The Community Cats Podcast

"In terms of surrender prevention, this is low-hanging fruit. It costs nothing."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator.
Matt Wildman grew up with as many as nine rescue dogs and didn't have a real relationship with a cat until he was 26. That's when he met his girlfriend and her six cats. One of them, Shirley, licked him on the head while he was resting, and he was smitten. Matt went from teaching high school history in Brooklyn to humane education at Animal Care Centers of NYC. Later, at a Humane World for Animals surrender-prevention program, he asked certified cat behavior consultant Beth Adelman to teach him everything she knew. Three years and dozens of cases under her mentorship turned him into a cat behaviorist.
The idea for a national helpline had been on his mind since 2013, when he built a cat behavior counseling course that trained 250 shelter and rescue staff and volunteers. Shelters kept losing their trained counselors to turnover, though, and the gap never closed. When Humane World asked him to rebuild the course, Matt saw his chance. He emailed all 250 past students, recruited his first volunteers from that list, and launched the National Cat Behavior Helpline in March. It's free for shelters and for cat owners, it runs entirely by phone, and it's built on follow-up. Volunteers keep calling until a case is resolved, and they offer practical, judgment-free advice that fits each person's time and budget.
Stacy and Matt also get into the questions shelters hear every day. They cover play aggression in under-stimulated cats, why you shouldn't adopt a second cat to fix a behavior problem, how spay/neuter can change behavior, and what to do when community cats outside the window upset the cat inside. Matt also shares his "small desert" approach to litter boxes. His request to shelters is simple: send cases his way, because keeping cats in their homes is what the helpline is for.[/one_second]
[one_second]Press Play Now For:
How a lifelong dog person became a cat behaviorist
Why so many behavior problems come from cats who aren't getting enough play
Three 10- to 15-minute play sessions a day, and how to fit them in
Why shelters should email client details to the helpline instead of just handing out the number
Follow-up as the key to resolving behavior cases
Being the cat owner's ally, especially when someone in the house wants the cat gone
When the helpline calls in a veterinary behaviorist
Spay/neuter as part of fixing behavior problems
What to do about outdoor cats that are upsetting the cat indoors
The "small desert" approach: open boxes, unscented clumping litter, scooping twice a day, and where to put the box
Whether you really need one more litter box than you have cats
Resources & Links
Email the National Cat Behavior Helpline
Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary (the helpline's nonprofit home)

"We're not hiding in back alleys in the dark at night. We're out there on the streets, on the front lines, and we're in city hall."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator.
Danielle Bays planned to be a veterinarian until a cat with his leg caught in a leghold trap was left in the parking lot of the clinic where she worked. He recovered, but the question stayed with her: how does this happen in the first place? That question led her into animal policy, and years later a family of feral cats in her new backyard brought her back to cats and to building a citywide community cat program for Washington, D.C.
In this conversation with Stacy, Danielle explains where the laws that affect cats are really made: at your city council and county commission, not in Congress. The people in those seats are your neighbors. They have a lot on their plates, and you should assume they know nothing about TNR. Her advice is to introduce yourself before there's a problem, because the first thing an official usually hears about cats is a complaint.
That's often how feeding bans happen. Danielle describes how cats get folded into wildlife feeding restrictions without anyone noticing until the ordinance has passed. She also lays out the alternative: timed meals instead of food left out, clean sites, permission from property owners, and caretakers who feel safe feeding in the open. As she points out, once you prohibit something, you can no longer monitor whether it's being done well.
Danielle and Stacy also get into return-to-field, including what sets it apart from TNR and why the updated Return-to-Field Handbook moves away from yes-or-no rules toward decisions about each individual cat. They close with the veterinary shortage and a reminder for tense times: whatever someone's politics, you can almost always find common ground by talking about cats.[/one_second]
[one_second]Press Play Now For:
Why the laws that matter most for cats are made locally
What to say to elected officials before the first complaint reaches them
How cats end up included in wildlife feeding bans
What a community feeding plan looks like in place of a ban
What to do when new, un-ear-tipped cats show up in your yard
How return-to-field differs from TNR, and who makes the decision
Why the veterinary shortage and feeding bans are both access-to-care issues
Stacy's holiday card idea for getting on your representatives' radar
Resources & Links
HumanePro
Fighting Community Cat Feeding Bans
Return-to-Field Handbook
Humane Policy Toolkit
Email Danielle Bays

"In truth, we prove statistically how little funding is needed to create a real impact."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, TNR Training Workshop Presented by Neighborhood Cats, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator.
Daniel Leung got into TNR the way many of us do. He worked on a farm in college, ignored his manager's warning never to feed the stray cats, and soon had dozens of them. A local TNR group came in to help, Daniel started volunteering with them, and he kept doing the work, first in Maryland and later with a large colony at a New Jersey hotel while he was traveling as a respiratory therapist during COVID. Then a trip to Penang, Malaysia, changed everything. On an island that may be home to 70,000 to 100,000 stray cats, he saw cats at every market stall and on every street.
After several years volunteering with local groups, Daniel felt the system was stuck, so he started something new. Cats of Penang began as a small grassroots effort and has grown into Catsoterra, which is built around the problems local caretakers kept running into: no government support, high costs and prices nobody would disclose. Daniel negotiated fixed rates with partner clinics and pre-funded the surgeries. He also built an online dashboard where volunteers book appointments, track outcomes and map where the cats come from. Volunteers pay an annual membership of 60 ringgit and can bring in as many cats as they need all year. So far, nearly 900 cats have been sterilized for about US$14,000.
Stacy and Daniel talk about what scale really requires. That includes the veterinary shortage in Malaysia, the cultural habit of letting owned cats roam, and why a 10-year plan matters when you're trying to move a whole island's numbers. They also get into apathy, business partnerships and Stacy's vision of a "cat church" in every town where neighbors help one another care for community cats. Daniel's message to the field is to get out of the old models and let the data make the case.
Press Play Now For:
How a college job on a farm led Daniel to TNR
Why returning cats is a service to the neighbors who care about them
How Catsoterra brought costs down by negotiating fixed clinic rates and pre-funding surgeries
The booking dashboard and geo-mapping that turn TNR into data governments can use
An annual membership model where every ringgit goes straight to the clinic
Malaysia's veterinary shortage and why TNR at scale is "a numbers game"
Owned cats, indoor/outdoor culture and the vacuum effect
Stacy's "cat church" idea: neighbors pooling resources for community cats
Working with businesses, from a cat food sponsor to Stacy's early days with the Chamber of Commerce
Resources & Links
Catsoterra
Cats of Penang on Instagram
Windsor Animal Hospital Penang (Catsoterra's clinic partner)

"Cats aren't spicy. They're not mean. They're just scared."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator.
Berlin Waters grew up in a house full of cats, with a mom who handled TNR for the neighborhood, and she's been a cat lover ever since. That lifelong interest led her to a master's in shelter medicine, where her research focused on handling and socializing fearful and aggressive cats. The result is The Spicy Cat Project, a resource for shelters and caregivers who want a more humane, effective approach to cats with challenging behavior. Berlin is now a third-year vet student with her sights set on shelter medicine and access to care.
In this conversation with host Stacy LeBaron, Berlin explains why the cats she works with in shelters are usually owner-surrendered, not feral. They came from homes and they're simply terrified. Rather than leaving hissing cats alone to "decompress" for days or weeks, she argues for early, guided intervention that shows them things are going to be okay. She walks through her slow, step-by-step approach to a cat in a kennel, why she gave up on tools like the fake hand on a stick, and how she uses feral boxes, carriers, and thick folded towels to keep both herself and the cat safe.
Stacy and Berlin also dig into some bigger questions in cat welfare. Berlin shares why she thinks we've become over-reliant on gabapentin, which she sees as a useful adjunct but not a substitute for real socialization. Both question the value of behavioral evaluations at intake, comparing them to judging a cat's personality during a vet visit. They also touch on the possible role of pain and stress in aggressive behavior. Berlin's message to adopters and shelters is a cultural shift: a cat that hisses and growls is a scared cat, with a sweet one hiding underneath.[/one_second]
[one_second]Press Play Now For:
Why most "aggressive" shelter cats are scared house cats, not ferals
The case for early intervention instead of leaving fearful cats alone
Berlin's step-by-step method for approaching a cat in a kennel
Why she stopped using handling tools and relies on towels, carriers, and feral boxes
How fearful cats tend to do once they're in foster or adoptive homes
Where gabapentin helps, and where over-reliance can fail cats
Why behavioral evaluations at intake may not tell you much
How pain and stress may factor into challenging behavior
Resources & Links
Website: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/
Training Videos: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/training-videos
TNR Clinics: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/tnr
Shelters: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/shelters
Adoption Basics: https://www.thespicycatproject.com/adopters-fosters
Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSpicyCatProject

"When we say age is not a disease, we also mean it for the youngest."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Jessica Dolce, Compassion Fatigue + Grief Educator.
Jordyn Purpura started out smuggling orphaned raccoons into his childhood bedroom. Twelve years of neonatal fostering later, he's in his final year of veterinary school, chasing a gap he kept running into from both sides of the exam table: almost nothing in veterinary education begins before eight weeks of age.
As a foster parent, that gap sounded like a doctor saying there wasn't much anyone could do. As a shelter worker placing bottle babies, and sometimes being the one present for their euthanasia when no foster could be found, it looked like an entirely preventable loss.
For a long time there was a defensible reason not to push harder on kitten medicine: it doesn't matter what a veterinarian is willing to diagnose or prescribe if there's nobody to take that kitten home and feed it every two hours. Jordyn's argument is that this excuse has quietly expired. Foster networks have grown, nurseries have opened, funding has followed. What hasn't caught up is the reflex — too small for blood work, too small for imaging, too small for a medication that was never labeled for a body this size.
That reflex has a body count. Kittens remain the animals least likely to leave a shelter alive, not because their medicine is impossible but because almost no one was taught it. Jordyn is teaching it now, to veterinary technicians, to emergency teams, to his own cohort. And he'd like the rest of us to start asking for it out loud.[/one_second]
[one_second]Press Play Now For:
Why veterinary education effectively starts at eight weeks, and what that costs kittens
The emotional weight shelter staff carry when there's no foster available
Bringing tube feeding and neonatal husbandry onto hospital nursing teams
What the UC Davis famciclovir research showed about recovery times
Congenital hypothyroidism as an overlooked cause of "failure to thrive"
Getting creative with diagnostics instead of calling a kitten too small for them
How fosters and rescues can push their veterinary partners toward more
Why generational openness matters more than age when shifting practice
Resources & Links
Vernau Laboratory at UC Davis
UC Davis Feline Pediatrics on Instagram
Jordyn Purpura on Instagram — The Vet Med Couple
UC Davis Fracture Program for Rescue Animals
Orphan Kitten Project at UC Davis
Orphan Kitten Club