Cat Chat®

#328: Cat behaviorist Stephen Quandt of https://catbehaviorhelp.com/ has some practical advice for cat owners whose kitties won't give them a little privacy in the bedroom.

#327: Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado of FelineMinds consulting explains that biting is a normal feline behavior. It's up to people to know their own cat and to read cat body language about when interactions with them have gone too far. Frustrated or over-stimulated cats may bite because they have already made it clear with body language that they do not want to be touched. Ignore those signals at your own risk. “Consensual petting” should be the guiding principle — the cat controls the interaction — when, where and for how long.

#326: Dr. Ashlie Saffire (DABVP) is a feline specialist in Dublin, Ohio, whose clients come from as far as California for routine care. She is particularly focused on cardiac disease issues, which often show up in routine wellness exams. She urges cat owners to have regular check ups, especially those purebred cats — Ragdolls, Maine Coon cats, Sphinx and Bengals — which are particularly susceptible to heart problems.

#325: Cathryn Michon's newest book - "i'm still here - a cat's purpose forever," is a prose poem surrounded by enchanting watercolors — reminding us that our cats may have crossed the rainbow bridge but they never leave us. We simply need to be tuned in to their omnipresence.

#324: Cats are obligate carnivores — so why are so many of them eating like they aren’t? Tracie talks with feline nutrition expert Dr. Deb Zoran of Texas A&M University, whose groundbreaking paper “The Carnivore Connection” challenged conventional thinking about feeding cats more than 20 years ago. Dr. Zoran explains why cats are physiologically designed for a high-protein, moisture-rich diet; why dry food makes it harder to provide enough protein and hydration; and how inadequate moisture can contribute to urinary tract problems, constipation and even megacolon. They also discuss obesity, muscle loss, the importance of exercise and enrichment, and why feeding cats well isn’t quite as simple as declaring all canned food “good” and all dry food “bad.” The takeaway: the more closely we can feed cats the way nature designed these carnivores to eat, the better.

#323: Tracie talks with Julie Choi, founder of Yongsan Cats in Seoul, South Korea, where the city’s frequent redevelopment projects put thousands of community cats at risk. What began for Julie with two kittens spotted on a snowy day has grown into an international rescue community that has already saved more than 200 cats from demolition zones — relying largely on fosters, adopters, donors and volunteers from around the world. Julie explains why street cats are too often left out of urban redevelopment plans, how Yongsan Cats is trying to create a model that can protect animals before the bulldozers arrive, and why rescue is about more than saving cats: it creates human connection and community, too. As Julie puts it, cat rescue means continually making “the impossible possible” — one life at a time.

#322: Tracie talks with filmmaker Cathe Neukum about Feral, her deeply moving documentary chronicling the rescue of cats left trapped and abandoned in lower Manhattan after 9/11. Cathe explains how an earlier career making wildlife films—and an unexpected encounter with feral cats in her own Midtown neighborhood—led her to join forces with Urban Cat League’s Mike Phillips just before the 9-11 attacks. Armed with a small camera, she followed Mike into the devastated area, where they searched toxic, smoke-filled buildings for frightened cats and created a makeshift refuge where the rescued animals could recover. Tracie and Cathe reflect on how radical that trap-neuter-return and community cat rescue seemed at the time, how attitudes toward feral cats have changed, and why helping these vulnerable animals offered a small island of hope amid unimaginable devastation. Feral will be featured in the 9th Annual New York Cat Film Festival, premiering September 26th in New York City.

#321: Filmmaker Megan Liz Smith joins Tracie to talk about her moving short documentary Cat Lady, featured in the 9th Annual New York Cat Film Festival, premiering September 26th in New York City. The film follows DeAnn, a devoted caretaker whose daily four-hour feeding route for community cats has become both a mission and a way of life. Megan and Tracie explore the complicated reality of TNR and colony caregiving: what happens when animals become completely dependent on you, how easily caregiving can consume your life, and whether being so deeply needed can also give that life meaning. They also talk about the friendship DeAnn has found through her work, offering a tender reminder that even the most dedicated caregivers need someone beside them.

#320: Filmmaker Asako Ushio joins Tracie to talk about her extraordinary documentary set on Japan’s remote Tashiro Island, where cats live in a fascinating space somewhere between wildness and domestication. Featured in the 9th Annual NY Cat Film Festival, premiering September 26th in New York City, the film follows a photographer devoted to documenting the island’s cats while revealing a much bigger story: an aging human population, a cat colony largely left to nature, and an uncertain future for both. Asaka and Tracie explore how differently cultures approach animal welfare, why the islanders intervene so little in the cats’ lives, and what this unusual place can teach us about our instinct to “fix” nature.

#319: Documentary filmmaker Molly Dennis joins Tracie to talk about her film Cat People, which will be featured in the 9th Annual New York Cat Film Festival, premiering September 26th in New York City. The documentary shines a light on the remarkable network of veterinarians, trappers and everyday volunteers caring for Greece’s estimated three million stray cats. Molly describes following the people who devote their own time, money and energy to Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), feeding colonies and providing medical care — often one cat at a time. They discuss the disconnect between the charming “street cats of Greece” tourists see and the much harsher reality those cats face, why controlling populations through TNR works, and the extraordinary commitment of the people who keep showing up for cats who depend on them.

#318: Stephen Quandt of https://catbehaviorhelp.com/ talks about the various ways that children can be involved in choosing a cat from a shelter and then enhancing the bond in living with them. Children on the autism spectrum may get particular benefits from the right cat entering their life, which Stephen explains.

#317: Mikel Maria Delgado of FelineMinds consulting talks about all the ways that cats can find to wake you up in the middle of the night — and how to manage nocturnal cat activity.

#316: Mike Phillips tells the history of the Urban Cat League — rescuing cats after the World Trade Center bombing, making a refuge for them — and continuing to improve the lives of street cats to this day.

#315: A listener wrote Tracie to ask how it was possible that two different cats she's had want to get in the shower with her! Resident cat expert Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado discusses the likelihood of this unusual feline predilection and how to handle a water-loving cat.

#314: The nonprofit EveryCat Health Foundation financed a study across 5 countries of mammary tumors in cats, with surprising results explained by Dr. Maggie Placer, the veterinarian who is the Science Program Manager for the Foundation.

#313: Dan Rimada is leading the push to legalize and protect bodega cats by creating a citywide archive of cats in NYC bodegas (estimates are 5,500 of them) which he and fellow volunteers have started documenting through field visits, photos, owner conversations, and release forms to get them legalized so the bodegas they protect against rodents don’t have to pay a fine.

#312: Andrey (who created Brook Fountain) reports that his adopted cat, Vincent, who was completely hooked on kitty krack, transitioned off unhealthy kibble by starting with Dr. Elsey's CleanProtein dry food, then going all the way to wet food with canned CleanProtein, putting a smile on Andrey’s lips. And reminding other cat people that enticing “food toppers” are deceptive because they are not a healthy balanced diet.

#311: Sheila Massey talks about her Hard Hat Cats NYC, which puts unadoptable cats from the NYC shelter into breweries, restaurants and retail stores where they provide non toxic rodent control in return for safety: a litter box, food and shelter.

#310: Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado of FelineMinds cat behavior consulting, explains that you cannot — nor should you — try to stop a cat from scratching, which is a natural and essential behavior. Instead, you need to offer a variety of sturdy, tall scratching posts in the areas where you spend time. Better yet, do like Mikel does and transform the back of your couch into a stylish array of scratchers!

#309: Allison Ward, the founder of Salty Cat, launched her company with the intention of creating a lower-priced cat food with premium ingredients. How did she do it? Simple! By lowering her profit margin, while also creating an egalitarian management structure in the small company.