The Community Cats Podcast

Steve's intention with this film was to make something that would help raise awareness about TNR and adoptions. One of the other points of the film was to make the point that much of this work that is being done to help cats is done on a volunteer basis and that the groups around the country need ways to sustain themselves. Steve hopes that the film allows people to raise awareness in their own communities about what it takes to do this kind of work, and also about why and how TNR is effective.

Stacy and Dr. Sara Pizano discuss her 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 all struggled with the same issues. More importantly, she realized that the solutions needed to decrease euthanasia rates were the same—so she decided to write this playbook of solutions can be used by anyone, anywhere.

Peter Wolf, joins Stacy, to discuss a newly released research paper that he and Dan Spehar have co-authored titled, “Integrated Return-To-Field and Targeted Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return Programs Result in Reductions of Feline Intake and Euthanasia at Six Municipal Animal Shelters,” published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. They pulled a large set of data from six community cat programs that integrate Return-to-Field with targeted TNR programs, a combination that Peter feels is vital to success.

In his role, Scott oversees the development of life-saving efficacy and sustainability for animal welfare agencies across the United States. He & his team provide support to each of the eight Best Friends regions, working with the regional teams in each area that are working directly with individual shelters to help them accomplish their missions.

Tuft + Paw works with cat behaviorists, veterinarians, and shelters to design cat furniture from the ground up. As they expand their own design and manufacturing, one thing they are very focused on is sustainability. Jackson and Stacy also talk about e-commerce and affiliate programs (and how they can help shelters), as well as the pitfalls of social media. Tuft + Paw has recently launched both an affiliate program and a unique referral program benefitting the Stray Cat Alliance in Los Angeles.

Sarah and Stacy discuss how changes in cat caging have run parallel to the shift from high euthanasia rates saving as many cat lives as possible. CDE cat cages have portals that can connect cages, as well as individual panels that can be easily removed, allowing shelters to customize their caging arrangement. In fact, one of Sarah’s favorite things is working with individual groups to truly customize their cages so they can get exactly what will work best for their space and their needs.

Christina, who is one of the co-founders of Meow Parlour cat café, founded Cat Camp in 2017 as a resource for the many people who were asking her about how they could help cats and learn more about them. Cat Camp is for anyone who likes cats, whether you’re a cat owner who wants to learn more about your pet, a shelter or rescue worker or volunteer, or just someone who thinks Cat Camp sounds interesting. Basically, Christina tells Stacy, “If you love cats, we’ll have something for you this weekend.”

Stacy and Bryan talk at length about some of the keys to an RTF program, and also some of the sticking points for shelters—particularly dealing with healthy, friendly cats. Bryan cautions against going on an “auto-pilot” or one-size-fits-all approach and notes that each individual cat’s circumstances must be examined carefully. He also notes that “TNR and RTF…are two sides of the same coin; they’re both parts of a good community cat program.”

Lindsay and Stacy speak at length about the incredibly successful Spay-a-Thon for Puerto Rico program, as well as the current state of affairs for animals in Puerto Rico. They also touch on some “hot topics” in legislation affecting community cats around the country right now, including some good bills in the works in the Midwest.

Dave’s experiences in wading through his own parents’ outdated estate plans and documents after their deaths provided additional motivation to develop the app, which he hopes will encourage everyone to protect themselves and their families with these important documents. Dave encourages everyone to have conversations about what will happen to your pets, children, and assets after your death. “It’s not dark,” he tells Stacy; “it’s just having a plan.”

Over the course of her career, she has put a lot of time and energy into self-reflection around the biases she feels have sometimes gotten in her way when trying to put effective programs into action to help animals and people. Susan encourages all of us to examine these biases, including the myths we may encounter around different ethnic groups’ approaches to animals. For Susan, buying into these kinds of myths means just one thing: that we miss out on opportunities to help more animals and more people.

Dr. Hurley is back to talk with Stacy about the amazing success of the Million Cat Challenge (MCC) program that she co-founded with Dr. Julie Levy three years ago. Dr. Hurley talks about what she calls a “stunning transformation” that has taken place in the field of animal sheltering for cats. Not only did the MCC hit its goal (a year early!), the program has seen many shelters decrease their euthanasia rates by 80-90% after joining the MCC.

Nikki, serves on the board of directors for a Las Vegas TNR organization called C5, traps community cat colonies, manages a popular kitten Instagram page, and runs a side business called Fostering a Purpose. She specializes in caring for critical care and neonatal kittens, and has fostered hundreds of kittens over the years. It took her a while to see the connection between the kittens she was fostering and TNR, but once she did, she devoted even more of her energy to TNR..

Danielle and Stacy discuss HSUS’S annual Animal Care Expo conference, being held in New Orleans on April 15-18. Danielle tells Stacy that there be a cat track again this year, there will also be a day-long program devoted to kittens, and lots more about cats within the other conference tracks, like behavior and veterinary. They also review the 2019 legislative update for cats, including declaw initiatives and how people can make the declaw issue a more pressing one for their elected officials.

Mikel and her business partner work on feline behavior cases, most of which, Mikel tells us, are due to an under-stimulating environment. She explains that if you don’t replace those outdoor experiences with something else stimulating, it will lead to behavior problems. She is also conducting fascinating research on cats—all of it either on pet cats in their homes or on foster kittens in the pre-existing UC Davis neonatal kitten foster program. (In other words, there are no lab cats here!)