Original subtitles

Miles peed by the front door, on the front door. He just peed.

He peed on the wall. He peed under the window.

Lena's at that age where she is walking and getting into everything.

We worry that she will stick her hands in a newly formed pee puddle. What if I

couldn't come over here? We've put out the feelers to find him a new home.

My name is Molly, and together with my hero, Tobacco, we help rescue cats.

The kittens!

Yay! My little babies!

I'm here at the Allendale Correctional Institution, which used to be one of the

roughest prisons in the system. But it has transformed into something beyond

anybody's wildest dreams.

Cats! Everywhere!

This is therapy.

It's given many of these men a purpose.

We're not just saving four -legged lives here.

We're saving two -legged lives.

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.

I'm Kristen. And I'm Alyssa. We have a 16 -month -old daughter, Lena, and three

cats, Max, Maury, and Miles.

We adopted Max and Maury when they were about three months old, about a year and

a half before we brought Miles in. We just had the intention of fostering him

and finding him a new home. But over the time that it took us to find somebody

to take him, Max, Maury, and Miles all bonded. We just couldn't separate them.

Hi, pretty boy.

There's just a special place in my heart for Miles. Hi.

He's just such a little sweetie. He's a great cat, but he's been peeing in our

house for the last three years.

And there it is. He just peed.

Can you see it? Yeah.

That's Miles' pee.

Miles has peed by the front door, on the front door.

Looks like he emptied his entire bladder.

He pees on the wall.

He pees under the window.

This is a brand new pee spot.

There's literally not a spot in this house he hasn't peed. This is an area

he peed often.

Lena's at that age where she is getting into everything, and we worry that she

will stick her hands in a newly formed pee puddle. We don't know if he would

on her toys. Every time he gets near that window, I get nervous.

There's just no way to ensure that we can be on top of it when Miles pees

somewhere.

So we decided to confine Miles to our bedroom. So he's been confined in our

bedroom for almost a year, and it has taken a toll on him. He hears us out

and he wants to be a part of the family, but we can't let him out because we

can't risk having Pete around the house.

Pretty quickly after Miles being left in the bedroom, there was an immediate

difference in his relationship with the other cats.

Nope. Oh, my God.

Lena!

Miles is back in his safe zone.

There was fur everywhere.

Maury and Max will come to the door and hiss at Miles, and Miles will just paw

at the door and meow.

Can you ruin the door?

They don't feel like a group anymore. It feels like Max and Maury and Miles.

Whoa!

Anytime we think he's getting better, we take him out.

And so then there's a flare -up, and then it just becomes worse.

We feel like failures, and we feel like we've failed Miles.

I love you a lot, little man.

We would love it if Jackson could bring our family back together, including

Miles. Oh, my pretty little man.

We really feel like Jackson's our only hope.

Hello. Hello.

Hello. How are you? I'm good. I'm Jackson. Alyssa. Alyssa. Kristen.

Hey, Kristen. Good to meet you guys. This is Lena.

Hey, Lena.

So, tell me what's up. So, we have three cats.

Max and Maury are brothers.

Miles was brought in later. Okay. Everything is great for the first year.

day, Miles just started peeing on walls.

Yeah. He pees outside of the box at least four to five times a day. A day?

Yes. Does he ever pee in the box? Yeah. Yeah. He could sometimes go in the

litter box, pee a little, come out and pee on the wall. It's very strange.

Wow, man. How old was Miles when we started?

Probably a year. He was about a year old, yeah. Really? So, everything's

fine. And then a year into it. We were like, let's take him to the vet just to

be sure everything's going on there. And he was getting bladder crystals. Some

cats are just predisposed to getting crystals in their bladder, just like

humans are predisposed to.

Kidney stones. When a cat has their urethra blocked by crystals, they can

septic and die. It's not a small thing.

And they believe it was brought on by stress, because he is kind of a high

-stress cat. He always has, like, the big eyes, and he's always rubbing up on

everything. He seems very territorial.

Okay. So the crystals kept forming.

Yeah, he had to be catheterized twice.

Wow. And they said, why don't we have the, what's the surgery called? The

perineal urethra. Oh, the PU surgery?

We decided, you know, it's probably the best course of action, and the vet

agreed. Wow, it got that bad that he had to have the surgery. The PU surgery

makes their urethra larger so that crystals don't lead to blockages. It's a

pretty severe surgery, but in cases like Miles, it usually helps. Did it resolve

anything? No.

He doesn't have any crystals.

Right. He's healthy.

He's healthy, but he's still peeing.

Yes, the surgery worked, but Miles didn't stop peeing, so something else

going on here.

So he lives in our room, and the other cats have the rest of the house. We have

left him in that room for a year. It's been a year. The only other thing is it

now has created a tension in the household.

We're worried that it increases his stress level and that he'll continue to

Yeah. And also, Lena came into the picture. We can't let him out because we

can't risk having pee around the house where Lena could potentially get into

There she goes.

It's hard to imagine that you can keep him in a room 24 -7 and he doesn't act

out to some degree.

He does scratch at the door to get out of the room. So we'll put him in the

bathroom in our bedroom at night sometimes because we can't sleep. Wait,

let me back up. So now he's going from being in the bedroom to being in the

bathroom in the bedroom.

Right.

Man, so we just keep making it smaller and smaller.

They're putting Miles in the bathroom because he stresses them out. They can't

sleep at night, but by putting him in the bathroom, they are causing his

to skyrocket. It's not a win.

What if I couldn't come over here? Where are you guys at?

We've put out the feelers to find him a new home because we feel like maybe he'd

be happier in a single cat home.

Okay. These guys are talking about rehoming.

And they're serious about it. But it is the worst idea because nobody's going to

adopt a cat who pees around the house five times a day, morning, noon, and

night. I would love to meet Miles, but I also want to see what his world looks

like, okay?

All right, let's go take a look. A lot of times just seeing where a cat pees

will tell me what he might be responding to environmentally, and hopefully

that's the case right now.

Where's our boy?

I think we lost him. I think he's under the bed.

Okay, that's cool. We can...

Wow. This room's a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, man. This is

small room.

I can't believe that Miles has been living in this small bedroom for over a

year, and I can't believe that these people, who I know are good people, felt

like they had to lock him in this room for over a year. It's not a solution.

It's far from a solution.

And that's the bathroom where he'll wind up. Yep. Wow.

That's an incredibly small bathroom. That's an incredibly small bathroom,

Damn. Well, you guys got to live with it because it smells in here.

You can smell the pee in here. Yes, we can. So I'm just a little, I'm more than

a little concerned.

To think he goes into this bathroom, which is an eighth of the size of the

bedroom, is unbelievable.

And it's got to stop.

This is a bad situation.

I mean, really, this is a bad situation.

This is a bad situation.

And we recognize that it's not a good situation. Well, you guys got to live

it because it smells in here. You can smell the pee in here. I mean, there's

way that that boy can pee four or five times a day outside the box and he's in

here that it's not going to smell. I don't even know how these guys sleep

let alone Miles live here.

This room.

Not good.

What does he pee on in here? So right here.

Oh, yeah, you can't see it. So he pees right along this wall here. And then

along the window.

Underneath the window.

So he basically confines himself to these two spots.

Yeah. Lena has been growing up for 16 months while he's been in here.

It's almost like he hasn't been here. He lives like a completely separate life

from the rest of the house. Yeah, it's just like he's not really part of the

family, which is sad.

Yeah.

Right now, with the information I have, I don't know what Miles is responding

to. I don't know if it's the environment itself, if it's the other cats, if it's

Lena, if it's something outside the house, because it could be out there, it

could be in here. I don't know, but we've got to find out.

So the bottom line is, you've got a very stressed cat who is occupying an eighth

of the territory that he needs to.

He reacts to stress by peeing. But I don't know what's causing his stress.

got to find out what's causing it.

So the first thing that we're going to do is we're going to deal with some

surveillance. I'm going to leave you with some cameras. We're going to find

what's happening when we can't see him. Being able to see his stressy behavior I

think is going to really help us to get a better, fuller picture of how we can

address this. So now we're going to move into the world of getting him out of

that room. So I'd like you guys to start doing some supervised access with him.

So that means that he's going to have access to out here only when you guys

be with him enough so that he doesn't set himself up for failure.

Also, the only way to see if he gets along with the other cats is to get him

with them.

And then over the course of a couple weeks, try to expand that time out a

bit. Just let it happen for the length of time that you guys feel comfortable.

Maybe push it this much more. By expanding Miles' territory, we're going

if his anxiety actually decreases because he's got access.

Or it increases because he can't defend all that territory.

Now the next one is nighttime playtime. Before you guys go to bed, we're going

to play.

I want them to really play him out so that he's tired enough to go to bed when

they go to bed and stay asleep while they're asleep.

You can't expect him to be chill when he can't move around. Which leads us to no

more shutting him in the bathroom.

Period. You have to completely ignore him. You don't yell at him. You don't...

do anything because the attention that he gets from that will say oh this works

i don't want miles in that bathroom period it's too small it's going to

his anxiety tenfold he doesn't like being behind closed doors he doesn't

being separated from the rest of the family we're doing both of them at the

time and you can't breathe in there All right, guys, take care, hang in there,

and I'll see you soon. I'm concerned about Miles coming out into the living

and peeing and Lena getting into it, and that's not a good situation.

I'm here in Dallas to meet up with Molly, who, with her cat Tabasco, has

balanced a thriving business.

with the business of rescuing and fostering hundreds of cats here in the

community. I cannot wait to meet her. Hello, buddy.

Hi. How are you? You're acting good. I'm Molly.

Good to meet you, Molly. Good to meet you. And this must be Tabasco. I see

you've already met Tabasco. My name is Molly, and I have a marketing company.

do marketing, branding, website.

And together with my hero, Tabasco, we help rescue cats.

Now, you got Tabasco as a kitten?

I did. I adopted him 13 years ago.

The office cat.

Tabasco is a cat basseter, we call him. He greets people that come in the front

door in the business and helps debunk that myth that cats are aloof and mean.

also helps with fosters, gives them a sense of companionship while we're here.

Who's that?

That's Nyla.

Hi, Nyla. Nyla came into the shelter with a giant laceration on her rear leg.

Jeez. Pretty confident.

Not only the human interaction helps make her feel confident and learn

but she follows Tabasco around. So she kind of learns what's appropriate and

appropriate. It's nice to have that sort of social bridge, that he is sort of a

little behavior teacher, huh? He is.

How did it start for you? About 10 years ago, I started working at the Dallas

Animal Services.

I volunteer there every weekend. We get over 30 ,000 animals a year brought in,

underage litters of kittens, adult cats with behavioral issues, of course. I'm

sure because it's a municipal shelter that you saw your fair share of tragic

stories. You can't turn anybody away. We'll take whatever you have, no matter

how old or injured or broken.

I mean, you're faced with a lot of euthanasia in a shelter of that

We are.

A shelter system where you're always this close to being completely

and you have a cat that comes in that needs to have a leg amputated or is

paralyzed. You don't have the time, the resources, the space, nothing.

In many cities, those cats don't make it out of the shelter.

Such a huge need.

Paralyzed amputees, those seem to be the ones that I gravitate towards.

Wow. It started with rescue kitty. Here's this cat that's completely

from the waist down. She climbed right up my jacket and just put her arms

me and buried her head in my chest. I was like, oh, please. It's all over.

I knew the shelter certainly wouldn't have the resources to support for long

-term care, but I knew I couldn't leave her there. I brought her here, and it

took about eight weeks from start to finish, and she was walking.

Unbelievable. I thought, somebody has to do something here.

So I decided because I had a 4 ,000 -square -foot building that we weren't

all the space in. We dedicated one of the offices to a foster room where cats

are either too young or they're injured.

In a foster home, not only are they safer from disease, but they also get

exposed to social interactions that help to make them better cats.

So Rescue Kitty, by basically picking you, yeah completely threw you into a

different world it did yeah so we have the for -profit business that supports

our non -profit efforts which is doing as much as we possibly can to support

cats in our community any proceeds we get out of all the work that we do

my business goes to pay for pet food pet supplies things we donate feels good to

be able to do something so right now in your care

Who else we got? We have Barney, Boots, Buster, and Bandit.

For some reason, that sounds like kittens to me. Of course it is. You have

litter of kittens. We have a litter of kittens.

Can I meet the kittens?

Absolutely. Yay. Yay.

Kittens. The kittens.

Hi, little babies.

This is our kitten foster room.

And who do I have here?

You have Barney.

Hi, Barney.

They were at the shelter and they only weighed a pound.

They need a place to hang and learn about life and get lots of loving. And

once they reach two pounds, we'll take them back to the adoption room.

They were pretty feral when they first came in.

Really? Yeah. And so this is the kind of thing that you have people do. Exactly.

Just hold and play with. And love on.

Kiss, of course. The more we can expose them to, the better adult cats they

make. So we try to have as many people in the building handle them as possible,

and so when they go back, they'll be great cats.

You've got nobody here who's hiding in a tube, who's hiding in the litter box.

These guys will all go home in a heartbeat.

Molly has managed to create a beautiful, nurturing space where these kittens can

come in here and very rapidly get socialized, get the right start in life,

go off to home.

where they probably won't get returned because they've got their mojo on and

they're going to adapt well.

Molly, thank you so much. I think the work you're doing is amazing.

Keep it up. Thank you.

I love stories like this. I mean, Molly decided to throw herself into the

solution here to make sure that all of Dallas knows every cat counts.

Every night he still pees.

One night, it happened at 3 a .m., he peed on the wall. 4 a .m., he peed on

wall. 5 a .m., he peed on the wall. Wow.

No!

I'm back from my second visit with Alyssa and Kristen and their cat, Miles.

Now, Miles had been peeing around the house so much for so long that he got

locked away in the back bedroom for over a year.

Now, I've had them grant him access to the house.

Hopefully, that hasn't backfired.

Hey, Jackson.

Hey. Hi. How are you doing? Good. How are you? I'm good.

I can't help but notice I see an open door. Is this like supervised out time

happening right now? Yeah.

Great.

So clearly, things have to be going okay.

How are you guys feeling?

We're a little tired.

Why? The nights have been rough.

With Miles having to sleep with us all night long, that's been a little

exhausting. Well, you know what? Let's just get to it. I want to check out your

video homework and see exactly where we're at.

All right, here we go.

He's just still a very vocal cat. So from three to five.

He's meowing, scratching at the door. Oh my gosh, he's like a prairie dog.

How many times have you cleaned up pee in the past couple weeks?

Every night he still peed in our bedroom.

One night it happened at 3 a .m. he peed on the wall, we cleaned it. 4 a .m. he

peed on the wall, we cleaned it. 5 a .m. he peed on the wall. Wow. In the same

area. What area was that?

Under the window. Under the window.

Okay, what I'm thinking right now is that this cat has no territory

Being cordoned into a room or out of a room is causing him a lot of anxiety.

Having free passage, I think, would solve part of the problem.

I keep on walking away to go take care of Lena. And when I come back, they're

like, fine, no drama, just eating.

That was great. This is them getting to know each other again.

And I love the fact that we get to see what this normal body language is. Sort

of a reintroduction dance.

I've been giving these guys these salmon treats, and they go so crazy for them

that they don't even mind being an inch from each other.

That's our good boy.

Let's just dispel any myths that these three cats are in any way enemies.

Now that Miles has access to the rest of the house, we get to see behavior like

eating out of the same bowl at the same time. That's game over in terms of the

competition. Let's just call them friends.

Great shot. You guys are getting all of it.

There we go.

He really likes the laser pointer.

Lean again into the egg.

Whoa.

Love it. I was playing with the boys, and Miles got scared. Even though none

the cats were bothering him, he ran down the hall and peed right there.

He got scared. Do you know of what?

No. It seemed like when we first took him out to play with him, when he'd get

really into it and do a big jump, he'd get embarrassed or scared and run. So

he's scaring himself, really. He gets up into that really crazed place, and he

scares himself, and that leads him to pee. A little bit. But the play was

to drain his energy, not stress him out. You want to talk about an irrational

response. You're playing, your energy gets piqued, you jump in the air, and

own jump scares you enough that you run down the hall and pee. That lets you

know that Miles' responses are just not all there.

Now I'll probably check out the litter box.

And then go pee on the wall.

Here we go.

No! Don't let it happen.

I agree!

Because the only reason I said supervised access was so that you

stop him. I don't always let him, but in that case... Okay, well, okay. Let's

say you weren't filming it for me. You wouldn't let him do it. I probably would

have brought him into our room. Okay. What you're doing is you're taking the

neuroses that he has, which is I don't own this spot, and I have to over -own

it. And he feels like every time I leave this room... I better leave my mark

because it's temporary.

You guys captured a lot of great stuff on here. Yeah, we took our homework very

seriously. You did take your homework seriously, which goes back to where I

you. I mean, when we first met, rehoming was very much on the table.

What I want to know is, are you guys still considering it? Are you still at

place right now?

Yeah, it's still on the table because we can't continue to live like this. We're

still worried about Miles peeing somewhere that we don't notice and Lena

it. That being said, we're not going to drop him off at a shelter no matter how

hard it gets.

Because he matters to us. We love him and we want him to be happy.

Right. If we can make him regulated and better, then obviously he's staying with

us. Right. I get it.

I guess this is really intolerable. Normally, if a couple says something

rehoming their cat if we can't solve the problem, I'll come down pretty hard on

them. But nobody wants to wake up in the middle of the night to have a cat

peeing inches from your face, let alone having it happen on the hour, every

hour. That's a lot to ask of anybody.

I am absolutely determined to stay on the bright side of this whole thing. Mm

-hmm. So I'm... Hey, baby boy.

Hello, baby boy.

Miles.

Hi, Miles, my friend.

Now he's going into Lena's room. That does make us nervous.

Why? When Lena was not here, that was actually his favorite room to pee in.

I am just hoping that this cat has not peed in Lena's room somewhere because if

that happens, doors are going to close again, trust is gone, we're back to

square one, and this family can't take that.

He was just in the corner.

Uh -oh. The bad news is I smell pee.

You know, I'm looking around, and there's no pee where Miles was, so

news, but I still smell something. I just don't know where it came from.

Oh, there's also a diaper pail right in front of me. I'm happy to report back to

the Guardian. Miles had access. He went into Lena's room, sniffed around, and

decided, I don't need to do anything. I'm good right now. That's something to

celebrate. Okay, so, I don't think he peed in there, but I smell...

But that's also because my nose was right by the diaper pail. Yeah. So I

that that's kind of what I was smelling. I think so. Yeah. So it wasn't a bad

experience, and there's no pee in there, and yay.

Yeah. I think we're in a good place right now. I think process -wise, we're

where I would hope to be, with the exception of four or five pees in a room

during the night.

But I have a plan to minimize that as well.

From what I'm seeing, the peeing is not based on competition with the other cats

for resources.

They eat out of the same dish. They play with the same toy. They hang out in the

same area. So what it's about is his inability to regulate his anxious

to normal energetic spikes.

His energy starts to peak.

And he's like, I only know to do one thing to regulate my own anxiety in this

moment, and that's pee. Which leads me to conclude that we need to medicate

Miles. If Miles were my cat, I would... put him the medication because the

peeing is not just a response to his environment to some degree or another

an irrational response to his environment not just putting medication

as a cure -all you have the ability to predict half the time when he's going to

do it knowing that that's happening means that we can prevent part of

and prevention is redirection so instead of removing him which from now

on that's done your laser pointer is on Guard. Out it comes. Guide him right

here. Redirect that energy onto something positive so that he can

himself. Also, I want you to continue with your surveillance work because

now we know that your room is one of the prime spots.

Let's get surveillance outside the window as well.

Now, that being said, I have one other thing for you guys.

Uh -oh. He's going to say open the doors.

Yeah.

You're like laughing and crying at the same time. But here's the thing. I want

you to do it as an experiment.

Okay? Open that door. But do it after you've done your routines, and I don't

think that he's going to pee four times in a night out here.

I don't know any other way that I can control Miles' energy except for to give

him what he wants, which is getting his energy out in the rest of the house with

the other cats.

I know that I'm asking for a lot between this time and the next time we see each

other, but I kind of got a feeling that with all these things in place, we're

going to be okay.

Okay. All right, guys. I will see you in just a few weeks' time.

Hang in there. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I still feel like we have a very

long way to go. We're still worried about pee behavior because of Lena, and

rehoming will be on the table as long as the peeing continues.

I am so pumped right now.

I'm with a whole bunch of men who clearly have done something in their

wind up in a prison, but they are proud of their cat, their dog, their role in

things. Immediately I know that I'm in for something good here.

My name is Vicki Scott.

I'm the president of the Animal Advocate Organization, a rescue group in

Barnwell, South Carolina, where we have a rescue adoption foster center.

We're here today at Allendale Correctional Institution.

where we have a fostering program that we call Meow Mate and Mutt Mate.

This is a new one for me. I'm here to meet up with Vicki Scott, whose program,

Meow Mates, has saved the lives of over 300 animals and, in the process, has

transformed what was one of the roughest prisons in the system.

For all of us coming in here, I mean, this is not easy.

You get all of our stuff in, the whole crew, and there's a lot of checks and

doors and locks.

Once you get in here, however, it is peaceful.

Hello. Come on, Vicki. So good to meet you. Great to meet you as well.

For the program here, we pull animals from our county shelter where the

euthanasia rate has been as high as 98%.

The animals go on a two -month rotation, live with the men 24 -7 in the cells

before they can be up for adoption. The inmates just make them so much more

socialized and adoptable.

Hi there.

I'm John Pate. Good to meet you. Good to have you at our institution.

This is going to be fantastic. Well, we have a wonderful program and can't wait

for you to see it.

Jackson, I'm Jeffery.

Jeffrey, good to meet you. I'm the program leader of the overall Meow Mate

Mate program here at Allendale. This is our cat wing.

I cannot believe all these cats walking around in here, man.

This is the most exciting thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm not kidding

Cats everywhere.

And they're just wandering around, no fear, all social.

It was beyond my wildest dreams. What's this cat's name?

Missy, hi, babe.

I usually, I go to houses cats aren't this social, man. They're just like

the bed, on top of the fridge.

In 2013, we brought two cats.

And after about a month, the warden called me and said, when are you

more? And it's just grown each year. Now we have about 25 to 30 cats here on a

regular basis.

Hey, who's this?

Hi, babe.

Who are you?

Hi, how are you, man?

There's no way to translate what I'm seeing in the state of South Carolina.

These inmates' faces have to be blurred. But the faces are beaming. This feeling

of pride coming off of all these men. They are proud of their cats, their

their role in things.

Immediately I know that I'm in for something good here. When you think

fact that every single one of these cats would probably be dead because you had

a 98 % kill rate at the shelter.

Not just the cats.

The cats, the dogs, and a lot of these men.

I mean, we're not just saving four -legged lives here. We're saving two

lives. Honestly, that part is clearly one of the best things.

Having to dedicate yourself to this animal, and this animal relying on you,

know, there's a shift inside of you where you begin to feel empathy.

Nothing has changed me or had the effect on me that caring for these animals has

had. So this is a typical cat room. Okay.

We've got our two bunks, desk, two lockers, the shelf.

We've got the litter box that you saw when you came in. And then her food and

litter dish is right there under the locker. She probably pushes it around a

good bit. Well, when you think about the fact that I work with human families

who don't even want a litter box in their living room, I don't want to look

it, I can't stand litter boxes. These guys have a litter box this close to

bed. They've got food stacked up because they love these cats.

A little lesson to be learned there.

Each cat belongs to a certain room. Is that how it goes? Well, for a period of

time. Right.

We do a rotation.

They either rotate out or they rotate from one room to another.

Because if we have one for two days, we're attached.

I've been incarcerated since I was 17 years old. An environment where the only

thing I needed to look out for is self.

So to put everything that I want to do to the side and say, I have to focus on

this four -ounce kitten.

It melts a lot of the selfishness out of guys.

This is our library.

We have a lot of dog training, dog psychology, different types of dogs.

them are dogs. You know what? Let's just stop right there.

We really do need some cat books here. Just let it be said that there will be

cat books at Allendale very soon.

Lots of cat books.

And Jackson, over in this corner, we have a microscope.

Absolutely. We do fecal examinations and we do ear cytology.

What the? So anytime we're concerned about bowel movement of an animal, we

get a sample, put it on the microscope. We can diagnose whipworms, coccidia,

which is some really nasty stuff, you know.

None of my clients know how to put poop under a microscope and figure out what's

in there. Are you kidding? It's incredible.

I mean, the whole system that's in place, when you consider that it is a

within a correctional institution, is bananas.

One of the leaders in our program.

I was terrified of cats.

When I started working here, I was my first cat. I got bit the first time, but

eventually got over it, and now I'm clipping cat nails and cleaning their

and giving them baths sometimes if they need it.

You're the first person I've ever known to go from being petrified of cats to

giving them a bath. So congratulations.

This gentleman was afraid of cats. He comes here. He faces his fear. The fact

that this is being highlighted in such an incredible way is mind -blowing to

If I have a life sentence, the possibility of me getting out is

But if I have to spend the rest of my life taking care of these dogs and cats,

mean, that's all right with me.

Vicki's work doesn't stop at Meow Mates. There's also Mutt Mates. We have 25

dogs. Of course, I'm known as the cat guy, obviously, but I love dogs. I have

dogs, and I'm excited to see some dogs here, for sure.

That's a good girl.

Ready. Sit.

Feet.

Yes. Hold. Yes. Now.

That's it. That a boy. Yes.

Yeah, baby.

That is the most adoptable dog on the planet.

To date, we've had over 300 animals pass through these gates.

most of which have been adopted directly from the prison, and it's been very

successful. It's a win -win for both our rescue group and the men here in

prison. This is our memorial garden for one of our early cats in the program,

Gypsy. Gypsy came into the center. She was not in very good shape at all. She

started to come around, and a guy that previously was a pretty violent felon in

here, and Gypsy helped him as he helped her, really turned his wife around.

Unfortunately, she had a turn for the worse and didn't come back around.

So this is our memorial garden for little gypsies. That's so sweet.

If not for the second chance afforded these animals by this program, every

single one of them would be euthanized. And without the second chance afforded

the men in our prisons, we've wasted all of their lives.

Whoever you are, you deserve a second chance.

I look at her like I do me.

I went through a rough time on the streets. I've been through a lot of

and abused.

She's been abused.

So we relate.

And now I'm helping her get over her abuse and she's helping me get over

Amen. It is essential that programs like this get a very bright light shined on

them. And when you're talking about a county where the kill rate at the

was nearly 100%, it is one of the most perfect examples I've ever seen of

innovative thought.

putting your money where your mouth is, and the results being beyond anybody's

wildest dreams.

Just looking at their faces, the absolute pride and love that they have

these animals is undeniable.

We wanted Jackson to come and see this to open the minds of people, not only

about a partnership such as this, but also the good side of these men that are

here. They've done an incredible job.

Many of them have never loved anything before.

Or felt loved.

I've had men tell me that they get off their medicine that they were having to

take. They don't have to. That's incredible.

Hundreds of men have gone through this program and become better people.

I don't usually gush like this. I'm so absolutely overwhelmed.

You guys have saved 300 lives plus.

Those are just the animals.

Yes, we're just counting. I feel so blessed to be in this position to do

And so appreciative.

I wanted to make sure that I left you with just something. This is

food from our friends at Chewy .com. Well, thank you. You're very welcome. So

grateful for that. It's an amazing story, and honestly, it's one that

really should know about. Now they will.

You have an open invitation to return anytime you like. Hopefully, it'll be

under good circumstances.

Either way, you're welcome. Either way, I'm welcome.

Thank you for everything that you're doing. What you're doing for these

is beyond my ability to express.

Thank you. Take care, guys. There is a very strange adjustment that your mind

has to make while you're standing in a prison.

You're in a space with a whole bunch of men who clearly have done something in

their life to wind up here, but their interaction with these animals is so

gentle and loving.

I have seen so much care, so much innovation, so much passion.

I swear I have been around the block and I haven't seen it many times in my

life. It's amazing.

Miles was peeing, what was it? About four to five times a day. Let's start

taking a look at your video homework.

Wait, what's this?

Oh, that's Miles peeing on the wall.

I am so worried that I'm going to be finding him a new home today.

I'm back for my third visit with Alyssa and Kristen and their cat, Miles.

The last time I was here, Miles had gone a long way to repairing his

relationship with the other cats in the house, but he was still very anxious and

peeing all over the place.

Alyssa and Kristen were very much on the fence because they were concerned about

their daughter, Lena, wondering, was this the right home for Miles? And I'm

worried that I'm going to be finding him a new home today. The last time I was

here, Miles was peeing four times a day, something like that. Yeah.

Has the peeing itself gone down?

Definitely. Cool.

I want to get into your video homework.

Here we go.

Who we got there?

I don't recognize that cat. I don't even know that cat.

That is a big, fat calico. There's no collar. Well fed, though.

So where is this?

That's right outside our bedroom.

Right where he's peeing. There is a real threat outside the bedroom window where

any cat will go nuts.

It's not just Miles.

It's very common with all cats.

I can predict what's going to happen next.

Let's take a look.

That's Miles peeing on the wall.

That's basically the opposite side of where those animals are.

This is a big deal to him. So we're going to have to put something outside

bedroom window that's a deterrent. We have to deter these animals away from

window. Puffing air or water will train these animals to maybe go on someone

else's yard.

Was that recent or was it before meds?

That was before med a week ago today. And then we added the medicine, and

are some days where there's no pee at all.

It's amazing.

Yeah. So we know that this medication takes about four to six weeks to really

hit maximum efficacy.

And after a week, we're down to some days we don't have anything going on.

Yep. That goes really, really well.

Okay. Our new homework was to play with him any time we felt like he was going

to pee.

And it seems to be working amazingly.

We do have to pull out a toy and play with him like five times a night.

But, hey, that's better than pulling out the cleaner and the paper towel.

Got that right.

Here's the crew after a nice play session.

Play and eat.

Look where he is.

Right in the middle of the room, nice and down like that. That tells me you

good on the play.

Moving on.

noticing that at night Max and Maury were jumping in the bed with us,

immediately faking their claim, and then when Miles would jump up on the bed,

they'd hiss, and it'd create a lot of tension.

So instead of giving the cats free roam of our bedroom at night, we do that

during the day. That seems to be working really well.

He hasn't been meowing to get out of the room, and he hasn't peed, though.

Nope. He's been sleeping through the night. Really well.

All good things.

That's fantastic.

That kind of territorial juggling is going to happen. They're going to work

out in there just like they worked it out in here. The one thing I would tell

you guys to do, take play time, start dragging it into the room. Give them

activities in that room so they're not just looking at each other, they've got

something to do.

You know, it's really hard to read this couple. I mean, Miles' progress has been

steady this entire time.

Hopefully it's enough to prove to Alyssa and Kristen that this rehoming thing is

completely unnecessary.

I would assume that you feel better at this moment, but I want to be able to

walk away from here knowing that that place that you guys were at where you

like, I think we may have to talk about rehoming him.

Is he here to stay?

Um...

I want to be able to walk away from here knowing that that place that you guys

were at, where you were like, I think we may have to talk about rehoming him. Is

he here to stay?

Um, he's here to stay.

He's here to stay, yeah.

Good. We definitely feel very positive change.

I love to see him interacting with Lena and rubbing against her. That's

fantastic. Miles is 100 % here to stay.

Speaking of our boy, I want to take advantage of the fact that he's right

You guys stay where you are. I'm going to hang with him for a minute.

Come here, Miles, my love. Miles.

I am so happy with you.

Yes, my good boy.

I definitely feel like I'm getting a little bit of feedback from Miles, a

thank you, a little phew. He loves it when I'm petting him. I'm not just

satisfied with where Miles is right now. I am absolutely giddy about his

progress. Bye, guys. Bye. Take care of yourselves, okay? Thank you so much.

Before Jackson, we felt so duck.

And now we feel like we've got a handle on who Miles is, what his stressors are,

and what we can do to help him. To be here where we are, it's like kind of

amazing. All we feel is hope. We wouldn't have been able to do it without

Jackson. We'll play.

We'll play.