Ep 688: The Alien in Your Living Room: What Cats Really Need, with Dr. Katie Hankins, Veterinarian and Founder of Savvy Enrichment
From The Community Cats Podcast · 25:37
Show by The Community Cats Podcast
"They're not actually trying to scratch your couch and cause disaster. They're just doing what cats do." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Community Cat Clinic. Dr. Katie Hankins has been a veterinarian for nearly 30 years, and much of that time she's spent on behavioral medicine, where the root issue usually turns out to be unmet needs rather than a "bad" animal. Joining Stacy from Sydney, Australia, Katie argues that we've gotten the idea of enrichment backward. We treat it as an optional extra, like icing on a cupcake, when it's really about recognizing that we've brought a completely different species into our homes and asking what that species needs to thrive. For cats, that means scratching surfaces, vertical space, room to get away from housemates, and food that takes some work to get. Katie walks through five categories of enrichment (physical, social, dietary, sensory, and cognitive) and explains why indoor cats in particular need us to curate their world. Stressed cats don't announce it. Instead they turn up at the vet with urinary problems, over-grooming, or gut issues. She also covers practical feeding advice for both indoor cats and TNR colonies, plus why food and water bowls shouldn't sit side by side. Litter boxes get a thorough look, too. Katie explains why litter box trouble is such an avoidable reason cats end up in shelters, why three boxes lined up in a row count as just one, and why she'd happily ban long-lasting crystal litter. She shares a recent home visit where a narrow hallway turned into contested territory between two cats, and how a few shelves solved it. Finally, she introduces Savvy Enrichment, an app she built to make daily enrichment easy instead of one more thing to feel guilty about. Press Play Now For: The five big categories of enrichment and where cat owners most often go wrong Feeding advice for TNR colony cats and indoor cats, including whisker fatigue The litter box formula: how many boxes, where to put them, and which litter to avoid How vertical space can turn a small apartment into a cat playground How the Savvy Enrichment app generates daily activity ideas for your cat Resources & Links Savvy Enrichment Savvy Enrichment on Instagram Savvy Enrichment on Facebook Savvy Enrichment on YouTube
More episodes of The Community Cats Podcast
More episodes
- Ep 690: Pay It Forward: The Simple Move That Turns Hesitant Vets Into TNR Partners, with Denise Bynum, Director or Homeless Animals Relief Project (HARP)
- Ep 689: Breaking Down the Silos Between Vets and Cat Advocates, with Jamie Falzone, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association and MVMA Charities
- Ep 687: Trapping Colonies, Not Cats, with Julie Morriss Community and Outreach Associate for Animal Birth Control Clinic
- Ep 686: The Free Helpline Keeping Cats in Their Homes, with Matt Wildman, Founder and Director of National Cat Behavior Helpline
- Ep 685: Feeding Plans, Not Feeding Bans, with Danielle Bays, Senior Program Manager for Cat Protection and Policy at Humane World for Animals
- Ep 684: Building TNR That Lasts: A Data-Driven Model From Penang, with Daniel Leung, Co-Founder and CEO of Catsoterra
- Ep 683: They're Not Spicy, They're Scared - Handling Fearful and Aggressive Shelter Cats, with Berlin Waters, Founder of The Spicy Cat Project
- Ep 682: Too Small Is Not a Diagnosis, with Jordyn Purpura Feline Director, Yolo County SPCA; Strategic Advisor, Orphan Kitten Club; Clinical Researcher, Vernau Laboratory at UC Davis
- Welcome to The Show
- Six Years of Progress
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