Original subtitles

Godzilla can't hear.

We have another cat, Mudgee, that can't pee by itself. Her pelvis had shattered,

so she can't move its tail and communicate. You put those two together,

a disaster.

We're both afraid we're going to come home and find Mudgee dead.

I'm ready to give Godzilla back.

My cat is Sweet Pea, and our house is her litter box.

Cat! Carpet machine.

The cleaners, nothing really works.

You don't want to have anyone come over, people who come over going, what is up

with this?

This is just hell. I mean, what am I doing here?

If Dustin moves out, I'm screwed.

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.

You all right?

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

I'm on my way to go see Doug and Kalon about their cat Mudgee and Godzilla.

We got cat -on -cat aggression. That's bad enough. But it gets worse. We've got

Mudgee with a life -or -death medical condition made worse by the constant

stress of getting attacked by Godzilla, who is deaf and volatile, attacking Doug

and Talon.

The state of time is not on my side is an understatement. I've got to get over

there right now.

I'm Talon. I'm Doug. And we've been together for 23 years. We have one cat

can't hear.

We have another cat that can't move its tail and communicate. You put those two

together and it's a disaster.

We have a cat named Leggie.

Because of nerve damage in her pelvis area, she's unable to go to the bathroom

on her own. We have to administer meds to her twice a day. We also have to

express her.

Manually peeing her every day.

And helping her pooing as well.

We decided to get another cat.

So now we have Godzilla.

Within the first week, we discovered that she couldn't hear.

Godzilla, he terrorizes us and Mudgee as well.

That's the hair that she took out of Mudgee.

Whenever we leave the house, we have to build the wall of the villa. Pillows to

keep them separated from the upstairs and downstairs.

She dictates everything in our life, from intimacy to just running to the

We're both afraid we're going to come home and find Mudgee dead.

Mudgee is Daddy's girl.

I'm ready to give Godzilla back.

I can't have her in here terrorizing Mudgee. And I'm probably going to need

psychotherapy to deal with giving up on a cat.

Hey, how are you?

Nice to meet you. Doug, nice to meet you. Good to meet you as well.

Hi, I'm Kalon. Thanks for coming. Good to meet you. Come on, let's sit down.

So, I hear we have some cat -on -cat aggression.

Tell me about it.

We have two cats that don't get along.

Okay. Mudgie had a pelvis that was shattered and healed incorrectly, so she

nerve damage. She can't pee or poop on her own. Wow.

That's a challenge.

And how often a day do you wind up expressing her? Once in the morning,

the evening. Yeah.

Okay. And she prefers the way you do it. Yeah.

You don't do it? I've tried, but she gets so stressed out.

Mudgee's bowels and her bladder need to be manually expressed, which is a tough

thing to do. But that tells you how involved and how committed Doug is to

cat. Who's this?

This is Mudgee.

Hello, my love.

Her tail is dead. Oh, wow. It's totally dead. Yeah. When it comes to

communication, tails are crucial.

The tail will say, I'm totally confident. I'm totally scared. She

that. So that makes this even a harder case.

We adopted Godzilla.

But when we got her, we discovered that she's deaf.

Okay. So we basically have one cat who can't hear. Another cat can't

with her tail. We've walked in and seen pools of blood on the floor.

Oh. At this point, I'm sleeping down on the couch because I'm concerned about

the safety of Mudgee. And Talon is upstairs with Godzilla. I got a husband

wife sleeping on separate floors in order to keep their deaf cat from

their disabled cat. This house is completely divided. And if we can figure

solution, it's going to crumble under the pressure.

I'm hearing, Doug, that Mudgee is more yours. Definitely.

Does that make Zilla yours? Yeah.

I can't even pick her up.

I mean, claws, everything.

Oh, dude, that looks fresh.

That is fresh.

I really, I just want to take Godzilla back.

I'm not ready to give up on her yet.

Okay. Push gun to shove. I've got to protect Mudge because of her health.

this is a disaster.

In order to find out why Godzilla responds to Doug with aggression, I need

see it firsthand.

Hi.

How you doing?

You mind if I say hi?

Godzilla can't hear me, but she can see me, so I'm moving my hands around to

test where her visual boundaries are.

Ow, ow.

Those are sharp, man. See that?

Ow. Ow. Ouch.

You're seeing this, right? Yeah. If I'm just right here, it makes her nervous,

but if I come in the back...

Ow, ow. She got you good. Ow, she got me good. By pushing Godzilla's challenge

line, I learned that she only attacks when I come at her from behind, and that

makes perfect sense to me. I mean, Godzilla's deaf. She can't hear, and

of that, she relies solely on her vision. So if she can't see or hear me

that poses the ultimate threat, and that tells me that Doug has been approaching

her all wrong.

So I do want to see her with Mudgee, because to me, that's a huge point.

Now that Godzilla's in attack mode, I want to see how she reacts to Mudgee.

more these guys make eye contact, the more information I'm going to get.

There's no way to prepare for what you're going to see.

Now, this is that thousand -yard stare when she trains on to Mudgee. That look

is something to be concerned about. Now, when one cat stares another cat down,

it's the first sign of conflict, and it's often a precursor to violence.

And I did not like the way Godzilla was staring at Mudgee.

As always, I had to push their challenge line. Here's what I'm going to do. I

want to keep this safe, and at the same time, I've got to see reactions, so what

I'm going to do is I'm going to pick her up.

Now, since Mudgee's tail can't signal things like, stay away, or I'm not a

threat, she has to use verbal cues, like hissing to let her stance be known. The

problem is, Godzilla can't hear her. I'm going to bring her as close as I can

here, and up, and there we go.

I wanted to see if Godzilla would attack.

She didn't, and that's a good sign, but I had to try one more time. If Godzilla

stays, that tells me it's just play aggression and she doesn't want to kill

Mudgee. That's something I can work with.

All right, so Doug, I'm going to have you come on in.

All right, that's it.

All right.

Oh, and then that's the reaction I was hoping for. Mudgee is just... responding

from all this time of trauma and just taken off off the bed. Since Mudgee

use her tail, Godzilla has no visual way to tell that Mudgee is in a threat. She

keeps a defensive posture, fixing her eyes on Mudgee as if to say, one step

closer and it's over. I'm seeing cats who can't communicate and I'm seeing cat

guardians who are divided.

I need to bring everyone in this house together and that's going to be a huge

challenge.

The first thing we're going to look at is you guys.

You guys are going to switch roles a little bit. So, Doug, you're expressing

twice a day. I'd like you to take that job once again.

Now, what I need is for Doug to back away from Mudgee a little bit, and I

Talon to feel some sympathy for Mudgee, because right now she is way too

attached to Godzilla. And, Doug, you're going to take over Godzilla work. I want

you to be in charge of leading her down here. And when you approach Godzilla,

make sure you do it head -on so she can see you and come under, not over her

head. Also, I'd like you to find the toy that works well with her. Get her to

play as long as you can. In the meantime, you're hanging with Mudgee.

If Doug is ever going to be able to pick up Godzilla, I need Godzilla to see

Doug as a friend, not a foe. So Doug has to be the source of good things like

play. Now, secondly, I need Godzilla to be around Mudgee, but I need Godzilla to

be focused on a more appropriate target, like a toy.

And I need Mudgee to get used to Godzilla's presence without any

Finally, make sure your cat tree is intact and has no dead ends. It can be

easy as cut a hole in the other side of that box.

We have to be cognizant of the greater good for these cats. If we don't get

where we want to get, we have to have a conversation as best we can about

Godzilla's future in this house.

Mudgee's health is in question.

Let's get this done.

Okay. All right, guys.

Take care of yourselves. I'll see you in a few weeks, okay? Thank you so much.

All right. Bye -bye. Take care. If this doesn't work, Doug will have to take

Godzilla back because I won't be able to do it.

It may not be a safe place for Mudgee when he comes back.

I'm outside Doug and Talon's house for my second visit with them and their

Mudgee and Godzilla.

Now, we're dealing with cats with disabilities, but that didn't stop

from erupting here. Now, hopefully, with the homework I gave them, the violence

is down and the humans are more on the same page, because they were not last

time around. I had a chance to look over their video homework. First thing, Doug

and Talon have made a total role reversal when it comes to the cats.

over Doug's job of expressing Mudgee, and Doug is playing with Godzilla, which

will take her focus off her favorite play toy, Mudgee.

All good stuff, but I did see one thing that concerned me. As soon as Godzilla

reached the bottom of the steps, he fixated on Mudgee. If Zilla's aggression

hasn't lessened, I may find myself rehoming a cat today.

So, guys, tell me something. How are things going here in the land of

and Mudgee?

This has been the longest since we've had Godzilla that she hasn't lashed out,

scratched,

anything like that. What?

Oh, my God, that's amazing.

To the point where she's jumped up in your lap.

Whoa. Doug has been working like crazy, and it's paying off. His playtime with

Godzilla has eliminated the excess energy, so she doesn't feel the need to

and attack Mudgee. It's also forged a new relationship between Doug and

Godzilla. Kalon, you were going to be taking over with Mudgee a little bit. I

saw what you were doing with the expression.

As soon as I tried to squeeze, she would start clawing and flipping around to

bite me. I couldn't get the motion down, so I just let Doug express her. You're

going to get there. What else has been going on? We've been able to lead

Godzilla downstairs with the toy, but she'll do a quick scan for, okay,

Mudgee?

Huh. Then what happens? If Mudgee is curled up and sleeping, Godzilla will

up on him. And that's when the attack will happen.

Clearly, we still have work to do. So I want to get up and walk around.

Show me all the places that you've been working on. Let's start right over here.

I want to see that tree. Come on. Okay.

So, guys.

Nice. Work.

Really?

Hello, Mudge. You did a great job. I mean, Mudgee cannot get trapped in here

because you put another door in. Right. Very sweet.

We're standing by the cat tree and, of course, Mudgee's in the tree looking

pretty confident. So I asked Talon to go get Godzilla and bring her down because

I want to see the two cats together.

Good girl.

Hi, Godzilla.

Hello, my love.

Loosen the grip that you have on her a little bit. I want to get Mudgee down on

the ground.

Look, sweet girl.

Okay, good.

Come here, babe.

Hi.

Now, last time I was here, Mudgee ran away. Now that they've catified the area

with exits and escape routes, I want to see a confident Mudgee hold her ground

right in front of Godzilla.

She's shaking.

Okay, Talon, release Godzilla.

It's okay, babe.

I don't want to see Mudgee do anything. Just walk through with confidence as if

Godzilla isn't even there.

To me, that's success.

That's amazing.

Oh, look at her.

She picked this spot to turn over on her back. When a cat flops over on their

back like that, it's what I call the cat hug. Not only am I comfortable, not

only am I vulnerable, but I own a joint. How do you like me now?

You want it?

Come get it.

That's what that is right there.

Look at that. That's one calm cat.

Now, at any point, Godzilla could have dove right on to Mudgee, but she chose

not to. These guys are having a dialogue, and they are changing the way

one another. First thing is, I want to complete this sort of ownership of both

cats from both of you, okay? With Doug, I want to do something called pick up

and pass.

Deaf cats rely on body language cues, so as a big guy, if you bend over the cat,

it's intimidating.

Kalon, this is another one of those things that you can really be teaching

right? At first, you're going to pick up and pass.

Godzilla, over to Doug.

You just spend a little bit of time, put down. Pick up, pass, put down. Right?

Talon, it's time for you to really step up your exercises with expressing

Mudgee. You're almost there.

I have to break the codependency between Doug and Mudgee, so I need Talon to

keep expressing her. I need to show Doug that he's not solely responsible for

Mudgee's well -being. The second thing I want to do, we know that Mudgee's

getting attacked on the couch while she's down to sleep. It's very easy to

defray that problem by putting a bell on Godzilla's collar.

Hold on, I got something for you.

All right, then.

Say hello to Godzilla City.

Godzilla City is just a big fun thing, really. Yes, come on over here. Scratch

on things. Leave your scent on things in a positive, non -ambushing way. Put

this right at the base of the stairs where Godzilla tends to start stalking

Mudgee. I want to block off ambush routes, and that's what Godzilla City is

going to do. I'm just hoping it works, because if she continues to stalk, I'll

have to...

you know, take her back.

Point taken. I know what I'm up against. I know what you guys are up against.

This is a really important time, so if you need anything from me, just give me

shout, okay?

Will do. Great to see you again.

I've seen some progress, but if Godzilla continues to attack Magic, we're still

going to have to give Godzilla back.

I believe that Godzilla can change.

And now it's time for a kitty bit. What percentage of a cat's bones are located

in the tail? Is it A, 15 %?

B, 28 % or C, 10 %? The answer after the break.

What percentage of a cat's bones are located in the tail?

The answer is C, 10%. This means that all cats have 23 to 24 bones in their

tail, while dogs have 6 to 23 bones in their tail, depending on their breeder

size.

I'm here for my final visit with Doug and Talon and their cats, Godzilla and

Mudgee. Mudgee has a life -threatening condition, and on top of that, she's

terrorized by her completely deaf housemate, Godzilla.

So I got a chance to look at Doug and Talon's video homework, and I got to see

the bell on Godzilla to sabotage the sneak attack.

Mudgee heard it there, probably.

And by providing a distraction at the bottom of the stairs, Godzilla City has

eliminated the ambush zone. Now, Mudgee can see Godzilla, so it's a game of hide

-and -seek instead of a search and destroy.

Also, I saw Godzilla and Doug together, Doug petting Godzilla and Godzilla

leaning into Doug a little bit, and that really was fantastic.

But walking in here today, I need to see that Godzilla is no longer attacking

Mudgee at all.

Mudgee's safety is a life or death situation.

So rehoming Godzilla is still very much on the table.

Hey, how are you?

Hey, Doug, how are you? Good, how are you? Good to see you. You too. Tell me

something, guys.

Give me good news. How are things going with Godzilla and Mudgee? Have there

been any attacks whatsoever?

No. No. No, no, no. Not one?

No.

Yeah. Hallelujah.

Yeah. Raise the cat. That's amazing.

I'm not worried about Godzilla attacking Mudgee, hurting her.

It's going to keep getting better.

Well, the bell has been a great early warning system. Isn't that hilarious? It

all comes down to a bell.

Mudgee now can hear it, so she can't sneak up on her. Yeah, cool.

Like completely stop the hunter mentality. Really? Yeah. It's helped

her confidence so she can stand her ground. And it's like, okay, you know,

you come at me, this is going to hurt you more than it is me.

What else do you think's helped Mudgee? I think it actually has to do with T

'Lon being able to express Mudgee. Right.

Stop. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Seriously. Yeah. Now Talon has a role in taking care of Mudgee, and that's a

really big thing. Doug, you were sleeping on the couch because you didn't

to leave Mudgee alone. Tell me that you guys are sleeping in the same bed at

this point.

Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Now that's success right there. That's when you know it's you. Doug got

his bed back.

Now I'm able to go to sleep at night and not worry about Godzilla coming down to

attack Mudgee.

and it's been nice to have some good sleep tonight.

Are you able to pick Zilla up yet?

No, I haven't been able to do that quite yet.

Well, we are definitely going to work on that today. Okay. Come on, let's get

cracking. Perfect. Before I leave, I need to know that Doug feels confident

enough to pick up Godzilla.

He's put in the work, he's ready, and I want to see the final step in this

bonding process finally take place. All I want you to do, Scoop, put her down.

That's it. We were never successful at doing the pick and pass, so I was afraid

that he was going to ask us to do it. First thing is to make sure she can see

you. You don't want to startle her. There you go. She sees you.

Remember, Doug, deaf cats are very sensitive to movement and vibration.

sure you're deliberate with your actions so she doesn't have time to second

guess your intentions.

All right, dude. Let's do this.

Ready?

Go for it.

We don't have to scrub? No, no. You don't have to do it? No.

Just reach in between.

Pick her up.

Go for it, man.

Put her down. Let go.

Let her go.

So Doug reaches in to grab Godzilla, and he's as stressed out as Godzilla. He

goes for the scruff of the neck, which I didn't really want, and boom.

Off goes Godzilla.

You want to go grab her? Yeah. It's all about fluidity. You can't pick up and

freeze. That freeze is tension. The cat is picking all of that up. The pet pass

had to be one smooth movement. Go, go, go. Here we go. You're picking her up.

That's beautiful.

And you bring her to your lap. Go ahead with authority. Put her down there.

Now to the ears.

And dude, you just did it.

Yeah, look at that smile. How do you feel, man? I feel good.

You look good.

I'm stunned that this actually happened.

Well, congratulations, man.

For me, picking up Godzilla and putting her in my lap was the final step in this

process because it allowed me to gain control of the house again. It was

amazing. You really thought it was a possibility that Godzilla would have to

rehomed. Do you still feel like that's a possibility?

No. That's fantastic.

You're feeling okay about Mudgee's health?

Yeah, much better. When you first came, she was so stressed out that it was just

deteriorating her health day by day.

It's kind of the point I'm not worried about Mudgee at all. Hey, look who's

here. There is not one ounce of tension on this cat's body right now.

I never thought that these two cats could be on the same couch together

you are the one handling Godzilla, Doug. I know.

Never would have thought this would happen.

On that note, I'm going to take off. If you need anything, anytime, you call me,

okay? Thank you so much. All right. You take care.

Bye -bye. Bye. If Jackson hadn't have come here, Doug would have taken

back to the shelter. We probably would have ended up in therapy.

You saved our cats and their marriage at the same time.

Thank you, Jackson. We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you, thank

thank you.

My cat is Sweet Pete, and our house is her litter box.

The smell is unbearable.

All of that is cat pee. Cat pee. Piss -covered blanket.

Oh, this cat.

All right, forget this. I was on my way to go see Eric and Dustin about Eric's

cat, Sweet Pea, who's peeing up a storm.

Oh, this cat.

And it turns out that I'm actually going to go to pick up Dustin at a hotel.

Yes, a hotel. He's staying there because he can't stand the smell of Sweet Pea's

pee anymore.

So I'm going to pick him up, and I'm going to take him home whether he likes

or not.

Hey, man. I'm Jackson.

Oh, my gosh. Nice to meet you. I'm Dustin.

Dustin. Good to see you. Eric told me where you were, man.

Yeah, it's been pretty bad.

Okay. Come talk to me. Hang out with me for a second. It's my getaway place.

Yeah, the getaway place. We've got to talk about that for a second. Over the

years, the cat has just been constantly sprayed and throughout our apartment,

and I just can't take it anymore.

There's pee right there.

This is a tiff.

Covered blanket. All of that is cat pee.

Cat pee.

Pee. Ugh.

I'm Eric. We've been friends for 16 years, and I've been living with Eric

for nine.

My cat is Sweet Pea, and our house is her litter box.

Sweet Pea pees on the wall, on the carpet, on the couch, on the chair,

outside of the litter boxes.

I don't like the idea of particles getting in my eyes or my throat, so I

the goggles.

I put boil down around my entire house because I actually saw one of the

episodes where a doctor said, put boil down.

Living in a house with tinfoil, it's like living in a toaster oven.

It's like, what happened to our lives? You know, it's like, I don't need this.

You know, like, can't help it. She knows what she's doing. I mean... You think

she can help it?

Well, you know, other cats learn, so... I have thought about giving her away,

but... If I gave her to a shelter, she'd be killed.

So I could not live with myself if that happened.

I am through.

You know, this is just hell. I mean, what am I doing here?

If Dustin moves out, I'm screwed.

I'm faced with an apartment that I can't afford.

I mean, smell this place.

Who else is going to want to live here?

Out this way.

Thank you.

This is Eric.

Hey, Eric. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Oh, wow.

Wow,

it smells in here.

I mean, that's fine. How do you do? I know, but welcome.

Thank you.

Literally, the second you walk in here, it blows you back a little bit. Yeah.

So let's break it all down. Talk to me about the cat. Yes. We pee.

I adopted eight years ago, and she immediately started peeing.

She basically stayed under the bed for a month.

And she would not come out. Oh, my God. This is a really badly scared cat.

Yeah. Wow.

I already knew that there was a problem when I walked into a house that was

literally soaked in pee.

But when I learned that this cat has spent her entire life hiding in her own

house, I know right away this is not your typical peeing cat.

I believe that Critton.

Who? His cat, Critton. Wait a minute.

Crittons? Yeah. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. You didn't tell me that part.

I do believe that they have a really bad relationship.

I also found out there's another cat in the house, Critton. And in the eight

years that these cats have been together, they still argue every time

each other. And that's a problem.

I see them constantly, like, there's a lot of hissing and a lot of growling.

After all that time?

Yeah. Mm -hmm. I mean, not all the time. Critton is constantly looking around to

see where she is.

He overreacts whenever they kind of have cat fights. I'm like, they're just

playing, you know.

I do not overreact.

Well, I feel like cats do that.

These two roommates are on such opposite ends of the world when it comes to the

debate here. I mean, these guys have been living together for nine years, and

yet it seems like they've been living under different roofs the entire time.

I give her to a shelter, that means she's going to be put down. Yeah.

And I can't live with myself if that's the option.

Yeah, well... How much can you put up with, you know? You've hit your breaking

point. Yeah, I've hit my breaking point.

If I couldn't have made it over here, how much longer do you stay here?

As soon as possible, if I could just get a place. Oh, you're out. You're out.

Okay. And then if he leaves, I'm screwed.

I'll never find another roommate to deal with this.

And I can't afford it on my own.

I feel for Eric. I mean, he knows.

that giving up sweet pea is a death sentence for her, but he can also tell

Dustin is one foot out the door. Let's get up. I want to take a look around.

Sure. This house has a lot of problems, and the cats are only half.

So you have tinfoiled pretty much the entire perimeter of the living room.

I want to do, I'm going to go in my case here and grab my blacklight. My

blacklight helps to illuminate things like pea.

Sorry to mess up your handiwork here.

This is spray. Oh, there, see?

See how far up we go? Oh, okay.

Now, tinfoil can work to keep cats away because they don't like walking on it,

but in Sweet Pea's case, she's just backing up onto the foil and spraying on

wall, so clearly it's not working. And that spray itself is telling me that

is a cat who feels seriously territorially threatened.

She burrows her way under the couch.

Under there?

Yeah. Is she in there right now? Yeah.

Well, I do need to meet her, so maybe you can get her out of there? Yeah. Go

like this.

She'll start crying.

Yep, there she is.

Oh, see?

Oh, Sweet Pea.

So she gets down in there.

Hi, baby.

Do you mind if I hold you?

No. Come here, my baby.

Hi. We get Sweet Pea out from under the couch, and she's beyond scared. I mean,

she's licking her lips. Her ears are shaking. These are two signs of a

stressed out cat.

It's all right, my love. It's okay.

It's okay.

It's really painful to watch.

She clearly spins.

most of her time being petrified. In order for me to help her, I need to find

out why she's so scared.

Now that I met with Sweet Pea, it's time to meet with Critten.

Oh, hello.

She goes everywhere.

She's so sweet.

When Sweet Pea's in the litter box, I see Critten kind of come up to go in the

litter box, and there's growling and instances.

Where are your litter boxes? We keep the litter boxes in the closet right there.

Why? Why do you have litter boxes in here? I mean, this is the only place

we can kind of have them. How about the place where all the tinfoil is?

For whatever reasons, we felt that having litter boxes in the living room

like, you know, oh, look at the litter box.

Look at the piss all over your house. Look at the tinfoil. That ship has

Eric. That ship has sailed. All right, guys, I'll meet you out there.

I'm going to give you some homework, but I've got to go grab something first,

okay? Okay.

So it was time to give these guys some homework. But first, I needed to make my

point that this situation was seriously out of control.

This place stinks!

I mean, I should have been wearing this thing when I came in here in the first

place. Not to embarrass you, right? Yeah, I know.

It's true, though. Do you have an extra one of those?

Yeah.

First thing we've got to do is clean, and clean better. So I want you guys to

use a CO2 -based cleaner that I'm going to leave with you. Once you've cleaned

up, you've got to start putting litter boxes all over the place. Instead of

putting down fresh tinfoil everywhere, put down litter boxes. Then it comes

to video journaling. I'm going to leave you guys with a motion -activated camera

so we can figure out what's going on here. Now, Sweet Pea is a very timid

so I'm relying on this motion -activated camera to really get a clearer picture

of what's going on in his house.

Now, getting her to feel better. We've got to get her to the vet, for sure.

I want to rule out that Sweet Pea's problems are not medical, but

a vet visit's really important.

Now, here's the next thing I have. I'm going to have you block off the

of this couch. I don't want her going in there anymore.

So keep your heads up and your nose plugged.

Let's get to work. Great to meet both of you. Thank you so much. Stick around,

okay? All righty. All right, I'll talk to you soon. Have a good one. Thank you.

Bye, Crittin.

I'm hoping Sweet Pea gets better, but this isn't going to be an easy fix.

So... I hope, but... I'm not planning on it.

I'm right outside Eric and Dustin's house for my second visit with them and

Eric's cat, Sweet Pea. And the last time I was here, let me tell you something.

This place stunk.

But also, the roommates were at odds. I mean, Dustin was on his way out, living

in a hotel.

I got to take a look at Eric and Dustin's video homework, and the first

see is Eric and Dustin putting out litter boxes, cleaning up, and they got

of all that tinfoil.

And I saw that they blocked off the sofa so Sweet Pea can't hide there anymore.

I also got to see Dr. Mahaney coming in, doing the once -over on Sweet Pea. She

gets a clean bill of health. This time, all I'm hoping for is we got roommates

who are actually being roommates and a cat who's not peeing all over the house.

Now, you can always hope. Hey, Dustin. How are you, man? Good. How are you

doing? Good to see you. You too.

How have you been?

Good, thanks. Welcome back.

How's Sweet Pea doing?

Well, Sweet Pea seems to be

adapting.

Adapting! Ever since we put the seven litter boxes down, she went in there and

peed.

Right. I was floored. I've never seen her pee in a litter box before, ever.

Ah!

So, yeah, that's improvement.

Between the smell.

And the tinfoil. You couldn't breathe in this house. And now, none of it is

there. It looks like a brand new place. It smells like a brand new place. And I

am really encouraged.

So the last time I was here, I left you a motion -activated camera so we could

see how the cats interact.

So, let's get to it.

Oh, wow.

Critton is chasing Sweet Pea away from the litter box.

That's the problem.

Now, that's interesting stuff, man.

That footage explained a lot.

Sweet Pea is using the boxes now because there are just too many for Critten to

guard. But if we want to get the boxes down to a reasonable number, we're going

to have to get this cat's confidence up so she'll stand up to Critten. So

Dustin, based on what you've seen, does that make you feel more responsible for

this problem?

Not really. You know, like one video of my cat chasing Sweet Pea in my litter

box is not going to like reverse my thought process.

Eric, how are you feeling?

I feel like Dustin is kind of through with my cat emotionally.

That's the problem.

Moving out of here is filling the table for you?

Yeah, it's filling the table.

Dustin is just not here with us. I mean, he doesn't have to be staying at a

hotel to be checked out. That's something we're going to have to work

Okay.

Oh, no.

Baby, it's okay. Come, come, come.

It's okay. It's okay. You remember me, my love?

You remember me, my love?

So as soon as we walk into Eric's room, Sweet Pea wanted nothing to do with us.

And if that closet door hadn't been blocked off, I have no doubt she would

hidden right away.

But I wanted to show them that we could push her challenge line by not letting

her hide. And on a human level, I need to get Dustin involved.

I need him to be a part of this process. So here's what I want you to do. Eric,

can you pick her up and hold her in your lap for just a sec? Come here, honey.

And get her into that sort of mellow place.

When you feel that she's hit that place, then pass her on over to Dustin.

Why, good girl.

Okay. She's looking a little common.

She's ready for the pass.

No, I don't have any relationship with Sweet Pea. Whenever I walk in the door,

she's running out of the living room and hiding, so I don't try to hold her.

Okay.

Good.

I am in awe of how quickly she seems to be adapting.

Nothing is an instant thing. Do you notice that, by the way, Eric? Uh -huh.

entire demeanor changed the second she hit your lap.

Have you ever been able to hold her like this before? No.

I'm surprised right now even that she's being this calm because I've never seen

that before.

I'm telling you, as soon as Dustin touched Sweet Pea, I saw genuine

transformation. I saw a cat come out of her shell with Dustin for the first

time. This was a cat who was shaking in my arms when we pulled her out of the

couch last time. And this time, she was so chill that she started to drift off

to sleep. And at the same time, Dustin's face just transformed.

I finally have Dustin's buy -in, and that's huge.

She's like falling asleep in your lab right now.

I was surprised that she was...

Being so loving. She's not usually like that, and I was very happy to see her

take to me that way. It was very nice.

Man, that was good, right?

Yeah. You went all out, and you put out seven litter boxes. Here's what I want

you to do. We're going to narrow seven down to three. Every time a cat uses a

litter box, you put a sticker on that litter box. The top three stay. We have

extend that challenge line. We started it with the couch. Now we have to make

that happen throughout the rest of the house. We have to encourage her to live

bigger life.

Now we have to really complete the challenge line. That means any place

Sweet Pea is hiding, we are now going to block off and say, nope, you're not

doing it anymore. You're not going to live a small life. You're going to live

big life. Last thing we got here, try to erase that line, my cat, your cat. It's

been years.

I mean, it's time to do that, okay?

If I can get Dustin to consistently show Sweet Pea the love and affection that I

just witnessed.

I know she'll be more confident and thrive.

This is by far the most important piece of homework.

Any troubles at all, call me, all right? All right. I'll talk to you soon. Thank

you. Bye -bye. Bye -bye. I never had to give so much of my time and myself and

my patience just to be a roommate with someone. So it's very hard.

Well, I guess if we were just roommates, that would be one case. But, you know,

we're supposedly also friends.

So, you know, doesn't that sort of change everything?

Not really. I mean, other friends have cats and that, like... Training cat.

All right, I'm outside of Eric and Dustin's home for my final visit with

and Eric's cat, Sweet Pea. I got a chance to look at Eric and Dustin's

homework, and since they finally blocked off any place where Sweet Pea is

hiding, we can't go under the bed anymore.

I got to see Dustin taking care of Sweet Pea and Sweet Pea hanging out on

Dustin's bed.

Sweet Pea is laying in my bed.

I hope that means they're continuing to bond because that's key to Sweet Pea's

progress. And I got to see them cutting down the number of litter boxes by

keeping only the ones with the stickers on them. I just hope that Sweet Pea has

in fact split and stopped using them entirely.

So let's see what's going on in there. Hey, how are you? Good to see you again.

Nice to see you too.

Yeah. So tell me guys, how are things going here?

Much better.

Whoa! I have not seen any accidents. We got the cat boxes down to three cat

boxes, and they're both using them. There we go. Wonderful.

Cool. And now Sweet Pea is actually standing up to Critton. Are you kidding?

Cool. All right.

And the great news is that Sweet Pea is now standing up to Critton. And what

that means is that because Eric and Dustin encouraged her not to hide...

now a confident cat, and she never has to worry about being chased out of the

litter box ever again. One of the things that I really wanted to work on the

last time I left here was the whole my cat, your cat thing.

I've been sharing my room with her, and Beth has totally stepped up.

Really? Oh, yeah. Tell me. Tell me about that.

Blocking her out of the closet and his bed really made her come out and

socialize, so it made me get to know her better. It was nice. She seemed to come

out of her shell, and she'll, like, Roll on the ground and let me pet her belly.

Wow. I think he really loves her.

Oh, well, that's obvious.

Now, I noticed the two of you seem a lot better together.

Is that a reflection of what's going on with the cat?

Yeah. Great. And it feels really good.

It's definitely true that when there's harmony with us, there's harmony with

cat. It's like all is well in the world.

Fantastic news. Let's get up and take a look around now.

I'm hearing great stuff, but before I leave here, I need to see Sweet Pea one

last time. I need to see that she's a confident cat, that she can hold her own

against Grit, and most importantly, that Dustin and Sweet Pea have continued to

bond since my last visit. If I see that, I can leave knowing my work is done.

Here she is. Hello, my love.

Hello.

Look at you. Look at you.

Hi.

Right away, I can see that we're dealing with a different cat.

Sweet Pea looks relaxed and confident in Dustin's arms. I mean, a world away

from a terrified cat who hid under the sofa and peed everywhere.

Look at this. You know she's safe. Very nice. Yeah. Very nice. Here comes

Critten.

Let's see how Sweet Pea reacts to her.

I don't want Sweet Pea to run away and bury herself in the sofa like on my

visit. I want to see Sweet Pea come and stay in Dustin's lap.

That's fantastic.

Critten just walked right through here, and she didn't bat an eyelash. So that

tells me...

their relationship is changing as well. But if we're going to talk about changed

relationships, this is the one. As Dustin was petting Sweetie when they

sitting down, there was the look of she's my cat in his eyes.

She is very clearly also your cat.

Yeah, it's great. You helped me make that change.

So I really appreciate it. It's my pleasure. All right. So I must ask you

big question then.

Are you leaving this house? Are you staying here? I'm going to stay here.

I couldn't be happier.

I feel like, you know, I have a new little kitty, and I'm going to stay, you

know? I love that. I have a new kitty.

You do, actually.

I realized that I think I was resisting the whole, like, cat daddy thing, so I

didn't really make a connection with her throughout all these years. But you

just never want to give up on your pet and never forget that they can, you

I can't help but notice you have this gargantuan smile on your face. What are

you thinking right now? It just means everything.

Listen, I don't want to break up this moment. I'm going to leave, okay? It's

been great working with you guys and with you.

Thank you so much, Jackson.

I'm endlessly grateful to Jackson.

Endlessly. Before Jackson came, we were living in one big, huge litter box.

There was no harmony.

And now there's way more harmony.

And Baby seems like a different cat.

Yeah, he does.

Find out how Godzilla and Mudgy have been doing since my last visit. Watch my

new series, How Do You Like Meow?

Only available online at AnimalPlanet .com.