Interview! Dr. Sara White, Founder Spay ASAP Inc.- VT "We haven't really been taught… how to take care of [our bodies as] this instrument that we have." Dr. Sara White is a mixed-animal veterinarian with experience both in private and shelter medicine, and the operator of Spay ASAP Inc., a mobile MASH clinic. Since 2006, Dr. White has spayed and neutered a staggering 40,000 animals herself. She also concerns herself with the issue of health ergonomics among veterinary surgeons and staff, and giv...
Dec 17, 2016•21 min
Interview! Aly Miller and Paul Castro, Jr., Creator of Aeris, A Short Film- NYC "Our responsibility as filmmakers is to tell the most vulnerable truth." When Paul Castro Jr. entered a pet store on a whim almost two years ago, he didn't expect to find a new passion for animal advocacy that would fuel one of his many film and acting projects. There he met Aeris, a sickly little kitten with whom he made an instant connection and felt he had to go to any lengths to save. Together with Aly Miller, he...
Dec 15, 2016•22 min
Interview! Christie Keith, Communications Strategist, MI "For me, it's all about persuasion." Christie Keith is a journalist and communications consultant for animal welfare and veterinary medicine. Although she is based in Michigan, she has clients all over the country, including the Million Cat Challenge and Maddie's Fund. Christie is passionate about effective communication, and she works with organizations in message crafting, communicating, and persuading on the micro and macro level. In co...
Dec 13, 2016•26 min
Interview! Elizabeth Putsche, Founder, For All Animals "It's all about data and supporting information. That's what really speaks to government officials." Elizabeth Putsche is the founder and executive director of For All Animals, a 501(c)3 organization that "identifies and fills voids in the animal protection field." The organization is based in Baltimore, which in 2007 was one of the first major cities to implement TNR as the official policy for the treatment of community animals. For All Ani...
Dec 10, 2016•23 min
Interview! Will Allen, New Sales Business Manager, Frontstream "BiddingForGood helps you expand your reach and raise more money." In this unique episode, Stacy talks to Will Allen, self-professed cat lover and fundraising consultant at Fronstream, a software company that helps non-profits develop fundraising strategies. Stacy, a user herself, helps Will explain to listeners some of the services offered by Frontstream, and also offer some some concrete tips on how to implement the services in new...
Dec 08, 2016•23 min
Interview! Dr. Julie Levy, Maddie's Professor of Shelter Medicine at University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine "Our goal is to enculturation these life-saving key initiatives into animal sheltering… so that this becomes [the norm.]" Dr. Julie Levy is a professor of shelter medicine at the University of Florida, as well as a prolific publisher of scientific articles on small animal medicine. She began her work with community cats in the 1980s while attending veterinary school at UC Dav...
Dec 06, 2016•20 min
Interview! Dr. Christine Wilford, Founder, The Feral Cat Project "Sometimes helping means us having to not do something, and us realizing that, for this cat, bringing it inside means it's going to be scared everyday of its life. Would that be what you would want?" Dr. Wilford, founder of Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project in Lynnwood, Washington returns to Community Cats Podcast to discuss geriatric cats with Stacy. Clearly stating her belief that "age is not a disease," Dr. Wilford lists the most co...
Dec 03, 2016•23 min
Interview! Karen Little, Executive Director, Alley Cat Advocates "Urban cats are accustomed to urban living. Rural cats are accustomed to rural living… Keeping those colonies in tact, adjacent to where their habitat might have been destroyed, is in the best interest of the cats." In her second interview with Stacy, Karen explores the issue of relocation in the Louisville, Kentucky area where she works with Alley Cat Advocates. A firm believer that colony relocation is only an option when the cur...
Dec 01, 2016•22 min
Interview! Andy Kola, Founder, LumenLS "To fix the problems that are facing cats, all center around increasing the perceived importance, the perceived value, and the perceived acceptance of cats to humans." In his second interview with Stacy, Andy discusses his organization's approach to challenges facing community cats in Broward County, Florida. With a mission of eliminating unnecessary suffering and euthanasia for all community cats in the area, Andy's shelter, Lumen LS, has been specifically...
Nov 29, 2016•21 min
Dakin, since cat overpopulation has become less of an issue across Massachusetts. Dakin has performed over 70,000 spay/neuter surgeries, and as a result, the cats entering her adoption center are much more complex to rehome. She notes, "we wouldn't have had the time or space to help these cats in the past, but now we're able to successfully place them." She describes the innovative and successful feral kitten adoption program Dakin has piloted, where these "tiny tigers" are placed directly in ho...
Nov 26, 2016•33 min
Interview! Alana Yanez, Manager of HSUS Pets For Life Los Angeles "When we have literally put these vouchers in people's hands at their doorsteps, there really is no excuse now." An advocate for animals and residents of underserved communities in East Los Angeles, Alana brings compassion and political experience to her position as manager of Pets for Life Los Angeles and as the Commissioner of the LA Animal Services Board . She discusses the 2009 injunction against LA Animal Services by various ...
Nov 24, 2016•24 min
Interview! Suzanne Kogut, Executive Director of the Petco Foundation "Everyone wants the same thing, to do right by the cats. There's just a disagreement often about how we get there. But I thought we could all work together to get there." After her first career as a corporate finance and securities attorney, Suzanne took the road less travelled and became involved in the Charlottsville/Albemarle SPCA . As the executive director from 2005-2012, Suzanne gained priceless experience facing new chal...
Nov 22, 2016•23 min
It's an Ask Stacy episode! "You could feel the energy busting through the wires" Stacy reflects what all that she's learned since launching the Community Cats Podcast, having completed more than 100 episodes speaking with experts all over the US and beyond. She recommends a number of her favorite interviews, with individuals like Emma Clifford, Hannah Shaw (the "Kitten Lady"), Dr. Kate Hurley and Dr. Christine Wilford — all of whom have different areas of expertise, but embody enthusiasm and ene...
Nov 19, 2016•21 min
Interview! Diego Alves, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pet and Tie "We want to be the premium app for pet parents and pets." Ever have trouble finding a pet sitter? Diego did, and that experience was the impetus to his envisioning an virtual community where pet owners could connect to all of the services they need. His new app, "Pet and Tie," available on Apple and Android, aims to help pet owners save time and money and be responsible parents to their pets whether they're seeking play d...
Nov 17, 2016•21 min
Interview! Katie Lisnik, Director of Cat Protection and Policy, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) "Taking an active role in legislation is the only way we're going to move the ball forward." In her return appearance on the Podcast, Katie plays "Around the Country Policy for Cats" with Stacy, detailing the successes and challenges in four different states: Delaware, Hawaii, Virginia and Illinois. In her role at HSUS, Katie's on the front line of legislative and public policy efforts ...
Nov 15, 2016•24 min
Interview! Sally Williams, Founder, The Brodie Fund "I think the thing that makes us a little different, and our goals quite lofty as well, is that we are putting the focus on quality of life and not the diagnosis." Sally is a cat behavior consultant and the founder and director of The Brodie Fund, a non-profit organization offering financial assistance to pet owners dealing with a pet's cancer diagnosis. Sally's beloved cat Brodie, a shelter rescue with a large and loving personality, battled c...
Nov 12, 2016•22 min
Interview! Sharon Secovich, Co-founder, Spay Maine "What I've found is a lot of people will feed but they don't have the knowledge or wherewithal or the means to trap. So the only way to get our feral cat population down is with trapping help." After her first career as an environmental geologist, Sharon pursued a public policy career that led to work as a legislative advocate and community cat program manager for the Animal Welfare Society shelter in West Kennebunk Maine. As a volunteer for the...
Nov 10, 2016•21 min
Interview! Dr. Margaret Slater, Senior Director of Veterinary Epidemiology Research and Development for the ASPCA "One of the things that we've found really helpful in all kinds of programs and projects is to couch it as a pilot… you can succeed and the prove that it does actually work…" Author of Feral Cats: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations and Veterinary Epidemiology: An Evidence Based Approach , Dr. Slater's tireless efforts have educated both the animal welfare and general communi...
Nov 08, 2016•21 min
Interview! Audra Farrell, Community Cares Program Supervisor at the San Francisco SPCA "I have found even the fiercest of ferals can be really great moms, so their concern is more taking care of their kittens than have to deal with us." Through the Mama from the Streets program, San Francisco's shelters are combining TNR for feral mothers with adoption of their kittens. As San Francisco's SPCA's Community Cares Program Supervisor, Audra advocates strongly for this humane way of gradually decreas...
Nov 05, 2016•20 min
Interview! Deborah Schutt, Co-Founder Michigan Pet Fund Alliance "Attending conferences, understanding what other people are doing, and adding to the tool kit is really important." The co-founder of the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance, Deborah began her journey into the animal welfare field with dog fostering. Time and experience led her to TNR, feral cat welfare, and a passion for exploring different tactics to improve shelters and rescues. She and Stacy discuss no-kill philosophies and goals, as we...
Nov 03, 2016•28 min
Interview! Kristen Petrie, Creative Director, Mellarium and Technical Cat, Community Cats Podcast "The brand is important and it is an asset to any organization, whether they are big or small. It's your face to the rest of the world." Kristen began her career in cat rescue as an adoption counselor at the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society while launching her own graphic design business. She subsequently became involved in both the branding and production components of both MRFRS and Community...
Nov 01, 2016•26 min
Interview! Sheila Massey, Neighborhood Activist - NYC "I found that I spent half my time explaining TNR and working with the community so that they would buy in and accept the cats." Sheila dove into the world of community cats after retiring from work as a forensic accountant and corporate fraud auditor. She became certified in TNR in 2008, now volunteers at the Brooklyn Cat Café, and is a diligent advocate for New York City's feral cat communities. From the city's 600 or so community gardens t...
Oct 29, 2016•23 min
Interview! Martha Smith-Blackmore, DVM, Founder of Forensic Veterinary Investigations, LLC "Don't worry about things you can't change…take that passion and make it action and see what you can do." *Please note, while not graphic, this episode deals with topics related to animal cruelty that some listeners may find disturbing. If you need to skip it, might we suggest listening to this gem from an earlier episode? During her work as a shelter veterinarian, Martha became curious about a field that ...
Oct 27, 2016•23 min
Interview! Emma Clifford, Founder and Executive Director of Animal Balance "Islands are helping islands, which is exactly what we wanted to happen." Don't miss this fascinating look at how community cats are being helped around the world by Animal Balance, the brainchild of its founder, Emma Clifford. Beginning with a program in 2004 to assist the Galapagos Islands in managing cats and dogs, which were being poisoned to control their population, Emma describes how Animal Balance put together a "...
Oct 27, 2016•27 min
Interview! Jill O'Connell, Executive Director and Crystal Arnott, Communications and Fundraising Manager, Lowell Humane Society (MA) "No matter how we operate, we all have the same goals which is to help community cats." In another episode extolling the benefits of collaboration, Jill and Crystal describe how their relationships with other organizations have benefitted the cats and lower-income residents of Lowell. By bringing low-cost spay/neuter to the community through several different provi...
Oct 26, 2016•22 min
Interview! Stacey Carver, President and Executive Director of Berkshire Animal DREAMS (MA) "Collaboration is a wonderful thing for all of us trying to do animal rescue work." Stacey tells Stacy about the positive impact that forging "harmonious" partnerships has had on the number of community cats in Berkshire County, especially its "big city" of Pittsfield, MA. With Animal DREAMS providing TNR services, and the Berkshire Humane Society offering physical and administrative space, the two organiz...
Oct 25, 2016•22 min
Interview! Aimee St. Arnaud, Director at Humane Alliance a Program of the ASPCA "We need to focus on stopping the problem at the root… that's why we focus on prevention." Aimee St. Arnaud works for the Humane Alliance training vets and community advocates who want to open spay-neuter clinics. She first got the idea to open her own spay-neuter clinic when volunteering with the Toledo Area Humane Society and their Operation Felix, a monthly MASH clinic. After seeing the dearth of resources for cat...
Oct 22, 2016•22 min
Interview! Julie Jacobson, Director of Spay Tennessee "When writing grants, you have to come in prepared, you have to know your mission, you have to know your community." Julie's back for another interview on CCP! This time, Stacy checks about how things are going for Spay Tennessee, and Julie gives tips on managing grant money, methods to "take the fear out of grant writing," and the pitfalls that can occur with animal transports from shelter to shelter. If you haven't heard Julie's first episo...
Oct 21, 2016•24 min
Book Review Special with host, Stacy LeBaron. An episode for both book worms and compassionate cats. In this special episode, Stacy shares some of her favorite resources for information on community cats, as well as how to take care of yourself when doing the hard work of animal welfare. We've included the names of the books and authors down below, as well as links to places you can buy them! To Save a Starfish by Jennifer Blough Nobody's Cats by Valerie Ingram & Alistair Schroff The Humane ...
Oct 20, 2016•17 min
Interview! Dr. Peggy Larson, Founder of Cat Spay and Neuter Clinic, Colchester, VT "You have to balance, to make sure that that cat's going to be alright going back to where he came from." Peggy Larson, founder of National Spay/Neuter Coalition, holds degrees from Ohio State Vet School, UC Davis, and Vermont Law School. She has used her education to support fellow vets trying to start their own spay-neuter clinics, investigate animal cruelty in the state of Vermont, and rewrite the policy surrou...
Oct 19, 2016•23 min
