December 9, 2023 • 29 mins
Ryan Gorman hosts an iHeartRadio nationwide special featuring Susanne Kogut, CEO of Petco Love. Susanne Kogut joins the show to discuss her organization's work in facilitating pet adoptions nationwide, providing vaccines and affordable pet treatment options for pet owners, and helping unify lost pets with their owners.
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(00:00):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you this week, here's Ryan Gorman. Thanks for joining us here on iHeartRadio
Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman and wehave an important conversation lined up for you
for this show, so let's getright to it. I'm joined by Suzanne
Coget, the CEO of pet coLove, which you can learn more about
(00:22):
at petcolove dot org. Suzanne,thanks so much for taking a few minutes
to come on the show. Forthose who aren't familiar with your organization,
tell us how and why pet cooLove was created and a little bit about
the work you do. Absolutely well. First, hy Ryan, and you
know, just thank you for thisopportunity to tell everyone about petso Love and
(00:43):
also to tell everyone about how theycan help pets in their community. So
Techo Love we are a national nonprofit. We were founded back in nineteen ninety
nine. The next year twenty fiveyears and we've been focused on helping pets
and needs. We're named petso Lovebecause it's very simple. We believe pets
are love. They provide us unconditionallove, and we also believe that all
(01:04):
pets deserve love, so it's ourmission to help them find that. First,
we want to make sure that everypet, every shelter pets, finds
a loving pulp. And for thosetests that are already in loving homes,
if they get lost, we wantto make sure they find their way right
back home. So we want tomake sure they're reunited with their family.
(01:26):
And finally, we want to makesure that every pet has access to veterinary
parents. This is needed care sothat they can live full, happy and
healthy life. Sort of in anutshell of what we do at Petso Love,
and I'd be happy to talk alittle bit about you know, each
more of these pillars and more details, absolutely and real quick. I'm sure
(01:48):
many are wondering just hearing the nameof your organization about the connection to pet
come. Yeah, so Peto isthe biggest of support that Pecho Love has,
but Peto Love is actually a separatenonprofit. We we are you know,
(02:09):
we have the privilege of petto support. If you're stopping in a Pecto
pet care center and you're checking out, you know there will be a prompt
and you would like to help petsand need get two dollars donation's gonna come
to Peto Love, and that enablesus to really focus our efforts and provide
(02:34):
that funding to organizations where that aremaking the most significant impact possible. The
other thing that Peco does for us, we partner with petto and all of
our local partners nationwide to promote textsfor adoption and our Peto pet care centers
around the country so they'll be theadoption weekends, and our pet coast stores
(02:59):
where you can find a great petto bring into your home. So I
think you know, Petco is ourbiggest supporter, hands down. We are
very privileged to have the relationship withTetto, but we are our work is
through a separate nonprofit. Before weget into the specifics of your work,
(03:20):
can you give us more of abig picture look at the impact that your
organization, pech Co Love, hashad sure so through the years. Like
I said, since nineteen ninety nine, part of what we do is by
investing funds into local animal welfare organizationsthroughout the country, and so far we've
(03:43):
invested over three hundred and seventy fivemillion dollars to help these life saving efforts
across the country. You know,we've also worked to find loving homes for
six point seven five million pet againin partnership with Techo and those local organizations.
And then we do a host ofother things like support pet cancer organizations.
(04:10):
We support organizations that are training shelterpets to be heroes for others,
so Service Animals, PTSD, supportabSO, we do a host of things
and it's just been, you know, just an incredible history that this organization
had been. You know, wetalked about Techco's involvement. It really was
(04:31):
some of the work that Techo wasdoing on the ground to help organizations back
in ninety nine. They were doingso much that they just really decided to
formalize it by starting a nonprofit andthey thought they could make a much more
significant impact by doing so, andthey really have through the years. I
want to talk about pet adoptions andwe're joined now by Suzanne Coget, the
(04:56):
CEO of Pechco Love. You canlearn more and support the wor work this
organization does at petcolove dot org.We saw a huge increase in adoptions during
the beginning parts of the pandemic,and I'm wondering in the years since,
because this was a bit of aconcervative mind. As all of that was
happening, what have we seen interms of those adoptions and what is the
(05:21):
state of our shelters across the country. How many pets are we talking about
living in shelters and in need offorever homes. Yeah, so that's a
great question. So, you know, I think during there's a lot of
stories during the pandemic about the increasein pedadoptionin and there was there was a
(05:43):
great increase in pedadoptionin There was alsoincrease there was also an increase in the
number of people that brought pets intheir home but purchased them through a breeder,
So there was a large number offamilies that were bringing new puts into
their homes. Since that time,you know, there's a lot of things
(06:03):
about pets that were adopted being relinquishedto shelters. We really haven't seen that
happen. In fact, the numbersof animals that were adopted and relinquished to
seltzers really has an increased through theyear. All that being said, we
still are seeing a higher number,just just more recently in the end of
(06:25):
twenty two and into twenty twenty three, of the number of animals that are
coming into shelters, whether they're numberone. The first way Pets Center shelters
is lost tests coming into shelters,and we'll talk about lost tests in a
little bit, but we are seeingthe number of animals in selters increase.
There's about four and a half tofive million animals that are coming into shelters
(06:46):
every year. And there's still agreat demand for pet adoption, but it's
beeing to have low down a littlebit. Since you know, since the
COVID time, you're in the pandemictime period where people were speaking out pet
adoption. I think people are stillinterested in bringing a pet into their home.
(07:10):
I think the focus that we shouldhave is to make sure that if
they're excusing to bring a new petinto their home, they're choosing to adopt
a pet. Right that seems likeit's the ongoing battle. You have people
who they pick a breed that theywant, perhaps, and then they go
(07:30):
to a breeder to get that breed, as opposed to going to these shelters
and adopting animals that need a home. Yeah, and I think sometimes we
all have this vision of what weneed in our life, and I think
sometimes if we look beyond what youthink you need, you might actually just
find what you need. So Ithink if anyone's even considering bringing a pet
(07:54):
into their home, I think atleast before you do anything, I think
you should go to your local sheltersor groups with a very open mind and
at least visit with five different pets, not even focused on what, you
know, the exact look, becauseit's really not the look that's going to
make a difference in your life.It's about the pet and about that emotional
(08:16):
connection that we have with a pet. And I guarantee anyone if they just
visit with five different pets, andvisit with all sorts of shapes and sizes
and ages, you know, I'mgoing to put a bet that bit,
there's no way you can walk outwithout finding the love of your life at
a shelter. So that's sort ofmy you know what I encourage people to
(08:39):
do. I mean, just startthere. Just start there, because you're
not only going to make your lifebetter, but you're going to save the
life of a shelter pet. AndI guarantee you they're going to appreciate that
and they're going to love you evenmore. You know, I've heard stories
before, just talking to different organizations, different shelters across the country about that
(09:03):
experience where you have someone come inand they have something very specific in mind
and they spend some time with afew different pets in the shelter and it's
almost like love at first meeting.You know, there's just this connection and
that's it. There's just no questionthat's going to be their pet, the
(09:24):
one they're going to bring home.So it really is important to go and
to have that experience before making anyfinal decision. Yeah, I mean,
and the great thing about shelters isthey have every shape, size, and
personality too. So you know,it's me it's always funny. Someone will
(09:46):
say, well, I'm looking fora really well, I want to get
a puppy, a young puppy,but I'm just I'm not very active.
I'm looking for a quiet pet.It's probably not a seat, right,
something different. It's really going tomeet your need. And you know,
I listen shelter workers around the country. They do such a good job.
They you know, they're focused ondoing everything that for the pets that are
(10:11):
in their care, and they loveto talk to people about the pets.
They love to tell you about thepets, so take advantage of that because
they will help you find the lovethat you need. We're joined by the
CEO of pet COO Love, Suzannecogit Imryan Gorman. You can learn more
about this organization and all the workthey do and support the work they do
(10:33):
at petcolove dot org. So tellus about your involvement your organization's involvement in
pet adoptions across the country. Yeah. Sure, Well, for first,
I would say, you know,we work with you know, local organizations
across the country to make sure thatthey can use our fifteen hundred petso pet
(10:56):
care centers to showcase the pets thatare about for adoption. So there's usually
caps available, we have cat habitats, there's usually cats for adoption all the
time, and then the organizations willbring pets on the weekend and they'll still
bring them up for adoption on theweekend. We also work with them to
promote adoption. So for the lastfew years, probably the last five years,
(11:22):
we've been doing mega adoption events andthis is sometimes we're bringing all the
pets together in one place or justpartnering on a statewide level to find more
pets homes homes, and this isreally just a way to create some excitement
and get the message out about thewonderful pets up for adoption. So,
(11:43):
in fact, it's next weekend.We are just next Saturday and Sunday we
have our Mega Maria Adoption Weekend.And this is focused in three areas of
the country that really have a highintake at their shelters and have a lot
of pets available. In fact,they'll be over seven thousand and two hundred
plus adoptable of pets that weekend.We're doing this in Texas, Florida,
(12:07):
and Georgia, and we're partnering withanimal welfare organizations and our pet post stores
to have pets available for adoption,and the adoption fee for that weekend will
be waived at participating organizations. Soif you're in you know, if you're
in Texas, Florida, or Georgia, go to megamary dot com. You
(12:30):
can find organizations in the stores thatare participating, and it's in your major
metropolitan areas like San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Tampa, Orlando,
Miami, Atlanta, Jacksonville and onand on. So I think this
is a really wonderful opportunity if you'relooking to bring a pet in your homes
(12:50):
over the holiday. Are there certaintimes of the year when shelters tend to
become fuller with pets in need ofa home, Yes, store, I
think definitely the summer time. Wewhat we see in the summer is just
because of the weather being hotter.There tends to be more kittens and cats
(13:11):
in the shelters during the summer.Dogs about the same number of pets available
throughout the year, although I willsay right now that I think shelters are
very much at some of the highestcapacities that we've seen since COVID of animals
available in their shelters right now,And so you know, if you're if
(13:33):
you're looking, if you're even thinkingabout it, I think the holidays are
a great time to adopt, youknow. They It provides you with some
time to bring a pet in yourhome. You're usually probably going to have
a few days off from work.You can help that pet adjust during this
time. What are some things thatfamilies should keep in mind before doing something
(13:58):
like that, adopting of pets aroundthe holidays, or perhaps giving a pet
as a gift. Yeah, thisis my favorite question. Ryan. I'm
going to start with giving a petas a gift, because you know,
we often hear that tests couldn't begiven as gifts. But the interesting thing
(14:18):
is most people that are giving uppets as a gift, they really do
know a lot about the person thatthey're giving that pet pets to. And
in fact, there was a studyby the AFCCA back in twenty and thirteen
and it was focused on people thathad thought pests as gifts, and what
(14:39):
they found was ninety six percent ofthe people that had received the pet as
a gift had there was virtually nodifference, no impact on the love or
attachment that they had to that pet, and in fact, the pet as
a gift was more likely to stayin the home and not be returned to
the shelters. So I think petsof gifts, you know, usually are
(15:01):
people that really you want to firstknow about the person that you're giving that
pet as a gift to, thatthey actually do want to pets, and
that they're ready for that commitment,and you know, and then finding the
pets for them. I think thatthat goes back to, you know,
(15:24):
really just that pet as a gift. Sometimes I think it goes back to
maybe someone thought they wanted an exactlook that may be just a little bit
different, and when they meet thatpet, their heart just melts, So
you know, and and listen.One of the things that I love about
sort of fee waved adoptions too.If you're going to provide, if you're
(15:48):
going to get a pet as agift, you also want to make sure
that you also provide as part ofthat gift, probably some some different amenities
accessories to help them care for that. So think about maybe a dog training
class. If you're providing a puppyto someone, maybe package that with the
dog training class. Maybe get themsome street maybe get them a great all
(16:10):
the things that you would need fora pet, pet help and adjust in
a new home. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by the CEO of petco Love,
Suzanne Koch. You can learn moreabout this really tremendous organization and all
the great work they do and supportthat work at petcolove dot org. That's
petcolove dot org. While we're onthe topic of the holidays, are there
(16:32):
some things that new pet owners orveteran pet owners, people who have had
pets for quite some time or havehad multiple pets things they should keep in
mind during the holiday season to bestcare for their pets. Yes, so,
I mean, if you are aveteran pet owner, you've had your
(16:53):
pets for a while. You knowyour pet and whether they like the excitement
of having a lot of family overfor the holidays or not. So you
know, respect your pet is.If you think it's too overwhelming for them,
give them a quiet space, letthem go lay down. They don't
need to participate in everything. There'sa lot of people coming in and out
(17:14):
of the house during the holidays.To make sure your pet is somewhere safe
so it doesn't accidentally get out duringthe holidays in escape. And then you
know, provide your guests with maybesome treats that your pets like. If
there's someone new to your home andyour pet doesn't like that, maybe give
them some treats, offer them andyou know, have them come up and
(17:37):
meet your pet. Give them atree. That really builds the relationship with
the new the new people coming intoyour home with your pets. And if
if it's a new pet and you'renot sure, take it slow, take
it slow. If you're not sure, give it a quiet space in a
separate room. Once everyone's in thehouse and they're not coming in and out,
(17:59):
maybe then introduce the pets. Butyou definitely don't want people coming in
and out with a new cut that'ssort of not contained and is maybe going
to escape. And now it's ina new home, it's in its escaping,
and it's in a new area thatit doesn't know. So you know,
just be patient, take some timeand put a little bit of extra
(18:21):
attention into what your pet needs.And this might seem like common sense,
but probably wise to be careful withornaments and decorations and also food around the
holidays, right, yeah, absolutely, you know that you can you can
always find a list of things cutscan have and things cuts can't have.
(18:41):
Right, Like, we all knowwe don't want to give our pets chocolates,
We don't want to give them onions. We got to be careful of
different holiday exacorations like points studios andyou know, yes, the tree,
the ornaments, that glass that couldbe sharp people cast away from the tree.
We know they love those shiny thingsto ply with. Right now,
(19:03):
tell us about one of the otherservices that you provide at pet Co.
Love your work helping people find lostpets. Yeah, so we were talking
about test escaping during the holidays.Well, we want to make sure this
is a goal of Techo Love andit's new for us. In the last
three years, we have introduced anew school called petso Love Loss. And
(19:26):
what this is is a national lostand Found pet database that uses a photo
and image recognition technology to match thephotos of people that are posting that have
lost their pets with photos of TETsthat people have spent oh wow. Yeah.
(19:47):
And the truth is, like youknow, everyone still talks about putting
a lost and found fire on atelephone pole. Well think about this as
your virtual national telephone poles. Let'salso are lost and found squires in one
place. The great thing about petGoo Love Loss also is that we're connecting
with over twenty five hundred shelters tomake sure that all of those shelter pets
(20:12):
are also in this database. Soat any given time we'll have one hundred
and seventy thousand pets that are postedin this database. And when we post
that photo, we can make thatmass People can communicate with one another without
even sharing personal contact information if youwant. So, if someone says,
hey, I think I have yourpets. Tell me a little bit about
(20:33):
that. You can do that allwithin our system online without ever giving anyone
your phone number or your email untilyou're sure that that's actually the pet and
you want to connect and meet thatpet. Is that a shelter, Our
system will say it's at the shelter, contact this local shelter. So it's
an incredible tool free for everyone.National Loss and Found database, and if
(20:59):
we really can just get the wordout, we can reunite more lost pets.
Because let's think about this, people, one in three pets will go
missing their lifetime. I didn't realizeit was that number. Yeah, that
is shocking. And how important ismicrochipping? Microchipping equally important? Microchipping is
(21:22):
your signature. If that pet endsup in a shelter, that PEP will
be stand for that microchip. ButI'll tell you the biggest problem that we
have with microchips these days is peoplewill be microchip their pets or maybe your
pet you've adopted from the shelter andthe shelter PEP was microchip, So you
have to keep that information up todate. It so any time, like
(21:45):
if your pet was microchipped as apuppy. You want to make sure ten
years later, when you've moved threeor four, updated that information so someone
can find you. That's really interesting. It's something I hadn't thought of.
We're joined right now by pet coLove CEO Suzanne Cogit. I'm Ryan Gorman.
You can learn more about this organizationand get a petcolove dot org.
(22:08):
Something else that you spend a lotof time and energy on care for pets,
tell us about that. Yes,right now. In this country,
one of the most challenging issues thatwe are faced with with with our pets
is how to make sure that everypet and every pet parent has access to
(22:30):
veterinarian care. In some areas ofthe country they're called veterinarian deserts. There
may not even be a veterinarian inthe area, and in other areas of
the country. Is inflation increases,the cost of providing care for our pets
continues to increase as well. Thereare several things that pet parents can do,
(22:55):
you know, there's there's a numberof different pet insurance products that are
out there to make sure that ifyou have an unusual situation that your pet
has covered. We highly recommend petinsurance But what Peto Love does is we
step in into areas and we reallytry to focus on where we as a
(23:18):
nonprofit can make this most significant impastfor those pet parents that may not even
be able to afford pet insurance.And where we've started is, let's first
start with making sure that we reducethe number of pets getting fix and the
(23:38):
number one way we do that isthrough providing free pet vaccines for the most
common deadly preventable viruses. So wehave worked with our partners throughout the country.
We have provided over two millions freepet vaccines throughout the country. Is
(24:00):
really working together with others to makesure we run the free pet vaccine clinics,
high volume clinics to get the mostpets fascinated that we can. So
that's really we're actually we have agoal to hit three millions and if we
just prevent disease, then we won'thave to worry about whether a pet parent
(24:22):
can afford the treatments for it.That's the number one way we do it.
We also provide funding and brand investmentsto nonprofit organizations that are focused on
providing free or affordable pets. Pairtwo veterinarians Care there is clinics throughout the
country. It put some of theanimal welfare organizations in the sheltering organizations will
(24:48):
also have a nonprofit clinic for thecommunity in their area, and then there's
separate nonprofit clinics throughout I think thatprobably the biggest challenges there's probably not an
enough of them for the needs.And I say, and the final area
that we focus on is pet cancer. That is the number one related way
(25:11):
that pets are dying early in thiscountry, and so we've provided some pet
cancer research, but we also providefunding for subsidized tet cancer treatment. And
we have a resource page on petcolovedot org where you can find the organization's
(25:32):
dat assists in this area. Andfinally, we've talked a lot about the
shelters in this country, how filledup they are, how many pets are
up for adoption. Can you talka little bit about the importance of getting
your pet spade or newtered, howthat comes into play, and how that
can really help alleviate the pressure that'son so many shelters and so many communities
(25:57):
all across this country. The importanceof making sure that something like that gets
done. Yeah, So any organizationthat you adopt from that organization is going
to make sure that pet is faded, newter before it goes to adoption.
That's pretty universal at this point.If you're going to get a lot of
(26:21):
times people will A good portion ofpets are just a pain from family and
friends. Maybe you found a catin your area that had kittens and your
neighbors all took a kit. Thebest thing you can do is say and
neuter that kitten. Again, goingback to back scenes are prevention. Saying
and neutering is prevention. If thereis more animals in the shelters, we
(26:45):
can just instead of finding those animalsin the shelter's home, let's just prevent
those animals from ever getting into theshelter in the first place. Say neuter
is one of the ways that wecan do that and find what are some
ways that everyone listening can help supportyour organization and your recommendations if they're looking
(27:07):
to support a shelter in their community. Yeah, so not everyone's looking to
adopt right now, right so youcan help pets in your community in so
many different ways. You know,if you're not ready to adopt, one
of the best things that you coulddo is foster a pet for your local
(27:29):
shelter, So could you take apet in your home temporarily for two weeks.
I hear a lot of times peoplesay I traveled too much. Well,
if you're not traveling all the time, and you have a two week
break, a month's break where you'renot traveling, think about bringing a pet
into your home. You're going tohave your home filled with love for whatever
time period that is with that newfoster pet, and you're also going to
(27:51):
be saving a life by doing so. You can also just go to your
local shelter in and volunteer there,whether it's walking walking dogs, you could,
you know, visit with the cast. You can help them clean,
you can help raise money, youcan help event. Shelters have so many
things going on, and you knowtheir only barrier to doing more is that
(28:15):
they don't have enough fosters and theydon't have enough volunteers. So fostering,
volunteering, donate to your local shelter, or if you just don't know who
to donate to, you can donateto Techo Love and we will make sure
that that donation gets to the organizationthat's making the most life saving impact possible.
That's what we do. We lookat shelters around the country and we
(28:37):
make sure we get those that aredoing the most, that are the most
under resource the funds that they needto save more life. TechCo Love CEO
Suzanne Coget, you can learn moreand support this organization. Plus a number
of great resources are available at techcolovedot org. And that's also where you
can find out more about the upcomingMega Mary Adoption Weekend, which is December
(29:03):
sixteenth and seventeenth. Again, petcolovedot org is the website. Suzanne,
thank you so much for the greatwork you're doing and for coming on the
show. We really appreciate it.Thanks for having us. Ryan appreciate you,
all right, And that's going todo it for this edition of iHeartRadio
Communities. As we wrap things up, I want to offer big thanks to
(29:23):
our guest, Suzanne Coge, CEOof petco Love, and of course to
all of you for listening. Ifyou want to hear previous episodes of the
show, we're on your iHeartRadio app. Just search for iHeartRadio Communities to listen.
I'm your host, Ryan Gorman.We'll talk to you again real soon.
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you this week, here's Ryan Gorman. Thanks for joining us here on iHeartRadio
Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman and wehave an important conversation lined up for you
for this show, so let's getright to it. I'm joined by Suzanne
Coget, the CEO of pet coLove, which you can learn more about
(00:22):
at petcolove dot org. Suzanne,thanks so much for taking a few minutes
to come on the show. Forthose who aren't familiar with your organization,
tell us how and why pet cooLove was created and a little bit about
the work you do. Absolutely well. First, hy Ryan, and you
know, just thank you for thisopportunity to tell everyone about petso Love and
(00:43):
also to tell everyone about how theycan help pets in their community. So
Techo Love we are a national nonprofit. We were founded back in nineteen ninety
nine. The next year twenty fiveyears and we've been focused on helping pets
and needs. We're named petso Lovebecause it's very simple. We believe pets
are love. They provide us unconditionallove, and we also believe that all
(01:04):
pets deserve love, so it's ourmission to help them find that. First,
we want to make sure that everypet, every shelter pets, finds
a loving pulp. And for thosetests that are already in loving homes,
if they get lost, we wantto make sure they find their way right
back home. So we want tomake sure they're reunited with their family.
(01:26):
And finally, we want to makesure that every pet has access to veterinary
parents. This is needed care sothat they can live full, happy and
healthy life. Sort of in anutshell of what we do at Petso Love,
and I'd be happy to talk alittle bit about you know, each
more of these pillars and more details, absolutely and real quick. I'm sure
(01:48):
many are wondering just hearing the nameof your organization about the connection to pet
come. Yeah, so Peto isthe biggest of support that Pecho Love has,
but Peto Love is actually a separatenonprofit. We we are you know,
(02:09):
we have the privilege of petto support. If you're stopping in a Pecto
pet care center and you're checking out, you know there will be a prompt
and you would like to help petsand need get two dollars donation's gonna come
to Peto Love, and that enablesus to really focus our efforts and provide
(02:34):
that funding to organizations where that aremaking the most significant impact possible. The
other thing that Peco does for us, we partner with petto and all of
our local partners nationwide to promote textsfor adoption and our Peto pet care centers
around the country so they'll be theadoption weekends, and our pet coast stores
(02:59):
where you can find a great petto bring into your home. So I
think you know, Petco is ourbiggest supporter, hands down. We are
very privileged to have the relationship withTetto, but we are our work is
through a separate nonprofit. Before weget into the specifics of your work,
(03:20):
can you give us more of abig picture look at the impact that your
organization, pech Co Love, hashad sure so through the years. Like
I said, since nineteen ninety nine, part of what we do is by
investing funds into local animal welfare organizationsthroughout the country, and so far we've
(03:43):
invested over three hundred and seventy fivemillion dollars to help these life saving efforts
across the country. You know,we've also worked to find loving homes for
six point seven five million pet againin partnership with Techo and those local organizations.
And then we do a host ofother things like support pet cancer organizations.
(04:10):
We support organizations that are training shelterpets to be heroes for others,
so Service Animals, PTSD, supportabSO, we do a host of things
and it's just been, you know, just an incredible history that this organization
had been. You know, wetalked about Techco's involvement. It really was
(04:31):
some of the work that Techo wasdoing on the ground to help organizations back
in ninety nine. They were doingso much that they just really decided to
formalize it by starting a nonprofit andthey thought they could make a much more
significant impact by doing so, andthey really have through the years. I
want to talk about pet adoptions andwe're joined now by Suzanne Coget, the
(04:56):
CEO of Pechco Love. You canlearn more and support the wor work this
organization does at petcolove dot org.We saw a huge increase in adoptions during
the beginning parts of the pandemic,and I'm wondering in the years since,
because this was a bit of aconcervative mind. As all of that was
happening, what have we seen interms of those adoptions and what is the
(05:21):
state of our shelters across the country. How many pets are we talking about
living in shelters and in need offorever homes. Yeah, so that's a
great question. So, you know, I think during there's a lot of
stories during the pandemic about the increasein pedadoptionin and there was there was a
(05:43):
great increase in pedadoptionin There was alsoincrease there was also an increase in the
number of people that brought pets intheir home but purchased them through a breeder,
So there was a large number offamilies that were bringing new puts into
their homes. Since that time,you know, there's a lot of things
(06:03):
about pets that were adopted being relinquishedto shelters. We really haven't seen that
happen. In fact, the numbersof animals that were adopted and relinquished to
seltzers really has an increased through theyear. All that being said, we
still are seeing a higher number,just just more recently in the end of
(06:25):
twenty two and into twenty twenty three, of the number of animals that are
coming into shelters, whether they're numberone. The first way Pets Center shelters
is lost tests coming into shelters,and we'll talk about lost tests in a
little bit, but we are seeingthe number of animals in selters increase.
There's about four and a half tofive million animals that are coming into shelters
(06:46):
every year. And there's still agreat demand for pet adoption, but it's
beeing to have low down a littlebit. Since you know, since the
COVID time, you're in the pandemictime period where people were speaking out pet
adoption. I think people are stillinterested in bringing a pet into their home.
(07:10):
I think the focus that we shouldhave is to make sure that if
they're excusing to bring a new petinto their home, they're choosing to adopt
a pet. Right that seems likeit's the ongoing battle. You have people
who they pick a breed that theywant, perhaps, and then they go
(07:30):
to a breeder to get that breed, as opposed to going to these shelters
and adopting animals that need a home. Yeah, and I think sometimes we
all have this vision of what weneed in our life, and I think
sometimes if we look beyond what youthink you need, you might actually just
find what you need. So Ithink if anyone's even considering bringing a pet
(07:54):
into their home, I think atleast before you do anything, I think
you should go to your local sheltersor groups with a very open mind and
at least visit with five different pets, not even focused on what, you
know, the exact look, becauseit's really not the look that's going to
make a difference in your life.It's about the pet and about that emotional
(08:16):
connection that we have with a pet. And I guarantee anyone if they just
visit with five different pets, andvisit with all sorts of shapes and sizes
and ages, you know, I'mgoing to put a bet that bit,
there's no way you can walk outwithout finding the love of your life at
a shelter. So that's sort ofmy you know what I encourage people to
(08:39):
do. I mean, just startthere. Just start there, because you're
not only going to make your lifebetter, but you're going to save the
life of a shelter pet. AndI guarantee you they're going to appreciate that
and they're going to love you evenmore. You know, I've heard stories
before, just talking to different organizations, different shelters across the country about that
(09:03):
experience where you have someone come inand they have something very specific in mind
and they spend some time with afew different pets in the shelter and it's
almost like love at first meeting.You know, there's just this connection and
that's it. There's just no questionthat's going to be their pet, the
(09:24):
one they're going to bring home.So it really is important to go and
to have that experience before making anyfinal decision. Yeah, I mean,
and the great thing about shelters isthey have every shape, size, and
personality too. So you know,it's me it's always funny. Someone will
(09:46):
say, well, I'm looking fora really well, I want to get
a puppy, a young puppy,but I'm just I'm not very active.
I'm looking for a quiet pet.It's probably not a seat, right,
something different. It's really going tomeet your need. And you know,
I listen shelter workers around the country. They do such a good job.
They you know, they're focused ondoing everything that for the pets that are
(10:11):
in their care, and they loveto talk to people about the pets.
They love to tell you about thepets, so take advantage of that because
they will help you find the lovethat you need. We're joined by the
CEO of pet COO Love, Suzannecogit Imryan Gorman. You can learn more
about this organization and all the workthey do and support the work they do
(10:33):
at petcolove dot org. So tellus about your involvement your organization's involvement in
pet adoptions across the country. Yeah. Sure, Well, for first,
I would say, you know,we work with you know, local organizations
across the country to make sure thatthey can use our fifteen hundred petso pet
(10:56):
care centers to showcase the pets thatare about for adoption. So there's usually
caps available, we have cat habitats, there's usually cats for adoption all the
time, and then the organizations willbring pets on the weekend and they'll still
bring them up for adoption on theweekend. We also work with them to
promote adoption. So for the lastfew years, probably the last five years,
(11:22):
we've been doing mega adoption events andthis is sometimes we're bringing all the
pets together in one place or justpartnering on a statewide level to find more
pets homes homes, and this isreally just a way to create some excitement
and get the message out about thewonderful pets up for adoption. So,
(11:43):
in fact, it's next weekend.We are just next Saturday and Sunday we
have our Mega Maria Adoption Weekend.And this is focused in three areas of
the country that really have a highintake at their shelters and have a lot
of pets available. In fact,they'll be over seven thousand and two hundred
plus adoptable of pets that weekend.We're doing this in Texas, Florida,
(12:07):
and Georgia, and we're partnering withanimal welfare organizations and our pet post stores
to have pets available for adoption,and the adoption fee for that weekend will
be waived at participating organizations. Soif you're in you know, if you're
in Texas, Florida, or Georgia, go to megamary dot com. You
(12:30):
can find organizations in the stores thatare participating, and it's in your major
metropolitan areas like San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Tampa, Orlando,
Miami, Atlanta, Jacksonville and onand on. So I think this
is a really wonderful opportunity if you'relooking to bring a pet in your homes
(12:50):
over the holiday. Are there certaintimes of the year when shelters tend to
become fuller with pets in need ofa home, Yes, store, I
think definitely the summer time. Wewhat we see in the summer is just
because of the weather being hotter.There tends to be more kittens and cats
(13:11):
in the shelters during the summer.Dogs about the same number of pets available
throughout the year, although I willsay right now that I think shelters are
very much at some of the highestcapacities that we've seen since COVID of animals
available in their shelters right now,And so you know, if you're if
(13:33):
you're looking, if you're even thinkingabout it, I think the holidays are
a great time to adopt, youknow. They It provides you with some
time to bring a pet in yourhome. You're usually probably going to have
a few days off from work.You can help that pet adjust during this
time. What are some things thatfamilies should keep in mind before doing something
(13:58):
like that, adopting of pets aroundthe holidays, or perhaps giving a pet
as a gift. Yeah, thisis my favorite question. Ryan. I'm
going to start with giving a petas a gift, because you know,
we often hear that tests couldn't begiven as gifts. But the interesting thing
(14:18):
is most people that are giving uppets as a gift, they really do
know a lot about the person thatthey're giving that pet pets to. And
in fact, there was a studyby the AFCCA back in twenty and thirteen
and it was focused on people thathad thought pests as gifts, and what
(14:39):
they found was ninety six percent ofthe people that had received the pet as
a gift had there was virtually nodifference, no impact on the love or
attachment that they had to that pet, and in fact, the pet as
a gift was more likely to stayin the home and not be returned to
the shelters. So I think petsof gifts, you know, usually are
(15:01):
people that really you want to firstknow about the person that you're giving that
pet as a gift to, thatthey actually do want to pets, and
that they're ready for that commitment,and you know, and then finding the
pets for them. I think thatthat goes back to, you know,
(15:24):
really just that pet as a gift. Sometimes I think it goes back to
maybe someone thought they wanted an exactlook that may be just a little bit
different, and when they meet thatpet, their heart just melts, So
you know, and and listen.One of the things that I love about
sort of fee waved adoptions too.If you're going to provide, if you're
(15:48):
going to get a pet as agift, you also want to make sure
that you also provide as part ofthat gift, probably some some different amenities
accessories to help them care for that. So think about maybe a dog training
class. If you're providing a puppyto someone, maybe package that with the
dog training class. Maybe get themsome street maybe get them a great all
(16:10):
the things that you would need fora pet, pet help and adjust in
a new home. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by the CEO of petco Love,
Suzanne Koch. You can learn moreabout this really tremendous organization and all
the great work they do and supportthat work at petcolove dot org. That's
petcolove dot org. While we're onthe topic of the holidays, are there
(16:32):
some things that new pet owners orveteran pet owners, people who have had
pets for quite some time or havehad multiple pets things they should keep in
mind during the holiday season to bestcare for their pets. Yes, so,
I mean, if you are aveteran pet owner, you've had your
(16:53):
pets for a while. You knowyour pet and whether they like the excitement
of having a lot of family overfor the holidays or not. So you
know, respect your pet is.If you think it's too overwhelming for them,
give them a quiet space, letthem go lay down. They don't
need to participate in everything. There'sa lot of people coming in and out
(17:14):
of the house during the holidays.To make sure your pet is somewhere safe
so it doesn't accidentally get out duringthe holidays in escape. And then you
know, provide your guests with maybesome treats that your pets like. If
there's someone new to your home andyour pet doesn't like that, maybe give
them some treats, offer them andyou know, have them come up and
(17:37):
meet your pet. Give them atree. That really builds the relationship with
the new the new people coming intoyour home with your pets. And if
if it's a new pet and you'renot sure, take it slow, take
it slow. If you're not sure, give it a quiet space in a
separate room. Once everyone's in thehouse and they're not coming in and out,
(17:59):
maybe then introduce the pets. Butyou definitely don't want people coming in
and out with a new cut that'ssort of not contained and is maybe going
to escape. And now it's ina new home, it's in its escaping,
and it's in a new area thatit doesn't know. So you know,
just be patient, take some timeand put a little bit of extra
(18:21):
attention into what your pet needs.And this might seem like common sense,
but probably wise to be careful withornaments and decorations and also food around the
holidays, right, yeah, absolutely, you know that you can you can
always find a list of things cutscan have and things cuts can't have.
(18:41):
Right, Like, we all knowwe don't want to give our pets chocolates,
We don't want to give them onions. We got to be careful of
different holiday exacorations like points studios andyou know, yes, the tree,
the ornaments, that glass that couldbe sharp people cast away from the tree.
We know they love those shiny thingsto ply with. Right now,
(19:03):
tell us about one of the otherservices that you provide at pet Co.
Love your work helping people find lostpets. Yeah, so we were talking
about test escaping during the holidays.Well, we want to make sure this
is a goal of Techo Love andit's new for us. In the last
three years, we have introduced anew school called petso Love Loss. And
(19:26):
what this is is a national lostand Found pet database that uses a photo
and image recognition technology to match thephotos of people that are posting that have
lost their pets with photos of TETsthat people have spent oh wow. Yeah.
(19:47):
And the truth is, like youknow, everyone still talks about putting
a lost and found fire on atelephone pole. Well think about this as
your virtual national telephone poles. Let'salso are lost and found squires in one
place. The great thing about petGoo Love Loss also is that we're connecting
with over twenty five hundred shelters tomake sure that all of those shelter pets
(20:12):
are also in this database. Soat any given time we'll have one hundred
and seventy thousand pets that are postedin this database. And when we post
that photo, we can make thatmass People can communicate with one another without
even sharing personal contact information if youwant. So, if someone says,
hey, I think I have yourpets. Tell me a little bit about
(20:33):
that. You can do that allwithin our system online without ever giving anyone
your phone number or your email untilyou're sure that that's actually the pet and
you want to connect and meet thatpet. Is that a shelter, Our
system will say it's at the shelter, contact this local shelter. So it's
an incredible tool free for everyone.National Loss and Found database, and if
(20:59):
we really can just get the wordout, we can reunite more lost pets.
Because let's think about this, people, one in three pets will go
missing their lifetime. I didn't realizeit was that number. Yeah, that
is shocking. And how important ismicrochipping? Microchipping equally important? Microchipping is
(21:22):
your signature. If that pet endsup in a shelter, that PEP will
be stand for that microchip. ButI'll tell you the biggest problem that we
have with microchips these days is peoplewill be microchip their pets or maybe your
pet you've adopted from the shelter andthe shelter PEP was microchip, So you
have to keep that information up todate. It so any time, like
(21:45):
if your pet was microchipped as apuppy. You want to make sure ten
years later, when you've moved threeor four, updated that information so someone
can find you. That's really interesting. It's something I hadn't thought of.
We're joined right now by pet coLove CEO Suzanne Cogit. I'm Ryan Gorman.
You can learn more about this organizationand get a petcolove dot org.
(22:08):
Something else that you spend a lotof time and energy on care for pets,
tell us about that. Yes,right now. In this country,
one of the most challenging issues thatwe are faced with with with our pets
is how to make sure that everypet and every pet parent has access to
(22:30):
veterinarian care. In some areas ofthe country they're called veterinarian deserts. There
may not even be a veterinarian inthe area, and in other areas of
the country. Is inflation increases,the cost of providing care for our pets
continues to increase as well. Thereare several things that pet parents can do,
(22:55):
you know, there's there's a numberof different pet insurance products that are
out there to make sure that ifyou have an unusual situation that your pet
has covered. We highly recommend petinsurance But what Peto Love does is we
step in into areas and we reallytry to focus on where we as a
(23:18):
nonprofit can make this most significant impastfor those pet parents that may not even
be able to afford pet insurance.And where we've started is, let's first
start with making sure that we reducethe number of pets getting fix and the
(23:38):
number one way we do that isthrough providing free pet vaccines for the most
common deadly preventable viruses. So wehave worked with our partners throughout the country.
We have provided over two millions freepet vaccines throughout the country. Is
(24:00):
really working together with others to makesure we run the free pet vaccine clinics,
high volume clinics to get the mostpets fascinated that we can. So
that's really we're actually we have agoal to hit three millions and if we
just prevent disease, then we won'thave to worry about whether a pet parent
(24:22):
can afford the treatments for it.That's the number one way we do it.
We also provide funding and brand investmentsto nonprofit organizations that are focused on
providing free or affordable pets. Pairtwo veterinarians Care there is clinics throughout the
country. It put some of theanimal welfare organizations in the sheltering organizations will
(24:48):
also have a nonprofit clinic for thecommunity in their area, and then there's
separate nonprofit clinics throughout I think thatprobably the biggest challenges there's probably not an
enough of them for the needs.And I say, and the final area
that we focus on is pet cancer. That is the number one related way
(25:11):
that pets are dying early in thiscountry, and so we've provided some pet
cancer research, but we also providefunding for subsidized tet cancer treatment. And
we have a resource page on petcolovedot org where you can find the organization's
(25:32):
dat assists in this area. Andfinally, we've talked a lot about the
shelters in this country, how filledup they are, how many pets are
up for adoption. Can you talka little bit about the importance of getting
your pet spade or newtered, howthat comes into play, and how that
can really help alleviate the pressure that'son so many shelters and so many communities
(25:57):
all across this country. The importanceof making sure that something like that gets
done. Yeah, So any organizationthat you adopt from that organization is going
to make sure that pet is faded, newter before it goes to adoption.
That's pretty universal at this point.If you're going to get a lot of
(26:21):
times people will A good portion ofpets are just a pain from family and
friends. Maybe you found a catin your area that had kittens and your
neighbors all took a kit. Thebest thing you can do is say and
neuter that kitten. Again, goingback to back scenes are prevention. Saying
and neutering is prevention. If thereis more animals in the shelters, we
(26:45):
can just instead of finding those animalsin the shelter's home, let's just prevent
those animals from ever getting into theshelter in the first place. Say neuter
is one of the ways that wecan do that and find what are some
ways that everyone listening can help supportyour organization and your recommendations if they're looking
(27:07):
to support a shelter in their community. Yeah, so not everyone's looking to
adopt right now, right so youcan help pets in your community in so
many different ways. You know,if you're not ready to adopt, one
of the best things that you coulddo is foster a pet for your local
(27:29):
shelter, So could you take apet in your home temporarily for two weeks.
I hear a lot of times peoplesay I traveled too much. Well,
if you're not traveling all the time, and you have a two week
break, a month's break where you'renot traveling, think about bringing a pet
into your home. You're going tohave your home filled with love for whatever
time period that is with that newfoster pet, and you're also going to
(27:51):
be saving a life by doing so. You can also just go to your
local shelter in and volunteer there,whether it's walking walking dogs, you could,
you know, visit with the cast. You can help them clean,
you can help raise money, youcan help event. Shelters have so many
things going on, and you knowtheir only barrier to doing more is that
(28:15):
they don't have enough fosters and theydon't have enough volunteers. So fostering,
volunteering, donate to your local shelter, or if you just don't know who
to donate to, you can donateto Techo Love and we will make sure
that that donation gets to the organizationthat's making the most life saving impact possible.
That's what we do. We lookat shelters around the country and we
(28:37):
make sure we get those that aredoing the most, that are the most
under resource the funds that they needto save more life. TechCo Love CEO
Suzanne Coget, you can learn moreand support this organization. Plus a number
of great resources are available at techcolovedot org. And that's also where you
can find out more about the upcomingMega Mary Adoption Weekend, which is December
(29:03):
sixteenth and seventeenth. Again, petcolovedot org is the website. Suzanne,
thank you so much for the greatwork you're doing and for coming on the
show. We really appreciate it.Thanks for having us. Ryan appreciate you,
all right, And that's going todo it for this edition of iHeartRadio
Communities. As we wrap things up, I want to offer big thanks to
(29:23):
our guest, Suzanne Coge, CEOof petco Love, and of course to
all of you for listening. Ifyou want to hear previous episodes of the
show, we're on your iHeartRadio app. Just search for iHeartRadio Communities to listen.
I'm your host, Ryan Gorman.We'll talk to you again real soon.
Host
Manny Munoz
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