The Community Cats Podcast

"The more I work in this field, the more there is to learn — and there's multiple strategies that you have to implement."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Feline Infectious Disease Summit 2026.
Pallavi Kamath grew up fostering kittens in Mumbai, studied animal science at UC Davis, earned a master's in animal public policy, and returned home to lead The Feline Foundation — an NGO she describes as the first in Maharashtra to systematically address the needs of community cats. With an estimated one million cats on Mumbai's streets and no existing population data to work from, the Foundation built its entire approach around a Logical Framework Matrix: a structured problem tree that mapped every welfare challenge and converted each into a program goal, giving the organization three focused pillars — population management, healthcare, and community involvement.
On the ground, that means zone-by-zone sterilization across Andheri West, Mumbai's largest suburb. The Foundation divides the area into zones, conducts exhaustive street-by-street cat censuses, organizes local feeders into "carer collectives," and sets monthly TNR targets before returning to repeat the census. Once a zone hits 80% sterilized, it moves into maintenance mode — with community members taking the lead. Six of their 12 zones have crossed that threshold.
Pallavi and Stacy also dig into the logistical realities most programs never face: nearly zero access to commercial traps, a handful of expert cat catchers who learned entirely on the job, and a city so geographically dense that sterilizing one neighborhood means immediately contending with cats flowing in from the next. The conversation closes on scalability — how a cat cafe can seed community buy-in, why Mumbai's municipal government is a rare progressive funding partner, and what it would take to open additional centers across a city that still has nowhere near enough sterilization resources.
Press Play Now For:
How a Logical Framework Matrix turns a problem tree into an organizational blueprint
The zone-by-zone census methodology: every street, every building, every shopkeeper — before TNR begins
What a "carer collective" is and why organizing local feeders before you start trapping changes everything
The 80% threshold: how the Foundation defines population stability and transitions to maintenance mode
The reality of trap access in India — and how a visit from an international colleague transformed the team's efficiency
Why Mumbai's dog sterilization history may have contributed to a massive cat population explosion
How a cat cafe can function as an adoption engine and community awareness hub
Why Mumbai's municipal government is one of the few in India providing grants for cat sterilization — and why it's still not enough
Resources & Links
The Feline Foundation
The Feline Foundation on Instagram
The Feline Foundation on Facebook
The Feline Foundation on YouTube
The Feline Foundation on LinkedIn
CCC TNR Certification Workshops

"The goal isn't so much a set number as the area, and 100% sterilization — which is a lofty goal. But the only thing we can do is keep going."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Feline Infectious Disease Summit 2026.
Louise Holton has been working to protect cats for decades and across continents — from TNR work with the Johannesburg SPCA in the 1970s, to helping establish TNR programs in the UK, to founding Alley Cat Rescue in 1997 as the first national organization in the US dedicated to all cats, friendly and feral alike. She's joined this episode by Debbie Holzer, who has worked alongside her since 2020 and brings a nonprofit development background to ACR's writing, programs, and day-to-day operations. Together they share how their own early connections to cats — Louise's mother's habit of rescuing strays, Debbie's childhood cat she called her best friend — set the stage for lifelong advocacy.
Stacy and the team dig into how the community cat landscape itself has shifted: TNR programs built in the '90s for antisocial, "spitfire" feral cats now have to account for a growing population of social, unowned cats living outdoors without a dedicated caregiver. Debbie and Louise talk through what that means for how programs prioritize care, and why leaving a friendly, adoptable-seeming cat outdoors can still be the better outcome when shelter capacity can't absorb every cat that could technically come inside.
The conversation's centerpiece is Alley Cat Rescue's African wildcat conservation work. The African wildcat — ancestor of the modern housecat — is losing genetic purity as it interbreeds with domestic and stray cats along the borders of places like Kruger National Park. ACR's strategy is a sterilization "buffer zone" along those borders: spay/neuter and rabies-vaccinate every domestic cat in town after town, closing one community at a time to stop the intermingling. To date, the program has sterilized around 6,000 cats on Kruger's borders and roughly 11,000 more in the Cape region, where a local caregiver has identified seven hybrid cats through DNA testing.
Louise and Debbie are candid about the obstacles: a severe veterinary shortage in South Africa (many vets have emigrated), unreliable population data, and almost no dedicated funding for small wild cat species. They highlight mobile vets like Dr. Ina Visser, who packs her own equipment into a car — or a plane — to set up clinics in remote farming communities, including one stop at an abandoned diamond mine with 120 free-roaming cats. The episode closes with a reminder that nobody needs a veterinary degree to help build spay/neuter capacity in their own community, and an invitation for listeners' vets to join Alley Cat Rescue's Feral Fix Challenge, the annual global TNR initiative that has helped sterilize over 600,000 community cats to date.[/one_second]
[one_second]Press Play Now For:
The story behind Louise Holton's lifelong devotion to cats, sparked by a single sighting of an African wildcat in Kruger Park at age 14
Debbie Holzer's path from a childhood "best friend" cat to a career in cat advocacy
Why today's TNR programs are dealing with more social, unowned outdoor cats than the antisocial ferals of decades past
A crash course on the African wildcat: what it is, where it lives, and why it matters to every housecat's ancestry
How hybridization between domestic cats and African wildcats threatens the wildcat's genetic purity — and how DNA testing confirms it
Inside Alley Cat Rescue's sterilization "buffer zone" strategy along the borders of Kruger National Park
The hard numbers: roughly 6,000 cats sterilized at Kruger's borders and 11,000 in the Cape region so far
Why rabies vaccination is built into every TNR catch in South Africa, and the public health stakes involved
The reality of practicing veterinary medicine in rural South Africa, and how mobile vets like Dr. Ina Visser reach cats that have no other access to care
Why you don't need to be a veterinarian to help build spay/neuter capacity — and how to get your own vet involved in the Feral Fix Challenge
Resources & Links
Alley Cat Rescue
The Feral Fix Challenge — sign up your veterinarian
Alley Cat Rescue's African Wildcat Conservation Program
Contact Debbie Holzer: debbie@saveacat.org

"That's my own formula — passion and compassion tempered by dedication and humor."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Drop Traps: Beginning and Advanced Certification Workshop.
After more than five decades behind the exam table, Dr. Kevin Lynch has treated thousands of pets, mentored generations of veterinary staff, and built one of Long Island's longest-running animal hospitals. His new memoir, Off the Leash: Tales From a Lifetime of Healing Pets and Wonder, traces that journey from a 13-year-old kid who talked his way into a part-time job at a local animal hospital to a veterinarian whose guiding philosophy is simple: treating the animal is only half the work, and tending to the person on the other end of the leash is the rest.
Dr. Lynch and Stacy dig into one of the thorniest debates in animal welfare: the divide between "indoor-only" advocates and the realities of outdoor and community cat caregiving. Drawing on his own farm-cat memories from working summers on a dairy farm before vet school, he makes the case for listening over judging, and for meeting cat caregivers where they are instead of where a textbook says they should be. From there, the conversation turns practical: how should trappers and community cat program managers actually approach a veterinarian for the first time? Dr. Lynch's answer centers on intention, relationship-building, and showing up with a plan rather than a crisis.
The episode also gets personal. Dr. Lynch opens up about compassion fatigue and burnout, a topic he says is as urgent in veterinary medicine today as it's ever been, and shares the daily habits, including a deliberately disciplined relationship with his phone, that keep him from burning out after 51 years in practice. He and Stacy also revisit one of the most harrowing chapters of his career: volunteering with search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero after 9/11, an experience he says revealed both the depths of tragedy and the best of human nature.
Rounding out the conversation, Dr. Lynch shares a few of the stories from his book, including an unforgettable lesson in slowing down before attempting a DIY tick removal. He also talks about where listeners can find his memoir, his YouTube series The Pet Mindset Show, and the dental care device he invented for dogs and cats.
Press Play Now For:
How a 13-year-old's unpaid job at a Long Island animal hospital turned into a 51-year veterinary career
Dr. Lynch's perspective on the indoor-only versus outdoor/community cat debate, and why he believes there's no one-size-fits-all answer
His honest advice for trappers and caregivers on how to approach a veterinarian for the first time
Why showing up with "a plan" rather than a crisis is the fastest way to build trust with a vet
The role of compassion fatigue and burnout in veterinary medicine, and the daily habits that help him stay in the game
His "physical mailbox" approach to managing phone use and protecting mental bandwidth
A first-hand account of volunteering with search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero after 9/11
The story behind a Rottweiler named Big Shot, and the unexpected humanity he witnessed during that crisis
Two unforgettable cat stories from his memoir, including a lesson in patience before attempting DIY pet care
Where to find his memoir, his YouTube series, and the dental device he invented for pets
Resources & Links
Off the Leash: Tales From a Lifetime of Healing Pets and Wonder (Amazon)
Dr. Kevin Lynch's website
The Pet Mindset Show (YouTube)
Plaque Be Gone dental device

"We may not all be the same organization, but we all have a very similar goal, and that is a better world for cats ultimately."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Drop Traps: Beginning and Advanced Certification Workshop.
To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Community Cats Podcast, host Stacy LeBaron is joined by Kristen Petrie, Community Cats Central's Technical Tabby, and frequent guest/guest host Mike Phillips of the Urban Cat League in New York City. Rather than a traditional interview, this episode is a candid conversation about the podcast's journey, the evolution of the community cat movement, and what they see on the horizon.
Press Play Now For:
How the podcast launched with a five-day-a-week release schedule — and why that was, in retrospect, wildly ambitious
The evolution from a podcast into a broader educational platform, including the TNR certification workshops that have now certified over 6,000 community cat advocates
The Community Cat Pyramid — why it became a turning point for the podcast and the movement, and how it reframes the conversation around owned cats as the upstream source of community cat populations
A frank look at the veterinary access crisis: why affordable spay/neuter remains the most critical variable in population management, and what's shifting in the private practice landscape (including the potential move away from corporate ownership back toward independent practices)
The Community Cat Clinics in the Atlanta area as a model for independently owned, cat-focused veterinary practices — and how to connect with co-owner Rick DuCharme if you're curious about replicating it
The cost equation: why trap-hold-euthanize approaches are far more expensive than upstream spay/neuter investment, and how to make that case clearly to decision-makers
Advocacy strategy — including the elevator pitch, tailoring your message to your audience (a politician needs to hear "1,000 voters"; a neighbor who dislikes cats needs to hear about the vacuum effect), and the power of consistent, simple messaging
The Georgia Whole Cat Workshop — bringing community cat players together for a full-day hybrid strategic session
The Summerlee Sustainable Solutions Grant Program— an eight-week course through the University of the Pacific paired with $4,000–$8,000 in seed funding for pilot projects
What the future looks like: less hierarchy, more collaboration, and community members stepping up to answer each other's questions
Resources & Links
Community Cat Pyramid
Community Cat Calculator
Paper Collar Template
Community Cat Clinic — email stacy@communitycatscentral.com to connect with Rick DuCharme for a virtual or in-person tour
Previous CCP episodes with Rick DuCharme: Episode 416 on YouTube | Episode 545 on YouTube
Urban Cat League — including the Taming Toolkit with Mike's socializing feral cats video resources
Voters for Animal Rights (New York)
Summerlee Sustainable Solutions Grant Program — through United Spay Alliance
United Spay Alliance

"You can both celebrate them and advocate for them at the same time."
This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Drop Traps: Beginning and Advanced Certification Workshop.
Dan Rimada didn't set out to start a movement. He just started noticing cats. During the stillness of COVID, when New York City slowed down enough to actually look around, he began noticing the cats living in the bodegas of his Fort Greene, Brooklyn neighborhood and photographing them on his iPhone. What began as a hyper-local Instagram project quickly grew into something much larger — a citywide archive, an advocacy platform, a walking tour company, and now a forthcoming book. Today, Bodega Cats of New York is the most detailed documentation of working cats in New York City corner stores ever assembled, built on four years of relationship-building across all five boroughs.
At the heart of Dan's work is a real tension: bodega cats are beloved New York City cultural icons — neighborhood anchors, pest controllers, familiar faces — and they are technically illegal. Under current New York City Health Code, keeping a live animal in a food establishment can result in fines between $200 and $1,500. Dan's 14,000-signature petition changed that conversation. It led to City Council legislation that would eliminate those fines and fund spay/neuter and vaccinations for bodega cats — with Council Member Frank Morano now carrying the bill forward after Keith Powers was term-limited out. A parallel state-level bill, introduced by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, goes further, establishing official care standards: designated cat zones, clean water, nutritious food, rest areas, and mandatory spay/neuter. The two bills are designed to work in tandem.
Dan also co-founded Cats About Town Tours with cat historian Peggy Gavan, whose blog hatchingcatnyc.com and books on New York City's animal history made her the perfect partner. The tours run through Brooklyn Heights, the Lower East Side, and the Financial District, uncovering the hidden feline history of New York from the 1800s and 1900s — and every ticket sold triggers food donations to a 501(c)(3) cat rescue. His book, Bodega Cats of New York, featuring photography by Gulce Kilkis, arrives from Quarto Publishing in October 2026.
Press Play Now For:
How a COVID-era iPhone project in Fort Greene grew into New York City's most comprehensive bodega cat archive
What a bodega actually is — and why working cats have been part of that culture for generations
Why bodega cats are currently illegal under NYC Health Code, and what the legislation would change
The two-pronged legislative strategy: the city council bill and the state-level Assembly bill, and how they work together
How Dan's $7,400 fundraiser and 14,000-signature petition translated into real legislative action
The spay/neuter and vaccination funding mechanism proposed in the city bill — and where the money could come from
Why some rescue groups want an outright ban on bodega cats, and Dan's more pragmatic take
The story behind Cats About Town Tours and the hidden cat history woven into New York City's streets
What to expect from the Bodega Cats of New York book, coming October 2026
Resources & Links
Bodega Cats of New York — Dan's archive, advocacy updates, and book waitlist at bodegacatsofnewyork.com
@bodegacatsofnewyork on Instagram
Cats About Town Tours — NYC's cat history walking tours, running April through November
The Hatching Cat of Gotham — Peggy Gavan's blog on the history of cats (and dogs) in New York City