Cat Chat®

#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.

#308: Cat behaviorist Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado explains another way to look at “vertical peeing” — cats who raise their butts like a rising elevator to pee behind themselves. But because they have all four feet in the litter box, it is not “marking.” She recommends some litter box accessories to manage the problem.

#307: Dr. Dean Vicksman, the Board Chair of the nonprofit EveryCat Health Foundation, talks about how their grant funding for feline health science has helped crack the code for managing long-COVID in humans.

#306: Cat behaviorist Dr Mikel Maria Delgado shares Tracie’s dismay at what has become “litter nonsense” (to appease IG and TikTok content creators) instead of using “litter common sense” and giving cats what they need: comfortable clay clumping litter without any added chemical colors and scents. They both extol the virtues of Dr. Elsey’s litters but they miss his signature litter invention the "Touch of the Outdoors” — but he has gone 100% scent free for the sake of the cats.

#305: Cat behaviorist Stephen Quandt (https://catbehaviorhelp.com/) discusses the stress to people and other cats in the home when an otherwise friendly cat suddenly displays unexplained aggression towards a family member — and how to make sense of it.

#304: Andrey Gregoryev, who invented the Brook glass fountain, recently adopted Vincent, a kitty from a hoarding situation, who will not touch anything but dry kibble, which Tracie calls Kitty Krack because it is harmful and addictive to cats. After giving many tips to get him off the dry food, Tracie said that Dr. Elsey's cleanprotein dry food is the only one she can recommend because of how it is made and the ingredients, which respect a cat's natural prey.

#303: Rachel Geller helps people understand their cats better with free advice through her personal nonprofit All Cats All the Time. She always recommends putting a new cat in one room in the house and only introducing him/her to the rest of the environment little by little. She often has to convince people that one space is not prison for a cat — it's doing them a favor by not overwhelming them.

#302: Cat behavior consultant (https://felineminds.com/) Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado describes the slow and patient process of introducing your cat to a harness — then experimenting letting the kitty walk you indoors and possibly outdoors to see if it suits his/her personality.

#301: Jay Ingram wrote "The Science of Pets" so people could better understand the science and facts of their pets' behavior — and in particular how to understand what makes their cat tick, as well as what s/he may be feeling.