141. Pet Separation Anxiety, Animal Communication & Understanding Our Pets

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen Levine and me, Chris Bonafati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV. Hello and welcome to another episode of Pets Ad Life. I am one of your hosts, Chris Bonafati, and joining me as always is a fresh baked Dutch apple pie. Kristen Levine. Kristen, how are we doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Oh my gosh. Speaking of apple pie, we have got the best farm stand here that bakes fresh apple pies. And I have yet to go get one, but you just reminded me. So I think I'll head down there later today.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's pie season. It is pie season. Once you cross into November, you start thinking about Thanksgiving and that makes it pie season. That is true. And I'll be honest, I don't really know what makes an apple pie Dutch.That's a good question. That's a great question because it probably has to do with the style of

Speaker 2 (01:03):
The way it's -

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Some type of apple. But is it like the type of apple? Hop into the comments if you know anything about apple pies. All you pie connoisseurs out there.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I was going to add that November's also Senior Pet Health Month and Senior Pet Adoption Month. So got a little focus on seniors this month.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, that's always good to have a handle on. Kristen Levine, AKA calendar lady, always knowing our important months. I'm over here clueless, probably like everybody else, but I think that's really great. I assume we have some senior dog content lined up for all of our good people here.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, if we don't, we will before you know it.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
At some point. At some point. I can't believe it's already November.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Can you believe soon the year is going to be 2027? I feel like I've just got used to 2026. I

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Agree. I agree. I just stopped writing 2025.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
I just stopped saying happy new year last week. What is going on? Anyway, folks, we've got a great show lined up for you guys. We're going to do the same thing as always. We've got two stories, two guests, two products, and at the end we're going to answer two of your questions. So keep two hands grip tight to your chair. Do not dare touch that dial and let's hop into story time.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Kristen and Chris present Story Time.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
All right, Kristen, story time. What have you got for us this week?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay. So with it being the holiday season, lots of people are planning to travel. And I found this travel story from our friends at Rover. They did another survey. Actually, it was earlier this spring, so it's very recent. They surveyed a thousand US pet parents all about travel. And here are some of the interesting findings. Some of them surprising, some not so much. 71% of the people said they prioritize their pet's needs over their own vacation experience. I've done that for sure.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
100%. That makes so much sense.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah. 39% have canceled, and this one surprised me, have canceled an expensive trip last minute because of their pet. Maybe their pet sitter fell through or something like that. I mean, that's almost 40%. That's a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
32% of people are taking fewer trips or none at all this year because of their pet. And 47% would consider skipping a major event like a wedding if their pet wasn't invited. I feel like that's just an excuse to not go to a wedding.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah. I mean, listen, the number of weddings I've been to lifetime, I would start throwing that excuse around too.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
I would too.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
My goldfish is on fire. I can't make it.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
In this survey, nobody cited separation anxiety, but I bet that plays into it as well, travel plans and if you have -

Speaker 1 (03:59):
I bet for some of those cancellations. I think that could definitely come in through. I wonder how many of that 40% had travel insurance though? Because if I had an anxious pet, I would definitely be getting that insurance every time.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So what is your story, Chris?

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Well, my story is near and dear to my heart. We are about to approach a new year, as I mentioned at the top of the show. And a new year means a new Girl Scout cookie season. Oh boy. I mean, let's be honest, people. There are pleasures few and far between that are as good as a frozen thin mint at about two in the morning out of the freezer. There's nothing like it. So I love Girl Scout cookies and I also love the Girl Scouts and the programming and what they do for young girls across the United States. But this year, one of the new cookies will be Patch Pals. And Patch Pals are the first ever dog biscuit that will be offered through the Girl Scouts. It's a soft baked blueberry muffin flavored cookie for dogs. It was developed with dog centric company Bark and intended to celebrate the bond between people and their pups.

(05:20):
Each patch pal will also include one of four patch designs to represent a classic Girl Scout experience. So the shapes of them are some of the different patches that Girl Scouts can earn based on advocating for their communities and the animals in them. So I do believe that the Patch Pals will be available for online direct shipping beginning January 12th, 2027. And of course, with the advent of spring and those Girl Scouts start to get active in your neighborhood, you could always place an order with them too. So be on the lookout for that. I think that's so fun.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
What a smart idea.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah. They're always sampling out new cookies. The classics always stick around, your thin mincing, your samosas and stuff like that, but they always have something new in the works and it's fun to see that Fido gets a fun treat this spring as well.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Absolutely. I'll definitely be ordering some for tulip.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
I might pop a couple myself.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Throw them in the freezer.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Throw it in the freezer. Don't knock it till you try it.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
Beyond the leash, exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay. I am so happy to introduce our guest today because we get asked about this particular topic quite a bit on the show, so she's going to help us understand it better. Her name is Dr. Tracy Dice. She's a veterinarian with Zoetis and she serves as the medical lead for their behavior solutions. She's a Texas A&M trained vet who spent 15 years in emergency medicine before she moved into general practice, and then she joined Zoetis in 2018. Now, Dr. Dice has been a longtime supporter and friend of the Pet Anxiety Awareness Month event, and we got to work with her and Dog TV back in June on our Understanding Pet Anxiety Special. We'll drop a link in the show notes to that because it's still airing. And she's here today to help us understand separation anxiety, what it really is and why it deserves to be treated like the medical condition that it is.

(07:28):
And that might surprise some of you. So please welcome Dr. Dice.

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yay. So happy to be here, Kristen.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I'm so happy to have you on the podcast. I know we have a lot to talk about today, and this is a really important topic for a lot of dog parents.This episode airs as we head into the holiday season, traveling, leaving our pets with a sitter, house guests and noisy gatherings, just routines in general getting massively disrupted. So what are some of the early signs of holiday related either fear, stress, or anxiety that we pet parents need to be watching for?

Speaker 4 (08:05):
Such a great question, but before we jump into the early signs of holiday related fear, anxiety, and stress, it's so important to acknowledge something really positive. And you mentioned it in that intro, behavioral medicine and awareness and animal anxiety are getting the attention they deserve in vet medicine. So snaps for that. Much like human medicine, we're recognizing that behavioral health conditions aren't bad behavior or training failure. They're serious medical conditions that can profoundly impact a companion animal's wellbeing, safety, quality of life, and they can really strain that human animal bond when they are off. Now, these conditions deserve the same kind of diagnostic and management approach that we would offer any other medical condition, say like diabetes. They deserve thoughtful evaluation and such a tailored treatment plan. So with that in mind, the holidays can be a perfect storm because holiday happenings are very unique, very different for individual pets.

(09:16):
These situations reflect a multitude of anxiety disorders impacting our pets. We have generalized anxiety, noise aversion, separation anxiety and travel anxiety. And Kristen, they're all unique condition. Did you know that as many as 50% of dogs have more than one anxiety condition? Didn't know that. It's amazing. So a personal rule of thumb for all the pet parents gathering today from Dr. Tracy is think about this. To know what's abnormal, you got to know your dog's normal. What makes your dog your dog? What's their normal energy, their sociability, their playfulness, ability to settle, and does that change when they're presented with a stressor? And then when we go into actual signs, when presented with a stress like holiday noises, gatherings, for me, it's all the lights and the decor, what's happening with their body language? Does a dog that is suddenly becoming restless, are they fearing or trying to flee from people and noise?

(10:26):
Are you seeing a shift in their routine, whether that's eating, drinking, potty habits, and are you seeing physical signs of stress? In my household, we might have some GI upset when the holidays are coming and the house is booming with people. So the key takeaway, the key takeaway here is if your pet seems out of character around those holiday times, that's often an early sign of distress and a great reason to connect with your veterinarian.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Dr. Tracy, that's some really great information, but I want to key in on one of those figures that 50% number really jumps out to me as pretty surprising. And your market research shows that 20% of dogs have separation anxiety, but only about a third of these dogs are ever diagnosed. So what is separation anxiety? Why is it so common? And why is it considered a medical condition rather than just a behavior problem?

Speaker 4 (11:25):
Gosh, wonderful question again. And I'm so glad that we're talking more about separation anxiety. All of us that were in our homes during what, the one to two year COVID period became completely bonded and inseparated from our dogs and cats. And then all of a sudden we changed and we went back to work, didn't we? So separation anxiety is, it's a panic response and it happens when a dog is separated from their person or their attachment figure. And the unfortunate thing is a lot of people will say, "Oh, it's spite. It's stubbornness." And that is why I'm so glad we're talking about it because no, it is truly distress. It's common because dogs are social animals and they're members of their family pack. So when their routines change a lot, it can become very tricky and unpredictable. And let's circle back to the medical component of these behavioral issues like separation anxiety.

(12:30):
It's medical because it all happens in the brain. We're talking about brain chemistry, that fear circuitry and that unpredictable stress response. And it can cause some real animal welfare issues and even cause physical harm in some patients.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, sure can. That was my personal experience with my dog Buck who had separation anxiety. I've learned so much since then. Now, Doc, you and I spoke about a month ago and you introduced this term called surround sound and taking a surround sound approach to separation anxiety. Can you talk about what that actually looks like for a dog and their family?

Speaker 4 (13:12):
I love that we're talking about surround sound. Surround sound is just Tracy Dr. Dice ease for talking about a

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Multimodal

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Approach to a medical and behavioral condition. It is when we really approach from all sides. So what it means is we're not just going to do one thing. We are going to combine an effort so that we can maximize the success of getting that patient diagnosed and treated. So what surround sound looks for Dr. Tracy is first, veterinary care. That's the first place to start if you have a dog that you think, dog or cat that you think suffers from one of the anxiopathies. And in that veterinary care, there's going to be of course a behavioral assessment, but there's also going to be a medical assessment because sometimes we can have both. We can have an internal problem and a brain problem and the two can really exacerbate one another. So veterinary care and after assessment, we're going to look into medication when it's appropriate.

(14:17):
I think we're going to circle back to the medication component, Kristen, here in a bit, but why we need to intervene with pharmaceuticals and medication is because we have to tell those brain panic chemicals, "Hey, you got to settle down." And they have to settle down so that that pet has the ability to go on and learn and do training and get desensitized to the things that are making it anxious. And then finally, the third arm, the trifecta and the surround sound is behavior and lifestyle changes. So that's going to be a change in the routines. It's going to be consulting maybe a veterinary behaviorist or a certified trainer that really has special interest and history with working with animals that suffer from these anxiopathies. So surround sound, we're going to come in and we're going to just maximize success to get that pet diagnosed and

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Managed

Speaker 4 (15:21):
With a perfect trifecta.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
So veterinarians now have a new medication or actually medication options for treating separation anxiety and other fear, anxiety and stress conditions. So tell us, give us a little sneak peek about what's coming and how it's different than what is currently being prescribed.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
Oh my gosh. I cannot believe. So I've been almost out 30 years. I've been practicing for almost 30 years. How many dog years is that like 204?

Speaker 2 (15:48):
A lot. 245

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Years.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
We won't count.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
Yes. And the evolution of pharmaceuticals and medications and even supplements that we have to offer these patients is exciting. Vets have options that can fit different needs. Some support daily baseline anxiety while others can support those situational spikes during predictable event. What's exciting is that the continued focus on treatments is specifically designed for fear and anxiety conditions and those protocols integrate medicine with behavioral plans because it's those combos, again, back to that surround sound that have the best outcomes. Now, the challenging aspect of behavioral science is that we are dealing with the brain and the brain doesn't always read the book, does it? So medications can have varying responses in different patients and getting them on medication to see how it's going to be predictable can take time. A bummer, a super bummer is we talked about people sometimes waiting to come see me until we're behind the eight ball.

(17:05):
So I have that and a lot of the behavioral meds that are

Speaker 5 (17:08):
Out

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Today take a couple of weeks to reach steady state. And steady state is just that time in which medication settles in. It's predictable. I know how the pet's doing on it. So sadly, I'm presented with these pets that need help immediately and I only have prescriptions that are going to take effect in two weeks to see the disconnect there. Thankfully for those patients, let's do snaps. We do have a new prescription that'll be available in the United States probably I'd say mid 2027. It's called Tessie, tazapimidine oral solution. And you guys, it's the first fast acting medication for treatment of noise aversion in dogs.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
We love fast acting, don't we?

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, that is absolutely amazing. Dr. Tracy, we are running up on time here. We're coming to the end of our interview. Oh, we have a guest. We have a guest. Who's that?

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Oh, we have a second guest. Hi. Who is this?

Speaker 4 (18:08):
I figured he might, I thought he might want to make an appearance.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
We're glad he did. What's his name?

Speaker 4 (18:15):
We didn't talk to his agent, but this is sweet baby Lee.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Hi, sweet baby Lee. I'm glad you could join us.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
Oh my God, thank

Speaker 1 (18:23):
You. Before Dr. Tracy let you and baby Lee go, where can folks learn more if they want to do some research on pet anxiety awareness and they want a trusted source, not just some talking head on social media. Where should they go?

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah. So I am going to punt this back to my good friend, Kristin Levine here. Kristen, can you tell us about the Pet Anxiety Awareness Month platform?

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Sure, sure. So we celebrated it in June, but we created this awesome resource back in June called Understanding Pet Anxiety. And we cover a lot of different anxiety conditions in both dogs and cats. So you can go to petanxietyawareness.com. We'll put that in the show notes and you can have access to all the resources there. And I'm sure as we get into 2027 and this new option being available, we can talk more about separation anxiety and the whole surround sound approach. Maybe bring in some additional experts to help us with that surround sound. So it was a pleasure to talk to you today, or Dr. Tracy, I guess I should call you, right?

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Whatever you call me, I'll tell you Tracy. If you have a cute animal with you, I'll be -

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, exactly. All right.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Kristen, if you're a dutch apple pie, she's the whole peach cobbler. I'll tell you that much.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
She sure is.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I don't really know what that means, but Ron has decided that the portraits were insufficient. So I really like that. One of them is just staring down at her scalp.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yes. Chris, what are you doing in those parts? I like the one with your hand on the merchant.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah. I'm very thoughtful. That's amazing,

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Man.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thinking of how to answer your questions, dear listeners. But what a great guest done.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
She's so fun.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yes. And I'm glad you have such a powerful partner for your Pet Anxiety Awareness Month.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Only the best.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
You are building a strong coalition and soon you will have. I don't know what throne, but it'll be yours. Our next guest asks us to consider a fascinating question. What if our animals are communicating with us in ways we're simply not accustomed to hearing? Joan Ranquet is an animal communicator, energy healer, author, TEDx speaker, and the founder of Communication with All Life University, where she teaches animal communication, energy healing, and our connection with animals and the natural world. Joan has been working professionally with animals and their people for more than 30 years. She believes that communicating with animals isn't a mysterious gift reserved for a select few, but an intuitive ability that people can develop, learning to pay attention to pictures, feelings, impressions, and other information we might normally overlook. She's the author of several books, Exploring the Human-Animal Connection, including Communication with All Life, Energy Healing for Animals, Emotional Freedom Technique for Animals and Their Humans, and her newest book, Animal Chakra Healing.

(21:23):
Joan, thank you so much for taking some time today to hop on the podcast.

Speaker 5 (21:29):
Thank you for having me. It's really an honor.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Absolutely. So let's start with a big question right off the bat for someone who may be hearing about animal communication for the first time. When you say communicate with an animal, what exactly do you mean and what exactly are you experiencing?

Speaker 5 (21:47):
Well, I mean, we all communicate with our animals. God knows this morning out hiking, there might have been some cussing, but we all definitely... We speak verbally. We can watch body language. We can hear them nay or meow or bark, but the truth is there's an underlying telepathic communication going on at all times. And so it's almost like our words when we speak back up what it is that we're sending. And the big thing is, are you sending consciously or not? Because a lot of times we're sending a mixed message,

Speaker 2 (22:30):
If that makes sense. We send mixed messages to people all the time.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
So I guess, is there a way that we can verify what we think we're receiving from an animal? Have you ever received information you couldn't possibly have known beforehand that was later confirmed by the owner?

Speaker 5 (22:53):
Absolutely. I mean, so to break it down even more, the animal communication is telepathy and telepathy is the transference of pictures, words, and feelings. So when I do a session, I'm communicating with an animal and finding out things on behalf of the person to see what's going on behaviorally, maybe what's going on for a health issue. And certainly there's things there's no way I would know that come out in that session. And even recently, I also take people on wildlife trips. I took a group to a place where all the guides knew all the elephants and we were able to communicate with two of the elephants and the guides were just blown away and able to verify for all of my guests that they... And none of them thought they could even do it. None of them had thought about doing it before. And so anybody can do it.

(23:53):
And so that's the beauty of it.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah. I love that mentality of anybody can do it. And I think every pet owner, if you told them you had a way to communicate with their pet better, they'd be all for it. So for our folks listening at home, what's some advice or maybe an exercise you'd give someone who's a newbie, but they're very interested and they want to be more receptive to their pet at home?

Speaker 5 (24:19):
Well, I always say say what you mean and mean what you say. So even if you were to get quiet and really just focus on maybe your animal's in the other room and you wanted them to come in, if you got very quiet and just focused on them coming in, like saying, "Abby, come in." Abby's locked out on the catio, so she'll be clawing in a minute. But the thing is if you focus on the intended behavior, you cannot believe how quickly it starts to shift things. And the challenge is that if even that little exercise, you're going to be like, "Abby's just going to go back and lay on the bed." Then you're sending her the picture like, "Come in, but no, lay on the bed, but come in, but lay on the bed." So that's where getting really crystal clear at sending messages helps you become aware of starting to receive messages.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
What's harder for people who've never done this before? Is it harder to send or to receive?

Speaker 5 (25:26):
It's harder to receive, although we all do the mixed message thing with the sending. So I would say it's deceptively simple and it's challenging. And the challenge is that when I teach a class, like I teach most days a week, people get the information really quickly and then they don't trust it. So that's what the big pitfall with that is.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah. I want to ask a bit about that because typically in my experience with my pets is I project a lot of my feelings onto them. So if my dog or cat is telling me I'm lonely, is it just because I'm lonely and that's what I'm feeling? How do I distinguish between my own intuitive feelings and what I'm sort of projecting onto the animals around me?

Speaker 5 (26:22):
Well, and the other possibility is that you're looking at them because you might be working too much and have guilt.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
So there's lots of - A lot going on.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah. So the best way to do it is to do it with a neutral animal. That's why I teach people not so much right away to communicate with their own animals, but to communicate with one of mine, get some very specific information. And my animals are pros. They're very good at it. And so then I can verify it. So the best thing is to put yourself in a neutral setting. So you probably know each other's animals really, really well, so that wouldn't be the most neutral setting, but maybe a friend that you don't know their animal that well, and you could communicate with that and get the information verified. And that's what builds what I call the telepathic muscle. So you're starting to know that you did it like, "Oh, okay. I got that. That was accurate." And then you keep building from there. And then when you're looking at your own animal and you're saying, "Okay, he or she is lonely," then you just take a moment and say, "Is this mine?

(27:39):
Are these my feelings about my animal?" And then eventually the truth is going to settle.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
So Joan, you've worked with a lot of different types of animals over your three decades. Is there a particular communication or maybe a couple different communications you've had with animals that you were really surprised at what you were receiving or -

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Someone showing up for -

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
That's Gloria.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
What were some of the unusual or surprising things that you were receiving from an animal, whether it was your own or a client?

Speaker 5 (28:22):
Yeah. One of the most surprising was many years ago there was a horse that was missing from a barn and I knew the facility. I knew where it was and I knew it was kind of landlocked and not near any water. And so when the horse was missing, they had called me to connect with the animal. And when I connected with the horse, I got a sense of being in a paddock. So I didn't think the horse was stolen. I just really couldn't tell. But I kept hearing water dripping and I knew that there was... I didn't think there was a water source that could have been dripping. It sounded like a little stream. And so that day the people called me and said, "You're not going to believe it." They found the horse down in ravine, and what had happened was the husband of the gal that owned the horse, who didn't believe in animal communication, followed this little stream of water and it took him to a trickle over the cliff, and down there was the horse.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (29:40):
So that one was a good one.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's amazing. That's amazing. I want to talk a bit about your newest book, Animal Chakra Healing, and I'm someone I have absolutely no background in chakras. So can you explain a bit about the animal chakra system? Is it similar to what they teach about people? And what do you think pet parents can learn from studying this kind of thing?

Speaker 5 (30:07):
Well, I always say that this book is like the cheat sheet for animal communication because you'll understand your animal in a really different way or just have a wider view because the human chakra system is very similar to the animal chakra system. And when we look at the original, the first chakra where there's the sitzbones right there, that really is security and safety. And if we look at animals, they really connect. Think about dogs smelling each other's butts when they meet at the dog park, and they really identify with that hind end of whether they are safe and secure or whether they've got to get out of there. And if you think about how fast that hind end moves, it's just supporting the idea of like, "I'm not safe. I'm out of here." And you can also see, I mean, all of us have seen in our animals' tails, right?

(31:10):
The tail is high and proud and happy and safe and other animals are like, "No, not so much." So that first chakra really tells us everything. And then the second chakra is really more about a one-on-one relationship. I mean, it can be like fertility and creativity, but yeah, it's very much about if you watch animals as their hind end starts to go in their elder years, a lot of times the things that they did in the relationship were declining. So you can really look at it from an emotional, physical, and just kind of an energetic way. And my favorite one to always talk about is the third chakra because if you look at confidence and security next to digestion, a lot of times our animals that have anxiety have already had tummy problems or they get tummy problems as a result of the anxiety. So it's almost like that you could treat anxiety with a probiotic.

(32:23):
This is the first time she's ever done this. She's new to my household.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
She's having the limelight.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Yeah, she's feeling safe. But the anxiety, you could treat it with a probiotic or you could treat a tummy problem with training and teaching confidence. It goes hand in hand, the digestive problems and the lack of confidence.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Joan, your work is fascinating and we're coming up on time, so I want to give you a chance to tell us where we can follow your work and find out more about how to learn more about communicating with our animals.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
Okay. My website is J-O-A-N-R-A-N-Q-U-E-T.com. And I'm also on Facebook. I have a really fun group called Learn to Communicate with Animals with Joan. And yeah, we do a lot of stuff in there. That's all free. And then I've got everything from beginning courses, meditations to a two-year program. So all the things and books. Anywhere you can buy books, I have books.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
That's excellent. Thanks again for taking some time today. This was really interesting to learn.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Thank you.That was the first time I've actually spoken to her. I've heard about her for, like she said, 30 years. And I'm just fascinated with the concept of communication with pets in an intuitive way as opposed to -

Speaker 1 (33:58):
I think we're all doing it in some capacity. We just might not be doing it well.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
We don't know it.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
Right. Yeah. I think most people, especially cat owners, I feel like, and maybe that's just because I'm biased, but I feel like cats have really strong intuition and respond to this kind of stuff well. And it's very funny that people say you can't teach cats tricks, but every cat I've ever known, I could get to come into the room when I wanted to see them. And I know nothing about this stuff. So imagine the power I could unlock if I read a book.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
You'd be dangerous.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
So dangerous. And I also didn't know that animals had chakras. I had no

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Idea.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
People talk about the human ones and the chakra maps where I'm pulled up were very interesting. Lots of cool stuff in that book. I think I'd love to secure a copy.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Just stick around with Pet Wildlife. You're going to just learn something new every single week.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
The product of the week.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Okay, it's time for our product of the week. And I've got a laundry edition of product of the week because this one is kind of near and dear. So of course, Tiger has been gone for quite some time now, a little over a year, but she still continues to give to our family. Most recently in breaking our laundry machine after discovering that the years of washing our clothes with cat fur on it really clogged up the filter and I didn't clean it properly. And then that led to other issues with the machine. And luckily we were able to repair it because I'm very masculine and good with my hands and didn't need help at all in fixing the laundry machine. But there is a product out there now from Uproot Clean and I feature their products a lot. They do mostly do those brushes to get the fur out of your rugs and stuff.

(35:58):
But an inevitable part of living with pets is that hair and that hair ends up in the laundry and it could really mess up your machine. And apparently you're supposed to clean your laundry machine with cleaner, but normal laundry cleaner doesn't break down pet hair, so it doesn't really help with that. So they basically just offer, it's 20 bucks and they're even doing a fall sale of buy two, get two free. And I think each one comes with four tabs and you throw one in every week or something like that. And it basically is doing all that cleaning and stuff that your machine needs, but has a specific enzyme that is kind of like if you've ever used a Drano or something like that, that helps break down that hair so it gets flushed out of the system. So this is not something that I was aware of being a problem.

(36:54):
Listen, I do my own laundry okay, but I didn't know this much about laundry and I didn't know that owning a pet can impact it so much.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah. Well, you don't know until you have a problem sometimes.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, you don't know until it's broken and you're staring down the barrel of a thousand dollar repair bill. So folks A, check your laundry machines and clean them. That's PSAA one. And PSA two is Uproot Clean. I love their products. I use those brushes. They were always so helpful. So I think it's great that they're really managing the hair economy of your home quite well.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
I love that. I love that. I think that's what I'm going to get my neighbor for Christmas because she has 300 plus pound Newfoundlands and they all have long hair. I can only imagine what her washing machine goes through. Okay. So my product of the week is a really cool three in one convertible plush cave and donut. It's ridiculous how many words are in this title. Okay. It's a plush cave and donut bolster bed and it could be for a dog or a cat. And this thing's really cool. Somehow it can be a donut, but then you turn it inside out and it becomes a cave if your pet likes to get cozy and hide. I think this is ideal for a cat and maybe some dogs would like this too. But then in the middle of converting it, you can also kind of make it a, I don't know, like a hideaway.

(38:25):
So Super Cute is from, who is this company? I put the link in the show notes. Let me see if I can find the name. It's called Paws Pick.

(38:37):
Let's see. You can get it on Amazon. Oh, Basket.That's the other shape. It's the cave, a donut or a basket. So you could kind of figure out which shape your pet likes the best. It's plush, it's like cloud-like fabric, super soft. It's got very supportive filling. So good for a cat or a dog that has some orthopedic issues. It has a non-slip base, so it's not going to slide around on the floor and it comes in three different colors. So I think that that could be a great... I can't believe we're talking about holiday gifts. It's only November, but now you got me holiday thinking.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
But alas.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
I could really go for some cave mode right now. I don't really know what that is, but I heard you say cave mode and I'm interested in some cave mode.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah. It sounds good, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 (39:22):
It sounds really... I'm definitely like a cave sleeper, cold, dark. I really don't use a blanket. Is that crazy?

Speaker 2 (39:32):
You don't use a blanket?

Speaker 1 (39:33):
No. And I'm also just like a body pillow sleeper. So it's very, very cave coated for mattress. You were like a caveman. Oogabuga. And then I complained about my back hurting. I don't know what it is.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Have you been through Ancestry DNA to find out how much Neanderthal is using?

Speaker 1 (39:50):
No, I haven't. But if there's a company out there that wants to test me for Neanderthal DNA and not sell my data back to the government, I'll do it for the show. Yeah, we'll do a product of the week. It'll be the Chris Caveman reveal.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
Q&As.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
All right, Kristen, it is time for our favorite part of the show. That's right. We're going to be answering two questions from our lovely audience. And I know what you're thinking, lovely audience. How do I have my questions answered by Chris or Kristen? Well, it couldn't be easier. Head on over to petsadlife.org/podcast, I believe. It's usually right here. Scroll on down to the bottom of the page and you will see a form to submit your question. Or if you are feeling as brave as girl scouts who still just knock on random doors, it seems crazy in this day and age, then you can record a voice memo and you may hear your question played live on this show.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
How cool would that be?

Speaker 1 (40:55):
That would make you really cool.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
I have a question for you, Chris.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Okay, let's hear it.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
All right. I've got one from David in Tampa, my old neck of the woods there. He says, "This is a bird question, so put your bird brains in. I have an African gray parrot who's incredibly expressive, different sounds, body language, even different behavior depending on my mood. Sometimes it honestly feels like he knows exactly what I'm feeling. How emotionally tuned in are birds to their people and what are some signals that we might be overlooking?"

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Well, that is a great question, David. And well, we've actually recently had some guests on the show talking about emotions in animals and how it's very difficult for us to put the appropriate words around them because we can't directly communicate. What I will say is birds are a hundred percent social animals. They communicate within their own species, amongst other species of birds and with people too. They're more than capable of communicating thoughts and ideas. So if you're thinking like, okay, is my bird, my parrot reacting to what I'm saying? That little curious head tilt gives you, it's curiosity. They're paying attention. They're trying to suss out what's going on with you, whether you're displaying an emotion or addressing the bird. That head tilt is like, "I'm paying attention. I'm tuned into this." Another thing to look out for is that they call it the narrowed gaze.

(42:32):
So that hardening of the expression around the eyes, that sort of look see, it is really a sign. A lot of people think that's like a bird keying in and looking at something closely. That is more a sign of stress and discomfort and could be like your warning sign that the bird is about to peck and nibble. So there's quite a few different behaviors that you could be on the lookout for, but all birds are different, especially birds that have been in captivity, especially like parrots who are very capable of learning and have been in captivity for a while, may pick up their own ways of expressing themselves that may appear more human, whether it's puffing out their chest to express anger or literally yelling for excitement. He may be picking up on the way you behave as well. So while it is impossible for us to tell what emotions our pets are experiencing because they can't tell us, we do know birds are more than capable of communicating with their body language.

(43:35):
So just Kian, it's a lot of fun. Birds are super cool and I'm very happy you asked that question.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, that was a good one.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Yes, it was.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
I like it when we get different species questions. As a matter of fact, I think we had one about a horse that I was going to answer today.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yes. We've got a horse related question and it comes from Michelle in Kentucky. And Michelle asks, "I recently got my first horse and sometimes when I approach her, she walks away or turns her body from me. I don't want to force a connection. How can I tell whether she's asking for space, feeling uncomfortable or simply being a horse and what can I do to build more trust with her?"

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Gotcha. Well, thank you for your question, Michelle, and congratulations on your first horse. I remember I got my first horse about 25 years ago. It was my first and my last horse, but not because I didn't love having a horse, but there is a lot to learn. And what you're explaining is a relatively common experience for new horse owners. And I'm glad you're paying attention because it's very important that you learn to communicate with your horse. Now, you have to remember that horses are prey animals. So moving away from an approaching human is sometimes it's just like a mild instinctive comfort check. It's not necessarily that your horse is rejecting you. So what trainers would recommend is to build trust with your horse, you'll want to approach and retreat. Let the horse choose to move closer to you. That can help to build some trust.

(45:13):
Also, you want to watch her ears, her tail, and her head position. When their ears are soft and relaxed and their head is kind of lowered, that's a good sign that they're calm and comfortable. If their ears are pinned or their head is raised up and their body is tense, that's a sign to give her more room.

(45:35):
But I think what you can just do is take it slow, build her trust. And ideally, if you can work with a trainer or a friend or a neighbor that has a lot of experience with horses, that's where I learned how to care for my own horse was my next door neighbor was a horse trainer. So I learned so much from her, but obviously you can learn a lot from a lot of different places, but I'm glad you're paying close attention and enjoy your horse. They're the best. They are such incredible creatures.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Yeah. I recently went to one of our county fairs around here in Grayson, got to see horses for the first time.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Oh,

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Wow. And it'd been a while since I've seen a horse in person, truly been up close to one. So it was very fun. It was always a nice experience. Horses are so cool.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
I'll bet. I'll bet you loved it.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
All right. That brings us to the end of our show.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
The tail end already.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
The tail end already. And we're at the tail end of 2026, which I cannot believe time is flying by faster than we ever knew it. Gearing up for Thanksgiving. Can you believe that?

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Oh my goodness. And pie season, like you said,

Speaker 1 (46:51):
That's - Pie season. It is pie season, folks. And you know what, Kristen, because you said you had that farm stand near you.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
I cannot highly recommend people shopping at local farmers for your pies and stuff. Even if your grandmother has the best recipe, if you're not getting that farm fresh fruit, it's just not the same. It's not the same.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah. I mean, don't get a pie from your local grocery store. I mean, who knows where those apples came from? I'm sure it's delicious, but if you have a local farm stand, get your apples and your pumpkins and all that good stuff there. Support the local economy and it's probably healthier for you too. So there's that.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
There we go. Well, everybody, we will see you next week for more farm fresh tips, questions, stories, all the good stuff we do here on PAL. Until then, just hang out. Just hang out and chill. We'll be back in a week.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Yeah, don't worry. We'll be back, I promise.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen Levine and me, Chris Bonafati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.