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.
Hay is for Horses, Straw is for Strays
#241: Dr. Maria Mikel Delgado discusses how to care for outdoor cats in the winter by providing a warm and dry shelter and food (using the insulation of straw) — while also making the indoors more fun for your house cat, offering a heated bed inside and using tips from her book PLAY WITH YOUR CAT!
Can You Manage Feline Leukemia in a Kitten?
#234: Dr Hodgkins recommends finding a feline-specialist veterinarian who will know how to use broad spectrum antibiotics to deal with the kitten’s upper respiratory symptoms.
Danger! Your Fat Cat Must Lose Weight Very Slowly
#233: An overweight cat should not lose more than ¼ lb a week or risk life-threatening Fatty Liver Disease — which Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins says you can avoid by removing dry food from their diet and feeding quality high protein wet food to help safely and naturally remove fat packed around their liver.
“The Cat’s Meow” - Its Many Meanings
#232: Each cat has many ways of saying “Meow,” as Jonathan Losos explains in his book “The Cat’s Meow.”
Hate the Litter Box Mess? Scoop Buddy Saves the Day!
#231: One lady invented a simple clip to hold the bag on the box for efficient litter clean up.
Can You Live With a Cat Who is Not Spayed or Neutered?
#230: 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.