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.
Tracie Becomes a Mission Meow Partner!
#0138: Mission Meow founder and director Sally Williams invites Tracie to become a partner. Mission Meow gathers donations from cat lovers so they can give larger grants to groups they identify as doing especially valuable work on behalf of cats in their area. Tracie was inspired by Mikel Maria Delgado, her co-host on CAT CHAT®, who is a partner and board member of Mission Meow, so how could Tracie not jump in, too?!
Get Your Cat's Consent Before Petting
#0137: Does your cat really want to be stroked? And if so, where on their body? In what way? And for how long? Zazie Todd, author of “PURR: the Science of Making Your Cat Happy” explains why touching your cat should not be your decision entirely out of respect for your individual cat’s personality and mood.
Are Cat Cafes Actually Good for Cats?
#0136: Dr. Mikel discusses some of the management and feline health challenges facing people running cat cafes. She also discusses the sort of cats who can thrive in a cat cafe environment, those for whom it may not be good, and how to keep a cat cafe from becoming a “petting zoo” rather than an adoption platform
Does Your Cat Know What You’re Saying?
#0135: Ever wonder if your cat is listening to you? Mikel Maria Delgado talks about a study done in Paris, France looking at whether a cat’s pet parent’s voice means something to them. It does! Cats do recognize and respond to the voice of their human family member.
Wow! Mission Meow
#0134: Mikel Maria Delgado is on the board of Mission Meow, a nonprofit that raises money so they are able to give sizeable grants to other feline non-profits — a larger donation which allows them to make a significant impact in their life-saving work with cats.
What Makes Ten Lives Club So Special?
#0133: Kimberly LaRussa, from Ten Lives Club in Buffalo, discusses how they became the largest No-Kill cat Shelter in New York State. Tracie asks the rhetorical question: does their success come from the leadership of the founder, Marie Edwards, who for ten years has united all the cat-saving groups (and the local media) in the area to work together on behalf of the cats?
The Five Freedoms
#0132: Zazie Todd — author of “PURR: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy” — wants people to know what animal welfare groups in the United Kingdom call the Five Freedoms, which consist of freedom from conditions that might surprise you.
Does a Cat Ever Need a Bath?
#0131: Dr. Mikel says there’s no reason to subject your kitty (or yourself!) to a bath — they do a very good job with their own tongues! Tracie suggests wiping down a cat with a grooming glove or damp cloth to remove the sticky residue from self-grooming. Otherwise they both recommend grooming a cat “one leg at a time” — finding out the kind of brush and grooming your cat actually likes and then not trying to get their whole body (or claws) groomed in one sitting.
How to Know You’re Picking the “Right” New Cat?
#0130: Any cat or kitten you choose isn’t going to blossom into their full personality until they have lived with you for a while, so let nature take its course and let yourself be surprised. (Also, don’t be so sure you’re the one doing the decision-making. How do you know the cats aren’t measuring you up, too, to decide if you’re the right home for them?!)
32 Cats Flown from Ukraine to Washington D.C.!
#0129: Shana Aufenkamp talks about volunteering with Homeward Trails Animal Rescue founder Sue Bell, to bring some cats from Ukraine back to Washington, D.C. To create this happy ending they worked with the British-based nonprofit Breaking the Chains, which focuses on war torn areas and animals in need.