The Community Cats Podcast

In this episode, Dean Killingbeck of Pets Strong CBD joins Stacy to discuss CBD and Pet Strong's products. Born and raised on a farm, Dean developed a deep appreciation of nature and herbal medicine, and when his senior dog began to develop mobility issues, Dean decided to try CBD. The results were positive, but Dean was dismayed by the quality of products available for pets, and by the misinforma...

The multi-talented Arden Moore joins Stacy in this episode to discuss all things C-A-T. Arden is a radio show host, author, professional speaker, editor, media consultant, dog/cat behavior consultant, and a master pet first aid instructor. She and Stacy discuss the details of her podcast, Oh Behave, hosted by PetLifeRadio and selected by Oprah as one of her top three favorite pet podcasts for the...

In this episode, Stacy sits down with Julie Posluns, the founder and owner of Cat School, an online training school for cats that uses clicker training to teach fun and practical behaviors and strengthen the bond between cats and their human in the process. Julie, who is a trained animal behaviorist, worked entirely with dogs until a small black kitten showed up at her back door. The cat, now call...

Award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker Tina Traster, previously featured on CCP Episode 186 , joins Stacy again to update us on her documentary, Catnip Nation. The film advocates for TNR through the stories of four Good Samaritans caring for community cats around the country. Since being on CCP a couple of years ago, Tina has taken Catnip Nation on the film festival circuit, where it won...

In this episode, HSUS Senior Analyst for Cat Protection & Policy Danielle Bays joins Stacy to talk about what's going on in the world of cat policy issues. Danielle, who has chatted with Stacy in CCP Episode 55 , Episode 261 , and Episode 293 , also shares details about the upcoming HSUS Expo conference. The conference will be held in San Antonio May 6–9 and will feature a whole track devoted spec...

In this episode, Stacy is joined by Camille Labchuk, an animal rights lawyer and the executive director of Animal Justice, Canada's only animal law advocacy organization. Camille also hosts the Animal Justice's Paw & Order podcast, which was reviewed in the CCP blog back in February. Stacy and Camille discuss what's going on in Canada with regard to cats, including the fact that, as Camille puts i...

In this episode, Stacy chats with Elaine Spencer and Melanie Gardner from T-Town TNR, an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to resolving the feline overpopulation crisis in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since 2015, the organization has spay/neutered over 3,700 cats. Elaine is the group's lead support for grant writing, and together, she and Melanie serves as the group's IT consultants. Elaine and Melanie talk w...

In this episode, Stacy speaks with Alisse Russell, founder and executive director of Puff (Paws Up for Felines) Cat Rescue, Inc., a recently launched grassroots group with an ambition to grow into a nationwide rescue network. Puff Cat is dedicated to helping solve community cat overpopulation, and Alisse, who currently works in the human mental health field, is working toward becoming a humane edu...

In this episode, Stacy talks with Lori Behrman, who runs the day-to-day operations of the Toby Project, including the mobile spay/neuter clinic. Lori has been with the Toby Project since Day One, and she considers her work not just a job, but a mission. She tells Stacy about how Dr. Andy Kaplan, founder of the Toby Project ( CCP Episode 339 ) inspired her to get involved eleven years ago, and abou...

In this episode, Stacy chats with community cat caretaker Debbie Chatenever, who walks several miles each day to feed the community cats in her area. Debbie gets the cats the medical care they need at her own expense, and she shares with Stacy the story of how she got involved with caring for her local community cats. Stacy and Debbie also discuss how beneficial a support network could be for Debb...

Jill Tucker, CAWA and CEO of the California Animal Welfare Association (CalAnimals), joins Stacy in this episode to talk about her career in animal welfare, which stretches back to 2002. They talk about how Jill ended up in animal welfare after being in the software industry for many years. Jill & Stacy also discuss CalAnimals—how it came to be, the role it plays in the state, and how Jill came to...

Britney Fox Hover, the shelter director at the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society (MRFRS) in Salisbury, Massachusetts, began at MRFRS as a volunteer in 2009. In addition to now running the group's shelter and medical programs, Brit also oversees the adoption program, including a very successful Feline Leukemia (FeLV+) adoption program. Brit and Stacy talk a bit about how Brit came to love cats...

In this episode, Stacy speaks with Dr. Andrew Kaplan, the veterinarian behind New York City's The Toby Project. Andrew has been an animal advocate since he was a child. Stacy & Andrew discuss Andrew's journey to becoming a vet and how he came to learn about and become involved in pet overpopulation—including the touching story of Toby, the dog who put a face on the overpopulation issue for Andrew....

Mario Abore, the founder and owner of Square Paws, a cat furniture design company, sits down with Stacy to talk about how Square Paws came to be. Mario, an architect by trade, designs all the furniture as art that your cat can inhabit, and it is all hand-crafted in the United States. Square Paws donates 10% of their proceeds to animal welfare. Stacy and Mario discuss the free-roaming cat rooms tha...

Jeff Parks, a comedy writer by trade, wasn't introduced to the world of cats until he was in his 30s, but once he was, there was no going back. He quickly turned into a "cat person," and became intrigued by the ways in which cats show their affection. Finding mostly scientific answers, he began using his comedy background to come up with funny ways cats show their love that wouldn't be found in an...

In this episode, Stacy sits down with Will Zweigart, founder of Flatbush Cats, a nonprofit focused on reducing the outdoor cat population in central Brooklyn, New York through TNR and rescue work. Flatbush Cats teaches TNR classes and offers support and resources for trappers. They are also launching a mobile spay/neuter clinic pilot program to support low-income residents, a project done in partn...

Stacy sits down with Dr. Sara Pizano (a previous CCP guest on Episode 56 , Episode 171 , and Episodes 246 and 247 ) to discuss Dr. Pizano's new book, The Best Practice Playbook for Animal Shelters. The book is a result of the more than 100 assessments Dr. Pizano has done at shelters around the country as a Team Shelter USA consultant. She realized that the shelters she was working with were all st...

In this episode, Stacy speaks with Hasara Lay, founder of Catexplorer, a community, movement, and lifestyle brand for people who explore the world with their cats. Hasara, who is located in Australia, began exploring with her cat as a child and never stopped. When she and her husband adopted two rescue cats, she started Catexplorer as a repository for information on training cats to be explorers,...

In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Conrad, who founded The Paw Project in 1999, joins Stacy to discuss the organization's mission to end declawing in the U.S. & Canada, using education, research, and legislation. The Paw Project is made up completely of veterinarians and the group compiled the evidence, drafted the legislation, composed the language of the legislation, built the coalition of support, a...

Julia Grosz earned the nickname "Cat Hustler" due to her ability to match cats and adopters through strategic copywriting and social media use. So it was only natural that when she developed her skills into a teachable set of cat marketing practices, she would name her organization Cat Hustler. The nonprofit specializes in creative marketing for shelter cats and also hosts community-building event...

John Boone, a wildlife biologist previously interviewed on CCP , joins Stacy to discuss new research on how we can use the tools we have to manage cat populations more efficiently and more effectively. This particular study was conducted by a group of people connected with the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (ACC&D) and used computer modeling and simulation tools to predict the outcome...

In this episode, Stacy is joined by Lizz Whitacre, founder and CEO of Pawlytics, a technology solution to help rescues manage their paperwork and gain insights from their data. Pawlytics is also expanding into the TNR/community cats space in an effort to use technology, data, and innovation to drive lifesaving efforts for community cats. Stacy and Lizz discuss how Pawlytics came to be, and how its...

Valerie Sheppard, Director of Professional Development & Credentialing at the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA), joins Stacy to discuss what the AAWA is all about these days, including details on their Learning Center. Valerie created the Learning Center when she joined the AAWA in 2018, and it offers a variety of webinars (live and recorded) and online classes, most of which are f...

Meagan Larrea is a cat mom and cat lover who works as a civil engineer by day. The rest of the time, she runs Joy 4 Cats, a growing project that puts together toy and treat baskets for shelters to give away to new adopters. The program began in the fall of 2018 when Meagan heard about a local shelter with an overflow of adult cats looking for homes. As a creative way to help, Meagan created adopte...

fostering, which she initially began doing through local shelters, she has discovered a deep passion for TNR and advocacy and now works independently to take in, care for, spay/neuter, vaccinate, and adopt out cats and kittens. Ashley got involved in fostering kittens after she lost her father to suicide, and she talks with Stacy about how much fostering helped her and her mom through the grieving...