I adopted a test lab cat. Here's what happened.
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00:00And he spent four and a half years in a toxicity testing lab in Oklahoma.
00:07He had no name in the lab.
00:09It was number 698.
00:11I'm Erin, and this is Bagel's story for GOB.
00:14He was one of over 200 dogs and cats that were used in chemical toxicity tests.
00:20This wonderful nonprofit, Eagle Freedom Project, shut down that lab.
00:24And what they did was unprecedented.
00:26They actually bought the lab and then turned it into a sanctuary.
00:29So those 200 dogs and cats were then safe from testing, but they really needed homes.
00:33My beloved dog, Bodhi, and my cat, Lentil, both passed away.
00:38I was looking to adopt another animal, so I flew out to Oklahoma.
00:44And when I met Bagel, I knew immediately that my dog and cat had sent him to me
00:48to heal my heart because he was just the sweetest thing.
00:54All the cats that I met in that lab setting,
00:56you could feel the desperation on them, that they were just desperate for love and affection.
01:05What I learned from the rescuers was cats were very well socialized as kittens
01:11by the lab workers specifically, so they would be easier to work with during experiments.
01:17They were also food deprived to keep them hungry.
01:20A hungry cat is generally a motivated cat.
01:25So that's where Bagel came from.
01:26My goodness, you guys are like dogs.
01:29I just knew that he was my kitty that I had to bring home.
01:32We're leaving.
01:33I was a little bit nervous about bringing Bagel back on the plane with me.
01:37You have to understand, the only time he was ever taken out of his cage was to be experimented on.
01:41No enrichment, no toys, no cat trees, nothing.
01:44That second leg of the flight was very hard for him.
01:46His respiration rate was very high, and I was really a nervous wreck.
01:50It's okay.
01:51But as soon as I got him home, his respiration rate started to calm down.
01:57He's here.
02:00He's here.
02:02He was definitely cautious for the first few days.
02:06He was actually afraid to leave the bathroom and come into my bedroom.
02:14His very first time looking outside the window during the day.
02:18I live right on the beach, and he has a great view.
02:21What a view you have, buddy.
02:23He's like, oh my God, it's a bird.
02:24It's a plane.
02:27Everything was new and interesting and exciting to him.
02:33I have a basket of toys for him, and one day, after not knowing what to do with toys,
02:38he puts his whole body in this basket and tips it over, and he just laid in the toys.
02:42And it was like he suddenly figured out how to be a cat and have fun.
02:46And that inspired me, because I thought, gosh, I take a lot for granted.
02:50You're loving all your toys?
02:52Here's this little cat who's so happy to have even running water.
02:56What is that?
02:57He sat in the sink, staring at the faucet for a few days.
03:01He was really clingy for the first few weeks, because I think he thought, where am I?
03:05Am I going to lose this?
03:06Hello.
03:08Now he's chilled out a little bit, but he's still extremely affectionate.
03:15And when he came back from the vet the first time, Bagel did not speak to me for an entire day.
03:19He wouldn't come near me.
03:21He was running away, which is very unlike him.
03:24But I understand, because think about what he went through.
03:27It was just probably like being back in the laboratory and having a researcher
03:31grope him and poke him and do all sorts of things that he doesn't like.
03:35He doesn't really use his voice.
03:37He has a very tiny little whisper.
03:39Aw, Bagel.
03:42He makes biscuits on me.
03:44He makes biscuits on the bed, on the sofa.
03:46Bagel's just baking.
03:48Just baking, baking away.
03:51It's actually how he wakes me up in the morning.
03:52It's like his love language.
03:53When I'm not around, he kind of sits there and stares at the door for a very long time.
03:58My next thought is to get him a friend so that when I go out of the house, he has companionship.
04:02I have a lot of empathy for Bagel.
04:04I'm a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, and what I've been working on this year
04:09specifically is around advancing animal-free testing technologies.
04:15Hello.
04:16So Bagel is very close to my heart in many ways, but he's also close to my work
04:21and what I write about and think about on a daily basis.
04:24I love you.
04:26Yeah?
04:27Bagel feels like an animal that I was bonded with before I ever even met him.
04:32I don't know if people understand what I mean unless they've experienced that,
04:36but I felt like I knew Bagel as soon as I met him.