The Community Cats Podcast

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"I felt if this cat shouldn't have been born and if there weren't such a surplus, they'd all have a better shot at a good life." Aug 17, 2016

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After her first experience losing a beloved stray to overpopulation in a Bridgeport, CT shelter, Esther's passion for improving the quality of life for community cats across the country was ignited. Her grassroots efforts began with soliciting spay/neuter discounts among nationwide veterinarians while chartering her toll-free hotline in 1990. By 1993, she was fielding twenty-three thousand calls a month, leading to expansion programs including United Say Alliance and Spay USA. Esther discusses how her campaign, "Fixed Felines by Five", educates the public on the positive impact that pediatric spaying and neutering has on not only feline overpopulation, but health and behavioral issues as well. Programs in countries including Panama, Costa Rica, and Australia have been modeled after Esther's programs.

For more information visit Spay USA.org.

"Equate the cost of helping an individual cat with how many spays and neuters you aren't doing." Aug 16, 2016

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In her 8th grade research paper, Dr. Christine reported that up to twenty-two million cats were killed annually in shelters at the time. Almost thirty years after pursuing her DVM, those numbers have dropped to four million. Christine discusses the impact both mash-style and free-standing clinics have had on these statistics, as well as the challenges and triumphs she faced after launching the Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Project in Seattle in 1997. She and Stacy also discuss differing philosophies and approaches towards animal welfare and how education can convert donators from focusing on individual case causes to larger scale spay/neuter causes.

For further related resources, visit Operation Catnip at ocgainsville.org.

"We need an organization that can educate the public, but, at the same time, also provide resources for the smaller 'mom and pop' groups." Aug 13, 2016

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With 33 years of experience as a veterinarian in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Zeke founded United Pet Fund in 2010 and United Pet Resource Center in 2015. An advocate for the integration of corporate assistance within the non-profit world, he discusses the positive impact large companies could offer smaller "mom & pop" organizations with significantly lower resources. He also speaks candidly about bridging the gap between private practice and non-profit animal welfare programs, as well as fundraising challenges and potential solutions. While TNR techniques have come a long way since he started in the 1980's, with his generation of veterinarians as "the McGyvers of the medical field," he believes feral cats have the potential to live successfully among properly managed, gender neutral colonies.

To find out more, visit unitedpetfund.org or email him at unitedpetfund@fuse.net.

"We don't ever want anyone to come to the clinic and say we don't have enough traps for you." Aug 12, 2016

Show notes

A computer consultant with Microsoft by day, Amber channeled both her passion for cats and her business-sense into launching Michigan's All About Animals Rescue in 2005. Since then, she has raised over $1 million in grants, has grown the program's original annual budget from $80,000 to over $3 million, launched a high volume spay/neuter clinic in 2008, and founded the Spay Michigan hotline. Amber cites consistent trap availability as a critical component in TNR programs. She challenges every spay and neuter clinic to provide 100% trap accessibility for every case. She discusses the importance of collaborative relationships, networking, patience, and an open mind for fulfilling successful goals for community cats everywhere.

To find out more, visit allaboutanimalsrescue.org and spaymichigan.org.

"I'm better at being a copycat than an original… With all the webinars and podcasts like these, you can learn so much from each other." Aug 11, 2016

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Always a lover of animals, a young Bryn Rogers thought she would take the obvious career path of veterinarian—until she shadowed at a vet office and found herself unable to stomach the reality of surgery. She didn't let her squeamishness stop her from helping animals, however, and found meaningful work in shelters. She is now the program manager at the MSPCA adoption center in Boston, Massachusetts, overseeing the shelter's adoption and spay-neuter events, as well as volunteer and foster care programs. Learning from her volunteers, coworkers, and the communities of other shelters is a reoccurring theme in her work, combining the knowledge and experience of the people in these spheres to more effectively achieve common goals. In conversation with Stacy, Bryn provides insightful tips for how shelters can provide high amounts of spay-neuter procedures at low cost, exposing shier cats to the public for adoption, and growing a foster care program and training volunteers—and utilizing the more seasoned among them to help new recruits and build a stronger community.

To learn more visit the MSPCA online.

"In the human side of things, you can never get to zero in something that you think is absolutely ideal." Aug 10, 2016

Show notes

Dr. Marvin Mackie began his lifelong work with animals from an early age. Raised on a farm around cows and horses, he entered veterinary school with the intent of becoming a large animal veterinarian. After seeing the dire need for more spay-neuter services while working at a 24-hour emergency clinic in Chicago, however, he eventually transitioned into pediatric small-animal medicine. With over 30 years of veterinary experience and having performed approximately 250,000 spay-neuter surgeries, Dr. Mackie provides a first-hand perspective on the evolution of spay-neuter practices in the United States from the 70s to today, describing his own Quick Spay Technique and how he has implemented it in recent years by teaching it to eager veterinarians in Mexico. He highlights the benefits of neutering from an early age and expounds upon his hopes that help from private practice will reinforce shelter work in sterilization for community cats.

"The canine has always been given more precedence in medical care." Aug 09, 2016

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Ellen Carozza is a veterinary technician with a passion for rescuing and raising neonatal kittens. She lovingly brings the kittens she raises everywhere with her, and implements innovative ways to care for them, including electrolytes, probiotics and plasma. With Stacy, she discusses the risks involved in raising kittens this young, and emphasizes that this is a task for rescuers who already have experience.

To find out more visit NOVA Cat Clinic online.

"I am extremely optimistic about the future." Aug 06, 2016

Show notes

Dr. David Haworth, DVM, PhD has impact on his mind. He discusses how he works to help PetSmart Charities save 1,400 lives a day, through grantmaking, adoption centers, supporting spay/neuter and other initiatives.

To find out more visit PetSmart Charities online.

"We all have our own donor sources, yes, we have our own projects and so on, but we are in this together." Aug 05, 2016

Show notes

Michael tells Stacy about all things animal welfare in Arizona, from a ten-month kitten season to roaming packs of chihuahuas. In addition, he emphasizes the importance of working with other animal welfare groups and discusses other strategies for handling an influx of kittens, including promotions and foster networks.

To find out more visit Arizona Animal Welfare League & SPCA online.

"When an animal control agency/animal shelter is working with a TNR group, it's a great relationship." Aug 04, 2016

Show notes

Former animal control officer Alice Burton has transformed her beliefs about trap-neuter-release. Alice tells Stacy about synergistic relationships between animal control departments and TNR organizations, resources for communities that hope to introduce TNR, and her own reluctant transition to believing in trap-neuter-release. Now working with Alley Cat Allies, Alice discusses other initiatives, like National Feral Cat Day. For more information, visit alleycat.org or call Alley Cat Allies' national help desk at 240-482-1980.

To find out more visit Ally Cat Allies online.

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