Cat Chat®
Brought to you by Dr. Elsey's
CAT CHAT ® was Tracie’s own weekly, live call-in show on the Martha Stewart channel of Sirius-XM for 7 years – until the channel was canceled. Since 2015 it has been a weekly podcast carrying on her mission to educate and inspire cat lovers to optimize their relationship with their kitty cats by giving them the best possible nutrition and environmental enrichment.
Tracie’s frequent co-host is Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado of Feline Minds Cat Behavior Consulting and author of the new book Play With Your Cat! the Essential Guide to Interactive Play for a Happier, Healthier Feline.
Sponsored By:
Dr. Elsey’s, who developed America’s #1 kitty litter and also created a healthy dry and canned food for kitties called cleanprotein™ inspired by a cat’s natural prey.
Can You Live With a Cat Who is Not Spayed or Neutered?
#154-REV: Find out from feline behaviorist Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado that the answer is “No!” and all the ways your life would be miserable with a cat who is not “fixed.”
Cat Doing Something You Don't Like?
#225: Cat behaviorist Rachel Geller from All Cats, All the Time, suggests ways to replace unwanted behavior with something you want the cat to do that he will like better. Cat jumping on the kitchen counter while you’re preparing food and cooking? Give him a puzzle toy on the floor — or add an appealing cat tree near the kitchen with some treats on it — or tie a shoelace to your belt so the cat can play with it and interact with you without jumping up on the counter.
Does Every Cat Need a Hidey-Hole?
#224: Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado says all cats need a safe place to retreat to, it’s an "environmental necessity.” Make sure your cat has options of private nooks and crannies to dash to when he’s feeling unsafe or overwhelmed.
The 3 Litterbox Laws
#223: Zazie Todd's checklist from her book PURR says that the 3 rules for avoiding out-of-litter-box problems are: location, size and cleanliness.
Can Cats Play Happily Alone?
#222: Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado says if you offer the right toy[s] to your cat s/he might play alone with a racetrack style toy, a robotic toy, a few small toys to bat around or a wobbly weeble toy.
How to Photograph a Black Cat
#221: Professional cat photographer Karen Hoglund says that the “sweet spot” for photographing a black cat is to place him at the edge of a sunbeam.
Titillate Your Cat's Amazing Nose!
#220: Zazie Todd's book "PURR: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy," includes "scent as enrichment" on her "happiness checklist" — recommending you get toys with catnip, valerian, honeysuckle (that comes as a block of wood) and/or silver vine to discover which ones delight your particular cat’s amazing nose.
Vet Behaviorist of the Future
#219: Dr. Sameera Nalla discusses how being an intern at the Animal Behavior Wellness Clinic in Maryland is taking her beyond a lifelong dream of being a veterinarian, taking her on her way to becoming a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, a small and select specialty group.
Watch What You Put on Your Skin
#218: Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado talks about the dangers to a cat of any medication we put on our skin — pain relievers, hormones — and how your cat can wind up licking you or you can stroke and play with your cat and deposit some of the residue on their fur where they will groom it off.
Cats of the World
#217: "Kitten Lady" Hannah Shaw talks about how she and her husband, Andrew Marttila, a distinguished professional cat photographer, created their book CATS OF THE WORLD to show us how philanthropic cat tourism can be a way for anyone to truly connect with like-minded citizens of the world who are looking after the their community cats.