6 Degrees Of Cats: The Only Cat-Themed Culture, History & Science Podcast

It's not a "cat lady" podcast. You learn about history, culture, and science through the lens of our connection to cats

In the season two finale of the 6 Degrees Of Cats podcast, host Captain Kitty informs the audience that humans share 90 percent of their homogeneous genetic material with cats. She uses that nugget to launch an episode about family, family ties, and the emotional links to our pets, especially cats.

Let me start by stating that 6 Degrees Of Cats is not a "cat" podcast. You won't learn how to keep your cat from scratching your faux leather couch or suddenly obey all of your silly commands.

Instead, Amanda B. (AKA Captain Kitty) takes on a journey through human history, culture, and the advent of science.

For example, listeners learned this second season that cats occupy an important mythological significance on Halloween. This episode showcased an impressive panel of expert guests, including Dr. Megan Goodwin, host of hit religion and history podcast “Keeping It 101”; culinary historian and author of “Endangered Eating” Sarah Lohman, who explained the origin of the witch costume; and Kings County Distillery founder and writer Colin Spoelman, who introduced listeners to two distillery cats.

Listeners have described 6 Degrees of Cats as "educational, thought-provoking, meditative AND fun" and praise host Amanda B.'s hosting as "...not only informative but highly engaging and entertaining."

In this second season, 6 Degrees of Cats offered listeners an international lineup of leading voices in fields such as animal welfare, music, history, religion, and even pizza. Notable guests in the second season included “My Cat From Hell” star Jackson Galaxy, global rock sensation Malina Moye, Islam scholar and Head on History podcast host Ali Olomi, and founding pizza czar Anthony Falco.

Throughout the nine-episode season, a companion newsletter, "The Captain’s Log," provided exclusive bonus content and opportunities, and listeners could subscribe.

6 Degrees of Cats has a lot of things going for it as an ear-worthy podcast. First, it's not a "cat lady" podcast where cat lovers, mostly women, tell super-cute stories about their cat Mittens. The show looks at cats in history, mythology, and culture. For example, I loved the April 25th episode about Vikings and cats. Norse folklore expert Terry Gunnell will fascinate listeners with his tales of cats and the Viking culture.

Second, the podcast has an infectious intro music, "Josie & The Pussycats" beat, and the show manipulates sound with purpose and to great effect. I personally commend any podcast that fully uses its greatest asset -- sound.

Third, the host, "Captain Kitty," aka Amanda B., is terrific. She's smart, funny, informative, and has endless energy. Amanda B. is a Korean American transracial adoptee based in Brooklyn, New York. In 2018, she was selected into a cohort of 10 out of 18,000 applicants to go through Spotify's first Sound Up podcast accelerator for women and non-binary podcasters of color.

As a musician, she has supported international performing artist Peaches onstage for The Samantha Bee Show’s 2017 Not the White House Correspondents Dinner broadcast, and recently released a sophomore full-length album with her rock ‘n’ roll band Leathered. Amanda B also consults for clients.

I am a self-confessed cat person. I have two cats, Moogie, an extroverted cream-colored barn cat, and Tinker Bell, a Calico who chips like a "tortie." They both listen to the podcast with me and give it four paws up.

After two seasons, what I like most about 6 Degrees of Cats is its scholarly intentions toward cats, Amanda B's hosting skill, and the catchy friskiness of its audio.

This week, 6 Degrees Of Cats won the Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Award for Best Pet Podcast. 

 As an independent podcast, 6 Degrees of Cats needs listeners' support. Remember that even though cats are rumored to have nine lives, podcasts do not.