Original subtitles

Woody reduces grown men to screaming.

It's a cat!

I'm afraid of Woody. A grown man scared of a cat.

She launched at him.

She looked like the devil.

It's either me or Woody.

We don't have control of our apartment.

Or our lives.

We have two cats, Woody and Pirate.

We just lost Velvet. The sense of having Woody in the house really killed

Velvet. Now Woody is beating up on our other cat, Pirate.

I'm not going to lose the second cat due to Woody. I don't believe that animals

are disposable.

If Jackson can't fix this, Woody's going to have to find a new home.

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 limit. This is the last

straw. Kills me. I'm their last hope. I just love him so much. And I know he's

got a good son.

Cats have nine lives, but humans only have one.

Oh my gosh!

I'm back in New York. I'm on my way

to go see Teresa and Francesco and Teresa's cat, Cootie.

Pudi is out for blood, Francesco's blood specifically.

I mean, the guy just moved in, and he won't live in fear, so he's ready to

out again.

Teresa loves her boyfriend, and she loves her cat. Believe me, I'm used to

hearing that one. That's where I come in.

Fingers crossed I can make it work for these three.

I'm Teresa.

And I'm Francesco.

Pudi's my cat. I've had her for five years, and I love her. She's a little

sweetie.

Hey, Pudi.

I just moved in here a few months ago and Pootie scratches me, she attacks me,

she corners me, she hisses at me, she does everything to terrorize me.

Pootie, no!

My relationship with Pootie is mostly good. She loves me, she's nice.

I thought she would get used to me, but it's been three months and she still

hates me.

The worst attack that I ever witnessed was when she launched at him.

She looked like the devil.

You can see it in her eyes.

Pootie reduces grown men to screaming.

Yeah. You scream.

I scream.

It's a cat.

Pootie, no.

Just go, baby.

I'm afraid of Pootie. A grown man scared of a cat.

That's crazy.

Pootie, stop.

I'm a professional singer and...

If she continues to behave so aggressively, how can I go on to her and

at her disposal?

I don't know if I can go on like this.

I'm going to have to leave this place if you don't leave my friend.

Either me or Uri. I don't want to have to choose between my boyfriend and my

cat. She's the problem. I'm not the problem.

Sorry.

Hey! Hi, Jason!

I know that we have a aggressive cat, and that's about it. So

tell me what I don't know. Okay.

Poodie, she absolutely hates Francesco.

She's never nice to me. What does she do to you? She haunts me.

I never came into this door. I always go through the other door because it's

impossible for me. Oh, you actually have changed the way you operate in order to

avoid Putin.

Francesco's telling me that he avoids doorways for fear that she's going to do

something. It tells me that we are way down this road at this point in a

poisonous relationship between human and cat. I rescued her about five years

ago, and she was a year and a half.

She was dumped at the shelter, and they didn't really have any information about

her. Okay.

Francesco, when did you first meet Pudi? A year ago.

I come over here, and she corners me right there and attacks me viciously.

The day that she attacked him, he didn't come back for like six weeks.

Wow.

Have you guys talked about rehoming?

Honestly, we can never even finish that conversation.

Yeah. If she attacked you again the way she's attacked you those other two

times, what happens to you?

I might move out.

Now, Francesco's made it really clear he doesn't want to live here if he gets

attacked one more time from Pootie. That makes it do or die time right now.

And what else is concerning you guys?

I tour, I sing backup for Gloria Gaynor, and so sometimes I'm gone. I kind of

try to shove Pootie harassing Francesco in the back of my mind. Sadly, the

problem is all mine.

Look at her right now.

Oh, hi, Miss Bully.

That's a trap.

That's a trap?

Oh, yeah.

I got to buy into the trap.

I'm just going to walk by her and see what happens.

When a cat exposes their belly, it usually means they feel totally

in their situation.

But Francisco is quick to jump in and say, no, no, no, that's a trap. But you

know me.

I'm going to go over there anyway.

So if I want to walk by you, are you going to let me?

Pootie is very protective of that hallway. I noticed that she went right

shoes. She was focused on them. I need to see if she defends other areas of the

house and how she defends that space.

So, hi. How are you?

Wow. This is also the hot spot.

You okay if I come on down here?

Can I come up?

I get it.

Ow. It's okay.

It's okay.

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Look what you did.

Are you happy with yourself?

So that's what you see every single time. Every time.

Right there.

I thought we'd do something different now because you're kicking my butt. Now

want to see if I can get her to reset her system a little bit by getting her

away from the hot spots.

I needed her to come out and take a step forward and hopefully, trust me, put

this down right here.

Look at how deep this choice is, right?

Good girl.

Good girl, Pootie.

Very happy with you right now.

Do you want some more?

No, you don't get it if you do that.

Pootie showed me that she can within limits.

demonstrates some trust, but she has a real problem with hands and feet. And

judging by her reactions to me and Francesco specifically, she also has a

problem with men.

Okay. All right, bedroom. This is my hiding space.

She leaves me alone when I'm in bed.

You know where I'm going to go now.

I need to see this.

Francesco, this is your bed. Show me Francesco safe, tucked away.

This is comfortable.

It's kind of adorable.

I mean, I'm confused. I don't know whether to say, oh, this is cute, or,

send him to therapy. If you're ready, I'm going to start giving you guys some

homework. Okay. Yeah. All right, good.

This door stays open.

That's number one.

I don't want Francesco hiding from Pootie. It sends a message of fear, and

course cats can pick up on that. Judging by her reactions to me and Francesco

specifically, Pootie doesn't trust men. That's for sure. If Francesco can just

be more confident, there's a good chance that Pootie is going to back off.

Okay. So the next exercise we're going to do is called eat, play, sing.

Francesco, you're going to take care of the eat and the play, and Teresa, you'll

take care of the singing. The objective is to pull her out from these hot spots.

Then you give her a treat. Any other time, you don't.

And then they're singing. I want you to make a recording of you singing. That

way, nice association.

Even when she's traveling, she's here with Pudi knowing that there's that

security blanket around her of your voice. Okay? Okay.

The last thing that you're going to do, I want you to write the story of Pudi.

because I need you to start investing in what she's thinking. There's no way of

knowing exactly what Pudi's life was before Teresa adopted her, but I'm

that something pretty traumatic happened to her, and I want Francesco to think

about what her life may have been like, and if he can see things from her

perspective, then maybe he's going to see Pudi in a completely different

I want you to put the puzzle back together of who Pudi is. She's an over

but behind every bully, what is there? Fear.

And it's why they lash out the way they do. Okay, guys, I'm going to take off.

It was great to meet you. You too. This doesn't work out today.

I don't know. I don't know what I would do.

Something major would have to change, whether that be Pudi leaving, Francesco

leaving. I don't want any of those things to happen.

Jackson is never not supposed to take off.

Hi, I'm here for my second visit with Teresa Francesco and Teresa's cat,

Last time I was here, we were dealing with a pre -territorial cat, especially

when it came to Francesco, who just moved in here just a few months ago.

Why, Pootie? Why you do that?

And to make matters worse, Francesco was showing a lot of fear around Pootie. I

got a chance to watch their video homework, and I did see Francesco doing

feeding exercise, which looked like it was going well.

Now, in this exercise... Francesco's going to be in charge of everything

positive with Pudi, and that's food. And at the same time, Teresa's singing, if

Pudi can eat while that sound is happening. Fantastic. Now, I also heard

potential attack that happened just a few days after I left.

Pudi, no.

That worries me because attacks like this means Francesco might leave. He's

it before. He'll do it again.

All right, Jackson.

All right, buddy. Good.

Good, man.

I got a chance to watch a video homework before I came over here. One thing that

really concerned me was an incident with you in the bathroom.

Francesco, you were totally trapped in there.

Teresa, your reaction was pretty heightened.

Have we had any more incidents like that since then?

Since then, everything has been going pretty

well. I realize that I'm bigger than her.

It's amazing that Francesco is operating with a lower sense of fear. Remember,

he transmits that fear to the cat. She bounces it back to him, and it's a

dynamic that can't be sustained around here. I think the thing that's had the

most impact was probably Francesco feeding her and playing with her.

So now she expects good things to happen. Yeah. So anything I'm missing

Well, there's one thing.

We're going to be moving downstairs in the next couple of weeks.

Wow. Okay. These guys tell me they're moving in a couple of weeks.

Do you have any idea how bad that shakes this whole thing up?

Territory is absolutely everything to cats. These guys are going to have to

the things that they're not throwing away.

Blankets and sheets and beds and anything that's a scent soaker, these

to get it downstairs so when they move in a couple of weeks... She'll go, oh, I

recognize this. This is home as well. Do you feel like things can still

backslide here? You know, I still don't trust her completely.

I still have to watch my back.

If you've got to watch your back, then we don't have a comfortable home, and

we've got to change that.

Hi, my baby girl.

Hello, my baby girl.

It's okay.

Pudi lashed out at me because we know that she has a problem with men and I'm

also sitting in that sort of hot zone.

The thing that I did with Pudi that was uber important was nothing. She wasn't

going to get the result that she expected.

And when she didn't get that result, she started to settle in. She started to

move on. This is the kind of thing I expect from Francesco. This is something

that she learned a long time ago that's worked up until now.

It's important for me to tell her and for Francesco to tell her it won't work

anymore. So last time I was here, I asked you to write the story of Pudi.

So what you got for me? Hello, my name is Pudi. My parents were young, and

unfortunately, they were always fighting. I tried to protect her, but...

He would kick me. Finally, my mom left him and that's when he decided to drop

outside. That was the best thing that happened to me because I found a new mom

that loves me so much and takes a really good care of me. She has a new

boyfriend. He looks like he loves us, but unfortunately, I'm still scared and

can't trust him 100%. To hear Francesco...

read the story. It was actually a really powerful moment.

So I knew that that was a real turning point for their relationship.

You got it.

That's wonderful, man. And that's exactly what I was hoping you were going

find. Now, obviously, we're never going to know if Francesco's story of Pootie

is true, but that doesn't matter at all. This exercise was all about Francesco

looking at Pootie through her eyes. But I'm still a little concerned about

Francesco's ability to walk by Pootie in that hallway. So I want to try and

exercise the Francesco walking into the apartment so I can help these two

coexist without bloodshed. Wow, she's right by the door.

Look at that.

Camped out there. That makes it tough for him to even come in the door.

So obviously the hallway is a hot spot. That could be trouble, and these guys

have to recognize it now.

The only other thing that I'm worried about right now is Pootie. She's still

guarding. She's still got her hackles up, especially when it came to me.

And I'm worried about that because I'm worried about any man who walks in that

house at this point. Keep walking.

Okay, do it again. This time around, when you walk in the door, no stop.

What happened when Francesco froze is that Pudi attacked.

This is how it happens every time, and it always ends badly. All she needs is

leadership. She needs to know that he knows where he's going, and then she

too.

Okay, Pudi, go ahead and walk.

Very nice.

Now you're going to have to walk by her to get out. Just keep walking. Now, it's

the third time around. I'm hoping that at this point, Pudi's desensitized to

this repetition, but after all...

You've seen me work before. Anything can happen.

Come on.

In you go.

Hey, Pootie.

Just walk.

And there we have it.

Good job, baby. That was really nice. Yeah, it was good. Yeah. I expect by the

time I get back here the next time, you should be able to just walk in the door.

Pootie ended the exercise for us. She basically said, I'm not getting what I

want. I'm not getting what I'm used to. And that's for me?

was that celebratory moment. That's telling us she's clearing that

hump. Ready for some homework?

Francesca, I want you to continue this work with her that we did today, which

open the door, she greets you, and you just walk by.

Second thing, because you're moving, we really got to help her adjust to her new

space. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to put what are called scent

soakers all around your apartment.

I've got something for you. Hold on one second. I'll be right back.

Because these guys are moving and because we're dealing with a really

territorially insecure cat, I had a big surprise to help them out.

Oh, my God.

I'll have you move on down that way for me here. So this is the Catris system.

The Catris system is this interlocking system of scratcher that can go

It's got all kinds of fun shapes.

So I brought these guys the Catris system. It's made out of corrugated

cardboard. It's a born scent soaker. Cats use scent to mark an area.

Scratching is a scent and visual marker.

These things are integral for cats to establish territorial security for

themselves. Make sure that Pudi just gets her scent all over it so that her

apartment is already home.

Encourage her to sleep on the bed with you guys. Encourage her to come up on

couch when you're watching TV.

Encourage her to share these scents, those places with you so she can co -own

the territory. She really wants nothing more than that. I'm heading back to my

life, folks, and I will talk to you in a couple of weeks. Thank you. All right,

take care, guys. Bye -bye.

I worked really hard, but I'm afraid if she goes back to the puri we know, I

will lose hope. This is the last chance that I'm giving her.

And now it's time for a kitty bit.

Jackson, I heard you mention that indoor cats live longer than outdoor cats. So

how can I transition my outdoor cat to an indoor cat?

The answer, right after the break.

And now it's time for a kitty bit.

Jackson, I heard you mention that indoor cats live longer than outdoor cats. So

how can I transition my outdoor cat to an indoor cat?

First of all, I'm not a big fan of letting cats go indoor -outdoor because

just too dangerous. Now, it's going to be a little tough for a couple of weeks.

Your cat's going to want out. You're going to have to say no. The thing that

have to do is give them a yes for that no.

Give them a lot of extra play time. Make sure that you're feeding them on a

schedule. Plus, don't forget the benefits of cat TV, hanging a bird

outside the window. You want to keep your cats busy, and you see more of your

cat.

I'm here for my final visit with Francesco, Teresa, and Teresa's cat,

Now, the last time I was here, Things have gotten a lot better, but we're

at a place right now where one slip -up and Francesco is going to move out of

this place.

I'm going to have to leave this place if you don't leave my friend.

Why? Why, booty?

I got a chance to watch their video homework, and I saw that Francesco was

the exercise in the hallway in the front door, and I'm just hoping that he

hasn't gotten attacked since then. I heard these guys moved into their new

apartment, which is great, downstairs, and hopefully it's been successful, but

have no idea.

Hey, how are you? It's good to see you again. You too.

How you been? Been good.

Look at this.

Hey, Jackson.

How are you? Look at this, man.

Yeah. Oh.

I walk into Teresa and Francesco's new space, and I've got to tell you what,

man, that place was amazing.

The energy was so wonderful in there, and they even made a special room for

Pootie filled with fence stokers, like my base camp and tunnel combination and

comfy cabana bed. And that's going to speak volumes if Pootie is taken to the

space. Let's just cut to the chase.

The past couple weeks, has there been any violence whatsoever?

Not at all.

Nothing at all. She actually waits for me to get home, and... And what? When I

get home, she comes to me, and she wants to play with me, and I feed her.

Get out of here. You mean, like, you can walk in here, and you guys are buddies?

Yeah. Really?

Yeah, no more fear.

Francesco says he doesn't have...

And he feared the unknown with Pudi. And I think that that was what was

triggering everything.

I really believe that Francesco writing the story of Pudi, that's what's changed

this relationship on both the human and animal end.

Do you feel a bond happening between the two of them? Absolutely. I mean, we

really feel like a little family.

And to the point where if we wake up and Pudi's not in the bed, Francesco's

like, where's Pudi?

Why isn't Pudi here?

Pudi!

I love it. Totally cute.

Fantastic. Things are going really well between me and Pudi. I always look for

Pudi because I want to be.

Actually closer to her, not away from her. So the move down here, how long has

she actually been down here? Actually, the first night was yesterday.

Whoa. Yeah. Are you kidding me? You know, it's a lot of the scent soaking

things. So she's got her things kind of spread around the apartment. It's really

helped with our move down here.

Good. Look at how happy you are. That's cool. It's been amazing.

All right, everything seems great, and I just saw Pudi go into the back room.

Let's go in there. Let's follow her. Let's check it out in there. Come on.

Before I leave here today, I wanted to see that they had incorporated all of

things that I had taught them in order for me to feel there will be no moving

backwards in the relationship between Francesco and Pudi.

There's our girl.

Okay, I'll settle in.

It's just so nice in here, and I'm just watching her take this space.

The real test is here, has she taken to this room in a calm, confident way, or

is she going to guard it the way she guarded this hallway in the old place?

If you could just take it without overowning it, then we're all good. Now,

Francesco, I want to see you lead Pootie up onto the scent soakers.

Pootie? Yeah?

Go on up there, Pootie.

There it is.

Once she locates it, like, what the?

That was amazing.

Excuse me.

He just picked up the cat. You've never done that before?

No. The first day that I met Francesco, he was cowering under the covers. Today,

he's picking her up. I mean, that blows my mind.

God, I'm just so psyched right now.

I picked Pudi up, and I actually didn't think about it. It came natural. It

shocked everybody. I was shocked, too, after I did it. But my confidence went

from zero to 100.

Jackson. Thank you so much. You brought Pudi and Francesco together, and I

didn't even know that was possible.

It's my pleasure.

To have Francesco and Pudi get along the way that they do feels amazing.

It's a sigh of relief.

And if you guys need anything from me, just give me a holler. Because there was

a lot of tension in the house all the time. The first time he was attacked, he

left for six weeks.

And it's nice to know that I don't really have to worry about that anymore.

It's a relief.

I can't wait to be home with my ladies.

Thank you.

Take care of yourself, Jackson.

Goodbye, Pootie, my love. Take care.

I thought I did a good thing by rescuing this cat, but never did I think it

would lead to as much trouble as it did.

We have two cats, Woody and Pirate. We had another cat, Velvet.

The stress of having Woody in the house really killed Velvet.

So now Woody just wants to go after Pirate. I'm not going to lose the second

due to Woody.

I'm here in New York City.

I'm on my way to go see Sandy and Phil and their two cats, Woody and Pirate.

These guys had a third cat, Velvet, but they're absolutely convinced that the

stress from Woody's constant attacks helped kill Velvet.

This was Phil's first cat.

And they're also convinced that that same stress is going to kill Pirate.

Now they're ready to rehome Woody, so I'm going to head over there right now

before it's too late.

I'm Sandy. I'm Phil.

We've been married ten years.

And we have two cats.

Byron, who has one eye, is 10 years old. And Woody's two years old now. I found

Woody at a liquor store. He was a kitten.

And I picked him up, brought him back home. Thought I did a good thing by

rescuing the cat.

But never did I think it would lead to as much trouble as it did.

We had another cat, Velvet.

Velvet ended up becoming a target for Woody. And there'd be a horrific cat

fight.

I started to notice Velvet stopped eating. And I think that the stress

Velvet's passing.

She was Bill's first cat.

If I had a bad day, I'm going to get upset.

Ah, I got a blow.

He can't see pictures of Velvet still. It's still fresh.

I never thought the stress level would get to this point. We're not getting a

lot of sleep.

Our relationship is definitely not good.

So now that Velvet's gone, Woody just gets aggressive and he wants to go after

Pirate. I'm really worried about Pirate because he only has one eye and Woody

knows he can't see them coming.

Our whole lives are spent keeping them totally separate from each other. I'm

going to lose a second cat due to Woody. I don't believe that animals are

disposable. I want to get my home back. If Jackson can't fix it, Woody's going

to have to find a new home.

Hey. Hi. I'm Jackson. I'm Sandy. Come in.

Thank you so much. How you doing? I'm Jackson. I'm Phil.

I know I'm here to help Woody and Pirate. Fill me in.

Well, we have two cats.

We've had Pirate for ten years.

Okay.

What are you doing, buddy?

That's Woody, our problem child.

We rescued him maybe a year and a half ago. He's two years old. Okay. We had

another cat, Velvet, who was our dear companion, and Woody and Velvet would

start fighting.

Then Velvet got sick and passed away. She all of a sudden didn't go to the

bathroom. Stopped eating for two days.

I believe the stress from Woody caused that.

She got sick because of Woody?

I think the stress. Well, yeah, I have a tough time when I talk about her. I'm

sorry. No, I know. Believe me.

Believe me, I know. She was a good friend.

I'm so sorry to hear that.

I felt I did her an injustice by bringing him home.

Now that Velvet is gone, Woody is.

Turn its attention to Pirate. So your fears now are?

That Woody is going to attack Pirate or kill him.

Wow. We have a big decision to make because we can't keep living like this

anymore. What? That next step is finding a nice home for Woody.

Don't get me wrong. I empathize with Sandy and Phil in regards to the death

their cat, Velvet. But I don't believe in any way, shape, or form that Woody

killed Velvet with stress. It's so much to put on this one cat.

So what is on the other side of this door?

So right now, Pirate.

It's my office where I work all day.

Let's spend time with Pirate. Let's go on in there. So I walk into the office,

and there's Pirate. He's just chilling in his cat tree.

Not stressed out looking, not like he's hiding or anything, very present. This

is where Pirate spends most of his time?

Yes, and the bedroom.

I want to see both these cats together.

If you wouldn't mind just opening the door, and then when something happens,

it's going to happen. Okay. Okay. I'm a little apprehensive about letting Woody

in that room because of what happened with Velvet.

Woody? Woody?

He's cool. The most important thing that you two can do right now is breathe.

Woody picks up your stress.

So we're just going to let him wander around, and that means, Phil, you don't

have to stare at him. I'm afraid he is going to take off after Pirate.

He just got eye contact. Oh, yeah.

Okay, here we go.

Can you guys do me a favor and sit on the couch?

Yeah. I actually want to get him closer to Pirate. Based on what Sandy and Phil

have been telling me, I want to push that challenge line so I could see what

was really like.

So Woody's on the move.

Now I'm nervous.

All right, guys, do me a favor.

Relax. He just walked away. Nothing bad happened.

Woody's not hunting.

The problem is, Phil and Sandy start to spin out of control.

They seem more scared than Woody and Pirate. They've kept these two cats

for so long out of fear that they just don't know each other. Now, I want to

these guys interacting a little bit more, so what I'm going to do is take it

from here. Okay. Give me a few minutes with them, okay? All right.

There's my boy.

Go on out, buddy.

Instantly, I send Phil and Sandy out of the room. The energy drops by like 20

degrees. Hi.

Are you taking a nap right now?

Woody.

Woody falling asleep tells me that his prime directive in life is not killing

Pirate. Okay.

The closest that he's come to going after Pirate was when you guys were in

before. A lot of what's going on here is based on worst -case scenarios because

you've lived the worst -case scenario before. Different cat, though. You know,

pirate is not velvet.

And we can't put the burden completely on Woody.

So first bit of homework is wear this guy out, okay?

I need him to play until he's panting because he needs an outlet for that

energy. Now, if you see something happening you don't like, use this laser

pointer to distract Woody.

The second thing I want to do is the site swapping. I want to make sure the

pirate gets equal time out in the rest of the house. It's going to help build

his confidence.

Next, I want you to get a screen. You'll attach a curtain to it, then secure it

to the wall so there's no wiggle room.

And I want you to feed meals at the screen.

And after these guys eat well on either side, we're going to start raising that

screen up until they have confidence around each other, okay?

Once the cats tell us they can feed on either side of the screen door without

chaos, that means they're starting to associate one another with good things

like food.

I want you to start gathering feelings of regret and anger towards Woody,

whatever it is. I want you to get a blackboard, and I just want you to,

time you think of something, write it down.

Sandy and Phil are wonderful people, but their energy infects their animals.

And it's so important that Phil and Sandy know this.

Okay, guys, so I'm going to take off. It's important for Jackson to fix this

because I'm not going to have Pirate living in fear.

Our only option, if this doesn't work, would be to rehome Woody.

All right, I'm here for my second visit with Sandy and Phil, their cats Pirate

and Woody.

And the last time I was here, these guys were blaming the death of their cat

Velvet on Woody. And they were worried because of what happened that Woody was

going to kill Pirate, too.

Now, I got a chance to watch Sandy and Phil's video homework, and I got to tell

you, there wasn't much that I liked. I got to see these guys trying the

feeding at that screen, and what a mess.

I mean, instead of raising the curtain slowly over time, they just opened it.

This is not good, because if these cats can see each other, they're still at

potential for violence.

And part runs.

I also saw Sandy and Phil writing down their feelings.

Resentment and anger. So hopefully we can get past the grieving process of

Velvet and move forward.

How are you, Phil? Hopefully today when I walk in, the violence is down just a

little bit, because if it's not, I'm telling you, Woody's days here are

numbered. So, guys, tell me, it's been a few weeks here? I'm almost afraid to

ask, but how's it going?

Woody and Pirate had an encounter that really freaked Pirate out. Woody got in

the bedroom, Pirate was on the bed, and Pirate hissed and Woody lunged at

him.

Was it a bad fight?

It could have been if we didn't break it up. The lunge happened. Did contact

happen?

No. When Woody attacked Velvet, it was a...

lock rolling around kind of fighting. Yeah, but Woody and Pirate haven't

had many of those.

No, these two haven't had.

Say that again.

What? They haven't had any. Any.

Not one.

No. You know, the first time I came here, I was hearing about fight. No,

no fight. There's just threats and lunges. They see things that haven't

happened because they haven't completed this grieving process over their old cat

Velvet. So have you been playing with Woody? Yeah, with the laser toy.

Wait, wait, you're talking about the laser now. Yeah. The laser pointer has a

function. That function is basically to lead him, not to play him down.

The thing is, if he can't catch it, he's always going to be frustrated.

I told him to only use the laser pointer as a distraction tool.

This is our first line of defense, so he doesn't seek the same attention from

Pirate. I'm just looking at you. You're halfway out the door right now. He is.

I'm gone.

Let me just ask you point blank, do you want to rehome him?

Just,

do you want him gone?

You know, I'm ready to cut him loose.

How are you feeling about that?

I want this to work. It's not fun for me to walk into a home on the second visit

and hear a guardian say they're done. We got a lot of work to do yet, and I

don't feel like Phil's down for it. We're going to...

actually do the feeding exercise because I want to be able to just lead you guys

through exactly how I'd like it to look every day.

Okay, so I'm going to go in with Pirate. Now, in the meantime, let's just close

this up.

Now, I walk up to the screen and I got to tell you, it's a wreck.

The curtain that's hanging in front of it is only halfway together.

The pressure is still on right now. I can't even express it to you. So,

basically, all we're going to do, we're going to close this curtain.

Let's just make sure it goes all the way down.

Because that's what I was missing on the homework.

Yeah. Here's the thing that I'm going to have you do.

Use the laser pointer to distract him from the curtain.

Okay. I just want him to be able to eat and walk away and not even really pay

any attention to the screen.

Okay. Good boy.

Okay, guys, whenever you're ready, he's ready.

Okay. We're bringing the plate over.

Okay. Just pick them up. Yeah.

Pirate is at the gate eating.

He's kind of sniffing. He's looking at the fence.

Try his other food.

Oh, boy. Guys, no, no, no. Use the laser pointer to distract him from the

curtain. We're trying to see if Woody is going to like this food.

Now, let's see. That's why this is not going to work. Right here.

Woody just took off.

Oh, here he comes.

He's up to that food. Okay, good. I'm confused by so much right now.

I can't see what's going on on the other side of that curtain, but it sounds

pretty chaotic. I mean, these guys sound...

Like they just don't have a grip on the exercise or on Woody.

Oh, here he comes.

We're falling apart here. I wanted you to distract him.

He loves to be in the curtain.

And this is exactly what I don't want.

So, cut it.

The exercise showed me a few things.

Number one, Pirate's okay. Number two, Phil and Sandy are just not holding it

together. And that concerns me. Number three, this screen has got to go.

So here's what I want to do.

Strike the screen.

Okay. I want to feed on opposite side of that door to your office where Pirate

likes to hang out.

I want them to go back to a simple other side of the door feeding.

And if they eat and walk away, we're great. And then we'll start introducing

visual contact.

Number two is pretty much everything I assigned you last time, from sight

swapping to play with Woody, which is so important, to establishing Pirate's

mojo. One of the worst mistakes that Sandy and Phil made was assuming that

Pirate was weak and old and couldn't take care of himself.

It doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter if you only got one eye.

Cats don't see themselves as handicapped. They don't say, poor me,

I'm old.

Final piece of your homework, most important piece of your homework, is our

blackboard. Yes. Unless we can release Velvet from the equation, we have to

decide the next time I'm here where Woody's going to go.

Sandy and Phil have just a few weeks to decide whether it's more important...

to live with the cats that are in their lives now, or to live with the trauma

that they experienced in the past.

Great. Good to see you again, man. Thank you. Good to see you. Lots of things

can change, but only if the humans allow themselves to change first.

Bye -bye.

Hopefully this will work. I really hope we can be one happy family together. If

this doesn't work, our only option would be to rehome Woody.

So I'm here for my third and final visit with Sandy and Phil and their cats,

Woody and Pirate. The last time I was here, Phil was done. He was ready to

rehome that cat. You know, I'm ready to cut him loose.

We also tried the feeding exercise. Let me tell you something, that was 100 %

disaster. However, I watched their video homework. I saw both cats eating, being

able to see each other fully, and not backing down from the plate and not

away from the plate. I also saw a lot of play going on. Hopefully that's taking

some of that adolescent crazy energy out of Woody and bringing Pirate's

confidence up.

Walking in today, I'm wondering if the blackboard was wiped clean since my last

visit. Resentment and anger.

Hi, Jackson. Hi, Sandy. How are you? Come on in. I need these guys to let

go. Otherwise, Woody could be rehomed.

Without further ado, tell me, has there been any violence, anything?

No. Good.

Okay, let's talk about it. One time he ran into the bedroom, and Pirate was

under the bed, and we managed to get him out with some treats and a toy.

Fantastic. And I had to take a step back and realize that Woody will never be

Velvet. Woody is my cat, and he's got his own great traits, you know. In his

way, he does a pretty nice job.

Wow. I don't hold Woody accountable for Velvet's death.

It is just probably an unfortunate situation that happened. So it was quite

eye -opening experience.

One of the biggest things we were working on was Pirate's confidence, but

goes both ways. Is Pirate more confident? Are you guys more confident

I think both.

Wow. The hardest part about the homework was really getting over baby and

pirate, but I realized he can stand on his own feet.

He's been playing a lot more than he's ever played before.

He wants to be out more. All the time.

Right, which is really great. Now that they're challenging pirate, a cat is

actually finding his mojo. It doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't

if you only got one eye.

There's a mojo to be had. In order for these guys to have that relationship, to

move past that point, I need to see them...

in the same room at the same time without something breaking out.

Are you good with that?

They're ready.

Hopefully we'll be ready.

That's what I was wondering. How ready are you?

I'm ready.

Nervous, but ready.

The most important part is we don't interrupt it.

Okay. Okay. But there's only one thing left for me to do. I've got to see both

cats in the room at the same time, and I've got to see that no violence is

to erupt.

Otherwise, Sandy and Phil are going to go back to their old way of thinking

these cats can't exist side by side.

Now, you know that at some point you've got to allow him to do his thing, right?

Now, if he happens to jump up here, that's what happens. We get totally cool

about it.

I can feel Pirate's heart racing. That's okay.

Your job is to not allow that. See, now look, he's getting a little... He's

getting a little what? Nothing's happening.

It's so important, please, for you guys to take a second and especially I can

feel it. I keep telling Sandy, relax. And she's sitting there all crunched up.

You don't think Pirate feels your energy, Sandy?

Just breathe. These guys are now three feet away from each other and there

nothing going on. Take a look at Pirate's body language. He's asleep.

You know that he knows that Woody's right there, right? Yeah. You love

proof that energy can change a cat's behavior because as soon as Sandy

took a breath and relaxed, boom, pirate fell asleep.

This is the final thing.

Breathe.

Do you really think that he's going to go after a sleeping cat?

Yes. From that moment that Woody pokes his head up and Sandy and Phil both get

tense, this is the culmination of all the work that we've done. Woody does

attack, it's over.

Woody's leaving this house.

There it is.

Man, I'm so proud of Woody because in that moment, he looks at Pyre and he

I don't really care much. That was so important.

For both of these pets and, more importantly, both of those humans. Now,

I leave, there is one last thing that I want to do.

Your homework was to erase this board if you felt like you could.

Erase it all, hon. Erase it all.

The slate is blank.

Having that opportunity to really...

wipe that slate clean.

It's kind of a fresh start. I think that now we can work with them in a better

way than how we were dealing with it previously.

I felt like a breakthrough today. I'm so glad you felt that. Thank you so much.

It's my pleasure. All right, guys, you take care of yourself.

And like I said, if you need anything, you let me know, okay?

Jackson, I just want to thank you for giving us back our home. It was a

wonderful experience.

We were feeling very hopeless, and you gave us hope back, so thank you.

Bye. Bye, Woodrow.

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

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