COVID-19 and cats

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has swept around the globe, devastating people’s lives and the economies of many countries. Veterinarians have a key role to play as we have many excellent researchers into coronaviruses in animal species, including our guest for episodes 57 & 58, Dr. Severine Tasker. Susan and Jolle are certainly practicing physical distancing as they recorded this episode almost 2,000 (over 1200 miles) km apart! We discuss the emerging information about cats and SARS-CoV-2 and what everyone needs to know. The good news is that cats are not particularly susceptible to this virus, they don’t seem to suffer severe disease, and they are no risk to people.
>> Listen to episode 59

Reliable resources on COVID-19 and companion animals:
World Small Animal Veterinary Association
American Veterinary Medical Association
World Organization for Animal Health
International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases
Worms and Germs Blog (Dr. Scott Weese)

Your Guide to Feline Medicine & Surgery in a Podcast!

Time spent with cats is never wasted. — Sigmund Freud

An awesome podcast for veterinary healthcare providers about everything feline! Famous feline medicine expert Dr. Susan Little and veterinary surgeon Dr. Jolle Kirpensteijn discuss feline medical and surgical topics highlighting simple and practical solutions. We have some amazing guest experts too! If you like cats, you will love this podcast. Oh, and follow us on social media @PurrPodcast!

We know veterinary team members love PurrPodcast and some cat caregivers listen as well. So we decided to start a new podcast just for cat caregivers. We invite amazing guests to chat with us and we have one rule they have to follow – no big words! Have a listen and recommend CatCafe Podcast to the cat lovers in your life.


Thanks to Steve Dale, our podcast announcer!

CatCafe Podcast is here!

We know veterinary team members love PurrPodcast and some cat caregivers listen as well. So we decided to start a new podcast just for cat caregivers. We’ll invite some amazing guests to chat with us and we’ll have one rule they have to follow – no big words! Have a listen and recommend CatCafe Podcast to the cat lovers in your life. Oh, and follow us on social media @catcafepodcast!

Episode 34: Dr. Justine Lee, part one

Dr. Justine Lee is someone we find simply amazing. Many of you know her as the CEO and one of the founders of VETgirl (with Dr. Garret Pachtinger), an innovative online veterinary continuing education resource. She’s also double-boarded in Emergency and Critical Care and Toxicology. As if that’s not enough, she is also a well-known speaker, author, and TV personality. Oh, and she’s a mom too. In part one of our chat with Justine, we find out how she met Jolle at a circus in Moscow. She tells us about the top 5 feline emergencies and how vodka is useful in the ER (but not to make cocktails!).

Episodes 32 & 33: the ‘other’ Dr. Susan Little

What fun to have the ‘other’ Dr. Susan Little with us in episodes 32 & 33! We learned all the ways the two Susans have been mistaken for each other and how you can tell them apart. Our guest Susan Little is the Regents Professor and the Krull-Ewing Professor in Veterinary Parasitology at the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University. Her research interests include zoonotic parasites and tick-borne diseases. We not only learned about feline parasites, but did you know roundworm eggs can survive a nuclear blast? And that even dinosaurs had ticks?

Episodes 30 & 31: Dr. Joe Bartges

Urine luck! We have two episodes with Joe Bartges, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DACVN of the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia. Joe says urine is liquid gold – discuss! We chat about idiopathic cystitis, a frustrating disease that most vets know all too well. We also manage to talk about chronic gastrointestinal disease, diabetes mellitus, bladder and kidney stones, and even more importantly – Who is the world’s most cunning cat? Why won’t Jolle eat octopus? Tune in and find out – are cats aliens or gods?

Episodes 28 & 29: Steve Dale, pet journalist

Steve Dale is a well-known to many as a pet journalist through his WGN radio show, newspaper columns, blog articles, his presentations at vet conferences and other events, and his contributions to textbooks about behavior. In part one, we talk about how Steve got his start in radio (“I have a face for radio”), how he got his first gig writing about pets, and how he once got fired in an elevator (talk about an ‘elevator speech’). Steve also shares with us how a cat named Ricky with heart disease got him involved with the Winn Feline Foundation, and why he believes kitten kindergarten classes save lives. Oh, and he owes us 3 margaritas!

Listen here: SpotifyiTunesStitcherSpreakeriHeartRadio

Episode 27: Dr. Debra Horwitz, part two

Why don’t all cats respond to catnip? Are cats really social? How is cat society organized? And what’s the most important question veterinarians can ask owners about their cats? It’s all in part two of our chat with Dr. Debra Horwitz. She is the editor of Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult Clinical Companion – Canine and Feline Behavior, 2nd edition (2017). Her new book – Decoding Your Cat – will be published next year.

Listen here: SpotifyiTunesStitcherSpreakeriHeartRadio