return to field Archives - The Community Cats Podcast

July 15, 2018

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 […]

January 19, 2019

Interview! Dr. Graham Brayshaw, Director of Animal Services at Animal Humane Society

“We’ve got to sterilize absolutely everyone we can.” Dr. Graham Brayshaw, a 2004 graduate of Texas A&M’s veterinary school, is both the chief veterinarian and the director of animal services for the Animal Humane Society (AHS), an organization based in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Brayshaw’s interest […]

April 13, 2019

Interview! Kate Hurley, DVM, Director of U.C. Davis Koret School of Veterinary Medicine and Co-founder of Million Cat Challenge

“In the time I’ll talk to you, twenty fewer cats will lose their lives in animal shelters because of the progress we’ve made in this field in the last five years.” You may remember Dr. Kate Hurley, Director of U.C. Davis Koret School of Veterinary Medicine and co-founder of Million […]

May 18, 2019

Interview! Bryan Kortis, Director of National Programs, Neighborhood Cats

“Things can get better, no matter how long they’ve been bad.” For the 300th episode of Community Cats Podcast, Stacy is joined by Bryan Kortis, Director of National Programs for Neighborhood Cats. Previously featured on CCP Episode 13, Episode 127, and Episode 218, Bryan is back to talk about how […]

June 17, 2019

Trapper Tricks & Tips – Liz Pease

This week, we have the next installment of our occasional series called Trapper Tips & Tricks, which will profile folks who are involved in trapping community cats. This week we bring you tips from Liz Pease, former executive director of the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, who has been trapping […]

June 22, 2019

Peter Wolf, Research & Policy Analyst for Best Friends Animal Society

“If [Return to Field is] not happening where you are, it’s probably coming soon.” Listen to Episode #305 Now Peter Wolf, previously featured on CCP Episode 74, joins Stacy again, this time to discuss a newly released research paper that he and Dan Spehar (CCP Episode 240) have co-authored. […]

June 29, 2019

Dr. Sara Pizano, DVM, Team Shelter USA

“Ending euthanasia doesn’t take years, and it doesn’t take millions of dollars.” Listen to Episode #306 Now Stacy sits down with Dr. Sara Pizano (a previous CCP guest on Episode 56, Episode 171, and Episodes 246 and 247) to discuss Dr. Pizano’s new book,The Best Practice Playbook for Animal […]

December 12, 2019

The Cat Rescuers- A Review

I recently had an opportunity to watch The Cat Rescuers, a documentary by Rob Fruchtman and Steve Lawrence. I have had the opportunity to interview Steve (CCP Episodes 178 and 307) about his experience making the film and following the main characters, Clare, Sassee, Tara, and Stuart around. We follow […]

January 21, 2020

A Best of CCP Episode! Dr. Sara Pizano, DVM, Team Shelter USA

“Ending euthanasia doesn’t take years, and it doesn’t take millions of dollars.” Listen to Episode #335 now Stacy sits down with Dr. Sara Pizano (a previous CCP guest on Episode 56, Episode 171, and Episodes 246 and 247) to discuss Dr. Pizano’s new book, The Best Practice Playbook for […]

June 18, 2020

A Question for the CCP Community – Is it time to lose our spay/neuter mission?

Spending the weekend talking at the Online Kitten Conference about how to care for, nurture, spay/neuter, transport, and adopt out kittens really got me thinking about the role of spay/neuter in our animal welfare movement. Twenty-plus years ago, when I first started out with the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, […]

August 20, 2020

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 […]

September 1, 2020

Anna Raines, Best Friends Animal Society

“If you want to protect wildlife, if you want to protect birds, then you need to do a full dive into TNR and cat programming.” Listen to Episode #367 Now This episode is sponsored in part by Doobert.com’s FosterSpace, Kitty Sift Litter System, and The American Association of Feline […]

September 8, 2020

Keith Williams, C5 Las Vegas

“Don’t just tell me about the cute kitten you saved. Tell me about the mom that you spayed, because that is where the progress is really going to be made … on the spay/neuter side of the house.” Listen to Episode #368 Now This episode is sponsored in part […]

February 1, 2022

Bryan Kortis and Susan Richmond, Return-to-Field & Targeting: The Community Cat Program, Part 1

“…are you going to serve the majority who likes the cats there, or at least the majority that’s suggested by the data that we have, or are you going to throw in your lot with the others?” Listen to Episode #441 Now This episode is sponsored in part by […]

February 8, 2022

Bryan Kortis and Susan Richmond, Return-to-Field & Targeting: The Community Cat Program, Part 2

“The door is always open to work together.” Listen to Episode #442 Now This episode is sponsored in part by Humane Network, Doobert.com and Maddie’s Fund. In part two of the Return-to-Field & Targeting: The Community Cat Program webinar Bryan Kortis explores what fears people have prior to starting a return-to-field and […]

February 15, 2022

Feline Behavior with New Zealand’s The Cat Counsellor, Molly Kelsey

“I wanted to focus on keeping not just cats happy but owners happy with their cats and reducing owner surrender and things like euthanasia due to problem behaviors.” Listen to Episode #443 Now This episode is sponsored in part by Humane Network, Doobert.com and Maddie’s Fund. Meet Molly Kelsey, a former […]

March 19, 2024

Return-to-Field: How Shelters Save Community Cats, Part 1, with Bryan Kortis, National Programs Director, Neighborhood Cats

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that there’s a reason we’re trying to solve community cat over population because this is, ya know, not always a great situation for the cats. When it comes to return to field, we’re looking at animals coming into the shelter…they have good body condition […]

March 26, 2024

Return-to-Field: How Shelters Save Community Cats, Part 2, with Bryan Kortis, National Programs Director, Neighborhood Cats

“This is just a crucial stage when the cat is first brought in and it’s really important to train your staff to be able to gather as much information as possible because that’s the moment, you may never see the finder again.” Listen to Episode #553 Now This episode […]

April 9, 2024

Colony Caretaking Tips & Tricks Part 1, with Bryan Kortis, National Programs Director, Neighborhood Cats

“Often, people who are tolerant of the cats, not particularly cat lovers, they end up not wanting them around not because of the cats themselves but because of the people and the people not showing respect for the neighborhood, and the number one way people are disrespectful when they aren’t […]

April 16, 2024

Colony Caretaking Tips & Tricks Part 2, with Bryan Kortis, National Programs Director, Neighborhood Cats

“How do you keep cats healthy? So you don’t reach a point where they need veterinary intervention? It doesn’t have to be, you know, costly or difficult and if you do some of these simple preventative things, you might save yourself some big vet bills and some difficult trapping.” Listen […]