Worldwide, there are a vast number of unowned cats. But is this a bad thing? The cat lovers among us may wish for a world where all these moggies have a loving home and a human lap to purr in. But is this what the cats want?

My guest today is Vicky Halls of International Cat Care, who is an expert in "unowned" cats. She believes that we should be making sure it is the cat that dictates the nature of their relationship with us, something humans are not so great at doing when it comes to animals!

Learn more here: https://icatcare.org/unowned-cats/

In the UK, where I'm currently living, you will get 15 years imprisonment for armed robbery, due to the lasting physical and psychological damage to the victim. But abuse, or kill an animal? You'll get away with a maximum of 5 years, but probably less, even if this animal is the companion of a human.

The abuse of companion animals is rife in domestic abuse settings, yet it is rarely spoken about, nor taken as seriously as other crimes. My guest today wants to change that. Maya Badham trains professionals to recognise the link between abuse of animals and abuse of humans, particularly within a domestic setting.

She joins me in this episode to discuss how we often overlook actions that affect the animals present in the home when we investigate domestic abuse.

You can read more about her work on her website: https://sahsda.wixsite.com/sahsda

As our audience is international, we cannot signpost to specific organisations here, but if you, or anyone you know is affected by anything discussed in this episode, please reach out to your local support services as soon as possible.

A year as a key decision maker in the world of animal rescue showed me just how difficult it is to change mindsets in a highly emotive field. Yet, many of the well-meaning policies rescues employ may actually be doing more harm than good in the long run. So in this episode, I am joined by my guest Dr Karen Griffin of the Dog Rehoming Project to investigate how animal rescues could be using scientific evidence, instead of anecdotes and emotions, to make data-driven decisions and ultimately help more animals in their communities.