Advertise on podcast: The Community Cats Podcast

"In truth, we prove statistically how little funding is needed to create a real impact." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, TNR Training Workshop Presented by Neighborhood Cats, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator. Daniel Leung got into TNR the way many of us do. He worked on a farm in college, ignored his manager's warning never to feed the stray cats, and soon had dozens of them. A local TNR group came in to help, Daniel started volunteering with them, and he kept doing the work, first in Maryland and later with a large colony at a New Jersey hotel while he was traveling as a respiratory therapist during COVID. Then a trip to Penang, Malaysia, changed everything. On an island that may be home to 70,000 to 100,000 stray cats, he saw cats at every market stall and on every street. After several years volunteering with local groups, Daniel felt the system was stuck, so he started something new. Cats of Penang began as a small grassroots effort and has grown into Catsoterra, which is built around the problems local caretakers kept running into: no government support, high costs and prices nobody would disclose. Daniel negotiated fixed rates with partner clinics and pre-funded the surgeries. He also built an online dashboard where volunteers book appointments, track outcomes and map where the cats come from. Volunteers pay an annual membership of 60 ringgit and can bring in as many cats as they need all year. So far, nearly 900 cats have been sterilized for about US$14,000. Stacy and Daniel talk about what scale really requires. That includes the veterinary shortage in Malaysia, the cultural habit of letting owned cats roam, and why a 10-year plan matters when you're trying to move a whole island's numbers. They also get into apathy, business partnerships and Stacy's vision of a "cat church" in every town where neighbors help one another care for community cats. Daniel's message to the field is to get out of the old models and let the data make the case. Press Play Now For: How a college job on a farm led Daniel to TNR Why returning cats is a service to the neighbors who care about them How Catsoterra brought costs down by negotiating fixed clinic rates and pre-funding surgeries The booking dashboard and geo-mapping that turn TNR into data governments can use An annual membership model where every ringgit goes straight to the clinic Malaysia's veterinary shortage and why TNR at scale is "a numbers game" Owned cats, indoor/outdoor culture and the vacuum effect Stacy's "cat church" idea: neighbors pooling resources for community cats Working with businesses, from a cat food sponsor to Stacy's early days with the Chamber of Commerce Resources & Links Catsoterra Cats of Penang on Instagram Windsor Animal Hospital Penang (Catsoterra's clinic partner)

"Cats aren't spicy. They're not mean. They're just scared." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator. Berlin Waters grew up in a house full of cats, with a mom who handled TNR for the neighborhood, and she's been a cat lover ever since. That lifelong interest led her to a master's in shelter medicine, where her research focused on handling and socializing fearful and aggressive cats. The result is The Spicy Cat Project, a resource for shelters and caregivers who want a more humane, effective approach to cats with challenging behavior. Berlin is now a third-year vet student with her sights set on shelter medicine and access to care. In this conversation with host Stacy LeBaron, Berlin explains why the cats she works with in shelters are usually owner-surrendered, not feral. They came from homes and they're simply terrified. Rather than leaving hissing cats alone to "decompress" for days or weeks, she argues for early, guided intervention that shows them things are going to be okay. She walks through her slow, step-by-step approach to a cat in a kennel, why she gave up on tools like the fake hand on a stick, and how she uses feral boxes, carriers, and thick folded towels to keep both herself and the cat safe. Stacy and Berlin also dig into some bigger questions in cat welfare. Berlin shares why she thinks we've become over-reliant on gabapentin, which she sees as a useful adjunct but not a substitute for real socialization. Both question the value of behavioral evaluations at intake, comparing them to judging a cat's personality during a vet visit. They also touch on the possible role of pain and stress in aggressive behavior. Berlin's message to adopters and shelters is a cultural shift: a cat that hisses and growls is a scared cat, with a sweet one hiding underneath.[/one_second] [one_second]Press Play Now For: Why most "aggressive" shelter cats are scared house cats, not ferals The case for early intervention instead of leaving fearful cats alone Berlin's step-by-step method for approaching a cat in a kennel Why she stopped using handling tools and relies on towels, carriers, and feral boxes How fearful cats tend to do once they're in foster or adoptive homes Where gabapentin helps, and where over-reliance can fail cats Why behavioral evaluations at intake may not tell you much How pain and stress may factor into challenging behavior Resources & Links Website: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/ Training Videos: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/training-videos TNR Clinics: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/tnr Shelters: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/shelters Adoption Basics: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/adopters-fosters Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSpicyCatProject

"When we say age is not a disease, we also mean it for the youngest." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator. Jordyn Purpura started out smuggling orphaned raccoons into his childhood bedroom. Twelve years of neonatal fostering later, he's in his final year of veterinary school, chasing a gap he kept running into from both sides of the exam table: almost nothing in veterinary education begins before eight weeks of age. As a foster parent, that gap sounded like a doctor saying there wasn't much anyone could do. As a shelter worker placing bottle babies, and sometimes being the one present for their euthanasia when no foster could be found, it looked like an entirely preventable loss. For a long time there was a defensible reason not to push harder on kitten medicine: it doesn't matter what a veterinarian is willing to diagnose or prescribe if there's nobody to take that kitten home and feed it every two hours. Jordyn's argument is that this excuse has quietly expired. Foster networks have grown, nurseries have opened, funding has followed. What hasn't caught up is the reflex — too small for blood work, too small for imaging, too small for a medication that was never labeled for a body this size. That reflex has a body count. Kittens remain the animals least likely to leave a shelter alive, not because their medicine is impossible but because almost no one was taught it. Jordyn is teaching it now, to veterinary technicians, to emergency teams, to his own cohort. And he'd like the rest of us to start asking for it out loud.[/one_second] [one_second]Press Play Now For: Why veterinary education effectively starts at eight weeks, and what that costs kittens The emotional weight shelter staff carry when there's no foster available Bringing tube feeding and neonatal husbandry onto hospital nursing teams What the UC Davis famciclovir research showed about recovery times Congenital hypothyroidism as an overlooked cause of "failure to thrive" Getting creative with diagnostics instead of calling a kitten too small for them How fosters and rescues can push their veterinary partners toward more Why generational openness matters more than age when shifting practice Resources & Links Vernau Laboratory at UC Davis UC Davis Feline Pediatrics on Instagram Jordyn Purpura on Instagram — The Vet Med Couple UC Davis Fracture Program for Rescue Animals Orphan Kitten Project at UC Davis Orphan Kitten Club

"Today's inside cat is tomorrow's outside cat." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Eve Salimbene spent her career in the legal field before moving into animal welfare 26 years ago — and by her own admission, she was a dog person until she landed in Polk County, Florida. There she found a county with groups working on dogs and essentially nothing for cats: a high shelter kill rate, no low-cost spay/neuter anywhere in the county, and a year-round breeding season with none of the winter respite she'd known up north. She posted a question online asking what was being done. The response pulled her in, and in 2020 a brand-new group of volunteers TNR'd 133 cats. Six years later the count is roughly 6,700 — and the 133 looks like the tip of the iceberg. The complication is that TNR isn't condoned in Polk County. The Board of County Commissioners and the sheriff who runs animal control don't believe it works, which puts Eve's team in a strange middle space: vocal enough that caregivers know they aren't alone, careful enough not to get shut down. Some of the people they've helped won't give testimonials for fear of retribution. Eve and Stacy dig into where the cats actually come from, why Eve believes proactive municipal investment beats two more decades of trap and kill, and what a real pilot project would need to look like. Three smaller municipalities have now approached her about running one — and she's pushing for a five-year window with honest baseline numbers. Press Play Now For: Why running a law firm turns out to be decent preparation for animal advocacy What it's like to lead a TNR organization in a county that officially opposes TNR The 2020 cohort of colonies now reporting zero kittens, years later Where Polk County's community cats actually originate — and why "transient population" is the honest answer The tagline that reframes owned-cat spay/neuter as a community cat issue Municipal spay/neuter funding on the move: New York City, DeKalb County, and a statewide Texas program Eve's proposed funding mechanisms, including a one-cent sales tax and corporate donors in the Tampa–Orlando corridor Stacy's pilot-project challenge: designate the worst zip code, hit the volume, and watch intake drop Why three small municipalities may end up leading where the county won't Resources & Links Street Cat Project of Polk County Coalition for Animal Rights and Education in Polk County (CARE) on Facebook Contact Eve directly: [email protected] Community Cat Program Management Certificate — University of the Pacific, Benerd College (next session begins September 14) Sustainable Solutions Grant Program — United Spay Alliance Making the Case for TNR Certification Workshop - presented by Neighborhood Cats

"It's okay to be small and grassroots." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Robyn Alcock and Jen Scott joined host Stacy LeBaron to talk about Feral Fixers TNR Club, the Jersey City nonprofit they co-founded in 2024 alongside Kathryn Parker after years of trapping independently. In just two years, the all-volunteer group — who all keep full-time jobs — has helped more than 375 cats through TNR, rescue, and medical care. Much of the conversation centered on the realities of running a small "operational board" nonprofit: the governance lessons that shaped their early structure, why they held off on setting formal growth metrics in year one, and how nearly half of the cats they trap turn out to be friendly, adoptable animals rather than TNR candidates — a shift driven largely by the lack of low-cost spay/neuter access in Jersey City. Stacy, Robyn, and Jen also dug into practical solutions: MASH-style pop-up clinic models from groups like Animal Balance and Slomba Shelter Solutions as ways to bring high-volume spay/neuter directly into underserved neighborhoods, and the fundraising path that took Feral Fixers from small individual donors to their first Mission Meow grant and a matching grant from United Spay Alliance's Community Cats Grants program at their two-year mark. It's a useful blueprint for any small, grassroots group trying to prove — as Robyn puts it — that it's okay to be small. Press Play Now For: How a pandemic-era trapping experience and a childhood spent bottle-feeding strays led Robyn and Jen to co-found a Jersey City nonprofit Practical governance lessons for small, "operational board" nonprofits — board size, conflicts of interest, and keeping personal and organizational finances separate Why nearly half of Feral Fixers' TNR trapping efforts turn into friendly-cat rescues, and how that's reshaping their workload The transportation and appointment-access barriers keeping Jersey City residents from affordable spay/neuter MASH-style clinic models, including Animal Balance, as an option for bringing spay/neuter directly into underserved communities How Feral Fixers built its funding base through small donors, a Mission Meow grant, and a United Spay Alliance matching grant Stacy's framework for identifying and cultivating leadership-level donors as an organization grows Why "altered at intake" numbers matter for understanding a community's real spay/neuter gap Resources & Links Feral Fixers TNR Club: https://feralfixersclub.org/ Feral Fixers TNR Club on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feralfixersclub/ United Spay Alliance Community Cats Grants: https://www.unitedspayalliance.org/community-cats-grants/ Animal Balance: https://www.animalbalance.org/ Slomba Shelter Solutions: https://slombasheltersolutions.com/

"It's about knowing your limits, knowing where you are energy-wise, time-wise, resource-wise, and just doing what you can — and knowing that is enough, and that is making a difference." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Neighborhood Cats TNR Certification Workshop. Jen Blough returns to the podcast after nearly a decade away — she was featured in the show's first fifty episodes — to talk about the work she's built in the years since: helping animal welfare professionals name and navigate the emotional toll of the field. A licensed professional counselor, former shelter worker and animal control officer, and lifelong animal advocate, Jen didn't set out to specialize in compassion fatigue. She backed into it in grad school, when a professor described the symptoms of secondary traumatic stress and she realized he was describing her own life. Much of the conversation is spent untangling terms that get used interchangeably but aren't the same thing. Jen breaks down compassion fatigue as the combination of burnout (which comes from your environment — under-resourced organizations, systemic failures, day-to-day friction) and secondary traumatic stress (which comes from absorbing someone else's trauma, human or animal). She walks through how moral distress and moral injury fit in — the no-good-options decisions that TNR caregivers and shelter workers face constantly — and why none of these, despite how real they feel, show up in the DSM. The back half of the conversation turns to grief, and this is where the discussion gets specific to community cat work. Jen introduces two concepts: disenfranchised grief (loss that society doesn't validate, which often includes animal loss) and ambiguous loss (grief without closure — not knowing what happened to a cat who stops showing up at a colony). Stacy and Jen talk through the real tension caregivers face around outdoor cats aging out of a colony, and how organizations can handle transparency with volunteers about euthanasia and loss without either traumatizing them or leaving them in the dark. Jen closes with practical advice on knowing your limits and recognizing that showing up in smaller ways — a donation, a shared post, a bag of food — still counts as meaningful advocacy. Press Play Now For: The real difference between burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, moral distress, and moral injury Why compassion fatigue isn't a diagnosable condition, and how it can fluctuate day to day Disenfranchised grief and why animal loss so often gets dismissed by people outside the field Ambiguous loss — the particular grief of not knowing what happened to a cat who never returns to the feeding station How organizations can navigate telling (or not telling) volunteers about euthanasia and cat loss Jen's advice for recognizing your capacity and letting "not right now" be an acceptable answer A first look at Jen's forthcoming book and new certification program for animal welfare professionals Resources & Links Jen Blough's website Beyond Compassion Fatigue: Trauma, Resilience, and Recovery in Animal Care and Advocacy — pre-order To Save a Starfish: A Compassion Fatigue Workbook for the Animal Welfare Warrior Beyond Compassion Fatigue podcast

"There's not a lot of that — you don't really hear about cat parks or cat meetups. So I wanted to try and change that." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Darein Gray never set out to build a pet-industry platform — he's an IT guy by trade, working in data and business analytics. But when he noticed there was no real gathering space for cat people the way there is for dog people, he taught himself the tools to build one. What started as a solo passion project has grown into Paw-Events.com, a free directory now covering 60-plus U.S. cities, connecting cat and dog lovers with adoption days, spay/neuter clinics, rescue fundraisers, cat cafés, and community meetups in one searchable place. Host Stacy LeBaron and Darein dig into how the platform actually works for TNR and community cat programs specifically — not just the bake-sale-and-fun-run events people usually picture. Organizations running mobile spay/neuter clinics, trapping events, or vaccination and microchipping days can list by city and neighborhood, filtered so people can find exactly what's happening near them. Darein talks through how smaller grassroots groups, which often don't have the advertising muscle of a PAWS or a Humane Society, can get the same visibility as the big names — and how individuals, not just organizations, are welcome to list events too, after a basic vetting process. The conversation also covers the platform's education side (ESA and service animal resources, vaccination info, cat training events), its city-hub structure and how organic communities form within bigger metro areas, and Darein's openness to expanding into new states and regions when local advocates reach out. For anyone doing outreach for a workshop, clinic, or trapping event, this episode is a look at a free tool built specifically to solve the "how do we get the word out" problem. Press Play Now For: How Paw-Events.com works as a free, searchable directory for cat and dog events across 60+ U.S. cities Why the platform is built for TNR events, spay/neuter clinics, and microchipping days — not just adoption fairs How smaller rescues and individual organizers can list events alongside big-name organizations The vetting process for individuals who want to post their own events How city "hubs" and grassroots communities naturally form on the platform What to do if you want your city or state added to the platform The educational resources available, including ESA/service animal info and cat training events Resources & Links Paw-Events.com Website Paw-Event.com's Facebook Paw-Event.com's Instagram Paw-Event.com's TikTok

"The environment we build around a cat shapes her outcome more than any single intervention we can ever make." his episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Jodi Belongié has spent more than 25 years in animal welfare and shelter medicine, driven by a question that traces back to age 14, when she talked her way into fostering an abandoned pregnant cat with no rescue to call. That instinct — that the systems cats need don't have to already exist, you can build them — led her to co-found the Chico Cat Café in 2021, which became the proving ground for what she calls the SAFE framework: an original behavioral welfare model, developed through the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, that reframes adoption assessment around a single question — not "is this cat adoptable?" but "is this environment giving her a fair chance to show us who she is?"   Jodi and Stacey dig into what that looked like in practice: the café's deliberately home-like design, hard caps on capacity (never more than 12–14 cats, nine visitors an hour), and a rescue-based intake process built to get cats settled before they ever meet an adopter. The conversation widens into Jodi's vision for community cat management's next chapter — small, replicable hubs that go beyond adoption into trap depots, spay/neuter access, and food pantries, especially in the rural and under-resourced areas philanthropy tends to overlook. That's the mission behind The CATS Foundation, launching spring 2027.   Press Play Now For:   The origin story behind Jodi's decades in animal welfare — and why she says "the credential has always been secondary to the question" What the SAFE framework is and how it reframes adoption assessment around environment instead of the cat Inside the design choices behind Chico Cat Café's home-like, non-industrial space The capacity-for-care numbers Jodi holds firm on, and why more cats than people is intentional How SAFE's underlying philosophy already shows up in the work of colony managers, TNR practitioners, and foster coordinators Jodi's vision for a "2.0" model of small, replicable community cat hubs — and why she believes it should start small The mission behind The CATS Foundation and its spring 2027 launch   Resources & Links:   Jodi's Substack, The Outpost Observer: https://pawsitiveparadigm.substack.com/ Jodi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodibelongiervt/   Editor's note: Since this conversation was recorded, Jodi has closed Chico Cat Café, paused The CATS Foundation, and consolidated her cats-centric consulting and publishing work under Nine Lives Strategies.

This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Corinne Bourgoin returns to the podcast five years after her first appearance, and the numbers show what's changed: the MSPCA Boston Adoption Center's return-to-home rate for cats hit 33% in 2025, more than six times the roughly 5% national average. She draws a careful distinction between "return to owner" and "return to home" — sometimes a cat goes back to one caretaker, sometimes to a neighborhood that's been caring for it collectively — and traces the results back to a mindset shift: assume every stray has someone looking for it, and treat reunification as the shelter's job, not just the owner's. From there, Corinne gets practical. A dedicated, well-followed Facebook page puts stray photos in front of the neighborhoods cats actually came from. For microchipped cats, she doesn't stop at the manufacturer's registry — she cross-checks petmicrochiplookup.com for the most current database, then follows up with whoever implanted the chip. She also shares how anyone can do this detective work before a cat ever reaches a shelter: neighbor conversations, Nextdoor and community Facebook posts, flyers, and "paper collars" — a strip of paper taped around a friendly cat's neck asking, "Is this your cat?" Technology like AirTags helps, but she's clear it's only half the equation; the other half is neighbors staying present in their own communities. The conversation turns to ear tips and how "community cat" has shifted from a behavioral judgment call to a population-risk one — any unaltered outdoor cat, tipped or not. Corinne's years at Maui Humane Society gave that shift real stakes: during the Maui wildfires, more than 600 cats survived the burn zone, many already sterilized and ear-tipped, which meant no kitten boom compounding the recovery. She closes with Tiger, a geriatric cat who arrived at the shelter after five years missing — his microchip led her to an owner who'd long given up hope, and he walked straight to the cabinet where his food bowl used to sit. Press Play Now For: Why "return to home" is a more accurate goal than "return to owner" — and how MSPCA hit a 33% reunification rate for cats A step-by-step walkthrough of tracking down an owner through microchip databases, including why the manufacturer's registry often isn't the most current one Low-tech tools anyone can use to reunite a found cat with its family, from paper collars to Nextdoor posts How the definition of "community cat" has evolved from a behavioral call to a population-management one How more than 600 ear-tipped, sterilized cats survived the Maui wildfires without a kitten population boom The story of Tiger, reunited with his family five years after going missing Resources & Links MSPCA-Angell Pet Microchip Lookup Return-to-Home Certification Workshop (Community Cats Central) Contact Corinne: [email protected]

This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Sandra Cagan spent decades in property management before a milestone birthday and a brief human-interest news story about a New York cat cafe sent her in a new direction. She cold-emailed her county commissioner in Lake County, Florida — "You're gonna think I'm crazy, but this is what I want to do" — and had his support within the hour. The Orlando Cat Cafe opened in September 2016 as Florida's first cat cafe, and this year marks its 10th anniversary alongside the Community Cats Podcast's own. Sandra built it as a business first: a full-service cafe rather than packaged snacks, separate AC and filtration systems to keep the cafe and cat areas from cross-contaminating, and a "sweet spot" of about 28 cats at a time in a 1,000-square-foot play area, refreshed weekly by exclusive shelter partner SPCA Florida. All 489 adoptions facilitated last year sent 100% of the fee straight to SPCA Florida — a public-private model she credits partly to a public administration master's she earned during the pandemic. That same pandemic tested her resolve: Florida ordered the cafe closed, and she kept it shut into late July rather than reopen too soon, paying her staff the whole time. Her advice to other cat cafe owners: keep six months of reserves and treat the business like any other, rather than publicly asking for help with basics like a broken AC unit. Ten years in, Sandra has turned that playbook into the country's first cat cafe franchise: 18 months of groundwork, a 500-plus-page operations manual, a $42,750 initial fee, and total investment of roughly $450,000–$650,000 depending on location. She and her team vet franchisees closely and personally scout a shelter partner in every new market, favoring slow, strategic growth — currently focused on the Southeast — over rapid expansion. Press Play Now For: How a milestone birthday, a chance news story, and one bold email led to Florida's first cat cafe Why Sandra runs the cat side and the cafe side as two separate legal entities, with 100% of adoption fees going to her shelter partner The financial cushion and mindset that got the Orlando Cat Cafe through a months-long pandemic shutdown without laying off staff What it actually takes to become an Orlando Cat Cafe franchisee — from a 500-page operations manual to the investment range Why the cats do the matchmaking at the cafe, and how that changes the adoption experience Resources & Links Orlando Cat Cafe: https://www.orlandocatcafe.com Orlando Cat Cafe Franchise: https://www.orlandocatcafefranchise.com SPCA Florida: https://www.spcaflorida.org

"People have to feel like they are making a difference, not earning a buck." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Neighborhood Cats' TNR Certification Workshop. Debra Magaldi never set out to run a nonprofit. What began as feeding a neighborhood stray in her alley turned into a chance encounter with Helen Sanders herself, and after Helen's passing in 2005, a small fund to feed her jetty cats grew into CatPAWS, a Long Beach and Orange County organization now operating with an all-volunteer board, paid veterinary contractors, and a growing spay/neuter program. Sixteen years in, Debra brings her business background and MBA to a mission she says still runs on a fundamentally different fuel than any company she's worked for. Debra and host Stacy LeBaron dig into what it actually takes to build a volunteer-run organization that lasts. Debra pushes back on the advice to "run your nonprofit like a business," arguing that while structure and strategy matter, people show up because they believe in the cause, not because of a bonus or a quota. She's candid about the cost of starting a new program: it takes far more money than founders expect, and grant and donor funding won't arrive until there's a track record to earn it. She also talks through the hard boundary-setting that comes with leadership, including learning to say no to well-meaning ideas that don't fit the organization's priorities. On the ground, CatPAWS has scaled its spay/neuter access dramatically, moving from a mobile trailer serving only community cats in 2023 to a full surgical suite that opened in 2025 and now serves owned cats as well, with almost 700 cats served since the start of the year and typical wait times of only one to two weeks. Debra also walks through CatPAWS's approach to the question every community cat organization fields constantly: what to do when someone finds a litter of kittens. Her answer starts with checking whether mom is coming back, since kittens who stay with mom have far better survival odds, and points to the organization's "Help, I Found a Cat" guide and DIY kitten kit program as tools that keep vulnerable kittens out of shelters that aren't equipped to bottle-feed around the clock.[/one_second] [one_second]Press Play Now For: How CatPAWS grew from a single alley cat colony into a 16-year-old nonprofit Why Debra treats volunteer time as equivalent to a financial donation The real difference between running a nonprofit and running a business, and where the "run it like a business" advice breaks down What it actually costs to launch a new program, and why grants and donors won't be there on day one CatPAWS's mobile trailer-to-surgical-suite spay/neuter expansion and current wait times What to actually do when you find a litter of kittens — and why waiting for mom matters Resources & Links Helen Sanders CatPAWS CatPAWS Spay/Neuter Assistance CatPAWS Who We Are & What We Do

"It is not a lack of care or love. They love, love, love their cats. They would do anything to give their cat a longer life." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Feline Infectious Disease Summit 2026. Host Stacy LeBaron talks with Gina Fortunato, Executive Director of CATalyst Council, and Kristin Wuhrman, the organization's Chair and co-founder/Chief Experience Officer of CatsOnly Veterinary Services, about a stark gap in feline care: cats now make up nearly half of U.S. household pets, yet get only a fraction of the veterinary visits dogs do. CATalyst Council, founded in 2008, exists to close that gap with data. Gina explains how a decade-old feline usage study first exposed the problem, while years of "veterinary visits are declining" headlines actually masked cat visits quietly climbing as dog visits fell. She also flags a number that matters to TNR advocates directly: over half of cats are acquired through informal channels rather than shelters, meaning they may never enter a system connected to routine care. Kristin breaks down the real barriers between cat parents and the vet — affordability, carrier stress, and the myth that adult cats need less care — and the data behind them: 93% of cat parents call wellness visits important, but only 51% follow through. She and Gina talk through what's actually working: reframing reminders around a longer life rather than a routine shot, flexible visit schedules, and mobile vet care reaching cats who'd otherwise go without. The conversation closes on Kristin's own work building CatsOnly Veterinary Services, a feline-only hospital model minimizing stress from car to exam room, and a lighter note: the "crazy cat lady" stereotype no longer holds up, with cat ownership now split evenly by gender and a rising share of millennial cat dads. Press Play Now For: Why cats now outnumber dogs in growth rate, yet get only a fraction of the veterinary visits How CATalyst Council uses data to separate the "dog visits are down" headlines from what's actually happening with cats The surprising stat that over half of cats are acquired through informal channels rather than shelters or breeders The four biggest barriers standing between cat parents and the vet — and which one might surprise you Why 93% of cat parents say wellness visits matter, but only 51% actually follow through How reframing a vet reminder around a cat's longer life can change a cat parent's behavior The growing role of mobile veterinary care in closing the access gap An inside look at CatsOnly Veterinary Services, a new feline-only hospital model built to minimize stress from car to exam room Why the "crazy cat lady" stereotype no longer matches the data — and the rise of the cat dad How the broader animal health and welfare ecosystem can better collaborate to serve every cat, from community colonies to household companions Resources & Links CATalyst Council CatsOnly Veterinary Services Mission Meow

"The more I work in this field, the more there is to learn — and there's multiple strategies that you have to implement." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Feline Infectious Disease Summit 2026. Pallavi Kamath grew up fostering kittens in Mumbai, studied animal science at UC Davis, earned a master's in animal public policy, and returned home to lead The Feline Foundation — an NGO she describes as the first in Maharashtra to systematically address the needs of community cats. With an estimated one million cats on Mumbai's streets and no existing population data to work from, the Foundation built its entire approach around a Logical Framework Matrix: a structured problem tree that mapped every welfare challenge and converted each into a program goal, giving the organization three focused pillars — population management, healthcare, and community involvement. On the ground, that means zone-by-zone sterilization across Andheri West, Mumbai's largest suburb. The Foundation divides the area into zones, conducts exhaustive street-by-street cat censuses, organizes local feeders into "carer collectives," and sets monthly TNR targets before returning to repeat the census. Once a zone hits 80% sterilized, it moves into maintenance mode — with community members taking the lead. Six of their 12 zones have crossed that threshold. Pallavi and Stacy also dig into the logistical realities most programs never face: nearly zero access to commercial traps, a handful of expert cat catchers who learned entirely on the job, and a city so geographically dense that sterilizing one neighborhood means immediately contending with cats flowing in from the next. The conversation closes on scalability — how a cat cafe can seed community buy-in, why Mumbai's municipal government is a rare progressive funding partner, and what it would take to open additional centers across a city that still has nowhere near enough sterilization resources. Press Play Now For: How a Logical Framework Matrix turns a problem tree into an organizational blueprint The zone-by-zone census methodology: every street, every building, every shopkeeper — before TNR begins What a "carer collective" is and why organizing local feeders before you start trapping changes everything The 80% threshold: how the Foundation defines population stability and transitions to maintenance mode The reality of trap access in India — and how a visit from an international colleague transformed the team's efficiency Why Mumbai's dog sterilization history may have contributed to a massive cat population explosion How a cat cafe can function as an adoption engine and community awareness hub Why Mumbai's municipal government is one of the few in India providing grants for cat sterilization — and why it's still not enough Resources & Links The Feline Foundation The Feline Foundation on Instagram The Feline Foundation on Facebook The Feline Foundation on YouTube The Feline Foundation on LinkedIn CCC TNR Certification Workshops

"The goal isn't so much a set number as the area, and 100% sterilization — which is a lofty goal. But the only thing we can do is keep going." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Feline Infectious Disease Summit 2026. Louise Holton has been working to protect cats for decades and across continents — from TNR work with the Johannesburg SPCA in the 1970s, to helping establish TNR programs in the UK, to founding Alley Cat Rescue in 1997 as the first national organization in the US dedicated to all cats, friendly and feral alike. She's joined this episode by Debbie Holzer, who has worked alongside her since 2020 and brings a nonprofit development background to ACR's writing, programs, and day-to-day operations. Together they share how their own early connections to cats — Louise's mother's habit of rescuing strays, Debbie's childhood cat she called her best friend — set the stage for lifelong advocacy. Stacy and the team dig into how the community cat landscape itself has shifted: TNR programs built in the '90s for antisocial, "spitfire" feral cats now have to account for a growing population of social, unowned cats living outdoors without a dedicated caregiver. Debbie and Louise talk through what that means for how programs prioritize care, and why leaving a friendly, adoptable-seeming cat outdoors can still be the better outcome when shelter capacity can't absorb every cat that could technically come inside. The conversation's centerpiece is Alley Cat Rescue's African wildcat conservation work. The African wildcat — ancestor of the modern housecat — is losing genetic purity as it interbreeds with domestic and stray cats along the borders of places like Kruger National Park. ACR's strategy is a sterilization "buffer zone" along those borders: spay/neuter and rabies-vaccinate every domestic cat in town after town, closing one community at a time to stop the intermingling. To date, the program has sterilized around 6,000 cats on Kruger's borders and roughly 11,000 more in the Cape region, where a local caregiver has identified seven hybrid cats through DNA testing. Louise and Debbie are candid about the obstacles: a severe veterinary shortage in South Africa (many vets have emigrated), unreliable population data, and almost no dedicated funding for small wild cat species. They highlight mobile vets like Dr. Ina Visser, who packs her own equipment into a car — or a plane — to set up clinics in remote farming communities, including one stop at an abandoned diamond mine with 120 free-roaming cats. The episode closes with a reminder that nobody needs a veterinary degree to help build spay/neuter capacity in their own community, and an invitation for listeners' vets to join Alley Cat Rescue's Feral Fix Challenge, the annual global TNR initiative that has helped sterilize over 600,000 community cats to date.[/one_second] [one_second]Press Play Now For: The story behind Louise Holton's lifelong devotion to cats, sparked by a single sighting of an African wildcat in Kruger Park at age 14 Debbie Holzer's path from a childhood "best friend" cat to a career in cat advocacy Why today's TNR programs are dealing with more social, unowned outdoor cats than the antisocial ferals of decades past A crash course on the African wildcat: what it is, where it lives, and why it matters to every housecat's ancestry How hybridization between domestic cats and African wildcats threatens the wildcat's genetic purity — and how DNA testing confirms it Inside Alley Cat Rescue's sterilization "buffer zone" strategy along the borders of Kruger National Park The hard numbers: roughly 6,000 cats sterilized at Kruger's borders and 11,000 in the Cape region so far Why rabies vaccination is built into every TNR catch in South Africa, and the public health stakes involved The reality of practicing veterinary medicine in rural South Africa, and how mobile vets like Dr. Ina Visser reach cats that have no other access to care Why you don't need to be a veterinarian to help build spay/neuter capacity — and how to get your own vet involved in the Feral Fix Challenge Resources & Links Alley Cat Rescue The Feral Fix Challenge — sign up your veterinarian Alley Cat Rescue's African Wildcat Conservation Program Contact Debbie Holzer: [email protected]

"That's my own formula — passion and compassion tempered by dedication and humor." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Drop Traps: Beginning and Advanced Certification Workshop. After more than five decades behind the exam table, Dr. Kevin Lynch has treated thousands of pets, mentored generations of veterinary staff, and built one of Long Island's longest-running animal hospitals. His new memoir, Off the Leash: Tales From a Lifetime of Healing Pets and Wonder, traces that journey from a 13-year-old kid who talked his way into a part-time job at a local animal hospital to a veterinarian whose guiding philosophy is simple: treating the animal is only half the work, and tending to the person on the other end of the leash is the rest. Dr. Lynch and Stacy dig into one of the thorniest debates in animal welfare: the divide between "indoor-only" advocates and the realities of outdoor and community cat caregiving. Drawing on his own farm-cat memories from working summers on a dairy farm before vet school, he makes the case for listening over judging, and for meeting cat caregivers where they are instead of where a textbook says they should be. From there, the conversation turns practical: how should trappers and community cat program managers actually approach a veterinarian for the first time? Dr. Lynch's answer centers on intention, relationship-building, and showing up with a plan rather than a crisis. The episode also gets personal. Dr. Lynch opens up about compassion fatigue and burnout, a topic he says is as urgent in veterinary medicine today as it's ever been, and shares the daily habits, including a deliberately disciplined relationship with his phone, that keep him from burning out after 51 years in practice. He and Stacy also revisit one of the most harrowing chapters of his career: volunteering with search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero after 9/11, an experience he says revealed both the depths of tragedy and the best of human nature. Rounding out the conversation, Dr. Lynch shares a few of the stories from his book, including an unforgettable lesson in slowing down before attempting a DIY tick removal. He also talks about where listeners can find his memoir, his YouTube series The Pet Mindset Show, and the dental care device he invented for dogs and cats. Press Play Now For: How a 13-year-old's unpaid job at a Long Island animal hospital turned into a 51-year veterinary career Dr. Lynch's perspective on the indoor-only versus outdoor/community cat debate, and why he believes there's no one-size-fits-all answer His honest advice for trappers and caregivers on how to approach a veterinarian for the first time Why showing up with "a plan" rather than a crisis is the fastest way to build trust with a vet The role of compassion fatigue and burnout in veterinary medicine, and the daily habits that help him stay in the game His "physical mailbox" approach to managing phone use and protecting mental bandwidth A first-hand account of volunteering with search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero after 9/11 The story behind a Rottweiler named Big Shot, and the unexpected humanity he witnessed during that crisis Two unforgettable cat stories from his memoir, including a lesson in patience before attempting DIY pet care Where to find his memoir, his YouTube series, and the dental device he invented for pets Resources & Links Off the Leash: Tales From a Lifetime of Healing Pets and Wonder (Amazon) Dr. Kevin Lynch's website The Pet Mindset Show (YouTube) Plaque Be Gone dental device