All My Children Wear Fur Coats with Peggy Hoyt

Peggy interviewed Anette Torjussen, founder of the Nordic School of Holistic Equine Therapy. Anette shared her 22-year journey from accounting to becoming an equine therapist, explaining how horses taught her humility and the importance of looking beyond symptoms to understand the whole horse. She discussed her comprehensive two-year education program starting August 14th at the Wild Horse Rescue Centre in Florida, which combines osteopathy, acupuncture, and craniosacral therapy approaches. Anette emphasized that horses constantly communicate through movement, posture, and behavior, and owners should focus on understanding what horses are trying to tell them rather than assuming bad behavior. The interview concluded with plans for Anette to visit Peggy's facility in Florida in December and potential collaboration on Peggy's horse sanctuary project.

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In this podcast episode our host, Peggy Hoyt, interviewed Austin Collins, CEO and co-founder of Five Strands, a wellness company that provides intolerance testing for both people and pets.  Through their testing, they can help to identify dietary and envrionmental stressors. Austin explained how Five Strands has tested 500,000 people and pets over nearly 10 years, offering four main categories of testing: food intolerances, environmental sensitivities, nutritional imbalances, and heavy metal sensitivity, with results provided through a CLIA-certified lab using hair sample collection. The company recently released an updated mobile app and continues to focus on personalized testing rather than generalized DNA panels, with Austin emphasizing the importance of early dietary rotation and environmental awareness for pet health.

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In this episode of All My Children Wear Fur Coats, Peggy interviewed Garrett Bewkes, CEO and founder of Pet HSA, a financial wellness platform designed to help pet owners prepare for and manage rising veterinary costs.  Garrett discussed the significant financial and emotional costs of pet ownership, highlighting how veterinary expenses have been increasing substantially.    Garrett shared his personal experience with his dog Mia, who accumulated over $100,000 in vet expenses throughout her life, which inspired him to create Pet HSA after earning his MBA. The platform features a pet calculator that helps owners estimate lifetime costs based on breed, location, and care choices, along with educational resources and community support to help families plan for both routine and emergency veterinary expenses. Garrett discussed the challenges of pet ownership costs increasing up to 300% over recent years and the emotional burden on pet owners, emphasizing the importance of routine care and not skipping veterinary visits despite current financial pressures.

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This was an interview with Matt Terrell, founder and CEO of InnoVet Pet Products, discussing his latest innovation called ChefPaw, the world's first pet food maker designed to help pet parents create fresh, customized meals at home. Matt explained how ChefPaw addresses the challenges of fresh pet food preparation, including proper cooking temperatures, ingredient balancing, and cost efficiency, with machines capable of making 3 to 30 pound batches in under an hour at temperatures below 100°C to preserve nutrition. The conversation also covered Matt's other innovative products, including Purotic ear cleaner and Tracers scent markers for blind dogs, and his personal story of how his dog Maximus inspired the creation of his first product after struggling to treat ear infections. Matt emphasized that ChefPaw provides significant cost savings compared to fresh food subscription services, with economy recipes costing around $1.90 per pound including supplements, and noted that the product recently won a Purina Innovation Award and Best Overall Product at SuperZoo.  For more information visit https://www.innovetpet.com/

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This was an interview episode of "All My Children Wear Fur Coats" with host Peggy Hoyt and guest Jackie Ducci, an animal advocate, philanthropist, and equestrian. Jackie shared her lifelong connection with animals, particularly horses which she started riding at age seven, and how animals taught her self-worth beyond traditional measures during challenging childhood experiences. She discussed her documentary film "Unspoken Bond" which premiered in March and explores how animals support healing and well-being, with plans for future screenings and a podcast series launching in September. Jackie also explained her nonprofit Human Animal Alliance, which operates as a private foundation granting funds to other organizations that prioritize the human-animal bond, including recent support for PAWS for People's prison program. The conversation covered Jackie's current animal family consisting of two bulldogs and two horses, and how horses serve as teachers while dogs function as best friends, with both providing different but equally valuable roles in her life.

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Peggy Hoyt interviewed Dr. Kevin Toman, known as the "longevity vet," about helping pets live longer on her podcast "All My Children Wear Fur Coats." Dr. Toman discussed how veterinary medicine lags behind human longevity science by about 20 years, explaining that while human drugs like rapamycin and acarbose show promise for extending pet lifespans, the biggest impact comes from dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, and supplements rather than prescription drugs alone. He emphasized that calorie restriction, improving dietary quality, and avoiding high-impact activities like jumping can significantly extend pet lifespans, while warning against overuse of certain supplements like glucosamine and chondroitin that have been disproven by recent research. The conversation also touched on vaccine practices, with Dr. Toman advocating for more judicious use of pet vaccines based on individual risk factors rather than universal recommendations.

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Peggy Hoyt interviewed Gina Logan, Associate Director of Category Insights at Kantar, about pet owner behavior and shopping patterns. Gina shared insights from Kantar's biennial "Shopping for My Pet" study, which examines attitudes and behaviors of pet owners across different demographics. The discussion covered how different age groups (millennials, Gen X, and boomers) approach pet care, with millennials spending more on health and wellness products and being more likely to own both dogs and cats. They explored trends in pet ownership, including the rise of dual species ownership and the growing importance of health and wellness products in the pet market. Gina also discussed how retailers are adapting to serve multiple pet types and how brands are developing products and services throughout the entire pet ownership lifecycle, including post-pet services for grief support and memorials.

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This podcast episode featured Rose Waldrup, founder of the Waldrup Somatic Method, discussing her body-based approach to canine behavior modification. Rose explained how her method addresses the root causes of behavioral issues in dogs by regulating their nervous systems rather than focusing solely on training commands. She outlined her three-step framework of "regulate, read, and relate" and described specific techniques for working with dogs in different nervous system states. The conversation covered applications for shelter dogs, the importance of proper decompression for newly adopted pets, and Rose's vision for establishing nervous system sanctuaries. Peggy shared her own experience with a rescue dog displaying nervous system issues and discussed the broader shelter crisis and pet disposal culture. 

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This episode of "All My Children Wear Fur Coats" featured a discussion with Ally Pachunka, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studying animal science, extension, and education. Ally shared her research on human-animal interaction, particularly focusing on how companion animals impact youth development and her current work on dog behavior in shelters. She explained the differences between service animals, therapy animals, and emotional support animals, as well as the benefits of human-animal relationships including increased physical activity, social support, and mental health improvements. Ally described her recent shelter research project involving hand-target training with dogs to potentially improve their adoptability and outcomes. The conversation also covered the evolution of pets as family members and Ally's future career plans in either academia or shelter work, focusing on animal behavior and education.

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This episode of "All My Children Wear Fur Coats" featured host Peggy Hoyt interviewing Jennifer Erickson, founder of Pet Care Pointers. Jennifer shared her background in animal welfare and discussed her pet care advice column, which covers topics like pet selection, behavior, and care challenges. They explored the pet overpopulation problem, with Jennifer noting that while it has improved in some ways due to increased rescues, accurate national data remains limited. The conversation covered specific pet topics, including indoor-only cats for wildlife protection and bird ownership challenges, with Jennifer revealing that 80% of bird owners eventually give up their pets. Jennifer also discussed her experience training her Border Collie Basil in agility and becoming a pet therapy team, which deepened their bond significantly. The episode concluded with Jennifer outlining upcoming Pet Care Pointers articles, including profiles of various pet types and topics about emotional support animals and workplace pets.

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