- It's time for "Drew Crime."
- Mm mm.
(suspenseful music)
(audience calling)
- Before the break we told you
about Fred Everett and his guard cat, Bandit.
And now they're here.
I'm so excited.
I got so into-
Oh, there you are. - Aah.
- Hi Fred.
- Hi Bandit.
(laughing)
- Hey Drew.
- Aw, hi Fred.
I heard- - This is in full.
- Oh my God, you and Bandit. - Bandit's like,
"I am not having this right now."
(laughing) - Whoa.
- Okay. - Not right, not right.
- Well-
- She wore me out.
- So Fred,
I heard that you typically
stay up late watching old movies.
Is this true?
- It's very true.
I'm retired surgeon
and I don't have schedules I have to keep,
unless I'm traveling, things like that.
So I stay up late.
- This particular night you didn't stay up late.
Is that correct?
- That's correct.
I was in bed by about midnight.
Cats are notorious for
night feeders,
night prowlers, stuff like that.
And that's what happened that night
is we have double sliding glass doors
out to,
our deck
and it's perfect level
for a stray cat to come in on one side
and my cat to be on the other side
separated by a thin pane of glass.
And they sit there and growl
and it's almost demonic.
I mean, just a low type thing. (laughing)
And I heard that and I got half awake
and then I went back, not to sleep,
but I was just kind of in that stage.
And she comes racing into the bedroom,
jumps on me, pulls and scratches on the comforter
and actually got my arms a couple times.
She was determined to get me up.
And so I said, "Okay, you know, at the worst
I'm gonna have to shoe off a stray cat," you know.
Flipped on the light in the kitchen.
Here is two younger individuals,
lower twenties, probably.
I'm not good on ages,
but one had a pistol and one had a crowbar
(sharp inhalation)
and,
obviously robbery in progress.
- Oh.
- I ran back to the master bedroom
and picked up a weapon
that I could defend myself with.
And by the time I got back
to the kitchen they had fled on foot.
- Wow.
- I totally credit Bandit
for preventing that.
Oh, yeah. - Oh, Bandit.
Bandit saved the day. (audience applauding)
Is it true that there's a sweet story
of how bandit came into your life?
- Yeah, I've always,
I've always done a lot of work
with all kind of charities.
So, one of them being the Humane Society,
because I love animals and I was going down,
I actually was gonna write a check.
I did write a check at the Humane Shelter
and I said, "You don't have any kittens?"
And they brought out three
and one of 'em was Bandit.
- Oh. - Oh.
- This cat got in drawers, pulled out stuff.
I went, "Wow, what kind of energy is that?"
- I love this, that you saved Bandit
and then Bandit saved you.
- Yes, exactly. - Isn't that amazing?
- That's how it works with rescue animals.
- Yeah. Absolutely.
- And we wanted to do something to honor you and Bandit.
So today our friends at Cats Pride are donating $10,000
to the Tupelo Humane Society.
- All right, how about that?
(audience cheering)
- Wow.
- That's right.
- And my step granddaughter and stepson
just opened the first
cat cafe in Mississippi.
- Oh! - It's in Tupelo
and it's called Twisted Whiskers.
- Oh yeah. - Ah.
- They've already placed 30 cats
- Oh.
- since they opened this summer.
So kudos to them.
- Yeah absolutely. - Kudos to them.
- Here's to Twisted Whiskers.
- And that's not all, we have something else.
They have a litter for good program
where for every jug of Cats Pride litter sold
they donate a pound of litter
to animal shelters in need.
And they'd like to give an additional $5,000 worth
of litter to the shelter as well.
- All right.
(audience applauding)
- And all of this is an honor of Fred and Bandit.
- Oh. - Thank you so much, Fred,
for sharing your story.
And we thank Bandit
and we are gonna put your children's
or is it your son or your daughter
who opened Twisted Whiskers?
- My grand stepchildren.
- Well, we're gonna, we'd love to feature them
on our website and continue to support and foster
and just thank you.
Thank you so much for telling us your story.
We just love you.
Thank you.
- And give Bandit kisses for us.
- You bet.
Thanks so much, it's been really, really nice.
Thank you, thank you.
- Oh, the cutie.
(upbeat band music)