Cats - stealthy, sneaky - and spooky! Hidden in plain sight. All the makings of…the purr-fect spy! Or so we think. Listen in on a fun, feline fact-filled episode about how, if, when and why cats have ever been associated with - or agents of - covert operations, intelligence gathering and all things espionage. Feline anatomy expert Gabriela Canales, D.V.M. will spotlight the special skills and attributes that may or may not have inspired espionage professionals in 14th Century Japan and during the Cold War. Listen in as we run this theory by Japan folklore expert and historian Zack Davisson and espionage historian Andrew Hammond, Ph.D. - and then decide if your cat is in cahoots with your Google Home and Amazon Alexa devices!

Support the podcast at https://ko-fi.com/6degreesofcats for as little as $1 / month for stickers, early access to new episodes and behind the scenes audio. View the show notes and more on The Captain’s Log, the companion podcast newsletter here: linktr.ee/6degreesofcats.

And check out these supplementary episodes:

• Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat, Part 1: Research and Righting Reflexes


• Cat Eyes: Make-up, Magic and Myopia with writer Zahra Hankir, Animal Communicator Alicia Halloran and Cat Ophthalmologist Steve Hanes

About the experts:

• Gabriela “Gaby” Canales, D.V.M., is the co-medical director of West Chelsea Veterinary in New York City. Dr. Canales trained at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and completed a one-year internship in Medicine and Surgery at BluePearl Veterinary Partners. When not attending to her patients or her own cats, Priscilla and Bert, Dr. Canales drums in NYC riot grrrl punk band Frida Kill, which can be found on Instagram @fridakillkills.


• Zack Davisson is an award winning translator, writer, and scholar of Japanese folklore and ghosts. He is the author of “Yurei: The Japanese Ghost”, "The Ghost of Oyuki" and “Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan” from Chin Music Press. Davisson translated Shigeru Mizuki’s Eisner Award winning and Harvey-nominated “Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan” and several Dark Horse publications by Satoshi Kon including “Opus”, “Seraphim: 266613336 Wings” and “The Art of Satoshi Kon”. He was also a researcher and on-screen talent for National Geographic’s TV special “Japan: Lost Souls of Okinawa” and maintains Japanese folklore website hyakumonogatari.com. You can follow Zack on Bluesky @ zackdavisson.com.


• Andrew Hammond, Ph.D., is a Scottish historian specializing in European and North American intelligence who received his Ph.D. in Modern History and International Relations from Warwick University. He has provided his expertise for such media outlets as the BBC and the History Channel, as well as the International Spy Museum where he served as historian, curator and host of their podcast from 2020-2025. Dr. Hammond is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Global and National Security Institute and is currently appointed as Senior Director for Content & Interpretation at the National Liberty Museum. He can be followed on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhammond2000.

Producer, writer, editor, sound designer, host, basically everything*

• Captain Kitty (Amanda B.)

* with co-executive producers Binky & Snuggles and new associate Peanut

Animal voices include:

• Binky, Snuggles and Peanut _^..^_

Music:

• Leathered: "Look Alive", “Giver” © 2025


• Additional sound effects from Pixabay.com

Logo design:

• Edward Anthony © 2025 (Instagram: itsmyunzii)

Research used:

• Alexy, Alison (host). (2021, June 18).  Season 2, Episode 5 | Vyjayanthi Selinger [Audio podcast interview]. In Michigan Talks Japan Season 2, Episode 5 | Vyjayanthai Selinger. Michigan Talks Japan Podcast. https://ii.umich.edu/cjs/podcast/season-2--episode-5---vyjayanthi-selinger.html


• “The anatomy of cats: Bones, flexibility, and injury awareness.” British Animal Hospital. (2024, October 3). https://territory-uae.com/uae/the-anatomy-of-cats-bones-flexibility-and-injury-awareness/


• Edwardes, C. (2001, November 4). CIA recruited cat to bug Russians. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1361462/CIA-recruited-cat-to-bug-Russians.html


• Evans, A. (2007, November 3). Hermes: God of public diplomacy. Global Dashboard Blog covering International affairs and global risks. https://globaldashboard.org/2007/11/03/hermes-god-of-public-diplomacy/


• Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting. (n.d.). Fingerprint recognition. Fingerprint Recognition. https://ucr.fbi.gov/fingerprints_biometrics/biometric-center-of-excellence/files/fingerprint-recognition.pdf


• Harris, A. (2013, January 18). The surprisingly long history of the term “Catfish.” Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/culture/2013/01/catfish-meaning-and-definition-term-for-online-hoaxes-has-a-surprisingly-long-history.html


• Judge, C. B. (1944, July). Commandos and their methods. Proceedings. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1944/july/commandos-and-their-methods


• Little, B. (2025, May 28). When the CIA learned cats make bad spies. History.com. https://www.history.com/articles/cia-spy-cat-espionage-fail


• Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan. (n.d.). Ninja: Mystery and Legend of Hero. Kids web Japan. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/cool/12-10/index.html


• Perreira, J. (2019, November 14). Do military commandos really “go commando?” Forces News. https://www.forcesnews.com/military-life/fun/do-military-commandos-really-go-commando


• Turnbull, S. (n.d.). The ninja: An invented tradition?. DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jgi/vol9/iss1/3/


• VanHooker, B. (2019, October 10). The back-stabbing cultural history of the rat. MEL Magazine. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-cultural-history-of-the-rat


• Wickman, F. (2011, December 7). When did rats, moles, and canaries become snitches?. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/12/nypd-on-the-west-indian-day-parade-when-did-rat-become-the-word-for-snitch.html


• Widyastuti , R., & Yang, C. K. (2018). Cat’s nose recognition using you only look once (YOLO) and scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) | IEEE conference publication | IEEE xplore. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8574870


• Zolfagharifard, E. (2014, November 14). The ninja robots based on cats: Scientists study felines falling in mid-air to create super-agile Droids. Daily Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2835005/The-ninja-robots-based-CATS-Scientists-study-felines-falling-mid-air-create-super-agile-droids.html