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Princess, come on.

Can you roll this thing?

Okay.

Annie, come here.

Come here Pickles, here you go.

All right, are you ready?

Ready.

- Three, two.

People see a cat dad and they're like,

oh, you must be weird and creepy.

And it's, like, dog owners are just as weird as cat owners.

- It's a high stress job. When you punch in in the morning,

you don't know what you're about to run into.

You probably have a hard time getting the guys

to admit Flame helps,

but it's proven that even just petting an animal

can bring your blood pressure down.

- One of my good friends in college

asked this group of male friends,

what do you guys think if I got a couple cats?

Definitely the reaction was, like,

no, man, you can't do that.

- I had no idea of her love for cats.

She came over that was it.

And I was like, keep doing your thing Toodles, good boy.

- They're not like a dog when you call them right away.

I think most guys don't like that about cats.

- There's only so much you can do with guiding a cat.

For the most part,

it's just her leading the way doing what she wants to do.

- Cats are at the top of the food chain.

They're the only species that's trained us

to cater to them hand and foot,

without even the expectation of returning affection.

I think that's pretty boss.

I love everything about him.

I know he feel it when I'm really down.

- David doesn't have any family here.

He doesn't have any place to go.

Lucky, first and foremost, has become his family.

- I'm Nathan Kehn.

On Instagram I make videos.

My name is Nathan the CatLady.

Pretty much just make funny videos, hopefully, funny

with the four cats that I live with.

I didn't always have cats in L.A.

I honestly didn't want to have pets in L.A.

'cause as an actor you're never home, you're on set.

You never know when you're gonna be there,

and I don't think that you should own animals

unless you have time for them.

I had an old roommate who had Pickles.

He wanted to get a dog, but I told him,

we're never home, you can get a cat.

Pickles, kind of got hooked onto me,

but I was gone a lot,

and he started getting really depressed.

And so I was like,

all right, how about you get a second cat, Ginger.

I will split it with you.

It will be your cat, but I'll put in the money for it.

So we got Ginger.

They immediately became best friends, it was great.

And then when he went to move out, I was like,

so you're gonna keep them together, and he said,

"Well, I might get rid of one of them."

And I was like, I can't.

So I ended up taking them both.

Annie, my ex's mom found on the side of the road,

and she was five weeks old, and a terrified little thing.

I took her home,

and Ginger immediately started grooming her and bathing her

like it was her own, so I was like,

all right, I'll have three cats now.

And then moved in with my roommate,

and he had Princess, and he's like,

yeah, do you mind if I bring my cat? You already have three.

I was like, why not?

You know, once you hit three, it doesn't matter.

I could have 16.

No, hey, they're right here.

You guys are terrible hunters.

You hit three, you're a crazy cat lady.

With social media,

now that people are posting more videos of them with cats,

I feel like we're getting to a point

where it's gonna be okay to be like, yeah, I have cats.

Guys with cats, beards and cats.

There is hot guys with cats.

And I do that every once in a while,

but I always feel like such a tool.

So I started my acting page, was doing skits, and they were,

you know, kind of taking off.

And then I had two videos with Princess

that just went viral, and I was like, oh.

So I did a couple of skits by myself.

And then some more with the cats, took off again.

Right around I think 25K followers, I was like,

you know, maybe it's time that I really, like,

just go with the cat thing.

Before I had a following, I lost four commercials

'cause I went to the casting callback,

and got put on avail, which means I'm on hold for it.

And they said,

"Okay, production wants to see your Instagram."

So I sent it to them and they released me from the project.

You'll look at casting breakdowns,

and it will literally say,

need actors with 10,000 followers, or more.

Last night I was at an Emmy party.

It's not 'cause of my acting.

It's 'cause Instagram helped me kind of skip those steps.

It's like playing "Chutes and Ladders."

I found a ladder in this acting world.

I do spend a lot of date nights,

and Saturday nights home with these little guys.

I don't do a lot of dating.

I try and keep myself pretty well focused.

I want to make sure

that while I've got a chance to make this grow,

I put my energy into it.

I always wait a little bit to let girls know, like,

by the way, I have four cats.

I either get the, oh, that's so cute, let me meet them,

or the, oh, 'cause at the end of the day,

I can't be with somebody who's not an animal lover.

My ex did not like cats.

And at one point asked if I would get rid of my cats

if things got serious.

I want animals in my life for a long time.

That's not gonna happen if I'm with somebody

who can't deal with just the four I have here.

- My name is Jeff Judkins.

I work here in the Bay Area.

About twice a year,

me and my friends go on backpacking trips.

A friend would always bring his dog, Gotham.

And I really wanted to have a pet to bring along with.

I was really hoping that it would be possible to have a cat

that could come with.

And I even brought it up to them, and they kind of laughed.

And it didn't seem like a possibility.

A couple months later, I was reading this book

called "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail."

And about halfway through,

there was a picture of this man that he met on the trail

that had a cat on his shoulder,

and he was hiking the trail with his cat.

I immediately sent a picture to my friends

that I backpack with, and I'm like,

see, it is possible that you can bring your cat out.

So I went to the shelter by my house.

And as soon as I walked in there,

I heard this cat just incessantly meowing,

and aggressively trying to break out of his cage.

Well, that was Zulu.

And I started texting my friends,

and I was standing next to Zulu's cage

when I was texting them,

and Zulu reached out of the cage,

and swatted me in the face.

I knew right then, like, I wanted to adopt him.

His behavior at the shelter demonstrated to me

that he's a very bold cat, very courageous,

showed zero fear.

As soon as I brought him his tail was up,

he just wanted to go climb trees.

He seemed really comfortable.

We started the hike and he would, like,

run next to me while on the leash it was so cute.

It wasn't gonna be that I need to train him.

He kind of came out of the box as an adventure cat.

None of my friends in the military, from college,

really knew how much I loved cats.

I own it now, I love cats.

When I was growing up,

like, yeah, it wasn't something that you really say,

like, I wouldn't feel comfortable saying that.

I don't know why.

It's the first time I've seen a ranger out here.

- I know, there's usually no rangers.

- Because Zulu is always off leash,

so we'll probably get a ticket for that.

My name is Erin, and I'm Jeff's roommate.

Jeff got Zulu, then I saw their relationship,

and I was always texting him,

asking him, like, when I can come see the cat,

and when I can come hang out.

So then I decided to get a cat.

At the same time,

we were both looking to kind of save money.

So we decided to move out of San Francisco

into this apartment in Oakland.

And now here we are with our cats.

First and foremost,

it's really hard to find an apartment that's pet-friendly.

I also think it's really hard to find an apartment

with roommates who all accept cats,

and want to be around cats.

- We were looking for a place

that had a big enough living room,

where we could actually split the living room up,

and make a separate bedroom out of it.

It's just a pressurized wall completely temporary.

There's nothing securing it to the ceiling,

floors, or walls.

This bedroom is my bedroom,

and I actually convert this into a bed every night,

and then change it back into a daybed during the day.

I kind of also work in here when I work from home.

I don't think the Bay Area is somewhere

where I'm gonna stay for very long.

Rents are so high,

and people like me who make decent money,

still have that feeling that they're not making enough.

It's not that great to have Zulu play in a parking lot.

Like, that's what he does right now.

He plays in a parking lot.

My goal by moving elsewhere is not only to save money,

but, yeah, to provide a better quality of life for Zulu.

- I have a little boy, my baby boy kitten, Lucky.

One evening I came out from train station.

I look at people across the street standing,

and talking something.

I say what they looking?

And I just went across the street,

look at what they looking at, it wasn't moving.

I thought first it was a rat, and he was so dirty,

so bloody, had no fur, only in couple spots he had fur.

So I pick up stick and I just move his head.

When I move his head, I saw it was a kitten.

When I saw he's alive,

I just took and I put on the armpit

because it was really cold.

I don't know how he still was alive.

I had no idea what to do with him,

but I really don't want he die,

so I just went 110 Street it's SPCA.

I said, I'm homeless, I just lost apartment.

I have no money to take care of this kitten,

but if you can't something about it he's die.

And he said, come back in couple days.

I tell him, no, I'm not leaving.

I have nowhere to go, so I just stay outside.

And I named him Lucky because he survived.

He made it, he don't die.

Since that day we was inseparable 24/7.

I love everything about him.

I know he feel it when I'm really down.

Sometimes he gives kisses.

He makes me really happy, you know.

I never seen such a smart kitten like him.

I've been born in Georgia.

I grew up in an orphanage.

19 years I've been in the United States,

being homeless almost two years.

It's hard, it's very hard

'cause I've never been homeless.

I never been in situation like this.

So I really had bad thoughts, you know?

I don't think how I will survive like this.

And that little creature just saved my life.

Here you go.

- Thank you, thank you so much.

Have a nice day, lady.

- You see a lot of homeless folks with an animal.

And if you kind of take a step back,

and envision being in their shoes,

that animal means everything to them.

It's not easy to rationalize

just how they're willing to completely neglect themselves

for the sake of their animal,

but that animal is their friend.

They're at home with their animal.

And if that's on the street, that's where it is.

Well, I met David with my work.

It was actually part of a homeless outreach initiative.

I had heard that he had a little cat with him.

I happen to be a cat person myself for the last few years.

I certainly wasn't when I was growing up,

and I immediately said, I want to go see the cat.

I want to meet the cat.

Lucky just kind of drew me in,

but after talking with David just for a few minutes,

I knew immediately there was something special about him.

David's been waiting for housing for a long time.

There's been a decline just in his health.

He has a disability, cerebral palsy,

and it's affecting him on the street.

The cold weather, the frostbite,

he's losing the kind of mechanics and mobility in his hands.

Someone's first thought may be

why doesn't he just go into an emergency shelter?

And David's first thought,

which I learned is always his first thought is

Lucky is staying with me.

I don't want to lose Lucky.

I don't want them to take away Lucky.

- I always keep a Bible behind my shield.

It goes into every fire with me.

And no matter how hot the fires are, it won't catch fire.

It won't burn.

It's just I take the word with me wherever I go.

My name is Jordan Lide.

There's a lot of unknowns in this job.

When you punch in in the morning,

you don't know what you're about to run into.

You could be running into the worst part of somebody's life

multiple times in a shift.

Well, it's 24-48, one day on, two days off.

You can work overtime shifts you're working 48 hours,

but every guy here has at least one other job.

Most every guy gets off shift here,

and goes straight to their next job.

I've worked on the ambulance,

and I started my own woodworking business.

I do a lot of rustic woodwork,

and furniture, and flags, and stuff like that.

Stuff to support first responders.

I don't know if you want me to say,

I actually work at a deer processor, too, clean deer.

In the evening times here at the station,

a lot of the guys we tend to hang out in the bays,

hang out, just talk, and kind of just decompress.

One evening when we were out there,

I sort of heard a meowing sound

coming from behind the station.

As I got outside, I noticed a small malnourished cat

hunkered down in the grass,

♪ Jordan's wearing his slippers ♪

♪ Do da, do da ♪

Hey, boy.

You could tell he was kind of scared and timid of me,

but at the same time he didn't run.

All of a sudden he started climbing all over me.

It was just like an instant friendship.

I came inside, and was looking for something to feed him.

And one thing we had was some leftover fried chicken.

So we broke that up, and he ate the mess out of it.

And he started showing up behind the bays

more and more each day,

and the guys would, well, we would raid cabinets,

tuna fish, whatever we could find to feed him.

So he started just becoming more and more of a presence.

At first, the guys were kind of hesitant, or standoffish,

you know, it's a cat in a fire station.

And I think he's slowly won the hearts

of every single guy here.

- Well, I've never really been around cats, never owned one.

When the cat came, it was kind of like, yeah, you know,

I don't know about it, but you couldn't tell he was a cat

except for his obvious features.

He don't act like a cat whatsoever, so.

- I had one cat growing up,

but we've always been a dog family.

I've always had dogs.

And most of the guys here have only had dogs.

Flame really helped change the perception on cats for us

'cause people always thought of cats

as, like, more of a moody aloof animal.

And Flame is the opposite of that.

We've had Flame about four years now.

Flame is just, he's so personable.

He just wants to be around the guys.

He's unanimously loved by all the guys.

- The first thought I had was the chief is gonna kill us.

- At first, the chief wanted us to get rid of him.

He just saw a stray cat.

And then we didn't.

One day he comes out, and Flame he's so comfortable

that he just starts walking across the bay.

And the chief like kind of looked to the side, and said,

"I thought I told you guys to get rid of that cat."

We were like, yeah, but he kind of lives here now.

The chief started petting him, and he's like,

well, if he's going to stay, we need to get Flame his shots,

and its history since then.

Everybody has a hand in taking care of him day to day.

Flame stays in the base where the trucks are.

And we've tried to bring him inside, and he doesn't like it.

He likes being out in the bays,

being able to venture around when he wants.

He's very in tuned with us, with the trucks, with the tones.

In the summertime, he'll lay up on the diamond plate

on the bumpers of the trucks where it's cooler,

but just the flip of the battery switch he jumps,

and he'll either run to the back of the bay

'cause we pull our trucks out of the front,

or he'll go over near where our gear is to the side.

He's never gotten in the way.

He's never accidentally got on a call, or anything.

He just knows, oh, it's time to get out of the way.

- I'm not a big fan of the cold weather.

Definitely don't like snow, but Tora does,

so I have to go along with it for her.

Anytime we get her in the snow,

we have a hard time getting her to leave after that.

My name is David Durst,

and I'm from Fruitland Park, Florida.

There's definitely a lot of stereotypes

about the average trucker.

A lot of people think we're generally an overweight,

50-year-old Southern guy, and that's all there is to us.

We hear that all the time,

but I think trucking is a lot more diverse of a group

than most people expect.

There's many different countries

that people come from to come here, and do this.

A lot of different personalities.

You meet so many different characters.

More and more companies

are actually moving towards allowing pets.

With other truckers it's mainly dogs.

That's definitely the most popular animal.

Then next would be cats.

And then after that you get a bunch of crazy stuff,

like, squirrels and birds.

And we've heard a story about a guy with a donkey.

We don't know if that's true,

but that's been passed around a lot.

So, hopefully, he's out there.

I went into trucking almost two years ago.

At that point in my life I really wanted to travel,

but I never felt like I had enough time.

And if I had the time, then I didn't have the money,

but I really enjoy driving as well.

I figured I could drive and get paid for it, and travel.

I went into it and haven't regretted it ever since.

We're out on the road so often it gets very tiring.

It feels more like a job than having fun sometimes

'cause I got in it having fun.

We're out on the road so often.

This most recent time

we've been out here close to four months,

but with her it makes it feel like home.

Before trucking we were very big into hiking.

Obviously, that's not possible in trucking anymore

unless we're at home.

We would shut down at the end of the day,

wake up and have truck stop food,

and then drive and then go to sleep again.

And we didn't really get out much,

but since having her,

we want to provide her with as good of a life

as we possibly can.

And for her that's getting outside,

and walking, and exploring.

I don't think she really recognizes places

that we've already been as favorite spots

unless it's somewhere like home.

She definitely recognizes home,

but other than that,

I think she just takes everything in,

and it's a completely new experience for her every time.

There's been really remarkable places that we've been,

and she's blown away by it.

So the second time we went, we thought,

okay, she'll know this place, and she'll remember it,

but it was brand new to her, and just blew her mind again.

She's much more comfortable in places

that are a little bit off of the beaten path.

She likes to walk on trails a little bit,

but then if she can get off and explore her own little area,

that's where she really gets into her groove.

If there's something to climb, she loves that.

She loves climbing trees.

If there's a rock formation,

she can get on top of she's going to get on top of it.

And up you go.

Get down.

- Did you get it?

Before this, I hadn't had really any interest

in photography.

I wasn't even the one taking the pictures.

And then once we got a camera,

I started experimenting a little bit

with taking the pictures of Tora,

and being the one more involved with that.

Getting into photography,

brought out a more creative side of me.

I never really had, like, an interest in fashion,

or anything like that.

I like dressing her up in cool stuff, and, like,

somewhat playing into trucker's stereotypes, that's fun.

In terms of how many outfits she has,

that's not a number I know off the top of my head,

but it's probably closer to 150.

- And then under here we have her scarves,

and she has a lot of those.

She's got a little cowboy hat.

Then these are all just bandanas.

More colorful ones up here that are reversible.

Fringe with some more, like, earth tones.

And then the more colorful ones are in here.

- Do you know off the top of your head

how many scarves she has?

- I can give you an actual number,

if you guys want, like, actual numbers.

- She has everything, like, recorded on her phone.

That way she doesn't purchase the same thing again.

We do a lot of meetups,

and that was never something that we planned on doing

when we first got her.

We never planned on having a following,

and having people want to meet our cat,

but the bigger we got online,

the more people started reaching out to us,

and wanting to meet us.

We just decided it would be something fun to do

because it made other people happy.

- I found out about Tora on Reddit, she made the front page.

I found out this morning

they were doing a little meet and greet,

so I was like, okay, done deal.

I'm driving up, a little stalkerish I know.

She's adorable, I love cats, love them.

- We've had a couple people travel over 100 miles

just to meet her.

I think the farthest one was 300,

and he was willing to make it that day

'cause I usually tell people, like,

we'll get to your area eventually. Even if we have to, like,

schedule time off to meet you there.

Don't drive 300 miles to meet my cat, please.

- David actually ended up getting a place

with Breaking Ground.

He actually didn't believe it when they told him

that he had a place 'cause he was waiting so long,

and his jaw dropped.

Now we move the goal post.

The goal was get him a place, him and Lucky.

And then he's gonna get healthy.

He's gonna find a way to get treatment, get looked at,

and really address the health problems.

He was only in the place with Lucky

for I'd say maybe a week, week and a half.

And that was at the point

when the medical ball started rolling.

And that started rolling really, really fast.

So he did go up to Metropolitan Hospital,

and, unfortunately, he didn't get the best of news.

He has a tumor in his arm.

It looks like it's a rare form of cancer.

There's a possibility that in order to save his life,

they actually have to amputate his arm.

It looked like he was gonna be admitted to the hospital.

Again, David's first thought is

what am I gonna do with Lucky?

- Eight months ago, I met Pamela,

a young lady who was passing by after work every day.

We become close friends, and she offer me, she said,

I can take him just take care of yourself.

Go in the hospital, do whatever you have to do.

And she took him.

He's on my mind constantly,

but most important thing I know he's happy.

She's really taking good care of my baby boy.

She offered me to bring me couple days to reunite him,

but I don't wanna put him through that, you know.

It's so hard to say bye again.

So I just have to have patience, couple more weeks,

and I see him soon.

- Dave, Dave, what's up bud?

It's Chris, I'm actually out front.

Looking sharp, looking sharp, how are you?

- I'm okay.

Everything good?

Everything will be fine.

So I'm sleeping.

It's nighttime, two, three, in the morning,

sleeping I'm out.

Feel a little paw right on my face.

I kid you not, last night.

A little paw on my face scratching.

You know, I want to be mad.

I want to be mad at her.

- You want to sleep.

- Why are you doing it?

She wants to burrow.

She wants to go under the covers.

You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- And find, like, the tightest little spot.

- Warm spot.

- The tightest warm spot, and just curl up, and go to sleep.

- With you, oh, my God.

- So if she can't get right under the covers,

she was gonna let me know, and she let me know.

Before I forget, my mom called me yesterday, and she said,

"You're gonna see David tomorrow?"

I said, "Yeah, I'm gonna see David."

She said, "I have something for him."

It's a little bit late,

but it's a housewarming gift number one.

And the main one is kind of a get well soon.

- Thank you.

- She wants you to take care of yourself.

She sends her love.

She sends her regards.

A little something for you, and she had to put Hello Kitty.

- Yes.

She's got Hello Kitty here.

It's pretty though.

- Sure, speaking of Pez, I got to show you pictures.

- Thank you so much. - Yeah, you're welcome.

- I appreciate.

- I got to show you pictures.

Do you see why Lucky reminded me of her?

When I first saw Lucky,

I said, it's like a boy Pez, you know?

Does Lucky do that?

- I love, no, maybe couple times,

but he don't laying down just.

- She's like really orange here.

You know, like Pez is a little more red.

Lucky's got a little more brown.

- Yes, I'd say gray.

- Yeah, a little gray too, he's cute.

- I want to rest up because I have really God willing,

I don't lose my arm up to I recuperate.

I will try more harder than before to get a job.

So I gave my baby boy life he deserves.

I'm sorry, when I think about him.

Just find a job and get back on my feet fix my life.

It's been too long.

I've been on the street too long.

With another day of fast-moving developments.

They're declaring a state of emergency.

Providing the actions of them

are to reduce the number of people.

- This colony is feral.

They were living in this area when we found them.

We got them spayed or neutered several years ago.

They're part of my daily routine now,

and part of our family.

My name is Will Zweigart.

I live in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

And by day I work in advertising,

and on nights and weekends, I help to rescue cats.

For decades, New York City has been under-funded,

and under-resourced when it comes to animal welfare.

Right now, we don't even have an animal welfare department.

The programs are all under the Department of Health,

which is to protect people.

If you map out where is there

a street cat population problem in Brooklyn,

unsurprisingly, it's in traditionally lower income,

underserved areas.

These are areas that have seen systemic,

and structural inequality for decades.

So the fact that we have

tens of thousands of cats outside

is from decades of under-funding these programs,

like, spay/neuter.

Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR,

is a humane method for sterilizing feral cats

that are living outside.

I think they're three months old.

I spend most of my free time working on this as a project.

Because I have a full-time job,

this is left to whenever I get a moment.

Trap-Neuter-Return is effective

if you're working in a specific area,

and really working to sterilize

the majority of cats in that area.

So that's why we're called Flatbush Cats.

That's the area that we serve in central Brooklyn.

When we moved here a few years ago,

there were cats everywhere.

That was actually when we began to learn

about Trap-Neuter-Return.

So even as lifelong cat lovers,

we didn't know anything about what Trap-Neuter-Return is.

We asked around for help.

We assumed that someone else would come and take care of it.

It took us several months before we realized

that we were actually someone else.

It's been a long effort to trap,

and sterilize all of the feral cats

that were born outside on this block alone.

We've probably rescued, or TNR'd several dozen cats.

Two or three years ago,

I was feeding a dozen cats here at night.

Now we're down to just one or two cats

that a volunteer leaves food for.

This is actually proof that Trap-Neuter-Return works.

All of the cats that were feral,

that are sterilized are no longer reproducing

having kittens that suffer and die outside.

We found Teddy on the street.

He looked like a discarded teddy bear

that someone had just thrown on the street.

Ironically, I was visiting that block

because I was about to begin Trap-Neuter-Return project.

When you see a cat that is dirty with matted fur,

really dehydrated, just looking sick,

there's a really good chance

that that is actually a friendly cat

because when a cat is living indoors

for most of their lives,

they don't know how to fend for themselves outside.

Teddy was in really bad shape.

He was in later stages of kidney disease.

His body was about to shut down.

I'm really glad that we found him when we did.

It's frankly a miracle that he was able to recover,

and now enjoy such a wonderful life indoors.

Prior to this experience,

I had done some consulting with nonprofits,

but I'd never actually run a nonprofit,

or had a leadership role.

I was always told,

you'll never raise money unless you ask for it.

You have to ask, ask, ask.

I feel the more modern version of that is

you have to document your work.

If you document your work every single day,

you don't have to ask.

People see what you're doing.

They see where their donations are going.

So we began to commit early on to social media

as a means to literally fund the work.

We were drowning in vet bills.

I figured if people could see what we're seeing,

they couldn't walk by, they would want to help.

In the process we met so many supporters

that have really encouraged us to grow,

and become a real nonprofit.

The most basic information about cats and welfare

is not really being shared with the public.

So most people don't know what a feral cat is,

and they don't know what socialization is.

Socialization is a window of time to introduce the cat

to the loving indoor life that they deserve.

When a kitten is around six to eight weeks old,

that's the ideal time that you have to bring them inside,

and get them accustomed to being around people.

We kind of call them spicy kittens.

It's a term used by other foster, and rescue groups,

to describe cats who are very hissy.

Really what you're seeing is fear

because they haven't been exposed to people,

they're trying to defend themselves.

And so the spiciness, the hissing, that's all fear.

That's all a desire to protect themselves

because they don't know that we're really here to help.

Socialization involves spending several hours a day

with younger kittens,

and acclimating them to indoor life.

You have to show over and over again

that humans are not a threat.

In fact, humans are the source

of all of these amazing things, like, tasty treats,

and food, and comfortable places to nap.

This is Laszlo,

Mr. Big Belly.

This is Guillermo.

Cats teach me patience over and over and over again.

I may be attached to a certain outcome,

like, a cat warming up to me quickly,

but we continually have to respect,

and understand how they operate,

but I think it's so interesting how much work,

and investment you have to put in to earn a cat's trust.

To earn a cat's trust means that you've really

proven yourself as a trustworthy individual.

- My name is Ryan Robertson.

What I love about doing stunt work is that it's not work.

It's work because you have to be on it

if you want to be safe,

and you want to have a long career, but it's fun.

At first, I got into the business to be an actor.

When I started doing stunts, it was just, like,

oh, yeah, more of this.

We are a part of the storytelling process.

We're just doing the action of it,

like, the real guts,

and the meat and potatoes is the majority of stunt work.

Physical fitness has always been a big part of my life

because I started training in martial arts

at five years old.

I run, I box, anything to add to my skillset.

Toodles, where'd you go?

Toodles.

When I first got Toodles, he was eight weeks old.

I didn't know anything about cats.

My brother had a cat, normal size cats.

Toodles weighs 25, 26 pounds, he's a big boy.

Besides, of course, like tigers,

and other cats that are bigger I didn't know that,

like, house cats can do that, so, you know,

it was just like, man, he's growing, he's getting bigger.

And then somebody told me like, yeah, Maine Coons get big.

Toodles is only three,

so I don't know how big he's gonna get,

but, you know, who knows?

The bigger, the better, I guess, it would be fun.

Then I'll be out here walking them around the block,

and people will think I have a lion.

He's a big boy, happy, he gets fed,

and gets his playtime, gets his exercise,

but, you know, he's big boned.

I've never seen a cat like Toodles.

I don't know how other cats are.

Cats that I see in movies that's all I have to go by.

I come down, like, four a.m.

And then I as soon as I get this and hears,

I hear doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,

footsteps coming down right into the food, or he'll be like.

Exactly, look, he's like,

hey, man, why you got that food out there for?

I know, man, I know, I'm about to feed you.

He likes the little meaty pieces.

Uh-huh, keep talking, buddy.

Yeah, all you're saying is the same thing.

I got you, okay.

Toodles changed everything that I thought about cats.

When I grew up, my mother was always afraid of animals,

so I never grew up with pets, so I shared her fear.

Oh, you're finished, huh, Toodles?

When we moved here we were like, you know what?

We didn't really need a living room.

We wanted a place to work out,

and we made the living room a gym.

- My name is Megan, Ryan is my boyfriend.

And Toodles is now my adoptive son.

A couple times.

- Yeah, a couple times, you do it, like, three times.

One, two, three, two, hit, uh, uh, uh.

Two, three, two, ready, hit.

- Ryan and I met a couple years ago

at a stunt type gathering.

We became friends, like, we hit it off.

Well, obviously we have stuff in common.

About a year, or so went by,

and I needed actual boxing training.

And so many people have been trained by him,

and been recommending him, I was like, all right.

When we first started, like, talking more than just,

you know, training, he sent me a picture of his cat,

and he's, like, holding Toodles.

Like, I already thought Ryan was cute,

and, like, something was special with him.

When he showed me that picture of Toodles, I was like,

I got to see this cat,

and, you know, if this guy has a cat,

like, I think I found the one,

like, already thinking, like, crazy thoughts in my head.

He would joke all the time that Toodles was his wing man.

I was like, yeah, man,

Toodles got me over to your house, like.

- The way Toodles happened,

it was, like, fate.

On Sundays at PetSmart they have, like, pet adoptions.

And I was looking around, and Toodles came up to me,

and I was like, oh, his name was, like, Toodles.

I was like, oh, Toodles.

Oh, you look like a Toodles, and that was it.

It was no question.

I've been in there before just browsing, just looking,

not like, oh, I want to pick out a cat, pick out a dog.

I didn't go in there for that,

but Toodles was like, you taking me home today.

And I was like, you right.

What they had told me was that

somebody had, like, tossed him out a car,

or something like that.

Workout, playtime is fun with Toodles.

I never knew this about cats.

As soon as they see that red dot that they cannot resist it.

Toodles in his old age has gotten, like, after a while

it was like, ah, I know I can't catch it.

So he just watches it, but, you know,

when he has his energy, like, in the morning, especially,

he'll jump up the wall.

- If you see a man care for something

that's not himself it's attractive.

I don't even know if I've ever dated a guy,

and admitted, like, how much I love cats to them.

To me, I thought I'd have a situation

where I'd teach the guy cats are cool.

I didn't really think I'd run into someone

who already loved cats, and had, like, the coolest cat ever.

It was a win-win.

- I always forget it's supposed to be always like this,

standing upright.

Third surgery was right now I went through.

It's they cut my tumor, clean up,

and cut bone, a piece of bone out.

Next surgery will be on my left arm.

Fourth, they want to put,

straight out my hand's cut the tendons,

and I have better dexterity, I can grab stuff.

I can be getting work, you know, job.

It's easier for me to move around stuff.

I wish I can have my baby boy here, but it's impossible.

I talk to Pam on her Facebook,

and she tries to always bring him.

And, you know, I call him,

he just look up around hears my voice looking for me.

I miss him very much.

- Okay, come here.

Luck, such a good boy.

When he first got here, he loved to run as fast as he could.

I guess, being down in the city

in that confined little area he couldn't run,

but my God, this guy is fast.

I work as an executive assistant in Midtown Manhattan.

I go back and forth between two offices,

and that's really how I met David.

I was walking from one office to another, and he was there.

And it's developed into a very good friendship,

so we're lucky.

He had talked about going to the hospital,

and I figured that he was worried about

what would he do with Lucky?

So I would tell him from time to time, don't worry.

I could take Lucky.

I know he was thinking about it,

and it was hard for him to give me Lucky to watch.

I took Lucky January 31st of this year.

I thought it was only going to be, like, four weeks maybe,

but then as things were postponed, and operations, and that,

and so, but I know David knows

that I'll take care of him for as long as he needs me to.

That's not a problem at all.

I don't think he was the typical outdoor cat

because he was so confined to that small little area

where he was with David,

but when he walked in there was no adjustment period at all.

I mean, he walked in, and it's like, I'm here.

Loki and Lucky, the two males

got along very well from the beginning.

And maybe that's because Loki is older.

Lucky is relatively young.

So there wasn't any kind of fighting, or anything.

I mean, they followed each other around.

It was almost like Lucky was looking at him

to see what he should do.

And they were very close from the beginning.

They sleep together, they sleep all entwined,

and actually he holds onto him,

but he's very gentle, Loki.

I've never seen him fight.

Well, they play and they're very rough playing,

but they're only playing.

- I cannot believe how good hands he is right now.

They sleeping together.

They never sleep separate.

Every night they sleep together.

Every time you call Lucky,

Loki comes with him, they both come.

They really fall in love.

He have really, really good friend.

The doctor ordered blood transfusions.

So they gave me, like,

three packs of blood transfusions all night.

It's Chris calling.

Hey buddy.

- Hey, how are you buddy?

How are you feeling?

- I'm okay.

I'm sorry I missed your call because Robert is here.

You remember camera guy, Robin?

Hang on.

That was it, hey, that's right.

What's going on with, so when is the next surgery?

- I'm starting chemo.

They gave me green light this week,

I guess, after surgery, maybe surgery be Tuesday.

- This medical process has been drawn out.

I feel like it's probably been drawn out a lot longer

than David expected,

but he's managing to keep his eye on the prize

of getting healthy

with the knowledge that he's gonna get Lucky back.

- My name is Peter Mares.

I've always liked to think of creative names.

For some reason,

I really couldn't think of a good name for Keys

other than her toes look like a keyboard.

So I actually named her Keyboard in the beginning.

And then I was dating somebody at the time,

and she came over, and she was checking Keyboard out.

And she said, "What would you name it?"

I said, you know, Keyboard?

She said, "Well, why don't you just shorten it to Keys?"

And I thought that sounds really good.

It suggests a lot of things, you know,

like, keys to your heart, or keys to the secrets of life.

One summer morning, all of a sudden

she just rose up with her paws up in the air.

The light shining through the blinds

just made it look so, like, heavenly.

And I thought, man, I got to tell people about this,

but then the next morning she did it again.

Then I figured, well, she might do it three times in a row.

So the next morning I had my camera ready,

and I got some sort of fuzzy picture of it,

but, you know, I could just prove to my friends, like,

look, she actually did it.

I used to have dogs.

So I would train my dog,

give them a treat after they'd do something

that I wanted them to do.

So I figured, okay, it should work the same with cats.

It was a bit trickier,

but when she did it again,

the closest thing I had to me was coconut oil

because I used to put it on my cancer wound that I got.

I just grabbed some coconut oil, and she went nuts for it.

Here you go, pussy, here you go, pussy, here you go.

She did it again.

I just kept pointing my camera phone at her,

and she would do it,

and then I'd give her the coconut oil right away.

She just somehow realized

that if I do this little stand for him,

I'm gonna get the coconut oil.

I took this really great photo of Keys outside.

I mean, it's picture-perfect.

It's the one we use as our logo.

A friend of mine, she sent me a message on Facebook,

and said, "Do you mind if I use this photo somewhere,

like, in a contest?"

So she posted it on Imgur, some site in England.

And supposedly it shot up to the number one photo.

They're the ones who called it the Goal Kitty.

We started an Instagram on it

because there was some media interest.

They want to know who owns this cat?

You know, where does this cat come from?

"People" magazine did a little spread on her,

here, where it says 27.9 followers,

and she wants a hug.

This artist is really into cats.

She instantly fell in love with Goal Kitty,

and started following it.

Then asked my permission if she could paint Goal Kitty

for some art exhibition she was gonna do.

The art exhibition had come and gone.

No one had bought it, and I thought, really?

I made her a decent offer,

and she countered, and we had a deal.

She's getting all this attention.

So I started thinking about,

okay, how could I market this cat?

We even got an official trademark on her.

I've invested some of my tax money on merchandise.

These are kind of nice and popular.

I own one of these black ones here.

Anyhow, that's the Goal Kitty trucker hat.

The coolie, or koozies,

whatever they call these things here for your drinks.

And these are kind of popular, also.

She's a comical cat,

and so if you have a sense of humor, you kind of get it.

I think it just fascinates people.

Also, I think that it's positive.

She brings joy to a lot of people.

- Zulu.

Zulu.

Zulu.

I can't find him right now so I can ring him here.

Zulu, are you over here?

Oh, there you are.

Hey, fluffy.

Want to go back inside?

It's time to go inside.

Come on, straight for them.

As horrible as the pandemic situation has been,

the up side for me has been

that I am no longer tied down to San Francisco,

and I don't have to live as close.

I don't feel comfortable moving far away from San Francisco,

but I do feel comfortable moving a couple of hours out.

And that's how I ended up here in Santa Cruz County

in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

For us, it's been great, and the cats have just loved it.

They're just sprinting around the house.

Zulu.

Ready, Zulu?

Come on, Zulu.

Come on.

Zulu.

We don't have to bring them outside as much we found

because they have this enclosed patio

that they can just sit here,

and watch different wildlife outside.

They hang out here the majority of the day.

They're either sleeping here,

or they're just sitting and staring out,

staring at the different wildlife.

At nighttime, the same thing,

they're out here just listening,

and you can see their ears constantly twitching.

I've always shied away from responsibility and attachment,

and things that would tie me down.

I've always enjoyed the wandering lifestyle.

To be honest, like, even when I was wandering,

and going from place to place,

I've definitely yearned for a home base.

And now I feel like I have it.

At the live news desk

monitoring a huge wildfire,

threatening a lot of homes right now in the South Bay.

The communities that are under evacuation orders,

Boulder Creek, that city is threatened.

The wildfire in Santa Cruz Mountains

is exploding in size now 48,000 acres, and zero containment.

- Some parts of Boulder Creek

have been hit harder than others.

The fire generally stayed on the west side of Highway Nine.

That's the side we're on.

At the time there's so much things you're thinking about,

pare it down to what's important.

Like, okay, us and our cats.

That's really the only thing that we need to leave with.

Everything else will be fine.

Usually, I might just like, let Zulu out,

and let him walk himself to the car.

We're very conscious of, like,

now is not the time to lose the cats,

like, we cannot lose them.

We need to, like, make sure that they are safe.

Come on.

Yeah, all of this.

There's no reason this house should be standing,

other than the fact that it was defended.

I mean, I was honestly speechless.

I was shocked that it got so close,

but didn't take our house.

It's a lot to process.

If you go up here up this mountain,

which is where I would walk every day,

most of those houses are gone.

The evacuation would have been a lot more stressful

if our cats weren't so accustomed to just, like,

being loaded into the car. I mean, they love the car.

They just, like, lounge it's like a vacation for them.

We're still without power here,

and we're going on four weeks.

The water has benzene in it.

They're working around the clock trying to fix these things.

Clearing out trees that have already fallen, or at risk.

Once we got settled in the hotel room,

it was super nice to have my cat around just day-to-day.

Hi Fitzby.

They've adapted to life in the hotel.

I mean, they're such adaptable cats.

Zulu will meow at the hotel room door.

He's getting used to it now,

like, now we hop out of the hotel room.

We walk down to the elevator lobby.

He patiently waits for the ding.

As soon as he hears the ding, he gets closer to the door

'cause he knows it's gonna open up.

He usually says hi to the people at the reception desk.

With some hotels they would allow dogs,

but they wouldn't allow cats.

Come here.

I think he associates head bumps with treats now.

I don't know what our future plans will be.

Potentially staying here, potentially leaving.

Who knows what the immediate future holds?

- It's a high stress job.

You don't even notice it when you start petting him,

playing with him, but he's just,

like, he takes your mind out of it,

and something that's innocent in the midst of chaos.

I think having an animal in a fire station

is a great, great thing.

Just from having Flame here,

every department should have some sort of animal.

I remember one of the fire departments

was forcing their guys to get rid of their cat.

This is Edna.

She has called Station 49 in the Bayview District home,

since she was rescued as a stray kitten five years ago.

The department says while animals can be comforting,

Edna will still have to go.

We did a couple of posts

to bring awareness to it.

The fire chief got 15,000 emails that day.

We posted on his page.

We know how much we appreciate having Flame,

and love having him here,

how much a part of the family he is,

and how unanimously loved Flame is by everybody,

it kills us to think that other people

are trying to take it away from other firefighters.

- Burnout is a very real threat,

and it's constant and pervasive.

You have to give a lot of yourself to do this work,

and, although, it's very rewarding,

it can definitely feel endless.

It can be stressful just taking a walk.

You may be faced with a medical emergency,

just walking down the sidewalk.

I definitely feel a sense of purpose in this work.

The immediate gratification of taking a cat off the street,

getting it cleaned up, finding it a comfortable home,

and then seeing it on Instagram six months later

napping on a couch in the sun.

So we've been here for about four months.

And as soon as we moved into our new place,

we started noticing strays.

It's also during COVID,

so most places just weren't accepting strays

for a couple of months 'til things could get sorted.

Now we found some spots that will allow us to take them in,

and they can get, you know, fixed.

They can get their rabies shot.

We love having them, we love feeding them.

We love building them their little homes,

and their kitty condo we call it outside.

And just making the best life for them that we can.

- It got to a point where, like,

it was a lot of cats out here.

You know what I mean?

Like, more than 12.

We have to do something to help them,

and to find, like, a home for them.

Ricky was just a cat in the back,

like, he hopped the fence and come over.

And we just found out all these little kittens

that are out here they're Ricky's.

So Ricky's got to get taken in.

As much as I love cats,

I had no idea how to trap a cat.

Ryan had no idea how to trap a cat.

So we started watching videos on how to trap,

and follow a couple of people on Instagram,

like, okay, what's the best practices?

- We spend billions of dollars on shelters,

euthanizing cats,

keeping cats in shelters that we can't find homes for.

If we put a fraction of those resources

towards free spay/neuter,

then we would actually be spending less

on animal welfare nationwide.

And the same is true for health care for people.

Oh boy, my baby boy.

Good boy, good boy, such a good boy.

Huh?

Who did this, huh?

You had fight with Loki?

Loki beat you, Loki beat you, eh, buddy boy,

and scratches here, too, oh, my God.

You've been in a war, what's wrong?

I didn't know about this scratch.

That's a doggy right there, baby, doggy.

February, March, April, May, June, July,

August, September, October, nine months.

From two years I miss nine months of his life.

First two weeks, you won't believe it I cry in sleep.

I was going crazy.

There he is.

How are you, buddy?

David, you have no idea how good it is to see you.

Oh, he looks good.

Yeah, but too scared,

eight months, he never go outside, so he's shaking.

Oh yeah.

Tomorrow he coming with me.

All nurses want to meet him.

Really?

We're going tomorrow, yes.

That you can bring him?

Yeah.

Wow.

You know, he's-

- Therapy.

Therapy animal, yeah.

Sure.

I have papers they cannot mess with me, so.

He looks like he's at home right on your lap.

It's like coming home.

You know what I mean, Dave?

How have you been doing?

How's the arms?

Bad.

Not good.

This one healed,

but I cannot move because one bone is missing.

So it's harder to use than I was using before.

So it's like stuck this position.

They say it's not curable, but they at least keep at bay.

Right, I remember you had told me that.

But right now it's, you know,

when it takes so much energy from me, and I can move now,

it's already getting worse, so.

David, the last time I saw you,

you were in Metropolitan Hospital in a tiny room.

Is it good to be out of there?

I was going crazy in there.

Yeah, I know, well, yeah.

- You brought me food. - I know.

It was so bad food inside, oh, my God.

Yeah, yeah, it was bad.

You and Pam, yeah.

Yeah, the cheeseburgers, right?

The food was terrible.

Listen, I kept that McDonald's on Second Avenue

in business when I came, you know?

That's true, that's true.

I think I got four to six cheeseburgers at a time.

Yeah, always.

To stock you up a little bit.

Oh God, bless, thank you, Chris.

It used to be the number two,

and now it's not the number two.

I never forget that.

Bad stuff makes, you know, good memories

always makes really good.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you so much.

It's the least I could do.

How is your place?

70% have lice.

No.

The landlord told me don't ever touch anything.

Don't speak to no one, just keep to yourself.

Stay in your room.

I don't know, I'm just too tired.

And, you know, slowly, slowly, that hope was, I had hope,

it slowly just.

I know, you still got to have.

You have some, right?

You got some, don't you?

I'm still fighting,

but I'm still fighting because of him be honest with you.

That's fine.

I'm so tired,

but this guy is keeping me alive still.

You know what you're going through

much better than I do,

but you just got to keep on trucking.

He's right there.

He's right there in front of you.

Thank you.

You know, and that's what we all want for you.

I know, Chris.

We'll do anything we can.

Thank you, guys.

Hopefully, everything go positive way, but I'm tired just.

- I know, stay strong, strongest guy I've ever met.

I'm smiling under this mask.

It's so good to see him, and see you, most importantly.

To see David kind of undergo what he did, all the surgeries.

I really can't wrap my brain around how he does it.

And he just perseveres

without being able to see the end in sight.

He doesn't know where the finish line is.

The finish line may not be a good thing for him.

He just continues the course,

regardless of where his spirits are,

regardless of what the doctors are telling them.

And to me, it's so admirable

because I don't know if I could do something like that.

Lucky was always, like, a pillar of strength for him.

It was a reason for him to keep going on.

To not have Lucky around,

there's no substitute for being face-to-face.

- I think during a pandemic,

appreciation for our pets has to be at an all-time high

because we're not able to see our friends,

and families often.

We hear from a lot of adopters how their new cats

have become this emotional support companion.

And a lot of them expected that,

but they couldn't have anticipated

what a critical role that cat would play as a family member,

as someone to be there for them through tough times.

Unquestionably, cats and all pets

play a really critical role in our own emotional well-being.

I think they're part of our self-care.

They're part of a good daily ritual,

and we know that caring for others

can be a source of fulfillment.

And I think that's certainly true for cats.

Men have always loved cats.

I think it's becoming a little bit more socially acceptable.

Some of those old stereotypes that were harmful and useless

are fading away.

If you think about how we're defining masculinity,

I mean, caring for others, being able to protect others,

that's the foundation of strength.

You don't even notice it

when you start petting, and playing with him,

but he's just, like, he takes your mind out of it.

Looking back on it you can go, he come jump up on me,

and I forgot about that call for a few minutes.

Coming home and having something there,

excited to see you every time is huge.

I mean, you put in a long day at work,

and you come home to an empty apartment,

it's kind of depressing.

- Cats are just kind of sensitive.

I think you just have to be patient and calm with them.

Guys need to learn some of those traits.

We have people comment anonymously

on our YouTube videos,

and say I'm a 6'2", 250 pound, ex-Marine,

and I'm crying like a baby at this video.

And they talk about it like it's something

that would be viewed as a sign of weakness.

Being able to show compassion,

that's what leadership is all about.

So to me, it's redefining what strength looks like,

and how it's more diverse and dynamic

than we maybe originally thought about it as.

So this is Pez.

My wife wanted a cat for God knows how long,

and I'd have to hear it all the time.

Why can't we get a cat? Why can't we get a cat?

And I just was against it.

And then as soon as I saw Pez,

I absolutely fell in love with her,

but if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't know any better.

Right, Pez?

Good girl.

Oh, yeah.

I guess I was a cat guy all along,

and I never really knew it,

but you brought that out of me, Pez.

You let me know that I was a cat guy.

- Well, we met in Las Vegas.

Peter was there for his brother's bachelor party.

- Well, I brought up Goal Kitty.

That was my way to get to talk with her.

And she said, "Oh, I love cats."

- Hi.

So this is my boy, Hachi, my little baby.

- We're gonna keep working until we've increased

the capacity for spay/neuter in Brooklyn.

I founded this organization to solve a problem.

I'm happy to retire.

I've already set a retirement date of 2030,

and that just keeps me focused.

And, you know, if we're being proactive,

we should be able to address this.