What Are the Best Podcasts for Cat People?

Just what is a podcast, exactly?

Podcasts are like radio shows, but you can listen to them whenever you want. You can pause, rewind, or even play them faster if you want to power through a lot of shows.

I’ve been addicted to podcasts for two years, and slowly the people around me are becoming converts too!

What Can a Podcast Do For Me?

Podcasts can be informative, interesting, relaxing, mind-expanding, laugh-out-loud hilarious. You can find podcasts on any topic – business, politics, story-telling, Harry Potter fan fiction. And, of course, cats! In this article I’m going to review as many cat podcasts as possible.

How Do I Listen to One?

If you have an iPhone or iPad you can click the iTunes link in the following table. If not, click the name of the podcast and it will take you to their website.

What Are the Best Cat Podcasts?

• Note – shows that aren’t updated lose a point.

 

Community Cats Podcast

Host Stacy LeBaron has been involved in cat non-profits for over 20 years – everything from fundraising to management. The rescue society she helped grow now cares for over 10,000 cats a year (it was 300 when she started).

The goal of the podcast is to expose you to amazing people who are improving the lives of cats, and to help you turn your passion for cats into action (especially with stray cats in your neighborhood). It offers tips at all levels.

There have been 158 episodes so far, almost all interviews with interesting people. One was Tamar from ihavecat.com, a discussion that centered on the agonisingly cute book ‘Shop Cats of New York’. One with Dr. Dena Mangiamele was about her groundbreaking work in the City of Los Angeles, and contained an important message about animal care workers putting their safety first.

There’s also sometimes a guest host who interviews the Stacy! That’s a fun twist. I LIKE FUN.

It’s all really easy to listen to, the topics are interesting and varied, and it’s inspiring to hear the good that people are doing.

 

Purrcast

This one got off to a bad start when none of the episodes would work on my phone. I kept getting an error message. So I went to their website and listened there.

The episode was called ‘Zafron’ and was 5 minutes long. I got the feeling it would be an interview with Zafron’s new owners and why they chose him from all the rescue animals. Something like that.

But no – it’s 5 minutes of Zafron purring. I scrolled down and the previous episode was the same, though by then this picture had explained the show’s concept to me:

Holy moly! This podcast is just cats purring. 5 minutes of pure purr… Cat people are nuts! I love it!

Purrcast have a Patreon page (where you can send money to support artists and creators whose work you enjoy) which states that if they get pledges of $25 per podcast they will create a streaming radio station that will broadcast purring NON-STOP. Interesting, but remember that radio waves beam out into space for all eternity and who knows who’s listening?

My Rating: Purrfect.

 

Tacoma Cat Hospital

This ran from 2006-7 and was revived for a couple of episodes in 2009. It’s a shame it isn’t updated because Dr Smith, the host, is fantastic. He is a cat-only vet and to say that he knows his business would be an understatement.

Best of all, he presents his knowledge in a clear and interesting way. Even if it’s not updated, it’s still one of the best, most informative podcasts about cats.

Update – I wrote to Dr Smith and he said that his podcast was a big success and brought him more clients than he could deal with. He hopes to release a couple of Youtube videos soon, though. I’ll add a link to one when they are online.

My Rating: My ears are feline fine.

 

Crazy Cat Podcast

This is quality content from Claire Sewell.

Lots of news and stories about cats, plus a book review. It’s all great and a total winner, but only 6 episodes were made and the last was in 2015. I’ve written to Claire asking what’s up and will update this if she writes back.

My Rating: Cat it While You Can

 

Cattitude

There’s lots of stuff going on here – background music, adverts, a guy doing a funny posh cat voice. When it finally settles down into the topic, it’s interesting and informative. There’s something slightly off about the sound quality but it’s no biggie.

The first downside is that the last episode dates from 2010.

The second is the network. I visited the website and found that Pet Life Radio has plenty of shows that ARE updated but none are about cats. The site is cluttered and confusing, which is forgivable. What I can’t forgive is the autoplaying audio and the fact that when you click something it opens a hidden advert page.

My Rating: Good show, bad network.

 

Cat Lady Podcast

This called itself the number 1 podcast or cat people, but the first ten minutes they were rambling about the British TV show Dr. Who.

One of the hosts actually said ‘Why are we talking about this?’ to which I yelled ‘Yeah! Why!’

But then the other host said, ‘Good question. What else can we talk about?’ Then there was a painful silence.

I don’t mind tangents and digressions but there has to be some purpose to a podcast. That’s why TV episode recaps work in podcast form – they have a clearly defined path to walk along.

Their website says that one host got a new job, hence there are no recent episodes, but they hope to restart at some point.

The site also has comments from fans begging for new episodes, so while I didn’t get into it, you might dig it.

My Rating: Not for me.

 

Kitty Cat Cast

This gets marked down as a miss 1) because it’s a video podcast and if you’re making videos they should really be on Youtube. And 2) because the most recent video (2013) had a cat rubbing against some dude’s naked legs and that made me feel weirdly squeamish.

My Rating: Shudder.

Anything to Add?

Did I miss anything? Have you got a podcast that you want me to add to the list? Drop me a line!