Rappaport To The Rescue

It’s lucky #7 for Rappaport to the Rescue, and for our special Anniversary Show we catch up again with our original guests, the one and only TV journalist- host with the most, and media person extraordinaire, Meredith Vieira, and animal trainer and Tony-winner, Bill Berloni. And joining us on our special show, our clawsome cat correspondent, Deborah Cribbs!

Listen to Episode #86 Now:

BIO:

Meredith Vieira is a 15-time Emmy Award-winning host, executive producer and anchor. Beginning September 2019, she will host the Fox-syndicated game show 25 Words or Less. In 2018, Meredith served as co-host of PBS and BBC’s Royal Wedding Watch and as host of the PBS series The Great American Read. She served as executive producer on the award-winning documentary TOWER, released in October 2016. Vieira hosted and served as executive producer on her own nationally syndicated daytime talk show, titled The Meredith Vieira Show, which premiered in September 2014 and ran for two seasons. Previously, she received critical acclaim for her hosting of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Today Show, and The View. As host of Millionaire, Vieira became the longest-standing female game show host in history. She is also a member of an elite group to have anchored or hosted programs on 5 broadcast networks. Early in her career, Vieira spent more than a decade at CBS News, garnering five Emmy Awards for her work as an editor on the news magazines 60 Minutes and West 57th. Vieira founded and is CEO of Meredith Vieira Productions, which develops and produces film, television, and theatre. A native of Providence, R.I., Vieira received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in Medford, Mass. She has three children, Ben, Gabe, and Lily, with her husband, best-selling author and journalist Richard Cohen.

Transcript:

Welcome to Rappaport to the Rescue. I'm Jill Rappaport and this is a very special day for me because we are kicking off the seventh anniversary of Rappaport to the Rescue. It's hard to believe that at this time, seven years ago, in the height of COVID, I began this show in my little room here.

We weren't able to be with anybody. It was such a lonely, frightening time. And I reached out first to my dear pal, animal trainer extraordinaire Bill Berloni, and I said, we've got to do this show.

We've got to connect with people about their animals and how at this time, many people like me only had their animals to comfort us. And this was a show about the connection, the joy, and the love and attention they gave us during the most frightening times of our lives. And Bill said, I'm in.

And we then reached out to my dear pal, who I worked with on the Today Show for many years, the extraordinary Meredith Vieira. And she was our very first guest for our very first show. And it was amazing.

And here we are, kicking off year seven. And I am joined again with Bill Berloni and Meredith Vieira to recap those moments. So when we come back, you won't want to miss this.

It's our anniversary show. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Rappaport to the Rescue.

You heard in the intro, we are kicking off year seven of this show. And I feel truly honored and blessed because it has been an absolute blast. So who better to join me than the man I began it all with, the one and only Bill Berloni.

He's an animal trainer like no other. And I am so happy that we got Bill because he is literally sitting in an airport. Bill, the lighting's pretty good considering.

And we grabbed you as you're about to board a plane for a very special shoot. I know it's top secret, a lot of big stars and their pets. But Bill, can you believe year seven? No, when you said that, I was thinking maybe three or four, but time flies when you're having fun, I guess.

And remember, when I first reached out to you, you were really beyond frightened because your whole livelihood was put on hold as so many people's work. And you thought, what am I going to do? How am I going to feed my animals? How am I going to take care of my family? And we needed to talk about it. And he said, let's do this podcast or reach out to people who are getting so much comfort from their animals at a time where we didn't know what the hell was going to happen.

Exactly, exactly. So to be able to do something fun and relate the stories of Rescue with some of the favorite stars on the planet, I think helped people realize that we're going to be okay. It really was such a scary time.

And I remember talking to you and you thought to yourself, am I even going to be able to have a job after this? Who's going to hire us? What's going to happen? And at that time, like you always have multiple animals in your home. How many do you have right now that you're in training and taking care of and will live with you for the rest of their lives? We just adopted two more dogs. So we're up to 25 dogs, three cats, two parakeets, macaw, and a pig, pot-bellied pig, who's living in my office.

And you were thinking, how am I going to feed them? A lot of mouths to feed at that point, yeah. There was no Broadway, there were no movies, there was no casting. It was really dire.

Yep. Like so many other families with or without pets, we all were on the precipice of what's going to happen. And so we were able to have some friends put together a GoFundMe to help feed our animals for a year.

And we were blessed that people contributed and we were able to get through that year without working and still have everybody fed and bedded and a roof over their heads. And it was really so much the Broadway community that stepped up to the plate to save you and your fur family. Yep.

Again, there's nothing in all the entertainment venues that I've worked in, film, TV, live entertainment, there's nothing like the Broadway community. You meet somebody when you're a teenager and you still work with them when you're retiring. So you get to know and care about people and their families.

It's unbelievable. And to this day, we just interviewed you recently with Anna Gasteyer and you know her show, Schmigadoon One, The Tony. And Bill, you are also a Tony winner.

It really is incredible how they love and embrace you. You do God's work because you're not only taking these animals and putting them on the stage and screen and showing how incredible they are and they're happy being there. That's the number one priority for you.

They must be happy while they're working, but these are rescue animals. Yep. I'm doing the 50th anniversary revival of Annie.

Which we talked about. Talked about. And we're looking to adopt two dogs.

And so we started a nationwide search and I had a person sign up and I spoke with them and they were submitting their own personal dog to be in the show. And I said, well, this is for adoption dogs. We'd like to adopt it and bring it to our home.

Oh no, you can't have my dog. Why can't you just use somebody else's dog? And I thought, didn't you read the copy? Two dogs out of shelters and give them a home. Why would we pass that up? Just didn't make sense.

Now, as I mentioned, you're sitting in an airport, you're about to board in what, like five minutes? Yeah, seven or eight minutes. And I grabbed you. I am such a fearful flyer.

You wouldn't be able to talk to me for a week before the flight because I'd be too nervous. But you are jumping from city to city on a very exciting project. Are you allowed to tell us anything or give us a few hints? I can give you a few hints.

I'm working for the NFL, something I never thought I would say. And we're doing this wonderful show about NFL players and their dogs. So we have eight players participating and I'm flying out to interview all of them before the actual show.

So that's about all I can tell you. Oh, that's going to be incredible. And I'm sure you've gotten some wonderful people.

And can you at least tell us their relationship with their animals? So far, everybody who's volunteered, I can tell right from the initial start has wonderful relationships with their dogs. And what else can I tell you? That's about it. I can't drop any names yet.

Oh, yeah. You never were a name dropper, but we're really not going to get anything out of you now. But I will drop one secret.

Since we've spoken, Jill, you know, I've been doing this Broadway show and it's been a big secret because there's a dog in it and he has a very crucial part in the end of the play. And we want the audience to be surprised. The play is coming to an end because it was a limited run.

And the name of the play is called Fear of 13. And it stars Adrian Brody. So for the last four months, I've been hanging out with Adrian Brody, with my dog Gus, and they're just a great pair.

He loves dogs. He loves my dogs. It's been a joy to do that.

Multi award winner, Oscar winner, Adrian Brody. And I tried to get this news out of you. I actually knew who it was because we're buddies and we talked about it.

But you said, I can't go public. And all the times I interviewed you, we tried to get it out. But now we know the name of the show and the star.

And you've done such an amazing job, Bill. Congratulations, as always. And I'm so sorry that you can't get with Meredith Vieira today.

She's going to be joining us in just a few minutes, but you've got a plane to catch. And I know you adore her so much. Any words for Meredith as we embark upon our seventh year? She's our good luck charm.

She is our good luck charm. And yes, you called me, but who knew if anybody would volunteer to be on the show? And of course, who was the first one who said yes so fast? Meredith Vieira. So that just goes to show you how much she loves animals as much as we do and wants to do whatever she can to help.

And I can't think of anybody else who would have been better for our premiere show. So tell her I love her. And can't wait to talk to her next year or even sooner.

Yeah. And of course, we all have a very special and have a special relationship with Meredith. You trained her dog, Jasper, who is sadly in heaven now, but lives in her heart every single day.

You made such an impact on the family's lives. And I know she just adores you, but we'll sing your praises in the next segment. Bill, have a great safe flight.

Thank you so much for literally grabbing you on the fly. No pun intended. There's no business like show business.

That's for sure. Hey, at least you're working. That's all that matters.

Bill Berloni, my dear friend, safe travels. I'll catch up with you soon. And I'm going to get those secrets out of you.

Believe me. Happy anniversary to Rappaport to the Rescue. Aw, Bill, thank you so much.

And when we come back, we will be joined as we call her our good luck charm to kick off our next year, the one and only Meredith Fiera. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Rappaport to the Rescue.

She is here, our good luck charm to kick off our seventh year, the one and only Meredith Fiera. Of course, you know her, you love her from all her wonderful years on NBC's Today Show, ABC's The View. She had her own talk show.

Now she has her own game show, 25 Words or Less. I can't even believe she had time for us today. Meredith, we are so happy to see you.

You look gorgeous in those sunglasses. Oh, do you, honey? Yeah, well, I put a little bit of... You know, it's funny. I just wrapped up my season and I don't wear makeup normally.

I just don't. And for six and a half weeks, I had eye makeup and I'm kind of down the days going, at what point will my eye get an infection? And the day after I left, I started to develop some pink eye. Everything's fine, but... Oh, I thought you were just being, you know, a little star attitude.

No, no. My eye's a little swollen. So I haven't gone Hollywood yet.

Not quite. Not quite. And this is the eighth season you're kicked off to? We just wrapped our eighth season.

And this year, 30% of the country, we went live for one month. I heard about that. And it was phenomenal.

It was great. And we're the only, as far as I know, the only game show that has ever attempted that. And we were nervous.

The last day of rehearsals, which was the only day of rehearsals, went so badly. I couldn't even talk at the end. My boss was, do you want to go to dinner? And I'm like, uh, uh, uh, uh, because I thought we have to go live on Monday.

And it was a, you know this about TV, disaster. And then somehow the angels came out of wherever they come out of and all the kinks were worked out. And we went live Monday and for a month without a hitch, twice a day.

Who's better at live TV than you? I mean, they really picked the perfect host because that has been your whole life is live television. I think you needed somebody who knew live television. It didn't have to be me necessarily, but for them to make that leap with somebody who had never done it, because you, you can't go to I mean, you can, but it doesn't look good, you know, so you probably won't go live the next day.

So you had to, uh, you know, you had to be able to fill in time where you had those big gaps or condensed quickly. And that's where our skills, you and I have the same thing. I mean, we've done it.

Please. You're putting me in your league. Thank you.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, you, you know, it's had ability to communicate when you know, the clock's ticking and, uh, yeah, so I guess I am a somewhat of a train monkey, but what I love is that you are having so much fun with this gig.

And I feel like this was always meant to be, you are always meant to be led to this job. I don't know. Yeah.

I mean, I've loved every job I've done, but at this point, and we've had this conversation before with the world being the way it is a half an hour of levity and warmth and giving away money. People love that. You know, it's just, people need it.

They need a diversion and that's what the game provides. And it's also a smart game. So I've really enjoyed it, but it's funny.

I, we shot in New Jersey and I didn't realize that the oldest donkey diving, remember they used to take those donkeys and they'd walk them off the plank and then they fall into a tank of water that started at the steel piers in Jersey. That was where it got its name. And I felt many days like I'm just like that donkey.

They're just pushing me out there, you know, and I'm falling into a big tank of whatever it is. And will I survive, you know, and I hated the analogy because that brought back such strong memories of the way animals are still, we still have so long to go, but the way they were side acts and carnivals and, you know, but, but I felt a little like that myself. Oh, well, you are not only a survivor, you are a super success.

Did you win 15 Emmys, Meredith? Did I read that correctly? 17. I think it's 17, but I don't know. 17? I'm not a hundred percent sure because a bunch of them are broken.

They're in a box in the basement because we used to have a spiral staircase and my kids, when they were little, would, and I put them on the spiral staircase thinking, well, this is, I must showcase these things. And one after another, they were knocked off and broken. And to be honest with you, they're sort of cheaply made.

So they broke easily. And so I have them in a box.

I love it. That's so you, Meredith, you have them in a box. If I even won one, I'd hang it as an earring, okay? I'd wear it.

Well, but mine are broken and it costs so much to repeat. You would think if you won the Emmy, you said it broke, they'd give you another one, but they don't.

You have to pay a lot of money and went, eh, that's okay. Well, I just love at this point in your career and your life, did you ever think you would be doing this? Because I know many, many years ago when you got discovered and they put you on all these incredible shows, national, you were hit right out of the gate.

Did you ever think at this stage in your life, you would be doing this game show and still out there in the public eye and loving it? You know, and this is going to sound sort of pathetic, but I don't do too much thinking about this stuff. I've had an amazing amount of luck.

I've taken advantage of it. I've used my skillset as best I can through the years. And I've had opportunities thrown at me that on paper might've seemed weird.

It happened the first time when I was doing a talk show. I had people say, why are you doing a talk? You're a newswoman. Then when I went to Millionaire, why are you doing a game show? You're a talk show person.

But I've taken those opportunities because I've liked the challenge and I like the variety. So I don't even know what's around the next corner. Right now it's this and it'll be what it'll be, but I'm really enjoying it.

And because it's concentrated work, which is the way game shows are shot, you know, we shoot 165 in the course of six weeks. You have a lot of time to pursue other things if you want, or I'm a grandma now. I have two little ones, a little boy, Cam, and a little girl, Darcy.

I'm claiming them as mine. They're my kids' children, but I'm working on them. I can't believe Meredith, the grandmother, the most gorgeous grandmother.

And you've been through so much having lost your husband, Richard, and literally finding your way again, because you were with him and had such an incredible relationship for so many years. 40 years today we would have been married. Today's my wedding anniversary.

Unbelievable. Yeah. Which I never remembered because I always thought it was the 18th and every year Richard would be sitting, you know, uh-huh, you want to say anything to me? Like happy anniversary.

I'd say, ah, is it today? And he'd go, Meredith, it's flag day. You can't forget it. June 14th is flag day.

It's marked on every calendar. I said, oh yeah, okay, right. Oh, he was always kind of needling you and teasing you.

Oh, totally. He was the ultimate intellectual, right? Totally, totally. You know, you were always kind of the goofy, funny one, obviously very brilliant as well, but he would make fun of you if you weren't up on everything current, right? But he was also the curmudgeon who, deep in his heart, was really romantic.

And it sort of was like, what do you, you don't remember? So anyway, Richard, happy anniversary. Oh, that is just a beautiful thing. And your kids and your whole family, you're all thriving.

Everybody's doing great. My boys, here's a lovely story that parents don't talk about their kids, please, I apologize. But my two boys, Ben and Gabe, Ben's the oldest and then Gabe and then Lily.

But Ben and Gabe, as little kids, didn't always get along very well. I think Ben was tough on his younger brother until he saw his younger brother was really good at sports. And then he went, oh, okay, someone that can throw the ball to me.

But he was really tough. And in fact, at Gabe's wedding, Ben was the best man. He spoke about it so beautifully, how, you know, reflecting on, I could have been nicer to my brother and now he's the man I admire the most.

It was a lovely speech. But anyhow, Gabe won the lottery and he got two tickets to the US's first soccer game Friday. So he called Ben, Ben's getting married in April.

He said, Ben, I want to give you this as a bachelor party, you know, just to celebrate the fact that you're getting married. And so he took Ben to the soccer game. They're in LA now.

Oh, that is amazing. I bet Ben flipped out when he got that as a gift. Oh my God.

Also, Gabe went early because they're both big golfers and they spent five days together, really bonding. And I just, it makes my heart feel so good because, you know, as kids grow up and go their own way, sometimes that doesn't happen, but it was great. I bet.

Was Lily a little jealous? Not really. Lily is not, the World Cup doesn't mean much to her. Sports is not her big thing, but no, she's got a little girl now.

So she's so busy with Darcy. So we'll, we'll be one on the end of October. So I don't think.

And you still have your grand dog? Not only do we have, yeah, it's my, it's actually my niece's. Oh, well, are you talking about Arthur? Yes. Arthur.

Yeah. They're moving to Bethesda. So Arthur's going to get a big yard.

You know, they want for the school system. They'd like to get out to DC and go to Bethesda. So right.

It's right next door to DC. So yeah, we still have Arthur and then my niece, because I haven't, I can't do it yet, Jill. I want a pet, but I'm not ready.

But my niece has the most fantastic sheep dog, Norman. Norman is unbelievable. And she called me sheepishly about two months ago.

And she said, I have to go away for a couple of weeks in the summer. Would you consider? And we, yes, because I knew what she was going to ask. Yes.

So I get Norman for two weeks. It's like going to be his summer camp. I'll either take him to the Cape or we'll stay here.

Oh, well, you know, we talked about this in the intro. Sadly, you missed the wonderful Bill Berloni, who we all started this podcast together going on now seven years. And we talked about Jasper.

Yeah. He trained Jasper. Jasper was your beloved dog.

That was really your appendage. I'd like to say you might have loved him a little bit more than your husband. I don't ever tell about that.

But you know, we talked about that and you've said you're just not ready. The loss was just too much. And I know he's with you and in your heart every day.

And also your cats. I know. Just you had a menagerie in your life.

Now you don't. What is that like? It's tough because I miss the companionship and the warmth of an animal because they're, you know, it's like you said, appendage. They really do become that.

You know, you love them more than anything, because they love unconditionally, as you know, better than anybody. But I just haven't. I've been sort of trying to find myself again first and get my grounding again and feel good.

And it's going on a year and a half. And I'm still kind of, you know, when I'm working, that's a diversion. And that's great.

Last year, actually, I don't know when we talked. Was it before I fell down the stairs? Or I had a terrible year after after Richard died. About two weeks later, my brother's wife died.

So it's that was tough. And then I fell down the stairs, broke a couple ribs. Then I had this weird eye thing that which this is not this is just like a pink eye, but it's a kind of sty that is it looks like a tumor.

And then so I was a mess. I made Quasimodo look like handsome, you know, like, like George Clooney. I mean, even the doctor went to this, I swear to God, I had to go to the emergency room in Cape Cod because when I fell, and so he said, checked, you know, I said, Well, I think this, this, this, and I said, Well, you look at my eye, too.

And he looked at me went, God, you're a mess. And well, that's not exactly a professional assessment, you know, but, but you're right, Doc, you're right. So so it's been so I had a lot of stuff going on.

And I'm through all of that. And you're okay now. Yeah.

And I actually think that grief, the way grief presents itself is interesting. It can be the outward pouring of, you know, tears and emotion, or it can be I think, in my case, I had been like this for so many years, like ready to pounce, you know, like on alert, like those dogs. And suddenly that was gone.

And I think all that tension had to be released. And I, I mean, just the fact of being, you know, not surefooted at all, literally, I think was part of that. I just think my body just went, we can't take it anymore.

We've been like this. We've been rigid for years. And now stuff's gonna happen.

And it did. It did. But you're okay now.

Oh, yeah. No, I'm okay. I mean, except for this.

But uh, but yes, I'm absolutely fine. I'm absolutely fine. Just starting to kind of open the new chapter.

And what's so amazing, and I think it must help you so much that you are still so active with your career, you're jumping on planes, and you're interacting with people keeping your mind alive and absolutely staying, you know, on the top of your game. Well, as as best I can, because I think it's, I mean, it's a selfish act. You know, I get so much out of it.

And I think that socialization, you read so much about loneliness, and the epidemic of loneliness, and so much of that is people, you know, withdrawing. And there's, I do not want to or care to or plan to withdraw. I think having people around is really important.

And even beyond your family, just that network of friends and associates and people that can, as you said, just sort of inspire you or stimulate your mind or whatever it is they're going to do. It scares me the world we're heading toward, where there's less and less of that. People are just, they're on their phone.

They don't even look up when they're walking in the street. You know, and that kind of chosen isolation really makes me nervous. It's sort of what you said about people now wanting everything in little sound bites.

They can't handle more than that. They don't have the attention span to listen to something. And I wonder, is that because they just don't have it, or did we create a world where that is the norm? You know, so I don't know which came first, but it's scary to me that people can't just sit and be.

And be with each other. I get so frustrated. You know, I'll text someone initially before calling them, but then I say, can you pick up the phone? I want to talk to you.

Right. And that people don't want to pick up the phone. And I see it in the younger generation.

If I want to get to my kids, I text. Because when I call, they don't pick up. But texting, yes.

Email, no. It's the text. So yeah, I don't know.

I'm with you. I want to hear a voice. I want to have a conversation that I don't have to type and spell wrong or get the spell check where it's not the words I said.

But I guess a lot of people don't want that. It's such a frightening time that we're living in. And that's why you hold on to all the people and the animals and the things that you love, because we just don't know if they're going to be there the next day.

I know. I want to take a second though, Jill, and turn the conversation to you. I mean, talk about what you've accomplished.

That we were sitting here seven years ago. You didn't know whether this would take off or not, but this is your DNA. It's just an extension of it.

And what a gift you bring to people. You are a gift on what you have done for animals, what you have done for people like me, the joy that you've brought. And I can't thank you enough for letting me be a part of this because it's an amazing accomplishment.

I credit both of you guys, and Bill too, but you're the one at the helm. And I just, it's pretty damn cool. So it's your birthday too.

It's your anniversary. Meredith, that is like the nicest thing. You're making me cry.

That is so sweet because you know how I feel about you. I remember sitting next to you when you would introduce my segment on the Today Show, and I had to pinch myself thinking I am sitting with Meredith Vieira. That's who's introducing me.

And I've admired you, respected you, and loved you for so many years. And I've always said this to you every show. I say it again.

I don't mean to be repetitive. Everybody feels that way about you. You are one person that people just adore and respect.

And it's just such an honor. I really believe one of the reasons this show is still continuing is because you are our good luck charm. I always say that.

But here we are, and it started with you, and every year we kick off the new year with you. So from the bottom of my heart, I can't thank you enough. I just feel so blessed to know you, have you as a friend, and to have you with the show.

Oh, I still remember those segments too. Do they do those kinds of segments anymore? I feel like they don't. And they were so wonderful.

Yeah, because we need to educate people. It's dire right now, what's going on with the animal world. I mean, the horses.

I want to stop the carriage horses, that horse that just died. I can't take it. And I'm thinking, how do we do this? We have to get the message out.

And I'm not seeing the programming that we used to do to raise awareness. Totally. And even at the simplest level, to get animals adopted, to find homes for these wonderful animals that might face a terrible fate otherwise.

So I don't know at what point they decided that wasn't good TV. I don't know. But I miss that.

I miss that humanity. Yeah. And it's the one thing, as I always say, no matter where you stand in the world and what your beliefs are, it's the one area that brings us all together.

I agree. Animal love and compassion knows no divide. Right.

And we should be doing those stories now, if anything, to bring people together. Together. Exactly.

Exactly. Meredith, I can't thank you enough for taking the time. You are just a joy.

And I really believe you're the reason we're here. And thank you so much. Can we count on you every year? You know you can.

You better. If I don't get the call, I'm going to be banging on your door. I've got that reporter's persistence.

That hasn't changed. That we know. That we know.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. On our special edition, our anniversary edition of Rappaport to the Rescue.

And Meredith, you'll love this. When we come back, we have our cat correspondent, Deborah Cribbs. She's an amazing woman who just wants to change the world for cats.

We've gotten so big, we have a correspondent now. Join us. Well, I think that's very exciting.

We're growing. Thank you so much, Meredith.

Hi, welcome back to Rappaport to the Rescue. I'm Jill Rappaport. Very excited to have our cat correspondent on hand, Deborah Cribbs, and she is back with an amazing segment today.

Because did you know that cats have a reputation for being mysterious, independent, and sometimes a little hard to read? Now, I don't have any cats in my life, and every time I learn new things from Deborah, I am just fascinated about these incredible creatures. Science is starting to reveal a fascinating picture of what's really going on inside of the feline mind. Now, today we're going to explore feline cognition, how cats learn, solve problems, and what their brains reveal about intelligence compared to dogs and even humans.

So, Deborah, you're back at the Perfect Day Cat Cafe, and this is really amazing to me, how they think and what's behind the cat brain. Hi, Jill. So happy to be here again with all of my 15 kitty friends here, waiting to be adopted in beautiful Covington, Kentucky.

Interestingly, this is also a great place to observe cat behavior and how cats think. So, we're alone with these cats right now. It's really easy to watch all of them.

And you know, Jill, the first thing that I would say about how cats learn is to take a step back and let's talk about cats versus dogs. So, dogs are used to, as you know, of course, pack behavior. Dogs learn from each other, from cooperating, and we all understand that they need the pack.

Cats evolved as solitary creatures. It is part of their DNA, from the desert, from the jungles, solitary creatures. They are solitary predatory hunters.

So, how do they learn? Not as a pack, not being taught, except when they're very young by their They are absolutely taught to hunt by their mother, but they do not learn in a group environment. So, the way that they go about learning is really different. And interestingly, up until recently, most of the studies done in the world have really been about dog behavior and dog brains.

And why is that? You know what I think it is, honestly, Jill, the internet? I mean, cats routinely break the internet, right? Everybody loves cats on the internet. They have the funniest behaviors for a 10-second reel. So, I think it started a couple of decades ago.

And now, when we do surveys, it is a fact that fully 85% of Americans claim an affinity toward cats. What about understanding human words? Now, dogs absolutely understand human words. How about cats? Okay.

There's been a study recently that shows definitively that cats know their names. It's not just the tone of voice, that you can use the same tone of voice for two different cats, and they will respond to their name. And the study showed they will even respond to a stranger, not their person, saying their name.

So, cats absolutely can learn. But here's the difference, I think, mostly, and why cats are so misunderstood sometimes. It's not that cats can't learn.

They learn. They know. They know you want them to do something.

They don't want to. Cats are independent. Is that aloof? No, I think that's smart.

Cats know that we're not going to punish them for not jumping up on the couch when we're ready for them. They do what they want to do most of the time. So, understand, they know what you ask them to do.

And it is a very common cat behavior to turn your head at me. And blow you off. And let this stain.

Yeah. And say, nope, I'm not going to do that, but thanks anyway. I love it.

And what is this about cats solving problems? Can they actually do that? They absolutely do. Do you remember a couple of months ago, we had a very wise doctor, Lindsay Van Zandt, who comes from our local research zoo center. She did a bunch of studies on our behalf, Jill.

And again, definitively proved that cats can be trained by clicker to do certain behaviors. Also showed that using food, of course, as an enticement, cats can learn certain behaviors and cats absolutely can be taught to open containers. They're not going to close them probably.

Although I suppose we could teach them if we wanted to. We can teach cats to do those kinds of things. Absolutely.

What about their memories? Supposedly cats have incredible memories. That's a really good question, Jill. We've done studies, scientifically proven that cats have, in particular, really good spatial memories.

And if you think about it, if you have a cat in your life, they go to their place if they're under duress, like the vacuum cleaner starts or somebody knocks at the door, right? They run to their place. They don't hesitate. They know where that place is.

So they know where safety is. They know where food is. Believe me, they know where their people are.

Again, they may or may not choose to be with you at that moment. But cats have a finely tuned memory, in particular, for places. Well, I always think my dogs are the most brilliant animals in the world.

But how do cats' brains compare with dogs and humans? Would you say they're more intelligent or just different? As I've read the science, humans have bigger brains, more neurons that fire. Apparently, although I struggle with this one, dogs have slightly, ever so slightly more neurons in their brain than cats. Although, I don't think that's fair because dogs, on average, are bigger than cats.

So I think that we still need another study on this one. So let's just say, because it's controversial, Jill, and I'm standing where I am today, that cats and dogs are relatively equal in their ability to learn and think. But certainly, human brains are more developed evolutionarily, of course.

Well, that was the politically correct answer to give, I must say. They are very smart. They can be taught.

They can learn. They do learn. They don't care to follow your commands.

They will come if they want. Somebody's climbing on my leg right now. How high do you think you're going to get, dude? Look at that.

He's halfway up my leg. Oh, now I think that cat wants to come home with you, Deborah. This is a time I wish our audience could see what's going on here.

Deborah is cradling the most beautiful cat. Looks to be pretty black with beautiful green eyes. Oh, you know, and it's funny, I normally am not allowed to come to these places, Jill.

And you know why? My husband has disallowed me coming home with any more friends. Although, I don't know, this one is really cute. This is Lily.

She's a little girl. Lily is super smart and Lily can learn. And Lily is ready in Covington, Kentucky right now to be adopted.

I see a pretty great relationship forming right now between you and Lily. And Deborah, this was so informative, learning all about the cat's mind, what goes on behind those beautiful eyes. Deborah Cripps, thank you so much for this wonderful information.

Really interesting. And thank you all for joining us for this anniversary edition of Rapoport to the Rescue. Here's to many more.

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