KSCO Pet Radio

Terrence Gargiulo, UnChained

FIXED!!! PODCAST (22:16) -- UnChained is a Central Coast charity that KSCO and KSCO Pet Radio are proud to partner with. On the 5/31/20 program, the executive director, Terrence Gargiulo, visited with us and shared stories about the organization and its work.

He is, after all, a professional storyteller, and we look forward to hearing more about how through its Canines Teaching Compassion program, UnChained teaches youth how to train homeless dogs in basic skills, manners, and socialization, helping the dogs be adopted into permanent homes.

The youth develop values of patience, respect, and responsibility for themselves and others, through the trust and relationship-building with their dogs.

About Unchained

UnChained was founded in August 2011 and began serving students at Rancho Cielo Youth Campus in Salinas in the Spring of 2012. Since then, UnChained has expanded to include programs at Kinship Center in Salinas, Monterey County Youth Center, Juvenile Hall in Santa Cruz, and Juvenile Hall in San Jose.

Training homeless dogs who share similar experiences of neglect, abandonment, or abuse enables youth to feel empathy and compassion for others, while improving their own sense of self-worth. Youth Trainers report pride in their accomplishments and increased patience.

This connection creates a ripple effect for our communities: when youth are part of resolving a community problem, such as finding homeless animals homes, they experience a sense of purpose and belonging. The new-found confidence enables them to become a more contributing member of their family, school, and community.

To stay up to date with UnChained's stories, go to https://livingunchained.org/newsletters to sign up for our newsletter and read past newsletters.

About Terrence Gargiulo

Terrence is active in the private and public sectors connecting people heart to heart to achieve results. From Chief Storyteller of Accenture’s global 450,000 person firm to leading a local nonprofit arts foundation, he has been blessed with many diverse professional experiences synergizing people’s gifts, talents, treasures, dreams, and visions to tackle unique challenges. He is thrilled to join UnChained’s staff, partners, and supporters to team with canines and youth to bring more healing, light, and hope into the world.

Nancy Blaney, Animal Welfare Institute

PODCAST (30:21) -- Nancy Blaney made her second visit to KSCO Pet Radio on 5/31/20. Last time, we spent a great deal of time talking about the link between animal and domestic abuse, support for abused spouses, and the danger posed to animals in abusive situations. It was a great segment about an important topic. Please listen to it.

In this podcast, Nancy answers my questions about what AWI is and does -- it was founded more than 60 years ago to protect research animals and resulted in the creation of the 1966 Animal Welfare Act. We discussed recent changes in the law that may make it easier for puppy mills and other facilities to lose their licenses.

We also discussed pending federal legislation that deserves our support. Including emergency preparedness, live market prohibitions, and support for farms during COVID-19. Also the Trump administration's disappointing performance, with some positive progress against puppy mills.

The evil USDA "Wildlife Services" killers and local contracts that prevent lethal measures in some cases. Meanwhile, Colorado has recently banned wildlife killing contests. Killing wildlife doesn't solve problems -- it creates them.

We planned a future discussion of food labeling related to humane care of farm animals. Here is their labeling page on their website.

There is much more in this discussion but I can sit here and relisten to the interview or get it posted for you more quickly -- I've wasted a day already staring at this screen.

Nancy is a great guest and if animal welfare matters to you -- if not, why are you here? -- please listen to both AWI podcasts.

Cali Raw founder Brandine Strand and her Frenchie, Bohdi

PODCAST (19:05) -- Cali Raw is a raw dog food company located in Newport Beach, CA, whose founder and president, Brandine Strand, was an interesting guest on our 5/31/20 program.

She sold me on the concept of raw feeding -- I had many questions and concerns before our chat. I have also researched the company, and Brandine answered questions thoroughly and completely.

We had Brandine on after my co-host, Laura Pakis, bought some Cali Raw dog food and tried it at home with her animals. Laura was quite impressed. I plan to buy some to use as a topper for the Wellness-brand canned food we feed at home.

Laura's husband, Phil, however, did not like the appearance of the raw diet, and I think some of it ended up lightly-browned before being offered to their 14-year-old dog. Feeding dog food raw may not be for the squeamish. The dog, however, loved the food.

And you can eat it yourself! Cali Raw uses HUMAN-GRADE meat sourced from the same companies that serve Southern California restaurants. Human-grade has become an issue in high-end dog food circles because of all the garbage meat it rules out. 

Raw Dog Food Looks Good to Me

Here is a picture of a pound ($6.25) of the turkey diet. It looks as though it has been thawed or had not yet been frozen. Doesn't look gross to me. 

This diet is 79% meat, 20% vegetable, and 1% salmon oil.

The guaranteed analysis is:

Crude Protein (min)....15% Crude Fat (min)...6%|Crude Fiber (max)... 1%Moisture (max) .... 76%Carbohydrate (calculated).... 1%Calorie Content (ME As-Fed): 1,099 kcal/kg, 31 kcal/ oz

What you should look for in the food is the 80/20 ratio of animal to vegetable and the addition of specific nutrients necessary to make the diet complete in every meal. 

That's how people who try to manufacture raw food themselves can easily mess up by not including all the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that dogs need for optimum growth and health. A properly-constructed manufactured raw diet will not have such a problem.

Here is the list of ingredients of the turkey diet:

Turkey Neck, Turkey, Turkey Heart, Turkey Gizzards, Carrots, Turkey Liver, Broccoli, Squash, Apple, Salmon Oil (Source of DHA), Magnesium Proteinate, Sunflower Oil, Zinc, Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Inulin (Extract of Chicory Root), Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Iodine Supplement, Vitamin D Supplement

Everything in the list makes sense to me and looks like an excellent diet for any dog a year old or older. 

The company offers beef, turkey, chicken, and lamb adult formulas. The puppy diets, designed for the nutritional needs of dogs under a year of age, are combined chicken and beef and turkey and lamb mixtures.

Does it work?

Like everyone who promotes raw feeding -- or merely improving commercial dog food -- Brandine makes claims that science cannot substantiate. CBD, I should add, is pretty much the same.

It's not that a raw diet isn't a better, more healthy option for dogs. It's what we don't have the science necessary to prove it. So we are stuck with mostly anecdotal evidence of what raw is better than big-company canned diets. And we all know kibble is a poor choice.

I find a general claim that raw is a better choice than highly-processed food to be credible. That a well-designed species-specific diet is better than the doggie-equivalent of Mickey D's makes good sense to me. But I can't prove it, and I am not sure anyone else can, either.

Pros and Cons

I would love to be able to offer my dogs (and cats) a raw food diet. On the Pro side, I do believe it would be better for them and would make them happier and offer better health outcomes.

But the downside, for me, is insurmountable:

Carol Novello, Mutual Rescue

PODCAST (20:57) -- Carol Novello is the founder of Mutual Rescue and author of “Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You, Too” (new in paperback, April 2020). Mutual Rescue is a national initiative that highlights the connection between people and pets in order to inspire and support life-saving efforts in communities across the nation and world.

Mutual Rescue’s first short film, “Eric & Peety,” went viral around the globe and has been viewed more than 100 million times. A former senior software executive at Intuit, Carol served as president of Humane Society Silicon Valley for nearly a decade and earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. 

In this podcast, recorded 5/17/20, we talk about the organization's many films, her book, and a contest the recently held seeking short videos about how pets have helped people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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It's the SNIP Bus -- from behind!

PODCAST (13:08) -- Despite the COVID near lockdown, Melanie Scherer's SNIP Bus has continued its essential mission of providing low-cost spay/neuter services across much of California, including the Central Coast.

Melanie, who is the SNIP Bus founder, updated us on its work in Monterey County during our 5/17/20 program. The good news is the work continues, the less good news is the lack of sponsorship may force Melanie to increase the cost of a procedure from $25 to $50 and more.

That is still low-cost, but when you are offering something that costs $100 (or more) to provide and selling it for $25 you can't just "make it up with volume." SNIP Bus has done more than 15,000 spay/neuters and needs to do multiples of that more, but money is especially tight right now for reasons we all understand.

It costs SNIP Bus about $3,000 for a day doing procedures in the field. That seems like a lot of money and it is for the rescues and other groups that sponsor the events. I hope the $50 million that Gov. Newsom has promised for spay/neuter won't be a COVID casualty.

Please listen to Melanie's podcast (linked below). We love having her on and sharing the SNIP Bus story. If you can help SNIP Bus fulfill its very important mission, I hope you will.

https://www.snipbus.org/ is the main URL. But there is a lot of great and timely information on the group's Facebook page.

Sabrina Ashjian, HSUS

PODCAST (41:26) -- Sabrina Ashjian was on the 5/17/20 program to talk about last week's major news related to the Humane Society of the United States.

They released their 8th annual "Horrible Hundred" report on bad puppy mills. The United States Department of Agriculture released proposed changes -- welcome if they will be enforced (finally) -- to the Animal Welfare Act. And the organization released an 11-point plan to prevent future animal-related pandemics.

Ashjian, who is the HSUS California State Director, talked about these issues as well as concerns about profit-over-puppies at the American Kennel Club and other issues (as if this weren't enough!)

All these stories and related HSUS documentation are available right now at the KSCO Pet Radio website. I have created a new HSUS category to make these posts easier to find. And those taken from the HSUS "A Humane World" blog (posted in the left column on this site) now carry an HSUS byline.

As you may know, HSUS supporters sometimes catch "criticism" from factory farmers, meat processors, puppy mill operators, a national kennel club, and other deplorables who support or commit animal cruelty.

Getting into the middle of these issues is precisely why I admire HSUS, its staff, and its supporters. If we are really sincere about stopping animal cruelty, aren't these the battles we are supposed to fight?

 

PODCAST (17:20) -- Could your pet be a Hollywood Star?

Dawn Wolfe is a talent agent for animals and "wrangler" for Pawsitively Famous, a company that helps place the animals you see into movies and television. She says stardom is possible, but takes some work and living in LA or NY certainly helps, too.

Laura Pakis (she and Dawn are friends) did this interview on the 5/10/20 KSCO Pet Radio Program.

 

PODCAST (21:43) -- Shirley Zindler, co-founder of Dogwood Animal Rescue Project, joined us on the 5/10/20 program for a wide-ranging discussion that covered:

* How very well rescue has been going during the pandemic and the danger that a large number of pandemic adoptions might be returned when we go back to whatever "normal" turns out to be.

* "Me Too" dogs that, like most people, at least initially don't like random touching without a proper introduction. How to make that introduction and what to do about clueless people who approach dogs incorrectly (or like it is a dog they've known for years).

* We also talk about bites and whose fault they are. Did the human provoke the bite? Is the dog really dangerous? What should the outcome be?

* Finally, how her group's volunteers and donors make it possible for Dogwood to save animals with big medical needs.

Shirley spent decades as an animal control officer and has dedicated her life to her family and helping animals in need. We love having her on and always learn so much from her visits.

Order Shirley's book from Amazon:

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Meredith Wargo

PODCAST (20:10) -- Meredith Wargo, coauthor of "DAWGS: The True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them" was a guest on our 5/10/20 program.

Here's a podcast about the book with Diane Trull, the Dalhart, TX school teacher who started the rescue with her grade school students and co-authored the book.

I spoke with Meredith, who is a very fine writer, about DAWGS, her other projects, but also about the business and economics of writing about animals in the internet era.

About Meredith Wargo

From her website, meredithwargo.com:

"Like many authors, my love for reading and writing began at an early age. When I wasn’t running around the neighborhood being a tomboy, you could usually find me curled up somewhere with my nose buried in a book. Anne of Green Gables, A Wrinkle in Time and the Nancy Drew mystery series were all major influencers in igniting my dream of wanting to be a writer one day.

"I think my affinity for animals began the moment I was born. I’ve always had a soft spot for animals of all kinds. From growing up with the family dogs to taking horseback riding lessons as a teenager, many of my happiest memories are those that include a four-legged creature.

"My path to becoming a writer started when I attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and remain an avid and loyal fan of the green and gold. (Sic ‘em Bears!)

"Most of my professional career has focused on the technical writing side. I’ve been fortunate to have worked for several large and respected companies where I was able to hone my skills. But technical writing is a much different animal than creative writing and I soon discovered that I preferred the latter.

"The famous cliché is to write about what you know and love so I started writing about animals. I’ve had more than 60 articles published in a variety of animal-related magazines. Several of my articles have won Maxwell Awards from the Dog Writers Association of America, which is the most recognized professional writing association devoted to dogs.

"When I’m not sitting behind a computer penning my latest work, I love to play tennis, travel the world, eat chocolate, and of course, help the underdog (or cat) through animal rescue."

I currently live in southern Utah with my husband, Tom Langley, and am fortunate to share our home with a menagerie of rescued animals, many of whom have special needs.

DAWGS

Order DAWGS from Amazon

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The easiest place to purchase is at RestoraPet.comEnter "KSCO" at checkout for $5 off your order. We get no commission.

PODCAST (24:09) -- I am planning to write a full review of the RestoraPet products and this podcast, with RestoraPet CEO Brian Larsen, will be its spoiler. 

For two months, I have been testing RestoraPet and RestoraPet Hemp, two liquid nutritional supplements, with my 17-year old "Brittany the Brittany," who suffers from serious hind-leg weakness and other symptoms of her advanced years.

Long story short: I have had excellent results using the classic and hemp RestoraPet formulations, each used once-a-day. The classic is primarily an antioxidant and the hemp is anti-inflammatory. They seem to complement one another, hemp in the AM and classic in the evening.

Brittany taught me to love all dogs. So, here I am.

Dosing for the 30-lb dog is 2-3 ML per dose of each. The product is supplied in 2 oz. bottles with calibrated eyedroppers.

As you will hear in the podcast, I am very pleased. The great thing about treating Brittany is there is no possible placebo effect. The results are the results and steadily grew over time.

The caveat here is that I don't have a lot to compare RestoraPet with. I cannot tell you that RestoraPet works better than other preparations. I simply don't know.

My longterm strategy will probably be to use classic RestoraPet along with 100 percent CBD at a higher dose than RestoraPet provides. First, though, I will probably get more CBD and add it to the evening dose of RestoraPet Classic.

Enter "KSCO" at checkout and get $5 off.

The two RestoraPet mixtures have certainly improved Brittany's quality-of-life and she is able to move around with many fewer falls, especially outdoors where her traction is better.

We still have to help her stand and get her started. But now, she can stay up and walk for 20 minutes at a time. She is able to "do her business" outside and that is important to both Brit and her humans.

She also seems happier and her appetite has improved.

Brittany won't be with us forever. At 17, she is well past the usual lifespan for her breed. My hope is she will pass in her sleep.

My fear is her movement issues will become unmanageable and she will require euthanasia at some point. I feel like the RestoraPet products have pushed that unhappy outcome into the future.