In this week’s Around the Cracker Barrel, host Guy Atchley welcomes Karen Schwartz and Gayle Peek from PAWS Patrol—a nonprofit dedicated to helping community cats in Southern Arizona. Karen and Gayle explain how PAWS Patrol focuses on feral and colony cats, working alongside the Animal League of Green Valley to find homes for adoptable cats and kittens, while returning ferals to their colonies through trap-neuter-return programs.

They discuss the challenges of “kitten season” in Arizona, which can stretch from spring through late fall, and share heartwarming rescue stories like Quinn and Izzy—two kittens saved after a storm. The guests offer advice on what to do if you find kittens, stressing the importance of leaving them with their mothers whenever possible.

Karen and Gayle highlight the Working Cat Program, which places unsocialized cats in barns or rural properties to control rodent populations, and note that PAWS Patrol is the only nonprofit in Southern Arizona conducting this type of large-scale trapping and relocation.

The conversation also touches on the urgent need for fosters, donations, and volunteers—particularly for trapping, social media outreach, and kitten care. Donations of money, food, and litter help cover veterinary costs and support colony caretakers.

Listeners are encouraged to visit greenvalleypawspatrol.org to foster, adopt, donate, or learn more about helping community cats.