Original subtitles

Posey is literally the most terrifying thing on the planet.

Hi. Do me the favor of not kicking my ass.

Whoa!

I don't know what to do from here.

Ideal just sort of paralyzed right now.

Was Skinny the biggest guy you've ever worked with? Yes.

He could barely walk three feet without having to lay down and rest. Oh my God.

When he would stand up, his legs would shake.

Wow. This is our big underwater treadmill. This is one of our

rehab. This is a couple of years' process to get him out of the woods.

Look at this. It's a marmalade. It is the colon marmalade.

This is what I flew across the country for, the famous colon marmalade. He's

like, I know I'm famous and all, but look at the cat guy. Please don't try to

fix me.

Whoa.

Holy! I'm Jackson Galaxy.

What the hell, man?

The animal behaviors that guardians call when they're dealing with a difficult

cat. Sometimes I wish that I didn't have her.

Damn.

I'm out to prove that there is no such thing as a bad cat. Just a cat that

my help. This is fun.

Hi, my name is Dino. This is my wife, Shannon.

We've been together for nine years, and we have a four -year -old cat named

Posey. She is the sweetest cat we could possibly have and literally the most

terrifying thing on the planet.

I decided I wanted to get a cat, so I went online, and I found Posey. We fell

love with her.

Initially, she was the sweetest, loveliest little kitten on the planet,

she grew older, we found out that wasn't the case.

She started scratching us all the time, biting.

You can be cuddling with her one moment, and the next moment she's literally

trying to claw your arms off.

When she goes crazy, she

gets so aggressive that she breaks the skin.

That's just today.

And, you know, we're both covered in scars.

So we are left in this... They have constant fear of her.

On top of that, I'm eight months pregnant right now.

And that is honestly our biggest fear. When we bring the baby home, we have no

idea how Posey's going to react to it. And we've gotten used to her attacking

us, but I can't have her attack the baby.

The stakes are super high for us because... We have to worry about the

our baby.

But also because we know that nobody would take Posey, her life is at stake

And I don't even want to think about losing her.

We really, really need Jackson to help us because we don't know what else to

Jackson's our last hope.

This is our cat Posey on her Tower of Terror. Yeah, let's talk about Posey.

Yes, I'm almost eight months pregnant.

Okay. So we're kind of like getting down to the wire here.

Yeah. When we told our friends that I was pregnant, they all said,

congratulations, what are you going to do with the cat?

There's one thing I've learned over the years, newborn babies and aggressive

cats, not a good mix.

She can be super sweet. But at a moment's notice, she'll go from purring

swiping at you or getting incredibly violent. We call it she turns.

Sometimes we just have to throw her off of us.

Right, because you see it's about to happen. Because she's going to attack.

like, puts her paw on you and just stares at you.

And then, like, the claws will come out. Oh, wow. If you don't, like, respond to

what she wants. The best way to describe our relationship is an abusive

relationship. It's hostage -taking, right?

Yeah. Exactly. At what point did you guys start to realize there's something

with our cat?

I think when she was like eight months old. Yeah, there it is.

Yeah, that's exactly what it was, what I was looking for. When I hear about

sudden onset of aggression at about eight months old, I suspect at this

that there's some kind of chemical component to what's going on here. I've

it happen time and time again. All of a sudden, out of the blue, and really

serious aggression.

I think that's where we're headed. I'm fine with always having scratches and

cuts and everything, but the other day she did a burnout off my belly. I can't

have her attack the baby. That's my biggest fear.

That scar on Shannon's belly, it really kicked up the stakes for me in a huge

way.

Sorry.

I just, I love her so much, but sometimes I wish that I didn't have her.

We don't know what else to do because if she attacks the baby, like, I can't.

I can't in good conscience, like, keep her around.

No one will take her because she's violent.

If we put her in a shelter, they're going to put her to sleep.

And I can't have that. I love her. Yeah, we love her. I mean, she's a member of

our family.

I love the fact that she is your family. And that hits me, you know what I mean?

Because so many instances like this, cat's on the street, gone.

So the fact that you give her the weight that she deserves in your home, you

know, makes me want to work harder for you guys.

So I'm going to tell you something right now, just because I'm in her line of

fire. Yeah.

Stop petting her. Okay. Okay, because every time you touch her, she's ramping

a little bit. Her tail is starting to go. And all we're doing through the

petting is putting a little more static in that body. Okay.

Yeah, see, this is when I get nervous.

In situations like this, what I'm going to do is pretend to completely ignore

the cat. I don't want my body to stiffen up. I don't want to send out energy

that's going to set off the cat.

But believe you me, I got one eye on that cat right now. I've never seen her

this. Oh!

Posey, no!

On a scale of 1 to 9 -1 -1, Posey's up there.

She's unpredictable.

If her body says go, she goes.

It's like being around a bomb with no fuse.

I know, baby, I know. She went from nothing to that.

So she basically just sniffed my ear.

She's going to get you from behind right now because she just got on our cat

tree.

Okay, so now this is the Tower of Terror. Yes.

And, of course, every time I move my hands, she is on the hands, right? Oh,

she's just wanting a piece of me.

Yeah. The Tower of Terror right in the middle of the major lane of traffic,

right at eyeball level. That's going to change. Do you have a space here set for

a nursery? In our bedroom. In our bedroom.

Oh, God.

Yeah. Normally, she sleeps with us at night. Yeah. But once we have the baby,

can't have her sleep with us. I don't trust the cat anywhere near the child.

I don't either.

Having the bedroom and the nursery be the exact same thing, that puts us

the eight ball in a huge way with Posey. Because even if we wanted to segregate

her sometimes away from the baby, we just can't. How about you guys?

Take a hike, and I will call you when I'm ready, okay? Usually I'll go through

number of processes to try to gauge where the challenge line is.

Let's see if we can just have a little conversation right now.

It's just hands.

Usually I would put my hand in and hope that she can make rational choices so

that I don't have to have this really difficult conversation with her

That's the flack.

No hands?

Here, how about no hands?

Look over here, baby.

Hi.

Whoa.

Damn it.

Listen, dude, if I am going to close my eyes to you, maybe you do me the favor

of not kicking my ass.

I'm sorry, baby, I'm scared of you.

I'm brave, but I ain't stupid.

I closed my eyes to her, and she just about took my scalp off.

Oh, you better show me your best side.

Or show me that you have a best side, because your situation is not a good one

right now.

Hi.

Wow. No matter what I do, she doesn't trust me. She thinks that my hand is a

thing. It's a total threat to her.

She is ready to strike out at any second.

Whoa. Okay, you got me that time.

You know, usually I'll try to push a cat's challenge line to figure out where

is that comfort turns the challenge.

Posey doesn't have a line. It just changes every couple of seconds.

I don't have anything to grab onto here with Posey, and it makes me feel

increasingly at risk.

So, lip licking, avoidance, tail swag.

I don't know what to do with you.

Now, in this position, my love, you can do anything you want to me. I'm just

hoping you won't. I'm going to introduce the toy right now to see if she can

engage in a constructive way.

And I'm going to grab one of your toys. Can I grab one of your toys?

Where's that?

I can't get her to focus on the toy. She sees the toy as a threat. She's got her

eyes locked on me, and if I make a false move, she's letting me know she's going

to come at me, and she's going to come at me hard.

See? There's a toy.

There's a hand.

Whoa!

And I'm going to grab one of your toys.

Can I grab one of your toys?

Like that.

See? There's a toy.

There's a hand.

Whoa!

I'm spending time with the cat, who is a thousand percent dangerous and

unpredictable.

I don't have a way forward right now.

Mentally, physically, plan -wise, nothing. We are at an impasse, and I

know what to do from here.

We gotta bring a baby in here, dude.

Did you get it?

Okay, I'm done.

I'm done, okay?

I know.

I know. I just came to a place that I haven't come to ever, which is self

-preservation. I don't want to lose an eye. I don't want to get cut in the

I'm experiencing fear.

And cats can read that energy. I'm just scared to the point where I can't

continue.

Have I been scared before?

Once or twice?

Have I not known what to say once or twice?

Have I dealt with a very pregnant woman and a cat once or twice, but never all

at the same time? This is that perfect storm, and I was not prepared for it.

We may be looking at a situation that is unwinnable in terms of this cat staying

in this home with a newborn.

Every moment of this is paining me. I'm getting a little overwhelmed.

Just a bad day.

I feel just sort of paralyzed right now, and I've got to go back in there. I

can't bear the thought of separating this cat from this family when there

really isn't another home for this cat.

If the guardians saw me like this right now, they'd lose all hope. I've just got

to suck it up.

It is very troubling, and it's not looking good.

But it's not hopeless.

Come on in. Okay.

The one thing that my clients can always bank on is I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm not going to sugarcoat things.

I owe it to you to be as completely honest as I can be. And right now we're

bad situation.

Yeah.

Diagnosis -wise, I mean, we've got a dangerous cat and we've got a deadline

here.

The threat is very real.

My firm belief is that this is not a choice that she's making.

It is mental illness.

Clearly, she cannot differentiate between friend or foe, fight or flight.

body is all over the place. The fact that she starts to walk strange, her

dilating, her whiskers going back, her ears flattening, the whole nine yards.

She'll go in, she'll come out. Did she do that to your hand?

Oh, God, did she do that to you?

I'm sorry.

You didn't do it, the cat did.

And I do want you guys to make sure you're letting yourselves off the hook

Okay. This has not to do with you.

That's actually quite a relief, considering what we've been through in

four years. Now that leads us to what our first bit of homework is.

She needs to be on medication.

We have, like, questioned that. We have questioned it.

Yeah. It's just, it was always...

a matter of like us thinking we were crazy in a sense to like, you know,

that it might be a medicational issue. Or are we just trying to find the easy

way out? Right. And I totally get it. At this point, medication is Posey's only

hope.

Posey is suffering mentally just terribly. I mean, her body and her mind

giving her information that is completely flawed.

And she's ill. She's just not well. And she needs help.

Number two, what I would call 9 -1 -1 catification, right? We've got to catify

this space in a way that we're not setting her up for disaster and to make

feel a little more secure in her space.

So let's take a look at this.

It is in the prime traffic lane in this entire house. If you want to

go to the kitchen, the bathroom, or your bedroom, you've got to...

Go by, like, the feline guillotine in order to get there, right? Yeah.

So this has to move.

I want her to occupy the perimeters and feel more comfortable in the perimeters

so that she doesn't feel like she has to be a part of everything at all times. I

am going to be absolutely transparent with you guys, okay?

I don't know how this is going to play out. I am trying to keep my eye on

immediate safety, midterm safety, long -term safety.

The whole nursery bedroom thing.

Yeah. How she responds to the meds dictates what our next line is, right?

Yeah. Let's put it this way.

If the problem were left unchecked and they just had their baby, it's a

guarantee that something really bad would happen. Really bad.

As of now, maybe we'll have a better chance of avoiding something

Our first goal.

is get her to the vet, get her on meds, and then all the rest of the stuff is

going to start falling into place one way or the other. I feel really sorry

Posey that she's been suffering for all this time.

That's why now we're so anxious to get her the help that she needs.

Yeah, I know.

Oh!

I will be back in a few weeks. In the meantime, anything happens,

scary, dangerous.

You call me, okay? Okay. Thank you. Great to meet you.

Talk to you guys very soon, okay? All right. Thank you.

Bye -bye.

Say bye, Posey.

Look at this.

It's a marmalade. It is the marmalade. I am meeting Cole at marmalade. How many

people have watched that video?

11, 12 million people now.

A little starstruck. I'm here, man. Let's do something. Let's make the

Let's do this. I'm famous.

I'm in Cary, Illinois to meet up with Chris and his cats, the famous Cole and

Marmalade. These guys have been on social media for about six years, making

awareness videos, educational videos, and fun videos.

I cannot wait to meet these guys. A little starstruck.

Chris Poole, how you doing, man?

I'm Chris Poole. I'm owned by Cole and Marmalade, the leprechaun.

Cole and Marmalade are pretty famous online. We've got over 300 videos.

and over 200 million views.

And we've also got millions of followers just online in general.

Look at this. It's a marmalade.

He's like, I know I'm famous and all, but what's with the cat guy? Please

try to fix me.

I mean, I've met a lot of animals in my life, but when I saw coal and marmalade,

I'm like, it is the marmalade. I am meeting coal and marmalade. Now, this is

what I flew across the country for.

The famous coal and marmalade.

So. How did you start making cat videos?

I used to work at a big cat sanctuary in Florida, so I was working with slightly

larger cats like tigers and lions.

And that was my day job, making big cat videos to entertain people, educate

people about the problems big cats are facing.

I adopted Cole, and a friend of ours told us that black cats are the most

euthanized in animal shelters and least adopted.

My inspiration for making videos is to show people how cool black cats are.

Marmalade came along like a year later and things just went crazy. More and

people following us. We've got like 200 million views.

So marmalade is FIV positive?

Correct, yeah.

FIV or feline immunodeficiency virus was mistakenly called feline AIDS. It put a

cloud over these cats who, if they're treated well, can live a very normal

It sounds really bad, like in animal shelters when you see... FIV positive on

the labels, it just turns people off.

They think the cats aren't going to live that long, so they can't mix with other

cats, but that's not the case. Like cola marmalade, use the same water bowl, the

same litter box, eat the same food. If you give them good diet with

they can live just as long as any other cat. More cats have died because of the

label FIV than have actually died of FIV. Yeah.

FIV positive cats are positively adoptable.

Marmalade really is the first.

FIV positive cad who has become a celebrity and that's an amazing thing

cause of debunking myths around FIV positive cat Do you know which video has

gotten the most views of all time? That's what cats do at night So I

set up my night vision camera and see what action I could capture

People have watched that video.

It's like 11, 12 million people now, and they check out the video, and they just

feel better. It's just kitty therapy, stress relief.

Colm and I want to make a positive difference in the world, and that's what

we're doing with our videos.

Seeing people's comments and messages saying how much they enjoy the videos

they're a bright spot in their day, that's definitely the feel -good factor

why we keep doing it.

Colm wants absolutely nothing to do with it. It's just like... He's so, it is so

beneath him. I mean, seriously, Cole just has a little bit of an attitude,

know, a little bit of, oh, I'm too good for the cat guy.

Cole's more intelligent. He's always trying to work you out.

Let's just be over here. We'll let Marmalade make a fool out of himself.

just going to be over here being a little more proper.

Come on, Cole.

Cole, Cole.

You ready?

It's a battle of the cat celebrities. Cole against the cat daddy. Will he come

out? Yeah, he'll come out.

Oh, my God.

Oh, what do you want?

What do you want? Kitty bribes. That's the way I get the shots I need in

He's, like, juggling them out of his mouth.

Cole can run, but he can't hide. Or he can hide, but he can't hide.

What are you working on right now?

I'm working on a video to promote spaying and neutering.

I'm here, man. Let's do something. Let's make a video.

We're talking about the benefits of spaying and neutering.

Did you know that 11 million cats can come out of this body? It's just mind

-boggling. Creating a video of Jackson is kind of a surreal experience.

To have him here talking about cats in a Cole and Marmalade video is just crazy

cool. Let's go film some stuff.

Hey, Jackson, how's it going?

Hey, Chris, it's going well, man.

I've got an idea for a video.

That is what I kind of figured. What are you doing?

I want to promote Thay and Neuter.

You're breaking up a bit.

Can you hear me still?

You're freezing, man. Move your phone around.

Let me move around a little bit. Let me move. Let me move.

And perfect.

That's much better. Much better.

It's a lot of fun working with Jackson. We're joking around.

I'm sure there's going to be a lot of bloopers and outtakes.

We've covered population control reasons.

We've covered just the health and happiness of your cats. What else is

left to say?

Clearly nothing. I thought you were just talking.

And cut.

At the end of the day, the finished result should be really cool and will

hopefully help a lot of cats.

I think it's going to be a lot of fun once it gets done. But make sure you

my good side, all right?

I'll do my best.

It was great. Thank you so much.

Take care of yourself.

I'm famous.

I was just in a coal and marmalade video. It doesn't get any better than

right? I mean, these guys have been doing it for so long. Hundreds of videos

later, they're showing it's not about celebrity. It's about education,

and at the end of the day, having fun.

I'm here for my second visit with Shannon and Dino and their cat Posey.

And there is a ticking clock here. There's a baby that's due any day. And

got a cat who, unless she responded to the medication, I'm afraid that her

future doesn't look good. Come on in.

I'm surprised you wanted to come back.

How are you feeling? The first week was rough.

But we do think that she's actually calmed down a bit. You know, it's slow

going, but there's a noticeable difference.

Listening to the update from Dino and Shannon, I'm feeling very cautiously

optimistic because last time I was here, I was scared. I feel just sort of

paralyzed right now, and I've got to go back in there.

They want to see the best out of their cat. They don't want to have to face

choices here. So I can't really trust the words that I'm hearing. I'm going to

have to see them.

Let's take a look at your video, Homer.

Today, we're going to go see the vet.

He's a little freaked out.

We're letting...

You know, do the daddy work.

All right, we just got back from the vet.

She's going on. The medicine that's supposed to get her calm.

It's been a long week.

She's basically been on a hunger strike because she doesn't like the treats that

have the medicine in them. We're working on getting the liquid form of her

medicine. But she's been very calm.

No turning today, which is good. No attack.

Okay. Generally, this medication takes four to six weeks where it's working

optimally. There are many different types of medications this cat could be

Now, if after a handful of days they're seeing results, she's on the right one.

That's a big deal.

I'll remove the cat tree out of the primary lane. And hopefully allow people

look out the window.

This is like a beautiful moment of catification.

So you take this from over there, you put it in a socially significant area.

which is the window out of the lane of traffic.

And what do we have here? We have an A+. Yay.

Theoretically, if you put it in here, it's good.

Woo! Cat TV!

Love that.

Buffy, what do you think of your cat TV?

Oh, we like this cat TV. Yeah, I love that one.

Yeah.

We officially have a problem.

The cat has found her way into the crib.

Posey jumping into the crib, yeah, I get it. It makes you nervous. But on the

other hand, the last thing you want to do is close off the nursery slash

slash the most important place in the house to Posey. That's one way of making

sure that the arrival of the baby is a negative thing for her. So, once again.

Rocking a hard place. Hey, listen, all the way around, I feel good stuff coming

out of that homework.

Now the rubber hits the road. There's a lot to get done. She looks pissed to me.

Shannon's looking behind me. Suddenly I realize it's Posey sitting on the end of

the couch. I'm afraid that this is going to end badly.

Last time... She looks pissed to me.

Shannon's looking behind me. Suddenly I realize it's Posey. Sitting on the end

of the couch.

I'm afraid that this is going to end badly.

Where she is right now is in a barely balanced place.

What I'm used to seeing last time was that... That swacking tail. That

was a lot more severe. Now let me see what happens.

Just because I have this at my disposal.

The last time I worked with Posey, I made sure that the guardians left the

because I didn't want them to see their cat in her work light.

To be very clear, the medication just gets us to square one, to a place where

can do the work. I'm taking a calculated risk right now because Posey could turn

on me just as quickly as she did last time I was here, and nobody wants that.

Good girl. See how she's doing a little bit of hunting behavior right now?

Yay, good girl.

Yay, good girl.

I'm going to pull the toy closer to me, right? Now my hand is getting closer and

closer. Is she looking at my hand right now? No. Not even a little bit.

I've never seen her play with anybody else before.

Can I get you to follow me?

And, you know, at the same time, you're seeing why it's so important to fully

commit to this. You're absolutely right.

Good girl. Let me see what I can do here.

Good girl.

See that sound?

Yes, it's my good girl. Can you get up here?

Can I get you up here?

Come on, baby doll.

Good girl!

Yay!

I can't even describe the sense of relief that I'm feeling right now

this cat release her kitten and hunt this toy with absolute abandon.

She's playing. I think you're getting nice and calm.

I can't even believe that I'm standing here talking with my hands like I did

last time, and that led me to getting shredded.

Just calm down.

I'm in absolute shock right now.

They're seeing the kitten come out of their cat for the first time since she

a kitten. It's the most joyful experience for me that I could possibly

I can only imagine what it's like for Shannon and Dino.

Now, all this said, we are far from home free here, and I don't want to set

false expectations because up until this point, it was some catifying and

getting that pill in her. The point of the medication is to get Posie to a

where she is a predictable cat that I can work with. There is no magic pill.

There is no magic anything here. It's all about doing the work, but we've got

get there first.

The first assignment here is desensitization 101.

We want to start getting her used to the sounds, the sights, the smells of baby

before baby ever gets here. And, of course, the rituals that go along with

want you to get a recording of the sound of a baby.

Gurgling, crying, doing all those baby sounds.

So then when you're doing things like playing, feeding, whatever, you've got

that going in the background.

Very low at first.

Desensitization means don't threaten.

But challenge slowly, slowly, slowly until you have it at baby volume.

I want them to desensitize Posey because if Posey recognizes rituals around

baby, then it won't be a threat to her when the baby comes.

So the second part of this is a continuation of catification. You guys

amazing job in here.

And I want you to start catifying the bedroom slash nursery.

Okay. She can study the baby from afar without getting all up in her business,

right? I want them to build a new cat superhighway so that Posey can watch the

proceedings, see this weirdly moving, weirdly sounding thing, and know that

can do it from a distance. I wouldn't lead us down this road right now if I

didn't have a whole lot of optimism.

So, your next homework assignment is knowing and doing what's best for Posey.

Play is a big thing for her. Lead her to her cat TV station where the energy can

be drained away, right? Posey can't control her own energy. With play, we're

going to drain all that unnecessary energy out.

The last time I worked with Posey, she attacked me pretty badly and left me in

doubt as to whether I can actually make this work here.

I still think we've got a lot of work to do here, but at least there's hope, and

with hope we can get this done. I'll talk to you in a few weeks, okay? I'll

to keep her in until then. Yeah, do that.

It's definitely overwhelming right now, but we have to be 100 % committed to

this because our baby and her safety is at stake, and Posey's life is at stake

too.

I'm here in Dallas, Texas to hear a most amazing story with veterinarian

Brittany Barton and her cat, whose name is now Skinny, but he started anything

but.

Hi, welcome.

Hey. I'm Dr. Brittany Barton. I'm the owner and lead veterinarian of Heal

Veterinary Hospital. And my cat, Skinny, weighed 41 pounds.

Was Skinny the biggest cat you've ever worked with? Yes.

41 pounds?

41 pounds! Hold on, let's just stop for a second. Yeah.

He didn't walk that far. He could barely walk three feet without having to lay

down and rest. When he would stand up, his legs would shake.

Wow. This is a photo of him with my four -year -old son.

Oh. He dwarfed your son.

I mean, imagine the largest watermelon you've ever seen. Yes.

That was him.

As a veterinarian, I go into vet mode, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, he can't get

sick because at that weight, any illness could pop him into.

Liver problems. Right. There isn't one system in a cat's body that's not at

when they're that obese.

Their kidneys, their liver, their heart, their joints.

Everything is at risk when they're that weight.

And I was like, you know, this is a couple of years process to get him out

the woods to be able to go to a family.

Right. And so that's when I decided to just adopt him. So how much weight?

In total, has Skinny lost?

He's lost 24 pounds.

That is insane and remarkable. He lost two and a half cats.

Exactly. That's how I thought about it. I was like, that's two cats that were

inside this cat.

There's our boy.

Wow. Amazing.

Amazing. Is he really going to jump up? Yeah. He can jump all the way up to the

counters.

Initially, the weight came off pretty easy.

I put him on a higher protein, lower carbohydrate, good, high -quality

diet. But we hit 35 pounds, and it just stopped.

And so we had to think outside the box.

He loved to lay on his back. So if we would touch his tummy, he would sit up.

And we'd touch his tummy, and he would sit up. And so we would literally sit

there and do that every time he presented the opportunity. And it was so

fun because he absolutely enjoyed it.

And so that allowed us to bridge into a lot of these exercises that eventually

became his whole daily routine.

It's remarkable to see a cat so at home on something like a treadmill. We were

able to be successful with this because he was so food motivated.

So the thing that almost killed him is the thing that actually helped save him.

Exactly. That's crazy. Exactly.

To see Skinny so confidently work that treadmill, he's not stressed out.

He's just following his nose, getting those treats, and getting great

What else you got for me? We have the underwater treadmill.

You want to see it?

Come on.

Cats don't like water, but Skinny doesn't mind. Hey, this is the first

everything, right? I've never seen it before.

So this is it. This is our big underwater treadmill. This is one of our

cornerstones of rehab.

Come on in, Papa.

All right, big guy. You ready, Freddy?

Let's do this.

The water slowly comes up from underneath them so that they don't feel

they're getting a bath.

All of a sudden, it's just up underneath their feet. This machine allows us to

do a lot. You can bring the water up higher to give them the buoyancy to take

the stress off their joints, or you can drop the water a little bit lower to

engage that high -stepping action.

It's incredible. The first time you put him in here, what was the process of

getting him to the point where he accepted the water?

We did it very slow, a little bit at a time, and as long as he was accepting

it... We kind of kept pushing a little more. Right. He's up to his shoulders in

water, and you can tell his gait is so easy. It's amazing exercise with no

impact on his joints whatsoever.

Skinny is pretty much an inspiration all over the place. I've had people email

us. And they're like, darn it, if a cat can do it, I can do it. That's amazing.

And he has had a very robust social media presence.

His story has resonated with a lot of people, both personally and for their

pets. Over 60 % of cats in America are either overweight or obese.

So yeah, it's a big deal.

60%. Yeah. The conversation needs to start when they're kittens.

How do you decide how much is too much? How do you decide what food's

appropriate for this pet?

Right. Skinny's weight loss story helped start that conversation.

Amazing. Stories like this really pumped me up because Skinny and his social

media presence have opened people's eyes to the epidemic of obesity, an animal

who can make such an incredible transformation, inspiring people all

world.

It will save lives. It's already saved lives. Thank you so much for coming. It

was my pleasure. Take care of yourself. You too. Absolutely.

I mean, you want to talk about a win -win situation.

You've got Dr. Barton who's got a loving companion and a testament to her hard

work. The world at large learns about cat obesity and saves cats' lives and

skinny wins by losing 24 pounds.

She attacked me again. I was like, old cozy.

Maybe the medicine's not working.

So I'm here for my third visit with Shannon, Dino, and Posey. Last time I

here, we saw a lot of progress, but that's not the end of the road, just the

beginning. Hopefully these guys are one step closer to bringing home the baby.

Hi. Hello.

How are you? Welcome, welcome.

Hi. Oh, man.

So, guys.

How are things with our girl? She's doing pretty well. She was golden the

after you left. My family came over. They even brought a little dog, and she

phenomenal. Posi never attacked anybody, no hissing, no growling. It was like

having a normal cat.

Don't forget, this medication takes a while until it hits a proper level. But

the fact that she's responded in the way that she has in general is very good

news. It's great to hear Posey appears to be a normal cat, but until that

medication is in her system for at least a couple more weeks, the guardians need

to remain cautious.

All right, guys.

Let's take a look at your homework.

This is our bedroom catification process, and the hope is that Posey will

able to watch the outside world from here.

Oh, cool.

All right, you just install the shelf in the bedroom, and Posey can check out

her cat TV and lick herself.

That's impressive.

Now, baby sounds while she eats.

That's no joke.

The cat doesn't seem to care. He is straight up eating, man. Yeah, by the

we were done, we literally ran out of devices that could go higher volume.

Beautiful, man.

And I'm watching her now.

Nothing.

Okay. Onward. The desensitization worked. The fact that Posey can tolerate

sound of a screaming baby while remaining calm is huge.

We had a bit of a setback.

I was just belting on my yoga ball and Posey.

was getting aggressive, so I got up to go get her a toy to play with her. And

she ran after me and attacked me.

And she... Her claws... Actually, I think those are from her teeth.

I don't know if we need that for justice or what, but... Just frustrated.

Oh, and I'm due in 14...

Just frustrated.

Oh, I'm 2 and 14.

Obviously you're getting emotional here. She attacked me again, and it was like

old posy.

Maybe the medicine's, like, not working.

I totally understand.

She gets on the medication, and you think... Everything's better. You have a

different cat.

And that's not going to happen as quickly. And, of course, I get the

disappointment. A yoga ball shouldn't cause that kind of reaction.

So, okay.

Good, Kurt. Yeah, I know.

We just successfully gave Posey her first dose of the liquid medication

so that we don't have to deal with this whole medication and a treat, free

feeding all day business.

So we started that actually last week.

Dino doesn't like doing the liquid medication.

The thing with the liquid medication that worries me is every day, like, it's

very violent act. Like, we're literally wrapping her up. I was watching that. I

think that you guys can make it a lot easier on yourselves.

You don't have to wrap her up.

While she's like this is the time to walk up, say, hi, baby, open her mouth,

give her a medication, walk away.

Posy will act like old Posy if she doesn't get her medicine. Giving her

medication is the only way to guarantee that she's getting the proper dosage. I

can't stress that enough.

We have to essentially keep trying it. For a cat who's not predictably getting

her medication every single day, she's doing pretty damn good right now. Look

her, man.

I mean, listen, you know the first day when I'd be sitting here and I was like,

oh, I feel your cat, right?

I don't feel anything right now.

How are you feeling about bringing a baby into this house?

I'm feeling way better than I was five weeks ago about bringing a baby into

house. Good.

I'm much more worried about bringing the baby home because I need to learn how

to be a father than I am worried how the baby is going to interact with the cat.

You know what to do. Right. We have the tools. We just have to use them.

Exactly. I am so grateful that Jackson came and helped us because, honestly, I

was just lost in despair.

And we've made so much progress with Cozy that I'm actually feeling hopeful,

I didn't know that that was going to be possible. Let me know if you need

anything, okay? All right. Thanks, Jackson. Bye, guys. Bye.

Hey, Jackson.

I hope you're doing well. This is our little Cozy.

Seven weeks old now, and Posey has actually been really great with her.

never tried to attack her little sister.

She's just very observant of her.

Here Posey is checking on her baby sister.

No hissing, no tail thwacking.

This is the best case scenario we ever could have dreamed of. Posey has been

incredibly well behaved.

It has been a complete change, and we never thought it would turn out this

Posey and Posey are happy little sisters.

Thank you so much. Thank you.