Original subtitles

I've had several attacks from Reese. She'll just turn on you.

Hey! So press me, fight me.

When you're folding laundry, the cat attacks.

Ow! I've never heard of this one.

Don't! George is laughing while I'm being attacked.

She is absolute terror with anybody that comes through the door.

I can't be a prisoner in my own house. I feel like if we can't make a change in

Reese soon, I really want to give her away.

Baxter runs our lives.

Damn it, he did it again.

Look what your little angel did again.

Baxter, what is wrong with you? I can't even fill it up because his head's in

there. If I don't do it, he's still going to go.

You're creating the problem.

What would your choice be to do with Baxter? We would get rid of him.

I'm Jackson Galaxy.

I'm a musician by night and a cat behaviorist by day.

I've met cats with all kinds of problems.

But I've never met one I couldn't help.

Oh, hello. In my career, I've worked with thousands of cats one -on -one,

analyzing their behaviors and retraining them and their guardians.

When relationships are at an end, I don't have many more options than to

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

her. I'm their last hope.

Are you all right?

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

Whoa!

Ow!

I'm on a Pacific Beach pier here in gorgeous San Diego, California's

city and the home of some serious sun, surf, and sand.

But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to go see George and Beth and their cat,

Reese. Now, Beth can't even walk in the house without getting beat up by Reese.

She wants to get rid of the cat, and I am going to make sure that doesn't

happen. Wish me luck.

I'm Beth. And I'm George.

And we've been married for five years.

We've had Reese for about six years since she was six weeks old. I guess she

good for probably about a year.

I've had several attacks from Reese.

I can't even do laundry without being attacked.

I think George has a better relationship with Reese. She won't really attack

him. She causes tension between us because George is laughing while I'm

attacked.

The cat doesn't attack him, so he really doesn't know how I feel when this wild

animal is stalking you. She's not wild. She's your cat.

Our friends and family are definitely afraid of Reese.

She is absolute terror with anybody that comes through the door.

I feel like if we can't make a change in Reese... soon. I really want to give

her away.

I don't think I would ever be able to get rid of Reese. We can't have her

affecting our everyday lives like this. I don't know if Reese is going to be

able to be fixed and I don't know if she's going to be able to change.

Well, hey, you must be Reese.

Hey.

Oh, wow. I have never walked up to a house and had the cat waiting in the

to tell me who's boss.

Hey there, I'm Jackson.

I'm Beth. Beth, good to meet you. I just met your cat.

The minute I saw this cat in the window, I knew that it was an especially mean

cat. Oh.

So I wanted to take Beth and George outside to get the full story on Reese.

Wow, beautiful place you guys got here.

I really want to see what I can do to help you guys out.

Tell me, what's going on with Reese?

Reese is just a very aggressive cat towards other people and sometimes

She's not very aggressive with George.

The hard thing, I think, and the biggest issue is... When people come either to

take care of her or for traveling, it's really hard to get them even into the

door. Basically what I just sort of dealt with, when people walk in, they

beat up? Yeah, yeah.

Because she's attacking the door and hissing and growling, and people just

really scared.

Does she draw blood?

Yeah, yeah, definitely draws blood.

How long have you had her?

We got her when she was six weeks.

Well, her first year, she seemed to be okay, and then she just got

worse, and then we had to start putting her away and locking her up.

Wow.

She hit a year old and things changed. The environment didn't change. People

coming and going. No trauma, no nothing. That concerns me.

The cat pretty much rules our life. We've got to put her away in the shelter

put her down.

Not really an option for me.

When I hear talk about getting rid of her, it's desperate talk. Oh my gosh.

concerned about this couple. I am concerned about this cat.

Okay, guys, talk to me about the living room. I fold my laundry here, and that's

when Reese gets very aggressive and kind of possessive over the clothes.

One of the strangest things I've ever heard, that when you're folding laundry,

the cat attacks.

I've never, ever heard of this one.

It is kind of mildly entertaining to watch her fold laundry. Are you serious

right now?

George starts laughing. You look over at George.

There are clear daggers leaving your eyes.

It's annoying.

Because sometimes I just want that cat to attack him so he knows what I'm

talking about.

And then you laugh again.

Sure enough, Reese isn't my only problem here. George needs to show a little bit

of sympathy for Beth.

Cats are energetic creatures. And by George laughing at the situation, he's

encouraging Reese to continue behaving aggressively.

And that has to stop. Not just for Beth's safety, but for the sake of their

marriage.

Is this where she normally hangs out? Yeah.

I hear a growl. So the second that I make eye contact with her, ears are

the growl starts, I cut off exit points for her.

She is clearly worked up.

This is the spot where Reese guards. She defended it when I first walked into

the house, and now I know she's going to defend it again. But I need to see her

level of aggression when I confront her head on.

Whoa.

Man.

Hey, man.

Jewelry is fair game.

I mean, that's crazy, man.

In one sense, I wanted to help him, but in another sense, I was completely

scared myself.

Wow, I'm in town.

The violence and anger that I'm seeing from Reese is just off the charts. Her

behavior is not normal. I'm going to go in with a little bit of this.

Good luck to Jackson.

What is that?

Listen, Jess.

Oh, God.

Ow.

Sorry, Jackson.

Oh, my God, that hurt.

Normally, I'm able to turn most cats around, but not... This time, I mean, I

tried treats, nothing.

And that leads me to believe that Reese's problems are much more serious

thought. She may have a chemical imbalance as well.

I'd like her to go to the vet.

I'd like her to be checked out. My feeling is she needs to be on

There's no way that Reese just suddenly one day turned not okay.

Chemically, I think that as she matured, she also became unbalanced, and I think

that medications are needed in order to balance her again.

That window seat is a constant. I want you to find something that she just has

to play with. I don't want her to hunker down. I want her to move. I want her to

play. I want that space associated with something other than ownership.

The next piece of homework for George and Beth, find that jackpot toy. I want

him to do a play technique with Reese every day. I don't want the kitchen to

this place of defensive behavior.

I want it to be a place of action.

Let's move on to the whole laundry thing.

Fold the laundry someplace else.

Pick a new spot.

Change up the routine.

You've settled into this reality of being so reactive to her behavior.

Beth is paralyzed by knowing what will happen. And when you're paralyzed, you

repeat the action.

And George, stop laughing at your wife when she gets attacked.

Enough of that, okay?

All right, if you guys have any questions at all, you call me, all

got a lot of work to do, but hang in there. It's going to get better. Bye.

I don't know if Reese is going to take to all of these changes. If Jackson

fix the cat, I really want to give her away.

It doesn't really work for me.

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

their cat, Reese.

And the last time I was here, man, that was one violent cat.

Now, I watched their video homework, and I saw them take Reese to the vet. And I

thought she had a chemical imbalance, so I am really interested to hear what the

doctor had to say.

I saw George playing with Reese. I'm expecting to hear that he was able to

the toy to move her away from that window area she is so violently

Hey. Oh.

And I saw Beth folding laundry on the bed. And I really want to hear that she

wasn't attacked.

This time around, I'm hoping to keep everything on my wrist.

Ow. Woo!

My skin and my bracelets.

All those things happen. It's a good day.

How you been?

Welcome back to San Diego. Thank you. So tell me, how are things going here with

Miss Reese?

Um, attacks were down the last time you were here. Ah, there

we go.

We had a good trip to the vet, and the medication is really working. She's

definitely a lot calmer. Good. So we're making a change.

Now, the vets seem to confirm what I thought, that Reese had a chemical

imbalance.

Medication will help keep her calm, but there's still behavioral stuff that

needs to be fixed.

Territorial aggression in front of that window and that front door area, stuff

that medication can't fix.

So here's a little good cat footage for you. Let's talk about laundry day. So I

tried holding the laundry on our bed.

So you can see that Reese is in our room right now. She's just up there. She's

completely ignoring me.

Is the bed a place she normally goes to when she's in the bedroom? We could take

that bed and put it anywhere, and she will go to the bed. I love that. That we

can work with.

Instead of attacking Beth in the bedroom, Reese preferred to go into her

bed. Now, if she chooses that bed over an attack, that's her home base.

She gets comfortable there and leaves everything else alone.

George and Beth may have stumbled upon something that may help us solve Reese's

territorial issue around the front door and the window, too.

So tell me what besides the medication has been working.

George tried a new toy that would distract the cat to make Reese less

so that cats won't be attacked in my own house.

So I love that.

But now she's interested in the door again.

It's like she doesn't know what to do.

I think what I need to work on now is feeling more comfortable if someone else

were to come over. If someone comes to the door, I'm getting nervous, which

probably makes the cat nervous. Absolutely. As far as my relationship

cat, I think George and I really worked on that, and it's going well.

So. Less laughable moments.

You making me realize that has helped me to be a little more empathetic to Beth

getting attacked by Reese.

You know, George expressing that he feels empathy now towards Beth about her

experiences with Reese is amazing.

Well, I am really relieved that she's responding to everything.

We still got work to do. Let's go.

Now, I'm happy to hear about the progress being made, but there's still

issue of people coming to the door and re -sacting territorially aggressive.

There's still lots more to do. Okay, now, the last time I was here, this

be where my jewelry got spilled and my blood got spilled.

This area still feels like poison to me.

So, I got a surprise for you guys.

Ah! Okay, so that's my catification partner, Kate. She's going to help make

whole area great. But in the meantime, she's also a total stranger, which helps

because Reese is right there.

George, do you mind just answering the door normally? Look at her just standing

there. Now, just as Kate knocks on the door, Reese runs up there and does

Reese's thing, just sits there quivering, looking at the door. I got to

goes down when a stranger comes over.

Why not use Kate?

And hold on, just crack the door for a second.

Kate. This is Reese. Come on in. Say hi to Reese.

Oh.

Yes, that's how Reese says hello.

Hey, George and Beth. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Hi, Kate.

Kate's here to make this space work for the cat and, by the way, work for you.

Our biggest challenge here is to move her through the space, but also make it

look great and make her very comfortable in those spaces.

Beth, I want to hear from you for a second, because I know you've got this

on your face. What is it you're afraid of?

We obviously want to help Reese, and that's the main goal here, but I'm not

keen on making big changes to the appearance of the house for the cat.

It really is interior design for both you and the cat.

Don't forget, Kate will be working with you while we do this, not against you.

Kate, I'm going to send you off to get cracking here. Great. And I'll meet up

with you later on, okay? Excellent. Thanks. All right, cool.

Here's the deal. I want to spend a little bit of time by myself with Reese,

I'll be right back, okay?

Now, I know that the medication is having some positive effect on Reese and

attacks on Beth, but I'm still concerned how she's treating strangers like Kate.

I need to spend some one -on -one time to gauge how territorial she is around

people she does know.

Like myself.

This will help me see how much more work we really need to do because we can't

rely solely on the medication.

The last time I was here, you didn't like me enough that you took my treats

you took them away from me.

That stare, that tortie stare, I'm telling you, it makes my blood run cold.

Let's see if this is something you're interested in.

I love... Okay.

It's dead.

Look at those eyes, man.

Well, look at that look on your face right now.

No. Now, Reese is not attacking me, but she's not warming up to me either. I'm

just not getting through to her, so I'm going to go for it and try to touch her

and hope she doesn't attack.

Come here, Reese.

Okay.

My baby.

Do you want to give me a little pet?

Oh, thank you.

Ah, there we go. She accepts the touch right in between her ears. I can't wait

to get out there and tell George and Beth what I've just witnessed.

The fact that Reese did not attack me like she so violently did on my first

visit shows me that she's making progress.

She's not reverting back to bad habits. Now we've got to train Reese to act this

way around everyone, including friends and strangers.

All right, well, guess what?

I just hung out with your cat, pet your cat, anything like that.

I really wasn't sure if you were going to be able to get through to her, so

that's really crazy. I never would have thought you'd be able to do that. Now,

at the same time, there's a few things that I've seen today that concern me.

So, for your homework, the first thing you're going to do, you're going to

Kate into your house to catify your kitchen.

So, if I walk in my house after the catification is done and it looks like

a crazy cat woman's house, it's not staying up.

Next thing.

Stranger danger, right?

They'll want people to be able to come in, but to have an activity.

We're going to teach Reese that, wait a minute, good things happen at this front

door. From now on, when people walk in the door, they're going to break out a

toy, entertain Reese for just a minute, then leave her.

Now, on top of that, I want you to expand the idea of what I call the base

trade -out. That video homework was more beneficial than you guys could possibly

know. The fact that she loves that cat bed and that she chose that over

attacking you, that's something I can use.

Hold on one sec.

Okay, so I just want you guys to get more beds, okay?

If we put a friendly piece of Reese's territory into places in the house that

she would normally be attacking, having a different base camp throughout the

house, I'm predicting we'll keep her from needing to actively defend her

territory. She will already have a place that is hers in each room, and that

will mean her attacks will hopefully stop.

All right, guys, I'm taking off. I'm going to head back to L .A., but call me

you need me, okay?

All right. See you in a few weeks, guys.

If Reese doesn't make a change here with strangers coming into the house, it's

just going to make our life more and more difficult. So we'd have to get rid

Reese. If Beth is going to get rid of Reese, I'm going to freak out.

It might be the only option left.

Now it's time for a kitty bit.

Domestic cats are the only cat species who can carry their tails vertically.

True or false?

Find out after this break.

And now it's time for a kitty bit.

Domestic cats are the only cat species who can carry their tails vertically.

And the answer is true.

All other felines have tails that either go straight out or between their legs.

All right, I'm here for my final visit with Beth and George and their cat,

Reese. Last time I was here, Reese was getting better, but still guarding

territory, still not letting people in the front door with ease.

I watched their video homework, and I saw that Reese was enjoying the window

spot that was catified by my friend Kate, and I can't wait to check that out

person. Somebody's coming to the front door.

I also saw that a friend came over, and I want to hear that Reese didn't attack.

Now, I'm going in there today hoping that there is no more violence. Is

otherwise for Beth?

Rehoming is still on the table here. And to say the least, this is putting a

stress on their relationship.

Main question, of course.

How's Ms. Reese doing?

I haven't had any attacks since last time you've been here. Woo!

That's fantastic!

Oh, that's good, man.

Hearing from Beth that she hasn't been attacked, she's not afraid of Reese

anymore, but her whole mindset is changing about her relationship with

That's what I need to hear.

Now, tell me what from the homework has helped.

Well, first of all, the catification, you know I was really nervous about

Yes, you were. And I was very pleasantly surprised.

I love it. Kate did a great job.

It's a whole different place now, you know.

She used to just snap and kind of become devil cat, horrible cat, and she's

just become a lot more relaxed. I think she used that window a lot to pace back

and forth when she was really aggressive and excited and kind of doesn't give

her the space to do that.

She's just kind of laying there.

So we've got a bird feeder right outside the window, Cat TV. We've got toys

hanging from the ceiling, and we've got a really comfortable -looking spot,

which was sort of a base camp for Reese. The transformation of this window from

the first time I came here to now is just pretty outrageous.

We impromptu had some friends over the other night, and they were fine, and

Reese just laid down in her bed.

Shelly has never just sat on the floor with Reese and felt comfortable.

That is so cool.

Now let's stop the presses.

The concept of friends impromptu coming over to their house, It's crazy.

You're charged.

That never would have happened before. I have no doubt that the combination of

the medication and the homework, especially the base camp trade -out, is

contributing to Reese's improved behavior. The fact that she chose the

attacking people, I mean, that tells me that she feels secure in her

environment, and I couldn't be happier. I can't believe you're standing there.

Really? And she's looking out the window instead of...

you know, hunkering down and staring you down.

Ow! Ow!

God! You know, when I first met Reese, it was mayhem. She destroys my bracelet.

Beads flying everywhere. Ow! Woo!

Oh, man!

I even offered her some tuna.

Woo!

Rose bad in the air. She was one angry cat, man. And she does not seem so

terribly angry to me. What are you looking at, baby?

I think there's a hummingbird.

Reese has most definitely made a home in that window, but this time around,

she's not hunkered down. She's not looking for battle. She's looking at a

hummingbird. I have one final test to let me know whether Reese is truly

I thought it was time to do a little bit of a handoff exercise. I basically

wanted to show Beth that she could trust herself and me and Reese enough to put

Reese in my lap. Can you go grab Reese and bring her right over here? Sure.

That'd be great.

I purposefully wanted Beth to go and get Reese. Why? Because she's had a

relationship built on fear with this cat.

Oh my gosh, look at her.

Look at her. Look at how sweet you are, my love.

I'm not seeing any fear off of you right now. I mean, do you feel like you've

got a different relationship with her?

Yeah, I do. I feel like I can just pick her up and put her on my lap. So, you

know, I feel like maybe we have a new bond.

And I don't feel scared at all right now because she just seems relaxed.

That's remarkable.

What do you think? Do you think that I can put her in my lap?

No, you don't trust it, do you?

You don't trust it, do you? I don't know what I think is going to happen. How

about I take that chance?

Okay. All right? Come on.

Hello,

my love.

Are you kidding me?

Wow. Are you kidding me? I can't believe it. No, I can.

Before, no one but Beth and George were even able to touch Reese, and now I'm

able to put her in my lap.

That was a moment.

I mean, this is incredible.

I never dreamed that we would get this far.

No, I'm happy.

As we're sitting here like this, it would be hard to imagine getting rid of

No, I mean, there's obviously absolutely no reason for that. I mean, he's 100 %

a different cat.

That's a good thing.

Guys, I'm going to cut out. But if you have any problems at all, you call me.

the meantime, enjoy yourself, okay? Okay, thanks. All right, I'll let myself

out. Take care, guys. Okay, great. Bye. Bye, Reeve. Bye -bye.

I think this whole experience, you know, has really changed Reeve. He's a

totally different cat.

I can't believe where Reeve is today.

Jackson, we really want to thank you for coming down to San Diego and helping us

with Reeve.

We really couldn't have done it without you, and it's going to make such an

impact on our life. So thank you so much.

What the hell?

I think she's encouraging him. He never does it in front of us. Damn it, he did

it again. Don, come here. Look what your little angel did again.

Something's got to change.

Damn it, he did it again.

Who on the road? Nothing in the cat box.

The obsessive or CD cat. You drink so much water. This might be why you pee so

much.

I'm on my way for my first visit with James and Don and their cat, Baxter.

cat is drinking water compulsively.

and peeing all over the house. He never does it in front of us. We never catch

him. Now, this problem is threatening to tear this new marriage apart. So I'm

going to go over there right now, see if I can help these newlyweds out.

I'm Jane. I'm Dawn.

We got married two years ago.

We're the owner of a black Persian, Baxter.

We've had Baxter for about five years, and Baxter runs our lives.

We live in his world.

Baxter has OCD issues with his water and his food.

Here's a little water game we do in the morning.

He's obsessed with jumping up on the sink and drinking his water. He's

soaking wet as I fill up the water bowl.

Sounds like a little pig snorting.

And he'll do this for quite a while.

Well done, kitty.

If he's not eating, he's guarding his food stations.

He doesn't like stimulation, he doesn't like to play.

And he always goes on the outside of the litter box or he'll go on all of our

bathroom rugs. The rug in front of my sink and nothing in the cat box.

He never does it in front of us. We never catch him. I get very frustrated

I find an accident.

Damn it, he did it again.

I yell at her. I yell at him.

He doesn't care.

Dawn, come here. Look what your little angel did again. I'm giving her some

options like having him put up for adoption.

No way. We will not put him up for adoption.

This is something I cannot take any longer.

Other steps will have to be taken.

Hey, how are you? I'm good. I'm Dawn.

I'm James. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you, man.

So, I've heard something about your cat, but tell me more. What's going on?

Baxter has all kinds of issues.

He's OCD with his water and his food.

He's drinking for like 5 to 10 minutes. 15, 20 minutes. Great.

Vet check -wise, I'm sure you've done urinalyses, you've done blood tests.

Blood work, all that. Fine.

Now, normally when a cat drinks excessively, it's a sign of diabetes,

disease, or kidney disease. But now that that's been ruled out, that tells me

it's behavioral. And it's some of the oddest behavior I've heard in a long

This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

When he's not eating, he's close to where the food and water is. It's almost

like a security blanket or something.

Okay, interesting.

And then he has problems with the litter box.

Doesn't go potty in his litter box.

Peeing and pooping or just peeing? Both. How long has this problem been going

on? Since we brought him home at eight weeks.

Okay, so he's always had this issue.

I'm at my wit's end. We've got to do something. Something's got to change.

Yeah, it causes us to argue.

I'll go sleep in the other room for the night because we're fighting.

Because of Baxter. Yeah.

He's yelling at me because it's my fault because it's my cat.

Is Baxter your cat?

I consider him to be her cat. If I hadn't come over, what would your choice

to do with Baxter?

We would get rid of him.

James is referring to Baxter as Don's cat. So emotionally, he's completely

blocked himself off from Baxter. So if that's the case, then his investment in

solution is very, very minimal. And that works against me for sure.

Okay, so I see.

A lot of telltale bad stuff happening here. The evidence.

Are the spots that he's going near, the towel and the poop right over here on

the side, are these kind of like you keep towels here because, you know? I

them up every day, throw them in the laundry room, lay a new set down.

It's not like you're putting down towels to soak up the pee.

You're putting down towels in order for him to pee on them. Because he was

sitting there. He was sitting there no matter what.

They basically said, well, if we put down towels, he'll pee on the towels and

then he won't pee on the floor. Well, in that case, they built litter boxes that

looked like towels.

I'd rather put something down than just letting him continually pee on the

carpet. And I can see you're getting more frustrated as I suggest that you're

creating the problem.

Jackson wants me to pull up the mats, but the whole reason the mats are down

begin with is because that's where he's going.

And there's our boy.

I've heard enough about peeing and pooping. What I need to do now is check

Baxter and see this OCD behavior that James and Don have been telling me

What does go on here?

So I just rinse it out and... Oh my God, he's completely underwater.

What the hell?

There came a point where I thought that poor Baxter was going to drown himself.

He's a Persian. He has a flat face and also a really compromised short

respiratory system. He could very well do some damage. He was even aspirating

the water, which is breathing it into his lungs.

None of this was good.

You know what? Switch with me. I got to do this myself. Do you want to try?

Yeah, go ahead.

All right, buddy.

What do we got?

Oh, my God. He's completely underwater.

Do you realize how weird this is?

Really? He likes his water.

Oh, my God, look at that.

He'll just run back and forth just to get to that bowl.

He's going to follow me?

He's going to follow that bowl.

Let's see.

Let's see what happens.

Might be a little full, though.

So here's Baxter, full of water. The crazy thing was, he followed me. He's

pretty severe hitch in his step. You don't notice that? No.

Baxter's not walking like a five -year -old cat should, and this concerns me

too. It's the same routine every day. I've asked her to stop doing this up

and just give him his water on the ground.

I guess I think it's kind of cute.

I've always said that I think she's encouraging him. She's encouraging him

doing this. She's encouraging him by putting on another towel every day. The

water is not hurting anyone.

She thinks it's cute. It's cute.

Not all that cute.

It is not healthy.

for the amount of water to go through this cat's system. I mean, don't forget,

it can also flush out all the nutrients that are going into his system. He is a

victim of his own compulsion. Now, you guys told me that you went to the vet

all the tests came back negative. So, this obviously isn't a medical issue. I

believe that this cat either has OCD or some other learned behavior.

All right, time to give you some homework. Sounds good.

As much as you're going to hate what I'm going to say, James, you're right.

What was really cute became crazy. And now, from crazy, we're going to

reprogram. It was kind of hard to hear Jackson kind of blame me for Baxter's

behavior. My intent was always good as far as how I treat Baxter.

Step one, we pull up the towels, and I want you to put one of these cute little

smiley face stickers over each time you find pee or poop.

What I want to find out by marking every place where Baxter has peed and pooped

in that bathroom is, Is there a pattern? And if there is, then we know it's

territorial. If there isn't, then we know it's something else.

Now, next step is, you're going to find that toy or toys that just get his motor

going. Once you've pooped him out a little bit, then you feed.

Dawn has been sending mixed signals. She's turned the water bowl into a game.

Now I want Baxter to have real play time, so by the time he gets to his food

water, he'll be too exhausted to obsess over it.

Finally, the way his hips move, the way his legs move, especially his rear legs.

It just concerns me, and I want you guys to take him to the vet.

After watching his gait and how strange he walks, is he uncomfortable?

If that's the case, then that's why he's going outside the litter box.

All right, if you guys have any questions at all, you give me a call,

Excellent. Great to meet you. Thank you. You too. All right, take care.

I'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye -bye. Honestly, I don't know if his

fictions are going to work. I mean, I've been here for five years. We've tried

many things.

He comes in for one day and gives us some advice, so I'll be interested to

how it goes.

I guess only time will tell.

I'm here for my second visit with James and Don and their cat, Baxter. The last

time I was here, I met a cat who was obsessive -compulsive. He'll do this for

quite a while.

Baxter is peeing and pooping all over the house. He never does it in front of

us. We never catch him. This cat's causing this couple just to get at each

other's throats. Don, look what your little angel did again.

Now, I got to see the video homework, and I'm glad to see that the towels are

all gone. I know that was hard, especially on Dawn. She thought that was

invitation to pee where they were.

But I was disappointed to see so many stickers, because that means there's

a pooping and peeing issue.

I got to see James feeding Baxter and Dawn playing with him.

You didn't seem interested in the play at all. I'm not seeing anything hopeful

here, and I've got to tell you, that scares me. Because the last time I was

here, James was ready to get rid of Baxter.

Hey, Dawn, how are you? Hi, good to see you again.

Tell me, how are things going with Baxter since I saw you? Well, as far as

water issue, with him being obsessed with that.

We've completely stopped that.

It's all gone.

He's not obsessing. That's amazing.

We just stopped it altogether.

What have you guys done to make it so that he's not fixing anything in water?

went and gave in to him, and that was kind of it. I'm really proud that she's

actually taking these steps to work with Baxter. He's no longer playing with his

water, so I'm able to give him his water bowl without his water being a toy. We

don't allow him up on the sink, and now he knows he's not going to get it

anymore. So that obsession has slowly gone away.

But he's still obsessed with his food.

He's still focused on that dish.

He just won't move away from it. We've got to break this OCD cycle. We've got

break these chains. It's never a good thing for animals to guard their food

bowl. For one, it could be a sign of territorial insecurity.

In terms of the peeing and the pooping all over the place.

We removed all the towels, like you said.

He is still going on the floor. It all seems to be, though, by the litter box.

Okay. So he's not necessarily going in the places where we had the towels out.

Good. But he's still going outside the box.

Now, I asked you to bring Baxter to the vet to have x -rays done.

What did the vet say?

The vet said that he has a case of mild hip dysplasia.

Oh, okay, okay.

Good news, bad news. Good news is now we know why he's going outside the litter

box. It hurts.

Imagine being a cat who doesn't feel well in their hips and has got to step

over the lip of a litter box, it might be something that causes you to avoid

What I'm seeing is classic litter box avoidance. On the bad news side, your

has hip dysplasia.

Hip dysplasia is a failure of the hip joints to develop normally, and it

gradually leads to the loss of function of the hips. This is a common hereditary

condition with the Persian breed.

This condition can be managed with pain medications or for more severe cases.

Surgery. Now, Baxter's case won't need surgery, so for now, James and Dawn just

need to monitor his condition and adapt to a life with a physically challenged

cat. How are you doing, buddy?

Last time I was here, it was about OCD with the water and all that. It feels

like it's being transferred now, this kind of hyper -attention that he's

to this food bowl.

You know what? Do me a favor. Will you guys grab the bowls? Sure. What I want

do is break the habit, and we can help break the habit by breaking the where.

Okay? So, let's go to the kitchen.

That room is everything for him. If we make this his new eating area, we can

also rebuild a little bit of how he approaches food.

Now, one of my previous homework assignments was to play with Baxter

feeding time. Can you go and grab that rug over there, bring it on over here?

Sure. Now, I want them to start feeding Baxter in the kitchen to help break his

OCD, but we also need to take into account his hip dysplasia when it comes

play. So now we've got the feeding station and we've got our display to

station, right? It's a nice place for him to be able to grip this carpet so

he can actually play. I think all cats love to play. Everything depends on

finding just the right toy just to snap him into action. I'm hoping that he'll

want to follow something like that.

Come on, mister.

Come on now.

There we go. Wow.

Boom, baby.

You've got to love this, right?

I mean, look, I just found something in one go. Oh, my God.

So I broke out the caterpillar on a string, which for a cat like Baxter I

thought was just the right choice. I mean, the cat really went to town

it was in a new environment.

I'm shocked. He never plays like this. Let's take a moment to appreciate the

fact that while he's doing this, his back is to his food dish. Wow.

When he's done, what I want you to do is lead him to food.

Okay? I am thrilled that I could prove to James and Don that Baxter loves to

play, but the journey is not quite over yet. I still have work for them to do to

make sure that we are breaking the OCD chains and we're also adjusting to life

with a cat who has hip problems. The first thing I want to deal with is

with dysplasia.

So, the first piece of this is this. What the hell?

That is Baxter's easy box, right?

Very simple, took the biggest litter box I could find, cut the front off of it.

All he does is walk in and walk out again. We have to assume that Baxter is

living with some degree of discomfort. I mean, it stands to reason if the cat is

going right around that litter box, he's trying to tell us, I want to go in

there, but it hurts. We have to listen to him. Now, what we discovered today

the Displasia PlayStation.

He is built in association with your bedroom by getting him out of that room.

We changed his approach to play and to eating and everything else.

Now, I want you to feed Baxter only in the kitchen. Use different bowls.

Guys, if usually you have any questions at all, you give me a holler. I'm going

to take off back to L .A. I'll see you soon, okay? Good to see you again. If

after all this, what we've done doesn't work, I don't know if the stakes will be

changed. I'm really hoping that Baxter can rise to the challenge.

All right, I'm here at James and Dawn's house for my last visit with them and

their cat, Baxter. And the last time I was here, Baxter came to life. He was

really finding himself, and he was peeing less.

Come here, Baxter.

Now, I already got a chance to look at James and Dawn's video homework. There

you go.

I got to see Baxter using his Displasia PlayStation.

They can have him play in a constructive and safe way. And then he gets tired.

Also... I don't see him obsessing about food or his dish.

I see him eating food like a normal cat from that brand new dish. I see him

walking into that big open litter box with no lip on the front. I'm really

hoping he's going to use the litter box because James, every time this cat makes

a mistake, he's ready to give him away. This time around, I want to walk in

there, no accidents. I want to know that Baxter has a forever home because he

deserves it.

Belle, tell me, how are things going in the house of Baxter?

He's doing really well. Is he really? Yeah. Good. Talk to me about it. What's

going on? We have his new kitty boxes set up. Yeah. And he's been using all of

them. To go from 16 stickers to zero, it's just unbelievable.

No stickers in the bathroom, no stickers around this house because Baxter's hip

dysplasia was going undiagnosed. He wouldn't use the litter box.

But now that Baxter has a litter box that he can just walk through the center

instead of walking up and over, he's using it.

That's a home run.

In terms of his obsessiveness, how's he doing?

We have been working with him on feeding him out in the kitchen now, so he's not

attacking his food bowl. He eats normal now. Especially since he was now guided

to play first, then to the food. That's so cool.

The obsessive -compulsive problems in this house, well, supposive obsessive

-compulsive problems, they were really just boredom and game playing.

How are you feeling right now?

I feel relieved. We're not fighting, so I'm not covering up for him anymore. So

it's a nice change.

Yay! I would say the tension has been definitely lifted.

Don and I still love each other, but now I love Baxter, too.

Everything sounds stellar in this house. Of course, I want to see it for myself.

Let's walk around.

Baxter has got to show me some confident play that tells us he's feeling better,

he's not going to have accidents around the house, and I'll be good. I can

leave.

Okay.

Hey, guys. And here is the best news of the day. In order to go see Baxter, we

had to go to the living room, not the bedroom, not the bathroom. James, I am

presenting you with the toy. You are officially the playmaster. What do I

you to do? Let me see how much you can get him moving around a little bit. This

is your final exam here, buddy.

Get a little bit of interest?

Come on, buddy.

Wake up. Back again. Back.

Come on, buddy.

There he goes.

There he goes.

Now you got to move in.

And onto the rug he goes.

Oh, there he goes.

Oh, good going. He's running around the house. He's playing. He's a kitten

again. That's all I needed to see. Seeing him like this is such an amazing

thing, man.

From day one, I didn't think Baxter was going to be able to be saved.

Today, he's a totally different cat.

He's playful. He's loving.

He's fun to be around.

Total change of personality.

Now, I've got to ask you guys. You've seen no stickers whatsoever.

You've got no towels on the floor. The obsessive -compulsive problems are

much gone. So the big question to you guys, is there a chance of him leaving

here now?

I think he's earned the keys to the kingdom.

There we go.

Now I'm happy.

Now I'll have you see I've been fighting for you, buddy.

I'm not going to keep you from your boy.

You go ahead and enjoy him. I'm going to take off. It's been wonderful.

Take care, Don.

Thank you so much for everything.

Goodbye, buddy.

He's home sweet home now. Look at that, man.

Take care of yourself, okay? Bye.

I think the future looks bright for us. We know what Baxter's issues are. We

know how to deal with them. I love the fact that I now have a bond with Baxter.

He actually comes to me.

Jackson, thank you so much for coming out to help us.

Have a hellish cat? Get my tips on how to better understand your cat's

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