All language subtitles for My.Cat.from.Hell.S5E02

I'm a Los Angeles City firefighter. We
have a cat named Coco who's crazy.

She was a precious little kitten, and
then she just turned.

She has attacked both myself and
Brandon.

I can't live like this anymore with her
violence.

Foley is currently suffering from what
we call the night terror.

Foley!

We're terrified that we're going to come
home and that he's not going to open

his eyes.

Oh! Oh, my God.

I'm Jackson Galaxy. I'm a musician by
night and a cat behaviorist by day.

I've met cats with all kinds of
problems.

But I've never met one I couldn't help.

Oh, hello. In my career, I've worked
with thousands of cats one -on -one,

analyzing their behaviors and retraining
them and their guardians.

When relationships are at an end, I
don't have many more options than to

leave. And cat guardians have reached
their emotional limit. Just get rid of

her. I'm their last hope.

Are you all right?

I don't know. Cats have nine lives, but
humans?

Only have one.

I'm on my way to go see Brandon and
Tawny and their cat, Coco.

Coco is a really violent cat, but
Brandon puts his life on the line every

day. He sees danger as a firefighter.

Tawny is done with this cat.

So I'm going to go over there right now
and see if I can help put this fire out.

My name is Brandon.

My name is Tawny. And we have a cat
named Coco. Oh, here we go.

I'm a Los Angeles City firefighter. We
found Coco out in the middle of the road

in front of my fire station.

She was a precious little kitten.

And then she just turned.

We have this cat who is vicious.

She's attacked both myself and Brandon.

She's attacked family members and
friends.

Coco. I feel like everybody around me,
they're like, why do you still have this

cat?

I love the cat. She's definitely a buddy
when I'm home.

His dynamic with Coco is a lot
different, I think, than mine because he

lot less fear.

I'm going to pick you up, okay?

No.

As a firefighter, we see a lot of
things, so when she's more aggressive,

doesn't affect me as much. I think I'm a
little too scared.

We do tend to have arguments once in a
while over what we want to do.

I'm kind of in my head thinking we just
get rid of her.

I... on the other hand would like to try
and keep her inside the house he always

says well i don't want to be the one to
find her in the middle of the street

dead i feel irresponsible i don't feel
like brandon understands like the

legitimacy of my fear brandon will laugh
and i'm like if tani were to come and

tell me she's gonna get rid of the cat i
would say no i can't live like this

anymore

Hey, man.

How are you? Hey, Jackson. How are you
doing? I'm good.

You must be Brandon.

I'm Brandon. Good to see you. You know,
it's good to see you. It's kind of

weird. I mean, I usually would go to my
clients' homes to meet them. This time

around, I am coming to your work, but
this is where I spend a lot of my time.

All right. Well, tell me a little bit
about Coco. When we found her, she

She was this big. She was tiny. Her eyes
were so closed.

She was right here?

You got to help a little kitten. I love
it, man. You're a cat guy.

I dig it. When you got a guy who's a
firefighter and they come out saying, I

love little kittens, man, I love that.

Basically, the problem is she just
started to get aggressive.

My wife, she's scared of her biting her.
Okay.

She doesn't want to have the cat. That's
a challenge, but that's all right. It's

what I do.

Hey. Hi. How are you? Hi, Jackson and
Tawny. Nice to meet you. Tawny, good to

meet you. Good to meet you. This has got
to be sort of your second home, too,

yeah? Yeah. I come visit him often.

I'm really glad that Tawny came to the
firehouse because I really need to know

what turned the sweet kitten that she
raised into the cat that she feared.

When did you figure out that you had a
problem on your hand?

We had an episode where she ended up
biting me. Did she break the skin on

Yeah. But then it became sort of a
continual thing. I noticed that when we

visitors, she just goes berserk. We
don't have a home that people can just

freely walk in and roam around because
we have Coco.

So we have a problem here.

What's your experience with her? I'm
able to pick her up and throw her on my

shoulder. I carry her around. Wait, hold
on a minute. It's a father -daughter

bond, I guess.

You've been scratched and you've been
bit. I have.

A little. It happens. But I expect it,
and I know that if she gets scared, I

react to that, and I take care of her,
put her down, and then later on, she's

good again.

Now, the one place that you can tell
that Tawny and Brandon are not quite on

same page is the way they handle Coco.

Brandon, very confident where Tawny is
anything but.

I'm moving every day a little bit closer
to having to eventually put her out. I

can't live like this anymore. I have a
dangerous cat.

You know, I disagree.

I really think we can work with her.

No pressure.

We don't know much about Coco's history.
Her aggression could be caused by

trauma or it could be a trait of her
feral background. There's no way to know

how or why she turned violent. I need to
see the home. I need to meet Coco. Can

we go there now? Yeah, let's go. All
right.

I walk in.

And where is she going to be? She'll
come and she'll peek her head through

This is going to have to change. What
she wants is an attack angle, and we

to take this away from her. Coco is
following a predictable behavior.

Hide low and strike hard. Now, I can't
eliminate her natural instinct, so all I

can do is eliminate her hot spots.

I'm not really noticing a whole lot
of...

Coco presence in here, and I think it's
going to be important as we go along. If

she's territorially threatened, then
we're not going to be a happy family at

all. Look around, no evidence of her
cat. That means that Coco has no

whatsoever, and that with a cat like
Coco is a big problem.

Where's she at?

In the bedroom.

Cool. I'm going to the bedroom then. All
right.

Okay, then.

I feel like I'm marching into my doom
here. Coco, where you at, baby?

Coco?

I have to find out if Coco's aggression
is triggered by Tawny's anxiety, and

unfortunately, there's only one way to
find out. I'm going to just plop myself

down on your level. We'll see what
happens. Hey, how's it going?

Now, I hear that when someone approaches
you scared, you get scared.

Are you going to be nice to me?

They say that you're bad when you get
picked up, okay?

Soon,

as Coco picked up on my nervous energy,
she started to get herself into a

defensive ball. She started with the low
growl.

And as I came in, more and more even
shaking with my hand, Finally, bang, she

hit me.

Although I totally sacrificed my hands
to Coco, I got the information I needed.

She struck out at me specifically when I
came at her with nervous energy.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Angry cat.

It was time to call Brandon into the
room because at that point I wanted to

if it was even at all possible that he
could calm her down.

I think I need a paramedic. Oh.

Is this kind of normal?

Yeah. I can go ahead and try and pick
her up if you want me to. Really? Yeah.

You just have to be fast.

Go for it, man. Okay.

Go, go. It's okay.

Usually I'll let her see who it is.

Let her smell me.

Look at that.

She knows I'm going to pick her up.

He scoops her up, and you see that bond.

You see that 10 -day -old kitten being
saved by that fireman. It was pretty

cool. Come on in. All right.

So let me ask you something.

It's so funny you won't even come in.
Okay.

Do you feel like it's possible to have
that level of calmness with her?

I mean,

I will certainly try.

I see a territorially threatened animal.
I see one who has that feral in her for

sure. And now we have to work on a few
different things.

And let's go on inside and talk some
homework.

Awesome. All right, come on guys, let's
go.

I was a little shocked to come in there
and just see Brandon just calmly petting

the cat. You could have done it too.

That's what Jack was trying to tell you.
I know, but... The way you approach

her. I don't have bravery like he's
brave.

I'm going to use some fight or fire
lingo here.

At the scene of every fire, there's only
one guy in charge, the captain in

charge, Kitty Captain here. That's you.
You've got to call the shots.

Everything that Brandon does with this
cat is gold. We've got to pass that on

Tawny if she has any chance whatsoever
of having a trusting relationship with

Coco again. Right now, I need you to
think 100 % catification.

What I want is litter boxes, food
dishes, trees, anything of cat furniture

she can claim as her own. These are the
things that need to be out in social

areas. The idea of catification brought
a little bit of...

anxiousness to me because she's a part
of our life, but we don't have to create

our life around the cat.

Another thing, by the way, I want you to
block off the underside of this cabinet

here. I do not want to give her that
option to lay in wait for people, right?

All right, guys, if you have any
questions at all over the next couple

you call me. It's an important time,
okay? All right, thanks, Jeff. All

This is kind of it. I have anxiety
living in my own home.

I'm at that point where she will get the
boot if this keeps up. I really don't

want that to happen.

So I'm here for my second visit with
Tawny, their firefighter husband,

and their cat, Coco.

First time I was here, Tawny wanted this
cat out of here. Brandon wanted no part

of that, and neither did I.

I had a chance to look at Brandon and
Tawny's homework, and I've got to tell

you, they did an excellent job with the
catification.

Got multiple scratchers, litter box in
the living room.

I'm pretty impressed with the changes
I'm seeing in Coco's behavior.

What I don't like is how visitors and
Connie approach the cat. It's my

Oh, there's the cat.

I don't like this. I really don't.

Hi, what's wrong with the kitty?

No!

No! I still have a lot of work to do.

Hey! Welcome back!

How are you? Hey, how are you doing? I'm
doing great.

Where's Brandon? He's in the backyard,
so let's go join him. Okay, cool.

Hey. Hey, Jackson. How's it going? How
are you, man? What's going on, Jackson?

Good to see you again. Good to see you,
too.

So, tell me, how are things in the world
of Coco?

We're progressing.

Good. Slowly. Good.

He's adapted to the lay of the land. I
can tell that she likes having more of

the home be hers.

In the video homework, your brother, he
literally walks in the door, looks at

the cat, and he's like, I don't like
this.

I don't like this. I really don't.

She's just walking.

She's not doing anything at all. So I
see that we got our work cut out for us.

Friends have been scarred by the cat
because they've seen her kind of at her

worst. We want to have a home that feels
safe to people.

The last time I was here, I gave you the
sort of captain's position of really

demonstrating to Tani, this is what this
message means, this is what her body

language means. And we worked on that,
but there's...

There's still a little fear there.

You're still pretty shaky?

I'm still a little shaky, yeah.

Yeah, I know. She has a little claw. A
little claw.

She's got sharp ones.

I speak cat. I understand.

You cannot minimize our cat situation,
and you are, and you're doing it.

She still pisses and isn't totally
approachable, and to me that's a

have you been doing the homework?

I'm trying, buddy.

And you think it's funny, and you think
it's cute.

They're not going to be perfect, right?

It was kind of uncomfortable sitting
there with Tawny and Brandon. In terms

their approach to Coco, these guys have
got to meet in the middle, or we don't

have a chance.

Here's what I want to do. We're going to
get up and take a look around the

house, and, of course, I've got to see
Coco.

Okay.

All right, guys.

Well, let's start right here.

Show me now where she hangs out.

Now she's over there, right?

So now, that's a good invitation. Do it
again.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, good.

And then this is what I do.

No. Oh, that's the thing that you use.
Yeah. Okay, so here's the bad in that

situation. I mean, it's all bad.

It's all bad that she's camped out here
waiting, right? And then she's going to

swipe. This is a tool of your fear,
right?

This is the thing that says, I'm still
afraid of you. I will not touch you.

You're activated in this situation, and
I have to use some sort of a blocker to

get you away from me. So this whole
situation is bad.

I do have this by the front door. That's
the thing we're going to do. Exactly.

You got it. People walk in the door. Do
I hand them this? I specifically suggest

your brother. If he were to walk in and
he's like, Coco, boom.

And here, and then she goes to play over
here. Not only is he in a position of

power, which is a good thing, but she
has now cleared her way out of here.

You see that subtle difference. The
subtle difference is, do these become a

of fear or do they become a tool of
empowerment?

And in that way, it's win -win.

My plan is to give people walking in the
house that toy, because the thing is,

if we empower them with a toy, they get
to guide her away. Otherwise, everyone

walks in with fear. This way, we're
disarming the people and disarming the

All right. Now, last time I was here, I
asked you to put litter boxes in

socially significant areas, and you did.

There you have it. Props to you. You
were not psyched about that. Yeah, I

it sucks, but I'm willing to kind of
embrace it, and she hasn't used one of

bathrooms since this one. Okay, so it
sucks for you, but that is one of those

things where the cat is talking loud and
clear and saying, I don't feel secure

in this area. Now I do.

I've got to tell you, first off, I'm
pretty impressed.

Tawny, I didn't even think was going to
do it. She did it.

And double -edged sword here, Coco's
using it. She's using it more than the

in the bathroom. She's letting us know,
I like this, I appreciate it, thank you

very much. Now don't move it.

By catifying, you've absolutely made it
so that this whole area is friendly

toward her. Now do you feel that
you're...

Still scared enough of her that none of
this worked for you?

There's definitely been, you know,
steps, but I'm still afraid.

That's really important.

So I want to try something different,
something we haven't done before.

Now, where's Coco at?

The last time I saw her, she's in the
guest bedroom.

And that's where we're going to head.
All right.

The only way for Tawny to get over her
fears is to confront them. And the only

way she could do that is without Brandon
sitting next to her. This was a time

for her to be alone without his
protection.

First thing I want you to do is take a
seat on the bed.

Beautiful. Sitting near the cat.

You just sit.

When someone's suffering from post
-traumatic stress, one of the things

use is exposure therapy. Have them walk
through the fear that they fear the

most. Here's the next step.

First thing I want to do is I want to
blindfold you, all right?

Every step along the way on this thing
is you trusting me.

And more importantly, you trusting her.
Go ahead.

I get scratched. You're in big trouble,
Jackson.

By blindfolding Tani, I'm hoping to
change her view of Coco because she

literally won't have one. And by
removing her sight, I'm hoping to also

this overwhelming fear of Coco that she
has and tap into trust.

And we're uncovered.

I'm a little worried about what
Jackson's going to ask me to do, but I

is part of the process, so I guess I'm
just going to have to be willing to do

it. Right now, I'm going to have you
hold your hand out, put your hand down

this. I'm going to put this tune in your
hand.

The last time I was here, I got beat up
pretty good by Coco.

The damage was pretty evident, and Tawny
got to see that evidence.

So this time around, I had to take a
risk.

Just approach her with it.

Closer. Okay.

But right now you look tense, so relax.

Relax.

At this moment, I am just hoping that
that cat responds the way I want her to

because I could lose Connie for good.

What is she doing, Jackson?

I need you to relax.

Breathe through this whole thing.

I could feel her little, you know,
movement in my hand, which was pretty

It felt like, wow, she does trust me.

How do you feel?

Like I conquered a little bit of my
fear.

That's right.

It was pretty amazing to watch Tawny's
transformation.

She went from being a scared person, a
person with no faith in her own

abilities, to a confident person,
somebody who felt a connection with her

animal. Really, one of those one in a
million moments.

Hey, mister.

Hey. So, that was pretty cool. I
couldn't be more excited.

Tawny was wearing a blindfold, and she
fed Coco out of her hand.

That's unbelievable.

Yeah. So, for your homework, I want you
to continue this.

Now, that's number one. I think we're on
the right track.

Definitely will feel a little silly
walking around my house blindfolded. I

you to start teaching other people how
to conquer their fear. Put some of the

wand toys right outside the door. As
they walk through the door, you tell

what to do and have them lead her
through the living room. My plan is to

everyone who's walking in the house that
toy because the thing is, if we empower

people by giving them a toy so they can
lead her away, they won't walk away in

fear. Now, the next thing you guys are
going to do, I want you to get an

electric blanket.

We'll call it the fire blanket. Once
she's got her scent really soaked into

think of another place where you can
move that electric blanket.

Cats respond to warmth. So we'll put the
fire blanket in the socially

significant part of the room, and that
way before long, Coco will gain

confidence that she belongs in the room.
And when Coco feels secure in the room,

then she won't attack people.

Guys, we've got a lot of work ahead of
you, but this time I think you're a

little more prepared. All right?

I'm out. All right. Take care.

Thanks again for coming out. See you
soon. Bye -bye.

Bye. We don't know how the next couple
weeks are going to unfold.

I'm really hoping that she changes, but
session three when Jackson comes, if

Coco can't be fixed, we just get rid of
her. I don't like hearing that. That's

not even something that I'm going to
think about at this point.

And now it's time for a kiddie bit.

Approximately how many people are bitten
by cats in the U .S. annually?

Is it A, 5 ,000, B, 40 ,000, or C, 25
,000?

Find out the answer after this break.

Approximately how many people are bitten
by cats in the U .S. annually?

The answer is B, 40 ,000. Believe it or
not, Cats learn most of their social

language before they're even nine weeks
old. If you do get bit, clean the wound

immediately and consult a doctor.

So I'm outside Tawny and Brandon's house
for my final visit with them and their

cat Coco, and here's what I want to see.
A lot less aggression from their cat

Coco, and a lot less fear from Tawny.
Those two things together, we got a good

day.

Hey! Hey, how are you? Good, how are you
doing? Welcome back.

Good to see you.

Brandon, how are you, man? Hey, Jackson.
Good to see you, brother.

Hey, Ben. Good, good. Good, you look
good.

So, how are things going with you guys?
How's life with Coco? Tell me.

Everything's going pretty good. We have
some good news for you today.

Tell me, what's good news? The cat has
not been scratched for the past two

weeks. That's a huge change.

That's a huge change.

That's fantastic.

Coco has not attacked a single person.
That means change has happened.

I feel like overall she feels that our
house has become more of her territory.

You know, we've got more toys, and she
kind of feels like, okay, I don't have

to, you know, defend it.

The most important thing is that you can
walk through the house knowing that

you're okay.

Seriously pretty amazing news so far. It
was time to take a look at video

homework and see what else I could
correct or appraise.

My brother Tyson is here.

I'm going to hand you this toy.

It's good that she's not.

Catching you.

Taking a look at Brandon and Tawny's
video homework, it's everything I could

have asked for. I think Tawny thinks
this is how you play with Coco. Don't be

scared. The video homework shows Tawny
practicing her face your fears blindfold

exercise.

Anticipating Coco's cues without being
able to see her is a huge step for

Coco is enjoying her eating blanket.

I gave Tawny and Brandon the fire
blanket assignment.

Warm blankets create comfort and
security.

I'm seeing Coco sitting in the middle of
the living room, free from anxiety.

Look at that soft look.

What do you think?

I'm so proud of you. I really, I mean, I
don't want to sound goofy about this.

There's just a sense of pride, like,
wow, we saw progression, and that's

exciting. Now, of course, Coco's in
there, and I want to spend some time

her, so come on. All right.

I want to see Coco and Tawny interacting
in a way that I didn't think was

possible a few weeks ago. I know that
she's got it in her. I just want to see

with my own eyes.

I actually want you to just reach out,
mimic what Brandon's doing right now,

just start petting her.

If Tawny brings fear, it's not just a
matter of her getting bit. She's going

set Coco back a few steps also.

It's so important that she take all the
lessons I've taught her and bring them

to bear in this very moment.

There you go. Look at that.

There's no way that I could have gotten
you doing this the first day that I met

you. Brandon, I mean, you've got to
admit, there's no way.

She just has adapted so well, and to see
her do this is amazing.

Where's your fear level right now?

I feel pretty confident right now.

It's pretty incredible.

When Jackson first came, I was afraid of
my cat. I think I'm a little too

scared. Toning down, you know, my senses
and my fear helped her just become more

calm. Now I feel like I'm not in danger.

So I got to put the question before I
leave. At this point, are you

keeping Coco?

We definitely want to have her keeping
her inside with us. That's fantastic.

Wow. Are you kidding? I mean, not only
to say that she can stay in this house,

but to admit that you've changed along
with her is, people don't do that. So

that's, wow, that's great.

Guys, I'm going to take off. All right.
Well, thank you so much for all your

help. It has been amazing. You have been
so fantastic. I really was hesitant to

believe that there was somebody out
there that can actually make a

a cat's life, but Jackson can.

Guys, take care. Bye.

Our relationship in general has become
better because the cat has some hope.

Tawny's a lot less anxious. The fact of
the matter is, happy wife, happy life.

So, thank you, Jackson.

Foley!

Foley!

I'm in Austin.

On my way to go see Joseph and Ruth
about their cat, Foley.

Now, in all my years, I've never heard
of this before. The cat has night

terrors. What that means is that in his
sleep, he flails, throws himself off of

wherever he is, not to mention the cat
is attacking the couple while he's in

midst of an episode. I have got to get
over there right now.

I'm Joseph.

I'm Ruth. We've been married for a
little bit over a year. We are both

students studying music here in Texas.
We are the proud parents of Foley, and

is currently suffering from what we call
the night terror.

Whenever Foley falls asleep, he will
just launch himself. It's like a

He has flung himself into our coat rack,
into the computer desk.

And he'll end up flinging himself off of
the ottoman, and he'll hit the floor

pretty hard.

It's been going on about a year, a
little over a year now.

It looks like he is trying to kill
something.

If he can grab onto something, you know,
he'll pull it in and he'll kick it with

his back feet.

The first time I tried, that I got
scratched, he latched right onto my arm.

I mean, I had, you know, scratches and
blood all over me.

One time, his nail, like, snagged on,
like, a vein.

My arm was just streaming blood. Every
time we take him to the vet, when we

them that we think the cat's having
nightmares, they just, like, oh, I've

heard of that before. That's so strange.

Wake up.

I do feel like I sacrifice a lot when
I'm on, quote, Foley patrol.

I'll sometimes get frustrated with
Joseph when he gets frustrated with the

We'll definitely get really irritated
with each other when one of us has to

our work aside in order to watch Foley.
And, you know, when we're both under a

deadline, sometimes I do get pretty
pissy.

There's definitely still continues to be
disagreement about letting him in the

room at night.

I'm absolutely terrified that he is
going to seriously injure himself.

That we're going to come home and that.

He's not going to open his eyes.

Hey, guys.

Hi. How are you?

How are you?

I'm Joseph.

Nice to meet you. Hey, Joseph.

I'm Ruth.

Tell me about Foley.

He's having these night terrors where
when he's sleeping, he'll start out

twitching a little bit.

And eventually it'll turn into like full
on like he's trying to violently attack

and kill something.

And he'll throw himself off of whatever
he's sleeping on. Or if you're sitting

by him, he'll latch on to you and start
scratching you.

That's awful.

Because of that, we can't really sleep
in the same bed anymore because in order

for her to get good sleep or for me to
get good sleep, one of us has to keep

fully sort of corralled. You guys must
be sleeping like cats.

With one eye open. Yeah, that can't be
good for you guys.

No, not really.

Ruth and Joseph strike me as being just
completely energetically and physically

depleted. I can't even imagine the
stress of your cat constantly being in

of killing himself or you.

The vet has completely ruled out
epilepsy or any type of neurological

his night terrors. How old is he?

He's 14. Every single time he falls
asleep, he throws himself off the bed.

hurts himself. He latches onto their
skin in this complete unconscious

I've never even heard of this before. I
don't even know where to start.

Has he injured himself?

There have been times where it'll take
him like a minute or two to like sort of

regain himself.

If he flung himself off of something and
ended up killing himself, I don't, I

don't, I couldn't.

I don't think I could live with that if
I wasn't there to help him. What if he

bends in the air and lands on his neck?
That's not a what if. That's a when.

That's a when.

You know why I traveled all the way to
Texas? It's for cases like this. For

people like Ruth and Joseph who put
their life on hold, their relationship

danger for the love of their animal.

It's time to go in there, take a look
around. I'm going to go meet him now,

So, let's take... Oh, look, it's Foley.

And he's sleeping.

Let's just watch.

What he's doing there, is that the
beginning of it?

Yeah, he kind of starts out, you know,
you'll notice a little twitching and he

starts to... It'll escalate. Oh,

that? Yeah. So you... Oh!

Oh! Yeah.

Oh my God!

Okay. Bully, wake up!

Watching Foley, an elderly cat,
violently shaking and crashing onto his

the floor is hard to watch. I mean, at
his age, a fall like this could be his

last. The stakes here are through the
roof.

So he loves to sleep here.

Usually around this ottoman, we put a
bunch of pillows. So problem areas for

literally everywhere that he can get up
and sleep is an issue because he can

get... down in a really ugly way all
right well that's good information our

stop was the bedroom joseph and ruth uh
wanted to show me where uh foley also

tries to sleep where he slept before
wakes them up in the middle of the night

only one of you guys are sleeping here
at a given time foley has dominated your

marriage for the most part i mean and
that's that's incredible that you've had

to deal with that i gotta meet foley
where's he at he's in here

Hi, buddy.

Bring him out. Just to sit with me for a
little bit so I get to meet him a

little bit up close and personal.

Come on up here.

Come on, sit next to me, guys.

It's so great to meet him in a waking
state. I'll tell you that, you know?

Because having met him in a non -waking
state was just terrifying.

Let me see if you'll come to me.

Hi.

Hi.

Thanks for letting me meet you, buddy.

After spending time with Ruth and with
Foley, I got what I needed. It was time

to go out and to give these guys some
homework.

Now, the first thing is, I'd like you
guys to go pick up a special bed slash

carrier. It's called a SleepyPod. That
way, he can sleep at night, and you guys

can get a full night's sleep. That way,
we have more of a normal life. I want

them to use a special carrier, which is
also a bed. He can sleep in it, and it

becomes a safe haven.

So the next thing is the concept of the
wake -a -bye. The wake -a -bye is I want

Ruth and Joseph to write a small piece
of music, something nice and gentle,

using their talents as music people to
bring him back into the world in a

way. Now, about his waking hours. I'd
like you guys to get puzzle toys. When

Foley is awake, we have to make his
waking times more valuable and challenge

him. physically to the best of his
abilities. So I want them to design a

toy so that he has something to work on
without having to run around and get

frustrated at the same time. I was
really disturbed by what I saw.

And because of that, I'm going to bring
over a cat sleep specialist.

You guys are going to get to have a
consult with somebody who can explain to

more of what you're dealing with.
Because right now, it's not just Foley

keeping you awake at night. It's the
unknown.

I will be back in a few weeks.

Take care until then. It was really
wonderful meeting you.

We've tried so many things with Foley,
and we haven't been able to fix it. So

I'm not quite sure that any of the fixes
will work.

This is just such a strange situation
that we're just not sure what kind of

territory we're going into.

I'm back in Austin to see Ruth, Joseph,
and their cat Foley. The last time I was

here, Foley's night terrors were so
horrifying, they gave me nightmares.

I watched the video homework, and I got
to see Foley safe and sound in his

sleepy pod as opposed to crashing
headfirst onto the floor. We got

sturdy now. He's sleeping in, not on.
He's absolutely 100 % safe. You could

for anything more.

I also got to see Foley using his puzzle
rug, and that kind of play will help

him get a more restful sleep.

And I saw the sleep specialist came
over.

I can only hope that we have a medical
diagnosis of Foley's night terrors, so I

can focus on treating the behavioral
side effects that have torn apart his

family.

Jackson, come in. We're in the music
room.

Okay.

Foley, baby kitty cat, time to wake up
from your nap. So when I walk in, Joseph

and Ruth are playing the wake -a -bye,
the assignment that I gave them the last

time I was here. And it was wonderful.
These guys have taken the homework

seriously, and they care about Foley so
much.

It's so much fun.

Yeah!

That must have been the wake -a -bye,
yeah? That was the wake -a -bye. Cool.

Well, homework check.

Onward. Onward. How have things been
here?

Things have been a lot better. Yeah?
Yes.

He's not flailing around. He's sleeping.

Oh, fantastic.

Dr. Martin told us about this thing
called REM sleep disorder, which they

believe is what Foley has. Dr.

Martin suggested that we give him
melatonin supplements each night, and

has not had a night terror since.
Really? Yeah.

Oh, my God. That.

It's so amazing.

Melatonin is a natural sleep aid used to
help sleeplessness in both humans and

animals. I'm really intrigued by Dr.
Martin's recommendation to make sense

if melatonin helps you fall asleep and
helps you stay asleep, that it would

with Foley's sleep disorder.

The biggest news from Dr. Martin is that
he believes that Foley may have had a

stroke. You know, that is something that
we haven't heard before. The mechanism

that makes you not move while you're
sleeping, Foley has had that damaged.

So that's why he's acting out exactly
what he's doing in his dreams.

Interestingly enough, the signs of
stroke in animals is pretty much the

it is in humans. And this includes the
loss of motor skills as well as the loss

of the ability to vocalize. And when you
think about it, Foley exhibited these

symptoms in his wobbly gait. So now Ruth
and Joseph finally have answers to why

these symptoms appeared in Foley. So how
are you doing together? How's your

relationship?

Well, you know, working together with
Foley has been something, you know, like

fun and bonding that, you know, yeah,
sleep, you know, that's extremely

important for everyone's health and
attitude towards each other.

Now, Foley hasn't had any episodes
whatsoever, and I'm not going to be

about this. I'm sure that's going to
happen again. This is the beginning of a

journey for them, not the end of it.

I want to walk around a little bit and
see what he's been up to and see him. So

let's get going.

All right.

Now it's time to take a tour of the
place and see what's changed.

Talk about this was like a symbol of all
things terrible, right? I mean, this

seat was where I saw him hurl himself
off, pretty much landed on his head.

He's not on this much anymore, right?

No. Whenever he's on that, he's awake.
He's looking out the window. He loves

sitting in the window. He does. But he
doesn't sleep there.

Is he sleeping anywhere around here?

He's sleeping on the puzzle rug. On the
puzzle rug. He spends a lot of time on

this rug. It's a total relief to see him
play here and sleep here. I couldn't be

happier. Let's head in the bedroom.

He'll spend a good deal of time on his
new puzzle rug. He'll sleep there a lot,

which is great because it's keeping him
on the floor.

Okay. Now, talk about the bed.

At any given point, one of you here, one
of you in the day bed.

Right. Now...

Now there are two of us here and nobody
in the day bed. It's one of those things

that people overlook. When you have a
problem that's this entrenched, that you

wind up sleeping separately, it's just
unacceptable.

You know, now that we can both sleep
here at night, it's just a much more

refreshing sleep for us. I'm so glad
that you guys took that part of the

homework seriously.

Foley's journey has been pretty
remarkable right now, and I can't help

thinking about him and how much better
his life is, and here he comes, right on

cue.

And the last time I was here, Foley was
having night terrors, and because of

that, he was lethargic and shying away
from people. Today, he's a confident cat

who walks into the room with his head
held high. He was able to walk in and

relax. Look at that. See how he's
starting to rest a little bit?

His ability to rest right now, to close
his eyes, is a sign of confidence. I can

tell you where he's come and where we
need to get to with him. We've still got

some work to do. All right?

Foley has made amazing strides. At the
same time, the humans still have a lot

work to do. And with that, I had to give
these guys some homework.

We know now we're dealing with a stroke.

Ruth and Joseph have got to become
students of stroke, not just about what

causes it, how to rehab it, how to use
play and enrichment activities because

won't be able to recover without their
help.

Humans and animals have very similar
symptoms when it comes to stroke.

So let's take those human rehab
approaches and bring them to him, okay?

Now, what we did with the playmat,
that's rehab. That's getting his mind

body working again the way a cat's good.
Take that as your starting point. What

more can you do? I want Ruth and Joseph
to find new and creative ways to engage

fully, things like the play rug, which
will help rehabilitate and stimulate

mind and body. The next thing I want is
I want you guys to have... Date night,

please. You have no excuse in the world
to not move on. I want to give these

guys their lives back, and I want them
to have rest. I want them to have time

together in order for them to feel
confident so that they can pass that on

Foley. On that note, you've got a lot of
work to do still. Even though we've

been able to help Foley with a lot of
the sleep behavior, the stroke looks

something that we can't do anything
about and that it could happen at any

and just the thought of that.

is terrifying.

Guys, great work today.

It was great to see you. Ruth and Joseph
have been really good students so far.

I just don't want their fear of what if
to prevent them from pushing Foley into

a positive place of recovery.

I'll talk to you soon.

Bye. Bye -bye.

I watched their video homework.

I got to see Foley getting his mobility
back, and I love that. I also saw Ruth

and Joseph having date night. Date night
dinner.

I love the fact that they're getting
their life back finally. Now, going into

today, I can only hope that this
nightmare life they've all been living

finally behind them.

Hey, Justin. Hello, how are you?

Man, it is good to be back here. I
absolutely find myself missing Austin

terribly. Tell me something, guys.

How are things going here?

Bully did have another episode where he
actually fell off of the ottoman. We

were able to kind of problem solve and
figure out, okay, why is he having

episodes again?

And it was that he wasn't getting the
full dose of melatonin. He wasn't

it so much because he stopped eating all
of his food for a couple days like

he'll do sometimes.

I'm sure it'll happen off and on here
and there. Exactly. But, I mean, it's

an all -day, everyday thing anymore.

Was I surprised to hear that Foley had
another episode? Absolutely not. But I

was happy to hear how Ruth and Joseph
are handling the episodes without

constantly worrying and putting their
lives on hold. What else? The rehab is

really working great with him, and his
mobility is actually getting a little

better with that. Stop for a second and
realize that you guys saved his life.

He deserves it.

You know, this whole process, I think,
you know, he sort of saved us, too. You

know, he's really brought us a lot
closer together. You know, we're helping

heal him. He's healing us, too.

Now that this situation has been
resolved with Foley, we have the energy

space to focus on our relationship now.
I think there's a lot more laughter and

fun around here in general.

So I saw in the video homework that you
guys went out on a date. Were you out

there worrying about Foley? We weren't
out there worrying about Foley. We were

out there just enjoying our time
together.

Oh, sweet.

Everything was wrapping up beautifully
with Ruth and Joseph. The problem was I

hadn't seen Foley all day, so I wanted
to see him for myself.

Oh, hello, my buddy boy.

Hello, my buddy boy.

Oh, he looks so much better. Now, the
first time I got here, you want to talk

about a nightmare. And it wasn't just
Foley's nightmare. It was Ruth's. It was

Joseph's. And it was mine. We were all
powerless. And now we got the knowledge.

And this little guy's got his life back.
He's sleeping.

He's playing. And, man, that's music to
my ears.

You don't get any more severe.

than Foley was, and you don't get the
kind of transformation every day that

Foley has gone through. You can show
others anything is possible.

The only thing I would ask of you is to
be ambassadors for others with

cats that have had stroke because having
those answers is everything.

I mean, if we can help somebody else
out, you know, who's going through this,

mean, that would be really fulfilling.

I couldn't leave without giving Ruth and
Joseph just one last piece of homework,

and that was to share their knowledge of
strokes with other cat guardians who

may be suffering through the same thing.

Jackson, I just want to thank you so
much for coming and helping Foley and

helping us.

I guess.

I don't think we ever could have gotten
here on our own. Foley's life is so much

better. We can have a happy, healthy
family now.

And for that, we're ever grateful.