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Holy Smokes Batman! There Are Kittens in Massachusetts!

Reports have been coming in from many Massachusetts rescuers and trappers saying that this year’s kitten season is the worst one “eva” (=ever in Boston-speak). I decided to email some of the larger shelters in the state to see what might be going on. I definitely came across some themes. […]

Everything You Need to Know About Kittens!

You may have seen my blog post about a possible kitten explosion and overpopulation concerns a couple of weeks ago. I believe we will have a substantial uptick in the number of kittens being born in our communities this summer, and I also am convinced that members of the community […]

Caring for Kittens: 10 Tips

There’s no way around the fact that kittens are going to be a big part of our lives in the coming months. While we may not see the numbers in our shelters as the desire for foster care continues to rise, kittens will be out there in the community, and […]

The Whole Kit and Caboodle: TNR of Kittens

This week’s guest post is authored by Nancy Peterson of The National Kitten Coalition. Best TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) practices involve trapping the entire colony of cats at the same time, although there are times when this is not possible. When there are kittens to be trapped, there are additional considerations. You will be […]

What To Do If You Find Kittens

Contributed by Cristin Bates Have you ever come across stray kittens outside and wondered what you should do? You might be surprised to learn that leaving them where they are is oftentimes the most helpful thing you can do. From birth to eight weeks, mother cats provide their kittens with […]

Feral to Friendly: Tips for Socializing Shy Kittens and Cats

Contributed by Allison Hunter-Frederick, Cat Behavior Consultant, Trainer, & Educator at Allison Helps Cats If you foster cats, you may be asked to socialize feral kittens. My husband and I first faced this challenge in 2020. I’ve also worked with fearful cats of all ages at our local shelter for […]

Why It Is Okay to Return a Felv+ Cat

This week’s blog may be a bit surprising, but I want to share my take on Why It Is Okay to Return a Felv+ Cat to a colony. First off, I want to say VERY clearly that cats being trapped, neutered and returned should NOT be tested for FIV (Feline […]

Welcome to our community!

Welcome to the Community Cats Podcast website. I am thrilled to be launching this website where we, as a community, can help more community cats. What is a community cat you ask?  Community Cats are cats that are either feral (born in the wild-outdoors), abandoned cats, or owned indoor/outdoor cats […]

Fee-Waived-Adoptions-Help-Organization

Fee-Waived Adoptions Can Help Your Organization

This is the time of year when fee-waived adoption events are happening all of the time. Fee-Waived Adoptions Can Help Your Organization! Whether it be within specific organizations or in the community, as a whole, it has been seen to help reduce the overpopulation of cats and kittens in adoption […]

The Phases of Feline Over-Population

Huge thanks to Lisa Finkel and Liz Pease from the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society in working tirelessly to help create this wonderful Phases of Feline Over-Population model with our fearless leader, Stacy LeBaron! Stacy LeBaron has been active in the animal welfare field since 1994. She envisions a no-kill nation, where all […]

How is Kitten Season Affecting You?

It is the end of June and I am wondering how kitten season affects everyone in our community? In Massachusetts, we have some kittens and pockets of areas where we have a lot of feral kittens that need rescue. Over the last 20 years, though, the number of kittens coming […]

The Kansas Law that Keeps FeLV+ Cats from Being Adopted

Today’s guest post comes to us from Krista Beucler, Marketing & Communications Intern at Community Cats Podcast.  Kansas State Law 47-624 sounds pretty reasonable. Under the Kansas Statutes for Livestock and Domestic Animals, the law pertains to “any domestic animal affected with any contagious or infectious disease.” These animals are […]

Interview! Marnie Russ, Founder and Board Member, National Kitten Coalition

“Once you save one, you’re hooked for life.” Marnie tells Stacy about her commitment to increasing the survival rates  for neonatal kittens through education, information sharing, cooperation and hands on learning.  Her organization, the National Kitten Coalition, specializes in helping shelters, rescue organizations, the veterinary community and individuals, better understand […]

How to Work With Your Neighbors

Do you feed a group of community cats? Do you have a neighbor who may not be as excited about having community cats in their yard as you are? It can be a common occurrence on how to figure out How to Work With Your Neighbors and   you may […]

Can We Be Buddies?

This suggestion has been presented to me many times and I feel the need to share this idea with all of you! Based on the data, there are many areas of the country where we seem to have cat overpopulation under control. These successful areas have offered community low-cost spay/neuter […]

Interview! Scott Giacoppo, Chief Community Animal Welfare Officer Washington (DC) Humane Society

“Community cats are not homeless..they are loved and cared for.” When Scott accepted the challenge of joining the Washington Humane Society, their live release rate was 28%…today it is 90%. Scott outlines the various programs that have moved the dial, including improved coordination and cooperation with animal control, their Pets for […]

Interview! Ashley Davis, Director, Scituate (MA) Animal Shelter

“People may be the problem but they’re also the solution.” After TNR’ing 43 cats and fostering multiple litters of kittens, Ashley became “addicted” to trapping and decided that a career in animal welfare was inevitable for her. She speaks about her communications efforts to educate individual neighborhoods about the importance […]

To-Relocate-or-Not-To-Relocate-That-is-the-Question

To Relocate or Not To Relocate – That is the Question

Summertime is when our trappers are their most active. We are so busy handling calls about kittens in distress, feral mothers and cat fights.  It is, by far, when cats are their most visible in the community. It seems like everyone wants community cats gone in July and August! Trust me, […]

10-Tips-Toughest-Week-of-Year

10 Tips for the Toughest Week of the Year

In my past experience, the end of July tends to be the hardest time for Community Cat rescuers and feeders. These 10 Tips for the Toughest Week of the Year will help you make it through these tough times! So what makes this week so tough? For the colonies that […]

Interview! Ellen Carozza, LVT, Nova Cat Clinic, Arlington, VA

“The canine has always been given more precedence in medical care.” Ellen Carozza is a veterinary technician with a passion for rescuing and raising neonatal kittens. She lovingly brings the kittens she raises everywhere with her, and implements innovative ways to care for them, including electrolytes, probiotics and plasma. With […]

Targeted-Surrenders

Targeted Surrenders

Over the last 5-10 years we have heard a lot of discussion about the importance of targeted spay/neuter programs. We see flyers for spay/neuter at a low cost for $10 or for free. And as a result, when we have aggressive spay/neuter in these areas we see dramatic reduction in […]

Interview! Angela Walters Rockwell, Executive Director of the Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP), Santa Barbara, California

“For community cats, it takes a community. There’s always something you can do.” Angela shares fascinating information about ASAP’s innovative programs, particularly their recognized “Tiny Lion Tamers” initiative that socializes feral kittens within the shelter environment. So far, this program has 125 “graduates” and has made a significant difference in […]

Abandonment-Uptick

Abandonment Uptick – 5 Tips to Manage the Intake Flow

As the end of summer approaches, we begin to have a larger inflow of surrenders to our shelters. Why does this happen? Yes, we have the addition of kittens coming into our shelters, but in areas where the kitten population is somewhat under control most kitten surrenders can primarily be […]

How-to-Find-an-Organization-to-Volunteer With

How to Find an Organization to Volunteer With

Have you been thinking about ways that you can get involved in the community around you? Are you confused where to start, but would really like to start volunteering somewhere that will make a difference? If this sounds like you, it is easier than you think when it comes to How […]

What Does a Humane Community Look Like for Cats

From backyards to large cities, we live in a world with many communities. My family is a community, my friends are a community, my neighborhood, my town…. okay you get it! So, What Does a Humane Community Look Like for Cats? We are currently so focused on shelter statistics that I […]

Anyone Can Trap! How to Get Involved with Your Local TNR Program

Today’s guest post comes to us from Krista Beucler, Marketing & Communications Intern at Community Cats Podcast. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs can be a wonderful way to deal with community cat population issues. It is important that community/feral cats get spayed/neutered and vaccinated so that their colonies don’t grow exponentially. In […]

happy-national-feral-cat-day

Happy National Feral Cat Day

Happy National Feral Cat Day!   On this day I want us to take a moment to focus on what National Feral Cat Day means to us. I specifically want to focus on the word “Feral”. We’ve gotten a bit away from identifying our free-roaming cat populations and just putting all cats […]

Listening Modules

As we go beyond our 100th episode of the Community Cats Podcast, we would like to launch the Cat Academy with an easy listing of listening modules or episodes that are grouped by topic.  So if you want to know everything about kittens you can just click on this listing […]

Interview! Jill O’Connell, Executive Director and Crystal Arnott, Communications and Fundraising Manager, Lowell Humane Society (MA)

“No matter how we operate, we all have the same goals which is to help community cats.” In another episode extolling the benefits of collaboration, Jill and Crystal describe how their relationships with other organizations have benefitted the cats and llower-income residents of Lowell. By bringing low-cost spay/neuter to the […]

Transport or Not To Transport

Transport or Not To Transport

Happy Cyber Monday! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving Holiday and was able to enjoy their family and loved ones. If you are doing your online shopping this fine Monday morning, feel free to take a quick look at our Community Cats Podcast Store. All proceeds go […]

Greatest Hits! Hannah Shaw, The Kitten Lady

“I live and breathe cat advocacy…that’s what I do.” Hannah Shaw was such a popular guest earlier this year that we couldn’t wait to bring back her episode for a reboot! How was she to know that saving an orphaned kitty would reboot her career, as well! Hannah, affectionately known […]

Martin Luther King and… Community Cats?

Martin Luther King and… Community Cats?

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. day and a time to reflect on all of the efforts of the Civil Rights movement that he did. But, Martin Luther King and… Community Cats? Have I lost my mind? There are many ways to honor Dr. King and his legacy. I, for one, […]

My 13 Favorite (Mostly Free) Online Tools

My 13 Favorite (Mostly Free) Online Tools

This week I would like to cover My 13 Favorite (Mostly Free) Online Tools that I use to help manage people, time, and programs. For those of you who know more personally you know this is a favorite topic of mine. I think that technology is the best thing that […]

The Nuts and Bolts of a Donation Jar Campaign

The Nuts and Bolts of a Donation Jar Campaign

The Nuts and Bolts of a Donation Jar Campaign is something many of our groups in The Community Cats Grants ponder during their fundraising efforts. We currently have 40 groups from 18 different states working hard to raise money for their spay/neuter programs that help community cats! More info to […]

TNRM, A New Acronym for Stray Cats

TNRM, A New Acronym for Stray Cats

I have long been a great fan of return to field programs. Without even knowing what return to field was, MRFRS was running free spay/neuter clinics for feral cats. Anyone could bring a cat in a trap to our monthly clinics and get them spay/neutered, vaccinated and ear tipped for […]

How to Handle Volatile Volunteers and Negative Nellies

How to Handle Volatile Volunteers and Negative Nellies

Volunteerism is what drives our profession in animal welfare. We wouldn’t be able to do 90% of our work without volunteer help! Most of our boards of directors are run by volunteers, along with our cat caretakers and trappers being volunteers, too. Our foster homes are volunteers and fundraisers and […]

We went to Cat Camp NYC

If you passed by the Metropolitan Pavillion in New York City a couple of weekends ago, you probably noticed more than a few people wearing cat ears and excitedly waiting to get out of the chilly weather and into Cat Camp NYC. That’s right… We went to Cat Camp NYC! The […]

Ask Stacy! Stacy LeBaron, Host of The Community Cats Podcast

“This is all about being a family.” As kitten season approaches, guest host Lisa Finkel talks with Stacy about creatively managing community kittens. Describing kitten fostering as a “pre-program” to the adoption process, Stacy offers insight on productive ways to set up a healthy and sustainable foster care program. Many […]

Preparing for Kitten Season and Trapping

Preparing for Kitten Season and Trapping

Unfortunately kitten season either is upon us or will soon be here. I thought I would pass along some tips you can use for Preparing for Kitten Season and Trapping. I want you to have a successful year! For the Foster Home Coordinator 1. Check-In If you are a foster […]

No-Kill Shelters Versus No-Kill Communities

No-Kill Shelters Versus No-Kill Communities

It seems like this month has been filled will lots of conversations about the word “No-Kill” and what it means. How will all of the data that we are collecting to create a country full of No-Kill shelters impact the overall wellness of our communities for Community Cats? So, when […]

FIV Cats and Why We Need to Stop Testing

FIV Cats and Why We Need to Stop Testing

I know many of you enjoyed my comments about Felv+ cats and I want to thank everyone for the great responses. I thought today I would get up on my FIV+ soapbox and advocate for this great group of FIV Cats and Why We Need to Stop Testing! My own […]

It’s all about Spay/Neuter Baby

It’s all about Spay/Neuter Baby

Today I am jumping back up on my spay/neuter soapbox and share with you some great statistics that I have. It’s all about Spay/Neuter Baby! The stats prove that high volume and accessible spay/neuter is what will truly make a difference in lives saved in your community. In 2008 a […]

Fundraising For the Injured Community Kitty

Fundraising For the Injured Community Kitty

It is the middle of the summer and we are up to our eye balls in requests for help! Kittens need trapping, people are complaining and we are all hot! Inevitably, when all of these requests pile up we get that call that an injured cat has been found and […]

A Call to Action for Creating Statewide Community Cat Networks

A Call to Action for Creating Statewide Community Cat Networks

Since 2004 there has been a network of cat trappers and rescuers who have worked together to help curb feline over population in Massachusetts. It is called Masscats and is a simple yahoo group that follows the framework of freecycle. This is where folks can post requests for assistance and help each […]

Operation Paw's Parody Music Video

Operation Paw’s Parody Music Video

This week, we have something particularly fun for you! Operation Paw’s Parody Music Video, with parodies Rick Ross’ “Trap Trap Trap” is hot, hot, hot! Catherine Duarte has been a cat lover for many years, but only recently learned about TNR. Since than, she’s been volunteering with Operation Paw, a Miami […]

A Community Cat's Christmas

A Community Cat’s Christmas

I’ve heard a song that says “Christmas comes this time each year”—but for me, it comes every day. You see, I’m a community cat, you can call me C.C. When my caretakers stop by with food and fresh water, every day feels like Christmas (or whatever the best day you […]

It Could Finally Be a Turning Point for Cats

It Could Finally Be a Turning Point for Cats

The past two years may prove that It Could Finally Be a Turning Point for Cats and their welfare!  Why?  Because at the start of 2016 a veterinary task force was formed with the goal of improving cat welfare. By the middle of 2017, all major national veterinary organizations had endorsed […]

Top Tips for Building Your Foster Network

Top Tips for Building Your Foster Network

Building a sustainable fostering program can be one of the most powerful ways for organizations to be able to help more cats. I interviewed Bryn Rogers, Assistant Director of Adoption Center Programs and Katie Armour, Project Coordinator, of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). We […]

Interview! Ann Dunn, Founder of Cat Town, Oakland, CA

“Nobody wanted to be standing in a cafe making coffee, they wanted to be helping the cats. But now, we’re seeing how helpful it has been to forgotten kittens and see how successful it has been.” Ann Dunn founded Cat Town, an Oakland, CA organization focused on helping the most […]

Fundraising with Community Cats Podcast

Fundraising with Community Cats Podcast

Is there anything more intimidating than fundraising? If you feel that way, you’re not alone. You can have all of the passion in the world, but asking people for money can be scary. That’s the beauty of our Community Cats Grants program: it rewards your organization for experimenting with a new […]

Introducing the Community Cat Pyramid

Are you interested in making a significant reduction in the numbers of cats in your community? If the answer is yes, then I think the Community Cat Pyramid will be of interest to you. I hope this graphic will illustrate just how important certain programs are to impacting cat numbers. […]

Interview! Kate Cote, Founder of Fur Love Comfort Cats

“It’s always such a wonderful time to visit a place for 5 to 6 hours, letting people pet and interact with the cats, and brightening up someone’s day.” “It’s always such a wonderful time to visit a place for 5 to 6 hours, letting people pet and interact with the […]

Athletic Woman Practicing Yoga with an Affectionate Cat

Kitten Yoga

As spring approaches (we hope!), so does kitten season — and with kitten season comes added costs for spay/neuter, food, and supplies. One popular current fundraiser that may be able to help you and your group is Kitten Yoga. Below is a tip sheet written by Julie Jacobson on how […]

Interview! Michele Tilford, Cat-Assisted Therapy Advocate

“I really believe animals have such an ability to get people. They have an intuitiveness which I find amazing.” Michele Tilford has over five years of experience as a cat-assisted therapy handler—but when she first became interested in cat-assisted therapy, the only programs she could find were for dogs. Eventually […]

Our Technical Cat’s Day at Cat Camp 2018

This week’s post comes to you from guest blogger Kristen Petrie. If you’d like to know a little more about what Kristen does at the podcast, check out episode 198 of the podcast.  This past Sunday, at the crack of dawn, I left New Hampshire and headed for New York […]

Shelter Animals Count Numbers- What Do They Mean for Us?

I recently got an email that Shelter Animals Count had released their summary of statistics collected from 2016. I took a look at those numbers and found some very interesting trends. If you want to take a deep dive into the report, feel free to visit https://shelteranimalscount.org/data/data-reports/2016-animal-sheltering-statistics. I want to commend […]

Christi Metropole, Founder of Stray Cat Alliance

“It was a struggle for getting [cats] a voice.” Listen to Episode #414 Now   This episode is sponsored in part by Smalls Fresh Cat Food and Doobert.com. Christi Metropole, founder of the Stray Cat Alliance shares with Stacy how she got started with TNR in the 90s and how trapping […]

Interview! Niki Cochran, Program Manager at Alley Cat Rescue

“Just because you’re getting the [positive] combo test … that doesn’t mean ‘death sentence’. That means ‘OK, now I have to go and educate myself about what that combo test result is.’ ” Niki Cochran, Program Manager at Alley Cat Rescue in Washington, DC, has been a cat lover her […]

The Silly Season- Happy Memorial Day!

Over my years in animal sheltering, I started to dread Memorial Day Weekend. What used to be a time of family get-togethers and days at the beach, now begins a season of emergency rescues and calls about emergencies with our fosters. Compared to many areas of the country, we aren’t […]

Foster “Failure” – The Real Story

I know it’s early in the season, but I know many of you out there are just about at the point of falling in love with one of your fosters.  We have all been there. Up until now you have been strong and let those fosters kittens go up for […]

Does Return to Field Help the Big Picture?

Even though I am doing the Community Cats Podcast, Community Cats grants, and running an online conference, I still stay as involved as possible with small organizations trying to do the best that they can for community cats. Many of you know I do a lot of work with a […]

Feline Fix By Five – I need your input!

I recently scanned the Feline Fix by Five Website and I am wondering why we don’t have more veterinarians and humane societies signed up in support of this effort. So I am asking our listeners/readers for comments. Below are some of the issues that I think might hold us back from […]

Five Freedoms and Community Cats, I wonder?

Do you know what the Five Freedoms are? I find that any time I go to a conference and there are hard questions asked about our work, everyone seems to fall back on the Five Freedoms They are: Freedom from hunger and thirst Freedom from discomfort Freedom from pain, injury […]

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