The Petcast

It’s the holiday season again, and you might be considering what sort of gifts would work for your pet-loving friends. Here to give us some ideas is Jo Sullivan, a senior vice president at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA has its own line of products that they sell to help fund their other activities, so let’s hear more about them.

Call 206-338-3946 or email [email protected].

Author Amy Shojai calls herself an “equal opportunity pet lover since birth.” A former vet tech who became a certified animal behavior consultant and author of 22 books on pets including “Chicken Soup For the Dog Lover’s Soul” and “Chicken Soup For the Cat Lover’s Soul.” She is past president of the international Cat Writers’ Association, of which she was a founder, as well as a contributor to numerous cat and dog magazines.

E-mail [email protected] or call 206-338-3946 

Mary Schanz of the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary in Marana, Ariz., describes her 15-acre, 450+-pig refuge for unwanted porkers. Emily follows her dog-saving study with a report about a heroic cat.

There were a lot of odd and interesting products at the SuperZoo trade show that Emily and I attended in September, but one that really caught our eyes was Artcasso, an art kit you can buy for your budding little Monet or Cezanne. Or, as Tammy Zaiko says, your Pup-casso or Kitty-casso. We weren’t the only ones intrigued; the kits won second place earlier this year in the gift category for Best in Show at the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association’s Global Pet Expo. Zaiko joins Emily and Dayvid to explain. Plus, Emily follows up her dog-rescue "study" with one about cats. Sort of.

Tennessee listener Bay Loftis had to give up a cockatiel that was laying too many eggs. It’s a serious issue because it could lead to egg binding, a fatal problem. So she gave up the bird to a bird shop in Knoxville, Tenn., called Strictly Feathers. Owner Gwen Woodward explains all of this and more for Emily and Dayvid. Plus, Emily did an informal study of stories about dogs who rescued families.

Katie Block, the Baltimore-based founder of Island Dog Inc., joins Emily and Dayvid to discuss horrific recent reports about mass dog slaughters in Puerto Rico. Block’s organization works to improve the difficult circumstances of dogs in the American territory, where there are no animal shelters. Plus, Emily offers a checklist for how to travel by air with your pets.

Al Gore’s slideshow doesn’t address it, but there is an environmental movement afoot in the pet world.  The market-research firm Packaged Facts says U.S. retail sales of natural pet products will hit $1.3 billion this year, double from 2003 and half of what’s expected by 2012. One reason is the activism and entrepreneurship of our guest, Anthony Zolezzi, a co-founder of the Pet Promise line of pet food. Zolezzi and his partners formed Pet Promise in an effort to create a market for small family-owned farms raising animals in environmentally friendly and cruelty-free ways. Zolezzi is co-author of “How Dog Food Saved The Earth” and he offers us ideas as to things we can do as pet owners to keep save the planet.

Plus, chatter about the Ellen-Iggy issue and a British legal change that allows for people to have a long list of odd, exotic pets. 

Everyone knows that heartworm is a very dangerous disease to all kinds of pets, but we don’t really know that much about what it is or how to prevent it.  Here to discuss the topic is Dr. Sheldon Rubin, a practicing vet for nearly 40 years, author of books on dog and cat care and the current president of the American Heartworm Association. He’s also the past president of the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association and was named the American Animal Hospital Association’s Practitioner of the Year in 2003.

Plus, guest host Amy describes what her birds thought of a snack bar Steve brought her birds from SuperZoo and discusses bird diets a bit.

Emily's friend Sandy Gold joins us to discuss what her options are since her dog bit one of her kids' friends on her bottom lip, resulting in stitches. Plus, an Austrian court case asks the question of whether a 26-year-old chimp is a person.

The massive devastation in Southern California firestorm this month has given the nation a chance to see if disaster preparedness management has learned anything about how to deal with pets and pet owners since Hurricane Katrina. Like Katrina, hundreds of thousands of residents of an urban area have been forced out of their homes and into overcrowded public shelters sometimes with but sometimes without their animals. Joining Steve and guest-host Amy to offer sense of the crisis and to discuss the local, state and federal responses to the tragedy as it pertains to pet owners is Simran Noon, spokeswoman for the San Diego Humane Society and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Plus, Emily calls in to chat about Archie's David Beckham Halloween costume and his performance this weekend in an agility trial, and Amy's bulldog Leon also is getting dudded up for the holiday.