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.
Also sponsored by Catit Creamy & Fera Pets
What Does a Meow Mean?
#290: Mikel Maria Delgado talks about the variety of ways that cats communicate with different vocalizations, and the fact that cats meow almost entirely to humans and not to other cats (other than mama cats and kittens).
She Speaks to Your Cat — and For Your Cat
#289: Karen Dendy Smith is a trained animal communicator and devoted cat lover, who explains how her training as an intuitive guides her to receive messages from a person's cat, here or in the afterlife.
“All Cats, All the Time”
#288: Rachel Geller’s new book has won some prestigious literary awards and is named for her own philanthropic nonprofit (through which she helps people “work things out” with their kitties without charge). “All Cats, All the Time” is filled with solid advice and suggestions for managing feline issues in Rachel’s signature calm, patient nonjudgmental style.
Do Cats Meow More for (Human) Males?
#287: Kaan Kerman in the Department of Psychology at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, talks about getting international attention for his research study that showed cats vocalize more with the male humans in their lives than the women. The study was designed reliably — so what conclusion can we draw from its conclusion?
Expecting? “Borrow” a Baby to Acclimate Your Cat!
#286: Stephen Quandt (https://catbehaviorhelp.com/) says the time to get your cat ready for the new sights, sounds and smells of a newborn are before your baby comes home. Get a recording of baby crying sounds and play it quietly at first then increase the volume. Elevate the cat’s food and water bowls in anticipation of an eventually crawling baby. Bring in all the baby furniture and equipment you can and let the cat investigate it. And if you know someone with a babe in arms, ask them to come over and let your cat see and hear it.
Our Shared History with Cats
#285: Jerry D. Moore’s nonfiction book “Cat Tales: A History” is a long look back at how cats evolved alongside humans and made a pact to cohabitate with us (on their terms!)
Cat Tails Tell A Tale
#284: Mikel Maria Delgado discusses the variety of positions in a cat’s tail and how it reflects their feelings and mood, which is very particular to each kitty. Tracie likens deciphering cat tails to learning to read Morse code signals.
The Urban Kitty Living Large (even in a small apartment)
#283: Stephen Quandt (https://catbehaviorhelp.com/) suggests ways to make a cat-centric city apartment including a space-saving cat climbing tree that is suspended from the ceiling and a window perch.
Feline Purradise: the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary
#282: Keoni Vaughn, the Executive Director and caretaker of 767 cats (!) at the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary on the tiny Hawaiian island of Lāna‘i, explains its history and how they look after these previously feral cats (40% of whom become so tame they are adopted out to some of the nearly 20,000 tourists a year), while protecting a rare and vulnerable local bird population.
Ursula K Le Guin’s "Book of Cats"
#281: Jennifer Mowdy of the Literary Cat Co bookstore and cat cafe (where you can buy the book) joins Tracie to discuss this beautiful, quirky posthumous book of collected works (prose, poetry, drawings) relating to cats, from the late renowned science fiction author, Ursula K Le Guin.