Original subtitles

I have a cute little cat named Buster. He will claw your face out.

Jeff has an amazing reputation for being a great photographer, but his cat can

screw it up.

I would never give him up. Both of our jobs are at stake.

We have a big problem.

Elvis begs and begs all day long for food.

I have to get some sleep.

Elvis is a fight every night.

Come on, Elvis.

The cat snores so loudly. He has sleep apnea.

If he doesn't change, he's going to have to go.

I don't want to lose him.

Jackson's our only hope. I don't know if there's any hope for this cat.

Please, Jackson, fix my cat so that we can be a happy family.

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.

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, you can't always focus on the cat's needs,

right? We all have needs in this family. And cat guardians have reached their

emotional limits. This is the last straw. Killed me. I'm their last hope.

I just love him so much, and I know he's got a good side.

Cats have nine lives, but humans only have one.

Oh, my gosh!

So I'm heading over to go

see Jeff and his cat, Buster, who is really aggressive.

Now, Jeff is a well -known celebrity photographer who works out of his home,

his clients are threatening to never come back because they're getting

On top of that, his best friend and assistant, Jesse, who's worked with him

four years, often has the task of handling this aggressive cat, and I had

get over there quickly.

I'm Jeff. I'm Jesse. I'm Jeff's assistant.

And I'm a photographer.

And we've been friends and co -workers for four years.

I have a cute little cat named Buster. He's not cute.

He can be. He will claw your face out.

No.

He's mean. He growls. He scratches.

He claws.

And he just looks mean.

Buster is not the worst cat in the world.

But he's so evil to you.

Thank you for saying that after time. I become angry with you even saying that.

Look what your cat did.

Oh, my God.

When Buster came into my life, he was this cute little ball of fur.

It was love at first sight. I fell in love with him. He became a little bit

erratic, maybe, in his friendliness. That's too nice of a word. No, he became

faint.

Don't say that.

I get defensive.

Oh, my God.

Not only Jeff's house, but his place of business. It's worrisome when he shoots

here because if he interacts with anyone, I mean, they're at risk for

spotted. Are you sure?

That looks great, though.

Oh, my God.

I would never give him up.

That's just not an option.

Both of our jobs are at stake.

You know, I try not to think about this. I try not to.

Future trip about it. You should think about this, because if nothing changes,

then I might have to find another job.

Hey. Hey. How are you? I'm Jackson. Jeff. Nice to meet you. Jeff, good to

you, man.

Hi, I'm Jessie. Good to meet you.

So, tell me about Buster.

I love him to bits.

That's always a bad start. That means that nobody else does. Nobody else does.

See, I knew it. I'm the only one that can touch him.

You can hear him growling across the room.

And then once you approach, he just... When I first got here, he bit me

the worst he's ever done. Are you kidding?

How?

I have a scar right here, and that's from him. God.

Jessie didn't just have a few scratches.

She had scars.

This is her place of business, too, and Buster's aggression is putting her in

real danger.

Think about this. That bike gets infected. She wants up in the hospital

antibiotics. She's not coming back here anytime soon. You know, my concern is

that it will compromise work relationships.

Be careful.

It's actually a very serious problem.

It makes it hard to work here.

I'm not so sure I want to keep working here. I hate it.

I hate it.

Now, normally, one of the first go -to things is to say, when your clients come

over, put the cat in the bedroom. It took one quick look around here to know

that it was a studio, so you're stuck with putting him in the bathroom.

I don't want to have him in the bathroom all day.

As a photographer, I shoot a lot of portraits, and that can go for hours on

That's just not fair to him.

I want him to be happy. I'm trying to provide him with a good life.

That's so great.

Jeff's my kind of guy. He says that his commitment is to this cat, for the life

of this cat. He has no intention of, quote, getting rid of Buster at all.

That's great, and I'll work hard for the guy. All right, guys, let's come on

over here. Whoa.

Message received, buddy.

I'll keep my distance. We're going to leave him there for just a second and

take in the space.

And there's the space. This is it. Yeah, this is it. This is me.

Here's the problem. There's really no cat stuff in here. Believe me, I run

this issue a lot with my clients where there's just this overwhelming fear

turning your house into this cat jungle gym.

However... Cats need to take ownership of their environment, and they do this

having stuff on which to climb and spread their scent. When they don't have

this, bad stuff happens.

So now, here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to come in here as I'm talking to you, and I'm just going to sit.

I'm not going to make eye contact with him whatsoever.

He sees me as a threat even though I'm not even looking at him right now.

What I'm trying to figure out from him is, I call it his challenge line.

At what point does he go from being okay,

to decidedly not okay.

Seeing Buster like that was shocking.

I don't know where that comes from, and I don't know why he gets that way.

It's just so upsetting to me.

From here, around, that's his challenge bubble,

right? Yeah.

That counts for up here, too. Look at him. Do you see that? Yeah. Full alert.

Now, judging by Buster's reaction to me, it's clear that Buster's brand of

aggression is fear aggression.

Buster doesn't have a challenge line.

Buster has a challenge bubble. His idea of personal space is extraordinarily

wide. And one of our goals over the time that I'm with these guys is to shrink

that bubble. Jeff, I just want to see what happens when you walk over.

Come on in.

Well, look at that.

Before, challenge line was here.

Now, challenge line, right about here.

Look at that. He's going to eat right next to my hand now.

Way inside that zone you were talking about. Way inside. You've got to admit

that you're seeing something here.

I'm still skeptical.

You're a bat.

That's not a cat who is in high alert. As soon as Jeff comes over, he eases a

little bit, and that's one of the keys to this entire case.

So, guys.

For your homework, first of all, catify this place, right? I want to see places

for him to perch, to rest, to scratch, to climb.

In deference to catifying my place, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make because

I know we can make him an awesome little guy.

Here's another thing. When he's being the monster, I want you to take

right? I want to see what he's like in action. The last thing I want you to do,

we know that he can experience happiness, right?

Find those moments and document them.

I want people to come into this house and have positive interactions with

Buster, where Jeff is petting and other people can maybe pet Buster, but more

importantly, give him something positive, in this case, food. All right,

I'm going to take off.

Buster makes being here difficult. Deep down inside, I feel like he's never

going to change.

If the homework doesn't work, then I just won't come here anymore.

I'm here for my second visit with photographer Jeff, his assistant and

friend Jesse, and Jeff's cat Buster. Now the last time I was here, Buster's fear

aggression was just off the charts.

Look what your cat did.

Jesse was terrified to be at work and clients were too afraid to even come

I took a look at their video homework, and I saw that Jeff has brought some cat

furniture, which is really encouraging since he was so reluctant to do so in

past. I also saw that Jesse was able to pet Buster for a little while before

that fear reflex kicked in. I'm really curious to see how things are working

today, because if the aggression continues, Jesse's not going to work for

anymore. He's going to start losing clients, and the guy may go out of

So, how are things going?

I think we have a ways to go. Buster is still readily.

Okay. But, you know, movement.

Tell me about the movement.

So we did that on the couch. Same thing. I was petting Buster. Jesse kind of sat

down. I started on the edge of the couch. Every few minutes, I would get a

little closer. And I proceeded to pet his head for about three minutes. Oh,

And then his breathing changed.

He started hissing.

And then he just went full force, attacking, swatting, and slicing me up.

Three minutes is actually a long time to pet any cat with aggression issues.

That's something we're going to have to work on.

If it keeps up like this, then I don't want to work here anymore.

That's really upsetting to me. So clearly we've got a ways to go here. I

Buster to make progress, but coming here is making me feel uncomfortable because

Buster isn't happy with me in his space, and it makes it very hard.

Talk about this. This area is free -floating to a point like, what's the

advantage to him to being here?

That's important, because if it's a station that goes to other places and

just an uncomfortable destination, that's where I think we're going to win

this one.

It is good to see that Jeff has given Buster some of his own furniture to make

him comfortable and to keep him from being territorial over the couch, but I

don't see Buster anywhere near it. Like it or not, Jeff has much more catifying

to do.

All right, we have pictures sitting here. What was going on in this picture?

That was one of the few moments that I can pick him up.

He's mimicking what you're doing.

You're pushing him away while you're holding him. He's pushing you away.

It's fear, right? Because you're both in the position of fear.

This photo perfectly captured how Jesse and Buster's fear is feeding the others.

So I wanted to start the same exercise that ended so well on my last visit.

Jeff, you're going to sit towards the end of the couch.

Okay?

All right. Jeff sits down.

And again, important, Jeff, for you to just act as if you guys were totally

alone.

There you go.

Jeffy, now I'd like you to try to hand feed him, okay?

A little nervous.

I'm very cautious to want to go in there, but I'm going to give it a shot.

So on her homework, Jesse was petting Buster for two to three minutes before

attacked. She was basically overstimulating him, and he's not ready

kind of affection.

And if I can get Buster to eat out of Jesse's hands, he'll begin to associate

her with good things. Go ahead and just hand to him. There you go.

Okay, I'll wait.

Man. Sitting next to Buster, I really thought he was going to swat me.

And it was very scary. Take a deep breath and just hand it to him. Shake

bag.

Good. Now hand the treat.

Good boy.

Yay.

Nice going. That was awesome.

You've never done that with me.

Honestly, I never thought Buster would eat out of my hand like that. So seeing

him be that comfortable around me, that made me feel really good.

I've never seen that. No.

Good. Let's go ahead and give you guys some homework.

Okay. All right. First things first. I want you to continue that exercise we

just did. You're going to be teaching everybody how to engage and not to push.

I want Jesse and Jeff to continue this exercise along with the petting exercise

from their last homework. I'm hoping Buster's going to learn that hands bring

good things, like affection and food. And once they've mastered this, they

to teach it to friends and clients.

Number two, let's start talking about the catification of this place. What I'd

like to do is start connecting the dots here. I really want him to be able to

basically walk.

across from here to here.

I am pretty apprehensive about wanting to incorporate that into the look of my

place. I want to be able to connect the dots to the next window. Then I want to

get him up.

Then we're going to have to block off that vent.

Then we're going to need to put something up there.

As a photographer, the look of my place is very important.

I don't want to catify my place. I want the butcher to be the accessory.

Now, let's talk about photography.

I want your friends and clients to take a picture of him. I want to try to turn

that exercise into a social one with other people taking part in the process.

Through this, Buster will be socialized, and at the same time, others are going

to learn that maybe he's not such a bad cat after all. All right, guys. I'm

going to leave. You stay here with him, and I will talk to you in a couple

weeks, okay? Awesome. Thank you. Take care. Bye -bye.

I'm so happy with all the progress Buster and I have made today.

I got to admit, I'll be crushed if he turns on me. And that will be the last

time I come here and work with Jeff.

You know, I have a lot invested in this homework working.

I can't lose Jesse.

And honestly, my business is on the line.

And now it's time for a kitty bit.

Hey, Jackson, I have a question. When I'm around with my cat, she's great. But

when I have friends over, she just runs under the couch. What's going on? We

answer right after the break.

And now it's time for a kitty bit. When I'm around with my cat, she's great. But

when I have friends over, she just runs under the couch. What's going on?

Well, Brad, what you should do is three things. First of all, make sure that the

doorbell is a positive thing. Every time the doorbell rings, present a treat.

Now, when people come over, they'll be the ones to present that jackpot. And

final thing is, allow your cat to explore your friends at her own speed,

will see a kinder, more social cat.

So I'm here for my third and final visit with Jeff, his photography assistant

and best friend, Jesse, and Jeff's cat, Buster. Now, when I first met Buster, he

was one angry cat.

Since Jeff comes also to the photography studio, that was a big problem. Are you

sure?

With Jesse threatening to quit if Buster couldn't calm down.

Hey, Jeff. How are you? Good, man. How you been? Well, come on in. Today, I

to see Jessie with Buster because I can't leave here knowing that she's

danger. I was going to ask you how things were, and then I saw that.

He loves it.

I mean, it's amazing. I walk in the house, and there's Buster in the window.

Not what I'm used to.

So tell me, has there been any violence at all?

Remarkably, no. Wow.

With the Cat Superhighway, he's really taken to it like a fish to water. I was

really quite apprehensive about it, the Cat Superhighway. But when I saw Buster

take to it, it really made me at least as happy as he was.

So how's it been going with you?

The last homework session, you know, he opened up a lot more to me.

Good. He didn't freak out. He didn't run.

Not once? No.

Now, when I first met Jessie, she showed me all of her war wounds, and believe

me, she had quite a few. But because she trusted Buster, she allowed him to keep

messing up and having some setbacks while she was working her homework.

showing a lot more confidence, and of course that's going to trickle down to

Buster. Well, everything is sounding great. Now, as always, I've been

your video homework, and I do want to take a few minutes and go over what you

guys have been doing.

There's our man on his superhighway. He loved it. Fantastic.

Don't underestimate the role that this cat's superhighway played in Buster's

rehabilitation. Once Buster could get up inside the vertical world, take a look

down at people, he could survey it and decide it wasn't a threat.

Buster, good boy, kitten.

I saw the photography assignment with Jesse and one of Jeff's clients, which

allowed Buster to see that all people, in all situations, will bring him good

things. It's such a relief coming in here. It's really nice now to know that

can have clients come in.

That's fantastic.

Now, Buster looks fantastic up on his sunny seat, but I'm not going to leave

here until I see proof that Jesse and Buster's relationship has rounded that

home stretch.

Also, there's the added stress of me being here. I am just crossing my

to be honest, hoping that Buster doesn't lash out.

And there's our boy.

Now, Jess, if you feel comfortable, I'd want you to just go in for a pet.

Well, hi there.

I know, it's totally different.

Now, last week, Jeff had to distract Buster just so that Jesse could get a

on him without getting bitten or clawed. Now, Jesse just walks right up, pets

Buster's face with no distraction necessary.

That is an absolutely phenomenal 180 turnaround, man. That's pretty exciting.

This is the calmest and relaxed I've ever seen him.

So awesome. Wow. So happy.

I was so happy to know that he thought of me as a loving person, not a threat,

not somebody who's going to hurt him.

Now, Jessie, the first day that I was here, there was sort of that threat in

air of, I can't do this anymore.

What is your general state of mind at this point?

Our friendship and our work relationship is great. I'm here to stay.

I'm so happy for you, Renna. Thank you.

It's been an unbelievable pleasure. Thank you so much. You're absolutely

welcome. Thank you. Bye -bye. Are you ready, Buster?

Do not give up on your animal. I never gave up on Buster. I knew he always had

it in him to be a loving little guy, and he is now with a little bit of work,

and it's worth it.

There you go again, just like that.

Beautiful.

Elvis begs and begs all day long for food.

Then I have to get some sleep.

He's going to have to go.

So Elvis feels like that are their best friends, and I don't want to lose him.

Jackson's our only hope. I don't know if there's any hope for this cat.

I wish Elvis would run around and be like a normal cat, but he's so lazy he

nothing.

I'm on my way to go meet Rachel and Ted and Rachel's son, Ben, and their cat,

Elvis. Now, Elvis is huge.

I mean, he's a true food addict. And when he's not eating, he's complaining

meowing and keeping his family up day and night. Top it off, Ted's a truck

driver, and losing sleep is not an option for a truck driver. And, oh no,

not done, there's a newborn baby in the house as well. He wakes the baby up,

because he's like...

So I'm going to get over there right now before Elvis has left the building

permanently.

I'm Rachel. I'm Ben. I'm Ted.

And we have a big problem.

Elvis begs and begs all day long for food.

He wakes the baby up because he's so hungry.

I'm a truck driver at night, and I have to sleep during the day. And he snores

so loud that I have to call my wife up to come get him so I can get some sleep.

Elvis is a fight every night.

I yell at Ben, will you just feed the cat? I yell at him for yelling at Ben.

Elvis can't chase. Elvis can't run.

Elvis can't jump. Elvis can't climb.

He's worthless.

I wish Elvis would run around and be like a normal cat.

If he doesn't change, then... He's going to have to go.

He's more than just a pet to me.

Jackson's our only hope here.

I don't know if there's any hope for this cat.

Hey, guys.

Hey. I'm Jackson.

I'm Ben. Ben, good to meet you, buddy. You too. I'm Ted.

I'm Rachel.

Hey, Rachel.

Good to see you guys.

Good to see you. So, Ben, what was it? Why did you have me come out here? I

wanted you to come out here because my dad wants to get rid of Elvis.

He doesn't do anything.

He's a big fat cat.

He wakes my dad up every single day.

The cat snores so loudly he has sleep apnea.

Not unheard of.

He constantly begs for food. And the worst part is when we're eating, he's

underfoot begging and he's getting in the way.

Obviously Elvis eats a lot, but what are his favorite things to eat?

Donuts, potato chips.

Turkey bread.

Cheese crackers.

Yeah, we're going to work on that one.

When was the last time he was at the vet? Three years ago. And at the time he

weighed 18 pounds and the doctor said, this is too big, he should be 14 at the

most. But the doctor took one look at me and said, I'm the problem.

Talk to me about that. Well, because I'm big, which is kind of true. Whenever I

eat a meal, he gets some too.

Bells and whistles are going off in my head like crazy. To be that obese at

age, he's right at the cusp where bad things will start to happen.

How old is Elvis?

Seven years. How long have you guys been married then? Five years.

Oh, okay. So Elvis came with the package.

Well, he wasn't supposed to come with the package.

I had gotten him with my mom.

and my mom passed a month before we got married.

So he only agreed to it because it's like a link to my mom.

I can tell how much Elvis means to Rachel.

I mean, Elvis is that last missing link to her mom, and you can tell that she

had a very tight relationship with her mom.

I'm a dog person.

I'd rather have a dog. So if you had it your way, you wouldn't have a cat?

Yeah, that's right. Wow, you don't even hesitate, man. And he wants me to just

leave him outside.

I don't want him to get eaten by coyotes.

If a coyote got your cat, would you care?

Probably not.

Seriously? Either that or you'll just die of obesity.

So how does it make you feel?

I'm really angry, and it's caused a problem in our marriage. When he said,

it's me or him, I'm like, well, it's him.

Have you guys had that conversation? We have had that conversation.

Elvis's anxiety level and his chronic overeating and his perceived laziness?

also tie into the energy in this home, and the energy is toxic.

Well, look at who's there.

Hi, Rory.

And there's our boy.

Hi, Elvis.

Oh, my God, he's huge.

Now, believe me, I've been in this game a long time, and I have seen my share of

fat cats, and Elvis has got to be up in that top ten. Being this severely

overweight, a cat is destined for a litany of health issues, diabetes,

failure, liver problems, the list goes on and on. What is that?

Wow, a whole lot of nothing.

I got down on the floor and tried to make an attempt to get him anything but

laying in a box.

Nothing. He's not interested.

Elvis. Nothing.

Seeing Elvis not playing is why I'm so discouraged. I believe he's unfixable.

I carry treats around as well.

I just want to see if I can get a response.

What is this, buddy?

Can you get out of bed?

Is that possible?

Come on, Elvis.

Nothing.

All right, let's try something.

Elvis wouldn't touch the treats that I offered him, and they're freeze -dried

meat. So I figured, what the heck, I got to get a reaction out of him. Hey, Ben,

go get me something you'd feed him.

What do I have for you?

What is that?

What is that?

Are you really going to go for this?

Oh my God, he's eating the donut.

Your cat's eating donut.

Unbelievable. That is the closest thing to activity that I've seen out of this

cat. Okay, buddy. Come on. No more.

This is very bad.

I mean, Elvis' only form of exercise is eating junk food.

No wonder he's lazy. I mean, if a donut is the standard part of this cat's diet,

I'm scared to see what else they're feeding him. The first thing we're going

do is to have a baseline.

So I've got my scale here with me, and we are going to weigh the boy.

The last time Elvis was at the vet, he weighed 18 pounds.

Now his ideal weight is around 14 pounds.

So to go on the scale for daddy here, let's go.

Right here, and we are at

21 pounds.

So, we've got a lot of weight to lose here, but that's really the tip of the

iceberg, folks. I mean, you know, there's a lot of work we have to do as

in order to get the results on the scale, okay?

I'm realizing how sick Elvis really is, and it's all setting in, and I'm so

worried he's going to die.

So, with that, let's start talking about some homework, okay?

Okay. First thing is to go to the vet. I want him to have a full blood panel

done. I want to find out, for instance, where his glucose levels are at, because

diabetes is almost a sure bet.

Now, let's talk about scheduled feeding, okay? Okay. He only gets fed certain

times a day. What I want you to do is transition him onto this raw food diet

use a slow feeding bowl. Okay. Feeding does not equal loving.

Yeah. And I need to take ownership that I've been loving him to death because

for me, food is love. Just because you're giving him food doesn't mean he

you. It means he's hungry. He can't be happy. It's just time to buckle down.

Okay. Now, Rachel understands that there's a correlation between her own

problem and the one that Elvis has. And I wanted her to be active for him and

for herself as well so that she could have some investment in the outcome.

This here is a walking vest.

We want this boy to start taking walks around the neighborhood, right?

You're going to take him on these walks.

Yay! I'm bonding with him in a good way.

I'm excited that you're excited. Oh, we're one big excited family. Good.

Ted, what your job is... You are going to weigh him every day, okay?

Now I bet you're wondering what your job is, Ben. I want you to be the guy who's

in charge of morale around here.

In a household that's using food as a source of love and happiness, Ben can

by introducing some positivity and hopefully help squash some of the

discord that's been created by the adults.

My final thoughts are, he doesn't have a full life to live.

This will kill him.

Without a doubt, this will kill him.

and it won't be a quick thing either.

He's going to get diabetic, or his kidneys are going to start shutting

he won't be able to walk anymore.

I'm sorry.

I don't mean to... I just don't want that to happen, you know? I want him to

a happy guy.

I'm really skeptical that this is going to work.

I hope Jackson can work miracles, because I believe he's inflexible.

All right, guys, I'm going to take off.

And I will see you in a few weeks. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

This is our last hope, our Hail Mary.

And if Elvis doesn't lose weight, he's not going to be around anymore.

So I'm here for my second visit with Rachel, her husband Ted, their son Ben,

their cat Elvis.

The last time I was here, Elvis was topping the scales at over 21 pounds.

So I got a chance to watch the video homework, and I got to see Elvis in his

harness. But now I only hope that Rachel is taking this whole exercise

seriously, because that is part of the key.

I also saw Elvis eating his raw food from my Go Fish Glow Feeding Bowl.

That was fantastic because it's kind of like a puzzle that slows down the cat's

eating because his body had enough time to catch up and say, you know what, I'm

full, and he walks away. Now, I just hope he's losing weight.

I also saw that Elvis went to the vet. He's got extra fat everywhere.

Now, I don't know the results, but I can tell you it had to be some bad news.

Let's talk about the vet.

It wasn't very good news.

Okay. He's pre -diabetic. He has hip dysplasia.

And his weight contributed to how severe it is. You can't even go up and down

the stairs.

Wow. Very serious.

How were you feeling at the time? I immediately felt guilty.

I mean, it is bad. And if it doesn't scare these guys, nothing will. Let's

about food.

Last time I was here, I was horrified by what your cat was eating. No donut.

No donut.

No table food at all. No table food at all. None.

When my mom fed him, it really slowed him down, and he's never done this

He actually left without finishing his whole meal.

That's amazing.

The fact that Elvis is walking away from his food means that he can recognize

when he's full. Now, that's a big step for this cat. You guys have been

him, though, pretty consistently. You're weighing him? I've been weighing him

every day. Nice, man. Good.

Now, that's one piece of the homework down.

How did it go with the walks? Oh, yeah, how did it go with the walks?

Oh, wow.

You just set her up, didn't you? We've been a few times.

What's a few?

We've been three times out of the two weeks.

And why?

Well... You got nothing. I don't have an excuse for that. I'm really

disappointed in Rachel for not taking Elvis on a walk.

If that doctor visit didn't snap her into gear, what's going to?

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest stake that we have here is... keeping

around. Ted, I need to know honestly from you how you're feeling about him at

this point and whether or not you still are done with him. Well, the snoring has

gotten better, but I'd like the begging to be zero.

Here's what I want to do. I want to spend some time with you. Okay. So you

can you give us five minutes? I realized that there was a separate discussion

that I had to have with Rachel. She needed to understand the stakes, not

the cat level.

But on the human level, too. Seemed like the doctor visit had a bit of an effect

on you.

I don't know why it just hit me so hard, but I felt like I've done now damage to

my cat.

The thing that struck me last time was that you guys really do associate food

and love.

Yeah. I want to show you something.

That's not you.

That's me.

No way. That's me at 400 pounds, and I could not stop.

Showing that picture to Rachel was not something that I take lightly. I haven't

shown that picture to people because there's a lot of shame associated with

allowing yourself to get to that point.

What's going on?

I get high from it.

From food?

Yeah. I've never told anybody that.

Wow. I've never told anybody that I get a euphoria from it. I don't want to have

a problem, and Ben, I think, is sometimes.

He's sad that I have a problem. He knows I have a problem. You know what I'm

saying? This was the thing that was going to kill me. When I got serious, I

in the hospital.

They said, this is your EKG.

Flatlined. I mean, I needed that serious kick in the pants. Obviously, we don't

want that to happen to him or you.

Oh, yeah.

I got two boys.

Yeah.

You feel any better?

Yeah. Rachel had the courage.

to confess to me that eating provides her with a sense of euphoria. If you

that horrible about what's happened, you will do something about it. And I

believe that Rachel's ready to do something. All right.

What's up, man?

Ben, I need your assistance, please. We are going to weigh him, and I'm going to

have you just bring him over here for me. Now, the last time we did this, what

was he at? What was his weight? 21. Ready for the big moment?

And we have...

He weighs 20 pounds, 5 ounces.

Close to a pound.

A round of applause.

Now, his ideal weight is around 14 pounds. That is 11 ounces down from the

time I was here. Not too little, not too much, right in that sweet spot, guys.

Really good work.

All right, now that we've gotten a weight on him, I want to see if he's got

enough energy to play with me.

And, man.

He just lays there. He just does not care.

Now here's what we're going to do. I'm going to allow you guys to bring food

back into the equation, okay?

But we're going to bring it back connected to this. I bestow upon you the

toys. So I'm allowing Ben, Rachel, and Ted to use treats, but nutritionally

balanced cat treats as a form of reward to motivate him. Ted, it's time for me

to give you another job here. I'd like you to do the walks with her. I'd like

you to get that motivation going for both of these guys. I want to make sure

that he's there for her and Elvis every day because I'm hoping that it's going

to help strengthen both relationships.

And last thing, keep him on a raw food diet.

Yes. All right? All right, guys, I'm going to take off.

I really hope that Elvis will keep going where he's going. The situation with

Elvis is very dire because...

If he stays at the weight he is, he will have diabetes.

There's no question about it, which is a death sentence.

I'm here for my third and final visit with Rachel, Ted, Ben, and their cat,

Elvis. Now, the first time I was here, this cat was enormous.

His life was seriously at risk.

What's up, Ben?

And Ted was talking about throwing him out of the house at the same time.

Hey, guys. Hi.

How are you? Good. How are you?

It's good to see you guys again.

Look at our boy.

I mean, he does look a lot better to me. Tell me, have you guys been taking him

out for walks? And I asked Ted and Rachel for you guys to take him

How's that going?

We have taken him together.

I mean, what have you noticed about the walking? I noticed that he really likes

it. Good. For me personally, taking the responsibility of him walking made me

realize how unhealthy I am and how unhealthy he is. And both of us just

better. And Ben has motivated me to continue losing weight. And our talk

made me think. And I've made some really good changes to my life.

Good. Now, when I first met with Rachel, she told me that she and Elvis gained

weight together. And now that they're losing weight together, Rachel welcomes

this as a positive change and not just a source of shame. To be a part of that

for her, man, that means a lot to me.

Ben, I gave you the homework assignment to get him playing. How's that been

going? It's been doing really good.

Now, here we go. We're going around.

Come on, Elvis. You can make it around the chair.

Now we're going to go back.

My man.

There you go, buddy.

Ben playing with Elvis shows me that he earned his stripes as a cheerleader. He

was the one who asked for my help, and today he's shown me that he earned it.

He's gotten a lot more energy, and he's becoming like a real cat.

A real cat.

You guys have a lot to celebrate here, but I've got to see him moving around.

I've got to see him exercising a bit. So here's what I want to do.

Play captain over here. Ben, let's go take him for a walk.

You know, right now I'm looking over at Elvis and I'm not feeling so good

because the first day I was here, he was in a box.

Second day I was here, he was in a box. And the third day I'm here, he's in a

bed. And I'm thinking to myself, am I ever going to see this cat move?

Okay, let's put him down right here and we'll start walking towards that way.

Okay, so, if you start walking a little bit, let him try to follow you. Go

ahead.

Come on, Elvis.

Come on, Elvis.

This way, buddy. Come on.

Come on, Elvis.

And we're walking.

Look at him walking, man.

There we go.

Very nice.

Well, look, he's moving, too, man. Good boy.

First day I met your cat, he was in a box. Wouldn't come out.

Now he's walking all over.

This is fantastic. Look at him. Nice going, buddy.

I'm pretty psyched. I think that Elvis is on his way to being healthy. I mean,

want to be able to leave you knowing that you feel like you guys have a

to get him down to the right weight.

Do you feel confident in that? I'm completely confident.

Good, man. I'm proud of you. That's great work.

Really, you saved your cat's life.

So you should be proud of yourself.

Nice going, buddy.

Seeing Elvis walk with such energy, such gusto, it's a beautiful thing. Ben did

an admirable job as a coach, a cheerleader, and in the end, Elvis is a

lifesaver.

Now, there's just one more thing left to do here.

And here we go.

First time I came here, Elvis weighed 21 pounds.

Last time I was here, he weighed just a little over 20 pounds.

Guys, 18 pounds.

Whoa!

Congratulations!

Elvis is well on his way to his ideal weight of 14 pounds, and his weight loss

secret is no bit of magic. It was all about the raw food diet, exercising

regularly, and eating on a schedule so that his body knows what to do with that

nutrition. It's pretty easy. But that's nothing compared to seeing the

excitement the entire family felt at hearing the news. I mean, you can't fake

that. Elvis has lost...

14 % of his body weight. That's a lot.

That is a lot of weight.

I was so excited that Elvis could do that. It made me realize we can get him

that 14 pounds. How are things going for you in terms of all that noise making?

Oh, he's cut it out a lot.

Even the sleep apnea is getting better now that he's lost a little bit of

weight. The funny thing about it is the cat was what we fought the most about.

But working together has made our family a lot closer.

Good. Elvis and I have definitely bonded through this. I couldn't imagine

rehoming him.

Look at this smile on your face. That's a nice smile.

You got your boy back. Yeah. Good.

I've learned through this process that family is the most important thing to

And having us each be accountable to Elvis and each other.

has bonded us in a way that I didn't think was possible.

You did wonderfully.

All of you guys did.

Thank you, Jackson, so much.

He's a cat. I always wanted him to be. And I will talk to you guys real soon,

okay? Thank you. All right, take care.

Now I think it's safe for Jackson, not Elvis, to leave the building. My work

here is done.

Now you can find out how the cats I've helped are doing today. Check out my new

series, How Do You Like Meow, available only online at AnimalPlanet .com.