In this episode, Stacy is joined by Sarah Dunsmore, who co-owns CDE Animal Cages with her husband. Lifelong animal lovers, Sarah and her husband purchased the thirty-year old company several years ago and decided to shift its focus to helping shelter and rescue groups. As a small, family-owned company, CDE wants to help connect shelters and rescues with caging that helps keep their animals healthier, and helps make their staff's jobs easier. Sarah and Stacy discuss how changes in cat caging—incl...
Jun 01, 2019•25 min•Ep. 302
Christina Ha joins Stacy again (having been interviewed by Stacy in CCP episode 144 and episode 245 ), this time to discuss the third annual Cat Camp event, to be held this June 1 and 2 in New York City at the Metropolitan Pavilion. 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 own...
May 25, 2019•21 min•Ep. 301
For the 300thepisode of Community Cats Podcast, Stacy is joined by Bryan Kortis, Director of National Programs for Neighborhood Cats. Previously featured on CCP Episode 13 , Episode 127 , and Episode 218 , Bryan is back to talk about how things are going for community cats in Hawaii, and about the new book he has co-authored. And of course, he and Stacy discuss the ongoing webinar series that CCP and Neighborhood Cats are partnering on. Bryan, who is now located in Hawaii, reports that Neighborh...
May 18, 2019•32 min•Ep. 300
Lindsay Hamrick, Policy Director for Companion Animals at the Humane Society of the United States, works to support local, state and federal policies protecting pets. She holds an M.S. in Animals & Public Policy from Tufts University and was the New Hampshire state director for HSUS prior to her current role. She spent ten years as CEO at three different New Hampshire animal shelters and, like so many of our guests, knew from a very young age that she wanted to work with animals. In her oper...
May 11, 2019•24 min•Ep. 299
Dave Hanley, developer of the Tomorrow app, is an entrepreneur who is also a pet (and human) parent. Tomorrow is designed to help anyone set up a legal will quickly and easily—and even appoint guardians for their pets and/or children. The app is free, with no strings attached. (It is funded by the optional sale of life insurance products.) Dave's own love for cats began as a child when his parents gave his older sister a kitten one Christmas. Since then, Dave has always felt a connection to cats...
May 04, 2019•21 min•Ep. 298
You may remember Dr. Kate Hurley, Director of U.C. Davis Koret School of Veterinary Medicine and co-founder of Million Cat Challenge, from CCP Episode 47 . If not, be sure to check it to hear all about how Dr. Hurley got started in the world of animal welfare. In this episode, 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 transfor...
Apr 13, 2019•25 min•Ep. 295
Nikki Martinez was always a dog person. That all changed one day when a kitten ran in front of her car on her way to a post-surgical doctor appointment. Feeling down and overly focused on herself after her surgery, Nikki poured her heart and soul into nursing that sickly kitten back to health, and eventually found it a new home. In the process, Nikki herself began to heal—and she found herself hooked on helping cats. Today, Nikki fosters kittens, serves on the board of directors for a Las Vegas ...
Apr 06, 2019•24 min•Ep. 294
Danielle Bays, Director of Cat Protection and Policy at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is a frequent flyer here on CCP, having appeared before on Episode 55 and Episode 261 . She joins Stacy again here to talk about what's going on across the country for cats, and about various events happening in the animal welfare world this spring. One such event is HSUS'S annual Animal Care Expo conference, being held this year in New Orleans on April 15-18. Danielle tells Stacy that not onl...
Mar 30, 2019•23 min•Ep. 293
Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist with a Ph.D. in psychology, has quite a list of accomplishments under her belt. She has co-authored the book Total Cat Mojo with Jackson Galaxy, and she currently co-owns a cat behavior consulting business called Feline Minds, which assists both pet owners and shelters. Mikel is also a post doc fellow at the University of California at Davis doing research on cat behavior in multi-cat households and on the health and development of ...
Mar 23, 2019•26 min•Ep. 292
In this interview, Stacy speaks with Karen Anderson, an animal communicator and afterlife expert who has been practicing for over 20 years. She has received several awards and is a best-selling author of several books as well, including her most recent, The Amazing Afterlife of Animals . As far back as Karen can remember, she has always loved animals. They were her very best friends and for many years, she thought everyone could understand and talk to them the way she could. It wasn't until she ...
Mar 16, 2019•29 min•Ep. 291
Kim Saunders was a practicing attorney when she decided to move into the animal welfare world full-time (after years of volunteering). She spent 15 years at Petfinder before moving into a more hands-on role at St. Hubert's. She is now the Operations Director at Liberty Humane Society (LHS), the only licensed animal shelter in Hudson County, NJ, which one of most densely populated counties in the state. Hudson County has rich cultural and socioeconomic diversity, with 15% of the population fallin...
Mar 09, 2019•25 min•Ep. 290
Elena Battles of Shelterluv software has been working for animals in one capacity or another since 1999. It was then that she found Trini, a stray beagle who truly changed her life. Elena had been working as a physical therapist, but after rescuing Trini, she was re-awakened to the issues facing animals, and decided to change paths. She began volunteering, then moved on to several staff roles in animal welfare organizations all over the country. Now, at Shelterluv, Elena helps provide those in t...
Mar 02, 2019•24 min•Ep. 289
Kay Stout is the Executive Director of PAAS Vinita in Oklahoma, a multi-faceted group that grew out of the initial shelter that gives the group its name (PAAS stands for "Peaceful Animal Adoption Shelter"). Back in 2015, the shelter opened, but no one was coming in to adopt the animals. That's when Kay realized they had to do something different. She reached out to animal welfare contacts and soon had a transfer program set up with Dumb Friends Animal League in Colorado. Today, the group continu...
Feb 23, 2019•24 min•Ep. 288
Sandy Rees, the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) at Get Fully Funded and Founder of Arf Club, joins us for her second visit to Community Cats Podcast. If you missed her first chat with Stacy, check it out here . Sandy's company shows passionate nonprofit leaders how to fully fund their big visions so they can spend their time saving lives instead of worrying about money. Based in Loudon, TN, Sandy teaches her students to focus on donor outreach, authentic messaging, and relationship building in...
Feb 16, 2019•24 min•Ep. 287
Dr. Angie Kraus, a holistic house-call veterinarian in Boulder, CO, has known since the age of 3 that she wanted to be a vet. She was trained conventionally, but after graduation, she began to explore other, less traditional modalities of treatment, leading her to holistic veterinary medicine. For Dr. Kraus, being a holistic vet means doing anything that works for her patients. In this interview, she tells Stacy, "Not only do I use all modalities that I think can be helpful, I look at my patient...
Feb 09, 2019•28 min•Ep. 286
Veronica Coit, a full-time hairdresser who is married with two children, calls herself a "cat lady for life." She spearheads the Asheville Cat Weirdos, a Facebook group that she started in 2016. That group has now grown to almost 9,000 members, all from the greater Asheville, North Carolina area. The group has also grown from simply being a place for cat lovers to converse to a full-fledged 501(c)3 organization with multiple programs to help local cat owners in need keep their beloved pets. Prog...
Feb 02, 2019•20 min•Ep. 285
Dana Andresen started as the first executive director of Feline Rescue, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, no-kill companion cat rescue organization, in April 2016. Dana came to her current role after working with a pet food company and then as the first executive director of the Minnesota spay/neuter assistance program (MN SNAP). She got interested in animal welfare after running a fundraiser with the pet food company she worked for after Hurricane Katrina. Feline Rescue has three programs: shelter, ...
Jan 26, 2019•43 min•Ep. 284
Dr. Graham Brayshaw, a 2004 graduate of Texas A&M's veterinary school, is both the chief veterinarian and the director of animal services for the Animal Humane Society (AHS), an organization based in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Brayshaw's interest in animal welfare and community cats began when he did a rotation through local shelters in vet school, and in 2012, he accepted a role at AHS. AHS took in over 23,000 animals last year, including 11,000 cats (which incl...
Jan 19, 2019•30 min•Ep. 283
Sara Kent, the first CEO and paid staff member of Shelter Animals Count (SAC), sits down with Stacy to discuss how SAC came to be, what its mission is, and some of its latest statistics. Sara began her career in animal welfare close to 20 years ago as one of the first people hired at Petfinder, where she ultimately served as the director of shelter outreach and led the creation of Petfinder Pro. You may remember her (in her Petfinder role) from CCP episode #164 . Sara is also the founder of Five...
Jan 12, 2019•41 min•Ep. 282
In this episode, Stacy talks with Larry Shively, owner of ProVetLogic, one of the sponsors of 2019 Online Cat Conference, about controlling the spread of disease among cats, particularly in shelter-type environments. Nine years ago, Larry & his wife Colleen started ProVetLogic after being called in to assist with a "big cat" situation – and by "big cats," he means lions and tigers! A zoo's big cats weren't eating, and with the help of a veterinarian, Larry discovered that the cleaning produc...
Jan 05, 2019•38 min•Ep. 281
Durning the month of December, we're revisiting some of our favorite, most informative shows. This is a rebroadcast of episode 248 featuring Kim Freeman who, with the help of her trained tracking cat Henry, helps find cats when they've gone missing – enjoy! Kim Freeman turned her lifelong love for cats into a career as a professional missing cat finder. When her own cat Mr. Purr went missing in 2008, Kim realized how little support families with a missing cat receive, and what bad advice they te...
Dec 29, 2018•27 min•Ep. 280
Durning the month of December, we're revisiting some of our favorite, most informative shows. This is a rebroadcast of episode 143 featuring the man who has one of the most interesting jobs we've ever heard of, Shaun Sears of Canopy Cat Rescue – enjoy! You don't need to call a fireman to rescue your cat from a tree when Shaun Sears is around. Shaun and his partner are certified arborists who have "branched out" (sorry!) into the specialty of rescuing cats from trees. Their firm, Canopy Cat Rescu...
Dec 22, 2018•27 min•Ep. 279
Durning the month of December, we're revisiting some of our favorite, most informative shows. This is a rebroadcast of episode 222 featuring The Cat Man of West Oakland, Adam Myatt – enjoy! Cats have been taking over this amazing guy's life for the last eight years! What started as a small photography hobby has turned into a life-changing endeavor for Adam Myatt, leading the "Cat Man of Oakland" to dive head first into cat rescue and TNR, and to open the first cat cafe in the United States. Befo...
Dec 15, 2018•24 min•Ep. 278
Durning the month of December, we're revisiting some of our favorite, most informative shows. This is a rebroadcast of episode 175 featuring cat behaviorist and host of Animal Planet's "My Cat From Hell", Jackson Galaxy - enjoy! It's the Cat Daddy himself in this special episode of the podcast! Stacy has a fascinating conversation with Jackson Galaxy, the once-musician whose special bond with felines catapulted (sorry!) him to fame as a champion for helping people better understand cat behavior ...
Dec 08, 2018•31 min•Ep. 277
Durning the month of December, we're revisiting some of our favorite, most informative shows. This is a rebroadcast of episodes 256 and 257 which we dubbed "The Mike & Carmine Show" - enjoy! Stacy speaks with Mike Keiley, the Director of Adoption Centers and Programs at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), and Carmine DiCenso, Executive Director of the Dakin Humane Society in Leverett & Springfield MA in this first part of "The Mike & Carmine Sh...
Dec 01, 2018•52 min•Ep. 276
After bringing you up to speed on how a "virtual conference" works, they chat about a special returning guest, The Kitten Lady, and the line up of brand new guest speakers and the topics they'll be presenting for attendees at this event that takes place January 25, 26, and 27, 2019. You'll learn what fun community building activities will be returning in the second year of the conference and be introduced to some of the new features that will be included this year. Stacy and Kristen also discuss...
Nov 24, 2018•18 min•Ep. 275
Internet sensation Moshow was born and raised in inner city Baltimore, MD. He didn't grow up with pets, and it wasn't until he was in college that what he calls "cat fever" took over. Since then, Moshow has combined his passion for cats and rap to defy the odds and build a name for himself as the "Cat Rapper." About to release his third album in late November 2018, Moshow is on a mission to share his message with the world—and his message includes raising awareness around lots of issues related ...
Nov 17, 2018•27 min•Ep. 274
Aaron Hancox and Michael McNamara of Markham Street Films join Stacy in this episode to talk about their documentary,Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit, which follows the Canadian competitive cat show world. Aaron is a long-time cat guy whose cat Beau was adopted from a Toronto rescue, but Michael is actually allergic to cats! Aaron stumbled across a local cat show and was surprised and fascinated by how serious and competitive the cat show world was. "If I'm a cat person and I don't know ...
Nov 10, 2018•16 min•Ep. 273
This week our show is a little different. In addition to hosting The Community Cats Podcast, Stacy LeBaron also appears on HubCats TV, a show on Chelsea Cable Access where she and her co-host discuss animal welfare topics with an aim to educate and raise awareness. Pet health, community cats and services available to pet owners and feral cat caretakers are often the focus. This week we're bringing you audio from one of Stacy's favorite episodes featuring an interview with Dr. William Snell of Bl...
Nov 03, 2018•56 min•Ep. 272
Liz Illig, owner of Puff & Fluff Grooming & Pet Sitting, located in Phoenix, Arizona, joins Stacy to talk about cat grooming, and about how Puff & Fluff helps area rescue groups. Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Liz has always had a strong connection to animals. During her college years in Arizona, she began taking on pet sitting clients, and after graduation, she decided she wanted to find a business that would be complementary to that work. She purchased a grooming business from its r...
Oct 27, 2018•21 min•Ep. 271
