Feline Celebrating Life Together. Your Virtual Recorded Conference

               Celebrating Life Together – Your Feline-Specific Package

Register today and enjoy these five Feline-specific session recordings!

Your Session Descriptions

Your Presenters 

Joey Lusvardi – Just Say Yes: Catnip and Other Psychoactive Plants for Cats

Joey Lusvardi is an IAABC certified cat behavior consultant. He runs Class Act Cats, a cat behavior consultation business where he helps cat parents figure out the reason behind unwanted behaviors and repair their relationship with their cats. Joey also maintains a blog  on cat behavior, training, and the human animal bond. He has a particular interest in addressing cat conflict, preventing behavior concerns through enrichment, and using training to build the bond between cats and their humans. He is based out of Minneapolis, MN where he lives with his feline overlords, Prozac and Poutine.

Katie Gwilt – Looking After Cat/Feline Welfare

I am passionate about cats and have been a holistic mobile cat groomer in the North West UK since 2020. As well as training in cat grooming, I am also trained in animal Reiki, animal healing, feline behaviour, zoopharmacognosy/advanced psycharomatica and am training in acupressure for small animals too.

I have been writing the Feline Focus column in Total Grooming magazine since March 2022 and have been featured in Your Cat magazine. I have been lucky to present about cats and botanicals for a number of organisations, including the Pet Professional Network, as a paid speaker.

I have a BSc in Biochemistry and Neurobiology but have always wanted to work with animals, cats especially. My ethics and ethos are very important to me where welfare always comes before everything else.

I have been lucky enough to work with not only cats but alpacas, dogs, tortoises, various birds, pigs, snakes and other reptiles, spiders, mice etc. This work has been on a behavioural basis, as well as sensory enrichment, and animal healing.

Laura Cassiday – Unleashing the Power of Pattern Games in Cat Introductions

Laura Cassiday is a certified cat behavior consultant living in Baltimore, Maryland. She began her career with Maryland SPCA, where she served as the cat behavior coordinator, implementing enrichment programs and initiatives to improve the treatment of shelter cats. In 2021, Laura founded Pawsitive Vibes Cat Behavior and Training, focusing on addressing behavior issues in private homes to prevent cats from entering shelters. Through remote and local sessions, she resolves aggression, destructive behavior, and litter box concerns while empowering caregivers with a deeper understanding of their feline companions. Laura is also actively involved in advocacy efforts, such as supporting the Maryland Anti-Declaw Bill, is a published author of The Complete Guide to Adopting a Cat, and serves as Feline Division Chair of the Pet Professional Guild.

Melissa Taylor – Building Trust, One Behavior at a Time: A Modern Approach to Socialization for Fearful Kittens

Melissa Taylor, CBCC-KA, CSB-C is the Behavior and Training Manager at Friends For Life (FFL) Animal Shelter, a progressive animal welfare organization in Houston, Texas. At FFL, Melissa heads a comprehensive, animal-centered behavior program which includes in-house animal care, community outreach, and inter-shelter consultation. Melissa has logged more than twenty years in shelter animal behavior, starting with an internship at the ASPCA’s Animal Behavior Center in New York City. She developed a lasting love for cooperative care from training livestock and wildlife as the coordinator of the Behavior and Training Department at the Houston SPCA, and applies the same principles to the dogs, cats, exotics, and humans she works with now at Friends For Life.

Melissa is happiest when she has a chance to use data to create innovative projects to improve the lives of shelter animals and the people who care for them. For example, she started the Fraidy Cat Program to reliably shape and generalize prosocial behaviors in undersocialized cats. Melissa’s non-compulsive, choice-based training and behavior modification program is associated with a 67% drop in the number of long-stay dogs at Friends For Life.

Over the course of her career, Melissa has focused on the development of shelter programs related to animal behavior. She has partnered with other shelters locally and around the world to start behavior volunteer, fearful cat socialization, enrichment, and animal-centered staff training initiatives.

Melissa was awarded the 2022 Member of the Year Award by the Association For Professional Dog Trainers due to her work as co-chair of the APDT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee examining the experiences of BIPOC members of the professional dog training community. She is passionate about the role that social justice issues play in the advancement of animal welfare.

Sandra Grossmann – Feeding Cats: How Food Can Impact Behavioral Health

I hold a B.S. of Food Science from the Technical University Berlin, and various master certifications from quality & product management programs and draw from 28 years of experience about ingredients and formulating pet diets, treats and supplements.
After leaving the corporate industry in 2019, I completed the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s (UIUC) Companion Animal Nutrition certification whilst also launching my cat consultation business.
In July 2021, I graduated from the Veterinary Assistant Program at Animal Behavior College (ABC) and I completed my Approved Veterinary Assistant (AVA) certification from The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) in June 2022.
Since December 2021 I am a certified feline training and behavior specialist with the Animal Behavior Institute (ABI), and I am a supporting member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), and The Pet Professional Guild (PPG).
Many health issues result in behavioral problems, many behavioral problems have their root cause in an undiagnosed health condition. Educating pet parents how to cope with these situations better is my main goal.

PPG Members

PPG Members, use your $10.00 discount coupon code at registration. The code is in your membership area.

Not yet a member? Click here to join and begin receiving discounts on PPG member events.