December 26, 2024 • 34 mins
Have you ever wondered about the impact of kindness on our furry friends? Join us for an inspiring chat with Catherine Stillwell, an author and passionate animal advocate, who shares her journey from adopting her first kitten at age ten to becoming a champion for senior and special needs animals. Catherine’s heartfelt stories about her senior dog, Paulie, and other often-overlooked shelter animals, shed light on the transformative power of compassion and challenge the stigmas surrounding older and black-furred pets. You'll hear about the vital role kindness plays in the adoption process and how awareness can make all the difference for these deserving creatures.
We also explore the critical responsibilities of pet ownership, from the essential practice of spaying and neutering to the lifesaving importance of microchipping. With anecdotes about pets braving the outdoors and the dangers they face, we highlight the necessity of keeping our companions safe. Thoughtful discussions about pet gifting, especially during holidays, underline the importance of informed decisions and responsible care. As we wrap up, get insights into the joys and challenges of adoption from Catherine’s book, "Paulie Finds His Forever Home," a story that blossomed from a community's love for animals. This episode is a heartfelt call to action for pet lovers everywhere to embrace responsibility and spread kindness.
#pets #rescuepets #shelterpets
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It's one thing to highlight the kindness that we see in the world, but it's another to, as I put in many of my social media posts, #bethechange. I am donating all of my royalties from the sale of my book, Change A World; In Order to Change The World to local and national non-profits. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizations,that are simply striving to
make their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun Check us out.
(00:44):
Uh, we're even on linkedinunder mike rathbun check us out.
And in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the kindness matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the showeverybody.
Um, you know we, we talk aboutkindness on this show, but one
(01:04):
of the things in the almost twoyears of doing this show that I
haven't talked about is kindnessto animals.
It seems like a no-brainer kindof thing, but I think there are
a lot of reasons, a lot of waysthat we can be kinder, and so I
found the most awesome guest totalk about this and, uh, and
(01:31):
she's.
She's an author of a book andshe's been a a pet owner for
over 50 years.
Over 50 years.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Not much, though right no, not much, maybe a few
months or so.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Welcome to the show Catherine Stilwell.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm looking forward to this half an hour podcast.
Yeah, well, you know, I try tokeep it.
I think they say generally thatpeople will only pay attention
and that their attention spansare only limited.
I'm so glad this is an audiopodcast my cat wandering by.
(02:13):
I think generally theassumption is that people will
really only pay attention for upto 30 minutes, so that's why I
chose that for this podcast.
But so you, you have been very,very active in kindness to, to
(02:34):
animals and pets in general,haven't you?
You've been doing this for awhile.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I would like to think I have been.
I mean, our first.
My first pet was when I was 10years old and a neighbor's cat
had kittens and the neighborgifted us a kitten and my sister
and I brought the kitten homein a shoe box and asked my mom
if we could have a cat and shesaid that's fine, you got to
(02:59):
take care of her.
You know, I'll take care of thevet bills, because we were 10
years old and and that's prettymuch where it all started- yeah
well, I'm not going to give theyear, but it was when I was 10
years old, okay, um, and eversince then, both my husband and
I have had numerous pets in ourlives growing up well, yeah, and
(03:22):
I mean you and husband.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You've been married for 37 years, right?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So he's kind of been your partner in this whole thing
, I mean figuratively andliterally.
So okay.
So now when you got Polly, okay, so now when you got Polly.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I'm sorry Did that Because Polly was a senior dog
when you got him right, he was asenior dog.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
He was eight years old when we adopted him back in
2014.
His owner had passed away inthe house and the sheriff's
department found Pauly outsidethe house wandering around and
they don't know how long he wasout there.
So that's pretty much all Ireally know about his back story
(04:18):
.
But we were looking at the timefor a smaller dog because I I
had had numerous hand surgeriesand having a larger dog, I was
deemed not allowed to per theper the doctor because he was
afraid that if the dog, if thedog bolted, you know, at the end
(04:39):
of the leash, I would be backin surgery again.
So he said anything under 20pounds would be perfect.
So Pauly weighed 14 pounds.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So he fit the bill.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And he was a Chihuahua Pomchee mix.
I mean, he was a little guy, Alot of spit, little spit and
fire little dog, and we had himuntil 2021 where he had.
He had a massive stroke and heand he passed away the following
day.
So so actually having him waswas great, and he was the one
(05:18):
that really got me into the petadvocacy um, even more so than
when I was doing this before.
We got him and he and I wouldgo on.
We would do fundraisers for thesenior, senior pets and the
funds would go towards gettingthem up and ready for adoption,
(05:38):
to get them out of the shelteras soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Oh sure.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Because, from what I was taught, senior animals,
special needs and black furredanimals remain at the shelter
longer than any other age groupor type of animal, and it's true
.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Is that a psychological thing, do you
think?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, I'm presuming with the black fur it's because
it's superstitious, like theblack hat, that type of thing,
which that's what I believe, andthen no one really wants to
take care of a special needs ora senior dog or a senior pet.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, care of a special needs or a senior dog or
a senior pet.
Yeah, my wife and I adopted asame kind of situation.
She was a little poodle mix andshe and her brother had gone to
Humane Society after the ownerpassed and we went in.
My wife was looking for a lapdog and we found this little
(06:50):
ragamuffin.
She'd had breast cancer, theyhad removed the the mass and she
was 10 years old and that Ithink that's exactly what you're
talking about.
You know people will look atthat and go oh, I don't know but
I kind of have an argument forthat, because I mean any animal
(07:11):
at any age can come down withany type of medical problem oh
sure it's just a stigma, I think, for the senior animals, where
they get the bad rap yeah, yeahfor sure, and you know, I can
see that if you're looking for afamily dog or something and
you're going, well, I don't wanta dog.
That's only going to last meanother three or four years,
(07:31):
right.
But we looked at and the nameon her card was Churi
C-H-U-R-R-I, bumbles,b-u-m-b-l-e-s, and we looked at
her and we went nobody else isgoing to take her.
She's going to live the rest ofher life in this shelter,
because she was 10 and she hadhad breast cancer and you know
(07:53):
all of this stuff, and so I meanit was a no-brainer for us.
We had to take her home.
But's, that is kind of a, butthey make the best dogs, they
make the best companions, don'tthey?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
They do because they're already sitting their
way.
They sleep a lot, unless youhave a really active dog.
You know breed.
They were perfect for us, forour family.
So or he was, and I would do itagain in a heartbeat.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Oh sure, yeah, but you had been active with animals
from beyond.
Was that before Polly?
When you would clean, when youwould volunteer with the cats.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Well, I worked in a rescue back in Northern
California.
I went there for my internshipwhen I was in college and then
from there we moved out here toIllinois and I worked in three
or four different rescues and acounty shelter and I learned a
(09:03):
lot.
And I learned a lot and it gotme even more so involved after
we got Polly, when I was doingthe fundraisers for those senior
pets.
That that's where things reallytook off.
And it was a wild ride, andespecially after the pandemic,
because people were adoptinganimals, because they were home
(09:27):
and when they had to go back towork then the animals went back
to the shelter and now theshelters and the rescues are
busting at the seams, justinundated with all these pets,
with all these pets.
And that's what really made medecide to write the book and add
(09:47):
the suggestions that I did inthe book to help people try and
keep their pets from becomingastray so they don't end up back
in the shelter.
So it went from a simple littlechildren's book into a lot more
, a lot more, because at thatpoint I needed to find a way to
(10:09):
try and help the animals fromstaying out of the shelters.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, for sure.
And when we talked before theshow, you came up with five tips
to help to be kinder to animalsand our pets.
So let's talk about some ofthose.
Number one microchipping.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Microchipping is a biggie and it's one of the best
things a pet parent can do totheir animal for their animal,
can do to their animal for theiranimal.
And I say that because a lot ofthe animals that are brought
into the shelter that come in asstrays are not microchipped.
yeah, now, it varies by cost,you know, depending on where you
(10:58):
live.
Sure, where I'm at, it's only35 for a microchip to be
implanted into the, into the,into the pet, and they give you,
at least down here, they giveyou a website that you can go to
where the chip came from andyou update your information,
because the shelter or therescue very unlikely will they
(11:21):
do that for you, that'ssomething you need to do on your
own, and a lot of people don'tknow that.
They think when they bring thepet home, that the pet is good
to go, and that is not the case.
So it's just like maybe about a10 minute process.
You log in, you type in yourphone number, you know your
(11:42):
contact info and I think thehardest part is trying to
remember, whenever yourinformation changes, that you
should really go back in thereand update the info.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
That's just not happening.
So my, my recommendation wouldbe if you're not sure if your
pet is microchipped, then Iwould suggest going either to, I
think, the police department,the vet's office or a shelter or
rescue can check for the chip,and if your pet doesn't have a
(12:20):
chip, that's the time to go getone.
Right, absolutely If that animaldarts out of the house, as I
call them darters, or they'reescape artists.
And if that dog isn'tmicrochipped, the dog is going
to be probably picked up as astray and taken to the shelter
(12:41):
or rescue and it will be verydifficult to connect the owner
with the pet again.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Right For sure.
That's a big one, that's a bigstink bomb out here, and it's
such a simple thing to do, and Imean in the scheme of caring
for a pet.
It's not that expensive.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, and pet, it's not that expensive.
Yeah, and again, it varies fromnow.
Shelters and rescues willmicrochip the pet automatically
and the animal is spayed andneutered before they're allowed
to go out on the adoption floorIf you go through a breeder.
I can't speak to that.
So I'm pretty much in theshelter community more than I am
in the breeders world.
(13:27):
So, but it is very inexpensiveand when we adopted a dog in
July a two-year-old dog in Julyand the first thing I did when
we came home with him is I goton the computer and I updated
the microchip and it took memaybe about 20 minutes to do it
that's Mr Brutus, is it not?
(13:48):
He's good.
He's good to go that's Brutusright that's Brutus he's
adorable yeah, he's, he's, he'sa sweetie.
So that's, that's the biggiethat's number one.
If that's the only message Ican get across today, then I've
done my job.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Right For sure.
Number two it's time to do yourbest.
Bob Barker impression.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
What do you mean?
Come on, Deb.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Wasn't Bob Barker always about the spay and neuter
your pets?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh the spay and neuter To control the pet
population.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's another one A lot of people choose not to.
The problem is by not havingyour pet neutered or spayed.
It can cause it can let me, I'mlooking at my notes real quick
here it can cause some healthand behavior issues with that
(14:47):
animal and it.
It would make them feel a lotmore comfortable if if they were
, you know, spayed or neuteredthan not oh sure and again the
shelters and rescuesautomatically do that.
If the, if the animal's stillintact, you know um they will go
and spay and neuter becausethey want to control the pet
(15:09):
population, because they'rebeing inundated with stray
animals all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Right, and they don't need more of those.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
No, so it falls on the responsibility of the pet
parent to make sure that that'staken care of.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, my wife's family lives on a farm out in
South Dakota.
They don't have any animals outthere, but they seem to get
several litters of kittens aboutevery spring, right.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah of kittens every about every spring.
Right, yeah, that's, yeah,that's.
It's like that.
Out here too, with yeah kitten,kitten thing, so, um, so it's
really, you know, to keep thepopulation down and also because
of the, the benefits of, youknow, behavior and the health
issues that can come, come withthat.
(16:04):
Now, if you're a, if you're abreeder, a responsible breeder,
then you know they, I, I don'tagain, I don't know how that end
of the business works.
Um, I'm thinking that maybethey don't do that in case, you
know, the pet owner wants tobreed, the breed, the animal
(16:25):
right just be responsible with.
With something like that.
Um, I mean, I I really can'tstress enough on just how
crowded these shelters are rightnow and the, the dogs
especially, they come down withkennel stress and when it gets
extreme, where now the animal'sacting out by biting or whatever
(16:48):
, they're going to euthanize theanimal.
And it's so unfair for ananimal to go through something
like that because the pet ownerwasn't responsible enough to get
the animal microchipped, youknow.
So I'm always going to go backto the microchip, because that's
a real problem.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I wonder and this is completely off topic, but I
think about, you know, thehurricanes and the natural
disasters that we had down inthe southeast.
I'm sure the shelters aregetting all kinds of dogs and
cats.
I wonder how many that come inare microchipped and go back to
(17:35):
their families, and I don't knowthat.
You know the answer to that.
I'm just something that poppedinto my head, because, yeah, we
get all kinds of them up here inMinnesota.
We'll get truckloads of catsand dogs after something like
that.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah, we have rescues that do those rescue missions.
They drive down to the south,like you know, where the
hurricanes were like in Kentucky, and areas that they don't have
the funds to actually take careof the animals in the shelters,
so they ship them out to otherlocations that can provide the
medical care for for thoseanimals.
(18:10):
Now I don't know that muchabout the rescue end.
Now I don't know that muchabout the rescue end, but I do
know that I would be surprisedif a lot of those animals were
microchipped.
I could be wrong, otherwise whywould they be shipping them
somewhere else?
If the animal was microchippedand if it was updated, then
(18:31):
they'd be able to find the owner.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, yeah.
So the sheer volume of petsthat are coming in would lead
you to believe that they're notmicrochipped.
Correct, correct, got it, gotit.
Never leave a pet outsideunattended, and I'm guilty of
this.
I do it a lot Because I'm lazy.
(18:54):
We have an invisible fence forour dog, which is great because
she never leaves the yard, butthat doesn't stop anything else
from coming into the yard.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Correct.
Well, we had our neighborbehind us before they moved had
a golden retriever and Willie.
We called him Big Williebecause he was a large dog and
he had the collar on for theinvisible fence.
Well, I think because of hisweight, his size, it didn't even
(19:30):
faze him.
Oh, no, he was always wanderingaround the neighborhood, them,
oh no, he was always wondering.
Wandering around theneighborhood and it happened one
too many times, oh boy, towhere it was starting to be a
safety issue because of the carson the street.
You know, the dog was justwandering around down to the
lake, to the pond, come homewhenever you know, and the
owners were working.
(19:51):
They had no idea the dog wasdoing this yeah so, but a lot of
people.
Just you know, and I know fromaround here.
We have neighbors that um, puttheir dogs out in the yard and
they forget about them, and thenext thing you hear is oh my god
, my dog is lost because the dogescaped the backyard.
(20:13):
Now we don't have a fenced yardin our yard, so when we take
Brutus out, he's on a leash andwe're with him all the time.
Sure, we, we never leave himunattended.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
No, you know, but it's because he's a hound mix
too, and if he sees a squirrelhe's going to take off like
nothing.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
So that's why we keep him on a leash.
Your story about Big Williekind of reminded me we had at
his heaviest.
He was 110 pounds, he was ayellow lab shepherd minx, and he
had the invisible fence too andhe was really really good with
it.
I mean he never breached thatfence except once and he saw a
(20:59):
squirrel in the neighbor's yardand he went through and I was
watching when it happened.
You heard he yipped because hegot the shock from going through
it Right, and he immediatelystopped and he turned around and
he looked back in his yard andhe's like, well, crap, now I got
to go back in and he came backin and he took that shot coming
(21:22):
back in too.
That was the last time he everhad any problems with the fence.
But yeah, I know the biggerdogs.
They sometimes say he felt itthough he knew, and I don't like
to see him in pain.
Or I know the bigger dogs.
They sometimes say he felt itthough he knew, and I don't like
to see him in pain or thinkthat I caused him pain.
But he knew what the fence wasand he knew what would happen if
(21:45):
he got too close to it orcrossed it.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
We don't do that, and especially because we have
coyotes that come around Sure.
So if you have a little dog,well that could be lunch or
dinner, you know.
So that's another reason whyyou know animals shouldn't be
left unattended.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah, because wildlife is getting into it.
I mean, if you think you livein the city and you're safe from
coyotes, or what have you thinkagain, right, yeah, no, we have
all kind of wildlife here, sothere's just no way we could.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Even even if we had a fence and we knew the dog
wouldn't run away, I think we'dalways keep him or her on a
leash.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's what we did with Pauly, too, because we
didn't know what he would do.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
So we wanted't sure chance so okay, number four
gifting.
Good idea, bad idea.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I think it's a terrible idea.
Um, I don't think I would likeit if, at Christmas time,
someone came over with a, with apuppy, and I have no
financially or no way of caringfor a puppy.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Um, that's a personal choice and that should be up to
the actual individual If theywant to adopt.
It's a big decision, it's alifelong decision.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Right and yeah should be it should be.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I mean it should be now.
My husband and I have beenfortunate and with all the pets
that we've had, we've been ableto keep them for their entire
life.
Um, we had one cat that we hadfor 19 years.
I mean we just I mean they'veall lived into seniorhood.
I think it's a personal choice,unless you really really know
(23:40):
the person well and you gottheir permission ahead of time,
I mean.
But I think coming to a housewith a puppy and a stocking and
you know Merry Christmas well,it may not be very Merry
christmas for the receiver.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So oh for sure.
Yeah, because you see thesevideos right and they're gifting
dad or whoever with a puppy andand it all looks so cute and it
.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
But you got to make sure that the person yeah,
there's a lot more to it thanjust handing over a puppy.
Puppies are a lot of work.
They're're like a toddler, butthey don't talk.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Yeah, exactly, Well, they do.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
But Like I said, it should be a personal choice for
the person and not a surprise.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Never surprise somebody with a puppy or a
kitten or what have you.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Or a rabbit during Easter time.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I was just going to say that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
The shelter, the local, the county shelter here
where we got Polly from they'reconsidered an open admission
shelter, meaning they can acceptany animal livestock.
I mean they've had chickens,they've had hens, roosters, a
goat at one point and they gotto go to rescues that can take
(25:01):
these animals.
Because it's just a countyshelter they can't take care of
livestock.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
And it's just unbelievable.
But the worst time is duringEaster, when people go out and
buy chicks and rabbits.
Yeah, and rabbits are one ofthe hardest animals to take care
of.
They're a lot of work and manytimes these rabbits are sent
(25:33):
back or sent to the shelterbecause people didn't realize
just how difficult they were.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah, they're really, they're high maintenance
pets.
They're very soft and cute andfuzzy, but they're, they're
really high maintenance you needto be an experienced rabbit
owner in order to reallyappreciate it.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It's not something that I would want to do, because
I know nothing about rabbitsand I'm not at the point in my
life where I really want tolearn.
Fair enough, that's the otherthing.
Just, if you don't think youcan take care of a particular
animal, then don't even go there.
Yeah, do what you, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
So Exactly, um, the final tip that you had was to
take a pet certified first aidand CPR class.
I had no idea that that waseven a class that one could take
and be certified in.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I took a class every time we adopted an animal.
Wow, it's a two-yearcertification.
On my website.
There's a tab there on takingcare of senior pets or helpful
information, and there's a linkto the course that I took
(27:00):
earlier this year and it's abouta four thing.
It's a four or five hour coursethat you do online.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And at the end there's I don't know how many
questions you have to take andwhen you pass they give you a
certificate, like a little card,like a little library card type
of thing, and you're good fortwo years.
And it's taught by aveterinarian somewhere in the
United States I forget whereshe's from.
She's qualified.
(27:30):
And I've done it for both dogsand cats, because we've owned
both types of animals.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Okay, I'm going to have to look at that.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I'm very interested now in what CPR for a dog would
look like.
That's I mean, if you want toreally be a good pet owner and
be kind to your animals, becausethese are your companions,
mm-hmm, supposedly for theirlife at least, right, and
(28:03):
wouldn't you want to make surethey had the most fulfilling,
safe, healthy life they could?
So talk to me about your book.
Oh boy, polly Finds Us ForeverHome.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It is a true story.
It's about Polly's adoption.
I had no intentions on writinga book, actually a community
page back in 2014 that I hadstarted on Facebook.
It was just to document hislife with us.
It was just a fun project andit evolved into something a lot
(28:42):
bigger.
He had over a couple thousandfollowers.
It ran from 2014 to 2021.
And then I took it down becausehe was very ill and I didn't
want to take any more picturesof him because of his state at
that time, and then six monthslater, he passed away.
(29:04):
But it was.
It had really started at the asa the community page and then I
wrote a poem called Polly'sjourney and that was the name of
the Facebook page, and thenafter that, I started doing
blogging about the adventuresthat we went on and the
(29:29):
followers on the community pageread the poem.
It struck a chord and they saidyou've got to write a book
about this.
Maybe you can do a series ofbooks or whatever.
Yeah, I was able to finish thisone book and it's on his
adoption.
I was able to finish this onebook and it's on his adoption
and I have in there two pages ofsuggestions on how to keep your
pet from becoming a stripe NiceBecause during that time was
(29:53):
when all these animals werebeing surrendered after the
pandemic and I wanted to be partof the solution and try to
educate pet owners new petowners or existing pet owners on
how they can keep their petssafe from ending up in the
shelter.
Yeah, wow, so it turns into likean educational tool at that
(30:17):
point.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Yeah, and it kind of looks like a children's book,
but it doesn't really.
I mean, it's more than that,right.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Oh, definitely, definitely.
It is a children's book.
It's for ages 3 to 7.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Shoot, I thought you were going to say 3 to 70.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It's really for anybody who likes senior animals
or animals in general, sure,but I decided while I was
writing the book and all thisstuff was going on at the
shelters, with these animalsbeing brought in or euthanized
or whatever the case was, it'slike no, I got to do something
more with this book and that'swhat made me write the two pages
(31:05):
of suggestions to help othersnot fall into that situation,
because there's nothing worsethan losing a pet and no you're
right.
It's.
It's a terrible thing.
I've seen people that neverhave never gotten their pets
back for whatever reason.
It's sad and I wanted to bepart of the solution, so that's
(31:29):
how those pages got in there.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Fantastic and the book is well.
We already said, polly FindsHis Forever Home.
You'll be able to find it onAmazon and can you buy it
through the website.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
You can, I have the link, able to find it on Amazon
and can you buy it through thewebsite?
You can, I have the link.
I have a QR code and the linkon my website.
Okay, um Amazon, barnes andNoble, um Walmart, you know you,
just most online bookshopsshould have it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
And the website is senior-dogs-rockcom.
We will have a link for that inthe show notes, as well as an
Amazon link for the book as well.
Catherine, so much, I thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Oh, I thank you.
No, I appreciate it.
I really I was looking forwardto this because, you know, I I
look at the shelter page all thetime and I see all these
animals being brought in and I'mthinking, oh man, you know, and
it's, it's definitely notgetting better and it's.
It's just an influx of justanimals being brought in all the
(32:41):
time.
Yeah, I had to do somethingabout it oh, I hope this helps,
I'm sure well, yeah, I do tooall right.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Thank you so much for for stopping by today and and
chatting with me.
I really appreciate it.
Um again, we'll have all yourlinks in the show notes that
sounds great, mike.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I appreciate it.
Follow your links in the shownotes.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
That sounds great, mike.
I appreciate it.
I want to thank you for takingthis time to listen to this
episode with my guest, catherineStilwell.
I hope that you're able to takesomething positive from the
time that you spent here today.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
(33:27):
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends and family.
Also, feel free to follow us onour socials like Facebook,
instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
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(33:48):
network to join, check outmaydaymedianetworkcom and check
out the many different shows,like Afrocentric Spoil, my Movie
Generation Mixtape In a PickleRadio Show, wake Up and Dream
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We will be back again next weekwith a new episode and we would
(34:11):
be honored if you would join us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
I am your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizations,that are simply striving to
make their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun Check us out.
(00:44):
Uh, we're even on linkedinunder mike rathbun check us out.
And in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the kindness matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the showeverybody.
Um, you know we, we talk aboutkindness on this show, but one
(01:04):
of the things in the almost twoyears of doing this show that I
haven't talked about is kindnessto animals.
It seems like a no-brainer kindof thing, but I think there are
a lot of reasons, a lot of waysthat we can be kinder, and so I
found the most awesome guest totalk about this and, uh, and
(01:31):
she's.
She's an author of a book andshe's been a a pet owner for
over 50 years.
Over 50 years.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Not much, though right no, not much, maybe a few
months or so.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Welcome to the show Catherine Stilwell.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm looking forward to this half an hour podcast.
Yeah, well, you know, I try tokeep it.
I think they say generally thatpeople will only pay attention
and that their attention spansare only limited.
I'm so glad this is an audiopodcast my cat wandering by.
(02:13):
I think generally theassumption is that people will
really only pay attention for upto 30 minutes, so that's why I
chose that for this podcast.
But so you, you have been very,very active in kindness to, to
(02:34):
animals and pets in general,haven't you?
You've been doing this for awhile.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I would like to think I have been.
I mean, our first.
My first pet was when I was 10years old and a neighbor's cat
had kittens and the neighborgifted us a kitten and my sister
and I brought the kitten homein a shoe box and asked my mom
if we could have a cat and shesaid that's fine, you got to
(02:59):
take care of her.
You know, I'll take care of thevet bills, because we were 10
years old and and that's prettymuch where it all started- yeah
well, I'm not going to give theyear, but it was when I was 10
years old, okay, um, and eversince then, both my husband and
I have had numerous pets in ourlives growing up well, yeah, and
(03:22):
I mean you and husband.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You've been married for 37 years, right?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So he's kind of been your partner in this whole thing
, I mean figuratively andliterally.
So okay.
So now when you got Polly, okay, so now when you got Polly.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I'm sorry Did that Because Polly was a senior dog
when you got him right, he was asenior dog.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
He was eight years old when we adopted him back in
2014.
His owner had passed away inthe house and the sheriff's
department found Pauly outsidethe house wandering around and
they don't know how long he wasout there.
So that's pretty much all Ireally know about his back story
(04:18):
.
But we were looking at the timefor a smaller dog because I I
had had numerous hand surgeriesand having a larger dog, I was
deemed not allowed to per theper the doctor because he was
afraid that if the dog, if thedog bolted, you know, at the end
(04:39):
of the leash, I would be backin surgery again.
So he said anything under 20pounds would be perfect.
So Pauly weighed 14 pounds.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So he fit the bill.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And he was a Chihuahua Pomchee mix.
I mean, he was a little guy, Alot of spit, little spit and
fire little dog, and we had himuntil 2021 where he had.
He had a massive stroke and heand he passed away the following
day.
So so actually having him waswas great, and he was the one
(05:18):
that really got me into the petadvocacy um, even more so than
when I was doing this before.
We got him and he and I wouldgo on.
We would do fundraisers for thesenior, senior pets and the
funds would go towards gettingthem up and ready for adoption,
(05:38):
to get them out of the shelteras soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Oh sure.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Because, from what I was taught, senior animals,
special needs and black furredanimals remain at the shelter
longer than any other age groupor type of animal, and it's true
.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Is that a psychological thing, do you
think?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, I'm presuming with the black fur it's because
it's superstitious, like theblack hat, that type of thing,
which that's what I believe, andthen no one really wants to
take care of a special needs ora senior dog or a senior pet.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, care of a special needs or a senior dog or
a senior pet.
Yeah, my wife and I adopted asame kind of situation.
She was a little poodle mix andshe and her brother had gone to
Humane Society after the ownerpassed and we went in.
My wife was looking for a lapdog and we found this little
(06:50):
ragamuffin.
She'd had breast cancer, theyhad removed the the mass and she
was 10 years old and that Ithink that's exactly what you're
talking about.
You know people will look atthat and go oh, I don't know but
I kind of have an argument forthat, because I mean any animal
(07:11):
at any age can come down withany type of medical problem oh
sure it's just a stigma, I think, for the senior animals, where
they get the bad rap yeah, yeahfor sure, and you know, I can
see that if you're looking for afamily dog or something and
you're going, well, I don't wanta dog.
That's only going to last meanother three or four years,
(07:31):
right.
But we looked at and the nameon her card was Churi
C-H-U-R-R-I, bumbles,b-u-m-b-l-e-s, and we looked at
her and we went nobody else isgoing to take her.
She's going to live the rest ofher life in this shelter,
because she was 10 and she hadhad breast cancer and you know
(07:53):
all of this stuff, and so I meanit was a no-brainer for us.
We had to take her home.
But's, that is kind of a, butthey make the best dogs, they
make the best companions, don'tthey?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
They do because they're already sitting their
way.
They sleep a lot, unless youhave a really active dog.
You know breed.
They were perfect for us, forour family.
So or he was, and I would do itagain in a heartbeat.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Oh sure, yeah, but you had been active with animals
from beyond.
Was that before Polly?
When you would clean, when youwould volunteer with the cats.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Well, I worked in a rescue back in Northern
California.
I went there for my internshipwhen I was in college and then
from there we moved out here toIllinois and I worked in three
or four different rescues and acounty shelter and I learned a
(09:03):
lot.
And I learned a lot and it gotme even more so involved after
we got Polly, when I was doingthe fundraisers for those senior
pets.
That that's where things reallytook off.
And it was a wild ride, andespecially after the pandemic,
because people were adoptinganimals, because they were home
(09:27):
and when they had to go back towork then the animals went back
to the shelter and now theshelters and the rescues are
busting at the seams, justinundated with all these pets,
with all these pets.
And that's what really made medecide to write the book and add
(09:47):
the suggestions that I did inthe book to help people try and
keep their pets from becomingastray so they don't end up back
in the shelter.
So it went from a simple littlechildren's book into a lot more
, a lot more, because at thatpoint I needed to find a way to
(10:09):
try and help the animals fromstaying out of the shelters.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, for sure.
And when we talked before theshow, you came up with five tips
to help to be kinder to animalsand our pets.
So let's talk about some ofthose.
Number one microchipping.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Microchipping is a biggie and it's one of the best
things a pet parent can do totheir animal for their animal,
can do to their animal for theiranimal.
And I say that because a lot ofthe animals that are brought
into the shelter that come in asstrays are not microchipped.
yeah, now, it varies by cost,you know, depending on where you
(10:58):
live.
Sure, where I'm at, it's only35 for a microchip to be
implanted into the, into the,into the pet, and they give you,
at least down here, they giveyou a website that you can go to
where the chip came from andyou update your information,
because the shelter or therescue very unlikely will they
(11:21):
do that for you, that'ssomething you need to do on your
own, and a lot of people don'tknow that.
They think when they bring thepet home, that the pet is good
to go, and that is not the case.
So it's just like maybe about a10 minute process.
You log in, you type in yourphone number, you know your
(11:42):
contact info and I think thehardest part is trying to
remember, whenever yourinformation changes, that you
should really go back in thereand update the info.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
That's just not happening.
So my, my recommendation wouldbe if you're not sure if your
pet is microchipped, then Iwould suggest going either to, I
think, the police department,the vet's office or a shelter or
rescue can check for the chip,and if your pet doesn't have a
(12:20):
chip, that's the time to go getone.
Right, absolutely If that animaldarts out of the house, as I
call them darters, or they'reescape artists.
And if that dog isn'tmicrochipped, the dog is going
to be probably picked up as astray and taken to the shelter
(12:41):
or rescue and it will be verydifficult to connect the owner
with the pet again.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Right For sure.
That's a big one, that's a bigstink bomb out here, and it's
such a simple thing to do, and Imean in the scheme of caring
for a pet.
It's not that expensive.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, and pet, it's not that expensive.
Yeah, and again, it varies fromnow.
Shelters and rescues willmicrochip the pet automatically
and the animal is spayed andneutered before they're allowed
to go out on the adoption floorIf you go through a breeder.
I can't speak to that.
So I'm pretty much in theshelter community more than I am
in the breeders world.
(13:27):
So, but it is very inexpensiveand when we adopted a dog in
July a two-year-old dog in Julyand the first thing I did when
we came home with him is I goton the computer and I updated
the microchip and it took memaybe about 20 minutes to do it
that's Mr Brutus, is it not?
(13:48):
He's good.
He's good to go that's Brutusright that's Brutus he's
adorable yeah, he's, he's, he'sa sweetie.
So that's, that's the biggiethat's number one.
If that's the only message Ican get across today, then I've
done my job.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Right For sure.
Number two it's time to do yourbest.
Bob Barker impression.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
What do you mean?
Come on, Deb.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Wasn't Bob Barker always about the spay and neuter
your pets?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh the spay and neuter To control the pet
population.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's another one A lot of people choose not to.
The problem is by not havingyour pet neutered or spayed.
It can cause it can let me, I'mlooking at my notes real quick
here it can cause some healthand behavior issues with that
(14:47):
animal and it.
It would make them feel a lotmore comfortable if if they were
, you know, spayed or neuteredthan not oh sure and again the
shelters and rescuesautomatically do that.
If the, if the animal's stillintact, you know um they will go
and spay and neuter becausethey want to control the pet
(15:09):
population, because they'rebeing inundated with stray
animals all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Right, and they don't need more of those.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
No, so it falls on the responsibility of the pet
parent to make sure that that'staken care of.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, my wife's family lives on a farm out in
South Dakota.
They don't have any animals outthere, but they seem to get
several litters of kittens aboutevery spring, right.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah of kittens every about every spring.
Right, yeah, that's, yeah,that's.
It's like that.
Out here too, with yeah kitten,kitten thing, so, um, so it's
really, you know, to keep thepopulation down and also because
of the, the benefits of, youknow, behavior and the health
issues that can come, come withthat.
(16:04):
Now, if you're a, if you're abreeder, a responsible breeder,
then you know they, I, I don'tagain, I don't know how that end
of the business works.
Um, I'm thinking that maybethey don't do that in case, you
know, the pet owner wants tobreed, the breed, the animal
(16:25):
right just be responsible with.
With something like that.
Um, I mean, I I really can'tstress enough on just how
crowded these shelters are rightnow and the, the dogs
especially, they come down withkennel stress and when it gets
extreme, where now the animal'sacting out by biting or whatever
(16:48):
, they're going to euthanize theanimal.
And it's so unfair for ananimal to go through something
like that because the pet ownerwasn't responsible enough to get
the animal microchipped, youknow.
So I'm always going to go backto the microchip, because that's
a real problem.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I wonder and this is completely off topic, but I
think about, you know, thehurricanes and the natural
disasters that we had down inthe southeast.
I'm sure the shelters aregetting all kinds of dogs and
cats.
I wonder how many that come inare microchipped and go back to
(17:35):
their families, and I don't knowthat.
You know the answer to that.
I'm just something that poppedinto my head, because, yeah, we
get all kinds of them up here inMinnesota.
We'll get truckloads of catsand dogs after something like
that.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah, we have rescues that do those rescue missions.
They drive down to the south,like you know, where the
hurricanes were like in Kentucky, and areas that they don't have
the funds to actually take careof the animals in the shelters,
so they ship them out to otherlocations that can provide the
medical care for for thoseanimals.
(18:10):
Now I don't know that muchabout the rescue end.
Now I don't know that muchabout the rescue end, but I do
know that I would be surprisedif a lot of those animals were
microchipped.
I could be wrong, otherwise whywould they be shipping them
somewhere else?
If the animal was microchippedand if it was updated, then
(18:31):
they'd be able to find the owner.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, yeah.
So the sheer volume of petsthat are coming in would lead
you to believe that they're notmicrochipped.
Correct, correct, got it, gotit.
Never leave a pet outsideunattended, and I'm guilty of
this.
I do it a lot Because I'm lazy.
(18:54):
We have an invisible fence forour dog, which is great because
she never leaves the yard, butthat doesn't stop anything else
from coming into the yard.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Correct.
Well, we had our neighborbehind us before they moved had
a golden retriever and Willie.
We called him Big Williebecause he was a large dog and
he had the collar on for theinvisible fence.
Well, I think because of hisweight, his size, it didn't even
(19:30):
faze him.
Oh, no, he was always wanderingaround the neighborhood, them,
oh no, he was always wondering.
Wandering around theneighborhood and it happened one
too many times, oh boy, towhere it was starting to be a
safety issue because of the carson the street.
You know, the dog was justwandering around down to the
lake, to the pond, come homewhenever you know, and the
owners were working.
(19:51):
They had no idea the dog wasdoing this yeah so, but a lot of
people.
Just you know, and I know fromaround here.
We have neighbors that um, puttheir dogs out in the yard and
they forget about them, and thenext thing you hear is oh my god
, my dog is lost because the dogescaped the backyard.
(20:13):
Now we don't have a fenced yardin our yard, so when we take
Brutus out, he's on a leash andwe're with him all the time.
Sure, we, we never leave himunattended.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
No, you know, but it's because he's a hound mix
too, and if he sees a squirrelhe's going to take off like
nothing.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
So that's why we keep him on a leash.
Your story about Big Williekind of reminded me we had at
his heaviest.
He was 110 pounds, he was ayellow lab shepherd minx, and he
had the invisible fence too andhe was really really good with
it.
I mean he never breached thatfence except once and he saw a
(20:59):
squirrel in the neighbor's yardand he went through and I was
watching when it happened.
You heard he yipped because hegot the shock from going through
it Right, and he immediatelystopped and he turned around and
he looked back in his yard andhe's like, well, crap, now I got
to go back in and he came backin and he took that shot coming
(21:22):
back in too.
That was the last time he everhad any problems with the fence.
But yeah, I know the biggerdogs.
They sometimes say he felt itthough he knew, and I don't like
to see him in pain.
Or I know the bigger dogs.
They sometimes say he felt itthough he knew, and I don't like
to see him in pain or thinkthat I caused him pain.
But he knew what the fence wasand he knew what would happen if
(21:45):
he got too close to it orcrossed it.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
We don't do that, and especially because we have
coyotes that come around Sure.
So if you have a little dog,well that could be lunch or
dinner, you know.
So that's another reason whyyou know animals shouldn't be
left unattended.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah, because wildlife is getting into it.
I mean, if you think you livein the city and you're safe from
coyotes, or what have you thinkagain, right, yeah, no, we have
all kind of wildlife here, sothere's just no way we could.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Even even if we had a fence and we knew the dog
wouldn't run away, I think we'dalways keep him or her on a
leash.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's what we did with Pauly, too, because we
didn't know what he would do.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
So we wanted't sure chance so okay, number four
gifting.
Good idea, bad idea.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I think it's a terrible idea.
Um, I don't think I would likeit if, at Christmas time,
someone came over with a, with apuppy, and I have no
financially or no way of caringfor a puppy.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Um, that's a personal choice and that should be up to
the actual individual If theywant to adopt.
It's a big decision, it's alifelong decision.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Right and yeah should be it should be.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I mean it should be now.
My husband and I have beenfortunate and with all the pets
that we've had, we've been ableto keep them for their entire
life.
Um, we had one cat that we hadfor 19 years.
I mean we just I mean they'veall lived into seniorhood.
I think it's a personal choice,unless you really really know
(23:40):
the person well and you gottheir permission ahead of time,
I mean.
But I think coming to a housewith a puppy and a stocking and
you know Merry Christmas well,it may not be very Merry
christmas for the receiver.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So oh for sure.
Yeah, because you see thesevideos right and they're gifting
dad or whoever with a puppy andand it all looks so cute and it
.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
But you got to make sure that the person yeah,
there's a lot more to it thanjust handing over a puppy.
Puppies are a lot of work.
They're're like a toddler, butthey don't talk.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Yeah, exactly, Well, they do.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
But Like I said, it should be a personal choice for
the person and not a surprise.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Never surprise somebody with a puppy or a
kitten or what have you.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Or a rabbit during Easter time.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I was just going to say that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
The shelter, the local, the county shelter here
where we got Polly from they'reconsidered an open admission
shelter, meaning they can acceptany animal livestock.
I mean they've had chickens,they've had hens, roosters, a
goat at one point and they gotto go to rescues that can take
(25:01):
these animals.
Because it's just a countyshelter they can't take care of
livestock.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
And it's just unbelievable.
But the worst time is duringEaster, when people go out and
buy chicks and rabbits.
Yeah, and rabbits are one ofthe hardest animals to take care
of.
They're a lot of work and manytimes these rabbits are sent
(25:33):
back or sent to the shelterbecause people didn't realize
just how difficult they were.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah, they're really, they're high maintenance
pets.
They're very soft and cute andfuzzy, but they're, they're
really high maintenance you needto be an experienced rabbit
owner in order to reallyappreciate it.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It's not something that I would want to do, because
I know nothing about rabbitsand I'm not at the point in my
life where I really want tolearn.
Fair enough, that's the otherthing.
Just, if you don't think youcan take care of a particular
animal, then don't even go there.
Yeah, do what you, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
So Exactly, um, the final tip that you had was to
take a pet certified first aidand CPR class.
I had no idea that that waseven a class that one could take
and be certified in.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I took a class every time we adopted an animal.
Wow, it's a two-yearcertification.
On my website.
There's a tab there on takingcare of senior pets or helpful
information, and there's a linkto the course that I took
(27:00):
earlier this year and it's abouta four thing.
It's a four or five hour coursethat you do online.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And at the end there's I don't know how many
questions you have to take andwhen you pass they give you a
certificate, like a little card,like a little library card type
of thing, and you're good fortwo years.
And it's taught by aveterinarian somewhere in the
United States I forget whereshe's from.
She's qualified.
(27:30):
And I've done it for both dogsand cats, because we've owned
both types of animals.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Okay, I'm going to have to look at that.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I'm very interested now in what CPR for a dog would
look like.
That's I mean, if you want toreally be a good pet owner and
be kind to your animals, becausethese are your companions,
mm-hmm, supposedly for theirlife at least, right, and
(28:03):
wouldn't you want to make surethey had the most fulfilling,
safe, healthy life they could?
So talk to me about your book.
Oh boy, polly Finds Us ForeverHome.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It is a true story.
It's about Polly's adoption.
I had no intentions on writinga book, actually a community
page back in 2014 that I hadstarted on Facebook.
It was just to document hislife with us.
It was just a fun project andit evolved into something a lot
(28:42):
bigger.
He had over a couple thousandfollowers.
It ran from 2014 to 2021.
And then I took it down becausehe was very ill and I didn't
want to take any more picturesof him because of his state at
that time, and then six monthslater, he passed away.
(29:04):
But it was.
It had really started at the asa the community page and then I
wrote a poem called Polly'sjourney and that was the name of
the Facebook page, and thenafter that, I started doing
blogging about the adventuresthat we went on and the
(29:29):
followers on the community pageread the poem.
It struck a chord and they saidyou've got to write a book
about this.
Maybe you can do a series ofbooks or whatever.
Yeah, I was able to finish thisone book and it's on his
adoption.
I was able to finish this onebook and it's on his adoption
and I have in there two pages ofsuggestions on how to keep your
pet from becoming a stripe NiceBecause during that time was
(29:53):
when all these animals werebeing surrendered after the
pandemic and I wanted to be partof the solution and try to
educate pet owners new petowners or existing pet owners on
how they can keep their petssafe from ending up in the
shelter.
Yeah, wow, so it turns into likean educational tool at that
(30:17):
point.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Yeah, and it kind of looks like a children's book,
but it doesn't really.
I mean, it's more than that,right.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Oh, definitely, definitely.
It is a children's book.
It's for ages 3 to 7.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Shoot, I thought you were going to say 3 to 70.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It's really for anybody who likes senior animals
or animals in general, sure,but I decided while I was
writing the book and all thisstuff was going on at the
shelters, with these animalsbeing brought in or euthanized
or whatever the case was, it'slike no, I got to do something
more with this book and that'swhat made me write the two pages
(31:05):
of suggestions to help othersnot fall into that situation,
because there's nothing worsethan losing a pet and no you're
right.
It's.
It's a terrible thing.
I've seen people that neverhave never gotten their pets
back for whatever reason.
It's sad and I wanted to bepart of the solution, so that's
(31:29):
how those pages got in there.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Fantastic and the book is well.
We already said, polly FindsHis Forever Home.
You'll be able to find it onAmazon and can you buy it
through the website.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
You can, I have the link, able to find it on Amazon
and can you buy it through thewebsite?
You can, I have the link.
I have a QR code and the linkon my website.
Okay, um Amazon, barnes andNoble, um Walmart, you know you,
just most online bookshopsshould have it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
And the website is senior-dogs-rockcom.
We will have a link for that inthe show notes, as well as an
Amazon link for the book as well.
Catherine, so much, I thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Oh, I thank you.
No, I appreciate it.
I really I was looking forwardto this because, you know, I I
look at the shelter page all thetime and I see all these
animals being brought in and I'mthinking, oh man, you know, and
it's, it's definitely notgetting better and it's.
It's just an influx of justanimals being brought in all the
(32:41):
time.
Yeah, I had to do somethingabout it oh, I hope this helps,
I'm sure well, yeah, I do tooall right.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Thank you so much for for stopping by today and and
chatting with me.
I really appreciate it.
Um again, we'll have all yourlinks in the show notes that
sounds great, mike.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I appreciate it.
Follow your links in the shownotes.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
That sounds great, mike.
I appreciate it.
I want to thank you for takingthis time to listen to this
episode with my guest, catherineStilwell.
I hope that you're able to takesomething positive from the
time that you spent here today.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
(33:27):
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends and family.
Also, feel free to follow us onour socials like Facebook,
instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
assistance, or have a podcastand are looking for a supportive
(33:48):
network to join, check outmaydaymedianetworkcom and check
out the many different shows,like Afrocentric Spoil, my Movie
Generation Mixtape In a PickleRadio Show, wake Up and Dream
with D Anthony Palin and StacksOpaques.
We will be back again next weekwith a new episode and we would
(34:11):
be honored if you would join us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
I am your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
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