December 4, 2025 • 63 mins
This week on Calling All Creatures, I'm excited to welcome Jennifer Catpurr, talking all about how to have happy feline homes!
Jennifer shares insights on creating safe, enriched, and stress-free environments for our feline friends — from behavior tips to clever home design ideas that help every cat feel happy and secure.
If you’re ready to make your home a true Happy Feline Home, you won’t want to miss this episode!
Jennifer shares insights on creating safe, enriched, and stress-free environments for our feline friends — from behavior tips to clever home design ideas that help every cat feel happy and secure.
If you’re ready to make your home a true Happy Feline Home, you won’t want to miss this episode!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good evening everybody, and welcome to calling all Creatures. As
a lot of you already know, I'm your host, Lori,
and tonight we are going to be talking about happy
feeline homes. I have Jennifer catpur On here with me,
and she is a cat behavior consultant, so she is
going to give us, hopefully all sorts of words of
(00:23):
wisdom and good advice and tips about how you guys
can hopefully make your homes a little bit happier for
your kitty cats. Cause sometimes kitties have issues and so
we want to try to keep them as happy as
we can. So Jennifer, thank you so much for being
on the podcast tonight and talking with me about this.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yes, Hi, Laurie, I'm glad to be here and thank
you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Oh yeah, I love talking about all sorts of different
animals and I haven't talked to anybody about cats, I
don't think in a little while, so I thought it
was about time. And then I saw your talk that
you did for blog palls and stuff like that, and
it was really interesting, so I thought, well, let's get
you on here, let's talk.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So ok. Yeah, So why don't you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Just go ahead and start by telling us a little
bit more about yourself and how you became a cat
behavior consultant.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Sure. Well, it started in twenty eleven when I discovered
that cat behavior consultants existed, and as someone who always
loved cats, this was a dream job for me. So
I looked up the best books to read, and the
more I studied, the more I learned how misunderstood cats are.
(01:37):
So many of their behavior problems aren't really problems at all.
They're cats trying to cope with an environment that doesn't
meet their needs.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Cats are incredibly.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Sensitive, intentional creatures, and their behavior is subtle. So because
of that, their needs often go unnoticed and I felt
and I still feel, a large response ability to advocate
for them to make sure their emotional world is seen
and supported. So I plugged myself into cat behavior consulting groups,
(02:10):
found a local mentor, started taking free clients, and finally,
when I felt ready in twenty thirteen, Jennifer Katper was born.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Awesome, So that's cool that you were able to get
into groups and get a mentor and stuff like that
to kind of help, you know, get you going in
this field. A while back. I had a gentleman on
that and it was funny because I never really thought
about training cats. I mean I trained dogs as a
side job and stuff service dogs and basic you know
(02:43):
training stuff like that, but I never really thought about
training cats because they're such independent creatures. I mean, yes,
they'll walk on a leash outside and stuff like that,
but I never thought about actual training. And this gentleman
from the UK does cat training, so it was very
interesting to I had to hear some of the things
that he had to say about training kiddies.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Oh yeah, I love a fellow cat trainer, and I
love telling people about things like that. You know that
cats are trainable as long as you are making it
within their best interest. You know, cats want to do
what's in their best interest, so if that's you.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Know, performing X y Z behavior for a.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Reward, then they're generally going to do that with enough repetition.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So that is true kind of like dogs. I mean,
now they'll learn how to do it too, I mean
with enough repetition and rewards and stuff like that. So
but it was just funny. I had never thought about
training cats, I guess.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So there you go. Your world has been opened.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, yes, it was. It was a very interesting cut.
And he was also he wrote books and stuff like that,
and poetry, and so he actually had a poem he
had written about a cat, and he recited it for us.
It was very interesting. It was very good, very good podcast.
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I love that I love you know, I just feel
like not enough people write cat poetry or songs about
their cats. I mean, when my cat Whiskey passed away
in April, I was searching, you know, I was just
trying to find comfort music, and I was searching for
(04:22):
songs about cats, you know, just deep love of cats
or you know, your own cat, and I really couldn't
find much. You know, you can find cutesy songs, but like,
where are the songs that talk about just being completely
in love with your cat?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Because that's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I'm sure a lot of people do.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, totally. And if you know, I could sing, I
would create some songs.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You know, I could always just write them and then
have someone else sing them.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
There you go, all right, all right, I gotta think
about that further.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You could write home. I'm sure there's people out there.
It's funny because I know you followed me. On Instagram,
and I don't know if you actually clicked on the
Instagram post, because I found a song about cats and
it was, yeah, it was cute and it was kind
of funny and it's a gentleman and he's just singing
away about his cat and the cat has toys, and
(05:22):
then it was just it was really, really, really a
neat little song. When I was listening to it, I
was like, I didn't even know this was out there.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, I need to check that out. I really do.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So, you know, Spotify just had their uh oh, what
do you call it?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
There? There's Spotify Rapped come out right yesterday.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And my top artist on Spotify Rapped is an artist.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Called cat Loaf c A T L O F E
geez And.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, this is a glow fi chill instrument, but it's nice.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
His name is Mike.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It's a solo individual and all of his songs are
cat themed and provide just a feeling of being with
a cat, like I think he has a song that
it's called Napping in the Sun by a Window something
like that. It was just like everything cat themed and
(06:27):
it's really lovely.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I mean, that was the greatest cat.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Comfort music that I could find out there, but I'll
definitely look at your Instagram again and look for that song.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Like I said, if you just click down the little
announcement fire thing, it should start playing, and I think
it'll put the name of the song and the artist
up there. I'm not sure exactly on that one, but
I think it does. But yeah, I know what you
mean about the instrumental stuff though, because as I was
trying to find you know, this something for the Instagram post,
I was just like everything was more instrumental, and and
(07:00):
I came across that one and and you know, words
and everything, and it was really kind of more upbeat.
And I just really like that over the instrumental stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So that's cool. That sounds like a fun song.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah it is. It was really, it was really kind
of cool. I listened to a couple other ones all
my yeah, no, I'm gonna stick with this one because
this one just it just fits better, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And it's funny now that we're kind of talking about music,
Like I, you know, said, sometimes I think about these
things because I did animal control and you know, in
the shelter environment, obviously you have cats and they're in
you know, kennels and stuff like that, and a lot
of times these kennels are not the biggest things for cats,
but for like the dogs and stuff. We used to
(07:42):
play music to help kind of keep the dogs quieter
and more calm and a little bit less stress free.
Does that work for kiddies.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Too, So it depends on the cat.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
But if there is otherwise a noisy environment or a
disruptive environment that could alert the cat to outside sounds
that could be stressful, it could be nice to play
calming music over an environment that might be a little disruptive.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
For a cat. But you know, it really, like I said,
it really does depend on the cat.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So some catsulspond well to that, and other cats just
prefer some peace and quiet or prefer to hear whatever
might be going on around the house.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I was just curious because unfortunately the shelter that I managed,
it was very small. In the cat room was in
the back of the shelter, in a small room that
was after you went through the dog kennel area, So
the poor cats had to listen to all the barking
and all the noise the dogs made. They have changed
it now, thank goodness. I tried to get them to understand,
(08:51):
you know, that we should see if we could build
something you know, different and for the cats that would
just have the cats and no dog stuff. And at
that point in time, you know, they weren't willing to
do stuff. But from what I'm understanding, they have at
this point now done stuff something like that, and now
the cats have their own like little building so that
they're not in with the dogs.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Good.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's important and I'm sure that's going to you know,
or that does help them a lot with destressing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I'm sure it does, yeah, because I know that you know,
some other shelters that do that to keep the cats
completely separated from the dogs, and the cats seem to
be a little bit calmer, you know, in those environments
over I mean, it's already stressful enough being in a shelter,
let alone having to listen to a bunch of dogs
that are barking, and especially when people come in and
the dogs all started going off, you know. So yeah,
(09:42):
I'm sure they like it a lot better, right, I.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Mean, that would drive me crazy living there, you know, yeah,
like wearing a punch of talks all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Like I like dogs.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Dogs are great, but come on, you know, lots of
dogs at once can be a bit much.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, yeah, especially when all the you know, you got
to two kennels and they're all full, Yeah, it can
be a bit much. So I did my best to
try to keep the dog stress free and quieter. And
when people weren't in there, it was amazing. People would
walk in the office and they'd be like, do you
even have any dogs up for it? I'm like, oh, yeah,
the kennels are full back there there, none of them
are making any noise, and I'm a ball yeah, because
I've got music playing. They're all calm, they're all nice,
(10:19):
and you know, they stay pretty quiet until you walk
back there, and then they're going to start to, you know,
make noise because they see you and they want attention.
So so yeah, well that's.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's great that you really work to keep a calm
environment for them.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You know, shelters do what they can with what they've got,
so yeah, we try. It's it's sometimes hard, but we
do try good.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I love that. Definitely appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
So what inspired you to focus on improving cats living environments?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Well, it keeps me passionate about focusing on their environments is.
It's really how transformative it is when a cat finally
feels safe, when they have places to retreat, ways to
play control over their world. You can see them relax,
open up, and really rediscovered joy. It's like watching their
(11:15):
personality bloom after being compressed.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
For too long.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And the beautiful thing is that the change doesn't stop
with the cat. When a cat becomes calmer and more
confident and more connected.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Humans feel it too.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
People understand their cats, better relationships deepen, and daily life
becomes smoother and more harmonious. So improving a cat's environment
is really improving the entire home environment. And I love
being a part of that shift.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
That's good. And I used to had cats at one point,
well a cat. I've had different cats over the years
when I was younger, but the first one that I
ever had was a big black cat and called him
of course, you know, his name had to be Panther.
But he was such an awesome cat I loved. I'm
a more of a dog person myself, but I do
(12:07):
like cats, and he was awesome. I he used to
just crack me up. I mean he had his his things,
you know, his little quirks or whatever, and but he
was just one of the best kiddy cats that I
had ever had, So I was glad I got to
have a chance of having him.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
So oh heck cat.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And there's something really special about black cats too. My
cat that I referenced w passed whiskey was just you know,
I mean, he.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Changed my life.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
And he had such an amazing personality and he was
so smart, so loving and just you know, always there
when I.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Needed him, which you know, that's that was incredibly beautiful
and important to me. I got a shout out to
my whiskey.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, I know what funny story with mine. He the
gentleman I was dating at the time. We were living
in a little apartment and I can't remember what was
going we were I don't know, we weren't fighting fighting,
but we were having an argument about something, a disagreement,
and I was laying on their couch and he was
sitting in the chair and Panther had been I don't
(13:22):
know if he was on the couchure chair, wherever he
was at, but he well, we're having this disagreement. He
comes out and he jumps up on my boyfriend's lap,
you know, walks up literally walks right up onto his
onto his chest and then smaked him right across the
face with his paw. I mean no claws or anything,
of course, but smacked him right across the face with
(13:42):
his paw and then jumped down and came over and
laid on top of me. And I was just at
that point, you know, the argument was over, but I
was just cracking up. I said, See, my cat is
my protector and he will let you know.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, he has your back at all times. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, it was awesome. I had never seen a cat
do that, but it was like he understood we were
having this disagreement and he was, yeah, he let my
boyfriend know. No, you're not going to talk to mom
that way.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
It was too funny. I gotta admit we were both
laughing about it after it was over. But it was
so funny.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, like I said, he was. He was such an
awesome cat. Him and his brother. He had a brother,
and my brother actually had his brother, and I swear
those two. But we lived at my mom's at that point,
and we were in the country and my mom wasn't
big on having any cats. Or dogs in the house
(14:49):
except for her little dogs that she had, But so
they were kind of indoor outdoor, and so they would
go out and those two would go hunt together, and
I swear I would find four in the garage and
I'd be like, I think that looks like raccoon. For
do not tell me these two cats took a raccoon down?
Are you kidding me? I can't say for sure, but
(15:11):
that's what it looked like. So, oh jeez, oh, yeah,
it was interesting to have those two boys around. Yeah, boys,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I'm sure there were lots of fun.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh yeah, they were. So. So what do you think
cat wonders misunderstand the most about creating a truly cat
friendly home.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, that's such a great question, and most people don't
realize how much the their cat's behavior is shaped by
their environment. So we tend to think that cats are
low maintenance, right, food, water that are boxed done. But
cats are.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Actually tiny control enthusiasts.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
They need choices, they need safe spaces routine. So, for example,
when a cat is scratching the couch or hissing at
the other cat in the home, or not using the
litter box, they're not being difficult. They're expressing stress or
(16:16):
telling us something in their language, and a truly cat
friendly home is less about buying fancy things and more
about giving cats ways to be cats, like hiding, climbing, scratching, stocking, knapping.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
And then repeating that process over every day.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
You know, it's funny because I know, you know, people
watch TV all the time and they see obviously, like
you know, if you're watching nature things, you see the
big cats, like the lions and stuff like that, and
you know all the different things that lions and tigers
and cheetes and all of them. Do you know your
little cats do, your small cats, your house cats do
the same thing. It's just amazing how people don't kind
(17:01):
of e quait. And then if they see the bigger
cats like playing with balls or even you know, big
kerber boxes or whatever, then they're amazed that these big
cats are doing the same thing that their house cat
is doing. And it's like, well, they're kind of you know,
you know cats, Yeah, it's just bigger than the other one.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Right, yes, absolutely, Yeah, there's kind of reminds me.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Speaking of big cats.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
There's this instagram that I'm a little obsessed with about
this a man in Africa who I.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Think he's in South Africa. Not positive on that, but at.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Any rate, so he has raised this lioness from a
cub she was orphaned and she's thirteen now and he
has the most beautiful relationship with her, and you watch
her and just so much of it, you know, looks
like a giant house cat, just rubbing on her human
(18:06):
and adoring him, jumping on him, which is a lot
when the lion jumps on you, but he handles it well,
and it's just it's so gorgeous. If you all, well,
I guess I'll shout out this Instagram. If you look
up Serga s I Rga, you can find really cool
(18:28):
videos of her and her human.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
So have you ever seen the movie Elsa about the Lioness?
That was kind of the same, Yeah, oh well this
was This is going to tell my age. But this
movie probably came out in I'm gonna say maybe the seventies,
early seventies possibly, but it's it's about Elsa the Lioness
(18:50):
and kind of the same situation. She was orphaned as
a cub, and I can't remember. I think it was
a gentleman and that raised her as well. But you know,
once she got older, they didn't want to They wanted
her to you know, go back to be in her wild,
you know, habitat and actually live like a lioness. So
(19:11):
even though he had raised her and everything, he kind
of had her out there and she learned literally how
to kind of be more of a lioness. But she
would do, you know, a lot of the same things
that you're talking about. She would rub on him and
you know, jump up on him and stuff. And even
after she had gone back into the wild. And I
(19:31):
can't remember if she had her own cubs or not.
I want to say she did, because like I said,
this was a while back when I watched this, and
even when he would come out, she would still recognize
him and come up and greet him and rub on
him and stuff. So so yeah, it's it's a really
interesting movie. But like I said, it was probably in
the early seventies, but if you I don't know if
(19:52):
you can still even find it to watch it at
this point. But yeah, it was about Alsa the Lioness.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
So also, okay, I need to look up else.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I think around that time frame there was also Christian
the Lion.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I don't know if that's familiar to you, but.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I just remember seeing video of this man who had
raised this lion.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
From a cub and then sent him to I.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Don't know if it was a reserve or what it
was in the wild or semi wild, but then he
hadn't seen his lion, Christian for many years, and then
he came back to see him, and Christian remembered him,
and you know, was so excited greeting him, and you know,
he's a huge lion, but you know, with his human
(20:42):
he just became this housecat, which so incredible.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, I can't remember if
I've heard about I want to say, I think I
did hear about Christian. So yeah, it's interesting to see
how some of these animals, I know, you know, they've
done the same thing. Someone did that with an elephant,
you know, and it's kind of the same thing. But
it's so interesting to see how these animals, I mean,
even after a good period of time, we'll remember and yeah,
(21:11):
not to like attack or aything just come up in
love on home and yeah, it's really it's really cool
that they remember that stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So right, Yeah, I mean, if you're bonded and they
know you're safe. I mean, you are there a person,
and it is really incredible. You know, animals are are
smarter and more emotional than generally humans give them credit for.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So yeah, yeah, So let's talk a little bit about
what the essential elements are that every cat should probably
have in their home to help them feel secure and enriched.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, absolutely, so I talk about what I call the
five foundations, which are non negotiables for cat well being.
So first would be safety and security zones. Cats need
places where they can truly relax, like cozy hiding.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Spots, covered beds, quiet corners.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
If a cat doesn't have somewhere to retreat to, they're
basically living emotionally barefoot on hot pavement. So safety creates
confidence and that's important. And then there's vertical territory, keeping
in mind that any height is good height, so shelves,
cat trees, top of the fridge, whatever works for your
(22:34):
cat in particular. You know, cats feel safer when they
can observe the world from above, like the benevolent overlorge
that we know they are.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So then there's.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Scratching stations, understanding that scratching isn't bad behavior it's nail care, stress, relief,
and territory marking all in one. So cats need tall,
sturdy pose posts and also horizontal posts and different textures
depending on their preference, like carporate sissle and cardboard. And
(23:09):
then there's hunting and play opportunities, which are very important.
So cats are designed to hunt, catch kill, and eat,
so daily playtime is essential and it doesn't have to
be long, just short focused sessions where they get to stalk, pounts, win,
(23:30):
and then have a little post hunt snack. So then
finally the fifth one would be predictable human interaction was
to choice. Cats love routine, as I mentioned, and they
also love choosing wood and how they interact. When we
let them initiate and give them predictable rhythms, trust builds,
(23:54):
and forced petting is as cute as they are and
as much as we might want to pet them at
any moment, forced petting is a fast track to mutual resentment.
So if these five needs are met, everything else gets easier. Behavior, confidence, relationships,
the relationships with other cats, the whole emotional ecosystem improves.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
So then really your home environment does really kind of
influence your cat's behavior, like you know, the scratching or
the acting out, or even if they're having litterbox issues.
If there's things going on in the environment that's upsetting
the cat, then it can lead to all of these
kind of as you said, bad behaviors, right.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right, So, outside of physical issues that would be ruled
out by that, right, almost everything behavioral is actually environmental.
So if the cat scratches the couch, it often means, hey,
your couch isn't the perfect location for me to do,
(25:05):
say my morning scratching, but there's no appropriate post here,
so the couch it is. And then acting out is
usually stress, so you know, maybe it's a conflict with
another cat, noise, too little territory. You know, the root
(25:26):
is the environment.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
And then you know, thinking about litter box issues, litter box.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Issue issues are usually the cat saying this bathroom situation
is not meeting my standards and I am filing a
formal complaint on your bed. So you know, once you
shift the environment to support their needs, the problems often
fade or disappear.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Right right. So some of the home environmental things that
could influence some behavior in cats is like you said,
if you have a multiple cat household, would it also
be safe to say, like say, if you have like
maybe younger children running around that are you know, very noisy,
(26:12):
because like you said, a lot of cats do like
to have quiet time where they can just kind of
distress and relax, you know, different maybe odors and stuff
like that in the house because I know, you know
a lot of people have like central oils, which I
know some of those are not good for cats. That
was kind of something too in the shelter when we
(26:33):
were cleaning, we had to make sure, you know, with
some of the stuff that we use for cleaning, because
it was not good for cats to breathe that kind
of stuff in. So are those some of the kind
of environmental behaviors that could cause some of this acting
out and say maybe scratching and things like that.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
So could you.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Are you I'm sorry, I'm just trying to like follow
your question. Could you sum up your question because I
feel like like you're talking about kids running around and yes,
that that can absolutely affect cats and stress them out,
especially if the child doesn't isn't taught to respect cats boundaries.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
M you know, scent.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I I you you generally wanna avoid essential oils, right,
like you mentioned some of them can be toxic to cats.
You know, they can smell great to us cats usually
or or like noble and o. You know, a scent
enrichment can be great, but that would be things like catnip, mm, silvervine,
(27:48):
the you know, things that cats really I like, like
things that are comforting to cats and they enjoy, which
you know often is something that we don't necessarily find
two enticing to smell, but.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Cats are all about it.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, and answer your question. Yeah, that's kind of where
where I was going with that was, you know, what
are what some of the home environmental influences might be
that could you know if affect your cat's behavior in
the home. So, yeah, so you've answered the question perfectly. Okay, sorry,
I didn't mean to be so confusing on that one.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Oh no, it is all good. I just want to
make sure we're on the same page here.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yes, yes, we are.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Good. Good.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
So, And I was gonna ask, you know, obviously some
simple affordable enrichment ideas that owners could you know, easily
implement in their homes. I know some people, uh you know,
like you had mentioned, you know, scratching posts and then
you know, shelves or something where the cat can be
up a hot you know, get up on to where
(29:00):
they're up above and stuff like that to kind of,
like you said, look down on their kingdom that they're ruling.
And I know some people actually go to you know,
we'll build catgories and things like that so their cats
can go outside. So are these some of the more simple,
affordable enrichment ideas that people could implement in the homes
(29:21):
for the cats to help give them, you know, some
more I don't want to say stimulation, but I guess
enrichment and things like that.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Oh yeah, sure.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
So you know, enrichment doesn't mean buying a ton of toys.
Some of the best things are almost tree So think
about you know, empty boxes cats. I mean, you know,
a box is known as a cat trap because they
just love hanging out in boxes generally, So that's instant enticing.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Real estate, paper bags.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
They love the crinkle and the mystery and that can
bring them JOYDHY puzzle feeder from things like toilet paper rolls,
a cartons muffin tins. Have a YouTube video on DIY
puzzle feeders. As a little side note, mit'll drop there
and things like a chair by a window you know,
(30:16):
cats love a good Catholics session looking at the window.
You can rotate toys. I really recommend this to pretty
much all of my clients, rotating toys instead of leaving
them out. So novelty is enrichment, right. You know humans
get tired over their toys, so to cats. So we
(30:37):
want to keep things interesting. And then like I mentioned,
you know the set enrichment catnips, silver vine, could swamp
blankets between rooms, take grow some cat grass. There's there's
a viral trend fairly recently where people were buying paver
stones and bringing them inside for their cats, and the
(31:01):
cats like to hang out on the paper stones and
doing that or even with catgrass. To what I like
to do is I like to put whatever it is
out overnight to kind of charge it up with scent
and make the scent really interesting with outside sense, and.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Then I'll bring it back in and then.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It's really enticing and interesting, extra enticing for a cat
because now it's got all these really unique outside scents
for them to enjoy.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
So you know, most cats don't want fancy, they just want.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Interesting, right. I mean I knew about the box thing
and everything like that, and paper bag. Yeah, I had cats.
I know they love that stuff. I had used to like.
She used to zoom around the room as fast as
she could run. And she we had, you know, at
that point in time and back in the day, you
had the big tall speakers with your stereo system. And
she would go fine and hit like the top of
(32:00):
a stereo speaker, and then she'd like.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Go fly.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
She looked like super.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Kitty the Zoomies. I love the Zoomies.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah, okay, And I have to ask paverstones. Why paver stones?
I'm just curious. I'm sure other people are. What is
it that cats like about paper stones?
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I don't even know how somebody discovered this, you know,
I can't tell you for sure. You know.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
My thoughts are they could like the cool feel.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Of the stone and uh and something about the scent
of that the concrete mix.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
It is very interesting. So I can't tell.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
You a definite science behind cats liking paper stones.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
And they don't all like the paper stones.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
But if you say look it up on TikTok, you
can find a whole bunch of cats with paper stones
inside their House's so interesting.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I never thought about a paverstone me either.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Yeah, I mean, I would think creativity.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
You know, I would think maybe if it was like
sitting somewhere, and I would have thought for like a
heat thing, you know, if it was sitting, because I
know cats like that, you know, lay in the window,
lay in the sun, and you know, kind of soak
it up. Sometimes I was saying, well, maybe if the
paperstone was warm, they might you know, maybe that's why.
But if they liked the coolness too, so I guess
that wouldn't be the reason. So, yeah, that's interesting. Paperstones.
(33:28):
I've never heard that. That's funny.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Well it's something to google, So look that up.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Check it out, I guess. So all you guys out
there listening, look up pavor stones for kiddies exactly. You
just never know, right, Oh that's too funny, Oh my gosh. Okay.
And so for our people out there that maybe renters
(33:53):
or kind of live in a smaller space, what would
be some of your go to advice for trying to
help make their a little more feline friendly?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah, so kind of vertical, go modular, think about micro.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Territories in your home.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
You don't necessarily need to drill into walls to give
your cat height. You could just get the free standing
cat trees, tension mounted shelves, or window purchase which work
wonders and even tiny spaces can offer variety. So think
about the cozy nook in the bedroom, a lookout spot
in the living room, a quiet corner that's say, the
(34:35):
cat's office. You know, it's all about making the space
feel bigger through pathways and choices.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
That is true, that's true. I mean, and cats like
to have those choices too, I mean they do. It's
a little independent furry things. They're just so it's amazing
how independent cats are over darks. I mean, dogs can
be independent, but not as much as cats, I don't think.
I mean, yes, cats like to have attention, cats like
to be around their humans, but it just seems to
(35:06):
me that they just are. They act more independent than
a dog does.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So they're different personalities. You know. They definitely love and
meet their people very much. I mean, I have a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Cat clients who are highly attached to their humans and
to the point of, you know, having to manage that.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah. Yeah, and some cats I mean only like their
human too. I mean one of my good friends, she
has a cat and her cat. Anytime anybody comes over
likes to run and hide because she doesn't like to
be around strangers and stuff like that. But she loves
her human. It's just she doesn't really care for other
people all that much, so she lied. So yeah, I
(35:55):
mean yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
I mean, you know, when the human proves themselves as safe,
then you know that's their safe person, and everyone else
might not be safe based on their you know, lack
of socialization as a kitten or some kind of unfortunate
abuse situation. You know, there are a lot of variables
(36:17):
that especially could happen as a kitten that shape their
world for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I mean obviously, as a dog trainer,
we know dogs go through different phases and have their
lives shape for them as puppies and stuff. So yeah,
I would imagine it would be the exact same things.
You know, when it comes to the to the cats
as well, it just all depends on what their history is.
And I mean, and when you're adopting a cat from
(36:43):
a shelter, you know a lot of times you don't
have a backstory, you know, like with the dogs and
stuff too, you don't have backstories on the animals. You
don't know what they've went through. You don't know, you know,
what kind of home they were in or maybe not in,
or you know, things like that. So it's it's really interesting.
And I had a very good friend that helped at
the shelter. She was the cat person for me. She
(37:03):
had cats, a lot of cats, and I did dogs.
She did cats. And I'll tell you we would get
in feral kittens and we would work on getting them tamed.
I guess you want the word I'm going to say
is tamed down to where you know, they would get
(37:24):
to where they were good with people and things like that,
so we could get them adopted out. We could usually
do that if they were between you know, I want
to say two to five months old is where we
had more success with doing it. Once they got five,
you know, after the five six month mark, it was
a little harder to try to to get them, you know,
(37:44):
especially in the timeframe you having a shelter, which a
lot of times isn't long. But you know, we did
the best we could for some of the kittens that
we got in that you know, we're not very human
friendly when they came into us, but a lot of
them found good homes you know, after we worked with
them and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
So that's wonderful you did that and that really made
a difference in their lives.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, it sure did. I mean, and like
I said, in personalities and stuff, I can't even tell
you some of the cats that we would have come
in and the personalities in them. You know, you you
like all your in all the animals, but you do
get your favorites. And I had my favorites over the years, so.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Oh, I'm sure, and you never forget.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Them, No, no, you don't. But anyway, so it's you know,
it's really cool if people can, you know, help their
kiddies to have a better lifestyle and live, you know,
and have the things that helps enrich them in their
homes and stuff. Even if you're in a small apartment
or a small space or something like that, you can
still do things to help your kiddies.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
So a question for people that have multiple cats, what
are some of the common challenges that they may see
and how can they help create more harmony in a
multiple cat household.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Sure, so the biggest issue is usually a resource competition,
whether humans notice it or not. When cats feel they
need to guard food litter boxes, walkways, or you they're
human tension brews helpful supports for harmony are duplicating all
(39:27):
key resources in multiple areas. So you know, we don't
want to concentrate litter boxes in one area, We don't
want to conc concentrate food in one area. Things like that,
creating escape routes and vertical highways, supporting positive interaction through
parallel play, set work and routines, and you know, just
(39:54):
understanding positive reinforcement of desired behaviors can really help. So
you know, if say you have a tension between two
cats and one is normally quite aggressive acting towards the other,
you can reward that cat for neutral or positive behavior
(40:15):
around the other cat, or like if the other cat
tends to run away, you can reward the other cat
for confident behavior around that cat. You know, and also
pay attention to subtle cues like staring, blocking, following, because
they're often signs that things need to be adjusted before
(40:36):
a swat ever happens.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Okay, yeah, that's it. Yeah, I mean they do give
you some you know, like you said, Q before they're
gonna you know, act or do something like that. So yeah,
you just you know, that's the thing. And a lot
of people aren't watching or aware or you know, noticing
these kinds of things. So it's always good to keep
(41:02):
an eye out and see what's kind of going on.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Oh yeah, and just.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The subtlety can be incredible because I'll just give you
another example. Cats can sit in doorways and you know,
they can look at us and on the surface, oh,
I'm just so cute playing in this doorway looking, man,
I'm adorable. But it can be passive aggressive because they
can actually actually be blocking the doorway so another cat
(41:32):
can't pass and we want to avoid that.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Yeah that would yeah, that would you know, I wouldn't
think I guess I wouldn't think about it if the
cat was sitting in the doorway, even if I had
a multiple cat household, that that's what they might be
might be doing blocking the other cat from being able
to go through. I wouldn't. I probably wouldn't think about
that kind of.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Thing, right right, Most people don't, so it's important to
be aware of it.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Yeah, because like you said, you'd be looking at the cat.
Oh look, it's just being all cute wonderful over there, and.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yes, that's my perfect angel.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, yeah, no, not really, he's terrorizing the other cat.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, I would never think about that.
I guess I would have been like everybody else. Yeah,
look it's already. It's really cute and adorable.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
All right. The cutest thing near just playing into the
cat's hands.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
So yeah. Well, and then of course you know they
look at you with those you know, little big old
eyes and yeah, look I am cute and adorable.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Oh areking it? It's like here, let me do you yep.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Oh that's so funny. So when it let's talk a
little bit too about what some of the common household
hazards could be for cats that cat owners may overlook.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Okay, so let's think, come and household hazards. Well, A
few that may surprise people are things like lily plants.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Those are very toxic to cats.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
String like items, hair ties, ribbons, floss. Cats can swallow
them like spaghetti. They can get caught up in their
intestines and in equal surgery. Open windows without secure screens,
you know, cats can sneakily try to pop right out
of there, or they can even you know, tear through
(43:35):
the screen. Human medication or cleaning products left out cats
are nosy, and even if something might not seem to
be tasty, you just got to It's better to be safe,
you know, put things away.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Recliners.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Cats love to hide inside the reclining mechanism and that
can not end well if you don't realize they're in there.
But most hazards are easy fixes once you know what
to look for.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, I was. I knew, you know, look like I said,
because of the shelter. I knew a little bit about
the cleaning, you know, supplies and stuff because I think
that the pine sel isn't good for them, right right, Yeah,
So guys, if you have pineesal and cats, it's probably
not a good thing to have, you know, around where
you're because the smelling is toxic and stuff to them,
(44:29):
So it's not good for them. So you may want
to think about something other than like.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Pinesal right, right, yeah, good point.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
So do you happen to have a favorite success story
or transformation that you've helped with your behavior consulting?
Speaker 2 (44:50):
I do. I would love to tell you about it.
One of my all time favorite cases was a client
this year. The cat was named Bibe, and an amazing
woman rescued Bibe at the County Shelter in my hometown
of Tampa. At the shelter, Bibe was exhibiting shut down behavior,
(45:14):
staying frozen employees for the vast majority of the day,
and she was easily startled. So she you know, the
doctor was Maggie is Maggie, and Maggie felt awful for her.
You know, she was in danger of being euthanized, and
she really wanted to give her a chance. So she
(45:36):
adopted her, brought her home, and created this really nice
safe room for her. But she exhibited very similar behavior
in Maggie's home.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Like she was like it's as if she was saying,
I will vanish into the.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Air if you even think about looking at me level
of fearful. She spent her days in her safe room,
but she was frozen still in a pillow fort on
the bed, and she avoided all touch and only came
out at night when her new mom was sleeping. So
(46:18):
six weeks after saving her, there had been no progress
with her frozen behavior, and Maggie reached out to me
for an in home consultation. Now I am Denver based, however,
Tampa is my hometown and I come back every year,
so whenever I come back, I see clients in Tampa
(46:39):
in home, and I just happened to be back in
Tampa last August, so it was the perfect timing for
me to go to Maggie's home and meet Bibe in person.
She desperately wanted to connect with Bbe, but also didn't
want to push her, and that's totally understandable. That combination
(47:01):
of love and uncertainty is actually what brings a lot
of people to me.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
With Bib, the work was very slow.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Very gentle, and completely on her terms. We worked on
predictable routines so she could feel some control, and we
focused a lot on low pressure, consent based interaction, such
as sitting nearby her without expectation, offering her favorite treats,
(47:31):
spending time with her at night when she was most comfortable,
blinking slowly instead of staring, and generally just letting bb
decide when to engage. So Maggie worried that Biebe would
always feel miserable and wondered if she'd made a mistake.
And you know, she has such a lovely heart, and
(47:53):
I really felt for her, but I encouraged her. You know,
this is going to take some time, but let's keep going,
you know, BB's worth it. And once we got around
the two month mark, the shift was incredible because BB
went from a frozen in her pillow fort to cautiously
(48:13):
approaching Maggie to take treats directly out of her hand,
and directly out of her hand was a huge deal.
She sent me a photo and.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I was so.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Delighted to see it, and I know that she felt
amazing about that breakthrough at that point. So then about
a month later, which was last month, she started accepting
a gentle face and head petting. So that was in
you know, specific zones on her face, in her head.
(48:49):
But it was pretty incredible to know that we went
from this absolutely frozen, don't touch me, shut down cat
to oh hey, I'll take treats out of your hand
and oh yeah, you can pet me. It's okay, you know,
because eventually she began seeking out affection, greeting Maggie and
(49:15):
just relaxing and shared spaces instead of staying talked away.
So it was such a powerful reminder that fearful cats
aren't broken and they deserve comfortable lives. They're just waiting
for the world to become safe for them. And then
they'll show you who they really are. So watching bb
(49:37):
transform from trusting, from terrified to trusting was a beautiful
experience of my career.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Oh that's a wonderful story. I'm so glad that Maggie
gave her a chance and reached out to you for help,
and you guys were able to get Beebe to come
around and give her a wonderful life and ending to
her story. So that's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (50:00):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
I was just so honored to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
It was really awesome.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
And you know, and that goes for a lot of animals.
I mean, you know, not just cats, dogs, horses, birds,
you know, same thing. You just never know in these backgrounds,
and these animals could be really traumatized from things. And
if you have the patience and you know you can
keep working with them, eventually, you know, there is a
(50:29):
turnaround for a whole lot of these animals. In fact,
I used to have a lot of dogs. I'm down
to one dog and she is I don't know, around
sixteen to seventeen years now, and she came into the
shelter that I managed when she was you know, I
didn't really know how old she was, but I was
guessing around no less than a year, probably closer to two,
(50:53):
so I'm not really sure about the but I'm figuring
sixteen to seventeen years now. But she was like that.
She's probably one of the only dogs that I actually
believe probably had some abuse in her background. When she
came in to me, the people that brought her in
had found her. She had done okay with them, but
(51:14):
she doesn't like and I hate to see this, she
doesn't really like cats. And I know she doesn't like
she doesn't like cats, but and that was why she
came to me, because they had some cats and she
went after the cat and it was like, okay, she's
got to go. So I had her at the shelter
(51:34):
and they put her into kennel, and after that she
wouldn't have anything to do with me. I couldn't even
go into kennel because it was, you know, one of
those things of the growling and blah blah blah. And
so I for about a good week would sit outside
her kennel at different when I had time and talked
(51:56):
to her and you know, throw some treats and stuff
in there. And unfortunately, like I said in the shelter.
You get to the point where you're full, and then
unfortunately sometimes you have to make really hard and horrible decisions.
And it was getting to that point. And so I'm
sitting there the one day and I had the Karanda
(52:18):
dog beds for the kennels for the for the wintertime,
so the dogs weren't on the you know, sment floor
with the cold, and so I sitting there and I
was talking to her, and I had gotten to the
point she would let me come in the kennel with her,
but she would like be right in the corner and
(52:39):
away from facing away from me and still growling. And
so I'm in there, sitting towards probably just a little
bit more than a week, and I say to her,
you know, and I had named her Misty. I said,
I'm running out of space, Misty. The kennels are full,
and unfortunately, with the way you are at this point,
(53:03):
I'm going to have to make a decision because I'm
obviously not going to be able to adopt you to anybody,
if you know, with this going on. And I said,
but you know, I said, if you just will let me,
this is so funny. I said, if you would just
let me pet you and you know, and then we
could that would give me, you know, some hope, and
(53:25):
we could go on. And I'll be darned if she
did not come over and let me pet her.
Speaker 3 (53:31):
Oh that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
Yeah, And so she stayed and I worked with her
some more, and she came around. And then it came
to my boss at the time, our police chief, there
was something that happened with I'm not even going to
go into the whole story because it's long and it's
kind of crazy, but anyway, the police chief basically gave
me the ultimatum of getting her out of the shelter
or putting her down, and I was not about to
(53:56):
put her down. So I got her out of the
shelter and she became my dog. Yeah, she came home
with me and I've had her ever since. So I've
had her for about twelve years, going on thirteen, and
she has been and I know everybody says this, but
this dog, for never having any real training in the
background she came from, has been one of the best
(54:16):
dogs that I have owned. She has been great with
my kids, my grandkids, and she just loves everybody. And
so she literally, I mean that's what I mean. You know,
any animal, when you give them the time and the
patience and the love and the positive reinforcement, that is
(54:40):
the kinds of turnarounds like with Beebee that you can accomplish.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
So you know absolutely, you know, you didn't give up,
you know, I mean became the ultimatum. But it was
incredible how it just you know, worked out and you
got a response. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:00):
I was like, she understood exactly what I was telling her,
and she was like, well, okay, if that's what it's
going to come to, you know. I was amazed myself.
I'm just like, holy crappy. So yeah, but like I said,
she's she's been my dog and I love her. She's
the last one I have. Now I had like seven
at one time, so but she's my last girl that's
(55:23):
still here with me. And and I know we're coming
to the end. Unfortunately, I see it, you know, but
you know it's like with everything, you know, and you
can't live forever. And I'm just wanting to get through
the holidays because I lost my last dog. I just
lost him in June, kind of like you lost your
(55:43):
whiskey in April. So so yeah, so I just want
to get through the holidays.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
Well, I certainly hope you do. You know I do too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:55):
So, anyway, with all of that being said in your
wonderful story, we are kind of at the end of
our podcast here and our talk and it's been wonderful
having you on and getting all of these awesome tips
for you know, the cat owners out there, and hopefully
some of the advice and tips that you gave tonight
(56:16):
will help some of these people that might be having
you know, problems or problem behavior with their cats and
now they're going, oh, okay, well, maybe we can solve
this by doing these things. And again, like with litterbox issues, yes, definitely,
you know, talk with the bet make sure there's nothing
physical going on with the cat. But if you can't
find anything physical, then maybe you need to start looking
(56:36):
into some of the stuff that you know, Jennifer was
talking about tonight and what might be causing some of
these you know, behaviors.
Speaker 3 (56:43):
So but let's look at physical first.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
Yeah, And with that being said, if you don't mind,
if you would like to give out some information where
listeners could find your you know, your website or kind
hack you and learn more about your work and what
you do. That'd be great if you want to throw
that out there.
Speaker 3 (57:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (57:07):
You can find me at jennifercatpur dot com on YouTube
and Instagram, and if anyone would like to see photos
of BBI and hear more of her story, I will
post it on my Instagram shortly.
Speaker 3 (57:20):
So thank you. That's been a pleasure of chatting with you, Laurie.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
Yeah, I'd love to having you on, and I'll also
provide your link to your website on my Facebook page
because I do that for all of my guests as well,
so if anybody's on my page and they want to
go check you out, they can do it that way too,
So but yeah, it was really great to have you
on and talk about all of these wonderful things, and
I'm so glad that you were able to do this
tonight and give all these great tips and stuff out there,
(57:45):
and hopefully more people will be looking you up and
getting you to consult with them if they are having
some behavior problems and maybe you can help them like
you did with BB and Maggie.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Absolutely, I am here for anyone who's good, so I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (58:02):
Laurie.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
Thank you again, Yeah, and thank you for being on tonight.
I'm just going to go ahead and announce my next
upcoming podcast and what's going on. You are welcome to
stan if you want, but you can also jump off
it and we will say good night to you. And
I know it gets a little bit, you know, later,
depending on time zones and things like that, and people
(58:23):
have things to do, so whichever you prefer to.
Speaker 3 (58:26):
Do, all right, take care of Laurie.
Speaker 1 (58:28):
Thank you, all right, Thanks Jennifer. You have a good night,
me too.
Speaker 5 (58:32):
Bye bye, Okay, everybody. So, Jennifer just got off the
phone with me. I was awesome having her on tonight.
I hope you guys enjoyed our discussion and learning more
about cats and some of the behaviors and some of
the things you can kind of do to, you know,
help correct them. If not, get a hold of Jennifer.
(58:53):
She might be able to help you out with some
of these things.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
So with that being said, I just want to let
you guys know what's going to be up and what's
going on for the holidays. Excuse me. So on December eighteenth,
I am actually going to have Lauren anders Brown on
with me and she is going to be talking about
her app and called Pad's Pass. Sorry about that. Pad's
(59:22):
Pass is kind of cool. If you guys can are
traveling and you have to take your dogs, cats, whatever
with you, this app that Lauren came up with will
help you, guys, because there's so many different rules and regulations,
especially if you're going to other countries, and Hawaii is
(59:44):
another big one. There's things you have to know ahead
of time, you know, before you can travel there, like
you have to have your animals like vaccinated, you know,
months in advance of traveling to some of these places.
Hawaii one of them in the States because of the
fact they don't really have rabies over there. They haven't
(01:00:05):
because you know, island kind of secluded thing. So they
have some very strict regulations in place for when you're
going to be going there and taking your animal puts
with you. So Lauren actually unfortunately had an incident with
her dog when she was traveling. She thought she had
done everything correctly, and I think it was the UK
(01:00:27):
she went to and her dog actually ended up getting
confiscated from her for at least twenty four hours. So
because this happened to her, she didn't want it to
happen to other people. And so she kind of got
a little tech savvy and came up with this app
called Pad's Pass. So I'll be talking with her on
(01:00:48):
December eighteenth, and she's going to give us all sorts
of more information about this app and how you guys
can use it and what all it does and why
she developed it. So I think that's really cool because
they're so many people out there that, like I said,
don't really understand about traveling with their pets and what's required,
you know, vaccination wise, or if they have to be
(01:01:10):
quarantined for a certain amount of time in another country
due to their regulations, things like that. So this little
app will help you guys, and it's a good place
to keep like all of your different documents, like your
shot records and things like that. So I'm looking forward
to talking with Lauren about this app because I think
a lot of people need to know about it and
(01:01:30):
hopefully it will help you guys that travel with your pets.
And then after that, I am actually going to be
off for a couple of weeks because of the holidays.
You know, we have Christmas in New Year's Day coming up,
so I won't be doing a podcast, which would have
been actually on the first because that's New Year's Day,
so we won't be I won't be back on then,
(01:01:51):
but I will be back on January eighth, and I
am then going to have Arthur von Weisenberger on with me.
He is the executive director and host of Animal Zone,
and so he's going to be on and talking about
(01:02:12):
that stuff Animal Zone and things like that and about
you know, all the different things that he's done and
directed and been involved with a lot of different projects
that Arthur's been involved with, and I'm looking forward to
talking with him and finding out more about all the
different really cool things that he's done. So anyway, that's
the next couple podcasts coming up. We're going to have
(01:02:34):
Lauren Andrews Brown with Pad's Pass and then Arthur von
Weisenberger on January eighth, So don't forget to come on
back on the eighteenth though to listen to the podcast then,
especially those you guys that travel with your pets so
you can get more information and maybe look into getting
this app and helping you guys out with your travel.
(01:02:55):
So looking forward to it. So I hope you guys
stay safe out there, don't get into too much trouble
over the weekend. Oh and I hope you all had
a happy Thanksgiving since we just went through that holiday.
I had a good one. I know I ate way
too much, probably a lot of us did, but yeah,
so anyway, all right. I hope you guys will be
(01:03:16):
back in a couple of weeks to listen to the
next podcast, and until then, have a good one. Bye.
Good evening everybody, and welcome to calling all Creatures. As
a lot of you already know, I'm your host, Lori,
and tonight we are going to be talking about happy
feeline homes. I have Jennifer catpur On here with me,
and she is a cat behavior consultant, so she is
going to give us, hopefully all sorts of words of
(00:23):
wisdom and good advice and tips about how you guys
can hopefully make your homes a little bit happier for
your kitty cats. Cause sometimes kitties have issues and so
we want to try to keep them as happy as
we can. So Jennifer, thank you so much for being
on the podcast tonight and talking with me about this.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yes, Hi, Laurie, I'm glad to be here and thank
you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Oh yeah, I love talking about all sorts of different
animals and I haven't talked to anybody about cats, I
don't think in a little while, so I thought it
was about time. And then I saw your talk that
you did for blog palls and stuff like that, and
it was really interesting, so I thought, well, let's get
you on here, let's talk.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So ok. Yeah, So why don't you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Just go ahead and start by telling us a little
bit more about yourself and how you became a cat
behavior consultant.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Sure. Well, it started in twenty eleven when I discovered
that cat behavior consultants existed, and as someone who always
loved cats, this was a dream job for me. So
I looked up the best books to read, and the
more I studied, the more I learned how misunderstood cats are.
(01:37):
So many of their behavior problems aren't really problems at all.
They're cats trying to cope with an environment that doesn't
meet their needs.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Cats are incredibly.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Sensitive, intentional creatures, and their behavior is subtle. So because
of that, their needs often go unnoticed and I felt
and I still feel, a large response ability to advocate
for them to make sure their emotional world is seen
and supported. So I plugged myself into cat behavior consulting groups,
(02:10):
found a local mentor, started taking free clients, and finally,
when I felt ready in twenty thirteen, Jennifer Katper was born.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Awesome, So that's cool that you were able to get
into groups and get a mentor and stuff like that
to kind of help, you know, get you going in
this field. A while back. I had a gentleman on
that and it was funny because I never really thought
about training cats. I mean I trained dogs as a
side job and stuff service dogs and basic you know
(02:43):
training stuff like that, but I never really thought about
training cats because they're such independent creatures. I mean, yes,
they'll walk on a leash outside and stuff like that,
but I never thought about actual training. And this gentleman
from the UK does cat training, so it was very
interesting to I had to hear some of the things
that he had to say about training kiddies.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Oh yeah, I love a fellow cat trainer, and I
love telling people about things like that. You know that
cats are trainable as long as you are making it
within their best interest. You know, cats want to do
what's in their best interest, so if that's you.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Know, performing X y Z behavior for a.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Reward, then they're generally going to do that with enough repetition.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So that is true kind of like dogs. I mean,
now they'll learn how to do it too, I mean
with enough repetition and rewards and stuff like that. So
but it was just funny. I had never thought about
training cats, I guess.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So there you go. Your world has been opened.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, yes, it was. It was a very interesting cut.
And he was also he wrote books and stuff like that,
and poetry, and so he actually had a poem he
had written about a cat, and he recited it for us.
It was very interesting. It was very good, very good podcast.
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I love that I love you know, I just feel
like not enough people write cat poetry or songs about
their cats. I mean, when my cat Whiskey passed away
in April, I was searching, you know, I was just
trying to find comfort music, and I was searching for
(04:22):
songs about cats, you know, just deep love of cats
or you know, your own cat, and I really couldn't
find much. You know, you can find cutesy songs, but like,
where are the songs that talk about just being completely
in love with your cat?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Because that's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I'm sure a lot of people do.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, totally. And if you know, I could sing, I
would create some songs.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You know, I could always just write them and then
have someone else sing them.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
There you go, all right, all right, I gotta think
about that further.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You could write home. I'm sure there's people out there.
It's funny because I know you followed me. On Instagram,
and I don't know if you actually clicked on the
Instagram post, because I found a song about cats and
it was, yeah, it was cute and it was kind
of funny and it's a gentleman and he's just singing
away about his cat and the cat has toys, and
(05:22):
then it was just it was really, really, really a
neat little song. When I was listening to it, I
was like, I didn't even know this was out there.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, I need to check that out. I really do.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So, you know, Spotify just had their uh oh, what
do you call it?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
There? There's Spotify Rapped come out right yesterday.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And my top artist on Spotify Rapped is an artist.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Called cat Loaf c A T L O F E
geez And.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, this is a glow fi chill instrument, but it's nice.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
His name is Mike.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It's a solo individual and all of his songs are
cat themed and provide just a feeling of being with
a cat, like I think he has a song that
it's called Napping in the Sun by a Window something
like that. It was just like everything cat themed and
(06:27):
it's really lovely.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I mean, that was the greatest cat.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Comfort music that I could find out there, but I'll
definitely look at your Instagram again and look for that song.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Like I said, if you just click down the little
announcement fire thing, it should start playing, and I think
it'll put the name of the song and the artist
up there. I'm not sure exactly on that one, but
I think it does. But yeah, I know what you
mean about the instrumental stuff though, because as I was
trying to find you know, this something for the Instagram post,
I was just like everything was more instrumental, and and
(07:00):
I came across that one and and you know, words
and everything, and it was really kind of more upbeat.
And I just really like that over the instrumental stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So that's cool. That sounds like a fun song.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah it is. It was really, it was really kind
of cool. I listened to a couple other ones all
my yeah, no, I'm gonna stick with this one because
this one just it just fits better, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And it's funny now that we're kind of talking about music,
Like I, you know, said, sometimes I think about these
things because I did animal control and you know, in
the shelter environment, obviously you have cats and they're in
you know, kennels and stuff like that, and a lot
of times these kennels are not the biggest things for cats,
but for like the dogs and stuff. We used to
(07:42):
play music to help kind of keep the dogs quieter
and more calm and a little bit less stress free.
Does that work for kiddies.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Too, So it depends on the cat.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
But if there is otherwise a noisy environment or a
disruptive environment that could alert the cat to outside sounds
that could be stressful, it could be nice to play
calming music over an environment that might be a little disruptive.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
For a cat. But you know, it really, like I said,
it really does depend on the cat.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So some catsulspond well to that, and other cats just
prefer some peace and quiet or prefer to hear whatever
might be going on around the house.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I was just curious because unfortunately the shelter that I managed,
it was very small. In the cat room was in
the back of the shelter, in a small room that
was after you went through the dog kennel area, So
the poor cats had to listen to all the barking
and all the noise the dogs made. They have changed
it now, thank goodness. I tried to get them to understand,
(08:51):
you know, that we should see if we could build
something you know, different and for the cats that would
just have the cats and no dog stuff. And at
that point in time, you know, they weren't willing to
do stuff. But from what I'm understanding, they have at
this point now done stuff something like that, and now
the cats have their own like little building so that
they're not in with the dogs.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Good.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's important and I'm sure that's going to you know,
or that does help them a lot with destressing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I'm sure it does, yeah, because I know that you know,
some other shelters that do that to keep the cats
completely separated from the dogs, and the cats seem to
be a little bit calmer, you know, in those environments
over I mean, it's already stressful enough being in a shelter,
let alone having to listen to a bunch of dogs
that are barking, and especially when people come in and
the dogs all started going off, you know. So yeah,
(09:42):
I'm sure they like it a lot better, right, I.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Mean, that would drive me crazy living there, you know, yeah,
like wearing a punch of talks all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Like I like dogs.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Dogs are great, but come on, you know, lots of
dogs at once can be a bit much.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, yeah, especially when all the you know, you got
to two kennels and they're all full, Yeah, it can
be a bit much. So I did my best to
try to keep the dog stress free and quieter. And
when people weren't in there, it was amazing. People would
walk in the office and they'd be like, do you
even have any dogs up for it? I'm like, oh, yeah,
the kennels are full back there there, none of them
are making any noise, and I'm a ball yeah, because
I've got music playing. They're all calm, they're all nice,
(10:19):
and you know, they stay pretty quiet until you walk
back there, and then they're going to start to, you know,
make noise because they see you and they want attention.
So so yeah, well that's.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's great that you really work to keep a calm
environment for them.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You know, shelters do what they can with what they've got,
so yeah, we try. It's it's sometimes hard, but we
do try good.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I love that. Definitely appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
So what inspired you to focus on improving cats living environments?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Well, it keeps me passionate about focusing on their environments is.
It's really how transformative it is when a cat finally
feels safe, when they have places to retreat, ways to
play control over their world. You can see them relax,
open up, and really rediscovered joy. It's like watching their
(11:15):
personality bloom after being compressed.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
For too long.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And the beautiful thing is that the change doesn't stop
with the cat. When a cat becomes calmer and more
confident and more connected.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Humans feel it too.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
People understand their cats, better relationships deepen, and daily life
becomes smoother and more harmonious. So improving a cat's environment
is really improving the entire home environment. And I love
being a part of that shift.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
That's good. And I used to had cats at one point,
well a cat. I've had different cats over the years
when I was younger, but the first one that I
ever had was a big black cat and called him
of course, you know, his name had to be Panther.
But he was such an awesome cat I loved. I'm
a more of a dog person myself, but I do
(12:07):
like cats, and he was awesome. I he used to
just crack me up. I mean he had his his things,
you know, his little quirks or whatever, and but he
was just one of the best kiddy cats that I
had ever had, So I was glad I got to
have a chance of having him.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
So oh heck cat.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And there's something really special about black cats too. My
cat that I referenced w passed whiskey was just you know,
I mean, he.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Changed my life.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
And he had such an amazing personality and he was
so smart, so loving and just you know, always there
when I.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Needed him, which you know, that's that was incredibly beautiful
and important to me. I got a shout out to
my whiskey.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, I know what funny story with mine. He the
gentleman I was dating at the time. We were living
in a little apartment and I can't remember what was
going we were I don't know, we weren't fighting fighting,
but we were having an argument about something, a disagreement,
and I was laying on their couch and he was
sitting in the chair and Panther had been I don't
(13:22):
know if he was on the couchure chair, wherever he
was at, but he well, we're having this disagreement. He
comes out and he jumps up on my boyfriend's lap,
you know, walks up literally walks right up onto his
onto his chest and then smaked him right across the
face with his paw. I mean no claws or anything,
of course, but smacked him right across the face with
(13:42):
his paw and then jumped down and came over and
laid on top of me. And I was just at
that point, you know, the argument was over, but I
was just cracking up. I said, See, my cat is
my protector and he will let you know.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, he has your back at all times. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, it was awesome. I had never seen a cat
do that, but it was like he understood we were
having this disagreement and he was, yeah, he let my
boyfriend know. No, you're not going to talk to mom
that way.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
It was too funny. I gotta admit we were both
laughing about it after it was over. But it was
so funny.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, like I said, he was. He was such an
awesome cat. Him and his brother. He had a brother,
and my brother actually had his brother, and I swear
those two. But we lived at my mom's at that point,
and we were in the country and my mom wasn't
big on having any cats. Or dogs in the house
(14:49):
except for her little dogs that she had, But so
they were kind of indoor outdoor, and so they would
go out and those two would go hunt together, and
I swear I would find four in the garage and
I'd be like, I think that looks like raccoon. For
do not tell me these two cats took a raccoon down?
Are you kidding me? I can't say for sure, but
(15:11):
that's what it looked like. So, oh jeez, oh, yeah,
it was interesting to have those two boys around. Yeah, boys,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I'm sure there were lots of fun.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh yeah, they were. So. So what do you think
cat wonders misunderstand the most about creating a truly cat
friendly home.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, that's such a great question, and most people don't
realize how much the their cat's behavior is shaped by
their environment. So we tend to think that cats are
low maintenance, right, food, water that are boxed done. But
cats are.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Actually tiny control enthusiasts.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
They need choices, they need safe spaces routine. So, for example,
when a cat is scratching the couch or hissing at
the other cat in the home, or not using the
litter box, they're not being difficult. They're expressing stress or
(16:16):
telling us something in their language, and a truly cat
friendly home is less about buying fancy things and more
about giving cats ways to be cats, like hiding, climbing, scratching, stocking, knapping.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
And then repeating that process over every day.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
You know, it's funny because I know, you know, people
watch TV all the time and they see obviously, like
you know, if you're watching nature things, you see the
big cats, like the lions and stuff like that, and
you know all the different things that lions and tigers
and cheetes and all of them. Do you know your
little cats do, your small cats, your house cats do
the same thing. It's just amazing how people don't kind
(17:01):
of e quait. And then if they see the bigger
cats like playing with balls or even you know, big
kerber boxes or whatever, then they're amazed that these big
cats are doing the same thing that their house cat
is doing. And it's like, well, they're kind of you know,
you know cats, Yeah, it's just bigger than the other one.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Right, yes, absolutely, Yeah, there's kind of reminds me.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Speaking of big cats.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
There's this instagram that I'm a little obsessed with about
this a man in Africa who I.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Think he's in South Africa. Not positive on that, but at.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Any rate, so he has raised this lioness from a
cub she was orphaned and she's thirteen now and he
has the most beautiful relationship with her, and you watch
her and just so much of it, you know, looks
like a giant house cat, just rubbing on her human
(18:06):
and adoring him, jumping on him, which is a lot
when the lion jumps on you, but he handles it well,
and it's just it's so gorgeous. If you all, well,
I guess I'll shout out this Instagram. If you look
up Serga s I Rga, you can find really cool
(18:28):
videos of her and her human.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
So have you ever seen the movie Elsa about the Lioness?
That was kind of the same, Yeah, oh well this
was This is going to tell my age. But this
movie probably came out in I'm gonna say maybe the seventies,
early seventies possibly, but it's it's about Elsa the Lioness
(18:50):
and kind of the same situation. She was orphaned as
a cub, and I can't remember. I think it was
a gentleman and that raised her as well. But you know,
once she got older, they didn't want to They wanted
her to you know, go back to be in her wild,
you know, habitat and actually live like a lioness. So
(19:11):
even though he had raised her and everything, he kind
of had her out there and she learned literally how
to kind of be more of a lioness. But she
would do, you know, a lot of the same things
that you're talking about. She would rub on him and
you know, jump up on him and stuff. And even
after she had gone back into the wild. And I
(19:31):
can't remember if she had her own cubs or not.
I want to say she did, because like I said,
this was a while back when I watched this, and
even when he would come out, she would still recognize
him and come up and greet him and rub on
him and stuff. So so yeah, it's it's a really
interesting movie. But like I said, it was probably in
the early seventies, but if you I don't know if
(19:52):
you can still even find it to watch it at
this point. But yeah, it was about Alsa the Lioness.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
So also, okay, I need to look up else.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I think around that time frame there was also Christian
the Lion.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I don't know if that's familiar to you, but.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I just remember seeing video of this man who had
raised this lion.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
From a cub and then sent him to I.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Don't know if it was a reserve or what it
was in the wild or semi wild, but then he
hadn't seen his lion, Christian for many years, and then
he came back to see him, and Christian remembered him,
and you know, was so excited greeting him, and you know,
he's a huge lion, but you know, with his human
(20:42):
he just became this housecat, which so incredible.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, I can't remember if
I've heard about I want to say, I think I
did hear about Christian. So yeah, it's interesting to see
how some of these animals, I know, you know, they've
done the same thing. Someone did that with an elephant,
you know, and it's kind of the same thing. But
it's so interesting to see how these animals, I mean,
even after a good period of time, we'll remember and yeah,
(21:11):
not to like attack or aything just come up in
love on home and yeah, it's really it's really cool
that they remember that stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So right, Yeah, I mean, if you're bonded and they
know you're safe. I mean, you are there a person,
and it is really incredible. You know, animals are are
smarter and more emotional than generally humans give them credit for.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So yeah, yeah, So let's talk a little bit about
what the essential elements are that every cat should probably
have in their home to help them feel secure and enriched.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, absolutely, so I talk about what I call the
five foundations, which are non negotiables for cat well being.
So first would be safety and security zones. Cats need
places where they can truly relax, like cozy hiding.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Spots, covered beds, quiet corners.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
If a cat doesn't have somewhere to retreat to, they're
basically living emotionally barefoot on hot pavement. So safety creates
confidence and that's important. And then there's vertical territory, keeping
in mind that any height is good height, so shelves,
cat trees, top of the fridge, whatever works for your
(22:34):
cat in particular. You know, cats feel safer when they
can observe the world from above, like the benevolent overlorge
that we know they are.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So then there's.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Scratching stations, understanding that scratching isn't bad behavior it's nail care, stress, relief,
and territory marking all in one. So cats need tall,
sturdy pose posts and also horizontal posts and different textures
depending on their preference, like carporate sissle and cardboard. And
(23:09):
then there's hunting and play opportunities, which are very important.
So cats are designed to hunt, catch kill, and eat,
so daily playtime is essential and it doesn't have to
be long, just short focused sessions where they get to stalk, pounts, win,
(23:30):
and then have a little post hunt snack. So then
finally the fifth one would be predictable human interaction was
to choice. Cats love routine, as I mentioned, and they
also love choosing wood and how they interact. When we
let them initiate and give them predictable rhythms, trust builds,
(23:54):
and forced petting is as cute as they are and
as much as we might want to pet them at
any moment, forced petting is a fast track to mutual resentment.
So if these five needs are met, everything else gets easier. Behavior, confidence, relationships,
the relationships with other cats, the whole emotional ecosystem improves.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
So then really your home environment does really kind of
influence your cat's behavior, like you know, the scratching or
the acting out, or even if they're having litterbox issues.
If there's things going on in the environment that's upsetting
the cat, then it can lead to all of these
kind of as you said, bad behaviors, right.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right, So, outside of physical issues that would be ruled
out by that, right, almost everything behavioral is actually environmental.
So if the cat scratches the couch, it often means, hey,
your couch isn't the perfect location for me to do,
(25:05):
say my morning scratching, but there's no appropriate post here,
so the couch it is. And then acting out is
usually stress, so you know, maybe it's a conflict with
another cat, noise, too little territory. You know, the root
(25:26):
is the environment.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
And then you know, thinking about litter box issues, litter box.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Issue issues are usually the cat saying this bathroom situation
is not meeting my standards and I am filing a
formal complaint on your bed. So you know, once you
shift the environment to support their needs, the problems often
fade or disappear.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Right right. So some of the home environmental things that
could influence some behavior in cats is like you said,
if you have a multiple cat household, would it also
be safe to say, like say, if you have like
maybe younger children running around that are you know, very noisy,
(26:12):
because like you said, a lot of cats do like
to have quiet time where they can just kind of
distress and relax, you know, different maybe odors and stuff
like that in the house because I know, you know
a lot of people have like central oils, which I
know some of those are not good for cats. That
was kind of something too in the shelter when we
(26:33):
were cleaning, we had to make sure, you know, with
some of the stuff that we use for cleaning, because
it was not good for cats to breathe that kind
of stuff in. So are those some of the kind
of environmental behaviors that could cause some of this acting
out and say maybe scratching and things like that.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
So could you.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Are you I'm sorry, I'm just trying to like follow
your question. Could you sum up your question because I
feel like like you're talking about kids running around and yes,
that that can absolutely affect cats and stress them out,
especially if the child doesn't isn't taught to respect cats boundaries.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
M you know, scent.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I I you you generally wanna avoid essential oils, right,
like you mentioned some of them can be toxic to cats.
You know, they can smell great to us cats usually
or or like noble and o. You know, a scent
enrichment can be great, but that would be things like catnip, mm, silvervine,
(27:48):
the you know, things that cats really I like, like
things that are comforting to cats and they enjoy, which
you know often is something that we don't necessarily find
two enticing to smell, but.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Cats are all about it.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, and answer your question. Yeah, that's kind of where
where I was going with that was, you know, what
are what some of the home environmental influences might be
that could you know if affect your cat's behavior in
the home. So, yeah, so you've answered the question perfectly. Okay, sorry,
I didn't mean to be so confusing on that one.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Oh no, it is all good. I just want to
make sure we're on the same page here.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yes, yes, we are.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Good. Good.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
So, And I was gonna ask, you know, obviously some
simple affordable enrichment ideas that owners could you know, easily
implement in their homes. I know some people, uh you know,
like you had mentioned, you know, scratching posts and then
you know, shelves or something where the cat can be
up a hot you know, get up on to where
(29:00):
they're up above and stuff like that to kind of,
like you said, look down on their kingdom that they're ruling.
And I know some people actually go to you know,
we'll build catgories and things like that so their cats
can go outside. So are these some of the more simple,
affordable enrichment ideas that people could implement in the homes
(29:21):
for the cats to help give them, you know, some
more I don't want to say stimulation, but I guess
enrichment and things like that.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Oh yeah, sure.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
So you know, enrichment doesn't mean buying a ton of toys.
Some of the best things are almost tree So think
about you know, empty boxes cats. I mean, you know,
a box is known as a cat trap because they
just love hanging out in boxes generally, So that's instant enticing.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Real estate, paper bags.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
They love the crinkle and the mystery and that can
bring them JOYDHY puzzle feeder from things like toilet paper rolls,
a cartons muffin tins. Have a YouTube video on DIY
puzzle feeders. As a little side note, mit'll drop there
and things like a chair by a window you know,
(30:16):
cats love a good Catholics session looking at the window.
You can rotate toys. I really recommend this to pretty
much all of my clients, rotating toys instead of leaving
them out. So novelty is enrichment, right. You know humans
get tired over their toys, so to cats. So we
(30:37):
want to keep things interesting. And then like I mentioned,
you know the set enrichment catnips, silver vine, could swamp
blankets between rooms, take grow some cat grass. There's there's
a viral trend fairly recently where people were buying paver
stones and bringing them inside for their cats, and the
(31:01):
cats like to hang out on the paper stones and
doing that or even with catgrass. To what I like
to do is I like to put whatever it is
out overnight to kind of charge it up with scent
and make the scent really interesting with outside sense, and.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Then I'll bring it back in and then.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It's really enticing and interesting, extra enticing for a cat
because now it's got all these really unique outside scents
for them to enjoy.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
So you know, most cats don't want fancy, they just want.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Interesting, right. I mean I knew about the box thing
and everything like that, and paper bag. Yeah, I had cats.
I know they love that stuff. I had used to like.
She used to zoom around the room as fast as
she could run. And she we had, you know, at
that point in time and back in the day, you
had the big tall speakers with your stereo system. And
she would go fine and hit like the top of
(32:00):
a stereo speaker, and then she'd like.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Go fly.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
She looked like super.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Kitty the Zoomies. I love the Zoomies.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah, okay, And I have to ask paverstones. Why paver stones?
I'm just curious. I'm sure other people are. What is
it that cats like about paper stones?
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I don't even know how somebody discovered this, you know,
I can't tell you for sure. You know.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
My thoughts are they could like the cool feel.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Of the stone and uh and something about the scent
of that the concrete mix.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
It is very interesting. So I can't tell.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
You a definite science behind cats liking paper stones.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
And they don't all like the paper stones.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
But if you say look it up on TikTok, you
can find a whole bunch of cats with paper stones
inside their House's so interesting.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I never thought about a paverstone me either.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Yeah, I mean, I would think creativity.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
You know, I would think maybe if it was like
sitting somewhere, and I would have thought for like a
heat thing, you know, if it was sitting, because I
know cats like that, you know, lay in the window,
lay in the sun, and you know, kind of soak
it up. Sometimes I was saying, well, maybe if the
paperstone was warm, they might you know, maybe that's why.
But if they liked the coolness too, so I guess
that wouldn't be the reason. So, yeah, that's interesting. Paperstones.
(33:28):
I've never heard that. That's funny.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Well it's something to google, So look that up.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Check it out, I guess. So all you guys out
there listening, look up pavor stones for kiddies exactly. You
just never know, right, Oh that's too funny, Oh my gosh. Okay.
And so for our people out there that maybe renters
(33:53):
or kind of live in a smaller space, what would
be some of your go to advice for trying to
help make their a little more feline friendly?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah, so kind of vertical, go modular, think about micro.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Territories in your home.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
You don't necessarily need to drill into walls to give
your cat height. You could just get the free standing
cat trees, tension mounted shelves, or window purchase which work
wonders and even tiny spaces can offer variety. So think
about the cozy nook in the bedroom, a lookout spot
in the living room, a quiet corner that's say, the
(34:35):
cat's office. You know, it's all about making the space
feel bigger through pathways and choices.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
That is true, that's true. I mean, and cats like
to have those choices too, I mean they do. It's
a little independent furry things. They're just so it's amazing
how independent cats are over darks. I mean, dogs can
be independent, but not as much as cats, I don't think.
I mean, yes, cats like to have attention, cats like
to be around their humans, but it just seems to
(35:06):
me that they just are. They act more independent than
a dog does.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So they're different personalities. You know. They definitely love and
meet their people very much. I mean, I have a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Cat clients who are highly attached to their humans and
to the point of, you know, having to manage that.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah. Yeah, and some cats I mean only like their
human too. I mean one of my good friends, she
has a cat and her cat. Anytime anybody comes over
likes to run and hide because she doesn't like to
be around strangers and stuff like that. But she loves
her human. It's just she doesn't really care for other
people all that much, so she lied. So yeah, I
(35:55):
mean yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
I mean, you know, when the human proves themselves as safe,
then you know that's their safe person, and everyone else
might not be safe based on their you know, lack
of socialization as a kitten or some kind of unfortunate
abuse situation. You know, there are a lot of variables
(36:17):
that especially could happen as a kitten that shape their
world for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I mean obviously, as a dog trainer,
we know dogs go through different phases and have their
lives shape for them as puppies and stuff. So yeah,
I would imagine it would be the exact same things.
You know, when it comes to the to the cats
as well, it just all depends on what their history is.
And I mean, and when you're adopting a cat from
(36:43):
a shelter, you know a lot of times you don't
have a backstory, you know, like with the dogs and
stuff too, you don't have backstories on the animals. You
don't know what they've went through. You don't know, you know,
what kind of home they were in or maybe not in,
or you know, things like that. So it's it's really interesting.
And I had a very good friend that helped at
the shelter. She was the cat person for me. She
(37:03):
had cats, a lot of cats, and I did dogs.
She did cats. And I'll tell you we would get
in feral kittens and we would work on getting them tamed.
I guess you want the word I'm going to say
is tamed down to where you know, they would get
(37:24):
to where they were good with people and things like that,
so we could get them adopted out. We could usually
do that if they were between you know, I want
to say two to five months old is where we
had more success with doing it. Once they got five,
you know, after the five six month mark, it was
a little harder to try to to get them, you know,
(37:44):
especially in the timeframe you having a shelter, which a
lot of times isn't long. But you know, we did
the best we could for some of the kittens that
we got in that you know, we're not very human
friendly when they came into us, but a lot of
them found good homes you know, after we worked with
them and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
So that's wonderful you did that and that really made
a difference in their lives.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, it sure did. I mean, and like
I said, in personalities and stuff, I can't even tell
you some of the cats that we would have come
in and the personalities in them. You know, you you
like all your in all the animals, but you do
get your favorites. And I had my favorites over the years, so.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Oh, I'm sure, and you never forget.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Them, No, no, you don't. But anyway, so it's you know,
it's really cool if people can, you know, help their
kiddies to have a better lifestyle and live, you know,
and have the things that helps enrich them in their
homes and stuff. Even if you're in a small apartment
or a small space or something like that, you can
still do things to help your kiddies.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
So a question for people that have multiple cats, what
are some of the common challenges that they may see
and how can they help create more harmony in a
multiple cat household.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Sure, so the biggest issue is usually a resource competition,
whether humans notice it or not. When cats feel they
need to guard food litter boxes, walkways, or you they're
human tension brews helpful supports for harmony are duplicating all
(39:27):
key resources in multiple areas. So you know, we don't
want to concentrate litter boxes in one area, We don't
want to conc concentrate food in one area. Things like that,
creating escape routes and vertical highways, supporting positive interaction through
parallel play, set work and routines, and you know, just
(39:54):
understanding positive reinforcement of desired behaviors can really help. So
you know, if say you have a tension between two
cats and one is normally quite aggressive acting towards the other,
you can reward that cat for neutral or positive behavior
(40:15):
around the other cat, or like if the other cat
tends to run away, you can reward the other cat
for confident behavior around that cat. You know, and also
pay attention to subtle cues like staring, blocking, following, because
they're often signs that things need to be adjusted before
(40:36):
a swat ever happens.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Okay, yeah, that's it. Yeah, I mean they do give
you some you know, like you said, Q before they're
gonna you know, act or do something like that. So yeah,
you just you know, that's the thing. And a lot
of people aren't watching or aware or you know, noticing
these kinds of things. So it's always good to keep
(41:02):
an eye out and see what's kind of going on.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Oh yeah, and just.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The subtlety can be incredible because I'll just give you
another example. Cats can sit in doorways and you know,
they can look at us and on the surface, oh,
I'm just so cute playing in this doorway looking, man,
I'm adorable. But it can be passive aggressive because they
can actually actually be blocking the doorway so another cat
(41:32):
can't pass and we want to avoid that.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Yeah that would yeah, that would you know, I wouldn't
think I guess I wouldn't think about it if the
cat was sitting in the doorway, even if I had
a multiple cat household, that that's what they might be
might be doing blocking the other cat from being able
to go through. I wouldn't. I probably wouldn't think about
that kind of.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Thing, right right, Most people don't, so it's important to
be aware of it.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Yeah, because like you said, you'd be looking at the cat.
Oh look, it's just being all cute wonderful over there, and.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yes, that's my perfect angel.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, yeah, no, not really, he's terrorizing the other cat.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, I would never think about that.
I guess I would have been like everybody else. Yeah,
look it's already. It's really cute and adorable.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
All right. The cutest thing near just playing into the
cat's hands.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
So yeah. Well, and then of course you know they
look at you with those you know, little big old
eyes and yeah, look I am cute and adorable.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Oh areking it? It's like here, let me do you yep.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Oh that's so funny. So when it let's talk a
little bit too about what some of the common household
hazards could be for cats that cat owners may overlook.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Okay, so let's think, come and household hazards. Well, A
few that may surprise people are things like lily plants.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Those are very toxic to cats.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
String like items, hair ties, ribbons, floss. Cats can swallow
them like spaghetti. They can get caught up in their
intestines and in equal surgery. Open windows without secure screens,
you know, cats can sneakily try to pop right out
of there, or they can even you know, tear through
(43:35):
the screen. Human medication or cleaning products left out cats
are nosy, and even if something might not seem to
be tasty, you just got to It's better to be safe,
you know, put things away.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Recliners.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Cats love to hide inside the reclining mechanism and that
can not end well if you don't realize they're in there.
But most hazards are easy fixes once you know what
to look for.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, I was. I knew, you know, look like I said,
because of the shelter. I knew a little bit about
the cleaning, you know, supplies and stuff because I think
that the pine sel isn't good for them, right right, Yeah,
So guys, if you have pineesal and cats, it's probably
not a good thing to have, you know, around where
you're because the smelling is toxic and stuff to them,
(44:29):
So it's not good for them. So you may want
to think about something other than like.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Pinesal right, right, yeah, good point.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
So do you happen to have a favorite success story
or transformation that you've helped with your behavior consulting?
Speaker 2 (44:50):
I do. I would love to tell you about it.
One of my all time favorite cases was a client
this year. The cat was named Bibe, and an amazing
woman rescued Bibe at the County Shelter in my hometown
of Tampa. At the shelter, Bibe was exhibiting shut down behavior,
(45:14):
staying frozen employees for the vast majority of the day,
and she was easily startled. So she you know, the
doctor was Maggie is Maggie, and Maggie felt awful for her.
You know, she was in danger of being euthanized, and
she really wanted to give her a chance. So she
(45:36):
adopted her, brought her home, and created this really nice
safe room for her. But she exhibited very similar behavior
in Maggie's home.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Like she was like it's as if she was saying,
I will vanish into the.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Air if you even think about looking at me level
of fearful. She spent her days in her safe room,
but she was frozen still in a pillow fort on
the bed, and she avoided all touch and only came
out at night when her new mom was sleeping. So
(46:18):
six weeks after saving her, there had been no progress
with her frozen behavior, and Maggie reached out to me
for an in home consultation. Now I am Denver based, however,
Tampa is my hometown and I come back every year,
so whenever I come back, I see clients in Tampa
(46:39):
in home, and I just happened to be back in
Tampa last August, so it was the perfect timing for
me to go to Maggie's home and meet Bibe in person.
She desperately wanted to connect with Bbe, but also didn't
want to push her, and that's totally understandable. That combination
(47:01):
of love and uncertainty is actually what brings a lot
of people to me.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
With Bib, the work was very slow.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Very gentle, and completely on her terms. We worked on
predictable routines so she could feel some control, and we
focused a lot on low pressure, consent based interaction, such
as sitting nearby her without expectation, offering her favorite treats,
(47:31):
spending time with her at night when she was most comfortable,
blinking slowly instead of staring, and generally just letting bb
decide when to engage. So Maggie worried that Biebe would
always feel miserable and wondered if she'd made a mistake.
And you know, she has such a lovely heart, and
(47:53):
I really felt for her, but I encouraged her. You know,
this is going to take some time, but let's keep going,
you know, BB's worth it. And once we got around
the two month mark, the shift was incredible because BB
went from a frozen in her pillow fort to cautiously
(48:13):
approaching Maggie to take treats directly out of her hand,
and directly out of her hand was a huge deal.
She sent me a photo and.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I was so.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Delighted to see it, and I know that she felt
amazing about that breakthrough at that point. So then about
a month later, which was last month, she started accepting
a gentle face and head petting. So that was in
you know, specific zones on her face, in her head.
(48:49):
But it was pretty incredible to know that we went
from this absolutely frozen, don't touch me, shut down cat
to oh hey, I'll take treats out of your hand
and oh yeah, you can pet me. It's okay, you know,
because eventually she began seeking out affection, greeting Maggie and
(49:15):
just relaxing and shared spaces instead of staying talked away.
So it was such a powerful reminder that fearful cats
aren't broken and they deserve comfortable lives. They're just waiting
for the world to become safe for them. And then
they'll show you who they really are. So watching bb
(49:37):
transform from trusting, from terrified to trusting was a beautiful
experience of my career.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Oh that's a wonderful story. I'm so glad that Maggie
gave her a chance and reached out to you for help,
and you guys were able to get Beebe to come
around and give her a wonderful life and ending to
her story. So that's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (50:00):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
I was just so honored to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
It was really awesome.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
And you know, and that goes for a lot of animals.
I mean, you know, not just cats, dogs, horses, birds,
you know, same thing. You just never know in these backgrounds,
and these animals could be really traumatized from things. And
if you have the patience and you know you can
keep working with them, eventually, you know, there is a
(50:29):
turnaround for a whole lot of these animals. In fact,
I used to have a lot of dogs. I'm down
to one dog and she is I don't know, around
sixteen to seventeen years now, and she came into the
shelter that I managed when she was you know, I
didn't really know how old she was, but I was
guessing around no less than a year, probably closer to two,
(50:53):
so I'm not really sure about the but I'm figuring
sixteen to seventeen years now. But she was like that.
She's probably one of the only dogs that I actually
believe probably had some abuse in her background. When she
came in to me, the people that brought her in
had found her. She had done okay with them, but
(51:14):
she doesn't like and I hate to see this, she
doesn't really like cats. And I know she doesn't like
she doesn't like cats, but and that was why she
came to me, because they had some cats and she
went after the cat and it was like, okay, she's
got to go. So I had her at the shelter
(51:34):
and they put her into kennel, and after that she
wouldn't have anything to do with me. I couldn't even
go into kennel because it was, you know, one of
those things of the growling and blah blah blah. And
so I for about a good week would sit outside
her kennel at different when I had time and talked
(51:56):
to her and you know, throw some treats and stuff
in there. And unfortunately, like I said in the shelter.
You get to the point where you're full, and then
unfortunately sometimes you have to make really hard and horrible decisions.
And it was getting to that point. And so I'm
sitting there the one day and I had the Karanda
(52:18):
dog beds for the kennels for the for the wintertime,
so the dogs weren't on the you know, sment floor
with the cold, and so I sitting there and I
was talking to her, and I had gotten to the
point she would let me come in the kennel with her,
but she would like be right in the corner and
(52:39):
away from facing away from me and still growling. And
so I'm in there, sitting towards probably just a little
bit more than a week, and I say to her,
you know, and I had named her Misty. I said,
I'm running out of space, Misty. The kennels are full,
and unfortunately, with the way you are at this point,
(53:03):
I'm going to have to make a decision because I'm
obviously not going to be able to adopt you to anybody,
if you know, with this going on. And I said,
but you know, I said, if you just will let me,
this is so funny. I said, if you would just
let me pet you and you know, and then we
could that would give me, you know, some hope, and
(53:25):
we could go on. And I'll be darned if she
did not come over and let me pet her.
Speaker 3 (53:31):
Oh that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
Yeah, And so she stayed and I worked with her
some more, and she came around. And then it came
to my boss at the time, our police chief, there
was something that happened with I'm not even going to
go into the whole story because it's long and it's
kind of crazy, but anyway, the police chief basically gave
me the ultimatum of getting her out of the shelter
or putting her down, and I was not about to
(53:56):
put her down. So I got her out of the
shelter and she became my dog. Yeah, she came home
with me and I've had her ever since. So I've
had her for about twelve years, going on thirteen, and
she has been and I know everybody says this, but
this dog, for never having any real training in the
background she came from, has been one of the best
(54:16):
dogs that I have owned. She has been great with
my kids, my grandkids, and she just loves everybody. And
so she literally, I mean that's what I mean. You know,
any animal, when you give them the time and the
patience and the love and the positive reinforcement, that is
(54:40):
the kinds of turnarounds like with Beebee that you can accomplish.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
So you know absolutely, you know, you didn't give up,
you know, I mean became the ultimatum. But it was
incredible how it just you know, worked out and you
got a response. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:00):
I was like, she understood exactly what I was telling her,
and she was like, well, okay, if that's what it's
going to come to, you know. I was amazed myself.
I'm just like, holy crappy. So yeah, but like I said,
she's she's been my dog and I love her. She's
the last one I have. Now I had like seven
at one time, so but she's my last girl that's
(55:23):
still here with me. And and I know we're coming
to the end. Unfortunately, I see it, you know, but
you know it's like with everything, you know, and you
can't live forever. And I'm just wanting to get through
the holidays because I lost my last dog. I just
lost him in June, kind of like you lost your
(55:43):
whiskey in April. So so yeah, so I just want
to get through the holidays.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
Well, I certainly hope you do. You know I do too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:55):
So, anyway, with all of that being said in your
wonderful story, we are kind of at the end of
our podcast here and our talk and it's been wonderful
having you on and getting all of these awesome tips
for you know, the cat owners out there, and hopefully
some of the advice and tips that you gave tonight
(56:16):
will help some of these people that might be having
you know, problems or problem behavior with their cats and
now they're going, oh, okay, well, maybe we can solve
this by doing these things. And again, like with litterbox issues, yes, definitely,
you know, talk with the bet make sure there's nothing
physical going on with the cat. But if you can't
find anything physical, then maybe you need to start looking
(56:36):
into some of the stuff that you know, Jennifer was
talking about tonight and what might be causing some of
these you know, behaviors.
Speaker 3 (56:43):
So but let's look at physical first.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
Yeah, And with that being said, if you don't mind,
if you would like to give out some information where
listeners could find your you know, your website or kind
hack you and learn more about your work and what
you do. That'd be great if you want to throw
that out there.
Speaker 3 (57:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (57:07):
You can find me at jennifercatpur dot com on YouTube
and Instagram, and if anyone would like to see photos
of BBI and hear more of her story, I will
post it on my Instagram shortly.
Speaker 3 (57:20):
So thank you. That's been a pleasure of chatting with you, Laurie.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
Yeah, I'd love to having you on, and I'll also
provide your link to your website on my Facebook page
because I do that for all of my guests as well,
so if anybody's on my page and they want to
go check you out, they can do it that way too,
So but yeah, it was really great to have you
on and talk about all of these wonderful things, and
I'm so glad that you were able to do this
tonight and give all these great tips and stuff out there,
(57:45):
and hopefully more people will be looking you up and
getting you to consult with them if they are having
some behavior problems and maybe you can help them like
you did with BB and Maggie.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Absolutely, I am here for anyone who's good, so I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (58:02):
Laurie.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
Thank you again, Yeah, and thank you for being on tonight.
I'm just going to go ahead and announce my next
upcoming podcast and what's going on. You are welcome to
stan if you want, but you can also jump off
it and we will say good night to you. And
I know it gets a little bit, you know, later,
depending on time zones and things like that, and people
(58:23):
have things to do, so whichever you prefer to.
Speaker 3 (58:26):
Do, all right, take care of Laurie.
Speaker 1 (58:28):
Thank you, all right, Thanks Jennifer. You have a good night,
me too.
Speaker 5 (58:32):
Bye bye, Okay, everybody. So, Jennifer just got off the
phone with me. I was awesome having her on tonight.
I hope you guys enjoyed our discussion and learning more
about cats and some of the behaviors and some of
the things you can kind of do to, you know,
help correct them. If not, get a hold of Jennifer.
(58:53):
She might be able to help you out with some
of these things.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
So with that being said, I just want to let
you guys know what's going to be up and what's
going on for the holidays. Excuse me. So on December eighteenth,
I am actually going to have Lauren anders Brown on
with me and she is going to be talking about
her app and called Pad's Pass. Sorry about that. Pad's
(59:22):
Pass is kind of cool. If you guys can are
traveling and you have to take your dogs, cats, whatever
with you, this app that Lauren came up with will
help you, guys, because there's so many different rules and regulations,
especially if you're going to other countries, and Hawaii is
(59:44):
another big one. There's things you have to know ahead
of time, you know, before you can travel there, like
you have to have your animals like vaccinated, you know,
months in advance of traveling to some of these places.
Hawaii one of them in the States because of the
fact they don't really have rabies over there. They haven't
(01:00:05):
because you know, island kind of secluded thing. So they
have some very strict regulations in place for when you're
going to be going there and taking your animal puts
with you. So Lauren actually unfortunately had an incident with
her dog when she was traveling. She thought she had
done everything correctly, and I think it was the UK
(01:00:27):
she went to and her dog actually ended up getting
confiscated from her for at least twenty four hours. So
because this happened to her, she didn't want it to
happen to other people. And so she kind of got
a little tech savvy and came up with this app
called Pad's Pass. So I'll be talking with her on
(01:00:48):
December eighteenth, and she's going to give us all sorts
of more information about this app and how you guys
can use it and what all it does and why
she developed it. So I think that's really cool because
they're so many people out there that, like I said,
don't really understand about traveling with their pets and what's required,
you know, vaccination wise, or if they have to be
(01:01:10):
quarantined for a certain amount of time in another country
due to their regulations, things like that. So this little
app will help you guys, and it's a good place
to keep like all of your different documents, like your
shot records and things like that. So I'm looking forward
to talking with Lauren about this app because I think
a lot of people need to know about it and
(01:01:30):
hopefully it will help you guys that travel with your pets.
And then after that, I am actually going to be
off for a couple of weeks because of the holidays.
You know, we have Christmas in New Year's Day coming up,
so I won't be doing a podcast, which would have
been actually on the first because that's New Year's Day,
so we won't be I won't be back on then,
(01:01:51):
but I will be back on January eighth, and I
am then going to have Arthur von Weisenberger on with me.
He is the executive director and host of Animal Zone,
and so he's going to be on and talking about
(01:02:12):
that stuff Animal Zone and things like that and about
you know, all the different things that he's done and
directed and been involved with a lot of different projects
that Arthur's been involved with, and I'm looking forward to
talking with him and finding out more about all the
different really cool things that he's done. So anyway, that's
the next couple podcasts coming up. We're going to have
(01:02:34):
Lauren Andrews Brown with Pad's Pass and then Arthur von
Weisenberger on January eighth, So don't forget to come on
back on the eighteenth though to listen to the podcast then,
especially those you guys that travel with your pets so
you can get more information and maybe look into getting
this app and helping you guys out with your travel.
(01:02:55):
So looking forward to it. So I hope you guys
stay safe out there, don't get into too much trouble
over the weekend. Oh and I hope you all had
a happy Thanksgiving since we just went through that holiday.
I had a good one. I know I ate way
too much, probably a lot of us did, but yeah,
so anyway, all right. I hope you guys will be
(01:03:16):
back in a couple of weeks to listen to the
next podcast, and until then, have a good one. Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com