Original subtitles

When I got back from Iraq, I was having issues dealing with anxiety, so we got

Salem to help me deal with it.

At least once a day, Salem will attack the other cats.

To see him fight like that and get pissed like that is a big trigger for

Bartholomew is a beautiful cat, but doesn't have a beautiful personality to

match. He has scratched every piece of furniture we have.

I go, Bartholomew, you stop. And Shari will go, don't be mean to my cat.

When we talk about cats from heaven, this is that cat.

I didn't know my name. I didn't know where I was.

Molly and Otitis met up when they needed each other the most. The reason that he

came into my life was because of his ear infection.

Whoa.

Holy. I'm Jackson Gallagher. What the hell, man?

The animal behavior.

The guardians called, and they're giving him a difficult cat.

Sometimes I wish that I didn't have her.

Damn.

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

my help. This is fun.

I'm David.

My wife, Melissa. We've been married.

Just shy of 20 years, we have one child, Ronnie, and we also have our four cats

that live with us, Dexter, Rizzo, Lip, and Salem.

Salem is my therapy cat.

I was deployed in the Gulf War in the 90s, and then once again ended up going

Iraq in 2010.

When I got back from Iraq, I was having issues dealing with anxiety, bad dreams,

things like that, so we got Salem to help me deal with it.

Salem has helped me immensely.

He sees me in a really panicky situation.

He'll come up right at the door, and I'm like, look, I know something's wrong.

Pet me.

But he's our problem child.

They all got along great for the first couple years, and then about a year ago

is when Salem started acting out. At least once a day, Salem will attack the

other cats.

Usually it's Dexter that gets the brunt of it.

It can get pretty loud and violent.

I love Salem, but Salem's a huge jerk. He needs to stop attacking the other

cats. It's plain and simple. Look at that. Got her right on the nose.

Salem could get to that point where he does some serious damage, and we don't

want that to happen.

To see him fight like that and get vicious like that is distressing to me.

Really? You're here to be a therapy cat and not to stress out everyone and the

other cats.

Basically, my whole life right now is centered around just avoiding conflict

altogether. But the fighting causes my stress levels to go up, and just the

overall anxiety level in the house is a big trigger for me, which is why we need

Jackson's help.

Morning. How are you? Hi. Melissa? Hey,

this is Ronnie. What's up, Ronnie? How are you doing?

Okay, guys.

Let's talk cat.

There's definitely evidence of cats, which is nice. A lot of the houses I go

you would never know there was a cat. How many do we have here?

Four. What's going on here with the four cats?

Well, Salem is pretty much my cat, but he can be a bit of a bully sometimes.

In a house of four cats, how did somebody become your cat?

Well, I've got some issues from being in the wars that I've been in, and the VA

had offered me a service dog.

specifically for PTSD is that what they yeah but I'm more of a cat person and um

I wanted one that I could bond with immediately you know and Salem was that

it was like he knew I knew we both knew boom he's coming home with me Oh, wow.

PTSD or post -traumatic stress disorder can develop in people who have survived

scary or shocking or dangerous events.

It's totally normal for those people to feel constantly on edge, to have bad

memories or have trouble sleeping after an experience like that.

You'll know immediately when I walk in the door if I've had a real bad day.

Yeah. They'll come right up to me and sit on my lap the whole night.

That's so cool. Cats now are therapy animals. They go into hospitals. They're

emotional support animals.

They travel with people.

It's about the world catching up a little bit and recognizing that cats are

deeply emotional beings who care about the ones they love, just like any other

animal. Does Salem have a problem with a specific cat or is it just Dexter? It's

Dexter. The three boys used to play together really well, but one morning

attacked Dexter. We didn't see what happened.

Since that first fight.

How often is it that they're... Maybe once a day.

A day?

Yeah, it's very random, though, because they'll be sitting here, and they'll be

nice and calm, and all of a sudden, one will give the other one a look, and bam,

it happens, and then it's done.

Have there been any major injuries from the cat?

Ritzo has one right now.

She's got a nice cut right across her nose.

Oh, no. We got video of them squaring off when the scratch happened.

Okay, let's take a look at that.

Okay, so we've got, this is right here.

That's Rizzo.

Whoa. So there's no predictability in terms of time of day or before

or after meals or anything like that that can connect it. You just know that

someone looks a certain way when someone else walks in the room, you're going to

have trouble.

Or if somebody gets startled. Lip and Rizzo are very skittish. They slink

like they're being tracked. If you walked out there and startled one of

especially Lip, and he takes off running, that'll trigger him. That'll

Salem. So they're constantly in fear.

Well, that's no good. If I didn't get here, what's our worst fear in this

We would keep trying. I mean, none of them are going anywhere.

Okay. We just want Salem to be happy again. Yeah.

And calm.

It's really about staying calm.

Calm in the house. Because to see him fight like that gives me anxiety

Right. David will thrive when the energy in this home is as flat -lined as

possible. All you're doing is breaking up fights all day long. That's not going

to work for David. Oh, who's that? That is Rizzo. Rizzo the princess? There she

is. Now, Rizzo obviously is walking that way because I'm here?

All the time. That happens all the time? That walk?

Yeah, plus she's always crouched down. Oh, that's not cool. When I see Rizzo

slinking across the floor and the family is telling me that's just who she is

and what she does, that leads me to believe that Rizzo is living in fear 24

So I want to see if this behavior is present in all the other cats as well.

Who's that?

Dexter. That's Dexter. That's Dexter?

Hi.

Okay, so we got Dexter and we got Rizzo.

And Salem and Lip. Lip's in the house. Wait, Lip and Salem are back there?

That's interesting, too.

Salem is just crammed in a corner right now. So for the cat that beats the hell

out of everybody else in the house, he's got that sort of unconfident vibe.

Salem is tucked behind a cat tree, plastered against the wall, clearly the

scared cat in this house. That's interesting.

He's a good cat. He likes people. He's very cuddly. He, like, licks his belly,

and I'm really concerned about that.

He's not that stressed out about you. Hi, buddy.

He's just having a good old sit.

Did you tell me a little bit of an issue?

Pick him up for a sec.

Holy crap.

Yep.

Holy crap.

Yeah, come on, Salem.

That's a lot of missing Salem.

Holy crap.

Yeah, come on, Salem.

That's a lot of missing Salem.

He's mutilating himself.

This is the cat who needs my help. So I have to gather more information to

pinpoint exactly where all this anxiety is coming from.

Wow, that is one trough of food you got over there.

When did you start free feeding?

About a year ago.

It's interesting how when they started free feeding the cats, everything

changed. When cats eat at the same time, their energy rises and falls at the

same time. But with free feeding, they're eating on different schedules,

have energy spikes that just aren't synced up. This could be causing

here. Any other areas here where, man, you have been through a lot, dude. I'm

looking around.

You've got, what's your experience in the military?

I was a commander of a vehicle.

We were up on the front lines, and we saw just devastation.

Wow, man.

The first time was the scariest.

There was actually chemical weapons involved in that.

That'll make you grow up real quick.

I was 20 years old when they sent me over there for that one.

Do you feel like, in terms of PTSD, is that... Oh, yeah, that's about 90 %

that comes from. So 20 years old, you get thrown into this, and the rest of

life, you're working around it.

Does Salem play a specific role in terms of, I mean, is it nightmares or

anything like that that hits you? Oh, yeah.

I'll be sleeping on my side and he'll come up and like, wake up, wake up. It's

just a dream. Wake up. Get out of here. Yeah.

I'm so impressed that the idea of therapeutic animals has taken root the

way it has. Like you said, it helps, you know what I mean?

Especially with the suicide rates, which are.

Yeah, I just lost a friend. Due to the after effects?

Yeah. I'm so sorry. This is actually a life and death thing to David. These

get him through every day.

It's so crucial that we restore peace in this house.

Let's start with the first thing first. Obviously, the cat that seems to be

picking these premeditated fights is also incredibly anxious, right? Because

he's bald.

So there's obviously energetic spikes happening in this house. In a normal

spikes happen at least once, twice, three times a day. When we wake up in

morning, we come together after work, we go to bed at night, the energy in the

home comes up. In this home, random spikes happening all the time. Cats

through the house, which starts a fight. So my goal with you guys is to de

-spike this house.

The first thing that I want you guys to start committing to is every single time

there's either a fight, or Salem over grooming.

I want you to mark those areas. X marks the spot.

Blue tape for over grooming and red tape for a fight.

We're going to start seeing some sort of territorial pattern emerge because

right now there's nothing.

The next thing to de -spike the house, we're going to start getting them into a

group routine, starting with the concept of play therapy.

And you need to do it so that it's happening around the same time every

they get to eat at the end of it, and that means the trough is going to go

If we feed them all at the same time, it's going to help. We have to control

their eating because that way their energy will all come up and down at the

time. And if they have a ritual of play that happens every day at predictable

times, we're going to start being able to control the energetic output of these

cats and de -spike the home. The last part of this de -spiking homework.

is catification.

You guys have already started doing that, which I'm really psyched about

I don't have to start you guys from square one. I want to create one more

of superhighway. We can do that very simply with shelving or something like

to give us just that much more space to increase the piece in here.

Because if cats aren't competing for the same resource, which is usually the

ground,

They tend to be a little more peaceful around each other. We're giving the cats

options to get away from each other instead of meeting in the middle of the

floor. All right, guys.

Ronnie, you've been awfully quiet this entire time.

How are you feeling?

I'm good. We're going to fix Salem so RZA doesn't have to be scared all the

now. I hope the homework works because I'm not really going to be pleased. If

doesn't work in Salem, just get to work because it's going to stress out my dad.

I'm sorry.

And I'm David, and we've been married 22 years, and we have a cat named

Bartholomew.

Bartholomew is a beautiful cat, but doesn't have a beautiful personality to

match.

He has scratched every piece of furniture we have in our living room,

the ottoman couches downstairs.

Bartholomew scratches everything. He loves to stretch up and just like go at

like this.

I go, Bartholomew, stop.

And Shari will go, don't be mean to my cat.

When David tries to stop Bartholomew, usually what happens is a lot of

screaming, stomping.

Bartholomew, stop it.

Get away from there. I think Bartholomew hates David.

Shari's idea of stopping Bartholomew from scratching the furniture is to go.

No, that's not good. Bad boy.

And I'm sure that really works.

Well, I just believe in the gentle approach.

Yeah, that's the gentle approach, which is no approach.

Well, guess what? Neither one's working.

That's correct.

Well, hi.

Come on in. Thank you. I'm Jackson. Sorry.

Sorry. David.

David. Who's this? This is Maggie. Hi, Maggie.

Well, come on in.

Looking around the couch where David and Shari are sitting, I can definitely see

there's a little bit of damage.

So why am I here?

Because of the cat toy that I'm looking at?

Yeah. Yeah, it's a giant cat toy. It's every couch and chair.

All right, well, tell me about Bartholomew.

He's a little problem.

He seems to like the furniture, and he'll just dig in.

This is really excessive, and I've never experienced this type of, I think I'm

going to say aggression.

Aggressive scratching.

Yeah. I feel like he hates us, actually.

Mostly him. Yeah, he hates me. He hates you. I can't get near him. He runs away.

Every time.

Well, David would yell at him and stomp his feet and scare the cat. I mean, he

doesn't have a good relationship with me. But that's your fault.

Because you don't spend any time with the cat. No, I spend time with him.

In a year and a half, perhaps.

30 minutes. No.

Yeah, 30 minutes.

David? I've had way more than 30 minutes. What have you guys talked about

terms of why Bartholomew is scratching?

We adopted Bartholomew from a rescue.

They did try to warn us that he had a really rotten year and a half living on

the streets and that he wasn't exactly a lap cat and that he had a difficult

life. So they're warning you ahead of time and you're like, no, I want him.

was it? What did he call out to you? Why?

Previous to Bartholomew, we had another cat named Bandit.

Bandit was an American snowshoe, love of Shari's life.

Shari had gone through cancer, and Bandit never left her side.

Wow. Bandit was a very loving cat, and he was there for me in ways that people

couldn't be, you know.

Throughout my chemotherapy,

My beloved bandit parked himself on my stomach and was there until I started

feeling better. I felt like if I got the same kind of cat that it would ease the

pain. I can empathize with Shari. Of course, anyone who's lost an animal,

especially one that is as close to her as bandit was, it's a hard thing to go

through. But replacing one with someone else, not fair to you, not fair to the

memory of the one you lost, and not fair to the new cat as well.

Bartholomew is one of those things where you saw him and you recognized the

bandit in him.

No.

Not at all. He looks like bandit. But he doesn't act like bandit. He doesn't act

like him. He's no bandit. Shari's completely projecting feelings that she

for bandit all over Bartholomew. How could he be anything but a failure in

eyes? So there's a lot more wrapped up than just claw marks on the couch.

But then we've got claw marks on the couch. So let's take off all these

Let's just see what we're actually dealing with here. This couple is

patches on scratches the same way they put a Bartholomew on a bandit. They're

just trying to, as Shari said, mask things, mask pain, mask dysfunction.

Well, it's time to rip all the patches off. So is this kind of the big hang for

you guys? This is my man cave.

So you hang out here. Yeah.

One reason cats scratch furniture is because it smells like they're humans

they just want to co -own the space.

Given that, it's no wonder that Bartholomew wants to lay claim to the

in David's man cave. He's saying, hey, you and me, we both belong here. We're

compadres. So here's some of Bartholomew's pincushion artwork.

This is one of his favorite places to scratch.

Right. The back of this is another one of his favorite spots.

That one's pretty bad, yeah. Yeah, it's annoying, and it's terrible and

unsightly. Did I say annoying? Because it's really annoying.

We've got plenty of scratching posts for him. That he does use. But he still

enjoys the furniture.

I mean, this is downright... Ridiculous.

I'm seeing a few scratching posts, and the scratching posts don't seem to have

scratch marks.

It's not that much. You said that he uses these scratching posts.

Yeah, well... I must mean squat.

The scratching posts don't seem to have scratch marks.

It's not that much. You said that he uses these scratching posts.

Yeah, well... I must mean squat.

That's a fairly new one. That's a newer one. And what about that one in the

corner there? That one, he'll lay on top of it. Yeah, but it's not a scratching

post. But it's not really so much a scratching post. Looking around, I see a

sad scratching posts that are completely ignored.

Now, having seen Bartholomew's Trail of Destruction, I just want to spend some

time with him and see if his reputation is what they're saying it is.

Hello, my friend.

Come say hi.

Are you a good boy?

You want some?

Here we go.

Baby boy.

There's my baby boy.

Bartholomew's a little timid at first, but with proper motivation, food, and a

little loving intention, he's actually a really friendly cat, and he seems very

driven by human affection.

Yeah, good boy.

Thank you.

Bartholomew goes over on his back, giving me what I call the cat hug.

I earned that, man, and I got it, which means that David can earn it too. He's

just got to want it.

I have got every little piece of information that I need to help out the

so it's time to give him some homework.

First things first, let's just think about why he's scratching where he

scratches. He picks places that it's important for him to own.

It's that way of saying, I belong here.

So it's actually kind of a backhanded compliment.

David, from your perspective, you're saying he hates me.

He's not saying I'm pissed at you. He's saying I want to be a part of this.

So guys, your first assignment is what I call the no -yes.

It's okay to say no. This is not where I want you to scratch as long as right

behind it is a yes.

We're going to use double -sided tape. We're going to put that on in the places

that he has picked because he's going to have that experience over and over that

I reach for the couch and ugh.

But right next to that...

has to be a very sturdy scratching surface that's acceptable to you guys,

So now it comes down to your work, okay? And there is definitely work that you

guys got to do.

First of all, David, if you want a relationship with this cat, you can't

him. You can't stomp your feet. He associates you with scary things now.

homework with him is really just bonding.

I want David to become the most positive.

most amazing presence in Bartholomew's life. He's going to do that by taking

control of all the pleasurable rituals in this house. You're the only one who

gives him treats for the next couple of weeks.

You're the one who feeds him. So you're Santa Claus from now on. Every time you

appear, wonderful things happen.

For you, Shari, I want you to make a list for me of all the things that you

about Bartholomew, independent of any banditness.

Just the things about him that you love.

It's time to commit Bandit to memory.

It's time.

Because regardless of what your pain is, and of course you're still in pain, but

Bartholomew, he's the victim.

It's not a victimless grief.

I understand.

I'm obviously willing to do everything, but just having to address some emotions

that I've kind of buried.

I have every expectation that if you commit to this, things will be

Human and cat, they'll be different. Okay. I will see you guys very soon, and

you'll have a brand new house by the time I get back. It's really hard for me

grieve for Bandit, but I'm looking forward to doing my homework.

Hoping for some positive results.

Anyone?

I'm here for my second visit with Salem.

Last time I was here, I definitely saw evidence of Salem's aggression, but I

also saw redirected aggression onto himself. There was also random spikes of

energy that were causing all kinds of cat mayhem, which is a problem for

post -traumatic triggers. So the homework was supposed to de -spike the

and hopefully that's what I'm going to see.

There was a bunch going on here, looking down on the floor.

Obviously, a bunch of stuff happened here.

Just overall, how are you feeling?

Well, the fighting is down.

Probably about 70%. There haven't been any real, no major league knockdown,

out fights where there's injuries.

Man, I'll take that. Hearing the update, I'm totally excited to see the homework

video because clearly what they've been doing is causing something good to

happen here. Here we go.

As you can see, there's been a change in the food area.

The big tub is dead. Has been washed and put away.

The trough. And this is our play fishing.

And that's how you keep them interested.

Make it run to something.

And look!

Got Dexter and Lip in the middle of the floor, and there's our boy in the back.

Now here comes Salem.

Salem's in.

Nobody runs away from him. This is a large deal.

See, big things happen when you get rid of big troughs of food. Now that that

trough is gone, their physical energy is reined in.

So this is the shelf system installed.

We got one shelf there to get them from the couch up to the big shelf across

this window.

Rocking. So all four cats checking out their perches for the first time.

That's fantastic.

Now we had one minor attack last night.

That's the dining room. They're sitting on the fireplace.

Ooh, Dexter. Yeah, man. But let's go back there for a second.

Hand up, right?

Tail swishing. And he's prepping for a fight. That's a classic posture of, if

you bring it, I will bring it harder. The family, committing to the homework,

has given these cats a social structure that they can adhere to. And because of

that, Dexter is just gaining some serious confidence, which means he's

something. Salem is standing down, which means he's learned something.

Hello, Rizzo.

Rizzo's like, I want to be a part of everything.

Yes, thank you, baby.

Thank you.

Wow, Rizzo.

She's gotten more confident. Like, she's actually sitting in the room with you.

She's just owning these shelves.

She's got more spots now. Now we get to see Rizzo.

A little mojo -fied. Just like Dexter, Rizzo is acting more confident. I mean,

the last time I was here, she was army crawling around the floor because she

so scared. But now, with the addition of the shelves, she is owning the vertical

world, and that is translating to her feeling more confident through the

house. We're seeing a very clear progression here, but I am still

about Salem.

Have you noticed anything in terms of over -grooming? Is Salem still as bald

ever? It's gotten worse.

By the way, have you noticed anything in terms of over grooming?

It's gotten worse.

The aggression is definitely on the way down. But still not all that happy about

the fact that we still have a bald tummy in the house. As long as that's here,

the problem's not solved.

I want to start working on our exes. I got one fight and two over grooms. Any

these happen in the last five days?

No. Okay, great. That's what the progress is all about, because this area

heavily over -owned. Cats are defensive animals by nature. They've stuck around

for all these tens of thousands of years because they know how to stay alive.

So when we create lanes of highway, we're giving the cats a chance to not

and they're taking that bait. Let's take a look. Want to see Thelma's stressed

-out chair? There it is!

Wow. Yeah, that's where he goes, right there. Okay, now, I see X's. Look at

this. You have, look at, look at, it's the path.

The whole path is dotted with fights.

That does explain why the exes are here.

Fight, overgroom.

Fight, self -medicate.

Now, I know that you guys catch him overgrooming. You're always stopping

When I do it, I try not to just say stop and walk away. I start rubbing his

belly and scritching his back and scritching him around the neck and get

purr and then walk away. As we uncover the facts, as we look at the exes on the

ground, It's very clear to me what's going on. It's all insecurity.

He wants control so badly, and of course he can't have it.

So, let's get to some homework.

First of all, catification 2 .0. I want you to get what I call a diffusion post,

just a big scratching post, and put it right by those chairs in the kitchen.

The cats get into trouble when they have straight lines at each other.

The diffusion post acts as a traffic circle, so a cat can get away from

cat. Because right where that bunch of X's are, right there in the kitchen,

the center of all things nasty at this point. This is the essence of

catification. Get them to do what you want behavior -wise by directing the

traffic. The over -grooming part of things is really important here. The

is you see him over -grooming and you pick him up. You cuddle him. You're

actually rewarding him for doing it. I want to see you do something else.

So redirect means toys.

It means treats.

It means something that just grabs his attention so that he just forgets what

was doing.

The more we see a stabilization of territory, the more his hair is going to

back. For all of the therapy that he gave you, your chance to give it back.

needs his therapy, human, right now. I don't want to see him suffer.

Yeah, no. And, hey, listen, we're already a good way down the road. Let's

close the deal.

From the beginning, when Salem and I picked each other out, he's been there

me 100%, reducing my stress level. Now I'm committed to give that back to him

because he's given me so much.

Bartholomew, stop it.

Get away from there.

I am back to see David and Shari and their cat, Bartholomew. Last time I was

here, these guys took normal behavior and turned it into a codependent toxic

cocktail. Hopefully this time around, these guys have taken a logical approach

to the scratching and to their relationship with their cat.

How are things going in this house?

The news is good?

The news is great.

The news is great.

Yeah. Great.

Wonderful. I mean, you're smiling like crazy. What's going on here?

Well, we put the cat furniture and cat posts out and toys and made a

cat amusement park in here.

That's fantastic.

He's left the furniture alone.

Amazing. You know what? On that note, let's watch it.

What we did over here is we put the double -sided tape.

And now we have the brand -new scratching post furniture.

And we place next to this very active area for Bartholomew.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah. In the video, I can see the no -yes being executed to the T because

being told no, but given a proper outlet right to the side of that couch, it's

working perfectly.

Nice.

I feel like we made some significant progress today.

David's been putting in a tremendous amount of effort.

Bartholomew playing with him, feeding him every single day.

Look at David. I mean, you're petting him for a really long time. This is

wonderful.

There it is.

He's absolutely enjoying it. Wow, that's wonderful.

David absolutely executed that bonding homework, and he got the payoff. Right

now he has a relationship with Bartholomew, where before not only was

but the cat was scared of him too.

Great stuff.

So when David started playing with him and feeding him, he started sleeping

us all night on the bed. He just perches himself on the bed all night long.

Wow. Yeah. The fact that Bartholomew is now sleeping in bed with the couple.

That's it. That's the bond building. That's the belonging to an environment.

That's proof.

So, one other homework assignment. I wanted you to make a list of things that

were distinctly Bartholomew, apart from Bandit. What do we got?

Well, of course, I think that my Bartholomew is very sweet.

He's very neat and clean.

He wants to be affectionate, and he wants it to be loved. And Bartholomew is

survivor.

I admire that and I respect it and I have that in common with him.

Before we adopted him, Bartholomew had a really rotten year and a half to two

years living on the streets.

And the fact that Bartholomew just walked into a new home and let all of

and was willing to enjoy life and enjoy our couches.

He's a real tough dude.

So am I.

Yeah.

I love the fact that you can look at him and be reminded of your own strength

and your history as a survivor and not there's a shadow of bandit.

Bartholomew's now Bartholomew, and he occupies a place in your life that's so

much better. And then there's the other payoff, the furniture.

All the way around. Good work, you guys. Good work. Look, these guys have done a

great job with their homework, but I want to see one thing before I leave

today, and that's David's interaction with Bartholomew.

Hey, Barty Moo.

The last time I was here, David claimed that Bartholomew would not let him near.

Good boy.

Now we have a bond. David has earned his trust.

Now, step back for a second. Look at how he looks at you. Gives you that look of

like, you're my man. In a few weeks, you guys basically went from

being... kind of acquaintances to having a true relationship, and that's a

credit to you.

Honestly, we could have fixed the scratching problem. I could have walked

from here. But without relationships formed and repaired, it feels like a

victory.

Seeing David and Bartholomew right now, this is a job well done.

Good work, buddy.

You know, we didn't know what was going to happen in this process. And some of

it was really difficult, having to grieve for Bandit. You know, that's a

process. But they have made a lot of progress.

And now it's a happier household. And it just keeps getting better.

How have your stress levels been lately?

Well, last week I did have to take a mental health day. On days like that, my

hope would be that that's where...

Sam does his job.

Did he do his job?

I'm here to meet up with Molly and Kyle and their cat, Otitis. This is a story

about a woman and a cat who found each other at exactly the right time.

Hey!

Good to see you. You too.

Look at this. As soon as I walk in, it's a cat.

Is this our man? This is our Titan? He is the one and only.

He's so unique. And so what is his deal?

So he was a rescue. His previous owners had him, and he started developing like

this infection in his ears.

The vet recommended that he get this treatment for it. And for some reason or

another, they just decided, nope, not going to treat it. And this progressed,

and it got so bad that eventually it required ear amputation.

Wow.

Otitis had a pretty hard luck story, but the really hard luck part of it is that

his previous family could have saved those ears.

That infection could have been treated.

So what brought you to him?

So in March of 2014, I was on my way back to college, and I got into a pretty

nasty car accident.

I have amnesia from it. I don't remember anything that happened. I was knocked

unconscious.

I remember waking up with, like, spitting out glass, with, like, blood

and people being like, ma 'am, you got to stay calm.

I didn't know my name. I didn't know where I was. And I had terrible anxiety

a result.

After the accident, when I would start to have anxiety or a panic attack,

getting through each day was just a huge struggle. I was losing all hope. I was

nauseous every night.

I was so depressed.

I was so miserable, I wanted to drop out of school.

So then I was thinking about it, I'm like, you know, I'm happiest when I'm

animals. I need to...

get a cat. And I met him, and I'm like, oh, I need him.

Otitis and I both had a rough couple of years, I guess you could say, prior to

the adoption. So I think for both of us, we just had that instantaneous click

that we knew it was just going to work. I adopted him, and it was just like

instantaneous change.

I was able to sleep. Wow.

So symptomatically, you went from not being able to function to okay?

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

The reason that he came into my life was because of his ear infection.

Right. I was really going through a lot, struggling with a lot, and we kind of

both had our own battles that we were fighting, so we understood each other,

it worked out really well. It's amazing how...

Perfectly. He's come into your life. Do you know what I mean?

Oh, yeah. Otitis has helped me in so many ways. I wrote this story about him.

So this is called The Adventures of Otitis. Oh, look at this picture. Poor

So it's him and his journey. I'm a speech pathologist, and we use books a

therapy. So it's just to inspire people to be proud of your differences.

You know, it takes somebody like Molly, somebody who's got their own scars, and

to see a cat like Otitis and look past the physical and see the true beauty.

That book is going to change a lot of lives. So many cats like Otitis die in

shelters every day just because they don't look right. When you're looking

cat to adopt, don't go by the looks, man, because you might have that cat

heaven waiting for you. They just don't look the way you think they will. Thank

you again so much. It was really wonderful to meet you.

And you, and you.

Keep it up. Man, these two came along at the perfect time to save each other,

and now paying it forward so that kids all over the world know that sometimes

being different is cool.

Doesn't get any better than that.

Say one.

I'm here for my final visit with David and Melissa and their cat, Salem. When I

first met these guys, we were dealing with mayhem, straight -up mayhem in this

house. There have been massive improvements, but for someone like David

severe PTSD, it's about consistency. Day after day, things get better, and

that's what I want to see right now.

How's life in this household with cats?

In the last couple days, Phelan's been trying to play with Dexter like he used

to. Wow, that's amazing.

I really can see them getting back to the way they used to be.

Let's go through our video homework.

So we moved the cat post out.

To the middle of the lane in the kitchen. He really enjoyed it. The

post concept has worked perfectly. The kitchen used to be where all the big

fights happened. Now we have a traffic circle in the middle of the house.

There's no way to go straight towards the other cat.

Brilliant. Hey.

Hey. Oh, now he's looking.

Dexter wants to play.

Good work. The idea is if you can get him even moving, you take two steps.

He'll forget what he was doing.

It's that moment of just, what was I doing? Oh, I'm eating.

That's what I'm doing. Oh, I'm playing. That's what I'm doing.

Look at all that fur growing. Look at that.

I mean, we know that it takes about six to eight weeks for that hair to really

start growing back in a good way. But in a couple of weeks, I'm seeing fur, man.

I'm seeing fur on his belly. The first time I met Salem, it was bad.

And this time around, full -on hair growing back, when he overgrooms, it's a

self -soother. If he doesn't need to do that anymore, then that means his life

is better.

So, great stuff all the way around. In general, David, how have your stress

levels been lately?

Well, last week I did have to take a mental health day.

It didn't have anything to do with the cats or anything like that. On days like

that, my hope would be that that's where Sam does his job.

Did he do his job?

How have your stress levels been lately?

Well, last week I did have to take a mental health day.

It didn't have anything to do with the cats or anything like that.

On days like that, my hope would be that that's where Tim does his job.

Did he do his job?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, there we go.

He stayed in bed with me for a while the night before.

I had a lot of bad dreams that night.

He actually got up there and did the kneading. He did his thing.

Fur in my face.

That's crazy.

I never will get over that, how crazy that is.

The stakes were so high in this house.

I mean, PTSD is no joke, man. And now to hear that Salem is back to his therapy

cat duties and is acting playful with the other cats instead of attacking

that makes me so happy. But there's one thing left that I want to check out.

Well, hi.

What are we doing?

Hello, my friends.

Hi, Dexter and Salem.

I am really glad to see the two of you like this. I really am.

These guys put in a lot of work to get to this spot where these cats have a

healed relationship.

Hi, buddy, buddy.

Getting to spend a moment with them, I can see how comfortable they are.

comfortable with me.

Tells me that this family's been helped.

His confidence level's clearly up from...

The last time I was here. You're being the therapy human.

Yep.

If there's the one guy that's sitting out there and they're struggling and

everything like that, get some kind of animal. It will make a difference in

life. You may be feeling terrible, but if you can sit there and pet that

pet that cat, pet that dog, that tension's going to come out and you're

going to relax and then just realize that you're not alone because there's a

of other people out there that are hurting just like you.

Millions of people like David suffer from PTSD, and many suffer in silence.

If you or someone that you know is suffering from post -traumatic stress

disorder, go to the National Center for PTSD at ptsd .va .gov

for answers and support.

Know that you're not alone.