Underfoot Podcast

If you’re searching for a cat podcast that is the audio equivalent of those YouTube cat videos, where felines are filmed doing the cutest things, DO NOT listen to Underfoot. However, if you’re in search of a gripping audio documentary about urban crises and how that relates to cats on the street, then DO listen to Underfoot.

Underfoot is a new investigative podcast from the Brooklyn nonprofit Flatbush Cats, uncovering how New York City’s cat overpopulation crisis became a symptom of larger urban failures — in housing, affordability, and access to care.

An estimated half a million cats live outside across New York City, a crisis driven by decades of uneven policy and barriers to affordable veterinary care that leave communities shouldering the response. Through immersive storytelling and interviews with rescuers, policymakers, and neighbors, Underfoot examines what happens when everyday people are left to solve a public problem on their own.

Hosted by Flatbush Cats founder Will Zweigart and producer Virginia Marshall, the six-part series blends field reporting and narrative storytelling — offering an intimate look at how one of the city’s smallest residents reveal so much about its biggest cracks.

The podcast is produced by None Other, a Brooklyn-based, women-owned creative production company. Sara Stampone, a partner and Head Of Accounts at None Other, says: “In this new investigative podcast, we go beyond rescue stories to reveal the systems that created this problem in the first place. Over six episodes, we’ll explore what it would take to build a city where no cat is left behind.”

Hosted by Flatbush Cats founder Will Zweigart and producer Virginia Marshall, the six-part series blends field reporting and narrative storytelling — offering an intimate look at how one of the city’s smallest residents reveal so much about its biggest cracks.

Will Zweigart is a former advertising executive turned nonprofit leader with a deep passion for solving the overcrowding crisis in New York City's animal shelters and beyond. He founded Flatbush Cats in 2018 as a TNR and rescue volunteer, but soon realized that “we cannot rescue or adopt our way out of this crisis.” In 2023, Flatbush Cats opened their first nonprofit veterinary clinic, called Flatbush Vet, which provides affordable, high-volume spay-neuter and wellness care to pet owners and rescuers who could not otherwise afford to see a vet.

Virginia Marshall is a writer and audio producer living in Brooklyn. She co-hosts and writes Brooklyn Public Library’s flagship podcast Borrowed, which won a Webby Award in 2024 and was nominated for a Peabody Award. She was a 2023–2024 Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction. You can read and hear more of her work at vrosemarshall.com

Underfoot has field reporting by Sarah Gabrielli and additional reporting by Priscilla Alabi. Episodes were recorded at Good Studio in Brooklyn and mixed and mastered by Will Whatley. Podcast artwork was created by Lazy Chief, and the series was executive produced by None Other.

The first episode takes a close-up view of the cat overpopulation problem, specifically in Flatbush, Brooklyn. We meet Rosario, who heroically tries to care for the street cats in her neighborhood. She links up with an organization that focuses on TNR — trap, neuter, return. The co-hosts then discuss the definition of a colony caretaker, who not only feeds the cats but also looks after their overall well-being.

In episode two, we get a higher-level view of the cat problem, but first, they visit with Mike, who went through a period of homelessness and had to give up his beloved dogs. The co-hosts point out that most people give up cats and dogs because of financial problems or because their new landlord does not allow pets.

Mike, who, by now, has found a place in Manhattan, begins a personal vigil to care for cats in Flatbush, an almost two-hour round-trip subway ride. Mike makes the trip every day to take care of cats near the hospital in Flatbush.

Then the episode zooms out, speaking with a NYC Councilman and going through trend reports and data analysis. They find that an estimated half a million cats may live outside across New York City.

In the episode, the co-hosts conclude: “It’s a crisis driven by decades of uneven policy and barriers to affordable veterinary care that leave communities shouldering the response.”

The show offers listeners superb sound design, with ambient street noise during the interviews that intensifies the sense of overdue action. The co-hosts, Will Zweigart and producer Virginia Marshall, expertly handle that delicate balance between expressing the need for action and audio doomscrolling. The co-hosts enhance each other’s statements and, together, create a sense of urgency that goes beyond the cats. I like that the YouTube version is essentially a screen capture of their logo with the audio playing over that.

The city, while vibrant and an economic engine of growth, also faces pressing urban problems, including a housing crisis, the need to bolster the social safety net for its residents, and finding a more permanent and sustainable solution for street cats.

The organization undergirding the effort is Flatbush Cats, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to prevent overcrowded shelters and reduce the outdoor cat population in Brooklyn.

The organization focuses on proven, proactive approaches that keep pets with their families and cats off the street. By increasing access to veterinary care and support services for those who need it most, they reduce shelter surrenders and prevent more cats from ending up on the street.

Flatbush Vet is a high-volume spay/neuter clinic serving both low-income pet owners and rescue/TNR volunteers across Brooklyn. Now performing 7,500+ surgeries each year, the non-profit insists that, “We’re just getting started.”

EPISODE GUIDE

Episode 1: One Block, Thirty-Five Cats What if one city block held the key to understanding overcrowded animal shelters across New York City?

Episode 2: A City on the Brink We zoom out from one Brooklyn block to the entire city — tracing how decades of underfunding, housing instability, and broken policies pushed New York’s animal shelter system to the edge.

Episode 3: The Real Price of Pet Ownership The cost of caring for a pet in New York City (and beyond) has skyrocketed. We unpack why basic veterinary care has become out of reach for so many households, and what that means for the cats left behind.

Episode 4: The Cost of Caring As the city’s animal safety net fails, rescue volunteers step in — pouring their time, money, and energy into a system that relies on unpaid labor to stay afloat.

Episode 5: Rethinking the Role of Animal Shelters We investigate why the city has been so slow to act on the cat crisis, and explore what a reimagined, prevention-first model of animal care could look like for New York and beyond.

Episode 6: A Vision for Tomorrow -- We end the season with a look at bold, practical solutions — and a vision for how communities, advocates, and policymakers can finally break the cycle of too many cats struggling outdoors.

Through immersive storytelling and interviews with rescuers, policymakers, and neighbors, Underfoot examines what happens when everyday people are left to solve a public problem on their own, and how heroes, like Flatbush Cats, rise to the occasion to tackle a crisis.