24. Navigating Pet Travel

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00:00:00:04 - 00:00:14:13
Voice Over
Pets Add Life. Your guide to the latest in pet trends, products and the joy of the human animal. Bond with Kristen Levine. Chris Bonifati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.

00:00:14:15 - 00:00:25:19
Kristen
All right, welcome to the 24th episode of the Pets Add Life podcast. I'm one of your host, Christine Levine, and this is Chris on a buddy, my pal, my pal, and.

00:00:25:19 - 00:00:26:14
Chris
Hey, gang.

00:00:26:16 - 00:00:28:05
Kristen
Crime.

00:00:28:07 - 00:00:33:10
Chris
Yeah, we're doing podcast crimes. We're doing a new series. I don't know what a positive.

00:00:33:10 - 00:00:34:04
Kristen
Crime series would.

00:00:34:04 - 00:00:53:03
Chris
Be. Yeah, I think a podcast crime is showing up like 30 seconds before we're supposed to start recording. Still plugging the cables in and everything, right? Ron yelling at me through through my computer, telling me that I'm late. That that I think qualifies as a podcast crime. But I'm doing awesome today. how are you doing, Kristen?

00:00:53:06 - 00:01:09:10
Kristen
I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I was going to ask if you've been watching the Olympics. It's almost over. It's going to be over this Sunday. We're, recording this, earlier. But by the time you hear this of the Olympics are going to be ending on Sunday. And I've just been really enjoying it. It's one of my favorite things to watch.

00:01:09:12 - 00:01:33:00
Chris
I love the Olympics. Anything that gives me an excuse to watch these sort of not necessarily exotic, but less popular sports and get really, really into it, you know, like I do. And yeah, I don't watch gymnastics. But July every four years I'm watching gymnastics and I'm getting rowdy. It's just it's just the nature of the world.

00:01:33:02 - 00:01:43:23
Kristen
Exactly. And, you know, I wanted to ask our audience, if your pet was an Olympian. What would their event be? What? What sport would your pet be? Competing power.

00:01:43:23 - 00:01:46:15
Chris
Napping.

00:01:46:17 - 00:01:51:10
Kristen
My dog tulip would be competing in dog dad manipulation.

00:01:51:12 - 00:02:10:01
Chris
Dog Dutchie. It's a psyop. Dog. Dog dad. That's great. That's great. So let us know in the comments what your what your animal would be competing in. But in the meantime, we've got an awesome show for you guys all set up. We've got some, guests coming on. We're going to be talking about some travel with your pets.

00:02:10:01 - 00:02:21:17
Chris
I know that's been a hot topic lately. We've got some awesome stories, some cool product recommendations. it's going to be great for the 24th time. Keep it locked in and let's get right into it.

00:02:21:19 - 00:02:25:23
Voice Over
Kristen and Chris, present story time.

00:02:26:01 - 00:02:29:05
Kristen
Story time I is that it?

00:02:29:05 - 00:02:30:13
Chris
Is that a new jingle?

00:02:30:15 - 00:02:34:05
Kristen
Yeah. Well, you have your pup pup pup pup product of the week jingle. So mine is story.

00:02:34:05 - 00:02:45:12
Chris
Time I like it, it's very good. Why don't you go ahead? And since you seem to be so alive and full of energy, why don't you go ahead and, tell us what your story is this week?

00:02:45:15 - 00:03:07:19
Kristen
All right, I'll do it. It's it's less of a story and more of, an event that's coming up that I think everybody should know about. It's called Clear the Shelters. You may have heard about it because it's been around for ten years. This is actually their 10th anniversary. It's a nationwide adoption campaign. It's going to run this, August 10th through September 10th.

00:03:07:19 - 00:03:37:17
Kristen
So I think this is the first time it's actually gone into the month of September. and let's see, since 2015, Cleared the shelters has helped more than a million pets find new homes. And they've also raised millions of dollars for all the shelters and rescues to participate. So, and one of the, I guess, my the, the new thing this year is that Hill's Pet Nutrition is going to provide adoption kits to help, the new pet parents and their pets get a healthy start on their new life together.

00:03:37:19 - 00:03:58:20
Kristen
And, so you can find a local shelter participating there. You just got to clear. I think it's clear the shelters. I'll. We'll put this in the show notes. yeah. Clear the shelters. Dot com. find a shelter near you. Because a lot of them are offering special adoption discounts. And, you know, summertime is still summertime is a great time to adopt a pet before kids go back to school.

00:03:58:20 - 00:04:18:14
Kristen
So. Yep, I love that event. Not to be confused with Empty the Shelters, which is a Bissell event, so I always got those to mix up. But this is one is clear. The shelters. you probably hear hear more about it if you watch, NBC channels because they're also a sponsor.

00:04:18:16 - 00:04:28:15
Chris
That's great. I love that whether we're clearing them, emptying them, and they're no animals left in their shelters, I will be satisfied.

00:04:28:17 - 00:04:31:10
Kristen
what's your story? My story?

00:04:31:12 - 00:04:35:10
Chris
Yeah. My. Okay. Okay. So should I do the whole thing in song? I'm not perfect.

00:04:35:11 - 00:04:36:23
Kristen
You be awesome.

00:04:37:01 - 00:04:40:16
Chris
Yeah. Write this down. We're going to do a musical episode.

00:04:40:16 - 00:04:42:10
Kristen
We're going to sing our stories next.

00:04:42:15 - 00:04:56:03
Chris
The next? Yeah. I'm trying to win a Tony Award. So we're going to. We're really going to have to step up the, the, the musical aspects of, of this podcast. We're going to make our own Tony category for like new musical podcasts.

00:04:56:03 - 00:05:05:17
Kristen
And oh, and you know what? I have the I made my first TikTok purchase a couple weeks ago and it's a karaoke set for two.

00:05:05:19 - 00:05:06:20
Chris
Oh, don't. Even so.

00:05:07:01 - 00:05:07:07
Kristen
We.

00:05:07:07 - 00:05:13:00
Chris
Can. My wife has a karaoke machine and it is the bane of my existence. It is just.

00:05:13:02 - 00:05:16:06
Kristen
No, but this one's better. It alters your voice.

00:05:16:08 - 00:05:18:00
Chris
okay. Yeah. Can you make it? Yeah.

00:05:18:05 - 00:05:19:00
Kristen
Okay. All right.

00:05:19:00 - 00:05:42:22
Chris
Anyway, my story has nothing to do with musicals. Nothing to do with karaoke. And honestly, barely anything to do with pets. but for those of you who like pets, I'm going to assume you also like whales. and this is a story about the whales. The gray whales in the San Francisco Bay area. things are changing.

00:05:43:00 - 00:06:09:20
Chris
and typically, a lot of climate researchers look at whales and their patterns to determine how the oceans are changing. And the bad news is that whales patterns are being disrupted by the oceans warming. So typically what happens is, these gray whales will, feed pretty much once a year. they, they they feast, they binge for a few weeks, up in the Arctic, when the krill spawn.

00:06:09:20 - 00:06:35:08
Chris
So they eat all these krill enough to last them almost an entire year, and then they travel south down, towards, warmer water to spawn. And they kind of repeat that cycle back and forth. So the interesting part of this story is that researchers have seen gray whales, I forget the term they used, but essentially when they attempt to eat fish, it looks really weird because they're not built for that.

00:06:35:08 - 00:07:01:19
Chris
Like the way they eat krill is they go to the bottom of the ocean and they just open their mouth and they get started. Krill are dumb. They're they're like bugs. So they kind of just swim right in, right? But when they have to eat fish, it becomes more of like a hunting thing. And while it's upsetting that whales have to change, what is getting researchers excited is the fact that they are there's a lot of animals out there that aren't good at adapting.

00:07:02:00 - 00:07:22:07
Chris
humans have evolved, so tremendously because we can adapt to our environment. We can think and we can figure things out. And when things go wrong, we have contingencies and backup plans. And what these researchers are finding are that whales are capable of this as well. So despite the planet changing, they're finding new ways to feed, new ways to spawn.

00:07:22:09 - 00:07:51:03
Chris
and they're sort of figuring it out. And what's really cool about this is that they're doing it in a very visual place in the San Francisco Bay, where a lot of people are seeing, the whales and seeing their behavior change. It's bringing a lot of visibility to the issues. So while I still hope that we can slow down the effects of climate change, it's good to know that some of our pals in the ocean are figuring things out just like we are.

00:07:51:05 - 00:07:53:18
Kristen
I love that, that's a great story. Thanks for sharing that one.

00:07:53:21 - 00:08:01:13
Chris
That's, Chris, be the science guy for you right there. He's story. He's back. He's back

00:08:01:15 - 00:08:05:23
Voice Over
beyond the leash, exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism.

00:08:06:05 - 00:08:32:15
Kristen
All right. Joining us today is Doctor Peter Rourke. He's the founder of dog is my copilot, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to transporting animals from overcrowded shelters, to adoption centers nationwide. Peter is a seasoned pilot since the age of 16. and he's combined his passion for flying with his love for animals to create a really a truly life saving solution for at risk pets.

00:08:32:17 - 00:08:55:12
Kristen
it's started in 2012. Doug is my co pilot, has flown thousands of animals to their forever homes. which obviously is reducing significantly euthanasia rates in shelters across the country. Peter's innovative approach and dedication have made a profound impact on animal rescue efforts, providing a second chance for countless pets. Welcome, Peter or doctor work, I presume?

00:08:55:14 - 00:08:59:12
Peter
Now please call my Peter.

00:08:59:13 - 00:09:11:02
Chris
Right. Well, it's it's amazing to have you on. So, to get us started, why don't you tell us a little bit about the origins of dog? Is my copilot, and maybe the inspiration behind the idea?

00:09:11:04 - 00:09:34:23
Peter
Yeah. I always thought that after my life in medicine, I would go back and do something in aviation. And prior to to leaving my practice, I registered with an organization called Pilots and Paws. And that's a you sign up and they'll, you know, assign a trip for you or a segment of a trip to transport one animal from one place to the other.

00:09:35:00 - 00:10:00:18
Peter
And I found out very quickly, a couple of things. One, if you're transporting one animal and 4 or 5 hours of flight time, that's a really expensive way to transport an animal. Now, for the cost per animal for transport is would be thousands of dollars. And although it's a game changer for the dog, I mean, it's you can run out of resources pretty quickly.

00:10:00:20 - 00:10:29:08
Peter
And also the pilots and Paws didn't really vet why the animals were being transported. And I did end up transporting two dogs that we're going to be using for breeding purposes. And, I thought they were treated very poorly when they were received and I thought, I can't do this. So I was asked to transport animals from San Francisco back to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which is my home, from the San Francisco SPCA.

00:10:29:08 - 00:10:53:09
Peter
Marty Watts runs a terrific program out there. If you've never been to that shelter, hardly a shelter. actually, it is a shelter because it's, it's non kill. I always thought that when you talk about animal shelters and euthanasia, that's kind of oxymoronic, but, Marty pulled me aside and said that Jackson didn't really need their help.

00:10:53:09 - 00:11:17:18
Peter
They they wanted it. She wanted to introduce me to a gal down in the Central Valley of California in Merced. Said. Specifically, there's a woman named Sharon Lohman who is running a program called New Beginnings and she took me to the I flew down there the next day. She took me through the shelter where they had a 6% nose and nose out rate.

00:11:17:18 - 00:11:39:22
Peter
Otherwise, 94% of the animals were not making it. And so they were desperate to save these animals and they would they had a van, and they would load them up with 20 or 30 animals and drive them up to Portland, Seattle, Missoula, Spokane, Salt Lake City, Denver, and, and it would take them 12, 14, 16 hours.

00:11:39:22 - 00:12:02:23
Peter
And if you think about it, you don't stop every three hours. And what these animals have to pee, they get in the crate, they get out of the crate once they get to their destination. And that's that's brutal. And it's really hard on everybody because the drivers have this strong sense of urgency to get there. They don't stop and spend the night at some, you know, motel six or whatever.

00:12:03:01 - 00:12:25:13
Peter
So I told Sharon, you know what? I can knock those flights out in 4 or 5 hours. And our kind of our rule of thumb is whatever the length of drive it is, you divide it by three, and that's that's the flight hours that we have. So I took all the seats out of my aircraft. It was small Cessna 206, and I could put, 20 or 30 small crates in there.

00:12:25:15 - 00:12:58:23
Peter
And so I started flying specifically for Sharon, and I was kind of her best kept secret. But when you fly to these receiving groups, they're also receiving animals from other locations. So they started asking me to fly from these other locations as well. Well, that went on for a couple of years. I was flying about 1000 animals per year, and after one flight where I was especially crowded in that I knew I had to get a bigger aircraft, and I knew the aircraft that would serve our purpose as well, which is a Cessna Caravan.

00:12:59:01 - 00:13:07:03
Peter
You often see them. It's a high wing, single engine turbine aircraft, and it usually has Fedex painted on the side. You've seen them at the airport?

00:13:07:05 - 00:13:08:05
Chris
Yeah, I know the one.

00:13:08:07 - 00:13:35:13
Peter
Yeah. So, I bought a cars, passenger version of that and it was all beat up and everything, but it was meticulously maintained. And the very first flight I flew out of Mossad with that aircraft at 251 animals on board. And so that was a game changer for us. And I did that for years by myself. Carol Pollard, who is my executive director.

00:13:35:15 - 00:13:58:07
Peter
I mean, it was the Kara and Peter show, forever. but we still had I felt we needed the scale up because we were getting so many requests to to fly animals. So, I brought on some volunteer pilots to help make us. I was flying five, six days a week, and honestly, I was getting a little burned out.

00:13:58:09 - 00:14:24:02
Peter
never wanted to be an airline pilot. for a living, I was. The medicine was always my first love. so, I was helped with the other pilots, and then, I knew we had to get a second caravan. So a couple years ago, we bought our second caravan, put a couple hundred thousand dollars into it, upgrading it so it would meet our weather and navigation requirements.

00:14:24:04 - 00:14:57:02
Peter
And then, about a month and a half ago, it was sitting on the ramp down in Dallas, Texas, and a tornado came by and turned it upside down and crushed it like a 10.0. So we're we're back to one one caravan at this time. But it now it's flying seven days a week. We I have gone from ten volunteer pilots to three full time pilots and five volunteer pilots and, we're currently in the process of obtaining a second caravan.

00:14:57:04 - 00:15:25:19
Peter
Anyway, I went from flying a thousand animals a year to a thousand animals a month. We were kind of flying below the radar until a couple of years ago. And then, we were, I was approached by CBS Sunday Morning and they did a very flattering piece about me that aired on the CBS Sunday Morning Show. And it we just kind of blew up, up to that point that, we had so few individual donations.

00:15:25:19 - 00:15:48:10
Peter
Every donor got an individual handwritten thank you note for me. I mean, that was easy to keep up. And, we did the CBS Sunday Morning thing and we started getting hundreds and hundreds of donations an hour. And wow, instead of thinking, well, this is a great problem to have, I'm having chest pains. How am I going to write all these?

00:15:48:10 - 00:16:11:17
Peter
Thank you know. So I, I mean, I was just thinking about it just completely in the wrong way. So but that worked out really well for us. And a lot of these donors turned out to be part of our squadron members, where they can sign up for a small token, donation, charge their credit card every month. And that really helps us with our highs and lows of the fundraising.

00:16:11:19 - 00:16:41:10
Peter
We we've gone from a, annual budget of the low six figures until now, we have a seven figure budget running the two caravans of five full time employees. And, it's really grown into something I never thought it would morph into when I first started this. And. And it was just me and the 206. So I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish.

00:16:41:10 - 00:17:08:17
Peter
And, our numbers are we're bumping up on number 35,000 animals saved. And it's it's really. Yeah. You know, but it's really just scratching the surface when you consider that, a million animals a year are euthanized needlessly. And these are otherwise healthy and perfectly adoptable animals. And so, you know, if people would only, I mean, the answer is not in transport.

00:17:08:17 - 00:17:32:14
Peter
The answer is in education, education to the people. Their education is spay and neuter. And if you didn't catch that, it's spay and neuter and neuter. I mean that's that's the answer. And and if and the other one is to adopt don't shop. All right. You have to keep in mind that for every animal that's in a shelter.

00:17:32:16 - 00:17:53:23
Peter
And as I mentioned earlier, it's kind of oxymoronic. How can it be a shelter when they're euthanizing so many of these animals that are in that building? But, you know, for every animal that's in there, there's a human responsible. And so people need to step up and become part of the solution instead of sitting on the sidelines, and being part of the problem.

00:17:54:01 - 00:18:08:23
Peter
So there are really four things that your watchers can do. If they really want to be part of the solution, they can go adopt an animal or and better yet, adopt two. I have two that I've adopted off my flag tonight. Sure.

00:18:09:01 - 00:18:10:19
Chris
Yeah. Right. Right off.

00:18:10:21 - 00:18:31:19
Peter
Yeah, yeah. That goes. And my partner Martha and I have done that and it just, they're, they're the best. They're they feel grateful for some reason. I mean, they get once they get on that plane, you know what? They don't know what's going to happen. And when we're loading up in the morning, they're chirping at each other, making a lot of noise.

00:18:31:21 - 00:19:01:21
Peter
And then, we load up the aircraft, close the cargo door, spin the turbine, and now that's a sound they've never heard before. And you have to wonder. They're just thinking, is it going to hurt because they've had such a terrible life up to that point? But what they don't realize is they got the golden ticket, and we are now going to deliver them to a shelter that will foster them until they can be adopted out.

00:19:01:23 - 00:19:26:03
Peter
That will never put down a healthy animal. So go out and adopt an animal, go out and adopt. Two if you can't adopt one, foster an animal. Fostering really helps it. It teaches these animals how to be socialized, how to walk on a leash. You can give them some exercise. And you know, honestly, the animals that are in a shelter probably have maybe a behavioral issue and that's how they ended up there.

00:19:26:08 - 00:19:45:16
Peter
And that behavioral issue may be something as simple as being a voyager. You know what? They ran away. And I remember one of the dogs, I it was a beautiful chocolate lab that I had. I got them out of Hobbs, New Mexico. So I named them Hobbs. And people say, oh, after Calvin and Hobbs. I said, no, Hobbs in Mexico.

00:19:45:18 - 00:19:50:13
Peter
But anyway, he was a voyager. I mean, you if you turn your head for a second, he was gone.

00:19:50:14 - 00:19:51:18
Kristen
He was gone.

00:19:51:20 - 00:20:15:12
Peter
All right. And when, when I first met him, I was flying down to Texas, and I flew to Hobbs to meet him. And he was, like, the most mellow animal. And. And what? I didn't know is that when they found him, he was absolutely covered in Tex. He had a tickborne, bacterial infection, wasn't feeling well. And so I met him when he wasn't really at his best.

00:20:15:14 - 00:20:18:17
Peter
so I thought, oh, what a perfect animal.

00:20:18:17 - 00:20:20:06
Chris
This would be nice.

00:20:20:08 - 00:20:41:08
Peter
So I I'll let him tell all dog, this is perfect. As soon as he got better, he started peeing on every piece of furniture. Yes. I mean, he would run away, and, I mean, it was just. But, you know, a couple years of hard work with him, and he was he honored. He was the best dog anyway. So if he can't, you know, if he can adopt, you should foster.

00:20:41:08 - 00:21:02:02
Peter
Or if you can foster, then you can volunteer, go by, clean out the shelters, sweep the stalls, walk the animals, change the water. you know, give them good, change their food and, you know, and if you can't do that, you can donate. People say, well, you know, I so I what I don't I don't know what they're doing with the money.

00:21:02:04 - 00:21:28:09
Peter
I donate a bag of dog food. You know what they're going to do with that. All right. Awesome old blankets or something or some bowls that they can use. Yeah. but if you could donate $5, you you you can't imagine what these people can do with $5, how they stretch it out. I mean, it's just incredible. Now, for us, $5 will buy a gallon of jet fuel, which will keep our aircraft in the air for about seven minutes.

00:21:28:14 - 00:21:31:00
Peter
So it's, how we.

00:21:31:00 - 00:21:34:19
Chris
Have that's that's seven more minutes than you had before. That's right, that's right.

00:21:34:19 - 00:21:53:13
Peter
Exactly right. And you know, people spend more than that on a Starbucks. And and honestly, when I stand behind somebody, if it takes more than three words to order your coffee, you're part of the problem. And so. you know, I, I, I'm a black coffee guy. I'm a surgeon. Yeah. Well, we get I feel.

00:21:53:13 - 00:21:54:15
Chris
That in my bones.

00:21:54:17 - 00:22:04:19
Peter
For me, we just pour the swill right in there I want. It's been on the burner since the night before. All right. Back. That's what gets me going.

00:22:04:21 - 00:22:33:07
Kristen
Peter. You are. You are amazing. What? You've what you've created and accomplished. And your passion is just so infectious. And by the way, we're going to get you your own show. Yeah. You're just great. There's you've answered all the questions that Chris and I had for you. first of all, before we let you go, because we're going to have to to wrap up here, but where can people go to learn more about how to support dog is my copilot great.

00:22:33:07 - 00:22:57:04
Peter
Well, first, as I said, charity begins at home. Donate to your local nonprofit, your local shelter. Go down and help them out. They're the ones that really need the help. If you have a couple shekels left over and you want to donate, the dog is my copilot. Dub dub, dub dog copilot.org and on that website you can see the back story, the photos of everybody.

00:22:57:06 - 00:23:16:00
Peter
you can see pictures of me when I'm not on vacation. And all the pilots, all the employees. And, you can see some videos that we have so that that's where you could do that. And then you can, if you want to sign up to the squadron, there's a donate button that's in the upper right hand corner.

00:23:16:02 - 00:23:18:21
Peter
So, that that would be great.

00:23:18:23 - 00:23:35:19
Chris
That's amazing. Well, Peter, thank you so much for your time. joining us while on vacation. Yes, I know you have a tee time, so we're not going to keep you any longer. get out there, hit some dingers for us. And, thanks again for for everything. Not just coming on the interview, but all the work you've done with those animals.

00:23:35:19 - 00:23:37:11
Chris
Saving so many lives. Thank you.

00:23:37:13 - 00:23:55:21
Peter
You know what? You guys are the heroes for getting the word out. You know what? I'm just. I'm just in the transport. And the true heroes are the people who work in the sending and the receiving shelters. Right. But you guys are part of that solution, and I my hat's off to you. So thank you so much. And thank you for having us.

00:23:55:21 - 00:23:57:07
Peter
Bird dog is my copilot.

00:23:57:13 - 00:23:59:14
Kristen
Oh, it is our pleasure.

00:23:59:16 - 00:24:01:00
Peter
All right. Have a great day.

00:24:01:01 - 00:24:03:13
Kristen
You're awesome. Care. Fantastic. All right.

00:24:03:14 - 00:24:07:18
Peter
Thing, bye bye now.

00:24:07:19 - 00:24:25:04
Chris
That guy is awesome. He's like like every kid. You know what he is? He's exactly what I want to be when I grow up. And he's like every kid is like, I want to be, this that. They list, like, six different things. So it's like, I want to be a pilot. I want to be a surgeon, and I want to save animals.

00:24:25:04 - 00:24:27:01
Chris
I mean, absolutely amazing.

00:24:27:01 - 00:24:31:23
Kristen
And he did it. See, kids, you can do. You can be anything you want to be.

00:24:32:00 - 00:24:47:13
Chris
Yeah. And and he's got it. And he's going to go play golf. I mean, life is pretty good if you're Peter. But I do want to touch on like the, the core concept of this whole thing, we've had in the past joy bound on and what they use a lot they're a rescue out of the Bay area.

00:24:47:13 - 00:25:17:21
Chris
For those who may not have been here for that interview. Right. And a significant amount of their cash donations go to transportation because they will take a van out and go to the kill shelters and pick up as many dogs as they can. because most of the products, that they receive, our through corporate donations. So, Peter brought up a great point when he said it, you know, start local because a lot of your shelters are doing that kind of that kind of work, going around and trying to save as many animals as possible.

00:25:17:21 - 00:25:20:14
Chris
And that's what they need money for it.

00:25:20:16 - 00:25:36:05
Kristen
It's true. And and one last thing. it's so important to donate to your local shelter because and this is not to disparage any of the national groups, but that money does not trickle down to your community. So to donate local.

00:25:36:07 - 00:25:46:15
Chris
Yeah. So. So, Kristen, you ready for our next guest? We've got another, excellent expert here. We're going to talk about tech travel.

00:25:46:17 - 00:25:52:17
Kristen
Yeah. And this is another person that I've actually read about and I've wanted to meet. So we're going to do it.

00:25:52:19 - 00:26:17:09
Chris
Let's hop right in. All right. And our next guest is Doctor Elva Bryant, widely known as the pet travel expert. Doctor Bryant brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as the only practicing veterinarian in the airline industry working tirelessly to ensure the safe and healthy transportation of pets. She began her groundbreaking role at Delta Airlines as the industry's first in-house veterinarian, where she revised and developed policies for safe animal travel.

00:26:17:11 - 00:26:41:02
Chris
In addition, Doctor Bryant is the owner and creator of When Pets Fly, a platform dedicated to educating pet parents and professionals on the best practices for pet travel. Her extensive expertise spans veterinary pathology, infectious diseases, and international travel regulations, making her a leading authority in animal transportation. Welcome, doctor. Brian, thank you so much for joining us today. Can't wait to get some of your expertise.

00:26:41:03 - 00:26:47:01
Dr. Bryant
Well, thank you for having me. I really it's a pleasure to be out. So thank you so much.

00:26:47:03 - 00:26:58:20
Kristen
I would I personally would love to hear about your personal journey to becoming the first, the very first in-house veterinarian for a commercial, airline carrier. That's pretty impressive.

00:26:58:22 - 00:27:17:04
Dr. Bryant
Thank you. Yeah. You know, it's funny, people, fellow veterinarians have asked me, how did I get into this role or what could be done to prepare for this type of role. And all I can say is, to be honest with you, I didn't plan for this, but I went to vet school. I didn't plan that this is where I was going to be later on in my career.

00:27:17:06 - 00:27:44:16
Dr. Bryant
I had no idea. my career honestly, was kind of, kind of unique and not too typical of most certain areas. I did veterinary practice, clinical practice straight for one year and went back to College of Veterinary School for Veterinary pathology residency, which I just never expected that either. always going up six, eight, seven, eight years old wants to be a veterinarian.

00:27:44:18 - 00:28:03:22
Dr. Bryant
all only part of that I knew medicine that I knew was, small animal medicine. So. But when I went to vet school, I started learning about all the different features and different areas. I fell in love with veterinary pathology and learning the cause of disease and death in animals and kind of was on that for quite some time.

00:28:03:22 - 00:28:33:22
Dr. Bryant
So I practiced for one year and then went back to vet school for boundary pathology residency. And then trust me, I did a lot of different things that led to where I am today. I joined the Army, switched to the Public Health Service, and then was in a public health service. I, had many different roles in federal agencies and some were veterinary pathology related, others were more veterinary, public health type related, and just gain a different skillset, learning the regulations and everything.

00:28:33:22 - 00:28:58:02
Dr. Bryant
So in 2018, I was retiring from, the Public Health Service, looking for opportunities. And I looked on LinkedIn and lo and behold, Delta was advertising. They're looking for a veterinarian to be on staff. And, I jumped on it. And thank God I got the opportunity, and I just wanted to do it off the roll. I had CDC, I'm sorry, before going.

00:28:58:04 - 00:29:16:15
Dr. Bryant
Before going to Delta was with, with CDC. It was a dog importation. I was a dog importation snake. So I was very familiar with dogs traveling and the regulations behind it. So I want to continue on. when I was retiring, I mean, I'm sorry, I'm too young, but someone's going to college. I still needs to work.

00:29:16:20 - 00:29:40:09
Dr. Bryant
So, I decided I needed to do something else to continue on with my career and found this opportunity and really, honestly, very excited about the role. Very excited about, just being in it and then sharing my insight to help, better prepare pet owners. And my fellow that in areas as far as animal transport, pet transportation.

00:29:40:13 - 00:29:42:11
Dr. Bryant
So yeah.

00:29:42:13 - 00:30:05:23
Chris
Yeah, I mean, that is an amazing journey, doctor. Brian, you've done, so many different things. You're uniquely cut out for this role. Yeah. so let's tap into some of that expertise. what would you say? You know, everybody gets worried about sending their, their pet on an on an airline, right? When you have to fly with their animal, it's an anxiety inducing for you, the pet owner, and also for the animal.

00:30:06:05 - 00:30:20:01
Chris
So, help us reduce some of that anxiety. What are some of the big safety measures that the, airlines are putting into place to, sort of, maintain safety when transporting these animals?

00:30:20:01 - 00:30:44:19
Dr. Bryant
Yeah, definitely. Well, one of the main things people don't realize is that the transportation of animals, it's regulated. there are actually regulations already in place for, say, your dogs and cats, and various other species of animal species as well. But there's regulations already that we have to comply with. Then the airline can have policies that are a little bit more stringent than those regulations.

00:30:44:21 - 00:31:15:11
Dr. Bryant
and everything. And what the airlines have done over the years is they've identified particularly say they might restrict the breed based upon the history of transporting a particular breed of dog or cat. I'm sure you've heard of the breaking of like where some those breeds, their majority time, their restricted for travel by cargo is because these breeds already the facial features are compressed with that they have sometimes have synthetic nearest nostrils sorry stuck nostrils.

00:31:15:13 - 00:31:38:19
Dr. Bryant
They can have a long and soft palate. These dogs, such as your pug Boston Terrier or some of your French bulldog or English bulldogs that have difficulty breathing normally. So under stress it gets worse. dogs don't, they don't sweat like we do. so they overheat because of this panting and they don't dissipate properly. So they're prone to heatstroke.

00:31:38:19 - 00:31:55:03
Dr. Bryant
And unfortunately that can lead to death doing so. So the airlines have put in, policies in place for that. They're saying, hey, we don't want to transport these animals that have that potential risk. That's a safety feature that's in place. A lot of folks don't like it, but it's a safety feature to keep your animal safe with it.

00:31:55:03 - 00:32:13:10
Dr. Bryant
So, I'll be honest with you guys, I've seen situations where folks falsified, had their veterinarian falsify the documentation as far as the breed of their dog to allow to travel, do you realize you are really putting your pet at risk when you do that? Because these policies are in place for the safety of your animal, of your pet.

00:32:13:12 - 00:32:39:02
Dr. Bryant
And also airlines have, they might have temperature limits or embargoes in place during the hot seasons. That's for the safety and welfare of your pet. and on the tarmac it gets hot. I'm in. Atlanta is hot. We just recently tied. It's hot. It's been not in the 90s this week, but starting, say, summer. It has been in the 90s for long, so it's hot.

00:32:39:04 - 00:33:02:20
Dr. Bryant
people have to realize if your airline embargoes or says your pet can't travel because of the temperature, respect it. It's for reason. So therefore there's policies and procedures in place that airlines have. Unfortunately they're not consistent across the board. If you go from C Delta to United or R American, that's the bad thing about it. But to say what pet owners you do realize it.

00:33:02:20 - 00:33:10:02
Dr. Bryant
Your airline will have their own policies. But still they're in place for the safety and welfare of your pet.

00:33:10:04 - 00:33:25:12
Kristen
Right. So we've got the federal regulations and then the airline policies. What are some of the common mistakes that the pet parent makes when preparing their own pet for travel or the day of travel comes in?

00:33:25:12 - 00:33:47:14
Dr. Bryant
You know what? And that's why I actually developed When pets flies because of the mistakes I've seen. what I've noticed is that, pet owners don't actually prepare their pets for air travel. Oh, they're kind of, like, treated like an afterthought or a tagalong. You know, they're just coming. They know they have to get the the a c a health certificate.

00:33:47:16 - 00:34:07:16
Dr. Bryant
They know they have to get a crate for them. And, you know, they make the arrangements and then they go. But did you actually take time to consider what your pet needs? Have you really considered that? and when I say that is, to paying for air travel, are they acclimated for confinement in that crate that you have to do?

00:34:07:18 - 00:34:25:14
Dr. Bryant
Right. That and that's a lot of times or not. And that's usually what happens is what happens is they'll try to break out of it and get injured during transport, trying to break out of their crate so they're not properly acclimated. Then also no thing. Have you considered about your pet? Is it healthy enough, good enough for itself?

00:34:25:16 - 00:34:50:13
Dr. Bryant
Have you considered that, the health certificate that we get doesn't necessarily mean you're healthy? That is actually a document. That means that they don't have signs of any infectious diseases. And an infectious disease is totally different from, say, someone having an animal having diabetes, seizures or anything. So that is different than your your medical history and everything.

00:34:50:13 - 00:35:12:16
Dr. Bryant
So have you checked with your veterinarian and reviewed the medical history of your pet to ensure that healthy and fit enough for travel? So that's another thing. And unfortunately in those situations, it can, you know, it can lead to death. They can, see if they have a heart condition in a stressed, during stressful they can die, unfortunately.

00:35:12:18 - 00:35:33:21
Dr. Bryant
so little things that pet owners I would say focus on your pet. If you do that, I think, that will be the main thing. So get them acclimated, make sure they're healthy and fit for travel. Make sure also that common mistake people will pull out the crate that they house trained their dog or cat. Well, your dog primarily in.

00:35:33:23 - 00:36:01:19
Dr. Bryant
And maybe when they were a puppy, then they pull it back out and you're going to shove it in there for air travel. Meanwhile, that crate that was too small and the crates that are used for house training are totally different as far as the sizing should be different for air travel. And oh my god, another common mistake is that, they'll buy a crate the service airline compliant guys,

00:36:01:21 - 00:36:26:17
Dr. Bryant
The airlines. Most airlines comply with the International Air Transport Association's guidelines for live animal transportation, and they give the guidelines. So if it's a Iyana compliant crate, that is what the airlines want to use for transport. These are crates that are designed and they designed they give the specifications for more just dogs and cats or animal species.

00:36:26:18 - 00:36:49:06
Dr. Bryant
they'll tell you the container requirements and they're just giving the features they might tell you the materials should be made of, and mammoth ventilation and everything. So they'll give you specifications. And each year they upgrade this information. so airline compliant, you don't really want to go with that? a lot of them on the commercial market right now are too thin.

00:36:49:08 - 00:37:08:06
Dr. Bryant
they have the ventilation openings are too wide. these dogs or even cats. And sometimes it will kind of bite their ways out of them. So the I of compliant crate sort of best way to go. So the mistakes I've seen, are just based upon those. And again that's why I started When Pets Fly to kind of share that information in education.

00:37:08:08 - 00:37:28:17
Chris
Yeah. So piggybacking off of that, this, this whole, when pets fly thing, obviously, Doctor Bryant, you, know a lot about this stuff and you're eager to share that knowledge. So why don't you talk a little bit about, when pets fly and how some of our listeners at home can get their hands on this valuable information that you're so willing to share.

00:37:28:20 - 00:37:53:18
Dr. Bryant
Thank you. Yeah. Limpets fly. Honestly, guys, during the pandemic, during a pandemic, I'll admit, I was laid off because Delta wasn't transporting pets at the time. I came back to Delta in 20 months of 2021, but I was laid off during the pandemic, and I still wanted to share pet travel along. Actually, prior to the pandemic, I was sharing information on, the veterinary platforms.

00:37:53:18 - 00:38:18:05
Dr. Bryant
I was actually doing some presentations with FEMA with, let's see, with Western video conference and also Vmax in Orlando. So I was sharing information as far as what to with my fellow veterinarians. how to prepare pets for air travel. So that's the start there. I started also maybe writing a few articles for different, different associations as well.

00:38:18:11 - 00:38:38:10
Dr. Bryant
But, during the pandemic and having some time off, I decided I want to start When Pets Fly to continue sharing the pet travel education. At this point, I wanted to be more at the pet owner level, so started with initially a Facebook walk. I mean Facebook group. Then I got a Facebook page and then I added on.

00:38:38:10 - 00:39:02:21
Dr. Bryant
I got a website, just doing everything else and it's just been growing and growing. with my I do I have a newsletter. like I said, with my Facebook lives, I the goal initially on that was just to share pet travel education against pet owners, but that's expanded to, sharing information with different stakeholders in the in animal transportation industry.

00:39:03:00 - 00:39:32:14
Dr. Bryant
So now I hear, have guests on there. We're talking about zoo animal transportation. We're talking about saddling with your service dog and different things with that. we're talking about different forms of transportation. might have someone with a jet service for pets, and it's just growing and growing, and, I'm loving every minute of it, but the main goal is to was and is still to share pet travel education to ensure our pets are prepared for their and get.

00:39:32:14 - 00:39:52:09
Kristen
Yeah, I was looking at your, when pets fly earlier before the interview, and I was, it was kind of cool to see that you also write about, train travel, bus travel. So it wasn't just exclusive to airline travel. So that's that's really helpful resource. Where, where can people find when pets fly, right? I want to check out the resources.

00:39:52:14 - 00:40:05:08
Dr. Bryant
Yeah, I know, I wasn't able to get to the, the domain for when pets fly, so it's that when Pets.com is going to be.

00:40:05:10 - 00:40:09:18
Kristen
When pets just when pets.com. That's okay. And so no.

00:40:09:18 - 00:40:16:06
Chris
No, we do that all the time with URLs. It's so hard because it's just so it's nonsense. The letters are nonsense.

00:40:16:06 - 00:40:24:21
Dr. Bryant
Anyway when Pets.com if you look at that you'll find it, you'll find it. Or when pets fly, it's also on. yeah. Regarding that. But

00:40:24:23 - 00:40:41:19
Chris
And we'll put it in that, we'll put it in the show notes too, because, it's something that we do all the time. We ask people what website, and then you get some action. Somebody who's, like, driving during their commute, listening to this like they're not gonna they're not memorizing that URL. So we're going to go ahead. We'll put it in the show notes for everybody.

00:40:41:19 - 00:40:46:04
Chris
So nobody has to do any, mental gymnastics to find the website I.

00:40:46:04 - 00:41:05:08
Kristen
Do have I know we're coming up on time here, but I do I do have a, a last question for you, Doctor Bryant. and relating to the airlines, you know, I know for myself and a lot of pet parents that I know, you know, we we would be I mean, to be honest, we'd be terrified to fly our pet in cargo.

00:41:05:12 - 00:41:17:10
Kristen
So can you share with us what, either Delta specifically or airlines in general do to ensure the safety of pets that do, have to travel in cargo?

00:41:17:12 - 00:41:41:14
Dr. Bryant
Well, when they're being transported by cargo, we do our best to monitor them closely. upon arrival, I'll just let you know. As far as what folks wonder. What? What is the cargo hold? What does it look like? To be honest with you, I have seen one. I've gone, actually, one day at a great coworker, took me and another coworker, and we actually went to see exactly the space, what it looks like.

00:41:41:16 - 00:42:05:11
Dr. Bryant
And in a sense, it is a cargo. It's I always call it's like a crawl space to me. It's like a closet crawl space. It's just a space where, you can store, your cargo. And it's going to be more than just say, dogs or cats or animals. It can be other items within that cargo hold. There are specifications, though, on what can be transported with with animals in reference to that.

00:42:05:11 - 00:42:24:11
Dr. Bryant
So just be mindful of that. the cargo hold itself is temperature controlled. It is pressurized. I think the temperature of say is around 60°F. That that range, it is going to light it. Be aware, though, that a lot of folks don't realize is that not every aircraft is ventilated and and will allow the transport of animals.

00:42:24:11 - 00:42:54:20
Dr. Bryant
So be mindful of that and be mindful of of it, because of that. To say, you know, when we get a gate change, if we're on an aircraft, we get a gate change. We realize the change taking us to a different aircraft. and if we don't think about it, it's no big deal. Right? But, say, if animals were on the the aircraft, it will be different for them because that the aircraft would change to may not be then have ventilation or the other accommodations to transport animals.

00:42:55:01 - 00:43:18:00
Dr. Bryant
So it's not always as simple as you think. Change planes and it doesn't matter if the aircraft. Again, like I said, some are ventilated and unable to transport animals, others aren't. So just be mindful of that. So if there's a change, someone those don't understand like, well, I don't understand why my pet didn't go along with me because the aircraft potentially that maybe you change to not accommodate animals.

00:43:18:02 - 00:43:44:04
Dr. Bryant
So be mindful of those changes that could happen and stuff. There's a lot that we don't that's not shared within the airline. You know two passengers or two. Everyone else regarding the airline industry and regarding the aircraft, like I said, just be mindful. and then there's some know also for aircrafts, there are also, restrictions on the size of crate space upon the aircraft getting inside the air.

00:43:44:06 - 00:44:14:03
Dr. Bryant
The cargo hold. We do not tilt tip or tilt crates to get inside. they have to be straight up and go. And so if they're too large, you go into that door. Just be mindful. sometimes it happens. Unfortunately, for these larger breed dogs in the 700 series crates, there could be difficulties there. One thing I don't want people to do in in the process of, say, trying to accommodate the crate size for the aircraft, please don't ever, ever compromise your pet and put them in a crate that's too small for it.

00:44:14:03 - 00:44:31:12
Dr. Bryant
Just try to get it where you need to go. that's again against the law is against animal welfare regulations, number one. And secondly, it should not be allowed. You shouldn't do it. It's again for the safety and well, for your animal, you can exacerbate any preexisting medical conditions in your pet when you do that as well.

00:44:31:14 - 00:44:53:10
Dr. Bryant
and it's you just don't want to do that. Ideally, if you have, the best situation with, with the airline, they should have a temperature control vehicle waiting for the animals or dropping them off and receiving them at their destination, or transfer putting them in a temperature control or air conditioned van so that they're not exposed to outside, heat or temperature.

00:44:53:10 - 00:45:11:10
Dr. Bryant
Basically, that should be the ideal situation. I know that we do like that quite often with Delta. And as far as whenever watering or stuff like that. My recommendation for your pet owners too, as far as what you can do to help with them, even water doing transport, how about freezing the water in a water containers if they that you have inside there?

00:45:11:10 - 00:45:33:07
Dr. Bryant
This required to have a water dish for food and water. Dishes are required to be inside the crate. Why don't you freeze some water inside the water dish so that they can always lap up on a little bit? Have something exposed if you try to fill water with it, trust me, it's going to spill towards transports. Going to that would help, but we try to put in water.

00:45:33:09 - 00:45:38:01
Dr. Bryant
so yes, Bill, I know this. I don't know why people think this close the doors. Yes.

00:45:38:03 - 00:46:02:02
Kristen
So. Well yeah. No no no no. My, my yeah. My takeaway is that, you know, the airlines have put the policies in place for the safety, but it's also up to us as pet parents to ensure that we are doing right by our pets when we want to travel with them, making sure that they're comfortable, that they're medically, you know, able to fly and, you know, and obviously there's the anxiety factor too for the pet.

00:46:02:02 - 00:46:09:15
Kristen
So that we're taking that into consideration and managing that as as best we can. So it's a partnership f.

00:46:09:17 - 00:46:34:12
Dr. Bryant
Number one thing go. It is a partnership. But please don't please don't give sedatives to your pets when they're going by cargo. Most airlines will definitely, if they notice a trip that is a little bit lethargic and a little off, they can deny that. Okay. sedatives are not, Well, number one, the AMA is against you providing sedation to a pet.

00:46:34:14 - 00:46:54:05
Dr. Bryant
when you're being transported by cargo. that's one of their policies. so they don't promote it. airline is definitely not promoting it. And what it does for the animal, the ability to. I mean, if a dog has a preexisting medical condition, again, that can get further exacerbated. There's no one there to assist them doing just fine.

00:46:54:05 - 00:47:13:02
Dr. Bryant
I always joke and say this. There's no one there to go from the, you know, the cat, you're in cabin. Or as I know, there's no trap door to go from there down into the cargo hole. That's only in the movies. Okay. That's that's not there's there's not going to be a flight attendant this go from, you know, in cabin and down and check on your pets to and transport.

00:47:13:02 - 00:47:33:07
Dr. Bryant
So you don't want to give them something that could potentially impact them in a negative way during transport, because no one can assist them. And again, if your flight is four hours or more or whatever, that's a long period of time without anyone to look at them, and they don't need to be sedated and have anything to compromise endurance massively.

00:47:33:09 - 00:47:41:03
Dr. Bryant
So, sedation is not allowed, so please don't do that. Maybe try your, CBDs. I don't know, try them for.

00:47:41:03 - 00:47:43:22
Kristen
For you or the pet.

00:47:44:00 - 00:47:45:05
Chris
Little. Come a little calm.

00:47:45:05 - 00:48:02:19
Dr. Bryant
Be well. You know what I had? I had a I had a guest on my show. What's, my Facebook Live latest baby. She says. Yeah, she's. You can see that. Why don't you take the sedative, you know, so you said. Yeah. Said if they're allowed for the pet owner. Yeah. Not for that.

00:48:02:19 - 00:48:03:10
Chris
That's funny.

00:48:03:15 - 00:48:26:05
Dr. Bryant
So we need to relax and I think if we're more relaxed, and take all the preparation steps, then should let you know. Just relax. You did everything you could to make sure your pet was prepared, and now you're gonna have to. Yes, you have to trust airline. You just trust everyone with gas. Guys, we have to trust that we're going to get to our destination safely, too, right?

00:48:26:07 - 00:48:32:03
Dr. Bryant
On the aircraft. We have to trust that, too. So that's. Trust that your pet will get there safely.

00:48:32:05 - 00:48:47:03
Chris
That's great. Well, Doctor Bryant, we are up at time here. thank you so much for joining us. Help alleviate some of our anxieties about traveling with pets. Some really great information and advice for our listeners. thank you so much for your time today.

00:48:47:03 - 00:48:47:23
Kristen
Yeah, this is great.

00:48:47:23 - 00:48:50:07
Voice Over
Pets Add life.

00:48:50:09 - 00:49:05:19
Kristen
I'm happy to know that a commercial airline has actually hired a veterinarian, you know, to kind of oversee the safety measures. Yeah, and I'm kind of surprised they don't all have one since they all most of the big carriers do transport pets. But anyway, she was great.

00:49:05:21 - 00:49:33:11
Chris
Well it's tough right. Because they have to be airlines have to be efficient to work. Right. There's there's a reason why, flights get delayed and everybody hates it. But at the same time, we expect a certain standard of care, for everybody, being transported, whether they're a person or an animal. So you're right. It's it's great to know that there's people out there who are trying to find the right mix of, you know, especially about those crates, keeping them a uniform size because it just sets the process up and makes things fit well.

00:49:33:13 - 00:49:53:06
Chris
but also, some, some great advice there because the onus is also on us as pet parents to make sure that we're preparing our pets, properly and in, in a safe manner. So I'm feeling better. I hopefully will never have to take an animal on a on a long flight like that. But if you're in that position where you you do, be sure to check out Doctor Brian's resources.

00:49:53:11 - 00:49:56:05
Voice Over
The product of the week.

00:49:56:07 - 00:50:23:09
Chris
All right, so it's time for the pop up product of the week. And as we are talking about travel, I've got a fun little travel product for those of you out there who may have a larger dog or companion animal. And you need. So I don't know about, everybody else, but typically when my parents travel with Stella, who is a larger, sort of, you know, like husky retriever mix, super mutt, but a big, bigger dog.

00:50:23:11 - 00:50:41:23
Chris
They just kind of let her have run of the back seat. but she has trouble getting comfortable because it's a weird angle to lay on, or she'll sit and look out the window. But there's this really cool product that I found as I was scouring the internet. It's by cargo. and I will go ahead and throw this link in the show notes.

00:50:41:23 - 00:51:12:23
Chris
They call it the backseat Bridge. I'm going to describe it for you. The picture does it much more justice than what I'm about to do, but essentially it's got these two straps that you throw over the two front seats. and then it uses magnets and weights to kind of fold out and create a bridge over where you, as a person would put your feet and legs in, in the back seats to kind of create like a solid square, rectangular surface so that your dog can really sprawl out and enjoy, that space back there.

00:51:12:23 - 00:51:31:17
Chris
I think this is really, really, really great. If you use it in combination with a back seat cover, you can kind of keep your backs clear of all fur. the, outer shell is detachable so that you could throw that in the washing machine. I just think it's a really creative way to give your dog some more free rein back there, especially larger animals.

00:51:31:17 - 00:51:53:00
Chris
If you're going on an extended road trip, and you're going to keep them in the back seat, just make them a little more comfortable. mSRP on this bad boy is 78, 95, so it's not going to break. Take the break. break the bank. My right. It's not going to break the bank. and, cargo, as always, offers lifetime warranties.

00:51:53:00 - 00:51:54:16
Chris
So go ahead and check that out.

00:51:54:18 - 00:52:04:15
Kristen
Yeah, I love cargo. They make great stuff. And they also make harnesses for securing your pet when they're in the car because you don't want your pet to become a projectile, should you, God forbid, get in the car.

00:52:04:17 - 00:52:09:02
Chris
So maybe a combination of two products will get you to bundle that.

00:52:09:04 - 00:52:29:15
Kristen
Bundle that. All right. That's a good one. mine is, similar but not similar. But this is one of those products that I swear I thought of at first. I found this product probably five years ago, and I've been I've been complaining that this thing does not exist until now. And I just discovered it yesterday on Instagram.

00:52:29:15 - 00:52:49:18
Kristen
It is called the seat mate. And and again, I'll definitely put the link in the show notes here. it's it's the official pet office chair. Now, what it is, is it's a chair for your pet that is designed to sit right next to your office chair so your pet can sit next to you all day while you work.

00:52:49:23 - 00:53:07:05
Kristen
Now, sometimes when we're recording, you can see tulip in the chair behind me. She's not there today. She took the day off, but I've always thought, oh, how cool would it be to have her right next to me? She sometimes she sits in my chair, but it's not very comfortable for either of us. So this thing they offer two sizes and I.

00:53:07:06 - 00:53:29:03
Kristen
Oh, by the way, it is. Apparently it's so new that this is a Kickstarter campaign, so they're going to be ready soon. but they come in two sizes. I think one is for small dogs under 24 pounds. And then there's like a medium size. I don't think they have one for really big dogs yet. but it's it comes with a little ramp so that your if your dog can't jump up in the seat, they can walk up to the seat.

00:53:29:05 - 00:53:45:13
Kristen
And they also offer four different colors, 60 day return policy. And yeah, I cannot wait. I don't I don't know if I'm going to contribute to the Kickstarter, but I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for when these are ready.

00:53:45:15 - 00:54:04:00
Chris
I mean, I'm a sucker for a Kickstarter. I don't know what it is, but I see Kickstarter and I'm like, I'm all in. I'm looking at this thing. This is this is great. It's got the easy access ramp. Yeah, sure. Your dog has some issues. I'm looking at this little gif of this like long hair dash and yes, is it a carrying on up there?

00:54:04:02 - 00:54:09:00
Chris
What a great idea. What a what a fun little thing. Especially in our new normal.

00:54:09:02 - 00:54:31:02
Kristen
Yeah. True, true. And and they're not inexpensive. I mean, the if you just purchase one, it's $255. However, that is actually a significant discount for the Kickstarter campaign. I think the normal price is 395. So yeah, maybe maybe I am in a starter. I say, I think I got a Kickstarter. Yeah, but you get discounts if you do.

00:54:31:03 - 00:54:36:16
Kristen
If you buy a two pack or a three pack or six packs if you have multiple office dogs.

00:54:36:18 - 00:54:49:06
Chris
I want to meet the person. I want to meet the person who ordered the six pack. If you if you've ordered, if you're listening to this and you and you kickstarted the six pack of these chairs, call me. Get in contact, I want you. so.

00:54:49:08 - 00:54:55:00
Kristen
I don't I think American Pet Products Association should get the six pack and, hand them out to employees.

00:54:55:01 - 00:55:06:18
Chris
You know what? If you're if, you know, if you're listening out there. Pete. Corey. Patrick, write this down. Write this down. This is good stuff that is.

00:55:06:20 - 00:55:09:00
Voice Over
Q and A's.

00:55:09:02 - 00:55:29:18
Chris
All right, Kristen, it's time for our favorite segment where we, listen to our pet parent listeners, and answer some of their questions. So if you want your question answered on the show, head on over to Petsaddlife.org/podcast. Scroll on down to the bottom of that page. You're going to see a form to submit your question.

00:55:29:18 - 00:55:44:03
Chris
Keep them coming. We we love answering your questions. So so get in there. Heck, if you if you're listening to this clip on Instagram or on YouTube, go ahead and throw your question in one of the comments too. Maybe you know, Chris is always curious. You know, I'm keeping up on the social and eye popping in answer.

00:55:44:03 - 00:55:44:18
Kristen
Social, right?

00:55:44:18 - 00:56:01:10
Chris
Right in the comments. Yeah, I'm keeping up on the social. so. And if you're feeling brave, if you're a brave little, Chihuahua, you could go ahead and record a voice memo and submit it, and you will hear your question played back to you on this show. so, Christine, are you ready?

00:56:01:12 - 00:56:01:23
Kristen
I'm ready.

00:56:01:23 - 00:56:14:21
Chris
Great question for you here. Yeah, I got a great question from, Maria in the great city of New York, New York. I recently adopted a second cat, and my first cat is hissing and swatting at the new edition.

00:56:14:21 - 00:56:16:20
Kristen
Oh, shocker. Million times. Yeah.

00:56:16:22 - 00:56:20:21
Chris
How can I help them get along and make the transition smoother? Great question, Maria.

00:56:21:03 - 00:56:49:03
Kristen
Okay. Yeah. So so this is a pretty normal behavior when introducing a cat to an existing kitty. And what I would recommend is that you provide separate resources for each cat and keep the new cat kind of maybe confined to a certain part of the house or the or maybe a bedroom. Make sure each cat has their own bedding bed area, their own, feeding area, their own litter box.

00:56:49:05 - 00:57:12:07
Kristen
and of course, the rule of thumb is always two cats means two litter boxes plus one. but it's important both as much for your new kitty as your your established cat to have a feeling like they, they have their own space that is not going to be invaded. So and over time, you can start to let your new kitty, you know, interact more with your existing cat.

00:57:12:07 - 00:57:27:08
Kristen
But there's no guarantee that they're ever going to love one another. But it's likely that they will learn to live with one another. provided that you do provide those separate resources so that they, they, you know, have their own space.

00:57:27:10 - 00:57:50:18
Chris
Yeah, I would add to that. Give them some time. There's that you have you have tipped the scales of balance, by bringing that second cat in. And, you know, I remember when we had, growing up this big old Maine Coon cat named gizmo, a 22 pounds of muscle type cat. And when we brought the new cat in, lax.

00:57:50:20 - 00:58:13:06
Chris
Her name is Lexie lax. Days. Michael. he was just a buffoon, you know, totally unserious cat. Gizmo was so angry, he was consistently ticked off. He was a grumpy old man. And lo and behold, you know, a month, a month and a half later, they are best friends. and, yeah, required some of that, some of that upkeep and some of that care and special attention.

00:58:13:06 - 00:58:18:17
Chris
But the time also helps for them to develop what the power dynamic is going to be between the two of them.

00:58:18:19 - 00:58:22:00
Kristen
Yeah, just just have some patience, Maria.

00:58:22:01 - 00:58:28:11
Chris
Yes. A little bit of patience and and try not to pull your hair out when the cats are going or.

00:58:28:13 - 00:58:37:08
Kristen
Okay. So Chris, I have a question for you. Okay. And this is from Lisa in Miami. Hey, you're headed to Miami today. So that's it.

00:58:37:10 - 00:58:40:19
Chris
I am. I'll see you there, Lisa.

00:58:40:21 - 00:58:51:07
Kristen
Lisa says I recently started keeping tropical fish and I'm concerned about maintaining the right water conditions. What are some essential tips for keeping my aquarium healthy and my fish happy?

00:58:51:09 - 00:59:11:14
Chris
Yeah, that's a great question. So there's a lot of variables that go into the water for tropical fish. But I'm going to focus on temperature because temperature is actually the hardest control. because it's temperature. So there's things like phn and the mineral content and the oxidation, which generally you're going to set up some equipment, and then it's going to be fine.

00:59:11:14 - 00:59:36:13
Chris
But temperature is going to fluctuate. So there's some factors that you may not be considering that are important. So first of all tropical fish they like 75°F to 80°F, which doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room when you think about five degrees Fahrenheit. Not a lot. So things like, just swings in temperature in your house. So I know you're in Miami, so it's pretty warm to begin with, so you're already off to a great start, but you need to consider where the tanks are located.

00:59:36:15 - 00:59:57:20
Chris
Is it getting extra sun at certain parts of the day? is your is your, house or condo or apartment air conditioned? in which case you may need a heated tank. You may need to be offsetting the effects of air conditioning, lighting, too. How are you lighting this, aquarium? Because those lights can add a lot of extra heat.

00:59:57:22 - 01:00:20:06
Chris
80°F is pretty high, but, a light can bring it right on over. and then think about, specifically the type of fish that you're bringing. And that 75 to 80 is a general rule for tropical fish. Not all fish are created equal. betta fish, typically like an even warmer, tank beyond 80. And then there's some fish that are going to prefer a little cooler.

01:00:20:11 - 01:00:50:17
Chris
So you want to make sure that whatever you're filling your tank with are generally agreeable. They all kind of want the same conditions. And then consider those other random factors that may cause the temperature of the tank to fluctuate throughout the day and try to keep that, to a minimum. So keep that to keep the tank out of, the some of that hot Florida sunshine, make sure that you're keeping your, that room that it's in at a consistent temperature and then offset those changes in temperatures with a heat tank and some creative lighting.

01:00:50:19 - 01:00:54:04
Kristen
That that sounds complicated. This is why I do not have trouble.

01:00:54:04 - 01:01:12:09
Chris
Keeping fish is complicated. Everybody thinks so. Fish starter pet. How hard can it be? Wrong. Oh, wrong. You have become a scientist. Congratulations. You bought a fish. You're now scientist. You're not a pet owner. You are a chemist who's doing chemical tests on water. You're doing math. There's math involved in only.

01:01:12:11 - 01:01:15:13
Kristen
So nobody tells you that before you get the nobody.

01:01:15:15 - 01:01:36:10
Chris
Nobody tells you that. And as always, if you're if you're struggling, keeping fish. This is the one time I'm not going to tell you to go to the veterinarian. Go to your local hobby shop, find a, hobby shop that does fish in aquarium, aquariums and just talk to them about the problems you have. There's going to be some product solutions, there's going to be some holistic solutions, and there's probably a knowledge gap there.

01:01:36:10 - 01:01:37:13
Chris
So seek out that expert.

01:01:37:13 - 01:01:39:18
Kristen
Help those good.

01:01:39:20 - 01:01:47:11
Chris
All right Kristen that was heck of a show or truly was but we have reached the end of it.

01:01:47:13 - 01:01:49:05
Kristen
It goes by so quickly.

01:01:49:06 - 01:01:56:03
Chris
It does. They say time flies when you're having fun, and I'm having fun when I'm podcasting with my pal.

01:01:56:05 - 01:01:57:23
Kristen
Me too.

01:01:58:01 - 01:02:19:18
Chris
So, as always, if you are at the edge of your seat wondering when you're going to hear Chris and Chris in next new episodes drop every Tuesday. Wherever you get your podcasts, be sure to share the show with a friend you know it's coming at the, the end of summer. I want you to to to send your best friend your favorite memory with them over the summer and also a link to our podcast.

01:02:19:19 - 01:02:39:13
Chris
because that's what pals do. if you like what you're hearing, leave us a five star review. If you don't like what you're hearing, leave us a five star review and then explain in the review what you would like for us to do different, every like and comment really helps amplify the message. If you're, seeing one of these clips on social media, be sure to follow us on Instagram.

01:02:39:15 - 01:02:46:07
Chris
I think we have an Instagram. We have a LinkedIn page. But don't don't do LinkedIn. Just do Instagram because I think.

01:02:46:07 - 01:02:46:17
Kristen
Facebook.

01:02:46:17 - 01:02:59:01
Chris
To interact with those clips, like share them with a friend. leave a comment. We appreciate all the engagement. We love you all for listening to us every week. And until next time.

01:02:59:03 - 01:03:04:15
Kristen
We'll see. what what what are we doing? Until next time, I don't know. That was.

01:03:04:17 - 01:03:16:18
Chris
Man. Nice. Okay, let's dig in for some. I guess I was teaching you up for failure, so until next time. Just, I don't know. Yeah. Keep it. Keep keep cool. Love your pets. Love each other. and.

01:03:16:19 - 01:03:19:02
Kristen
About the Tuesday. All right. Yeah. Bye.