Original subtitles

I'm Jackson Galaxy, and in an all -new season of My Cat from Now,

I'll travel America to showcase the more heavenly side of cats. Oh my God, I

love my job.

And confront the most difficult cats I've ever seen.

We're especially concerned about our daughter, Aurora.

That really ups the stakes a little bit here.

Are you trying to tell me that I'm not a cat person and I shouldn't have a cat?

Yes. is a 911.

I don't feel like someone else should say what you can or can't do for those

that you love.

You have to forgive yourself. You didn't make your cat crazy.

I'm very proud of you, my son. I am so proud of you. I'll prove there are no

cats. Just cats that need my help. Ask not what your cat can do for you. Ask

what you can do for your cat.

Join me as I break new ground on

I'm Carter. I have twin girls, Molly and Maddie, and they are 14.

And Landon, who's 10. In addition to the kids, I have Caramel. He's so pretty.

And then we have Scout.

Stop, stop, stop!

Caramel and Scout do not get along at all.

Caramel, that's not nice.

Caramel, poor man.

Scout.

She lives on top of my kitchen cabinets, on the kitchen counter, on top of the

fridge. Get down, Mama. We have a problem.

Scout pees in my dish rack. She won't leave the counter when Caramel's around.

I'd come down and there'd be poo on the kitchen counter.

No going.

Disgusting. It's gross. I am tired of living this way.

It's exhausting.

I think I will become increasingly bitter. I feel like a failure. I feel

failure as a parent. I don't know how to solve it.

Come on, Jackson, get down. That's not nice. You know Mama doesn't like that.

It's not a good life for her. If Jackson doesn't solve our problem, we will have

to put Scout up for adoption.

So I'm heading over right now to meet up with single parent Carter, her three

kids, and their cats. And one of those cats, Scout, is being bullied so badly

another cat, Caramel.

that she's living in the kitchen and that's it.

And this is all around just a red alert situation.

I'm going to get over there right now because the way I'm seeing it, one of

these cats is going to be rehomed for the good of the cats and the good of

family.

Hey!

I'm Carter. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Hey, look, it's a cat.

Shocker. Hey, I'm Jackson.

Molly. Molly.

Maddie. Maddie. And I didn't get your name.

Landon. Well, good.

Let's all talk.

Who's this?

This is Scout.

And then we have Caramel, which was her kitty.

What makes Caramel your cat? I paid $35 for her. Oh, it came out of your pocket.

She prefers to hang out with Maddie. She will a lot of times be laying in bed

with Maddie. I'm kind of nervous right now because I'm afraid he's going to

me that Caramel's a problem and we need to get rid of her, and I don't want to

do that.

What is the issue? Caramel doesn't like Scout.

Scout allows Caramel to bully her.

And Caramel goes after her, hence the chunk.

Oh, the chunk that's missing out of her ear is because of Caramel? Yeah. Oh.

So Scout lives in the kitchen, which was fine for a while. I mean, you know,

just cat hair everywhere. But then what we think happened is one day when we

were at school and work, Caramel must have attacked Scout when she was in the

kitty litter. Because now Scout won't use the kitty litter.

At all.

I've moved it and put it in the...

Kitchen. On the kitchen counter.

That's the only way I can get her to use it. On the counter.

On the counter.

Oh, hell's bells.

There's a litter box on your kitchen counter. Yeah.

Not only is having a litter box on the kitchen counter kind of gross, but you

put feces and urine right next to where you prepare food. That's going to cause

all kinds of health problems for the entire family. So Scout is basically

relegated to the kitchen.

Caramel. A large cat.

So she can't just jump on the counter like Scout can. So Scout then jumps away

from her. But Caramel will sit underneath, like the cabinet. Just

waiting. Scout is a fridge cat. That is to say that she's been scared up to a

place where she fears coming down.

Because there's a cat litter in my kitchen, which is beyond disgusting. I

down the counters every morning.

And I do all the kitty litter, taking care of all the cats.

You've got a lot of help here. I know, which that becomes an issue because

especially when I get home from working all day, I'm bitter because I'm not

getting any help. What she's saying is that you guys don't do anything when it

comes to the cat.

The main problem I can see is not just the cats. I've got a mom who's hanging

a thread. She can't do this anymore. She's the only one taking care of the

situation. She's the only one remedying anything.

And she seems to be like the only one who's paying the price.

Show of hands.

Who plays with the cats?

I did for a while. Molly. Who feeds cats?

Does everybody scoop litter?

Every day, multiple times a day. These kids are doing nothing.

Nothing. That has got to change. You've got a mom on the verge of a nervous

breakdown in there. What's the goal here?

My goal is to get the kitty litter out of the kitchen. Okay.

Scout back using it because that relationship is fixed and that she

to live her life on the top of the kitchen cabinet. Right, the most

part of this whole thing.

So you guys are free to go for a while.

And Carter, let's just, you and me, Break down what's going on in the

Okay. All right, come on.

In this corner, there's a hole in the top.

So a scout sometimes will hang out up there. Did you say there's a hole in the

cabinet? There's a hole in the top. You can't see it from in here, but there's a

hole in the top.

If Caramel's on the counter, she'll climb in down through there, and she

out right in here.

So if you don't come around...

That's where Scout is basically going to live until you remove Caramel. Yeah.

You can't have a cat living in a cabinet. That's home for her. Yeah. And

sad. That's really sad.

The situation to me is pretty crystal clear. Because Carter can't control her

kids, the chaos just spills over to the cats.

Scout is so terrified from the bullying that Caramel's putting on her that she

won't leave the safety of the kitchen, and Carter's only solution is to put a

litter box on the counter. It's all led to a cycle of bullying and bitterness.

Carter is miserable.

Scout spends her life in hiding, and this has all got to stop right now. The

thing that I'm really picking up here is your...

level of I've had it.

That's been since the moment I've walked in here.

You can feel it coming off of your relationship with the kids. Every time

look at this thing, it's a very fresh thing for you. Yeah. You're the only one

who's feeling the stakes, and my job is to take care of Scout.

Yeah.

But I'm feeling for you as much as I'm feeling for Scout right now.

To see a cat so scared that she's pulled up in a kitchen cabinet just breaks my

heart. And I don't know if Carter has the courage to fix it. I mean, clearly

kids are of no help. At this point, I'm thinking there's a good chance that

either Scout or her tormentor Caramel are going to have to be rehomed. And if

Carter won't step up, I'm going to because I can't let this go on any

Let me ask you a few questions, minus your mom.

Is she, like, the only caretaker in terms of Scout?

Yeah. Okay, I'm just trying to figure out why she's alone in this whole thing.

All of us have, like, sports and other stuff to do, homework, so... You can

that she's sort of at her wit's end about this.

All right, I can't do much until I see how Scott responds to Caramel in the

first place, so let me go on over there.

Let's see if there's a way to get her down.

The first important test with Scout is to gauge her fear level.

Hi, Missy. I mean, if I can get her out of the kitchen and playing, then at

least there's hope. What's going down?

But if not... Can you do it?

I might be leaving with a cat, as in today.

Come on out.

Come on out.

Good girl.

I'm working with Guardian Carter and her three kids, whose cat Scout lives full

-time in the kitchen, even using a litter box next to the stove because

terrified of her tormentor, Caramel. My focus now is on the big first step,

getting Scout to overcome her fear and come off that counter for the first time

in months.

Now let's come on over here.

What is that over there?

Nice.

Now she's already scouting, right? You can see.

Now we come down here.

Caramel's not even in the room, and she's still causing Scout to be frozen

fear. I'm worried that if I can't get Scout to move right now, this could be a

hopeless case.

Good girl.

The exercise shows that Scout has confidence just waiting to come out. She

desperately wants out of this kitchen. She wants a bigger life. Time will tell

if this family is ready and willing to do what they have to do to make that

happen for her.

You can't keep going through this anymore.

And instead of just not being heard, it's time to assign things and expect

to be done and get them done. Okay?

Molly, your job is to be basically in charge of Scout's mojo. By the time I

back here next time, that you're playing with her and demonstrating to me that

she can go out here, out there, as long as she's following a toy, without...

This kind of thing, okay? Maddie, your homework is to sequester Caramel. Just

keep her away. It's hopefully going to give Scout the room to become more

confident, and then we'll put Caramel back in, and Scout will hopefully

the mojo to stand up to Caramel. Your job, sir, is to...

keep an eye on everybody else. I want progress reports.

I want you to actually, I'm going to leave you with a homework camera. I'd

you to document everybody doing their job. So one thing I'd like you guys to

as a family is to catify the house with high -place shelving, starting to build

what I call the cat superhighway, right? So you've got this whole area that she

can move around without touching the floor if she doesn't want to, but

eventually I definitely want her on the floor. At the end of this, it's all

about... accepting the gravity of the situation and for you guys especially to

understand that your mom is at the end.

Everybody has to follow the rules that we've set down right now, and they have

to follow them as if something depends on it, because something does depend on

it. Scout or Caramel, one of these guys may not be able to live here after the

next couple of weeks if these guys don't follow those rules. And we'll see you

in a few weeks' time. Yes. All right. Thank you. Bye.

Bye.

My name's Allison, and I have a three -year -old Bengal cat named Cheeto.

The thing I love about Cheeto is that she plays fetch. You want it?

She's really pretty and soft, and she doesn't shed a lot.

But Cheeto and I have a love -hate relationship.

Cheeto attacks without notice.

No! When Cheeto attacks me, it makes me scared of her.

Cheeto. The worst part is scratching, the biting, embarrassing, always having

scratches on me, like people probably think I'm a cutter or I'm just really

clumsy or something. I'm her prey almost.

Cheetos. I researched for months about Bengal cats before committing to getting

Cheetos. They're very hyper and very smart.

No!

You're not supposed to be up there.

I try to give her as much cat stuff.

I've got two cat trees for her, a bunch of cat toys.

I've done everything I could think of to help Cheeto let out all her energy so

she doesn't attack me.

Cheeto's important to me because she's my baby. She's trainable, so she uses

toilet and not have a litter box, and I don't want to give up on her.

I don't know what else I can do. I've tried everything I can with Cheeto. I

need professional help at this point.

I'm heading over right now to meet up with Allison and her three -year -old

Bengal named Cheeto. A Bengal cat is basically a domestic cat crossbred with

Asian leopard cat. That's why Bengals have those leopard thoughts and jungle

instincts.

Now, apparently Cheeto attacks Allison every single day. When I hear the word

attack and the word Bengal, I only go one place. It's about pounce. It's about

hunt, catch, kill, eat. And when you're a Bengal, that's at the top of the menu

24 -7.

Hey, Jackson.

Allison. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you, too. First thing walking into

Allison's apartment, I see a very relaxed cat.

How old is Cheeto? She's three.

Cool. She's got cat furniture, which is nice.

Everything okay?

Yeah. Okay.

My guess is that she does things to you that you don't like because you got your

eye on her. Oh.

Scars. That's all Cheeto? Yes.

Those are kind of fresh, maybe a week ago. This one I got yesterday.

Wow. Yeah, so these are constant.

How did you wind up with a Bengal in the first place?

I just researched them, and I thought they were really cute and smart. I'm

I can train her to use the toilet.

Really? That was kind of one of your big things. You were like, I want a cat,

but I want them to use the toilet. Yeah.

It's a small apartment, so.

All right.

Allison's choices are 100 % self -centered. From getting a cat in the

place to make sure that she would pee and poop in the toilet instead of a

box, why did you get a cat?

I have to keep the last rim.

She likes that little digging part.

In order for you to go to the bathroom. I have to take it off. You have to take

this off.

As I'm moving it, litter falls off.

Why won't you just have a litter box?

I think it's worth it to not have a litter box. You think it's worth it for

to take this thing off every time you've got to go to the bathroom. You have

litter all over the floor.

Yes. I don't get it. I can just flush it when she goes. I don't have to scoop.

I don't have to take it off. This is all about you not wanting to scoop.

Yes. I wish I could meet the person who invented it and put my foot so far up

their ass.

Because the thing is that, like, you are trying to turn a cat into something

besides a cat. Poop and pee for a cat is the signpost. It's territorial

security. It's not meant to be flushed.

She looks sweet.

She's not.

The overall reason I'm here is for what?

Her attacking me.

What happened?

You know, if I'm going to bed or, like, going through my hallway, she will hide

somewhere, will jump out, and she scratches me.

Does she ever use teeth on you? Yeah, she'll bite me. And what happens when

does that? How do you respond?

I have, you know, spray bottles around. Now she knows what they are, so she just

kind of...

squints like that because she doesn't want to get sprayed.

That's mostly my defense.

Spraying your cat with water out of a bottle is just the worst thing that you

can possibly do. Number one, it breaks down the bond between you and your cat.

All you're teaching them is to be scared of you.

Secondly, it's not an effective training technique. Cats have no idea why you're

spraying them. And third of all...

Come on, it's just inhumane. What do you think this is about?

I don't know. Come on, you haven't theorized? It's got to be about Mimi, I

guess. Okay, well, start talking about it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

So tell me what your daily routine with her looks like. I wake up in the

morning. Yeah. She'll most likely attack me as I'm kind of getting ready and

whatnot. Where in there do you feed her?

That's the first thing I do is feed her. First thing you do is feed her? Yeah.

Okay. And then when I get home, first thing I do is feed her. So that is your

daily routine with her? Yeah. So you've got a bangle.

A hybrid cat, a cat so closely associated with wild cats, and all

is laying out food twice a day. Yeah, you're going to get beat up. I mean,

breed of cat demands so much more energetic dedication.

Nothing in Allison's daily routine involves getting out Cheetos' natural

physical needs, and that's got to change.

Do you have any example of anybody else getting beat up? My friend that comes

over.

He's always had nice kitties, and he's never met a cat like this. Oh, so he's

had cats before?

Yeah. Okay. So not only are you getting beat up, but your friends are getting

beat up too?

Yeah. How close have you gotten to throwing in a towel? This is kind of

last resort coming to you. Oh. I didn't know what else to do. I just don't want

to get scratched every day.

Right.

I'm going to bring her to you.

I'm here to try to get Allison to spend the time and the energy it takes to make

that cat happy so that she doesn't bleed.

Let me also see this while I'm sitting here.

Yike!

Do you not turn her nails? I do, but it's hard.

Yeah, but you do not have a choice. All right, now you can let her go.

Did she just scratch you? Yeah.

Your mood just completely changed.

I don't want to be around her after she does that.

Like, oh, scratch me? Like, I want her to go away.

That scratch was almost non -existent, and Allison went through the roof and

started really brooding. She's got so much resentment built up towards Cheeto.

What do I get out of this relationship?

I get this, and then she storms off. It's in a bad place right now. What I

to do is get the Bengal engine revving. I want to see how she is with you.

Come on, Cheeto.

Get her to use things, like a chair, a table. Get up on things.

I lost you, Allison. I lost your energy. I lost your voice. Come on.

Cheeto.

Oh, man.

She's like, you bore me.

Allison plays with her cat as if she is the most bored human on Earth. If she's

the most bored human, Cheeto's going to be the most bored cat. We know what

happens next.

Okay, tell me what's going on with you.

Because you got pissed with this scratch like 20 minutes ago. Yeah. And it feels

like that's informing everything you're doing right now. No, I'm just trying to

get her to play.

You're being frustrated to me. She is a frustrating cat.

Would you want to get scratched every day by your beloved pet that you love?

Would you want to get scratched every day by

your beloved pet that you love?

The fix for the cat, it's going to be easy. Getting the human to work on the

for the cat, that's where my work comes in.

I want to see you get that motor going.

I want to see that Tito jump.

Allison, what's the difference between what I'm doing and what you're doing?

I lost you, Allison. I lost your energy. I lost your voice. Come on.

Way more rapid with your movement. No, I'm just, I'm present while you're

playing. There's no talking, there's no energy, there's no nothing, and it's

because, I think, of what just happened before.

Did she just scratch you? Yeah.

It's so easy for you to get to the point where you're pissed that this is what

we have to talk about. My diagnosis is really simple.

Cheeto is a Bengal with no structure to her life whatsoever.

Cheeto's sitting there saying, hey, I'm a wild cat, I need X, Y, and Z.

Allison's like, hey, I'm a human who didn't want a wild cat. You got the cat.

Now let's do some work.

What I'm going to do is give you some homework. The thing that worries me, you

guys are at a place right now where it doesn't seem like you have a whole lot

patience left.

Definitely don't.

I'm going to be asking you to reinvest 100 % because otherwise it's never going

to work. She's a bangle.

Yeah. And they are.

live wires.

They are balls of energy. They are hybrids, right? And they are just driven

do their thing.

And if we don't work with that, this is what's going to happen.

So with that said, here's your homework.

The biggest overall thing here is routines and rituals.

Hunt, catch, kill, eat. So when you wake up in the morning, first things first.

You play with her, get her kind of pooped a little bit. It should take you

10 minutes of play. And then go into a meal.

Right? I'd love to see you take her for a walk. She has toys. She has stuff to

play with.

That's not enough.

You start doing that on a regular basis and I can... almost guarantee you that

you're going to see a huge difference in her. Next thing I thought of, clipping

her nails because her claws are so sharp right now that she cuts you. I can't do

it alone. I've tried.

Listen, you can't be upset about your cat scratching you if your cat is like

Edward Scissorhands. I mean, they are absolute talons coming out of her cat's

claws. It's about the way we approach it. You can do it, for instance, like

at night and she's half asleep.

You do one.

You do too. You know what I mean? Don't worry about getting all of them done.

Try to do it in an easy way where she's sitting there. She's got to be calm.

Right. She can't be running around. You don't do the homework.

You're going to continue to get scratched, and you're going to look at

and they're going to be your fault. When cats call for attention, it hurts. If

Allison commits to all of this, does it regularly every single day, the result

will be a completely different relationship, a completely different

I hope a completely different Allison too.

Do I have your buy -in on this thing? I want to try.

All right, good.

I'm excited to try Jackson's homework.

I really hope it works. And the tax stop. I'll see you in a few weeks. Look,

I making the answer here a little too easy? No.

I've dealt with a lot of Bengals in my life, and I'm telling you, they have

specific needs.

If Allison commits to the solution here, I think we've got a fix.

That's if she commits. And that I'm not so sure about.

I'm heading back in to talk to Carter and her kids. Last time I was here I was

dealing with a mom at the end of her rope, two cats who were at war, and kids

who were also at war. Last time I was here I left these guys with an

Either I saw some significant progress or Scout was going to get rehomed. I

to make sure that I'm walking into a cat who's not living in the kitchen

cabinet, on the counter, and pooping on that counter either. It's not right for

the cat and it's not right for the humans.

How are we? Good.

How are you? I'm good. You guys seem a lot cheerier than the last time I was

here. I hope that that's sort of a sign of things to come.

And there's a cat going up. Look at that stuff, man.

Oh, whoa!

Whoa!

The fact that these guys are doing their catification homework gives me hope.

Good work, guys.

Is that sort of an indicator of what you've been up to? You've been doing

work? Caramel has been with her at night.

Scout is not.

stuck in the kitchen, so it's been a little bit less of a cleanup for me. The

kids have been better about, at least the girls have been better about

up and feeding the cats on a more regular basis.

I'm sorry. I'm sitting here and your cat is going in the litter box that's still

on the counter.

I'm hearing good things from the family, but I'm seeing a cat poop on the

counter, so obviously the family is saying one thing.

I'm seeing evidence of another thing.

Now it's time to get to the homework and find out where the truth is.

It's not your job. What was that? We're

in epic fail on the first day.

Oh, you guys.

on the first day.

It's amazing that Carter can function at all. I mean, if this is what goes on

the second I leave, the rest of their life must be absolute mayhem. No matter

what the progress is, I still got a cat pooping on the counter and a family in

each other's throats. So obviously, everything is not unicorns and rainbows

right now.

This is what I came home to. Someone made cookies.

That was so nice.

Except for there's the kitty litter.

Does anybody want to tell me what that is?

Maddie. It's Molly.

This turd is six inches from your face. I am sorry if you see a poop in a box.

There is no reason that you walk by it. Were you consistent with the work that

you were doing with Scout?

No. I didn't know.

Well, you have to understand our schedule itself is chaotic.

Are you going to make excuses for them?

I was going to make excuses for Molly because she did dance every day. No, no,

no. I spent the entire time getting you off the hook last time. Stop it.

Seriously. This makes me angry. I'm trying to hold Carter's daughters

accountable, and in the meantime, Carter keeps cutting them loose.

She's got to make a choice here.

Let's see if Pamela can get her hunting energy out on this. Okay, we're going to

stop this right here. We got a toy right there, but her eyeballs are on the four

-legged toy right over there. The cat is still more interesting than the toy.

That's a problem. Scout, play equals confidence.

Caramel, play equals energy that comes down.

Neither one of the cats is really taken to it right now, so that's a huge

problem for me. I'm gonna let Carter leave for a little bit. This is Cat Play

101. These girls have got to learn how to get this energy out of their cat, and

it's by investing into the play.

Show me what you got in terms of getting Scout totally into that toy, getting

her engaged.

Go for it, let me see what you got.

Oh, boy.

Okay.

What Molly is doing right now is taking a toy and waving it in the air. I see it

all the time. I want to see her be the bird, be the snake, act as if your life

depends on it because if the cat catches you, you're dead.

See if you can attract her just with the feather.

You have to be engaged the entire time.

Oh, that took three seconds. There you go. Keep moving. Keep moving.

What the twins are doing now, finally getting Scout's motor properly going

play, all is a part of transforming her into a truly confident cat, a cat that

Caramel wouldn't dare to treat as a target.

See, now she's crouched just like she would outside, right? Yeah. She's

right now. Now that Scout's hitting on all cylinders up on the shelves, I want

to see if she can transfer that energy and play on the floor with Caramel

roaming around at the same time. Now, it may be too far too fast, but I just

want to see what happens since I'm here to help keep the peace. Come on, you.

Good girl.

It's not long before Scout literally turns tail away from Caramel. But it was

worth a try. And Scout made a lot of progress today. She's just not ready to

swim with the sharks just yet.

Now I need to see how Mom's been handling the situation.

Why do we have this on top of the fridge?

I just have this fear that Scout's going to get hungry and be trapped.

This holds so much weight right now. It is...

You sort of shying away from challenging.

Yeah. It's keeping Scout here.

But this is your final frontier.

This goes away today. The fact that I'm removing all of these sources of comfort

for the cats in this home is really challenging to Carter. I mean, Carter is

about comfort. She doesn't like to challenge.

And I'm seeing the same dynamic play out with her kids. She doesn't want to

challenge them. While we were sitting at the table with the kids, I'm raking

your kids over the coals.

about the poop that was sitting in there while they had a sink full of stuff.

Right. And what did you do?

Well, I was going to defend Molly.

You weren't going to. You were. Well, yeah. I think that we're ready to move

When moving a litter box, you want to pick a location that is first and

convenient and accessible to the cat with plenty of escape routes. Then you

start thinking about your own aesthetic needs. The spot that Carter has picked

seems perfectly sensible to me. And she won't have to cook next to cat litter

anymore. Okay, guys. We've got to take it to another level because...

Anything can happen right now that will send Scout right back into the

cabinetry. So first thing is we're going to block entrance to her den, her

cabinet. We've got to let her know it's not a destination anymore.

Okay, so Molly, today I turned you into the play ambassador.

You got her moving around here, but now I want you to get her out into the rest

of the house. What I want you to be able to do also is get these guys involved

as well. I do not want to come back here and see homework that revolves around

you guys yelling at each other. If you want the cats to have a no bully policy,

you guys got to have a no bully policy. The most important thing, I can trust

that you're going to back my play on all this. Yeah, absolutely.

What are you most afraid of?

My biggest fear is that you guys aren't going to do what you're supposed to do,

and that I'm going to have to be all over you.

It's hard.

See, look at that.

Look at what? I'm just looking right here. I'm going to get a death stare

'all. No, I do what I'm supposed to do. Molly, you guys don't do it. That's no

bully policy.

I'm asking you guys to be a totally unified front. What you should be afraid

is that you're not going to be able to work this out and one of your cats is

going to have to leave here. You should genuinely be worried about that.

All right, I'm out of here. Good work today. Thank you. Talk to you soon.

I'll tell you what, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. If they don't

commit right now, there is going to be a cat that leaves this home.

I'm here to see Lauren and Joe and their special needs cat, Mac. And I'll tell

you why I'm so excited about this. Not just because Mac has got such an

incredible story, but the story revolves around two very selfless cat people.

Hey! Hi!

I'm Joe.

And I'm Lauren, and we are Mac's guardians.

They found him in a gutter. I mean, he was filthy.

They didn't think he was going to live. We weren't really sure of all his

medical conditions, so we ended up going to about 25 vet appointments within two

months, and we learned that he only has half a nostril.

He also has a cleft palate with breathing issues, and he has

Mac has cardiomyopathy, which is a hardening of the arterial wall, and that

means that his lifespan is going to be shorter than other cats.

Four times a day, we mix medication, and we have a schedule.

I'm on a lot of medications myself, so we take our medicines together.

You might be asking why. I was actually born with a hole in my heart. In 1984, I

had open -heart surgery, but the blood that they gave me was contaminated with

HIV virus.

No way.

I think because of everything that we've been through, me and Mac have that

special bond. He loves me so much.

I love him.

Well, now I get it.

Joe has the same kind of history as any of these cats, where they've counted him

out a million times to be a 10 -year -old in the early 90s. with HIV.

He had to fight for his own existence, and then he had to fight for acceptance

on top of that. There is no better person on the face of this planet to

represent cats like Mac than Joe. You guys have done an amazing thing.

Mac has medical issues. I have medical issues, and I relate to him. Everything

he has to go through, we are like two peas in the same pod.

So is he good with taking pills?

He's not a fan of it. No cat likes taking medication.

However, you can minimize the experience to make it not such a big deal. Oh, my

Lord. Okay, so this is a collection.

Mine's a little bigger. I got a lot of herbs in there. My case, his case.

Amazing, man. And then we take them together.

So I'm going to show these guys a trick that I use to help cats take their

medicine. So this is a pill masker. See if he's into this. Just feed it to him.

Yep. He's into it? Yep.

It looks like we have a winner. And it's gone. Oh, my gosh. We have a winner.

He's digging it.

My present to you guys.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me in your home.

Thank you. Your stories, all of your stories are just remarkable, and they

me feel really positive. Like, I know as long as there's people like you around

that one of these days we're going to get to the point where we just don't

cats because they're different.

So I'll be sending you about six of them.

Great, thank you. All right, cool. Hey, it was great to meet you, man. You too.

Hopefully Mac's story inspires other people to give special needs cats a

For this guardian and cat, it's been a match made in heaven.

How are things going with you?

Here comes Scout.

If Scout gets beat up today, I am going to recommend that we rehome her. Be

cool.

What are you doing, Cheeto?

So I'm heading in to see Allison and Cheeto for the last time.

Allison's only concern was Allison's happiness. Why won't you use the litter

box? Because I can just flush it when she goes.

That's what I got the first time I was here.

Cheeto's needs came way down the ladder.

Bengals have high needs.

High prey drive.

Cheeto is attacking Allison because she's looking at Allison as an outlet

her energy. You're my playmate.

If Allison isn't paying attention to Cheeto's needs, it's going to continue

be a downhill fall for these guys.

How are things going with you?

The attacks are way down. Show me the arm.

I'm good.

Sweet. Allison?

No scratches on Allison. No blood. A smile on her face.

I am dope. So the last time I was here, I was giving you a lot of grief about

the whole toilet thing.

Now I see there's a litter box in the corner. That's great to see.

Let's take a look at what you've been up to.

You want to go for a walk?

Yeah.

Hey, whoa.

Look at that.

Nice.

Cheeto really does great on the leash.

Let's stop right there, man.

That is mojo.

That tail and those ears and that confident stride, man. This is a picture

of behavioral health. She loves that. Yeah, man. Now we got some good news

happening here.

Look at how she just goes for the toy. She loves that toy. Oh, good. Now I get

to show Allison this is what your cat looks like raw, rooted, healthy. That

be nothing but a win for Cheeto.

I'm actually really surprised.

You're surprised?

Why? Tell me about that. Because you were right.

You're surprised because I was right. No, I mean, like, I didn't know what

advice would be, and I used it, and it worked.

I'm happy with the outcome from Jackson.

He solved a lot of problems for me and Cheeto. I feel better, and she's not

attacking me. So I know what she needs, and I can give it to her now.

One of the great things about Bengals...

Is that what you see is what you get?

I feel like I can handle her for another 15 years or so. Nice. And you said it

with a smile on your face. Yeah. So that's cool to see. I do love her. She's

gotten better.

Good. And I've gotten better. We both have.

I am so impressed with the change I've witnessed.

I mean, when I first met Allison, she was a consumer with buyer's remorse.

Today, she really has embraced her role as a parent to an animal, and that feels

fantastic.

I got an idea.

Cheeto is absolutely bouncing off the walls, so what do you say the three of

go for a walk? That'd be great.

Let's do it. Do it.

I love watching her walk, man.

Play in the apartment, and this is that... A whole different world. Right.

of the funny things about walking a cat is that it's allowing for these moments

of, like, what is in the trees?

What do you see, Cheeto?

Right there. Oh, I see it.

This is that raw cat. This is that cat who's like, I live for this.

Are you going to eat that bird?

She's like, hell yes.

There it is.

There's that. Yeah, there's that mojo stride. Come on, baby.

All right, you know what? I'm going to let you guys continue your walk.

Thank you so much, Jackson. Take care of yourself.

Now, that's the way I want to leave a Bengal cat, walking around, sniffing

trees, looking for birds. And also, Allison is on it now. She has a

with Cheeto that she didn't have before. She's acting like Cheeto's mom, which I

really didn't expect, man. This is all a really happy ending.

So I'm heading in to meet up with Carter and her kids and Scout for one last

meeting. When I left here the last time, that's some chaos, and they didn't

follow through on the work. I might have to rehome one of their cats. It's about

the family's energy. If they change, the cats are going to change. That's it.

Last time I was here, I'm trying to talk to you guys, and in the meantime, there

was a cat crapping in the corner.

And this time, I walk in here, and there's dishes.

Clean dishes.

Not pooped on or peed on dishes. That was the finger cross last time I was

Was somebody going to poop on the counter?

No. Oh, phew. I know. You got a kitchen. You got a kitchen.

What happened? I was doing everything, and I was bitter.

Now, you know, I come home, and the cats have been fed their middle -of -the

-day meal.

Cool. Maddie has been taking care of Caramel, making sure she's locked up at

night, making sure her kitty litter is clean upstairs.

Sweet. The kids have stepped up.

They're doing the work.

They're acting as co -parents to these animals.

The kids seem to be fighting less. They seem to know what their jobs are.

I feel like I'm less angry and less bitter.

Based on what I'm hearing, the family's progress is heartwarming, but...

I've got to be able to see Scout take this space, walk the floor, face down

tormentor Caramel, and show her that she's the new confident Scout that will

be bullied and is ready to demonstrate that this is her territory too. Come

me. I want you to go on the couch, and I'm going to show you what Scout is

capable of.

This is it, the final frontier for Scout. Now, can she just walk by Caramel

though she's lurking on the stairs? Can she finally take ownership of this place

and prove to her bully once and for all that she lives in this house too?

Now, this is where all the twins' hard work pays off because just locking

Caramel in Molly's room half the time is not a permanent solution.

Here comes Scout.

I've got to see if these two cats can really coexist before I know that this

work. This is my scout.

That's my scout.

You know you want it.

Caramel, be cool.

Be cool.

Come on, baby, you can do it. Come on, baby.

Be cool.

Come on, baby. You can do it. Just cross those stairs.

Come on, Scout.

Don't worry about Caramel.

Good girl!

And Scout does it. She crosses that final challenge line with flying colors.

at any time, Caramel could have swooped down from those stairs and attacked

Scout. But she didn't. Why? Because Scout is no longer acting like prey.

This was a cat who was so scared of her own shadow that she was living in the

cabinets. And now she's just waltzing by her former bully with ease. That, my

friends, is the power of cat mojo. Great stuff.

That's a good girl.

Watching Scout pass by Caramel and not get attacked really makes me happy

because it shows that she's a confident and brave cat.

That was really great work, you guys. Don't forget, I left you guys at one

thinking that I was going to have to come back here and find a new home for

of your cats.

The only reason that we got to see what we got to see today is because you guys

owned it. After your first visit, I was skeptical.

I really was thinking in my brain we're going to have to find a new home for

Scout. I was thinking the same thing.

I was.

really been devastating.

As you're saying this, Scout's just making her rounds, just like sitting on

lap, sitting on that lap. Don't forget, we're sitting in the living room, which

was absolutely a minefield before.

Bullies stop attacking when they sense strength in their victims, and that's

exactly what happened between Scout and Caramel. Once this family finally

stepped up and helped instill some cat mojo into Scout and gave Caramel other

outlets for her aggression, the bullying stopped and there was no more living in

the cabinet.

And everyone in this family seems better for it. It's like this big dark cloud

has sort of lifted.

Yeah. This makes me incredibly happy. And just remember that her happiness and

her well -being is in your hands.

Take care. Thank you. Of course.

At one point, I really thought that this family was going to just come unglued

and I was going to have to take a cab. Thankfully, the story turned out

differently.