December 24, 2024 • 53 mins
As we wrap up Starlight Pet Talk, we’re taking a moment to celebrate everything this podcast has meant over the past two years. This episode is all about gratitude, reflection, and a little bit of fun as we look back on the episodes that resonated most with you – our incredible listeners.
In this episode, we’re:
• Reflecting on the core mission of Starlight Pet Talk – connecting with and educating pet parents with honesty and heart.
• Sharing memorable stories and moments that capture the ups and downs of pet ownership.
• Highlighting amazing community support and standout listener interactions that have shaped this podcast.
• Looking back at the most downloaded episodes of 2024 and why they stood out.
• Offering a sneak peek at what’s ahead with Muddy Paws and Hairballs – keeping the same values, but adding fresh energy and topics.
This isn’t goodbye – it’s just the next chapter. Thank you for being part of this journey. We can’t wait to see you in the next phase!
Let me know if this feels more aligned, or if there’s something specific you’d like me to highlight further.
Love the show? Please share it with another pet parent who wants less chaos and more clarity. Please leave a 5-star review to help others find real-life, judgment-free advice.
🎧Get your free guide: 10 Tips for Bonding With Your Pet
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Big pet challenges we help pet parents solve include: puppy training, cat behavior, pet budgeting, stress-free vet visits, solutions for multi-pet households, and more.
Contact: Amy@muddypawsandhairballs.com
©Ⓟ 2025 by Amy Castro.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Castro (00:02):
Muddy Paws and Hairballs is going to be ready
to launch in 2025.
But this last episode is ourfinal episode of Starlight Pet
Talk and we're going to wrap upby talking about the top
episodes of the year and whythey were so popular.
So stay tuned.
All right, everybody, welcometo Muddy Paws and Hairballs.
(00:38):
But in reality, this is thefinal episode of Starlight Pet
Talk and, as I said in my I knowit's sad, it's a.
You know it's.
It's a chapter.
Yes, I was going to say the endof an era, but I don't know.
Does it?
Does two years really count asan era?
It's a chapter.
It's a chapter.
End of a chapter, beginning ofa new and exciting chapter.
(00:59):
I'm here with my friend Bev, asyou can hear her cackling in
the background.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to talk about the
top episodes of Starlight PetTalk for 2024, not overall.
If you want to go back and knowwhat the overall ones, then
you've got to listen to the topepisodes of 2023 and 2024, and
then you can do the math on yourown.
(01:20):
But we will get to that in justa minute.
But first of all, I want totalk about good news and bad
news, because I wanted to sharea little.
Like I said when we startedMuddy Paws, that we're going to
get down and dirty and real, andso I just want to tell you a
little bit about my morning sofar, because we're going to
(01:41):
start with the bad news so far,because we're going to start
with the bad news.
Bev Brooks (01:44):
Can I just tell everybody that this is how most
of our conversations start.
We speak several times a weekand they usually start with let
me tell you what happened lastnight.
Amy Castro (01:52):
Yeah Well, yeah so, yeah.
So Bev actually has relativeswho thinks I don't have any
friends because I call Bev somuch.
It's kind of like talking toyour sister, right, you get up,
you do your little chores, yousit down with your cup of coffee
and you call your sister andyou'll be like, hey, what
(02:14):
happened to me?
But usually the conversationstarts with you know what my
favorite thing is, or what Ilike to do is I call up and I
asked to speak to the complaintdepartment and then she does
this whole routine.
Would you like to do it?
Let's just demonstrate it, okay.
Bev Brooks (02:27):
Oh.
I haven't done it in so long?
All right, we'll give it a shot.
Amy Castro (02:30):
It's been a little while, so I'll actually I'll
launch into the bad news byusing this as the platform and
then I'll give you all the goodnews, but anyway.
So ring, ring, ring, phonerings.
Bev answers the phone, she saysHello and I say I'd like to
speak to somebody in the petcomplaint department, please.
Bev Brooks (02:52):
Hold on one second please.
Amy Castro (02:59):
The complaint department.
Is it involving a mineral, aanimal or a?
Bev Brooks (03:04):
vegetable Animal and vegetable because it involves a
pet and puke?
Is that vegetable Animal andvegetable because it involves a
pet and puke?
Complaint department.
This is the vegetabledepartment.
Can I help you?
Amy Castro (03:14):
And then the conversation goes like from
there.
Because I have seven animalsliving in my house right now, I
have been trying to identifywhich of the seven animals is
pooping and peeing around myhouse, because I'm tired of
stepping in it, I'm tired ofpicking it up.
And so I spent the weekend,while Kelsey was out of town,
(03:37):
trying to isolate certain petsat night to see who leaves the
big surprise in the morning andwhere it is.
And so this morning, sinceKelsey is now back from her trip
, she took her dog Gigi, becauseI think she's one of the
suspects personally, I've seenher in action.
She took her back in her roomovernight and I put all of the
(03:58):
dogs in the dining room, whichis now just a giant dog pen in
there last night and figured wewould see what happens.
Well, there was nothing on thefloor in the dining room.
I'm assuming nobody peed inKelsey's bed.
But there were two turds by thefront door and upon closer
(04:18):
inspection, when I went to cleanthem up, they were cold.
So it wasn't like somebody didit like after I let them out
this morning, because it waslike five o'clock in the morning
it was dark, so somebody did ita while ago.
So it was either a cat, becausethe cats were on the loose, or
it happened last night before Iput everybody up.
(04:38):
So I'm no no wiser, but I didspend my morning, once again,
cleaning up poop.
Oh, and then somebody pukedfrom the kitchen out all the way
out to the front door.
It was like a long day.
Yeah, I think it was puke.
I mean I, I didn't want to, Ididn't want to inspect it too
closely.
Bev Brooks (04:55):
Couple of thoughts?
Yeah, Couple of thoughts.
This sounds very complicated,but definitely necessary.
But cold turds yeah.
How did we discover that?
Amy Castro (05:09):
Well, when I picked them up in the paper towel, it
wasn't soft and warm.
Bev Brooks (05:13):
So you didn't step in it and discover it that way.
Amy Castro (05:15):
No, no, but that has happened before.
The other morning I came out ofmy bedroom at 5.15, and luckily
there was enough light comingfrom outside that I could see
two things on the floor directly.
I think they do it directly inline of a door, so somebody
steps in it.
Because there were two thingson the ground spaced about two
feet apart between my route frommy bedroom to the back door to
(05:40):
let the dogs out.
So of course I circumventedthose things, because they could
have been anything right.
They could have been turds,they could have been toys, and
it was two turds, two separatepiles of turds, small piles.
Bev Brooks (05:52):
So what is happening ?
What is happening.
Amy Castro (05:55):
I don't know.
Somebody's lost their damn mind, so I got to figure out who it
is, because I'm getting ready tomove into an RV with all of
these jerks and it's not goingto be pretty.
But we'll, we'll work on it.
I think I probably just need tostart leaving out maybe one or
two, cause I know for sure it'snot Gunny and it's not Sassy the
(06:16):
two big dogs.
So maybe leave one little dog,one big dog out and then see
what happens.
Bev Brooks (06:20):
And then I'll miss that little dog, but anyway yeah
, I wonder if other people havethis issue.
Amy Castro (06:26):
I'm sure, I'm sure they do.
I mean not people that don'thave pets.
Bev Brooks (06:31):
Well, I mean someone who's got a good quantity.
Would you have five, sevenanimals, seven?
Amy Castro (06:36):
There's seven running around inside the house
right now.
Is that counting Kelsey?
No, that, no, that would beeight, and two of them are blind
.
So I know that, especially theblind cat, probably her life is
a little stressful.
We just started her on Prozac.
Bev Brooks (06:50):
Yeah, so yeah, I just, it's just, I wish there
was a solution.
You're doing the right thing,like the process of elimination,
you know, yeah, elimination.
You see what I did there.
Amy Castro (07:02):
Yeah, very funny, all right, so let's move on from
elimination and the bad news.
Bev Brooks (07:07):
So that was the bad news.
Amy Castro (07:08):
Is that my life continues to be mornings of
cleaning up poop or pee or both.
Today it was just poop, so thatI guess wasn't too bad, oh and
puke Sorry.
So two out of three peas.
Bev Brooks (07:21):
It makes me feel better about my life.
Amy Castro (07:23):
Yeah, you don't have any bad news you want to share.
Bev Brooks (07:27):
No, because he's perfect in every way.
When he's going to puke, hegives me a lot of warning, so I
can grab some newspaper, and youknow we're good Newspaper what
you read while he's doing it.
Yes, I read while he's puking.
Poor little thing.
Amy Castro (07:41):
So what do you do?
Toss the paper in front of hismouth.
Yeah, oh, good Lord, have mercy, oh, yeah, there's no privacy,
there's no secrets.
Bev Brooks (07:52):
I'll tell you what, though.
The house is cold, he's got twoheating pads and he is cold.
Amy Castro (07:56):
Yeah.
Bev Brooks (07:58):
It's like 62 degrees in here.
Amy Castro (08:00):
Yeah, okay, all right.
So on to the good news, becauseI'm only allotting a certain
amount of time to this BS that'shappening in the beginning of
this show.
Bev Brooks (08:07):
Wow.
Amy Castro (08:07):
So the good news is and I'll give you the Reader's
Digest version of the story so avery nice donor and supporter
of Starlight Outreach and Rescuenamed Julie went I don't know
if it was when she moved, butanyway she donated a really nice
Dyson vacuum cleaner to us forthe rescue and it has been a
godsend.
I mean, it's a great vacuumcleaner, it really.
(08:30):
It's got that clear canister soyou can see how much crap is on
the floor.
It's crazy.
It's a hot mess.
It's got a super long vacuumcord, so it's a really nice,
nice vacuum cleaner.
Anyway, we've put it to greatuse here at the rescue and
unfortunately, as happens withmost things, I don't put things
(08:51):
away, and so at one point I didnot put the vacuum cleaner away,
I left it unattended andsomebody decided to chew off the
plug.
So yeah, yeah, because that'swhat we do.
Bev Brooks (09:06):
Because that's what we do.
This is nothing new.
This is nothing new.
It happens all the time at yourhouse.
Amy Castro (09:11):
I know I just for the second time fixed the hose
to the pool, the $700 poolcleaner that they chewed through
the electric cord on that onetoo.
Bev Brooks (09:21):
Luckily it wasn't plugged in.
Amy Castro (09:23):
But anyway.
So they chewed the cord off.
I fixed it, but I'm alwaysafraid that it's going to catch
fire, because obviously I'm notan electrician.
Um, so anyway I I thought, well, maybe I could contact Dyson
and see if I can purchase areplacement cord, which you
apparently can.
So I'm chatting with themonline and they're going to send
me a replacement cord for free.
(09:44):
This is back in June.
So I'm chatting with themonline and they're going to send
me a replacement cord for free.
This is back in June.
So, super excited, I'm going toget this replacement cord.
And then I kind of forgot aboutit, and now it's six months
later and I still don't have thecord.
So I decided the other day tofollow up.
Well, apparently that cord forthat vacuum cleaner is on back
(10:04):
order to infinity, Like it'sjust not going to happen.
So and this is the kicker, youguys, this is good customer
service right here, because,even if people don't necessarily
always give Dysons the bestreview, I probably will buy
Dysons from here on out when Ineed a new vacuum cleaner for
myself, just because of this,because not only were they very
(10:26):
apologetic that the cord nevercame and that they were still
waiting on it, but they aregoing to replace the entire
vacuum cleaner and I and I willbe on.
I am very honest, like Ispecifically told them, my dogs
chewed this cord Cause.
When they were going to give mea free cord, I was like, well,
it's not like it just broke, butmy animals chewed through it,
it's my fault and they were likewe don't care, it's under
(10:46):
warranty till 2026.
Bev Brooks (10:49):
Crazy, crazy.
Amy Castro (10:50):
Thank you, Julie.
So yeah, so now I'm going toget a brand new, new model like
not a refurbished, a new vacuumcleaner, and they're going to
pay for me to ship the wholevacuum cleaner back.
Bev Brooks (11:02):
That's crazy.
I would.
I would buy a Dyson just basedon that too.
Yeah, that's awesome thatthey'll do that.
Amy Castro (11:10):
That's the good news .
Bev Brooks (11:11):
That's the very good news.
Amy Castro (11:13):
Here's the other beautiful thing is that the new
Dyson will come in a box and sothat when I go to move, when I
will keep the box, and when I goto move in a couple of months,
I will be able to put the Dysonin the box and protect it during
the move.
Bev Brooks (11:25):
There you go, win-win.
Amy Castro (11:26):
Win-win.
Bev Brooks (11:27):
So thank you, dyson no that is very good customer
service, absolutely yeah.
Amy Castro (11:32):
All right.
So moving right along we'regoing to get into our top
episodes of 2024 of StarlightPet Talk.
We are not going to discuss all10, but I do want to let you
know what the top 10 ones wereand then we're going to discuss
the top five.
So number 10 was season and allof 2024 was basically season
(11:53):
two.
So it was season two, episode81.
And it was does your dog haveseparation anxiety?
With our trainer friend RuthHegarty.
So I think that was a greatepisode because I think things
get labeled as separationanxiety when maybe they're not.
So you definitely need tolisten to that one.
We're not going into gorydetail.
Episode number the ninth mostpopular episode was season two,
(12:17):
episode 62 on lap of love, homehospice and euthanasia for pets
Again, a great option for beingable to plan and coordinate your
pet's euthanasia if you have to, and make it a pleasant
experience for, or as pleasantas it can be for you and for
your pets.
Number eight was season two,episode 67, unlocking the
(12:39):
Human-Animal Bond Secrets fromthe Human-Animal Bond Research
Institute, which I thought wasreally fascinating.
I mean a whole organizationthat is just dedicated to
research on how much our petspositively impact our lives.
Bev Brooks (12:54):
Yeah, yeah.
Amy Castro (12:56):
Episode number seven was season two, episode 82,
1,672 Miles to a Forever HomeBonnie's Journey.
Yeah, so that was Bev and myrescue road trip where we drove
crazy Bonnie, Although she wasreally good on that trip,
wouldn't you say.
Bev Brooks (13:12):
She was more sane than both of us put together.
Although, yeah, yeah, itdoesn't take much, it doesn't
take much, yeah.
Amy Castro (13:20):
So that was a fun episode to do, just to kind of
recount our journey.
The sixth most popular episodewas Season 2, episode 78, life
with Pets Hidden BenefitsRevealed the original title.
I've changed up some of thetitles.
The original title was theSurprising Mental, physical and
Social Benefits of Living withPets with my friend Denise
Dudley out in Colorado.
(13:41):
So she actually is a, you know,works with human beings but has
pets and has done a lot ofresearch on the impact of pets
in our lives.
So that was fun.
And so those were 10 through 6.
And so we're going to discuss 5through 1, and then maybe throw
in a couple of thoughts on ourown personal favorite.
(14:01):
Hold on, I've got notes I'vegot to file through here.
So the number five I knowyou've got notes too.
Mine are typed, yours arehandwritten, okay.
So the fifth most popularepisode of season two was season
two, episode 79, pro Tips forExtending your Pet's Life with
my friend Dr Marlene Siegel downin Florida.
(14:27):
I think this one probablyresonated most with listeners
because it really gave you someactionable steps, for you know
things that you could do forfocusing on longevity and
well-being for your pets.
So we talked about things likeeliminating toxins, because
there's so many that we areexposed to as humans, that also
our pets are exposed toessential nutrients.
(14:48):
Healing the gut which I thoughtwas also super interesting,
because it's such a tie over tohuman beings as well that our
gut health impacts and who knewuntil the most recent years how
much your gut health impacts therest of your health?
Detoxifying your organs andthen really getting down on the
DNA level, you know, supportingmitochondrial functions and then
(15:09):
emotional health.
That was another area.
So those were kind of some ofthe things that came out in that
episode.
What were your and I don't knowif that was one of your
favorites or necessarily Bev,but what were your thoughts on
that episode?
Bev Brooks (15:21):
The takeaway for me was anybody can do this.
The changes are really, reallydoable.
They're really small and it canmake a huge impact down the
road.
You might not see an overnightmakeover, but just by increasing
water intake or little that'swhat I had written down
inflammation and water intakeand things like that such a
(15:41):
simple thing can change yourpet's life.
I mean, it's just so simple.
Yeah, my takeaway was thatanybody can do this.
It's very simple to make theselittle, small changes,
absolutely.
Amy Castro (15:52):
Yeah, and I think we've had a couple of episodes
that have been around that issueand I know personally that,
like every time I've done one ofthese episodes, I start looking
at my pet's food and you knowgetting I got a water fountain.
I've been adding water to thecat's food.
You know, even the other day Iwas in the kitchen doing the
dog's food and you know I've notgotten to the point where I'm
going to be cooking dog food butit's like what do I have in the
(16:16):
fridge that I can toss in herethat would enhance this meal
that I'm giving them Right, andit's such a simple thing, you
know.
Bev Brooks (16:25):
And if you go buy a pint of blueberries in the
grocery store and just toss itin there, it's fine.
Anything helps.
Yeah, that was definitely.
It's definitely changed Kuzzy'slifestyle, perhaps not from
this particular episode, butprevious ones about water intake
and reading the ingredientlabel, you can learn.
Amy Castro (16:44):
And reading the ingredient label.
Bev Brooks (16:45):
You can learn.
God bless you, amy, because itwas a whole education for me all
of last year and this year.
Read those labels, people, andyou will be shocked, absolutely
shocked, so you can make betterchoices.
You might pay for it, you mightnot.
It might not be a huge monetarything, but isn't your pet worth
it?
Amy Castro (17:03):
Yeah, I know, because he is Well and you're
going to pay for it on one endor the other.
You know, like the intake, thisuh, the blind cat that we have,
has uh already had bladderstone surgery when she was
barely over a year old.
Bev Brooks (17:18):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (17:18):
And she's already got some floating around in
there again.
So you know, the water intake,I think, has helped.
You know, keep it at bay.
At least they're not gettingbigger.
And so it's, yeah, like yousaid, little bitty changes along
the way, for sure.
Bev Brooks (17:34):
Very, very doable, absolutely.
Amy Castro (17:36):
So hopefully we'll get Dr Marlene back on the show
and talk about more things wecould be doing along the way.
All right, moving along.
The fourth most popular episodewas season two, episode 53,
responsible Rabbit CareExplained.
Again, I've changed the titlesa little bit with Muddy Paws,
(17:57):
I've shortened them up a littlebit, but the original title was
Beyond the Fluff RabbitRealities and Responsible
Guardianship Cute, yeah, andthat was with Marcy Berman.
She is the president and founderof Save a Bunny Rabbit Rescue
out in California and I thinkthe thing for me, one of the
biggest things for me, was howmuch care rabbits because I have
(18:18):
had a rabbit and I knewsomething about rabbit care but
in order for them to really livean optimal life, how much care
they need, what things can gowrong with rabbits.
I was super lucky, nothing everwent wrong with this bunny but
things can certainly go wrong ifthey're not getting the proper
diet and proper care.
So some of the things that cameup in that episode were
(18:40):
misconceptions that you knowthat rabbits were super low
maintenance and easy starterpets, the importance of spaying
and neutering which I only hadone bunny but even for having
one bunny, how that could impacttheir behavior and things like
that.
Their need for mentalstimulation and social
interaction no idea, and that'swhat makes me feel really guilty
(19:00):
about the bunny that I had.
Yeah.
Bev Brooks (19:03):
I was going to say when you know better, you do
better.
That's why these podcasts aregreat.
I didn't know anything aboutbunnies.
I had no clue, so yeah, if Iwas to get one now, this is
great.
I know what I'm getting into.
Amy Castro (19:14):
Yeah, yeah, there's quite a bit, even just their
habitat and how that needs to be.
Yeah, let's see.
Oh, ethical consideration inshelters you know what happens
to rabbits when they end up inshelters and you know what kind
of specialized care they mightneed.
Because I know we ran into thata couple of times where we've
gotten, when I used to volunteerat a shelter and they'd get an
(19:34):
animal in that you know itwasn't a dog or a cat and they
had no supplies and not really ahuge inclination to go and get
them.
It's like how long are yougonna leave that animal without
food?
And then educational outreach,I think, was another thing the
importance of really educating,and I think Save a Bunny does a
good job of not only matchingappropriate bunny to the
(19:56):
appropriate adopter but alsoeducating people on their needs
and their care.
So I know that was a big thingto me, Like I've kind of decided
that I probably wouldn't have abunny, maybe once my herd got
culled down a little bit, but Ican't give it that attention and
I certainly don't wantmultiples.
So it's interesting, it reallygets you thinking about them on
(20:18):
a different level.
And then the one other thing Idid want to bring up was the
whole conversation about bunniesbeing used as food for animals.
That was something that Ithought I'd never really thought
about that.
I was looking at food the otherday trying to find a limited
ingredient and it was likerabbit meat and I kind of
cringed because one of Marcy'skey points in that episode was
(20:39):
yes, if you, if you're, if youhaven't a pet, that is a
carnivore, like a cat, and theonly thing that they can eat
without having a horrificreaction is rabbit, then yes,
make that available on a specialorder basis.
But the fact that we're makingall of these products with
rabbit meat, we're basicallyintroducing another animal
(21:00):
beyond the chickens and theother animals that are already
being killed for us to eat andfor animals to eat.
Everybody's dog doesn't need toeat rabbits, so if we didn't
allow that to happen, then a lotless rabbits would die.
Bev Brooks (21:14):
Right, right, that goes back to reading those
labels.
You know my takeaway was moreof a cultural thing.
She made this comment.
She said rabbits are where catsused to be, and that broke my
heart.
You know it's like the way wedote on our cats.
They didn't used to be that way, it was always, I guess, the
dogs first.
You know it's like the way wedote on our cats.
They didn't used to be that way, it was always, I guess, the
(21:35):
dogs first.
You know, back 40 million yearsor whatever it was.
And now cats have become thatyou know, a multi-billion dollar
industry and rabbits are justkind of thought about as like oh
yeah, look a rabbit.
You know it's, and that's theway cats used to be thought of.
I just it just broke my heartthat they're just like second
(21:56):
class citizens and they're not.
It's your responsibility.
If you have a pet to take careof it.
You take care of it.
Yeah, soup to nuts, yeah.
Amy Castro (22:04):
Yeah, yeah, I think that Well, and that's kind of a
little hang up that I have ingeneral about you know, you see
these videos of unusual animalsthat are now being, you know,
brought in as pets and it's likedo you really need an armadillo
as a pet?
Do you really need, you know,some of these exotic animals
(22:26):
that get not necessarily bred incaptivity but captured other
places, but captured otherplaces?
And you know, it's like, it'skind of like I got into an
argument with somebody the otherday, once again on the rescue
side of things, about declawingcats.
And, you know, having a cat isnot a right.
(22:49):
So therefore, if you can't keepit in physically intact without
amputating its toes or you'reallergic, so now you want to
have people breed hairless catsthat self mutilate every time
they're bathing themselves withtheir barbed tongues?
Maybe you just don't get a cat,maybe you're just not allowed
you know, not allowed to haveone.
It's just agreed you move on andget something else.
Bev Brooks (23:11):
You know it's not the cat's fault.
You have allergies or they haveexpensive furniture, yeah,
sorry at that point, what's thepoint?
What's the point if it's, ifit's, if your furniture is going
to get ruined, if you have poorallergies, you know that that
particular pet is not for you.
Try goldfish, see, see whatthat and even that has.
Amy Castro (23:28):
But I want one, yeah , yeah and that's the that, the
thing it's like just because youwant it doesn't mean you get to
have it.
Bev Brooks (23:35):
Life's not like that , yeah.
Amy Castro (23:37):
But yet I get into arguments with people all the
time.
So I think it's the same withbunnies.
If you can't listen to thatepisode and say, yes, I can
provide this kind of life andlifestyle for this animal, you
shouldn't have one.
Bev Brooks (23:48):
Exactly.
That's a great point.
That's what these podcasts areso great.
You're going into it with eyeswide open.
You know what?
That type of dog is not the dogfor me.
This type of dog is the dog forme.
It's not about being turneddown for adoption, it's about
what's the best fit.
I mean, you've been preachingthat forever.
You got to have the best fit.
And if it's not going to be thedog that you want, take the are
best fitted to and give thatdog a home.
Amy Castro (24:11):
Yeah, because people are just super selfish, they
want what they want and it'sjust very aggravating, very
aggravating.
Anyway, we could do a wholeepisode on that.
I think we should have done itto a certain degree.
Yeah, all right, moving rightalong.
The third most popular episodewas I've got too many papers
going on.
Here was Season 2, episode 80with Jonathan Weinberg of
(24:34):
Synchrony parent company, ofCare Credit with expert advice
for paying for and saving onyour vet bills.
I think that is such a hugetopic in this day and age.
I mean the fact that there issuch a thing as economic
euthanasia you know, people thathave animals that could
absolutely be saved.
They just can't afford to do itand have no means to pay for it
and therefore the animal getseuthanized is a bit appalling.
(24:58):
So what we discussed and I'lljust kind of run down the quick
topics here we talked about theimportance of preventative care
and it kind of goes back to thewhole food and diet.
Like if we spend the money onthe food and diet, then you're
not going to have those issueswith cancer and other things
later on that you might havewhen you feed crappy food.
So the importance of regularcheckups facts, you know
(25:23):
appropriate vaccinations,parasite prevention.
We talked briefly about petinsurance, but we did a whole
episode about pet insurance, soI didn't, we didn't go too far
down that road.
The importance of having anemergency fund, the importance
of understanding what your careoptions are.
You know it's like whether it'sa low cost clinic or, you know,
getting certain things done fromyour vet and certain things
through other communityresources, negotiating payment
plans.
(25:43):
And then you know and I wouldlike to do a whole episode on
this and I think I probably willin 2025, is finding the words
to have the conversation andbeing brave enough to have the
conversation with your vet aboutcare options, because vets are
going to offer you the optimaltreatment or the gold standard
treatment, and that may not bethe only treatment.
(26:05):
There may be step ups that youcan do towards that treatment to
see if certain things work.
And we just don't.
You know, we kind of hear whatit is, we hear the price tag and
we say yay or nay withoutdiscussion, and I think that
communication is so importantand most vets are super open to
it, and if they're not, I thinkyou need to find another vet.
That's a whole nother episodetoo, but anyway, what did you
(26:26):
think about that episode, bev?
Bev Brooks (26:27):
I was thinking the same thing.
What struck me after listeningto it was how many options there
are.
Get creative as far as healthcare, whether it's doing your
own financial saving or whatever.
But, like you said, your vet isalways willing to work with you
.
I have yet to meet not that Imeet them a lot, but I have yet
to meet a vet that isn'topen-minded enough to work with
you.
It's all about the care of thepet.
(26:49):
Yes, they are in it for theprofit they have to run their
business, but they're stillwilling to be creative as far as
health care goes with their pet.
Yeah, that was a good episode.
Surprisingly number three to me, because I didn't realize that,
because I'm so blessed with ahealthy income that I didn't
realize this was like a make orbreak type of thing for people,
(27:09):
and it breaks my heart that ifyou can't afford certain options
, that you have to let the petgo.
But this is I mean, this iswhat Starlight was doing, also
doing that outreach, like theGreat Dane the Great Dane that
you had that was hit by a carand the family couldn't afford
it.
That that's the outreach part ofStarlight.
You know you assisted them.
Amy Castro (27:26):
Yeah.
Bev Brooks (27:27):
You know yeah.
Amy Castro (27:29):
Yeah.
And then you know and that kindof ties back it.
Yeah, and that kind of tiesback.
It's kind of a chicken and eggthing of when you get a Great
Dane it's going to be expensive,even if it doesn't get hit by a
car, because it's going to beexpensive to feed, it's going to
be expensive to care for.
And when I have adopters thatcome to us and they say things
like I have to wait until mynext paycheck to pay the $85
(27:51):
adoption fee, that is a huge redflag to me because that's not
anywhere near to what it's goingto cost you annually to care
for that pet.
And so if you're struggling topay the adoption fee, again I
know, I want, I want, I want,but maybe now is not the time
for you to have a pet, or maybeyou need a different kind of pet
that has a more manageablemaintenance cost, for lack of a
(28:15):
better term.
Bev Brooks (28:16):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (28:18):
You know.
Another thing I would say tooabout the whole affording the
pet care and you know, like yousaid, most vets are willing to
work with you, etc.
Etc.
Keeping in mind too, becauseI've run into this a couple
times in the past couple ofweeks is that most vets are
willing to work with theirestablished clients and people
who have paid their bills ontime in the past and people who
(28:40):
have not no-showed forappointments and things like
that.
So if you're one of those peoplebecause we had a couple of
people this week who we turneddown for adoptions for new pets,
because they don't routinelytake their animal to a vet and
the last vet visit was, you know, to the vet to put their animal
to sleep because something, youknow, it just wasn't acting
(29:01):
right and it's like, well,whatever it was, it could have
been something that waslingering there for a long time
and had you gone to your vetroutinely, maybe you would have
discovered that sooner, insteadof putting your animal down and
maybe not.
Things do creep up.
I understand that.
But when you've got two cats asan example, one that I turned
down this week, two cats thathadn't been to the vet except
(29:22):
one when it went to be put tosleep, and one when it had a
kidney stone and had to haveemergency surgery but had not
been to a vet for 10 yearsbefore that.
It's like do I want to adopt akitten to you Because that
kitten's going to need care?
Bev Brooks (29:36):
along the way oh my gosh.
Amy Castro (29:37):
So we get a lot of that Like people think, or
people that say, well, it's anindoor cat, it doesn't need to
go to the vet.
It's like that's just likesaying my kids don't need to go
to the pediatrician because Itake good care of them.
Bev Brooks (29:48):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (29:49):
They still need checkups, yeah, at least
periodically, and that's thething.
Bev Brooks (29:52):
It translates.
It's nothing new.
You know, you bring your kidfor annual physicals.
I would imagine the sameapplies to pets that right now
are sitting next to me trying todestroy my writing envelopes.
Amy Castro (30:13):
Yeah, there.
You also have to realizewhether you have a relationship
with them or not, and how goodthat relationship is can impact
how much they're willing to riskgiving you a payment plan or
waiting until tomorrow to getpaid, because the bottom line is
a business.
They've got to pay their bills,otherwise they're going to go
out of business and then youwon't have access to any vet.
Bev Brooks (30:34):
I didn't think of it like that.
If you're a chronically goodcustomer, they're going to be
willing to take that.
I never thought of that.
Amy Castro (30:41):
Yeah, make an appointment and keep it, don't
just no-show and it's just yeah.
That could go on and on right.
There Be a good clientInteresting and your vet might
treat you well.
All right, moving along.
Okay, now we're getting intothe top two.
The top two.
So the number two episode of thesecond season of Starlight Pet
(31:04):
Talk was season two, episode 77,fix Five Annoying Dog Behaviors
Fast with my friend RuthHegarty again.
So she ended up twice in thetop 10.
And one of the reasons wepicked the five behaviors that
we did is because, well, becausethey are the top most annoying
but several of them are the mostchronic and common reasons that
(31:30):
people will give up their dogsto rescues and shelters because
of some of these behaviors.
So we talked about what theissues were and I think Ruth did
a really great job of givingsome really down-to-earth,
easy-to-start-with advice forfixing some of the issues.
So the five issues were leashpulling, nuisance, barking
that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
(31:50):
Recall, like coming back whenyou call them jumping up on
people a huge pet peeve of mine.
Recall, like coming back whenyou call them Jumping up on
people another huge pet peeve ofmine.
And then destructive chewing,which I've experienced a lot of.
You know.
Case in point, the Dyson vacuumand my two $1,200 Lazy Boy
recliners.
So I left a foster dogunattended in the living room
for 30 minutes and that dogchewed the arm and the seat just
(32:13):
enough to damage them and makethem look like shit and then
went across the room and did itto the other matching chair.
Oh no, so they both are chewedup and they're now worth nothing
.
I could probably, if they hadnot been chewed up because they
were expensive chairs andthey're relatively new I could
probably have sold each of thosechairs for two $300.
But no, right now I'm going to.
Yes, I think I could probablyhave sold each of those chairs
(32:34):
for two $300, but no, right nowI'm going to.
Yes, I think I could.
I think I could have cause.
I got two, 50 for the sofa.
Bev Brooks (32:39):
Wow.
Amy Castro (32:40):
Yeah, all right.
So anyway, that's not the point, bev.
The point is that two perfectlygood chairs are going to end up
in the garbage dump, um, or seton fire in my backyard as a
final farewell.
Bev Brooks (32:56):
A Viking send off.
Amy Castro (32:57):
There we go, yeah, so anyway.
So anyway, bev, you don't havea dog, so what did you think of
that?
I don't.
Bev Brooks (33:05):
However, my takeaway from that was all of those
things you just described arecompletely fixable and doable if
you are consistent.
Amy Castro (33:18):
Yeah, that's huge.
Bev Brooks (33:21):
I mean, it works for this damn cat who thinks he's a
dog.
If you're consistent with stuff, you will see a change, but you
must be consistent, yeah.
Amy Castro (33:30):
Dogs and children and cats, it's all the same
thing consistency.
So now remind us Bev, not usremind me, bev.
Didn't you get bitten by a dogone time, fairly recently, and
was there a recall issueinvolved?
Or did it when you were walkingand that guy had the dog at the
construction site?
And the dog, oh, that's right.
Bev Brooks (33:52):
I forgot about that.
So I'm walking in myneighborhood and a guy's working
construction on a home and youknow as people will do, they'll
bring their dogs to theconstruction site to hang out or
whatever and um, this dog cameoff the site towards me and I
don't know what kind of dog Iwant to say it was a spitz.
It was like a, um, long hair,white, fluffy type of thing, and
(34:18):
I guess he started to likeheard me, you know, he was
circling me or whatever, and henipped my back of my leg.
I couldn't believe it.
He pulled my sweatpants awayfrom and he kind of nipped me,
but the guy was calling and thedog never came, you know.
And then finally after finally,yeah, finally, after the dog bit
my leg PS, it was just a littlenip, it's not the point, it
hurt, it was like a pinch.
And it wasn't until then thatthe dog finally came.
(34:41):
I guess the dog must have heardit in the owner's voice that he
really means it this time.
That's another thing.
You can't just say it, you haveto mean it when you say it, and
they can tell the difference.
They can totally tell thedifference.
They can totally tell thedifference when you know, like
when your mom uses your middlename, you just you know, you
know that type of thing.
Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.
I'm like just train your dogbetter Work with your dog.
Amy Castro (35:01):
Yeah, you should not have your dog off leash if it's
not reliably coming back.
That's the key thing, rightthere.
Bev Brooks (35:08):
Not only that, who knows where this guy lives?
He's at a construction site.
It's not his home, he's in astrange neighborhood.
What if that dog took off?
He'll never see it again.
Amy Castro (35:15):
It's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen.
Bev Brooks (35:19):
I totally forgot about that.
Yeah, and I certainly wasn'tmad at the dog, I was mad at the
guy.
Amy Castro (35:26):
Oh, I'd have been mad at the dog too.
Bev Brooks (35:28):
No, it's not the dog's fault.
It's not the dog's fault.
It's not the dog's fault.
You're right, the dog was justdoing the dog thing, he's just
reflecting what he knows, whichis next to nothing, because the
owner wasn't consistent with thedog.
Amy Castro (35:40):
Yeah, neither of you should have been put in that
situation.
Bev Brooks (35:44):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (35:44):
Well, I will say one of the things the jumping up
jumps out at me now becauseSassy, our blind pit bull who
we're still trying to find ahome for after I don't know a
year and a half going on, twoyears now she used to have a
real problem with jumping andshe's gotten.
But the key is not winding herup when you first come out, come
(36:04):
in the house or whatever.
But I don't think she's jumpedup on me in several months now.
So we finally, because yeah shewas, yeah she was, and
especially because she came withthese long disgusting toenails
which we've had a heck of a timetrying to get those quicks to
go back and shorten them up.
It was like she'd jump up andclaw you as she slid her way
down and leave, you know, longbruises down your leg.
Bev Brooks (36:26):
So not only that, she's.
She's kind of tall.
When she's up on her back legsit's not like a little tiny, you
know, little dog or whatever.
So when she jumps up on you,you know it Exactly.
Amy Castro (36:37):
Oh, but she's such a love.
Bev Brooks (36:38):
I can't believe she's not adopted.
Well, I can believe she's notadopted out.
It's a little bit of a specialneeds, but she is a sweetie,
definite sweetie.
Amy Castro (36:45):
Yep, so anyway.
Bev Brooks (36:47):
You can see pictures of her on Facebook.
Amy Castro (36:49):
That's true.
Yeah, we just posted her upagain, like please, because her
foster is moving and cannot takeher with her.
But yeah, I think that'sdefinitely.
If you're, if anyone's outthere dealing with any of those
issues, you need to go back andlisten to that episode.
But the primary thing, like Bevsaid, is being consistent.
Like you can't even even justdoing recall in your house, you
(37:09):
can't call them and then havethem not come to you.
Like, doing recall in yourhouse, you can't call them and
then have them not come to you.
Bev Brooks (37:16):
Like you can you've got to make sure that it happens
, otherwise, you know, two outof three times is not super
helpful.
Yeah, it doesn't do anything.
It doesn't seal the deal youneed.
You need to be consistent,right, yeah.
Amy Castro (37:23):
All right, moving right along the number one
episode and actually it's thesame guy who had the number one
episode of 2023, I believe, ofSeason 3.
Bev Brooks (37:32):
No way.
Amy Castro (37:33):
I think I'm pretty sure.
I have to go back and look, butI'm pretty sure it was.
Yes, it is.
You know why?
I know that for a fact Becauseit's the number one episode
overall.
Huh was Are you Feeding yourPet the Right Food?
With Dr Jeff Grognet.
So that's our number still ourhighest downloaded episode.
(37:53):
But the number one episode of2024 only was Season 2, episode
70, pet Vaccination Essentialswith Dr Jeff.
So that one I think I love whenhe comes on because he is a
holistic veterinarian.
But he came from a verytraditional veterinary
background.
I mean, he's been practicingfor years and years and years.
(38:13):
So it's not like he doesn'trealize this is the way the
world used to see veterinarycare and he has evolved as a
veterinarian into who he is nowand has a huge following of
people that take his courses andget his newsletter, things like
that.
So we talked about vaccines,because there's a lot of
controversy these days aboutwhether our pets really need all
(38:36):
of the vaccines that they getand whether they need them every
single year, like we've kind ofalways traditionally thought.
So we talked about thedifference between core and
non-core vaccines, the risksrelated to over-vaccination,
which a huge percentage of it iscancer side effects of vaccine,
how we can titer test our petsif we wanted to know whether a
(38:58):
vaccine was still viable intheir system.
We talked a little bit aboutjust general holistic veterinary
care care.
But then the duration ofimmunity.
I think that was superinteresting to realize that many
of the vaccines, if we givethem once, twice, thrice, are
pretty much good from there onout, and so we don't need to
necessarily be giving them anyyear.
(39:18):
And you know what I think isinteresting too?
Why is it miraculously, in thelast couple of years we have
quote unquote three-yearvaccines like rabies as an
example.
As long as you do it everythree years by the deadline,
it's because it's the samevaccine, people.
It's not any different, it'snot stronger than the one-year
vaccine.
It's because they realize youdon't need it.
That often, probably, threeyears is probably too frequent
(39:41):
as far as I'm concerned, butanyway.
So what did you think aboutthat?
I know we had some bigdiscussions because we were
talking about it before, becausehe went to the vet the last
time.
Bev Brooks (39:50):
That's true, and prior to me actually going to
the vet to get his vaccinations,research had come out saying
there was no difference in thecancer what do you call the
cancer at the site of thevaccination Right?
There's a term for it.
Apparently, there's nostatistical difference between
(40:10):
the one and the three-yearBecause it's the same vaccine
Bottom line is do your research.
Like reading your labels, doyour research.
And I like the fact that hekept saying ask questions.
Like when you go to the doctorsjust say you get scary news,
you have all sorts of questionsfor the doctor, write them down.
When you're in that office andyou see that white coat your
(40:33):
mind just goes blank.
So write those things down anddon't dismiss a question like oh
, it's not important right nowCause he must be busy Ask the
questions.
Just keep asking.
Amy Castro (40:43):
Yeah, so a funny behind the scenes during that
recording.
Yeah, so a funny behind thescenes during that recording.
So we had scheduled, obviously,a recording date and he's a
busy guy so getting on hiscalendar gets a little dicey
sometimes.
But we got it scheduled and sowe're just chit-chatting a
little bit before we get started, just to kind of warm things up
(41:04):
or whatever, and he tells mehe's not at home, he's at his I
don't know if it was a cabin,but like sound like a vacation
home in the woods in Canada, andso like it was just a lot of
audio issues.
There was the microphone issueand then I've got really
sensitive ears anyway.
But I hear this like humming,buzzing in the background.
(41:26):
I'm like, is there a fan orsomething going?
And he's like, oh, that's theheater that had kicked on.
So he had to shut the heat offand it's like, okay, now it was
back to being quiet.
We start talking again and thenall of a sudden I hear like,
kind of faintly in thebackground, and I'm like, okay,
and it went on.
And then it kind of stopped andthen it started again and it
(41:47):
wasn't summer like, and he wasmowing the lawn and I was like
is somebody?
Is somebody like sawingsomething outside your house?
And he's like, oh yeah, we'vegot a company here cutting down
a bunch of trees around theproperty.
I'm like, is this really thebest day for us to be doing this
?
Like you gotta be kidding me.
So the editing of that episodewas a nightmare.
(42:08):
I mean, we had to literallysplit our audios and then I had
to erase everything between thewords that he actually spoke and
then cut certain things outbecause it got rammed over.
But still we managed to cobbletogether.
Bev Brooks (42:24):
I'll tell you what you must do a great job editing,
because I didn't pick up onanything like that at all.
And then sometimes, when you docomplain about stuff, I'm like
I don't think it's as big of adeal, you just want it, you want
it to be perfect, I get it.
You want to polish everythingup and everything, but I
couldn't tell all the editingyou're talking about.
That's great.
That was a yeah that's a lot ofwork.
Amy Castro (42:43):
Yeah, I'm not going to put that much work in anymore
people.
Muddy pause is going to bemuddy, it's going to be muddy.
I mean I'm not going to reallyallow crappy audio, but I'm
going to try my best and it'sgoing to start with this episode
to not over-edit, like justleave it out how it naturally
occurred and not try to make itseem too polished, because I
(43:04):
want you to feel like you'repart of the conversation.
Bev Brooks (43:07):
Yeah, buddy.
Amy Castro (43:08):
And conversations kind of ramble sometimes or
whatnot.
So anyway, yeah, I think we gota good second year, a lot of
growth in our download numbers,so that's super exciting, that's
awesome.
Yeah, we're reaching more people, getting good feedback from
people and so, yeah, it was good.
And I'm always surprised too.
I think when I reach out topeople, it's like that person's
(43:29):
not going to be on my show,they're this or they're that, or
they're famous or they're thatwork for this big organization
or whatever it is, and peoplewant to get the word out about
what their area of expertise isor their product or whatever it
might be right, right can I canI mention two shout outs for my
top favorite?
Bev Brooks (43:46):
Sure, yeah no that's what I wanted to get to next.
As much as I love those, theones that were near and dear to
my heart were two about themilitary.
One of them was Dogs onDeployment with Alicia Sieber, I
believe her name is.
I thought that was sointeresting.
So while a service member isdeployed, it's sometimes
(44:09):
ridiculously expensive to bringthe pet with them.
So you could actually fostertheir pet while they're away and
take care of it while they'reaway until they come back.
I mean, yes, there's pitfallsthat come and go along the way
Like they might not come back,they might come back a lot later
than expected, or whatever thecase may be.
I thought that was just genius,and to be able to foster for
(44:30):
the military is awesome.
I think that's just verycreative and very amazing.
Love that one.
Amy Castro (44:35):
Yeah, that was a really good one and you know, as
a former military member, Ilike to support, you know, when
military-related organizations.
We've had a couple that weremilitary-related, like you said.
I'm sure you're going to get tothe other one, but I do want to
say so, elisa Sieber.
She was a Marine pilot andstarted this organization
(44:56):
because she struggled herself intrying to figure out, when she
was going to be deployed, whatwas going to happen to her pets.
And she got lucky and hadfamily members.
But I don't think I realizedhow many military members had to
give up their pets because ofdeployments, because they didn't
have somebody to care for them.
Or, my God, we pay our militarypeople the like the crappiest
(45:17):
wages for the amount of hoursthat they work and what they
sacrifice.
And so you know ain't.
Nobody can be gone for sixmonths and pay $50 a day to
board their dog.
That's crazy.
Even a colonel couldn't do that.
Bev Brooks (45:30):
Unless you have military in your family, that's
something you just don't evengive a second thought to.
So when that came up, I wasjust flabbergasted by the whole
thing.
The other one I wanted to talkabout was Mission Canine Rescue
with Kristen Moorer.
These are like bomb dogs.
Yeah, bomb dogs yeah bomb dogs,protection dogs, basically
(45:51):
working dogs of various workingdogs that want to get reunited
with the handler.
I was flabbergasted at themoney that it takes to do that.
Why is it so expensive?
Um, and this she, when kristinwas talking, she the stuff that
she'll crawl over broken glassto help you out.
I was like, oh my god.
So to be to be able to reunitethose handlers with those dogs
that saved their lives or, youknow, protected so many soldiers
(46:12):
, is just again, if you don'thave a military person in your
life, who knew, who knew, Ithought they hop on the plane
with them, on the transportplane.
Oh no, oh no, it's a lot morecomplicated.
Had no idea.
Amy Castro (46:24):
Well, they're over in some foreign country and
they're no longer of use and thehandler gets sent home and the
dog gets euthanized or just, youknow, abandoned in some form or
fashion.
Yeah, and so I think her andyou know, if you think about,
like you said, a bomb dog orjust a security dog, like you
(46:46):
relied on that dog and the dogrelied on you to keep you alive
and others alive, and you've hadthis connection for, however,
however long it is, and nowyou're going to be separated,
knowing full well that thatanimal is not going to come to a
good end.
Like I can't even imagine howthat would feel.
And you have no choice.
Like they have no choice.
They can't even, for the mostpart, they can't even at their
(47:07):
own expense.
Just be like, okay, I'll pay,or my dad will pay to bring the
dog back.
It's like it belongs to thatcompany or that organization.
Bev Brooks (47:15):
That was again.
I was just blown away, no ideathat this was going on, no clue,
yeah.
And everybody loves scrollingthrough reels on Instagram with
the dogs getting reunited withdeployed soldiers and stuff like
that when they come at home.
You can't help but just fall inlove with that, that reaction.
Or when the dog when the dog atfirst is really, really
(47:36):
hesitant and then he kind offigures it out that that's his
owner, Like that's amazing.
That's some good stuff rightthere.
Amy Castro (47:41):
Yeah, the nose has to kick in.
It's like the nose has to kickin yeah, yeah.
Oh, they just break my heartevery time I see those yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Bev Brooks (47:50):
You know I don't have a favorite.
I don't mean to ask you.
Amy Castro (47:52):
No, no, I was just.
I was just thinking, you know,I will say that, uh, one of my
favorites was season two,episode 66 on pet massage.
That particular episode, theguest was a pet masseuse, a
certified canine massagetherapist, blanca Rodriguez.
I think her passion and hercompassion for animals just
(48:14):
really came through.
I mean, it was just like itfelt like a very, you know,
personal and, I guess, intenseconversation and just to talk to
somebody who believed so muchin what they were doing and the
power of what they were doing,the stories that she talked
about working with, you know,shelter animals and the impact
of that touch.
I mean we all, you know, we allknow the impact of of touch and
(48:37):
how, how, what a positiveimpact it has on human and
animals and, um, I just thinkher, her passion for what she
did and her caring for animalsjust really kind of touched my
heart with that episode.
So that was one of my favorites.
But I don't know.
I feel like almost all of themare favorites because they're
all pretty much handpicked basedon either a personal interest,
(49:00):
a need or both along the way.
So that's definitely a good one.
Okay, bev.
So to wrap things up and wrapup this episode, what are your
thoughts, moving forward, aboutMuddy Paws?
You've had some time to digestthe fact that Muddy Paws is here
.
It's going to be a little bitmore like this conversation, a
(49:22):
little more laid back.
Yeah, what do you think is goingto happen for us in 25?
Bev Brooks (49:27):
I don't know.
After all the episodes thatyou've done, after everything
that I've learned in only twoseasons, I can't even imagine
next year.
What are you going to come upwith?
Like, I think it's going to begreat.
Amy Castro (49:40):
I've already got all kinds of things in the works.
Bev Brooks (49:43):
I really don't know how you do it.
There's always something new tolearn.
And I go back to the militarything.
I not only wasn't concernedabout it, I had no idea it
existed.
So there's things out therelike pet nutrition and
vaccinations and things likethat.
I didn't give it a secondthought and now I have a lot to
think about.
So I'm looking forward to thenext hundred episodes, yeah.
Amy Castro (50:06):
Yeah, I kind of feel like you know number one when
it comes to organizations likeMission, canine Rescue and Dogs
on Deployment.
You know there's a lot oforganizations out there that you
know they're not necessarilyputting out national television
commercials so that you see themon TV.
There's a lot of people doing alot of good work for animals
(50:26):
around this country and aroundthe world, and so you know
discovering some of those,whether it's them reaching out
to me.
So if you've got anorganization like that, reach
out and let us know, or you knowus doing our homework on our
end to find organizations thatwe want to highlight and draw
some more attention to.
I mean that's, I think that isan untapped, probably
(50:48):
never-ending source of episodes.
And then I think you know ourevolution for the pet care.
I mean look how much you and Ihave evolved, how pet care was
when we were kids.
And you know, and the thingsthat were okay to do back then
and how we've evolved from there, and then everything we've
(51:09):
learned from hearing andparticipating in these podcast
episodes over the last two years.
And the field of animal care,you know, is a multi-billion
dollar industry the pet industryand so I think there's all
kinds of new innovations andchanges and things that we're
(51:29):
going to see next year andbeyond.
So I don't think we're going torun out of things to talk.
Bev Brooks (51:33):
I hope not, cause I wish you all the success in the
world.
You're the best.
Thank you.
Amy Castro (51:39):
And you're my best co-host and sometimes co-host,
yeah, and so you know,definitely for those of you
listening just to final thoughtshere if there is something that
you want to learn about someorganization, that you come
across a product, something yourvet tells you that you hadn't
heard before, let us know aboutit because we will dig into it
and we'll do an episode on it ifwe feel like it is of interest
(52:01):
to the rest of our audience aswell.
So we look to you to help guidethe future of Muddy Paws and
Hairballs and, on that note,anything you want to say.
So we look to you to help guidethe future of muddy paws and
hairballs and, on that note,anything you want to say, yeah,
keep us posted on the poop andthe pee in the dining room.
Oh yeah, it's a constant, it's aconstant, let us know who the
culprit is.
Bev Brooks (52:22):
I know, I think I'm just going to set up cameras.
Amy Castro (52:24):
That's probably the best way to do it.
I have one charging.
Bev Brooks (52:26):
There you go, I can help.
Amy Castro (52:28):
Anyway, so on that note of pee and poop and puke.
Bev Brooks (52:34):
We want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, all
the best holidays and the newyear.
Amy Castro (52:39):
Yes, and have a wonderful new year, and we will
be back with a new season ofMuddy Paws and Hairballs in 2025
.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs in 2025.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
(53:02):
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
Muddy Paws and Hairballs is going to be ready
to launch in 2025.
But this last episode is ourfinal episode of Starlight Pet
Talk and we're going to wrap upby talking about the top
episodes of the year and whythey were so popular.
So stay tuned.
All right, everybody, welcometo Muddy Paws and Hairballs.
(00:38):
But in reality, this is thefinal episode of Starlight Pet
Talk and, as I said in my I knowit's sad, it's a.
You know it's.
It's a chapter.
Yes, I was going to say the endof an era, but I don't know.
Does it?
Does two years really count asan era?
It's a chapter.
It's a chapter.
End of a chapter, beginning ofa new and exciting chapter.
(00:59):
I'm here with my friend Bev, asyou can hear her cackling in
the background.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to talk about the
top episodes of Starlight PetTalk for 2024, not overall.
If you want to go back and knowwhat the overall ones, then
you've got to listen to the topepisodes of 2023 and 2024, and
then you can do the math on yourown.
(01:20):
But we will get to that in justa minute.
But first of all, I want totalk about good news and bad
news, because I wanted to sharea little.
Like I said when we startedMuddy Paws, that we're going to
get down and dirty and real, andso I just want to tell you a
little bit about my morning sofar, because we're going to
(01:41):
start with the bad news so far,because we're going to start
with the bad news.
Bev Brooks (01:44):
Can I just tell everybody that this is how most
of our conversations start.
We speak several times a weekand they usually start with let
me tell you what happened lastnight.
Amy Castro (01:52):
Yeah Well, yeah so, yeah.
So Bev actually has relativeswho thinks I don't have any
friends because I call Bev somuch.
It's kind of like talking toyour sister, right, you get up,
you do your little chores, yousit down with your cup of coffee
and you call your sister andyou'll be like, hey, what
(02:14):
happened to me?
But usually the conversationstarts with you know what my
favorite thing is, or what Ilike to do is I call up and I
asked to speak to the complaintdepartment and then she does
this whole routine.
Would you like to do it?
Let's just demonstrate it, okay.
Bev Brooks (02:27):
Oh.
I haven't done it in so long?
All right, we'll give it a shot.
Amy Castro (02:30):
It's been a little while, so I'll actually I'll
launch into the bad news byusing this as the platform and
then I'll give you all the goodnews, but anyway.
So ring, ring, ring, phonerings.
Bev answers the phone, she saysHello and I say I'd like to
speak to somebody in the petcomplaint department, please.
Bev Brooks (02:52):
Hold on one second please.
Amy Castro (02:59):
The complaint department.
Is it involving a mineral, aanimal or a?
Bev Brooks (03:04):
vegetable Animal and vegetable because it involves a
pet and puke?
Is that vegetable Animal andvegetable because it involves a
pet and puke?
Complaint department.
This is the vegetabledepartment.
Can I help you?
Amy Castro (03:14):
And then the conversation goes like from
there.
Because I have seven animalsliving in my house right now, I
have been trying to identifywhich of the seven animals is
pooping and peeing around myhouse, because I'm tired of
stepping in it, I'm tired ofpicking it up.
And so I spent the weekend,while Kelsey was out of town,
(03:37):
trying to isolate certain petsat night to see who leaves the
big surprise in the morning andwhere it is.
And so this morning, sinceKelsey is now back from her trip
, she took her dog Gigi, becauseI think she's one of the
suspects personally, I've seenher in action.
She took her back in her roomovernight and I put all of the
(03:58):
dogs in the dining room, whichis now just a giant dog pen in
there last night and figured wewould see what happens.
Well, there was nothing on thefloor in the dining room.
I'm assuming nobody peed inKelsey's bed.
But there were two turds by thefront door and upon closer
(04:18):
inspection, when I went to cleanthem up, they were cold.
So it wasn't like somebody didit like after I let them out
this morning, because it waslike five o'clock in the morning
it was dark, so somebody did ita while ago.
So it was either a cat, becausethe cats were on the loose, or
it happened last night before Iput everybody up.
(04:38):
So I'm no no wiser, but I didspend my morning, once again,
cleaning up poop.
Oh, and then somebody pukedfrom the kitchen out all the way
out to the front door.
It was like a long day.
Yeah, I think it was puke.
I mean I, I didn't want to, Ididn't want to inspect it too
closely.
Bev Brooks (04:55):
Couple of thoughts?
Yeah, Couple of thoughts.
This sounds very complicated,but definitely necessary.
But cold turds yeah.
How did we discover that?
Amy Castro (05:09):
Well, when I picked them up in the paper towel, it
wasn't soft and warm.
Bev Brooks (05:13):
So you didn't step in it and discover it that way.
Amy Castro (05:15):
No, no, but that has happened before.
The other morning I came out ofmy bedroom at 5.15, and luckily
there was enough light comingfrom outside that I could see
two things on the floor directly.
I think they do it directly inline of a door, so somebody
steps in it.
Because there were two thingson the ground spaced about two
feet apart between my route frommy bedroom to the back door to
(05:40):
let the dogs out.
So of course I circumventedthose things, because they could
have been anything right.
They could have been turds,they could have been toys, and
it was two turds, two separatepiles of turds, small piles.
Bev Brooks (05:52):
So what is happening ?
What is happening.
Amy Castro (05:55):
I don't know.
Somebody's lost their damn mind, so I got to figure out who it
is, because I'm getting ready tomove into an RV with all of
these jerks and it's not goingto be pretty.
But we'll, we'll work on it.
I think I probably just need tostart leaving out maybe one or
two, cause I know for sure it'snot Gunny and it's not Sassy the
(06:16):
two big dogs.
So maybe leave one little dog,one big dog out and then see
what happens.
Bev Brooks (06:20):
And then I'll miss that little dog, but anyway yeah
, I wonder if other people havethis issue.
Amy Castro (06:26):
I'm sure, I'm sure they do.
I mean not people that don'thave pets.
Bev Brooks (06:31):
Well, I mean someone who's got a good quantity.
Would you have five, sevenanimals, seven?
Amy Castro (06:36):
There's seven running around inside the house
right now.
Is that counting Kelsey?
No, that, no, that would beeight, and two of them are blind
.
So I know that, especially theblind cat, probably her life is
a little stressful.
We just started her on Prozac.
Bev Brooks (06:50):
Yeah, so yeah, I just, it's just, I wish there
was a solution.
You're doing the right thing,like the process of elimination,
you know, yeah, elimination.
You see what I did there.
Amy Castro (07:02):
Yeah, very funny, all right, so let's move on from
elimination and the bad news.
Bev Brooks (07:07):
So that was the bad news.
Amy Castro (07:08):
Is that my life continues to be mornings of
cleaning up poop or pee or both.
Today it was just poop, so thatI guess wasn't too bad, oh and
puke Sorry.
So two out of three peas.
Bev Brooks (07:21):
It makes me feel better about my life.
Amy Castro (07:23):
Yeah, you don't have any bad news you want to share.
Bev Brooks (07:27):
No, because he's perfect in every way.
When he's going to puke, hegives me a lot of warning, so I
can grab some newspaper, and youknow we're good Newspaper what
you read while he's doing it.
Yes, I read while he's puking.
Poor little thing.
Amy Castro (07:41):
So what do you do?
Toss the paper in front of hismouth.
Yeah, oh, good Lord, have mercy, oh, yeah, there's no privacy,
there's no secrets.
Bev Brooks (07:52):
I'll tell you what, though.
The house is cold, he's got twoheating pads and he is cold.
Amy Castro (07:56):
Yeah.
Bev Brooks (07:58):
It's like 62 degrees in here.
Amy Castro (08:00):
Yeah, okay, all right.
So on to the good news, becauseI'm only allotting a certain
amount of time to this BS that'shappening in the beginning of
this show.
Bev Brooks (08:07):
Wow.
Amy Castro (08:07):
So the good news is and I'll give you the Reader's
Digest version of the story so avery nice donor and supporter
of Starlight Outreach and Rescuenamed Julie went I don't know
if it was when she moved, butanyway she donated a really nice
Dyson vacuum cleaner to us forthe rescue and it has been a
godsend.
I mean, it's a great vacuumcleaner, it really.
(08:30):
It's got that clear canister soyou can see how much crap is on
the floor.
It's crazy.
It's a hot mess.
It's got a super long vacuumcord, so it's a really nice,
nice vacuum cleaner.
Anyway, we've put it to greatuse here at the rescue and
unfortunately, as happens withmost things, I don't put things
(08:51):
away, and so at one point I didnot put the vacuum cleaner away,
I left it unattended andsomebody decided to chew off the
plug.
So yeah, yeah, because that'swhat we do.
Bev Brooks (09:06):
Because that's what we do.
This is nothing new.
This is nothing new.
It happens all the time at yourhouse.
Amy Castro (09:11):
I know I just for the second time fixed the hose
to the pool, the $700 poolcleaner that they chewed through
the electric cord on that onetoo.
Bev Brooks (09:21):
Luckily it wasn't plugged in.
Amy Castro (09:23):
But anyway.
So they chewed the cord off.
I fixed it, but I'm alwaysafraid that it's going to catch
fire, because obviously I'm notan electrician.
Um, so anyway I I thought, well, maybe I could contact Dyson
and see if I can purchase areplacement cord, which you
apparently can.
So I'm chatting with themonline and they're going to send
me a replacement cord for free.
(09:44):
This is back in June.
So I'm chatting with themonline and they're going to send
me a replacement cord for free.
This is back in June.
So, super excited, I'm going toget this replacement cord.
And then I kind of forgot aboutit, and now it's six months
later and I still don't have thecord.
So I decided the other day tofollow up.
Well, apparently that cord forthat vacuum cleaner is on back
(10:04):
order to infinity, Like it'sjust not going to happen.
So and this is the kicker, youguys, this is good customer
service right here, because,even if people don't necessarily
always give Dysons the bestreview, I probably will buy
Dysons from here on out when Ineed a new vacuum cleaner for
myself, just because of this,because not only were they very
(10:26):
apologetic that the cord nevercame and that they were still
waiting on it, but they aregoing to replace the entire
vacuum cleaner and I and I willbe on.
I am very honest, like Ispecifically told them, my dogs
chewed this cord Cause.
When they were going to give mea free cord, I was like, well,
it's not like it just broke, butmy animals chewed through it,
it's my fault and they were likewe don't care, it's under
(10:46):
warranty till 2026.
Bev Brooks (10:49):
Crazy, crazy.
Amy Castro (10:50):
Thank you, Julie.
So yeah, so now I'm going toget a brand new, new model like
not a refurbished, a new vacuumcleaner, and they're going to
pay for me to ship the wholevacuum cleaner back.
Bev Brooks (11:02):
That's crazy.
I would.
I would buy a Dyson just basedon that too.
Yeah, that's awesome thatthey'll do that.
Amy Castro (11:10):
That's the good news .
Bev Brooks (11:11):
That's the very good news.
Amy Castro (11:13):
Here's the other beautiful thing is that the new
Dyson will come in a box and sothat when I go to move, when I
will keep the box, and when I goto move in a couple of months,
I will be able to put the Dysonin the box and protect it during
the move.
Bev Brooks (11:25):
There you go, win-win.
Amy Castro (11:26):
Win-win.
Bev Brooks (11:27):
So thank you, dyson no that is very good customer
service, absolutely yeah.
Amy Castro (11:32):
All right.
So moving right along we'regoing to get into our top
episodes of 2024 of StarlightPet Talk.
We are not going to discuss all10, but I do want to let you
know what the top 10 ones wereand then we're going to discuss
the top five.
So number 10 was season and allof 2024 was basically season
(11:53):
two.
So it was season two, episode81.
And it was does your dog haveseparation anxiety?
With our trainer friend RuthHegarty.
So I think that was a greatepisode because I think things
get labeled as separationanxiety when maybe they're not.
So you definitely need tolisten to that one.
We're not going into gorydetail.
Episode number the ninth mostpopular episode was season two,
(12:17):
episode 62 on lap of love, homehospice and euthanasia for pets
Again, a great option for beingable to plan and coordinate your
pet's euthanasia if you have to, and make it a pleasant
experience for, or as pleasantas it can be for you and for
your pets.
Number eight was season two,episode 67, unlocking the
(12:39):
Human-Animal Bond Secrets fromthe Human-Animal Bond Research
Institute, which I thought wasreally fascinating.
I mean a whole organizationthat is just dedicated to
research on how much our petspositively impact our lives.
Bev Brooks (12:54):
Yeah, yeah.
Amy Castro (12:56):
Episode number seven was season two, episode 82,
1,672 Miles to a Forever HomeBonnie's Journey.
Yeah, so that was Bev and myrescue road trip where we drove
crazy Bonnie, Although she wasreally good on that trip,
wouldn't you say.
Bev Brooks (13:12):
She was more sane than both of us put together.
Although, yeah, yeah, itdoesn't take much, it doesn't
take much, yeah.
Amy Castro (13:20):
So that was a fun episode to do, just to kind of
recount our journey.
The sixth most popular episodewas Season 2, episode 78, life
with Pets Hidden BenefitsRevealed the original title.
I've changed up some of thetitles.
The original title was theSurprising Mental, physical and
Social Benefits of Living withPets with my friend Denise
Dudley out in Colorado.
(13:41):
So she actually is a, you know,works with human beings but has
pets and has done a lot ofresearch on the impact of pets
in our lives.
So that was fun.
And so those were 10 through 6.
And so we're going to discuss 5through 1, and then maybe throw
in a couple of thoughts on ourown personal favorite.
(14:01):
Hold on, I've got notes I'vegot to file through here.
So the number five I knowyou've got notes too.
Mine are typed, yours arehandwritten, okay.
So the fifth most popularepisode of season two was season
two, episode 79, pro Tips forExtending your Pet's Life with
my friend Dr Marlene Siegel downin Florida.
(14:27):
I think this one probablyresonated most with listeners
because it really gave you someactionable steps, for you know
things that you could do forfocusing on longevity and
well-being for your pets.
So we talked about things likeeliminating toxins, because
there's so many that we areexposed to as humans, that also
our pets are exposed toessential nutrients.
(14:48):
Healing the gut which I thoughtwas also super interesting,
because it's such a tie over tohuman beings as well that our
gut health impacts and who knewuntil the most recent years how
much your gut health impacts therest of your health?
Detoxifying your organs andthen really getting down on the
DNA level, you know, supportingmitochondrial functions and then
(15:09):
emotional health.
That was another area.
So those were kind of some ofthe things that came out in that
episode.
What were your and I don't knowif that was one of your
favorites or necessarily Bev,but what were your thoughts on
that episode?
Bev Brooks (15:21):
The takeaway for me was anybody can do this.
The changes are really, reallydoable.
They're really small and it canmake a huge impact down the
road.
You might not see an overnightmakeover, but just by increasing
water intake or little that'swhat I had written down
inflammation and water intakeand things like that such a
(15:41):
simple thing can change yourpet's life.
I mean, it's just so simple.
Yeah, my takeaway was thatanybody can do this.
It's very simple to make theselittle, small changes,
absolutely.
Amy Castro (15:52):
Yeah, and I think we've had a couple of episodes
that have been around that issueand I know personally that,
like every time I've done one ofthese episodes, I start looking
at my pet's food and you knowgetting I got a water fountain.
I've been adding water to thecat's food.
You know, even the other day Iwas in the kitchen doing the
dog's food and you know I've notgotten to the point where I'm
going to be cooking dog food butit's like what do I have in the
(16:16):
fridge that I can toss in herethat would enhance this meal
that I'm giving them Right, andit's such a simple thing, you
know.
Bev Brooks (16:25):
And if you go buy a pint of blueberries in the
grocery store and just toss itin there, it's fine.
Anything helps.
Yeah, that was definitely.
It's definitely changed Kuzzy'slifestyle, perhaps not from
this particular episode, butprevious ones about water intake
and reading the ingredientlabel, you can learn.
Amy Castro (16:44):
And reading the ingredient label.
Bev Brooks (16:45):
You can learn.
God bless you, amy, because itwas a whole education for me all
of last year and this year.
Read those labels, people, andyou will be shocked, absolutely
shocked, so you can make betterchoices.
You might pay for it, you mightnot.
It might not be a huge monetarything, but isn't your pet worth
it?
Amy Castro (17:03):
Yeah, I know, because he is Well and you're
going to pay for it on one endor the other.
You know, like the intake, thisuh, the blind cat that we have,
has uh already had bladderstone surgery when she was
barely over a year old.
Bev Brooks (17:18):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (17:18):
And she's already got some floating around in
there again.
So you know, the water intake,I think, has helped.
You know, keep it at bay.
At least they're not gettingbigger.
And so it's, yeah, like yousaid, little bitty changes along
the way, for sure.
Bev Brooks (17:34):
Very, very doable, absolutely.
Amy Castro (17:36):
So hopefully we'll get Dr Marlene back on the show
and talk about more things wecould be doing along the way.
All right, moving along.
The fourth most popular episodewas season two, episode 53,
responsible Rabbit CareExplained.
Again, I've changed the titlesa little bit with Muddy Paws,
(17:57):
I've shortened them up a littlebit, but the original title was
Beyond the Fluff RabbitRealities and Responsible
Guardianship Cute, yeah, andthat was with Marcy Berman.
She is the president and founderof Save a Bunny Rabbit Rescue
out in California and I thinkthe thing for me, one of the
biggest things for me, was howmuch care rabbits because I have
(18:18):
had a rabbit and I knewsomething about rabbit care but
in order for them to really livean optimal life, how much care
they need, what things can gowrong with rabbits.
I was super lucky, nothing everwent wrong with this bunny but
things can certainly go wrong ifthey're not getting the proper
diet and proper care.
So some of the things that cameup in that episode were
(18:40):
misconceptions that you knowthat rabbits were super low
maintenance and easy starterpets, the importance of spaying
and neutering which I only hadone bunny but even for having
one bunny, how that could impacttheir behavior and things like
that.
Their need for mentalstimulation and social
interaction no idea, and that'swhat makes me feel really guilty
(19:00):
about the bunny that I had.
Yeah.
Bev Brooks (19:03):
I was going to say when you know better, you do
better.
That's why these podcasts aregreat.
I didn't know anything aboutbunnies.
I had no clue, so yeah, if Iwas to get one now, this is
great.
I know what I'm getting into.
Amy Castro (19:14):
Yeah, yeah, there's quite a bit, even just their
habitat and how that needs to be.
Yeah, let's see.
Oh, ethical consideration inshelters you know what happens
to rabbits when they end up inshelters and you know what kind
of specialized care they mightneed.
Because I know we ran into thata couple of times where we've
gotten, when I used to volunteerat a shelter and they'd get an
(19:34):
animal in that you know itwasn't a dog or a cat and they
had no supplies and not really ahuge inclination to go and get
them.
It's like how long are yougonna leave that animal without
food?
And then educational outreach,I think, was another thing the
importance of really educating,and I think Save a Bunny does a
good job of not only matchingappropriate bunny to the
(19:56):
appropriate adopter but alsoeducating people on their needs
and their care.
So I know that was a big thingto me, Like I've kind of decided
that I probably wouldn't have abunny, maybe once my herd got
culled down a little bit, but Ican't give it that attention and
I certainly don't wantmultiples.
So it's interesting, it reallygets you thinking about them on
(20:18):
a different level.
And then the one other thing Idid want to bring up was the
whole conversation about bunniesbeing used as food for animals.
That was something that Ithought I'd never really thought
about that.
I was looking at food the otherday trying to find a limited
ingredient and it was likerabbit meat and I kind of
cringed because one of Marcy'skey points in that episode was
(20:39):
yes, if you, if you're, if youhaven't a pet, that is a
carnivore, like a cat, and theonly thing that they can eat
without having a horrificreaction is rabbit, then yes,
make that available on a specialorder basis.
But the fact that we're makingall of these products with
rabbit meat, we're basicallyintroducing another animal
(21:00):
beyond the chickens and theother animals that are already
being killed for us to eat andfor animals to eat.
Everybody's dog doesn't need toeat rabbits, so if we didn't
allow that to happen, then a lotless rabbits would die.
Bev Brooks (21:14):
Right, right, that goes back to reading those
labels.
You know my takeaway was moreof a cultural thing.
She made this comment.
She said rabbits are where catsused to be, and that broke my
heart.
You know it's like the way wedote on our cats.
They didn't used to be that way, it was always, I guess, the
dogs first.
You know it's like the way wedote on our cats.
They didn't used to be that way, it was always, I guess, the
(21:35):
dogs first.
You know, back 40 million yearsor whatever it was.
And now cats have become thatyou know, a multi-billion dollar
industry and rabbits are justkind of thought about as like oh
yeah, look a rabbit.
You know it's, and that's theway cats used to be thought of.
I just it just broke my heartthat they're just like second
(21:56):
class citizens and they're not.
It's your responsibility.
If you have a pet to take careof it.
You take care of it.
Yeah, soup to nuts, yeah.
Amy Castro (22:04):
Yeah, yeah, I think that Well, and that's kind of a
little hang up that I have ingeneral about you know, you see
these videos of unusual animalsthat are now being, you know,
brought in as pets and it's likedo you really need an armadillo
as a pet?
Do you really need, you know,some of these exotic animals
(22:26):
that get not necessarily bred incaptivity but captured other
places, but captured otherplaces?
And you know, it's like, it'skind of like I got into an
argument with somebody the otherday, once again on the rescue
side of things, about declawingcats.
And, you know, having a cat isnot a right.
(22:49):
So therefore, if you can't keepit in physically intact without
amputating its toes or you'reallergic, so now you want to
have people breed hairless catsthat self mutilate every time
they're bathing themselves withtheir barbed tongues?
Maybe you just don't get a cat,maybe you're just not allowed
you know, not allowed to haveone.
It's just agreed you move on andget something else.
Bev Brooks (23:11):
You know it's not the cat's fault.
You have allergies or they haveexpensive furniture, yeah,
sorry at that point, what's thepoint?
What's the point if it's, ifit's, if your furniture is going
to get ruined, if you have poorallergies, you know that that
particular pet is not for you.
Try goldfish, see, see whatthat and even that has.
Amy Castro (23:28):
But I want one, yeah , yeah and that's the that, the
thing it's like just because youwant it doesn't mean you get to
have it.
Bev Brooks (23:35):
Life's not like that , yeah.
Amy Castro (23:37):
But yet I get into arguments with people all the
time.
So I think it's the same withbunnies.
If you can't listen to thatepisode and say, yes, I can
provide this kind of life andlifestyle for this animal, you
shouldn't have one.
Bev Brooks (23:48):
Exactly.
That's a great point.
That's what these podcasts areso great.
You're going into it with eyeswide open.
You know what?
That type of dog is not the dogfor me.
This type of dog is the dog forme.
It's not about being turneddown for adoption, it's about
what's the best fit.
I mean, you've been preachingthat forever.
You got to have the best fit.
And if it's not going to be thedog that you want, take the are
best fitted to and give thatdog a home.
Amy Castro (24:11):
Yeah, because people are just super selfish, they
want what they want and it'sjust very aggravating, very
aggravating.
Anyway, we could do a wholeepisode on that.
I think we should have done itto a certain degree.
Yeah, all right, moving rightalong.
The third most popular episodewas I've got too many papers
going on.
Here was Season 2, episode 80with Jonathan Weinberg of
(24:34):
Synchrony parent company, ofCare Credit with expert advice
for paying for and saving onyour vet bills.
I think that is such a hugetopic in this day and age.
I mean the fact that there issuch a thing as economic
euthanasia you know, people thathave animals that could
absolutely be saved.
They just can't afford to do itand have no means to pay for it
and therefore the animal getseuthanized is a bit appalling.
(24:58):
So what we discussed and I'lljust kind of run down the quick
topics here we talked about theimportance of preventative care
and it kind of goes back to thewhole food and diet.
Like if we spend the money onthe food and diet, then you're
not going to have those issueswith cancer and other things
later on that you might havewhen you feed crappy food.
So the importance of regularcheckups facts, you know
(25:23):
appropriate vaccinations,parasite prevention.
We talked briefly about petinsurance, but we did a whole
episode about pet insurance, soI didn't, we didn't go too far
down that road.
The importance of having anemergency fund, the importance
of understanding what your careoptions are.
You know it's like whether it'sa low cost clinic or, you know,
getting certain things done fromyour vet and certain things
through other communityresources, negotiating payment
plans.
(25:43):
And then you know and I wouldlike to do a whole episode on
this and I think I probably willin 2025, is finding the words
to have the conversation andbeing brave enough to have the
conversation with your vet aboutcare options, because vets are
going to offer you the optimaltreatment or the gold standard
treatment, and that may not bethe only treatment.
(26:05):
There may be step ups that youcan do towards that treatment to
see if certain things work.
And we just don't.
You know, we kind of hear whatit is, we hear the price tag and
we say yay or nay withoutdiscussion, and I think that
communication is so importantand most vets are super open to
it, and if they're not, I thinkyou need to find another vet.
That's a whole nother episodetoo, but anyway, what did you
(26:26):
think about that episode, bev?
Bev Brooks (26:27):
I was thinking the same thing.
What struck me after listeningto it was how many options there
are.
Get creative as far as healthcare, whether it's doing your
own financial saving or whatever.
But, like you said, your vet isalways willing to work with you
.
I have yet to meet not that Imeet them a lot, but I have yet
to meet a vet that isn'topen-minded enough to work with
you.
It's all about the care of thepet.
(26:49):
Yes, they are in it for theprofit they have to run their
business, but they're stillwilling to be creative as far as
health care goes with their pet.
Yeah, that was a good episode.
Surprisingly number three to me, because I didn't realize that,
because I'm so blessed with ahealthy income that I didn't
realize this was like a make orbreak type of thing for people,
(27:09):
and it breaks my heart that ifyou can't afford certain options
, that you have to let the petgo.
But this is I mean, this iswhat Starlight was doing, also
doing that outreach, like theGreat Dane the Great Dane that
you had that was hit by a carand the family couldn't afford
it.
That that's the outreach part ofStarlight.
You know you assisted them.
Amy Castro (27:26):
Yeah.
Bev Brooks (27:27):
You know yeah.
Amy Castro (27:29):
Yeah.
And then you know and that kindof ties back it.
Yeah, and that kind of tiesback.
It's kind of a chicken and eggthing of when you get a Great
Dane it's going to be expensive,even if it doesn't get hit by a
car, because it's going to beexpensive to feed, it's going to
be expensive to care for.
And when I have adopters thatcome to us and they say things
like I have to wait until mynext paycheck to pay the $85
(27:51):
adoption fee, that is a huge redflag to me because that's not
anywhere near to what it's goingto cost you annually to care
for that pet.
And so if you're struggling topay the adoption fee, again I
know, I want, I want, I want,but maybe now is not the time
for you to have a pet, or maybeyou need a different kind of pet
that has a more manageablemaintenance cost, for lack of a
(28:15):
better term.
Bev Brooks (28:16):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (28:18):
You know.
Another thing I would say tooabout the whole affording the
pet care and you know, like yousaid, most vets are willing to
work with you, etc.
Etc.
Keeping in mind too, becauseI've run into this a couple
times in the past couple ofweeks is that most vets are
willing to work with theirestablished clients and people
who have paid their bills ontime in the past and people who
(28:40):
have not no-showed forappointments and things like
that.
So if you're one of those peoplebecause we had a couple of
people this week who we turneddown for adoptions for new pets,
because they don't routinelytake their animal to a vet and
the last vet visit was, you know, to the vet to put their animal
to sleep because something, youknow, it just wasn't acting
(29:01):
right and it's like, well,whatever it was, it could have
been something that waslingering there for a long time
and had you gone to your vetroutinely, maybe you would have
discovered that sooner, insteadof putting your animal down and
maybe not.
Things do creep up.
I understand that.
But when you've got two cats asan example, one that I turned
down this week, two cats thathadn't been to the vet except
(29:22):
one when it went to be put tosleep, and one when it had a
kidney stone and had to haveemergency surgery but had not
been to a vet for 10 yearsbefore that.
It's like do I want to adopt akitten to you Because that
kitten's going to need care?
Bev Brooks (29:36):
along the way oh my gosh.
Amy Castro (29:37):
So we get a lot of that Like people think, or
people that say, well, it's anindoor cat, it doesn't need to
go to the vet.
It's like that's just likesaying my kids don't need to go
to the pediatrician because Itake good care of them.
Bev Brooks (29:48):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (29:49):
They still need checkups, yeah, at least
periodically, and that's thething.
Bev Brooks (29:52):
It translates.
It's nothing new.
You know, you bring your kidfor annual physicals.
I would imagine the sameapplies to pets that right now
are sitting next to me trying todestroy my writing envelopes.
Amy Castro (30:13):
Yeah, there.
You also have to realizewhether you have a relationship
with them or not, and how goodthat relationship is can impact
how much they're willing to riskgiving you a payment plan or
waiting until tomorrow to getpaid, because the bottom line is
a business.
They've got to pay their bills,otherwise they're going to go
out of business and then youwon't have access to any vet.
Bev Brooks (30:34):
I didn't think of it like that.
If you're a chronically goodcustomer, they're going to be
willing to take that.
I never thought of that.
Amy Castro (30:41):
Yeah, make an appointment and keep it, don't
just no-show and it's just yeah.
That could go on and on right.
There Be a good clientInteresting and your vet might
treat you well.
All right, moving along.
Okay, now we're getting intothe top two.
The top two.
So the number two episode of thesecond season of Starlight Pet
(31:04):
Talk was season two, episode 77,fix Five Annoying Dog Behaviors
Fast with my friend RuthHegarty again.
So she ended up twice in thetop 10.
And one of the reasons wepicked the five behaviors that
we did is because, well, becausethey are the top most annoying
but several of them are the mostchronic and common reasons that
(31:30):
people will give up their dogsto rescues and shelters because
of some of these behaviors.
So we talked about what theissues were and I think Ruth did
a really great job of givingsome really down-to-earth,
easy-to-start-with advice forfixing some of the issues.
So the five issues were leashpulling, nuisance, barking
that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
(31:50):
Recall, like coming back whenyou call them jumping up on
people a huge pet peeve of mine.
Recall, like coming back whenyou call them Jumping up on
people another huge pet peeve ofmine.
And then destructive chewing,which I've experienced a lot of.
You know.
Case in point, the Dyson vacuumand my two $1,200 Lazy Boy
recliners.
So I left a foster dogunattended in the living room
for 30 minutes and that dogchewed the arm and the seat just
(32:13):
enough to damage them and makethem look like shit and then
went across the room and did itto the other matching chair.
Oh no, so they both are chewedup and they're now worth nothing
.
I could probably, if they hadnot been chewed up because they
were expensive chairs andthey're relatively new I could
probably have sold each of thosechairs for two $300.
But no, right now I'm going to.
Yes, I think I could probablyhave sold each of those chairs
(32:34):
for two $300, but no, right nowI'm going to.
Yes, I think I could.
I think I could have cause.
I got two, 50 for the sofa.
Bev Brooks (32:39):
Wow.
Amy Castro (32:40):
Yeah, all right.
So anyway, that's not the point, bev.
The point is that two perfectlygood chairs are going to end up
in the garbage dump, um, or seton fire in my backyard as a
final farewell.
Bev Brooks (32:56):
A Viking send off.
Amy Castro (32:57):
There we go, yeah, so anyway.
So anyway, bev, you don't havea dog, so what did you think of
that?
I don't.
Bev Brooks (33:05):
However, my takeaway from that was all of those
things you just described arecompletely fixable and doable if
you are consistent.
Amy Castro (33:18):
Yeah, that's huge.
Bev Brooks (33:21):
I mean, it works for this damn cat who thinks he's a
dog.
If you're consistent with stuff, you will see a change, but you
must be consistent, yeah.
Amy Castro (33:30):
Dogs and children and cats, it's all the same
thing consistency.
So now remind us Bev, not usremind me, bev.
Didn't you get bitten by a dogone time, fairly recently, and
was there a recall issueinvolved?
Or did it when you were walkingand that guy had the dog at the
construction site?
And the dog, oh, that's right.
Bev Brooks (33:52):
I forgot about that.
So I'm walking in myneighborhood and a guy's working
construction on a home and youknow as people will do, they'll
bring their dogs to theconstruction site to hang out or
whatever and um, this dog cameoff the site towards me and I
don't know what kind of dog Iwant to say it was a spitz.
It was like a, um, long hair,white, fluffy type of thing, and
(34:18):
I guess he started to likeheard me, you know, he was
circling me or whatever, and henipped my back of my leg.
I couldn't believe it.
He pulled my sweatpants awayfrom and he kind of nipped me,
but the guy was calling and thedog never came, you know.
And then finally after finally,yeah, finally, after the dog bit
my leg PS, it was just a littlenip, it's not the point, it
hurt, it was like a pinch.
And it wasn't until then thatthe dog finally came.
(34:41):
I guess the dog must have heardit in the owner's voice that he
really means it this time.
That's another thing.
You can't just say it, you haveto mean it when you say it, and
they can tell the difference.
They can totally tell thedifference.
They can totally tell thedifference when you know, like
when your mom uses your middlename, you just you know, you
know that type of thing.
Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.
I'm like just train your dogbetter Work with your dog.
Amy Castro (35:01):
Yeah, you should not have your dog off leash if it's
not reliably coming back.
That's the key thing, rightthere.
Bev Brooks (35:08):
Not only that, who knows where this guy lives?
He's at a construction site.
It's not his home, he's in astrange neighborhood.
What if that dog took off?
He'll never see it again.
Amy Castro (35:15):
It's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen.
Bev Brooks (35:19):
I totally forgot about that.
Yeah, and I certainly wasn'tmad at the dog, I was mad at the
guy.
Amy Castro (35:26):
Oh, I'd have been mad at the dog too.
Bev Brooks (35:28):
No, it's not the dog's fault.
It's not the dog's fault.
It's not the dog's fault.
You're right, the dog was justdoing the dog thing, he's just
reflecting what he knows, whichis next to nothing, because the
owner wasn't consistent with thedog.
Amy Castro (35:40):
Yeah, neither of you should have been put in that
situation.
Bev Brooks (35:44):
Yeah.
Amy Castro (35:44):
Well, I will say one of the things the jumping up
jumps out at me now becauseSassy, our blind pit bull who
we're still trying to find ahome for after I don't know a
year and a half going on, twoyears now she used to have a
real problem with jumping andshe's gotten.
But the key is not winding herup when you first come out, come
(36:04):
in the house or whatever.
But I don't think she's jumpedup on me in several months now.
So we finally, because yeah shewas, yeah she was, and
especially because she came withthese long disgusting toenails
which we've had a heck of a timetrying to get those quicks to
go back and shorten them up.
It was like she'd jump up andclaw you as she slid her way
down and leave, you know, longbruises down your leg.
Bev Brooks (36:26):
So not only that, she's.
She's kind of tall.
When she's up on her back legsit's not like a little tiny, you
know, little dog or whatever.
So when she jumps up on you,you know it Exactly.
Amy Castro (36:37):
Oh, but she's such a love.
Bev Brooks (36:38):
I can't believe she's not adopted.
Well, I can believe she's notadopted out.
It's a little bit of a specialneeds, but she is a sweetie,
definite sweetie.
Amy Castro (36:45):
Yep, so anyway.
Bev Brooks (36:47):
You can see pictures of her on Facebook.
Amy Castro (36:49):
That's true.
Yeah, we just posted her upagain, like please, because her
foster is moving and cannot takeher with her.
But yeah, I think that'sdefinitely.
If you're, if anyone's outthere dealing with any of those
issues, you need to go back andlisten to that episode.
But the primary thing, like Bevsaid, is being consistent.
Like you can't even even justdoing recall in your house, you
(37:09):
can't call them and then havethem not come to you.
Like, doing recall in yourhouse, you can't call them and
then have them not come to you.
Bev Brooks (37:16):
Like you can you've got to make sure that it happens
, otherwise, you know, two outof three times is not super
helpful.
Yeah, it doesn't do anything.
It doesn't seal the deal youneed.
You need to be consistent,right, yeah.
Amy Castro (37:23):
All right, moving right along the number one
episode and actually it's thesame guy who had the number one
episode of 2023, I believe, ofSeason 3.
Bev Brooks (37:32):
No way.
Amy Castro (37:33):
I think I'm pretty sure.
I have to go back and look, butI'm pretty sure it was.
Yes, it is.
You know why?
I know that for a fact Becauseit's the number one episode
overall.
Huh was Are you Feeding yourPet the Right Food?
With Dr Jeff Grognet.
So that's our number still ourhighest downloaded episode.
(37:53):
But the number one episode of2024 only was Season 2, episode
70, pet Vaccination Essentialswith Dr Jeff.
So that one I think I love whenhe comes on because he is a
holistic veterinarian.
But he came from a verytraditional veterinary
background.
I mean, he's been practicingfor years and years and years.
(38:13):
So it's not like he doesn'trealize this is the way the
world used to see veterinarycare and he has evolved as a
veterinarian into who he is nowand has a huge following of
people that take his courses andget his newsletter, things like
that.
So we talked about vaccines,because there's a lot of
controversy these days aboutwhether our pets really need all
(38:36):
of the vaccines that they getand whether they need them every
single year, like we've kind ofalways traditionally thought.
So we talked about thedifference between core and
non-core vaccines, the risksrelated to over-vaccination,
which a huge percentage of it iscancer side effects of vaccine,
how we can titer test our petsif we wanted to know whether a
(38:58):
vaccine was still viable intheir system.
We talked a little bit aboutjust general holistic veterinary
care care.
But then the duration ofimmunity.
I think that was superinteresting to realize that many
of the vaccines, if we givethem once, twice, thrice, are
pretty much good from there onout, and so we don't need to
necessarily be giving them anyyear.
(39:18):
And you know what I think isinteresting too?
Why is it miraculously, in thelast couple of years we have
quote unquote three-yearvaccines like rabies as an
example.
As long as you do it everythree years by the deadline,
it's because it's the samevaccine, people.
It's not any different, it'snot stronger than the one-year
vaccine.
It's because they realize youdon't need it.
That often, probably, threeyears is probably too frequent
(39:41):
as far as I'm concerned, butanyway.
So what did you think aboutthat?
I know we had some bigdiscussions because we were
talking about it before, becausehe went to the vet the last
time.
Bev Brooks (39:50):
That's true, and prior to me actually going to
the vet to get his vaccinations,research had come out saying
there was no difference in thecancer what do you call the
cancer at the site of thevaccination Right?
There's a term for it.
Apparently, there's nostatistical difference between
(40:10):
the one and the three-yearBecause it's the same vaccine
Bottom line is do your research.
Like reading your labels, doyour research.
And I like the fact that hekept saying ask questions.
Like when you go to the doctorsjust say you get scary news,
you have all sorts of questionsfor the doctor, write them down.
When you're in that office andyou see that white coat your
(40:33):
mind just goes blank.
So write those things down anddon't dismiss a question like oh
, it's not important right nowCause he must be busy Ask the
questions.
Just keep asking.
Amy Castro (40:43):
Yeah, so a funny behind the scenes during that
recording.
Yeah, so a funny behind thescenes during that recording.
So we had scheduled, obviously,a recording date and he's a
busy guy so getting on hiscalendar gets a little dicey
sometimes.
But we got it scheduled and sowe're just chit-chatting a
little bit before we get started, just to kind of warm things up
(41:04):
or whatever, and he tells mehe's not at home, he's at his I
don't know if it was a cabin,but like sound like a vacation
home in the woods in Canada, andso like it was just a lot of
audio issues.
There was the microphone issueand then I've got really
sensitive ears anyway.
But I hear this like humming,buzzing in the background.
(41:26):
I'm like, is there a fan orsomething going?
And he's like, oh, that's theheater that had kicked on.
So he had to shut the heat offand it's like, okay, now it was
back to being quiet.
We start talking again and thenall of a sudden I hear like,
kind of faintly in thebackground, and I'm like, okay,
and it went on.
And then it kind of stopped andthen it started again and it
(41:47):
wasn't summer like, and he wasmowing the lawn and I was like
is somebody?
Is somebody like sawingsomething outside your house?
And he's like, oh yeah, we'vegot a company here cutting down
a bunch of trees around theproperty.
I'm like, is this really thebest day for us to be doing this
?
Like you gotta be kidding me.
So the editing of that episodewas a nightmare.
(42:08):
I mean, we had to literallysplit our audios and then I had
to erase everything between thewords that he actually spoke and
then cut certain things outbecause it got rammed over.
But still we managed to cobbletogether.
Bev Brooks (42:24):
I'll tell you what you must do a great job editing,
because I didn't pick up onanything like that at all.
And then sometimes, when you docomplain about stuff, I'm like
I don't think it's as big of adeal, you just want it, you want
it to be perfect, I get it.
You want to polish everythingup and everything, but I
couldn't tell all the editingyou're talking about.
That's great.
That was a yeah that's a lot ofwork.
Amy Castro (42:43):
Yeah, I'm not going to put that much work in anymore
people.
Muddy pause is going to bemuddy, it's going to be muddy.
I mean I'm not going to reallyallow crappy audio, but I'm
going to try my best and it'sgoing to start with this episode
to not over-edit, like justleave it out how it naturally
occurred and not try to make itseem too polished, because I
(43:04):
want you to feel like you'repart of the conversation.
Bev Brooks (43:07):
Yeah, buddy.
Amy Castro (43:08):
And conversations kind of ramble sometimes or
whatnot.
So anyway, yeah, I think we gota good second year, a lot of
growth in our download numbers,so that's super exciting, that's
awesome.
Yeah, we're reaching more people, getting good feedback from
people and so, yeah, it was good.
And I'm always surprised too.
I think when I reach out topeople, it's like that person's
(43:29):
not going to be on my show,they're this or they're that, or
they're famous or they're thatwork for this big organization
or whatever it is, and peoplewant to get the word out about
what their area of expertise isor their product or whatever it
might be right, right can I canI mention two shout outs for my
top favorite?
Bev Brooks (43:46):
Sure, yeah no that's what I wanted to get to next.
As much as I love those, theones that were near and dear to
my heart were two about themilitary.
One of them was Dogs onDeployment with Alicia Sieber, I
believe her name is.
I thought that was sointeresting.
So while a service member isdeployed, it's sometimes
(44:09):
ridiculously expensive to bringthe pet with them.
So you could actually fostertheir pet while they're away and
take care of it while they'reaway until they come back.
I mean, yes, there's pitfallsthat come and go along the way
Like they might not come back,they might come back a lot later
than expected, or whatever thecase may be.
I thought that was just genius,and to be able to foster for
(44:30):
the military is awesome.
I think that's just verycreative and very amazing.
Love that one.
Amy Castro (44:35):
Yeah, that was a really good one and you know, as
a former military member, Ilike to support, you know, when
military-related organizations.
We've had a couple that weremilitary-related, like you said.
I'm sure you're going to get tothe other one, but I do want to
say so, elisa Sieber.
She was a Marine pilot andstarted this organization
(44:56):
because she struggled herself intrying to figure out, when she
was going to be deployed, whatwas going to happen to her pets.
And she got lucky and hadfamily members.
But I don't think I realizedhow many military members had to
give up their pets because ofdeployments, because they didn't
have somebody to care for them.
Or, my God, we pay our militarypeople the like the crappiest
(45:17):
wages for the amount of hoursthat they work and what they
sacrifice.
And so you know ain't.
Nobody can be gone for sixmonths and pay $50 a day to
board their dog.
That's crazy.
Even a colonel couldn't do that.
Bev Brooks (45:30):
Unless you have military in your family, that's
something you just don't evengive a second thought to.
So when that came up, I wasjust flabbergasted by the whole
thing.
The other one I wanted to talkabout was Mission Canine Rescue
with Kristen Moorer.
These are like bomb dogs.
Yeah, bomb dogs yeah bomb dogs,protection dogs, basically
(45:51):
working dogs of various workingdogs that want to get reunited
with the handler.
I was flabbergasted at themoney that it takes to do that.
Why is it so expensive?
Um, and this she, when kristinwas talking, she the stuff that
she'll crawl over broken glassto help you out.
I was like, oh my god.
So to be to be able to reunitethose handlers with those dogs
that saved their lives or, youknow, protected so many soldiers
(46:12):
, is just again, if you don'thave a military person in your
life, who knew, who knew, Ithought they hop on the plane
with them, on the transportplane.
Oh no, oh no, it's a lot morecomplicated.
Had no idea.
Amy Castro (46:24):
Well, they're over in some foreign country and
they're no longer of use and thehandler gets sent home and the
dog gets euthanized or just, youknow, abandoned in some form or
fashion.
Yeah, and so I think her andyou know, if you think about,
like you said, a bomb dog orjust a security dog, like you
(46:46):
relied on that dog and the dogrelied on you to keep you alive
and others alive, and you've hadthis connection for, however,
however long it is, and nowyou're going to be separated,
knowing full well that thatanimal is not going to come to a
good end.
Like I can't even imagine howthat would feel.
And you have no choice.
Like they have no choice.
They can't even, for the mostpart, they can't even at their
(47:07):
own expense.
Just be like, okay, I'll pay,or my dad will pay to bring the
dog back.
It's like it belongs to thatcompany or that organization.
Bev Brooks (47:15):
That was again.
I was just blown away, no ideathat this was going on, no clue,
yeah.
And everybody loves scrollingthrough reels on Instagram with
the dogs getting reunited withdeployed soldiers and stuff like
that when they come at home.
You can't help but just fall inlove with that, that reaction.
Or when the dog when the dog atfirst is really, really
(47:36):
hesitant and then he kind offigures it out that that's his
owner, Like that's amazing.
That's some good stuff rightthere.
Amy Castro (47:41):
Yeah, the nose has to kick in.
It's like the nose has to kickin yeah, yeah.
Oh, they just break my heartevery time I see those yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Bev Brooks (47:50):
You know I don't have a favorite.
I don't mean to ask you.
Amy Castro (47:52):
No, no, I was just.
I was just thinking, you know,I will say that, uh, one of my
favorites was season two,episode 66 on pet massage.
That particular episode, theguest was a pet masseuse, a
certified canine massagetherapist, blanca Rodriguez.
I think her passion and hercompassion for animals just
(48:14):
really came through.
I mean, it was just like itfelt like a very, you know,
personal and, I guess, intenseconversation and just to talk to
somebody who believed so muchin what they were doing and the
power of what they were doing,the stories that she talked
about working with, you know,shelter animals and the impact
of that touch.
I mean we all, you know, we allknow the impact of of touch and
(48:37):
how, how, what a positiveimpact it has on human and
animals and, um, I just thinkher, her passion for what she
did and her caring for animalsjust really kind of touched my
heart with that episode.
So that was one of my favorites.
But I don't know.
I feel like almost all of themare favorites because they're
all pretty much handpicked basedon either a personal interest,
(49:00):
a need or both along the way.
So that's definitely a good one.
Okay, bev.
So to wrap things up and wrapup this episode, what are your
thoughts, moving forward, aboutMuddy Paws?
You've had some time to digestthe fact that Muddy Paws is here
.
It's going to be a little bitmore like this conversation, a
(49:22):
little more laid back.
Yeah, what do you think is goingto happen for us in 25?
Bev Brooks (49:27):
I don't know.
After all the episodes thatyou've done, after everything
that I've learned in only twoseasons, I can't even imagine
next year.
What are you going to come upwith?
Like, I think it's going to begreat.
Amy Castro (49:40):
I've already got all kinds of things in the works.
Bev Brooks (49:43):
I really don't know how you do it.
There's always something new tolearn.
And I go back to the militarything.
I not only wasn't concernedabout it, I had no idea it
existed.
So there's things out therelike pet nutrition and
vaccinations and things likethat.
I didn't give it a secondthought and now I have a lot to
think about.
So I'm looking forward to thenext hundred episodes, yeah.
Amy Castro (50:06):
Yeah, I kind of feel like you know number one when
it comes to organizations likeMission, canine Rescue and Dogs
on Deployment.
You know there's a lot oforganizations out there that you
know they're not necessarilyputting out national television
commercials so that you see themon TV.
There's a lot of people doing alot of good work for animals
(50:26):
around this country and aroundthe world, and so you know
discovering some of those,whether it's them reaching out
to me.
So if you've got anorganization like that, reach
out and let us know, or you knowus doing our homework on our
end to find organizations thatwe want to highlight and draw
some more attention to.
I mean that's, I think that isan untapped, probably
(50:48):
never-ending source of episodes.
And then I think you know ourevolution for the pet care.
I mean look how much you and Ihave evolved, how pet care was
when we were kids.
And you know, and the thingsthat were okay to do back then
and how we've evolved from there, and then everything we've
(51:09):
learned from hearing andparticipating in these podcast
episodes over the last two years.
And the field of animal care,you know, is a multi-billion
dollar industry the pet industryand so I think there's all
kinds of new innovations andchanges and things that we're
(51:29):
going to see next year andbeyond.
So I don't think we're going torun out of things to talk.
Bev Brooks (51:33):
I hope not, cause I wish you all the success in the
world.
You're the best.
Thank you.
Amy Castro (51:39):
And you're my best co-host and sometimes co-host,
yeah, and so you know,definitely for those of you
listening just to final thoughtshere if there is something that
you want to learn about someorganization, that you come
across a product, something yourvet tells you that you hadn't
heard before, let us know aboutit because we will dig into it
and we'll do an episode on it ifwe feel like it is of interest
(52:01):
to the rest of our audience aswell.
So we look to you to help guidethe future of Muddy Paws and
Hairballs and, on that note,anything you want to say.
So we look to you to help guidethe future of muddy paws and
hairballs and, on that note,anything you want to say, yeah,
keep us posted on the poop andthe pee in the dining room.
Oh yeah, it's a constant, it's aconstant, let us know who the
culprit is.
Bev Brooks (52:22):
I know, I think I'm just going to set up cameras.
Amy Castro (52:24):
That's probably the best way to do it.
I have one charging.
Bev Brooks (52:26):
There you go, I can help.
Amy Castro (52:28):
Anyway, so on that note of pee and poop and puke.
Bev Brooks (52:34):
We want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, all
the best holidays and the newyear.
Amy Castro (52:39):
Yes, and have a wonderful new year, and we will
be back with a new season ofMuddy Paws and Hairballs in 2025
.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs in 2025.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
(53:02):
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
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