In this special Oh Behave episode on Pet Life Radio, host Arden Moore welcomes the remarkable, resilient Cathy Bissell, the founder of the Bissell Pet Foundation. Discover how her foundation is helping to save more than one million pet lives, aid more than 6,000 animal shelters with adoption events and spay/neuter surgeries across the country. Oh, yeah. And, tune in as she playfully runs down the names and personalities of her beloved personal rescued dogs.
EPISODE NOTES: Meet the Help-Animals-In-Need Champion: Cathy Bissell of the Bissell Pet Foundation
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/oh-behave-with-arden-moore-harmony-in-the-household-with-your-pets-recommended-by-oprah--6666801/support.
EPISODE NOTES: Meet the Help-Animals-In-Need Champion: Cathy Bissell of the Bissell Pet Foundation
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/oh-behave-with-arden-moore-harmony-in-the-household-with-your-pets-recommended-by-oprah--6666801/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
It's all behaved with Arden More, this show that teaches
you how to have harmony in the household with your pets.
Join Ardna. She travels coast to coast to help millions
better understand why cats and dogs do what they do.
Get that latest scoop on famous spaces, they're perfectly pampered pets,
and who's walking goo and rent in Tinseltown. From famous
pet experts and best selling authors to television and movie stars.
(00:31):
You'll get the latest buzz from Wagging Tongues and Tails Garner,
great pet tips and have a dog on fir flying
fun Time. So get ready for the paws and applause
as we unleaseh your oh behave hosts America's pet edutainer
Arden Moore.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Hey, pet pals, Welcome to the old Behave show on
Pet Life Radio. I'm your host, Arden Moore. Now we
all dream, and some of us dream really big. And
then there is our special guest who has found a
way to turn those dreams into life saving realities for
(01:10):
more than one million dogs, cats, and other animals in need.
She's been on my radar to be a guest on
our show and guess what it's now happening. So please
welcome one of the top pet champions in America. She's
the founder of the Bissle Pet Foundation. You know who
(01:32):
I'm talking about. Please give pause and applause to the remarkable,
the resilient Kathy Dissle. Welcome, Welcome, Kathy.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Thank you so much. What a nice introduction. I mean,
you're almost making me cry.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
You want to know, Kathy, don't you? Kathy? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
You know, it's been a dream and you just fall
into things and they keep going and you see need
and you just make change. And I can't even believe
that we've hit the million pet markets.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Just amazing and pet pals. We're going to dive into
more of all the great things that Kathy and her
team do for the Bissle Pet Foundation. After we take
this quick break, you know, the drill, Sit, stay, We'll
be right.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Back time for a walk on the red car. But
of course all behave. We'll be backing up lash right
after these messages.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You know the expression cats have nine lives, Well, what
if you can give them one more? The Give Them
Ten Movement is on a mission to help give cats
an extra life. How with spee and Neoter Spain or
Neotering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life
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(02:54):
more about the benefits of spee and neoter and meet Scooter,
the newter cat. Give them ten dot org. That's give
them ten dot org.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com. All behaviors
back with more tail wagging ways to achieve harmony of
the household.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
With your pets. Now back to your fetching host, America's
pet ed You, Jayner Ardenmore.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Welcome back to the old Behave show on Pet Life Radio.
I'm your host Ardenmore. I am delighted to have on
our show a pet hero of mine. She is Kathy Thistle. Yeah, vacuums, vacuum, vacuum, yep,
that name claim. So she's sweeping up goodness to help
pets in need. And Kathy, I know there's a lot
(03:46):
of different areas, So before we dive into all that,
we need to go back to Detroit when you were
growing up and there's a young Kathy there growing up
with a bunch of critters, and what was it. Did
you know back then? You wanted to have some involvement
in the world of animals or what were you doing
as a young Kathy. I came from a large family.
(04:06):
There's and then lots of relatives, and of course, when
you have a problem your parents yell at you or something,
you want to take your nearest pet and cry in
a shoulder because that's the only thing that's going to
listen to you. When you're the fourth child in a family,
you get mixed in and no one's paying attention. But
when you have pets, and that's what people need to understand,
is that pets are just amazing. You can talk to
(04:29):
them and.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
They're going to listen to you. So I grew up
loving pets and always wanted to be a veterinarian.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Was my hope.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
That it did not happen, but I went to school.
I worked for a vat He was large and small animal,
and my heart was always there. I ended up going
to New York City and I worked in New York
in fashion, but always loved pets, and you know, came
back and it was.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Like full circle back to Michigan.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I came back to Michigan, yep, and I worked for
a newspaper and then I just, you know, still love
the pet things. Katrina hit and I started taking pictures
of the animals, and my heart went right back to
all the animals that I was seeing, and you know,
things just happened for a reason. So it was a
full circle of hoping to be in this place and
(05:14):
actually doing more than I ever thought I could, even
as a veterinarian.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
You did a touchstone Katrina where people realize and rescue
groups people aren't leaving their homes without their pets, right, No, no,
they were not.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
And that was a very interesting time and a very
sad time for people who wanted to take their pets
but weren't allowed to take them. Yeah, and so we
in Michigan ended up getting a lot of pets from
Katrina because people flooded down into Louisiana and just wanted
to help, but took pets away, which is something we
(05:49):
definitely don't do well. I mean, these people lost their
pets because so many things came in and just pulled
and so you know what the right thing is is
you pull from the shelter so that those animals don't
get ethanized to make room for the pets being found
on the streets, but people's hearts, they want to help,
They go in as an emergency and they grab everything
and it's really not right. So a lot of things
(06:12):
were learned with Katrina and hopefully are better now.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
People are more aware of what needs to happen and
the protocols you need to go through. So I was
trying to do some stats and looking into your background
because again, like you, I worked at a newspaper, so
I wanted to do my homework. Twenty eleven, that is
when right Bissel Pet Foundation was created and tell us
how a company that makes vacuums and carpet sweepers since
(06:38):
eighteen ninety six is now saying, hey, did I do
that right? Hey, I think we need to do something
for pets. So can you kind of give us that backstory?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
So I'd never been to a shelter ever in my life.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Wow, And I.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Went to take pictures of the dogs that came in
from Katrina. I was petrified of pit bulls. Can you imagine? Okay, Oh,
then I'm meeting all these sweet pit bulls that were
the shelter and I'm like, they're so sweet, and they
were mothers you could see, but their babies.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Used to be nanny dogs. I really dogs, I know,
and they're so sweet. They get such a bad rap.
And so I started raising funds, just very small for
that one organization. But as we started to make more
money in West Michigan, we have a few shelters, and
so I started giving it away. But then we kept
doing these events and making more money, and I thought,
(07:26):
you know, this really isn't fair. There's so much to
need out there. So I started a foundation to properly
give the money away so it could be followed up
and make sure it was being used properly as well.
So giving it away properly and using it properly, and
that was key. You do need a little business in there, right,
You've got to have some business skills.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
You have to know what you're doing, and it's it
was a learning curve and then it just you just
keep doing and you go with what your heart says.
And I along the way had people trying to tell
me what to do, and you should do it this
way and you should.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That way, and I thought, you know, what I'm going with.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
My heart is doing what I need to do to
save animals, what I think is the right thing. And
I think we've done it well. I've got a phenomenal
team in place, and everybody.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Works hard to do it right. For the animals.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
It's all about the animals. We don't use any of
the money that comes in. This will pays for everything
for us, which is amazing. So every penny that comes
in go goes to the animals.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And this is a big thing that we have to
hit pause with your pause on this one because what
you raise one hundred percent, tell me true, goes to
shelters and pets and need.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
One hundred percent. And this will our company pays for
everything else. We hardly pay for any marketing. We have
a little bit of it. But whenever somebody says, can
you fund an event, we can't really do that because
we don't do that. We fund the animals and we
support the shelters.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I like that. I like that. In fact, I wear
many collars in the pet world, Kathy, and one of
them is that I am the editor of the National
Association of Professional Pet Sitters quarterly digital magazine. Boy, that's
a mouthful, but this is an all volunteer group of
professional pet sitters all over the country and they have
(09:13):
picked the Bisso Pet Foundation as their national charity, and
they also after each conference every year they also pick
a local charity in that area and the money goes
to you, your group and to the local group. But
what do you think about a bunch of pet sitters
that say we dig Bissile Pet Foundation?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You know what, I love it. I honestly it makes
me feel so good. It makes me realize we're doing
all the right things. First of all, what an honor.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And please tell everyone thank you for choosing us. We
do the best we can. We really work hard for
the animals everything. You know, as I tell people, it's
a twenty four to seven job. It isn't just nine
to five. My husband says to me sometimes, can you
just turn it off for little bit? It's like you
cannot turn this off. I mean, how do you say
no to saving a life? It can be you know,
(10:05):
one hundred lives at one.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Time, it can be one life.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
You just don't stop and say I'm not going to
save that life.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
So wow, that is so special. Things well, what they did,
and I'm just the lowly editor, but what the NAPS
group does is when members are up to become members
or renew. Right there, they can have a choice to
check and make a donation to the BISSO Pet Foundation.
And some of the members say that made it so
easy to just donate. There's no hit this code and
(10:35):
do this. It's right there, right there for you. That
is amazing.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That is really sweet. I love it.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
That'll save more lives, I mean that money will go directly.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And pet sitters are on the front lines too, right, Oh, definitely, definitely,
So I'm interested. Before we get into your current four
legged bunch, tell me a little bit about this black
lab you met years ago named Bear. Oh.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
So, I was doing one of my events and you know,
I had never adopted a pet before. I had started
my events to raise funds for the Katrina Dogs and
the shelters. I had not started my foundation yet. And
this dog appeared at one of my events and I
had two black labs, and dogs sat next to my
black labs and nobody made even a they didn't even
(11:21):
look at each other. I was like, wow, he was regal, gorgeous,
beautiful lad So were i too, And I was like,
where did this dog come from? My vet said, well,
she worked at the Humane Society. She said this dog
was just, you know, given up, and I said, you've
got to be kidding. This dog is gorgeous. I mean
this is a real beautiful lab, like perfect. And she said, yeah,
(11:42):
he was just given up. They got a puppy and
they didn't want him anymore. And I was like, oh,
he's got to come home with me. And my husband
was going away on a trip and he said, you
may not take that dog home.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Do not.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And I'm like, you know, I'm not going to listen
to you, you know, to do what I need to do.
So I took the dog home and my dog got
a long And the funny thing is is that my
husband called said you didn't take the dog home, right,
And I said, no, he's sitting here with his hat
on my lap. So the rest was history. My husband
turned fifty on Monday. He came home from his trip.
(12:12):
I had a picture of our three dogs together in
a frame that I had taken and I said, happy birthday.
And you know, that was one of the great That
dog changed my mindset because I had never did a pout. Right,
you don't know if you've never adopted, and so it
was pretty special.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Wow, Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah it
is you know, and your other two labs were probably happy,
and now they got a terrific trio they had at
the time to goof around together.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Right, they all got along like they had grown up together.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I want to see how fast you can quickly say
the name of your current pets. You're on the clock.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Go okay, Tasmo, Ranger, Hank, Winnie and Zoe and you
all half problems. They're not all black labs anymore?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
What are they? Tell me what you got?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
My symbol is black labs. I have a big, huge
hound dog. I have a very tiny little beagle that
when I got her, she had no hair and she
was dying of heartworm and everything else.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I didn't know what she was. I have a dog.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
With prototheka, a very rare, rare disease that does that.
They get it in the South when they drink red
algae water. Very dangerous. My dog is the longest living
dog because I spent a lot of money to help
the Michigan State do research, and she is living. She
lost her eyes and her hearing at the same time,
but she is loving life.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Which one this is Zoe? And what kind of dog
is Zoe.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
She's a shepherd type dog. They this is kind of
more typical in this style dog, but protoeka is a
bad disease. I have Hank, who was a dog out
of Tennessee. I was sending a whole group of hound dogs.
I thought they were hound, half golden and halfhound. But
he's a huge hound. He had a big, huge hernia
(13:56):
Michigan State. I said, I'll just take care of him,
take him to a shelter in Michigan. Michigan State removed
the hernia, checked the fluid and it was a childhood cancer,
never seen in the dog.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
So yeah, so it's.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Freights old now. And I asked them what's going to happen?
Is he going to get the cancer back? And they said,
we really don't know because we've never ever documented no
one has a dog with his cancer. So I said,
I have to keep him, of course, because no one
would follow that track like I would. So he's with us,
and he's healthy and good. They got all the margins
and he seems to be. He's just a he's a
(14:31):
little meani. He's a big meani, I should say. And
then I have Taz, who's a pardhound part lab, great dog,
big personality. When I got him, he was five months old,
really big personality, wild, So I named him Taz, after
a Tasmanian devil.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I was thinking that, for sure, you are the devil dog.
But you know what, it's really funny. He didn't have
a calm personality. His personality is a little bit more wild.
And the great thing is that he has the best personality.
Guys love him because going to do anything. So you
got to look at you know, these personalities, and he
calmed down and he's like a perfect dog.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So I want to make sure. So we got Tabs
the hound lab. We got Hank, the hound with the
former Herniam cancer. We have Zoe, the shepherd mix that
had that algae issue. The beagle is who Whinnie, Winnie Whinnie.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
She was very very high heartworm when I got her.
She had just had puppies, although she was like nine
years old. She had She was coughing a lot, and
I had a They said she's only going to live
about three months because the heartworm load was so good.
So I took her to Michigan State and they literally
removed the worms from her heart and sent me pictures.
(15:47):
It was I've seen it before and they took the
worms out.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
And guess what. She's been with me for a year.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
And my husband always says to me, so, how's the
dying beagle doing?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Now? She is great? She is the law. What does
dog I have?
Speaker 4 (16:01):
And she weighs like fifteen pounds. She is wow, very
cute and happy as a clam. I mean, she's so cute.
And then I have Ranger, who a feral dog. He
is some kind of a hurting Shepherd dog who was
shot in the leg, had a broken femur bullet found
in the other leg. He was caught in a claw
(16:22):
trap and he has a broken neck and I think
somebody must have hit him pretty hard over the head
because he always cowers. But he's been with us for
two years.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
His leg.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
He runs faster than any dog I've ever had. He's
happy as could be. And when because he's still feral
pretty much when new people come to the home, he's petrified,
but ignore him. He will lick the back of your
knee and then he will.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I do that when I meet my guests when they
come to my house, Yeah, yes, right.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
You have to make sure they're going to be okay,
and then he'll approach slowly, so it's really fun. Did
I forget anyone?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I want to make sure we got mo No, mo
Is the mo is my pitbull. Yeah, that's right, okay,
And Moe is a brindl pitbull. He's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
He was found starving on a chain in Louisiana. He
was found with his brother, who also spends a lot
of time with me because he is adopted by somebody
in Michigan. They were both pretty much dying. When asked
by the woman, last time you fed them, she said,
I think I threw him a chicken bom a week ago.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Really, yeah, that's sain I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
So anyway, he lives with us. He's the sweetest pit
bull in the world. I mean, anyway, people come over
and they say I'm afraid of pit bulls and then
he licks them to death, and you know it's like,
that's a pit bull.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Are you afraid of that dog? So, you know, dogs
are individual. People need to understand that they definitely are. Hey,
I appreciate that rundown because I really want people to
know who you are with the pets and who you
are with helping other pets. We're going to take a
quick break, and when we come back everyone, we're going
to speak with Kathy about a couple of programs. I
want her to talk fix the future and empty the shelters.
(17:58):
So everybody sit, stay, we'll be right.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Back time for a walk on the red carpet. Of course,
all behave. We'll be backing up flash right after these messages.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Take a bite out of your competition.
Speaker 6 (18:15):
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(18:36):
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Let's talk past, Let's done pets at Life.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Radio, Petline, Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Hi does this, Mandy Bourne.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
You're listening to Old Behave on pet Like Radio with
your hosts Arden Moore, who's now family.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
We figured that out.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
We're back from the lot. Just check the paper. And
we had our record showing at the box, the letterbox
that is now back to Oh behave, here's hard Welcome
back to the.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Old Behave show on Pet Life Radio. I'm your host,
Arden Moore. Yep, she's here. Kathybissel. Kathybissel of the Bissle
Pet Foundation is in the house. And I used to
be a sports writer. I actually covered a Super Bowl
and all this, So I'm gonna throw some stats at everybody.
Oh my gosh, you guys gotta go to the uh
Bisslepet Foundation dot org site to check the numbers because
(19:46):
they're gonna keep going up. But I think you all
have helped over six thousand shelters and all fifty states
and helped about a million plus pets. Am I good
to go so far on the stats, Kathy, Yes, you are.
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
We may not make contact with every single shelter, but
we are there. If they have a disaster or a
crisis and they're a partner, we can respond to them
because we've already checked them out. We know they're legit,
we know that they need help. And then We also
send all of our partners all sorts of information on
all sorts of things that we learn. We have blogs,
we have information that we share, We have toolkits, so
(20:24):
everybody has access to all of the things they may
need to be successful.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
The other thing I think you should be doggon proud
about is you're empty. The shelter program, I believe, started
almost ten years ago, twenty sixteen, and it has been
deemed the largest funded adoption event, and you've found homes
for almost three hundred and twenty five thousand pets. Am
I doing the numbers right again? Yes? Yes, although we
(20:50):
support the shelters. Okay, so how does the ones that
find them? They do the adoption.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
But because of our marketing, which is all social and
getting a word out and making phone calls, were able
to help this program be successful and help these shelters
that are in the program. We asked them to do
things together, We asked them to communicate, We talked to them,
We tweaked this program constantly. We always have a before
meeting and after meeting so we can find out what
(21:18):
was successful what wasn't. We used to see, for example,
in the early days, dogs dogs, dogs, dogs, adoptions. Cats
weren't as successful as COVID hit. Everything kind of evened
out to be cats and dogs, and cats went higher
after COVID because small animals and cats were the ones
being adopted. People couldn't take big dogs into their homes anymore.
(21:41):
Hence why so many people were taking dogs to the shelter.
It was a problem with insurance and cost of vet care.
So we saw a real shift. But you know, now
we're seeing dogs and cats equal again. Interesting, interesting, Thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
And the other one that segues right into it your
program that this Wile Pet Foundation is very well known
for started a couple of years ago. I guess to
fix the future SPAE neoter initiative. Tell us about that.
That seems like that's a big deal. It's a huge deal.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So first of all, we were challenged by somebody to
go to Puerto Rico to help the SATO project with
a spaitar. I was like, we can't do that, we
don't do that, we don't have doctors. But she said
you can do it, you can do it, and she
had been with the Humane Society US, so it was
her program. So I said all right, and we did it.
We got twenty five vets or whatever was fifteen vets
(22:37):
and lots of texts, and we got them all to
Puerto Rico and it was a success, and we thought,
you know what, we know these vets, now let's try
and put them in places where we can start this
spe hooter program. So we started it in November twenty
twenty three and they date to date one hundred and
ninety five thousand span nooters under our belt. Yeah, not
(22:59):
a lot of nip and snippin', it's a lot, and
it's a lot of incredibly talented veterinarians who know and
understand that they need to help make this difference. So
it's our program, it's how we do it. It's our
kind of the way we do it, but it's the
talent that has come along with us to make it happen.
It's really pretty phenomenal. We think this year alone we'll
(23:22):
end up doing two hundred and ten thousand spaan hooters
and so it'll be just over three hundred thousand in
under two years. We're pretty excited about it. But we
needed to happen everywhere.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, I live in Texas and when this show was
being recorded for you to be a guest on our
O Behave show. Everybody knows what happened with the Guadalupe
River in central Texas, and I understand that you're they're
doing your part to help too, your team.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So how could anybody even think right after?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
What that is?
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Like the saddest thing ever. I could cry thinking about it.
But our team went in to animals from three locations
in Texas that were near Kerrville get them out of
the shelters so when they found animals they could have
the space. Of course, things aren't as good, they're not
finding the animals. But what I do say the great
(24:15):
thing for these animals that went out and we took
a lot of big dogs, a lot of eighty pounders.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Big Texas has big dogs. You do ever doing big
in Texas?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You do?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
And they were beautiful. I have to say, oh my gosh,
those dogs now have a chance. They may not have
had a chance being there during this time, so it's
wonderful that they've all gotten out.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Where did you take them too, Cathy, Welcome.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
To Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
And Connecticut.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
And actually on one of the posts we made, there's
a woman holding this big dog in her arms. It's
the start of my blog. And a woman from Texas
wrote me and said that was my family's foster dog.
I think they were hoping to go back and get it,
but now it's gone. But we're so happy to see
you know that it's gone off and that it's going
to be successful and have a good life. So it's
(25:04):
amazing the people that reach out. I try to always
connect when I can. Of course, I get so many
people contacting me. We need to clone you, Kathy, we do.
I have some good clones underneath me. Okay, that's a
good end. Well, this kind of segues nicely into this part,
which is the importance of because disasters are hitting everyone
everywhere of the microchip, the ID tell us a little
(25:28):
bit about some tips for people. I got three dogs
and two cats here in Dallas. They're all microchip, they
all got IDs. They are my family, and I would
love to have your thoughts on how we can improve
the chances of pets being reunited when a natural disaster hits.
(25:49):
I mean, in all honesty, every single pet that we touch,
we make sure that pet has a microchip. So any
organization that's going to do anything even with the span Nooter.
They're going to get vaccinated and they're going to get
a microchip, because microchips really are important. People don't really
understand what a microchip is. I think that's part of
(26:10):
the problem. They think it's something that people can follow
what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
They can't. It's not one of those Apple ID luggage
tags exactly.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
But people don't understand that this ker chip is so
important because people can scan it and your pet can
find its way home. And pets from California to Michigan
have found their way back because they've had a microchip.
It might not be today or tomorrow, it might be
in a couple of weeks. But honestly, people need to
microchip their pets. It's the only way they're going to
(26:40):
get them back. And always having ID collars with something
on them. I like the callers that have the names
embroidered on them.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
That's what ours are. Yeah, I'm in the pet safety field.
You're going to go up to a strange dog, look
at their tag and be faced to nose with a dog. Yep.
You're not going to have a nose yep.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
So it's important, right, But yeah, some ID you know,
my little mo little pitbull Mo who knew he wanted
to chase dear. He took off and was gone for
three and a half hours, and some boys were four
wheeling and they found him on a track, curled up
because it was getting cold, and he had his name
on his collar and they called me and he was
(27:19):
miles away and just your time. People don't realize how
fat they go and cats wander. Just safety for your animals.
We're responsible for them, so we're their parents. We need
to take care of them.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So in addition to the microchipping, what are some things
that pet parents can also do to avoid? How do
you get prepared? I mean people need to realize Mother
Nature's not a nice lady anymore.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
No, no, Mother Nature's not. I mean I think for
all of us, you know, we have to have a
plan like we do with our children in case something
happens to us. Right to have a plan. Where are
your pets going to go? And really, I mean I
even know people who die who love their pets. If
there's not a plan, those pets end up shelters and
that's tough. So have a plan for your pet. They
are your family. Treat them as family, you know, have
(28:06):
something in writing, but also always have food, blankets in
your car, extra water, a bowl, a leash. If it's cold,
you want to have coats.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
You know.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Treat them like they're your family, because they are, and
they count on us. They depend on us. They can't talk,
but they look to us for all the help.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Here in Texas, we've had the sirens go and we
have a walk in closet off our primary bathroom and
we actually do fun drills with our three dogs and
two cats to see how quick we can get into
the walk in closet. And there they have their treats.
The cats are on the carriers, the dogs are on
harnesses and leashes, and there's a bottle of wine in there. Hmmm,
(28:48):
with a battery operated radio, all the things you need, right, yeah,
Oh that's so great. But it is you're prepared. They're
your family. I mean, that's what we have to do.
What are some already messages you want people to know?
I mean, I think it's kind of cool that a
vacuum company is really sweeping up good things all over
the country. I'm sure you get bad jokes about vacuums, right,
(29:11):
do you have a favorite one like it? They suck
or whatever you suck or I'm sorry. I hope that's
okay to say. And your it's called oh behave, You're okay,
Oh behave Okay.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
So yeah, you know, it's really wonderful because I'm a
product tester. Your name is on a product, I mean
it's important, right, I'm doing a lot of those, but
my name is on those products. I want those products
to work, and I'm testing them with all sorts of
different animals, so I want people to know that really,
these products are made for pets. We made a conscious
(29:42):
decision to get behind pets and get behind shelter pets
as well, and I love that. And it was all organic.
It was nothing that was like a plan to be
you know anything. It was just happened. And that's what
I love. And I feel like.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I'm living my dream. You are cooking people, help people
with their pets and with cleaning up, and you don't suck. Kathy,
Thank you, thank you. Hey tell us again how people
can find out more? Where do they go? Thank you?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
If they go to Bisselepotfoundation dot org, they can see
all of our great work. You can sign up to
get our emails. We have blogs, We have emails going
out something called the Dish, and we talk about a
lot of shelters and great things that are going on.
We like to spotlight our good shelters. I mean, there
are a lot of good people out there making a
difference for pets, and we like to put them in focus.
(30:31):
So please, if you're looking for a pet, choose adoption first,
because right now the shelters are full and people need
to think about their choices. I don't know, some people
say I couldn't find a pet at the shelter that
I wanted. It's like, you've got to be kidding every time.
I know, I want to take home every single pat.
I mean their faces, their eyes, the cats reach through
the kettles, they all want to touch you. I mean, yeah,
(30:54):
put your paws up right and make a difference.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Well, we like that.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
We like that.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Hey, everybody. I have been honored to have on our show.
Kathy Bissel. She is a doer, she's a caregiver. She
is there for us pets, for the pets, the shelters
and beyond. And please go to the Abysslepet Foundation dot org.
You're gonna find out more stuff. I also want to
give a salute to my producer, Mark Winter. He is
(31:19):
the executive producer of Pet Life Radio. We are the
largest pet radio network on the planet. We haven't got
to the moon yet, but hey, you can dream and humbly,
you are listening to the longest running pet podcast on
the planet, on the air since two thousand and six,
and it's an honor for me to host. I thank
you all for tuning in. I do want to ask
you you love your pets, check out Pet First Aid
(31:41):
for you. That is my company. I'm a master Pet
First Aid instructor who tells dad jokes during class. Everything
is veterinary approved and I feature a pair of shelter alums,
Pet Safety Dog ConA and Pet Safety Cat Casey, who
are both therapy pets, and we teach you fun, practical
ways to keep your pets safe. So check that out
(32:03):
if you would. And until next time, this is your
flea free host Art and More, delivering just two words
to all you two three four lakers out there.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I'll behave coast to coast that around the world. It's
all behaved with art and more. Find out why cats
and dogs do the things they do, and get the
latest buzz from wagging tongues and tails and rent ten
tinsel down from famous pet experts and best selling authors
to television and movie stars. You'll get great tail wagging
pet tips and have a fur flying fun time. All
(32:36):
behave with America's pet Edutainer art More every week on
demand only a petlife radio dot com
Hey, this is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
It's all behaved with Arden More, this show that teaches
you how to have harmony in the household with your pets.
Join Ardna. She travels coast to coast to help millions
better understand why cats and dogs do what they do.
Get that latest scoop on famous spaces, they're perfectly pampered pets,
and who's walking goo and rent in Tinseltown. From famous
pet experts and best selling authors to television and movie stars.
(00:31):
You'll get the latest buzz from Wagging Tongues and Tails Garner,
great pet tips and have a dog on fir flying
fun Time. So get ready for the paws and applause
as we unleaseh your oh behave hosts America's pet edutainer
Arden Moore.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Hey, pet pals, Welcome to the old Behave show on
Pet Life Radio. I'm your host, Arden Moore. Now we
all dream, and some of us dream really big. And
then there is our special guest who has found a
way to turn those dreams into life saving realities for
(01:10):
more than one million dogs, cats, and other animals in need.
She's been on my radar to be a guest on
our show and guess what it's now happening. So please
welcome one of the top pet champions in America. She's
the founder of the Bissle Pet Foundation. You know who
(01:32):
I'm talking about. Please give pause and applause to the remarkable,
the resilient Kathy Dissle. Welcome, Welcome, Kathy.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Thank you so much. What a nice introduction. I mean,
you're almost making me cry.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
You want to know, Kathy, don't you? Kathy? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
You know, it's been a dream and you just fall
into things and they keep going and you see need
and you just make change. And I can't even believe
that we've hit the million pet markets.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Just amazing and pet pals. We're going to dive into
more of all the great things that Kathy and her
team do for the Bissle Pet Foundation. After we take
this quick break, you know, the drill, Sit, stay, We'll
be right.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Back time for a walk on the red car. But
of course all behave. We'll be backing up lash right
after these messages.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You know the expression cats have nine lives, Well, what
if you can give them one more? The Give Them
Ten Movement is on a mission to help give cats
an extra life. How with spee and Neoter Spain or
Neotering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life
and it helps control free roalling cat populations too. Learn
(02:54):
more about the benefits of spee and neoter and meet Scooter,
the newter cat. Give them ten dot org. That's give
them ten dot org.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com. All behaviors
back with more tail wagging ways to achieve harmony of
the household.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
With your pets. Now back to your fetching host, America's
pet ed You, Jayner Ardenmore.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Welcome back to the old Behave show on Pet Life Radio.
I'm your host Ardenmore. I am delighted to have on
our show a pet hero of mine. She is Kathy Thistle. Yeah, vacuums, vacuum, vacuum, yep,
that name claim. So she's sweeping up goodness to help
pets in need. And Kathy, I know there's a lot
(03:46):
of different areas, So before we dive into all that,
we need to go back to Detroit when you were
growing up and there's a young Kathy there growing up
with a bunch of critters, and what was it. Did
you know back then? You wanted to have some involvement
in the world of animals or what were you doing
as a young Kathy. I came from a large family.
(04:06):
There's and then lots of relatives, and of course, when
you have a problem your parents yell at you or something,
you want to take your nearest pet and cry in
a shoulder because that's the only thing that's going to
listen to you. When you're the fourth child in a family,
you get mixed in and no one's paying attention. But
when you have pets, and that's what people need to understand,
is that pets are just amazing. You can talk to
(04:29):
them and.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
They're going to listen to you. So I grew up
loving pets and always wanted to be a veterinarian.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Was my hope.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
That it did not happen, but I went to school.
I worked for a vat He was large and small animal,
and my heart was always there. I ended up going
to New York City and I worked in New York
in fashion, but always loved pets, and you know, came
back and it was.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Like full circle back to Michigan.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I came back to Michigan, yep, and I worked for
a newspaper and then I just, you know, still love
the pet things. Katrina hit and I started taking pictures
of the animals, and my heart went right back to
all the animals that I was seeing, and you know,
things just happened for a reason. So it was a
full circle of hoping to be in this place and
(05:14):
actually doing more than I ever thought I could, even
as a veterinarian.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
You did a touchstone Katrina where people realize and rescue
groups people aren't leaving their homes without their pets, right, No, no,
they were not.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
And that was a very interesting time and a very
sad time for people who wanted to take their pets
but weren't allowed to take them. Yeah, and so we
in Michigan ended up getting a lot of pets from
Katrina because people flooded down into Louisiana and just wanted
to help, but took pets away, which is something we
(05:49):
definitely don't do well. I mean, these people lost their
pets because so many things came in and just pulled
and so you know what the right thing is is
you pull from the shelter so that those animals don't
get ethanized to make room for the pets being found
on the streets, but people's hearts, they want to help,
They go in as an emergency and they grab everything
and it's really not right. So a lot of things
(06:12):
were learned with Katrina and hopefully are better now.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
People are more aware of what needs to happen and
the protocols you need to go through. So I was
trying to do some stats and looking into your background
because again, like you, I worked at a newspaper, so
I wanted to do my homework. Twenty eleven, that is
when right Bissel Pet Foundation was created and tell us
how a company that makes vacuums and carpet sweepers since
(06:38):
eighteen ninety six is now saying, hey, did I do
that right? Hey, I think we need to do something
for pets. So can you kind of give us that backstory?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
So I'd never been to a shelter ever in my life.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Wow, And I.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Went to take pictures of the dogs that came in
from Katrina. I was petrified of pit bulls. Can you imagine? Okay, Oh,
then I'm meeting all these sweet pit bulls that were
the shelter and I'm like, they're so sweet, and they
were mothers you could see, but their babies.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Used to be nanny dogs. I really dogs, I know,
and they're so sweet. They get such a bad rap.
And so I started raising funds, just very small for
that one organization. But as we started to make more
money in West Michigan, we have a few shelters, and
so I started giving it away. But then we kept
doing these events and making more money, and I thought,
(07:26):
you know, this really isn't fair. There's so much to
need out there. So I started a foundation to properly
give the money away so it could be followed up
and make sure it was being used properly as well.
So giving it away properly and using it properly, and
that was key. You do need a little business in there, right,
You've got to have some business skills.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
You have to know what you're doing, and it's it
was a learning curve and then it just you just
keep doing and you go with what your heart says.
And I along the way had people trying to tell
me what to do, and you should do it this
way and you should.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That way, and I thought, you know, what I'm going with.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
My heart is doing what I need to do to
save animals, what I think is the right thing. And
I think we've done it well. I've got a phenomenal
team in place, and everybody.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Works hard to do it right. For the animals.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
It's all about the animals. We don't use any of
the money that comes in. This will pays for everything
for us, which is amazing. So every penny that comes
in go goes to the animals.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And this is a big thing that we have to
hit pause with your pause on this one because what
you raise one hundred percent, tell me true, goes to
shelters and pets and need.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
One hundred percent. And this will our company pays for
everything else. We hardly pay for any marketing. We have
a little bit of it. But whenever somebody says, can
you fund an event, we can't really do that because
we don't do that. We fund the animals and we
support the shelters.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I like that. I like that. In fact, I wear
many collars in the pet world, Kathy, and one of
them is that I am the editor of the National
Association of Professional Pet Sitters quarterly digital magazine. Boy, that's
a mouthful, but this is an all volunteer group of
professional pet sitters all over the country and they have
(09:13):
picked the Bisso Pet Foundation as their national charity, and
they also after each conference every year they also pick
a local charity in that area and the money goes
to you, your group and to the local group. But
what do you think about a bunch of pet sitters
that say we dig Bissile Pet Foundation?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You know what, I love it. I honestly it makes
me feel so good. It makes me realize we're doing
all the right things. First of all, what an honor.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And please tell everyone thank you for choosing us. We
do the best we can. We really work hard for
the animals everything. You know, as I tell people, it's
a twenty four to seven job. It isn't just nine
to five. My husband says to me sometimes, can you
just turn it off for little bit? It's like you
cannot turn this off. I mean, how do you say
no to saving a life? It can be you know,
(10:05):
one hundred lives at one.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Time, it can be one life.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
You just don't stop and say I'm not going to
save that life.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
So wow, that is so special. Things well, what they did,
and I'm just the lowly editor, but what the NAPS
group does is when members are up to become members
or renew. Right there, they can have a choice to
check and make a donation to the BISSO Pet Foundation.
And some of the members say that made it so
easy to just donate. There's no hit this code and
(10:35):
do this. It's right there, right there for you. That
is amazing.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That is really sweet. I love it.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
That'll save more lives, I mean that money will go directly.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And pet sitters are on the front lines too, right, Oh, definitely, definitely,
So I'm interested. Before we get into your current four
legged bunch, tell me a little bit about this black
lab you met years ago named Bear. Oh.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
So, I was doing one of my events and you know,
I had never adopted a pet before. I had started
my events to raise funds for the Katrina Dogs and
the shelters. I had not started my foundation yet. And
this dog appeared at one of my events and I
had two black labs, and dogs sat next to my
black labs and nobody made even a they didn't even
(11:21):
look at each other. I was like, wow, he was regal, gorgeous,
beautiful lad So were i too, And I was like,
where did this dog come from? My vet said, well,
she worked at the Humane Society. She said this dog
was just, you know, given up, and I said, you've
got to be kidding. This dog is gorgeous. I mean
this is a real beautiful lab, like perfect. And she said, yeah,
(11:42):
he was just given up. They got a puppy and
they didn't want him anymore. And I was like, oh,
he's got to come home with me. And my husband
was going away on a trip and he said, you
may not take that dog home.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Do not.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And I'm like, you know, I'm not going to listen
to you, you know, to do what I need to do.
So I took the dog home and my dog got
a long And the funny thing is is that my
husband called said you didn't take the dog home, right,
And I said, no, he's sitting here with his hat
on my lap. So the rest was history. My husband
turned fifty on Monday. He came home from his trip.
(12:12):
I had a picture of our three dogs together in
a frame that I had taken and I said, happy birthday.
And you know, that was one of the great That
dog changed my mindset because I had never did a pout. Right,
you don't know if you've never adopted, and so it
was pretty special.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Wow, Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah it
is you know, and your other two labs were probably happy,
and now they got a terrific trio they had at
the time to goof around together.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Right, they all got along like they had grown up together.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I want to see how fast you can quickly say
the name of your current pets. You're on the clock.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Go okay, Tasmo, Ranger, Hank, Winnie and Zoe and you
all half problems. They're not all black labs anymore?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
What are they? Tell me what you got?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
My symbol is black labs. I have a big, huge
hound dog. I have a very tiny little beagle that
when I got her, she had no hair and she
was dying of heartworm and everything else.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I didn't know what she was. I have a dog.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
With prototheka, a very rare, rare disease that does that.
They get it in the South when they drink red
algae water. Very dangerous. My dog is the longest living
dog because I spent a lot of money to help
the Michigan State do research, and she is living. She
lost her eyes and her hearing at the same time,
but she is loving life.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Which one this is Zoe? And what kind of dog
is Zoe.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
She's a shepherd type dog. They this is kind of
more typical in this style dog, but protoeka is a
bad disease. I have Hank, who was a dog out
of Tennessee. I was sending a whole group of hound dogs.
I thought they were hound, half golden and halfhound. But
he's a huge hound. He had a big, huge hernia
(13:56):
Michigan State. I said, I'll just take care of him,
take him to a shelter in Michigan. Michigan State removed
the hernia, checked the fluid and it was a childhood cancer,
never seen in the dog.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
So yeah, so it's.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Freights old now. And I asked them what's going to happen?
Is he going to get the cancer back? And they said,
we really don't know because we've never ever documented no
one has a dog with his cancer. So I said,
I have to keep him, of course, because no one
would follow that track like I would. So he's with us,
and he's healthy and good. They got all the margins
and he seems to be. He's just a he's a
(14:31):
little meani. He's a big meani, I should say. And
then I have Taz, who's a pardhound part lab, great dog,
big personality. When I got him, he was five months old,
really big personality, wild, So I named him Taz, after
a Tasmanian devil.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I was thinking that, for sure, you are the devil dog.
But you know what, it's really funny. He didn't have
a calm personality. His personality is a little bit more wild.
And the great thing is that he has the best personality.
Guys love him because going to do anything. So you
got to look at you know, these personalities, and he
calmed down and he's like a perfect dog.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So I want to make sure. So we got Tabs
the hound lab. We got Hank, the hound with the
former Herniam cancer. We have Zoe, the shepherd mix that
had that algae issue. The beagle is who Whinnie, Winnie Whinnie.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
She was very very high heartworm when I got her.
She had just had puppies, although she was like nine
years old. She had She was coughing a lot, and
I had a They said she's only going to live
about three months because the heartworm load was so good.
So I took her to Michigan State and they literally
removed the worms from her heart and sent me pictures.
(15:47):
It was I've seen it before and they took the
worms out.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
And guess what. She's been with me for a year.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
And my husband always says to me, so, how's the
dying beagle doing?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Now? She is great? She is the law. What does
dog I have?
Speaker 4 (16:01):
And she weighs like fifteen pounds. She is wow, very
cute and happy as a clam. I mean, she's so cute.
And then I have Ranger, who a feral dog. He
is some kind of a hurting Shepherd dog who was
shot in the leg, had a broken femur bullet found
in the other leg. He was caught in a claw
(16:22):
trap and he has a broken neck and I think
somebody must have hit him pretty hard over the head
because he always cowers. But he's been with us for
two years.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
His leg.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
He runs faster than any dog I've ever had. He's
happy as could be. And when because he's still feral
pretty much when new people come to the home, he's petrified,
but ignore him. He will lick the back of your
knee and then he will.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I do that when I meet my guests when they
come to my house, Yeah, yes, right.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
You have to make sure they're going to be okay,
and then he'll approach slowly, so it's really fun. Did
I forget anyone?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I want to make sure we got mo No, mo
Is the mo is my pitbull. Yeah, that's right, okay,
And Moe is a brindl pitbull. He's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
He was found starving on a chain in Louisiana. He
was found with his brother, who also spends a lot
of time with me because he is adopted by somebody
in Michigan. They were both pretty much dying. When asked
by the woman, last time you fed them, she said,
I think I threw him a chicken bom a week ago.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Really, yeah, that's sain I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
So anyway, he lives with us. He's the sweetest pit
bull in the world. I mean, anyway, people come over
and they say I'm afraid of pit bulls and then
he licks them to death, and you know it's like,
that's a pit bull.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Are you afraid of that dog? So, you know, dogs
are individual. People need to understand that they definitely are. Hey,
I appreciate that rundown because I really want people to
know who you are with the pets and who you
are with helping other pets. We're going to take a
quick break, and when we come back everyone, we're going
to speak with Kathy about a couple of programs. I
want her to talk fix the future and empty the shelters.
(17:58):
So everybody sit, stay, we'll be right.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Back time for a walk on the red carpet. Of course,
all behave. We'll be backing up flash right after these messages.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Take a bite out of your competition.
Speaker 6 (18:15):
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(18:36):
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Let's talk past, Let's done pets at Life.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Radio, Petline, Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Hi does this, Mandy Bourne.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
You're listening to Old Behave on pet Like Radio with
your hosts Arden Moore, who's now family.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
We figured that out.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
We're back from the lot. Just check the paper. And
we had our record showing at the box, the letterbox
that is now back to Oh behave, here's hard Welcome
back to the.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Old Behave show on Pet Life Radio. I'm your host,
Arden Moore. Yep, she's here. Kathybissel. Kathybissel of the Bissle
Pet Foundation is in the house. And I used to
be a sports writer. I actually covered a Super Bowl
and all this, So I'm gonna throw some stats at everybody.
Oh my gosh, you guys gotta go to the uh
Bisslepet Foundation dot org site to check the numbers because
(19:46):
they're gonna keep going up. But I think you all
have helped over six thousand shelters and all fifty states
and helped about a million plus pets. Am I good
to go so far on the stats, Kathy, Yes, you are.
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
We may not make contact with every single shelter, but
we are there. If they have a disaster or a
crisis and they're a partner, we can respond to them
because we've already checked them out. We know they're legit,
we know that they need help. And then We also
send all of our partners all sorts of information on
all sorts of things that we learn. We have blogs,
we have information that we share, We have toolkits, so
(20:24):
everybody has access to all of the things they may
need to be successful.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
The other thing I think you should be doggon proud
about is you're empty. The shelter program, I believe, started
almost ten years ago, twenty sixteen, and it has been
deemed the largest funded adoption event, and you've found homes
for almost three hundred and twenty five thousand pets. Am
I doing the numbers right again? Yes? Yes, although we
(20:50):
support the shelters. Okay, so how does the ones that
find them? They do the adoption.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
But because of our marketing, which is all social and
getting a word out and making phone calls, were able
to help this program be successful and help these shelters
that are in the program. We asked them to do
things together, We asked them to communicate, We talked to them,
We tweaked this program constantly. We always have a before
meeting and after meeting so we can find out what
(21:18):
was successful what wasn't. We used to see, for example,
in the early days, dogs dogs, dogs, dogs, adoptions. Cats
weren't as successful as COVID hit. Everything kind of evened
out to be cats and dogs, and cats went higher
after COVID because small animals and cats were the ones
being adopted. People couldn't take big dogs into their homes anymore.
(21:41):
Hence why so many people were taking dogs to the shelter.
It was a problem with insurance and cost of vet care.
So we saw a real shift. But you know, now
we're seeing dogs and cats equal again. Interesting, interesting, Thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
And the other one that segues right into it your
program that this Wile Pet Foundation is very well known
for started a couple of years ago. I guess to
fix the future SPAE neoter initiative. Tell us about that.
That seems like that's a big deal. It's a huge deal.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So first of all, we were challenged by somebody to
go to Puerto Rico to help the SATO project with
a spaitar. I was like, we can't do that, we
don't do that, we don't have doctors. But she said
you can do it, you can do it, and she
had been with the Humane Society US, so it was
her program. So I said all right, and we did it.
We got twenty five vets or whatever was fifteen vets
(22:37):
and lots of texts, and we got them all to
Puerto Rico and it was a success, and we thought,
you know what, we know these vets, now let's try
and put them in places where we can start this
spe hooter program. So we started it in November twenty
twenty three and they date to date one hundred and
ninety five thousand span nooters under our belt. Yeah, not
(22:59):
a lot of nip and snippin', it's a lot, and
it's a lot of incredibly talented veterinarians who know and
understand that they need to help make this difference. So
it's our program, it's how we do it. It's our
kind of the way we do it, but it's the
talent that has come along with us to make it happen.
It's really pretty phenomenal. We think this year alone we'll
(23:22):
end up doing two hundred and ten thousand spaan hooters
and so it'll be just over three hundred thousand in
under two years. We're pretty excited about it. But we
needed to happen everywhere.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, I live in Texas and when this show was
being recorded for you to be a guest on our
O Behave show. Everybody knows what happened with the Guadalupe
River in central Texas, and I understand that you're they're
doing your part to help too, your team.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So how could anybody even think right after?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
What that is?
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Like the saddest thing ever. I could cry thinking about it.
But our team went in to animals from three locations
in Texas that were near Kerrville get them out of
the shelters so when they found animals they could have
the space. Of course, things aren't as good, they're not
finding the animals. But what I do say the great
(24:15):
thing for these animals that went out and we took
a lot of big dogs, a lot of eighty pounders.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Big Texas has big dogs. You do ever doing big
in Texas?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You do?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
And they were beautiful. I have to say, oh my gosh,
those dogs now have a chance. They may not have
had a chance being there during this time, so it's
wonderful that they've all gotten out.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Where did you take them too, Cathy, Welcome.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
To Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
And Connecticut.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
And actually on one of the posts we made, there's
a woman holding this big dog in her arms. It's
the start of my blog. And a woman from Texas
wrote me and said that was my family's foster dog.
I think they were hoping to go back and get it,
but now it's gone. But we're so happy to see
you know that it's gone off and that it's going
to be successful and have a good life. So it's
(25:04):
amazing the people that reach out. I try to always
connect when I can. Of course, I get so many
people contacting me. We need to clone you, Kathy, we do.
I have some good clones underneath me. Okay, that's a
good end. Well, this kind of segues nicely into this part,
which is the importance of because disasters are hitting everyone
everywhere of the microchip, the ID tell us a little
(25:28):
bit about some tips for people. I got three dogs
and two cats here in Dallas. They're all microchip, they
all got IDs. They are my family, and I would
love to have your thoughts on how we can improve
the chances of pets being reunited when a natural disaster hits.
(25:49):
I mean, in all honesty, every single pet that we touch,
we make sure that pet has a microchip. So any
organization that's going to do anything even with the span Nooter.
They're going to get vaccinated and they're going to get
a microchip, because microchips really are important. People don't really
understand what a microchip is. I think that's part of
(26:10):
the problem. They think it's something that people can follow
what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
They can't. It's not one of those Apple ID luggage
tags exactly.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
But people don't understand that this ker chip is so
important because people can scan it and your pet can
find its way home. And pets from California to Michigan
have found their way back because they've had a microchip.
It might not be today or tomorrow, it might be
in a couple of weeks. But honestly, people need to
microchip their pets. It's the only way they're going to
(26:40):
get them back. And always having ID collars with something
on them. I like the callers that have the names
embroidered on them.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
That's what ours are. Yeah, I'm in the pet safety field.
You're going to go up to a strange dog, look
at their tag and be faced to nose with a dog. Yep.
You're not going to have a nose yep.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
So it's important, right, But yeah, some ID you know,
my little mo little pitbull Mo who knew he wanted
to chase dear. He took off and was gone for
three and a half hours, and some boys were four
wheeling and they found him on a track, curled up
because it was getting cold, and he had his name
on his collar and they called me and he was
(27:19):
miles away and just your time. People don't realize how
fat they go and cats wander. Just safety for your animals.
We're responsible for them, so we're their parents. We need
to take care of them.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So in addition to the microchipping, what are some things
that pet parents can also do to avoid? How do
you get prepared? I mean people need to realize Mother
Nature's not a nice lady anymore.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
No, no, Mother Nature's not. I mean I think for
all of us, you know, we have to have a
plan like we do with our children in case something
happens to us. Right to have a plan. Where are
your pets going to go? And really, I mean I
even know people who die who love their pets. If
there's not a plan, those pets end up shelters and
that's tough. So have a plan for your pet. They
are your family. Treat them as family, you know, have
(28:06):
something in writing, but also always have food, blankets in
your car, extra water, a bowl, a leash. If it's cold,
you want to have coats.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
You know.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Treat them like they're your family, because they are, and
they count on us. They depend on us. They can't talk,
but they look to us for all the help.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Here in Texas, we've had the sirens go and we
have a walk in closet off our primary bathroom and
we actually do fun drills with our three dogs and
two cats to see how quick we can get into
the walk in closet. And there they have their treats.
The cats are on the carriers, the dogs are on
harnesses and leashes, and there's a bottle of wine in there. Hmmm,
(28:48):
with a battery operated radio, all the things you need, right, yeah,
Oh that's so great. But it is you're prepared. They're
your family. I mean, that's what we have to do.
What are some already messages you want people to know?
I mean, I think it's kind of cool that a
vacuum company is really sweeping up good things all over
the country. I'm sure you get bad jokes about vacuums, right,
(29:11):
do you have a favorite one like it? They suck
or whatever you suck or I'm sorry. I hope that's
okay to say. And your it's called oh behave, You're okay,
Oh behave Okay.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
So yeah, you know, it's really wonderful because I'm a
product tester. Your name is on a product, I mean
it's important, right, I'm doing a lot of those, but
my name is on those products. I want those products
to work, and I'm testing them with all sorts of
different animals, so I want people to know that really,
these products are made for pets. We made a conscious
(29:42):
decision to get behind pets and get behind shelter pets
as well, and I love that. And it was all organic.
It was nothing that was like a plan to be
you know anything. It was just happened. And that's what
I love. And I feel like.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I'm living my dream. You are cooking people, help people
with their pets and with cleaning up, and you don't suck. Kathy,
Thank you, thank you. Hey tell us again how people
can find out more? Where do they go? Thank you?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
If they go to Bisselepotfoundation dot org, they can see
all of our great work. You can sign up to
get our emails. We have blogs, We have emails going
out something called the Dish, and we talk about a
lot of shelters and great things that are going on.
We like to spotlight our good shelters. I mean, there
are a lot of good people out there making a
difference for pets, and we like to put them in focus.
(30:31):
So please, if you're looking for a pet, choose adoption first,
because right now the shelters are full and people need
to think about their choices. I don't know, some people
say I couldn't find a pet at the shelter that
I wanted. It's like, you've got to be kidding every time.
I know, I want to take home every single pat.
I mean their faces, their eyes, the cats reach through
the kettles, they all want to touch you. I mean, yeah,
(30:54):
put your paws up right and make a difference.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Well, we like that.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
We like that.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Hey, everybody. I have been honored to have on our show.
Kathy Bissel. She is a doer, she's a caregiver. She
is there for us pets, for the pets, the shelters
and beyond. And please go to the Abysslepet Foundation dot org.
You're gonna find out more stuff. I also want to
give a salute to my producer, Mark Winter. He is
(31:19):
the executive producer of Pet Life Radio. We are the
largest pet radio network on the planet. We haven't got
to the moon yet, but hey, you can dream and humbly,
you are listening to the longest running pet podcast on
the planet, on the air since two thousand and six,
and it's an honor for me to host. I thank
you all for tuning in. I do want to ask
you you love your pets, check out Pet First Aid
(31:41):
for you. That is my company. I'm a master Pet
First Aid instructor who tells dad jokes during class. Everything
is veterinary approved and I feature a pair of shelter alums,
Pet Safety Dog ConA and Pet Safety Cat Casey, who
are both therapy pets, and we teach you fun, practical
ways to keep your pets safe. So check that out
(32:03):
if you would. And until next time, this is your
flea free host Art and More, delivering just two words
to all you two three four lakers out there.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I'll behave coast to coast that around the world. It's
all behaved with art and more. Find out why cats
and dogs do the things they do, and get the
latest buzz from wagging tongues and tails and rent ten
tinsel down from famous pet experts and best selling authors
to television and movie stars. You'll get great tail wagging
pet tips and have a fur flying fun time. All
(32:36):
behave with America's pet Edutainer art More every week on
demand only a petlife radio dot com
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