here.

Dinah, no.

Hi. Dinah, no.

I think Dinah is the bully and Sugar is the victim.

It's just hard to see her as an aggressive cat when she's loving me and

me kisses all the time.

If Jackson can't help us and Dinah doesn't stop the aggression, then we

get rid of her.

Why do we have to get rid of Dinah? Why can't we get rid of Sugar?

She was here first.

Hey. Hey, Jackson. Welcome to San Diego. Thank you. Nice to meet you. I'm Joey.

Hey, how are you? Good. How are you, Leanne? Leanne, good to meet you, too.

So, guys, tell me about your cat problem.

Dinah is aggressive towards Sugar.

Okay, how old is Sugar? She's about five years old. Okay. And Dinah's a year and

a half.

What happens every time these guys are together?

A lot of hissing, a lot of burping.

Yeah, yeah, that's no fun.

Now, when you introduced Dinah, did you just adopt her because you were like,

oh, we have to have this cat? The thing is, both of us work full -time jobs. She

nannies. And I'm a correctional officer. I work in probation system.

OK. We're not home a lot. So our thought.

Get her another friend. You can get another cat. Oh, it's the get her

friend thing.

Here's the thing. Oftentimes people think they need to get their pet a

companion, but it's a tricky thing. Some cats get along fine being alone.

Others do better with companions.

And it's not uncommon for the original cat, like Sugar, to feel threatened when

a new cat comes into their territory.

Pretty much the first month we got Dinah, we tried to socialize them, and

didn't work. We decided...

We can't have them out in the house together.

Dinah gets the extra bedroom.

Sugar gets free reign of the house while we're not home. We've kept them

separate for nine months now. You guys have been doing this for nine months?

Yeah. I think that the cats should just fight it out. Never going to happen.

Of all people, Joey, who works as a corrections officer in the probation

should know the repercussions of letting humans just fight it out. So, of

course, he should know that for animals as well.

Someone is going to get hurt.

Not to mention the toll it's taking on Dinah being locked up in a tiny room for

80 % of the day.

When you finally open up that door, she's going to be that much more crazy.

What would the alternative be if I wasn't here today?

We rehome Dinah.

I don't want to get rid of her, but I don't know what to do. I'm lost.

Both of our patients are running really thin.

It's hard because we're on opposite sides of the team.

Believe me, I've seen this a lot, where it starts to sort of domino, that the

cats wind up being the source of you guys kind of getting on each other.

My heart really goes out to these two, because really, all they wanted was to

get Sugar a companion, and boy, did it backfire. I mean, it's bad enough that

these two cats are living in a house divided, but we have the couple living

odds, too.

So. I think Sugar's actually under there.

Oh, really? Right now.

My first impression of Sugar was that she was a really scared cat, so I wanted

to try and calm her down to let her know that I wasn't a threat.

Come here, my sweet. Hi.

What happened?

What happened?

As soon as I started petting her, Sugar ran right off the bed. And now, watching

her do what she's doing, this kind of behavior, that's what you'll see when

Dinah's around, yeah? Yeah. See, and that is what we've got to change.

Sugar is acting like prey, and this gives me a big clue as to why Dinah

attacking her. So next, I need to head off to solitary confinement where I can

meet Dinah and find out more.

This is Dinah. Hi, Dinah.

Hi, sweetheart.

How are you? are you, my love?

Oh, now she is absolutely gorgeous.

I was not expecting to meet such a sweet and loving cat. I mean, this cat came

right up to me like she was starving for attention, and that is because she's

being jailed in this room all alone for 18 hours a day.

This cat is not a criminal and shouldn't be treated like one. This is not a big

enough room.

This is a problem because you can't ask a cat who has aggressive tendencies to

come out of a place like this and be balanced and normal. I mean, that's not

going to happen. But we've got to spring her out of here, like now. And we have

to make sure that, of course, because I can see the look on your face, that

sugar is safe.

Yeah. Got to feed the two of them together.

So did you go get sugar for me? Yeah, I'll go grab her. I want to be alone

the energy between these two cats in a very safe way, and I don't want the

humans getting in the way either.

I'm just going to put you right here.

There you go, baby.

There you go. Now, what is it?

This right now is one of the hardest parts of my job because I've got to

it play out between these two cats. I have to know what they're capable of,

I have to know what they're capable of in a positive way as well.

Whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa. That didn't take long.

Whoa, whoa.

Hey, no, no, come on.

Come on, come on, come on.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

No, no, no, no, no.

As soon as the cats are alone, Dinah gives Sugar that warning hiss, and it's

game on.

There we go, my love.

Sugar is acting like prey, and Dinah is not only feeding on that, but she's had

so much pent -up energy from being locked away in this room that she's just

releasing it onto Sugar.

Let's talk some homework.

First, what we're going to do is a game I call Eat, Play, Love. I want them to

put up a gate, and on one side you've got Joey with Dinah and Leanne and Sugar

on the other. I want to see these cats being able to see each other, get fed.

played with and loved at the same time. Next thing you're going to do is the

jailbreak. We're doing this in the form of site swapping. What I want you guys

to do is invest in both cats equally.

It's time for Dinah to get out of that room, but under strict supervision, of

course, because it's too small a space for any cat, but especially for one that

has the energy of Dinah and the social needs of Dinah. We've got to make it so

that Dinah owns this place equally to Sugar.

I'm nervous about the jailbreak.

I would like to keep Dinah locked up in the room, and I don't want her to hurt

Sugar. The last thing I have is the cat superhighway. I want to make sure that

if a cat wants to walk into a room and go all the way around, they can do that

without even hitting the floor. Now, I know that Leanne is nervous that Dinah

going to go after Sugar, and I don't blame her. That's why we're going to

sure that instead of getting cornered, she'll have all types of escape routes

around the house. So if Sugar wants to get away, she'll have plenty of ways to

do it.

If you have any questions at all, you let me know, all right? All right, thank

you. All right, take care, guys. I am hopeful at this point that Jackson will

able to help us and Sugar and Dinah. If Jackson can't fix Dinah, I'm sorry, but

we're going to have to rehome her.

All right, I'm back in San Diego for my second visit with Leanne and Joey and

their cat Dinah and Sugar.

Hey! The last time I was here, we were dealing with some serious cat -on -cat

aggression, which was causing a rift between the couple because Leanne was

Sugar and Joey was Team Dinah. Now, I got a chance to look at their video

homework, and I loved seeing Joey building those shelves for the Cat

Superhighway. But what I didn't see was Dinah coming out of confinement, and I

asked them to jailbreak her out of that room.

And speaking of jails... After you. I'm at the La Mesa Police Department in San

Diego County, and I'm here because I'm bringing Leanne and Joey to jail.

Let's, the three of us go in here, okay? Come on. I want them to see what it's

like to be Dinah, to be cooped up all day in a room, what that does to you

energetically, physically, mentally, what it does to your whole being.

They're going to find out. Guys, I'm going to close that door, and I just

you to see the world through Dinah's eyes.

I'll be back.

If you want to live life through the eyes of Dinah, you've got to take

of it. You've got to have those walls closing in. You've got to know what it's

like to feel that static go through your body.

So it's like totally freaking me out.

In her room that we have, we have a bed for her, and we have her litter box.

A window.

A window, yeah.

It's making me feel bad for what we do to Dinah, for her to be locked up. I

honestly felt super claustrophobic and was ready to get out.

You guys good?

Yeah.

Let me out. All right. Give me the lowdown. How do you feel? I don't like

I didn't want to be in there.

Now, that's never going to happen again.

And this is history.

Yep. After Jackson locked us up in the jail cell, it really shed a light on

Dinah's world and taught us a lesson on how it feels to be confined every day.

Let's go to your house, huh? Let's get out of here.

Well, let's get back down to business here. So let's talk about what went on

last couple weeks.

At first, it was a lot more challenging with the homework than we anticipated.

Right. I think the most challenging thing was getting Sugar to use the cat

superhighway. Right. And, of course, Dinah never got to use her cat

since she was keeping her locked up.

The other thing was the eat, play, love.

Step one is to try to get Sugar out from under the bed.

At first, we really struggled.

But as the homework went on, we had some progress. We had Sugar, you know, out.

pretty close to the gate, within six inches maybe, that she still doesn't

like to see Dinah. And I think Dinah is still intimidating Sugar.

I'm really concerned that if we remove the gate, Dinah will attack her and

go after Sugar. You think it's a certainty?

Yeah, I'm probably 99 .9 % sure that it will happen.

Okay. I'm not hearing a lot of progress today, and I think much of it has to do

with them keeping Dinah locked up.

It's not only unfair to Dinah, but it also doesn't give Sugar a chance to get

comfortable with Dinah's scent being around the house.

We've got a lot of work to do, so let's get to it. I want to get up and walk

around and, of course, see the cats.

Come on.

Now it's time to go see Eat, Play, Love. Now, the last time I was here, I

assigned this exercise to see if we could get the cats on either side of the

gate without any issues. So today, I need to see both cats comfortable around

each other. Most importantly, I need to see Dinah, not be the vicious cat I

witnessed before.

Who's going to want to go in there with Sugar?

I'll try and grab her. Good, good, cool. Now, Sugar, as usual, was in her

favorite hiding spot underneath the bed. So as Leanne was doing her best to lure

Sugar out, I sent Joey in to retrieve Dinah.

Now, Joey, basically all I want you to do is distract her somehow, because

now she's got her eyeballs on Sugar, and I want those eyeballs off.

She doesn't really want to entertain the idea of daring Dinah in the face.

Wow. This is bad.

Leanne, I need you to hold on extra tight to Sugar.

I'm worried if she runs that Dinah could hurt herself trying to jump that gate.

This is worse than I imagined. I was hoping to see Sugar on the floor taking

middle of the room with Dinah on the other side. But I know.

Okay, Leanne, let's go first. We'll be back under the bed. Now, I'm just hoping

that Dinah doesn't feed on Sugar's fear and try to attack.

Stop looking at Sugar and all will be good.

There you go.

Nice going, Joey.

There you go.

Stop looking over there, baby.

Sugar, you're okay.

It's okay, Sugar.

It's okay.

Joey, if you could leave Dinah away a bit with Treat.

I'm challenging Joey at this moment to find something right now to distract

Dinah to redirect her away from that gate.

Leanne, I need you to calm Sugar down.

Calm down. It's okay.

Keep it together. Just one more minute.

And she's gone.

It's okay.

So this was a breakthrough moment.

Joey was able to use treats to redirect Dinah's attention off of Sugar. But even

though Dinah left, Sugar is still frozen in fear. She's hiding in Leanne's arms.

I mean, Sugar's fear level is off the charts.

And it's a really sad thing to watch.

Did the fear start before Dinah came along?

No. She played.

She seemed happier.

I feel like all she does is live in fear.

Now, seeing these two cats interact with one another and having a heart -to

-heart chat with Leanne hasn't led me to the breakthrough that I've been hoping

for because Dinah is making progress, but Sugar isn't.

All right, let's go, and I can give you some homework, okay? Okay.

Guys, let's have a seat.

Sugar's fear level is disproportionate to reality.

Dinah's not a super predator. Sugar is super prey.

And that's the problem. When Sugar sees Dinah and runs underneath the bed,

that's acting like prey. So she has to stop running, and then Dinah will stop

chasing. So, first thing is, under the bed, gotta go.

Sugar needs to come out from underneath the bed and find comfort in socially

significant areas of the house, like the living room. Hopefully, once she gains

confidence in her territory, she'll be able to feel more confident around

At the same time, we're also going to expand the cat superhighway. And we need

to stop locking up Dinah and get her on that superhighway as well.

I want them to create different levels on the superhighway so that Dinah can be

on one level, Sugar can be on the other, and that way Sugar won't be hiding and

Dinah won't see her as prey.

Leon, I've got a homework assignment for you. I want you to make this downstairs

as absolutely...

Heavenly as possible for Sugar. I want Leanne to bring all of Sugar's favorite

toys and treats and get her a cat bed downstairs so that she can soak her

into it and feel safe.

You guys got a lot of work ahead of you, but I got confidence in you and I'm

around. Give me a call, okay?

Sounds good. All right, I'm off to L .A.

I'll see you guys in a few weeks. Thanks, Jackson. All right, bye guys.

Drive safe.

I think there's been a lot of progress.

Dinah still intimidates Sugar, though, and if she doesn't move forward from

here, then she's got to go.

I'm back in San Diego for my final visit with Leanne, Joey, and their cats Dinah

and Sugar, whose cat -on -cat aggression issues led Dinah to be locked up in her

room all day.

Now, I got a chance to look at their video homework, and I saw that they

released Dinah out of solitary confinement.

Are you going to jump?

Whoa, crazy girl.

And from the looks of it, she loves her new freedom on the expanded cat

superhighway. I also got to see that they blocked off underneath the bed. So

instead of hiding, Sugar's spending more time downstairs in socially significant

areas.

Hopefully today I'm going to see a confident Sugar and a less aggressive

And if not, I'm concerned that Dinah's going to be sent back to kitty jail or

even worse, rehoming her is still an option. And this would tear this couple

apart because Joey doesn't want to get rid of Dinah at all.

How are things going with Sugar and Dinah?

It's been going good.

Really? Yeah, we've seen a lot of improvement.

How's Sugar, first of all?

She's been doing a lot better. Is she hanging out down here? Yeah. That's

You know, she loves the perch by the couch.

That's so cool.

Yeah. Is the new Sugar a little bit more like the old Sugar? Yeah, definitely.

Wow.

Things around here are looking really good.

I mean, Sugar's confidence has just gone sky high. She's not hanging out under

the bed anymore. She is coming downstairs.

She is hanging out with Joey and Leanne. That's all I wanted to hear because now

Dinah will follow suit.

Now, since the last time I was here, have there been any attacks? And I mean

anything.

Nothing.

Guys, that's incredible.

Sugar's not running, so therefore Dinah's not chasing.

Ah, that's so amazing.

Getting Sugar downstairs has really changed Dinah and Sugar's relationship

each other and helped, you know, rehabilitate Sugar back to the cat that

used to be. All right, guys. Now, this is so much different than the last

time I was here. I mean, it's so much better. I haven't seen a cat since I've

been here.

So what is it that's keeping them away from you? It's hard because, you know,

the video homework, you see them down here, you see them around, it's fine.

as soon as the camera and the crews and everybody comes in and out, they both

head for the hills.

So what are the odds that I get to see both cats down here today?

As long as everybody's in here, it's going to be slim to none.

Huh.

You know what?

Hey, guys, you get out of here.

You know, the crew and the lights and the cameras and all that stuff, it's

freaking the cats out. And if the only way that I can see them is without

cameras, then that's what I got to do. So I go outside and I just jump on the

monitors right away. I want to see everything go down for myself.

It seems like she's calmed down a lot already.

So if we, like, ignore her and let her get comfortable, she'll calm down, you

know? Come here.

Now, what I'd really love to see happen is for Sugar to sit on Leanne's lap and

for Dinah to join the family on the couch without any violence.

Come here.

Come on.

Look, here she comes.

Going some of these?

Look at Joey go, man.

And on cue almost, Joey starts coming downstairs with Dinah. He's guiding her

down with treats. She's taking the bait. A little bit wary at first, but now

things are taking shape.

It's all right.

Hang out, babies. Hang out. I am watching for any motion, anything that I

is threatening. Okay. We got Dinah, we got Sugar staring at each other, and

Sugar just makes that move, and I know that if she just gets to her feet, it is

game over. Hang out.

Settled in.

Sit. But she doesn't. For the first time in these cats' history, it's crisis

averted. That's it, man.

That's what I came here for.

Hi, baby.

When I walk in the house, both cats kind of scatter and they go to go upstairs.

I check in with the two cats. There is no violence.

They're not interested in one another. So once again, I am psyched. Well, look

at that. They've never been that close in their lives.

Nice, guys.

This is it.

This is what we needed to see.

Now, where are you guys now?

I'm pretty confident in saying that Dinah has a home here and will stay.

Good.

I think Dinah...

more of our cat now than just his cat. Jackson has helped our relationship just

as much as he's helped Dinah and Sugar's relationship.

All right, take care of those cats.

Jackson, I just want to say thank you so much. Without you, I don't think we'd

ever be able to have Sugar and Dinah and us in the house.