Stop Calling A Tiger Fluffy

A lot of people say they’re “animal lovers,” but love gets real when a pet stops being cute and starts needing structure, money, time, and a long-term plan. We go down the rabbit hole of dysfunctional pet ownership, from ordinary homes with dogs and cats to the risky world of exotic pets, and we ask the question that matters most: is this choice good for the animal or just exciting for the owner? We also talk about exotic pet ownership, a tiger isn’t “Fluffy” just because you named it that the fact is why “I love it” isn’t a care plan for wild animals. If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share it with a fellow pet person, and leave a review, then tell us: what pet trend makes you cringe?

#dogs #cats #birds #exotics #petownership #resonsiblepetownership #lions #tigers #chimps #joeexotic #animalhoarding #potbellypigs #howmuchistomuch #ilovemydog #ilovemypet #goats

Transcript

Welcome And Recent Listener Feedback

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to the Dysfunction Junkies Podcast. We may not have seen it all, but we've seen enough. Now, here are your hosts, Chrissy.

Defining Dysfunctional Pet Ownership

KERRY 0:24

Hello, junkies. I'm Carrie. And I'm Chrissy. How are you doing today? I'm doing okay. How are you? Hanging in there. I have had some great feedback from some of the doctors from our episode last week, both our doctor's episode and our Thankful Sunday episode. They were loving it. Friends and family also that had talked about the episode said it was really good. So good job. We had a real win with our episode. If you didn't listen to it and you're listening to us now, go back and listen to our doctor's episode. It was a good one. So there you go. This thing. Well, great. Well, today I thought it was interesting because I try to find things that are dysfunctional in all aspects of our lives. So I thought, well, pet ownership is a big deal to a lot of people. And sometimes, in my opinion, people have pets that I wouldn't agree with, or a certain number of pets I wouldn't agree with. So I thought we would talk about the dysfunction of pet ownership. Pretty much. And I figure this is good for you because things that you talk about, I probably have owned or done. So I guess I'm completely dysfunctional. Wait a minute. You've owned some of these wild animals? Well, maybe not owned, but worked directly with for people that don't have to be. Well, you work with them. So well. I can't buy. I'm gonna tell you. That's okay. That's okay. Absolutely. So all right.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

So you picked an up. You picked a topic where you're gonna offend your co-host. Good job, Chrissy.

Raccoons Lions And The Exotic Line

KERRY 2:16

Offender. I mean, I think if she hasn't been offended already, I don't know what to do. I was just gonna say, for as long as we've known each other and for the diverse topics we've talked about, I think we'll be okay. Well, yeah. So so I have only, I'm easy. So I guess I'll start. I've only had in my adult life dogs. I'm allergic to cats. And I it's not that I don't really I don't like cats, but because I am allergic, and I generally find them to not be as impressionable or have enough personality for me as a dog does. What is that wrong? Have you had a cat with a really big sense of humor or a big personality or something? I've never seen one. Cats are all about attitude. They've got the biggest attitudes of all. That's probably why I don't like them because I have the one with the attitude. Yeah, and I don't need anybody else with an attitude. So I've had dogs and I've had at most, we had three dogs at once, but they were small, they were Yorkis, which is what we had for a really long time. Now we have two golden doodles, which we love. So that's it. That's the end of my boring ownership of pets. Now, when I was growing up, we did have like a cat and a dog. Yeah. My mother knew I was probably allergic to cats, but we had a cat anyhow, because it was fun to watch me have an asthma attack. Oh so we had a cat. The cat was generally not in, you know, didn't bother me. It didn't come around me. Why would it want to, anyhow? That's the other thing. The cats generally don't like me, so they don't want to come around me. A dog will come to me, a cat doesn't, so forget it. Wow. So let's hear your story. What's this? What I know I remember a long time ago, you had taken care of raccoons. Yeah. Because they were abandoned, weren't they, by their mother? Well, yeah, back way back in the day in my late teen, early 20 years, I worked with an organization that did rehabilitation, rescue and rehabilitation and release of raccoons. So, you know, in the springtime, everyone's cutting down their dead trees and, you know, cleaning up their yard, and they cut down a tree, and oh no, there's this nest of baby raccoons in there. And they pick them up and scoop them up and bring them to the shelter and say, We cut down a tree and there's these baby raccoons. And we would tell them, take them back, let the mother get them. No, they won't. So then now here we have these raccoon babies. And so, yeah, we would raise them until they were about 12 weeks of age, but with the purpose of rehabilit getting them to be able to be released back in the wild. So by the time we were done with them, they were they were not handleable. That was the point. You know, we wanted them to be wild, but that program quickly ended just because of rabies' concerns and things like that. Now we had rabies vaccinations when we were working with them, but so they yeah, but yes, there was uh about three summers, I think, that I did some raccoon raising in my time.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Yeah, would not recommend them as a pet.

KERRY 5:46

Yeah, I remember you had them in pens. Yeah. And I came over there and I'm like, you you have raccoons. Uh, what are you gonna do with that? Yes. And then you quickly explained that you were gonna release them. Yes, yes, and I was like, okay, they look like they're ready to go now. They were just sitting there staring at us. Yes. But um so, so okay, so I do remember the raccoon thing with you. And I know that when you were in Nevada in Vegas, you I'm sure worked with I did raise wild, very wild. Yes, yes. I worked for a company that provided lions for one of the major hotels on the strip in Vegas, and part of my job was to raise baby lions, and we did a lot of education to the public about lions and you know had them on display for for this major hotel. But yeah, so I I did spend several years walking in the lion's den. Yeah, I did absolutely so also worked for some magicians that had some big cats, not the big names that you're probably thinking in your head right now, not that magician couple, but a different magician. So um, I did work with some tigers too. So yeah, so I've I've had the gamut of big big cats to house cats. I also have a lot of experience working with many different domestic animals. Had my fair share of farm animals when we had our farm back in Ohio. So it had some goats and sheep and horses and miniature cow. Well, that's acceptable. I have that on my sheet. Oh, you wanted to be clear on the good list, not the naughty list. Well, of course. I mean, if you have a farm, but basically you're providing these animals with a place that is appropriate for them.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Yes, yes, yes.

KERRY 7:38

I I I I just I don't understand having now you said you were raising these animals, but you weren't raising them in your residence. Correct. You were raising them on a there are people who take them into their actual residence. Well, how do you feel about that? Yeah, I I am not a big advocate of of private ownership of of big, big, wow, like big, wow, how what's the word I want to use? Exotic animals. Yeah, I'm not I'm not a big fan of that. Way too often it it ends up bad for everybody, both the animal and the person. So in the community. And I just an animal is not gonna be I I think you should take into consideration what an animal will be comfortable with and happy with. Yeah. And just because you're sitting there calling this big 60, 70, 80 plus 100 pound cat fluffy and you think it's funny, doesn't mean that fluffy is happy being in your crappy house. Yeah, they're still there, you know, when you're especially when you're talking about big cats, I mean, they are innately, you know, a lion is a lion, a tiger is a tiger, they're not a house cat, you know. And anytime you take uh an exotic animal or a wild animal, you know, they have their own innate. So it doesn't matter what your nature and nurture is on it, they they've got those innate traits. So it's just like if you have a border collie, your border collie that lives in the house is probably hurting your dining room table because they were meant to be herding dogs. So when they get excited or happy, they're gonna run racetracks around your house, around your dining room table. That's innate, they can't help that. That's what they do, you know. So the same thing with the the you know, the exotic animals. So, no, I'm not a big fan. I absolutely support ethical and you know, or AZA affiliated AZA is the American Zoological Association. So, you know, the facilities that follow those type of guidelines, they understand conservation, they understand behavior, they understand behavioral enrichment. Absolutely have no problem with.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

But private ownership gets a little tricky.

KERRY 9:53

It's usually someone's hoard that they're trying to support, so they turn into a non-profit or a rescue, and it just goes downhill from there. Yeah, yeah. So not a lot of that. I know. I figured you would. Yeah. So dog, cat, bird, fish. Yes, yes. So I said those are my bases. Yes, yes. So you got land, you got by air, by land, by sea. That's covered. I actually have a tattoo that represents that, yes. Oh, I didn't even know that.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

You're saying like a Dr. Seuss book over there. Yeah.

Rabbits Reptiles And Other Odd Pets

KERRY 10:37

How nice. That's it. That's it. If you can say you're animals and it sounds like a Dr. Seuss book, then you probably are in the right place. Yeah, exactly. So, but then you get into the weird stuff. And I'm talking about people who just live in these houses and they just like want to be. Here's the thing I am gonna be offensive, and I'm gonna say that sometimes people want certain things that are not themselves to represent who they are. Yes, they feel like they have to have something that screams to someone look at me. Look at me. I am so interesting. I have a crazy goddamn animal in my house that most people would not want. And when you come over here, you're gonna first go, what's that smell? And then you're gonna be like, What the hell is that? Yep. And so I'm I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not a fan. Um we talked a little bit about this for our Easter episode, the rabbits. Yes, having a rabbit, you raised rabbits because you were involved with 4-age. Yes, but I also had a pet rabbit in my house in later life that was like a cat living in my house, but it was a rabbit. Yes. Now, was it in a in an aquarium type facility or was it roaming free? Both it had a crate, so if we were gone or at night, it would go in his crate, but then during the day it would be loose in the house and roam in the house. Yes. It was litter box trained. Do they not? Oh, I was just gonna say, did it leave little no rabbits? Rabbits can be very well litter box trained. So yeah, she her name was Tiffany. She was a lion-headed dwarf rabbit, and she was litter box trained, so she would go to her litter box and walk around the house. I just had to make sure my house was bunny proofed, much like how you have your if you have children, you childproof things. So you have to watch out for electrical cords and things like that. But again, rabbits are finicky pets, they require a really specific diet to be well cared for and to be, you know, make sure they get all their new nutrients that they need. But yes, I did have a house rabbit. Okay, all right, and that's kidding. We're starting to get out of my comfort zone. But the rabbit, the rabbit's an easy one, maybe, but I'm not gonna do it. But okay, you have a rabbit. The the lizards and stuff like that that you want to stare at, and they stare back at you out of their glass house. Now I mean, and you're feeding them bugs, which now we're gonna get into this place where if you have to feed your living thing another living thing, it's I'm out. I'm out. I just why, why, why, why? Yeah. So you got your snake people. What please don't tell me you had a snake before. I am not big into reptiles as far as and snakes. Now we did have a desert tortoise legally when we lived in Las Vegas, and that was probably one of the most awesome pets that we ever had. He knew his name, he would call them awesome. But as far as snakes, lizards, those type, it's just not my thing. I think they're really cool. I love looking at them when we go to the zoo and stuff like that. It doesn't make me want to bring one home and live with it. Well, bit saying something, then, right? I'm on some sort of path. I'm not completely off your list. Okay. No, no, but so it then there's another craze that I don't know if it's still a thing or not, but like getting a ferret, which I don't even know what the hell that is exactly. I guess it's a rodent, right? Um I'm not really sure if they're classified as a rodent, but they're part of like a weasel type family, yes. So I could never I think they're really cool animals, and I think they're really neat to see them play and be around. I personally wouldn't have one in my house because they stink, and no matter descenting, they stink. So I can't, I can't. I draw the line because of the stink with those. They also rip a lot of stuff up. Well, any you're a little destructive, any animal can be. You just got to give them the appropriate behavioral enrichment so that they don't tear things they shouldn't up. Although right now behavioral enrichment right now, I'm having problems with my own little dog because I work in my office and I have a bookshelf, and he's decided that the binders on my books are fun things to chew. So talk about destruction right now, but uh, but yeah, so yeah, I'm not I'm not I don't want things in my home that stink. So the ferrets, no. Chinchillas, no. They're cute, they're soft, they stink. They didn't even put those on my list. That's a pet.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yes.

KERRY 15:44

Isn't that what we used to make coats out of? Yes. Are they friendly? Yeah.

unknown 15:52

Yes.

KERRY 15:53

Or they can also gnaw your face off. I don't think they're gonna gnaw your face off, no. Oh, all right. Well, well, speaking of something like that, this is a horrible thing. We're gonna get serious for a minute. Uh-oh. Because this was something that was out there. If if you want the same pet that Michael Jackson had, you already should know that you are not in a good place. Michael Jackson had a lot of pets, and some of which we've already talked about. What specifically are you talking about? Let's understand Michael Jackson had a lot of money, at least so we thought, and he had a place to put these things and she could pay people to help care for them. Yes. Having a monkey run around your house. Yeah, okay, it might be fun for a second, but you know what terrifies me about animals like that is if they can get a weapon, how do you negotiate with them to not use it on you? Very true. I mean, that's that's scary. But there was an issue. I'm sure you remember this. It was uh a few years ago. There was a woman who was raising, I think it was a chimpanzee. It wasn't like a gorilla, because that's really terrifying. I think it was. And she probably raised it since it was little, and when it was little, it was probably very sweet and fun and loving, but then they get bigger, and then you just never know when they're gonna have their day. And it was a horrifying thing. They played the the damn audio. This woman, I think she ended up surviving the attack, but it ripped her face off. Ripped her face off, yeah. But then she ended up she ended up dying though uh later. Did she really? It was I think she I think she did pass away eventually. Okay, maybe I I don't know if you can look that up, Nick, but that I because I remember hearing it on different radio shows. I she did not die from the attack. No, but it definitely and her friend was sitting there narrating the whole attack because she didn't know what to do. And what the hell could she do? Yeah. So that's scary. Yeah. So I actually almost did own a monkey once. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

What? Well, the woman actually wasn't the woman that owned the pet, it was her friend that was over.

KERRY 18:16

Yeah, I think that's true.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

In 2009, Charlotte Nash was brutally attacked by a 200-count pet chimpanzee named Travis in Stanford, Connecticut.

KERRY 18:24

Yes, I knew it was a new anger.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Owned by a friend, Sondra Harold, mauled Nash, causing severe life-altering injuries, including the loss of her hands, nose, eyelids, and lips resolving in permanent blindness. The incident highlighted reports from CNN prompted intense debate over ownership.

KERRY 18:42

Is this lady who was attacked she passed away?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

What's that?

Chimp Attacks And Service Monkeys

KERRY 18:46

She did pass away, though. The woman that was attacked eventually? The victim. It doesn't say anything about where she is now. Because I thought I heard she did pass away. Maybe within the last five years or ten years or something like that. Wow. So now let me hear your monkey story. So okay, so I I've you know mentioned before that my husband and I raised service dogs. I've always from the beginning of always a passion for you know service dog training. And when I was in my late, well, early 20s, it was my early 20s, I came across an organization that raised capuchin monkeys to help quadrupegics in a wheelchair. And part of the process to raising the service dogs is they have volunteers who raise the monkeys for the first like two years to get the foundation, and then they go back to the facility for their training before they're matched with somebody. So I was under the process of getting approved to do that, but at the time I didn't qualify because of the hours that I was working, I wasn't going to be home as enough. And with what I was doing, I couldn't take it to work with me, kind of a thing. So, but it was pretty close. Almost did it. Now, with the way service uh animal laws have changed, and you that organization no longer is now it's just you know, dogs, and in like a few areas you can have miniature horses as service animals. But yeah, that was as close as I came to owning a monkey. In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't do it. I think that was when I was young and was more, oh, that'd be cool. And although, yes, it was for a great cause, I'm glad in my older and wiser state, going, Yeah, that probably wouldn't have been a good decision. So I guess if you would have told me you actually did own the monkey, I wouldn't have been terribly surprised. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

So as of March 3rd of this year, she's still a lot of she okay.

KERRY 20:45

Sorry, I apologize. I did not mean to say that she had used a lot of people. Probably somebody else that got mauled by an exotic animal. So you're thinking about it. There might have been someone else that got there, might have been some. Oh, I'm glad. Yes. I didn't I it's terrible what happened to her. And I understand that people's intentions are good. Oh yeah. They love these animals and they wanna and they feel a connection with them, yeah, and they want to do this, but I just there's a there's a place and time to say when, you know. Yes, yes, you know, yes. It's because honestly, any kind of animal you're owning, it's really should not be about you. It should be about the animal. You know, this isn't about your wants, needs, and desires. It should be about the animal. How well can you take care of them properly, address not only their physical needs and their mental needs, their nutritional needs, and really understanding that and obeying your local laws, you know? So, like, if your area says you can't own a tiger, don't go hide a tiger in your apartment. You know? That's terrible because it's gonna end up eating probably a neighbor, and they didn't even have a chance to know that what the hell happened. Because you kept it a secret. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

So the lady that owned Travis, the chimp, she died.

KERRY 22:05

Oh, maybe that's what you're thinking about. Maybe that's the thing. Maybe that's what the woman who got attacked.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

She's still alive, but she's actually she uh received four million dollars from her the the estate of the animal's now dead owner. Yeah.

KERRY 22:18

There you go. It sounds just there's nothing good that's a good idea. There's nothing good that comes in that situation. And you know, and that's where for me, especially with working in, you know, animal rescue, animal control, that's always so hard, is because who really suffers about this? One, the animal, but then two, you have the innocent victims, you know? It's the people that raise the dog that is aggressive and they're like, oh, but he's good with me. It's like, okay, well, yeah, but he just, you know, mauled your neighbor's kid or killed an old woman in her yard. You know, it's like you gotta understand what you have when you own these animals, even whether it's a dog or a cat or a lion or a crocodile or a python, you know, whatever it is, you know, you have to understand what you have and you have to be the responsible person. And that's what gets me about how dysfunctional society is. They they lose focus about what it's really about. They don't think about, you know, they're just thinking about themselves. Oh, I want, I want to own, I want, you know, and they're not thinking about the animal. So I'll get off my soap. If you want to own certain things, no, if you want to own certain things, get buy inanimate objects, like I really want this car. Well, go spend your money and then try to figure out how you're gonna pay for it every month. But it's not something that's a living, breathing thing. Yes, that there's consequences that it gets affected. I'm guessing they killed the chimpanzee, did they not? They ended up having to kill this animal because of its aggressive attack. I do not know the outcome of that animal, but it would not surprise me if it was had to be humanely euthanized. But I don't know that case. But yeah, it's really frustrating. So it showed up, we I'm sure humanely stood there and said, okay, what do we do now? Inhumanely euthanized. I don't know. That's a whole nother topic. You may not want to go down that road. So I suppose not. But what you know, then it's uh, you know, the survival of, you know, who's I don't know. I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

I know.

Laws Lifespans And Planning For Pets

KERRY 24:29

Um so you know, uh, the other animal I was gonna talk about was I think I had I knew somebody who had those miniature potbellied pigs. Yeah. Now, I have to say, even though I am all about the cat dog, bird, fish, and I don't try to deviate too far from that, I did notice these little animals are pretty sweet and they stay pretty small. If you get the miniature ones, I'm guessing. Now, a regular potbelly pig, I think. Feed them appropriately. If you feed them appropriately, because you can easily get a pot belly pig that weighs 300 pounds if you don't feed it appropriately. So uh that is an animal that is extremely intelligent. I had the opportunity to work with those kind of animals and take care of those animals. Excellent, they could be excellent pets, they could very smart smell factor right there. That's where I'm out. Can't deal with the smell. Oh, they they're stinky, they're stinky, yeah. Stinky. I don't do stinky. I want I may want animals around me, but I don't want people to walk in my house and say your house smells like your pet. And that's always like anyone who's close to me knows. I'm always paranoid about that. And so I'll ask them when you came into my house, be honest, tell me what you smell, you know, because I'm like, I want to know. And yeah, because I don't, I don't, yeah, I don't want to live like that. So yeah. Well, that's a bummer. I was just gonna wonder if you did bring this type of animal in your house, then do you no longer eat ham? Because that seems like that would be really wrong to do that to that animal. Well, I don't know. We had a cow, but we still had and we had a sheep, and I But they weren't in your house. No, they weren't in my house. No, no, no. So that's okay. No, that's farm. That's that oh, it's a different farm. That's the exception to the rule, God just well, yeah, because farmers help uh raise things and grow things that we all like want and enjoy. So, but you don't have the cow living in the house and then say, Oh, there's your buddy on the kitchen table. That would be terrible. Yeah, I hear you. So, you know, one other thing we're when I wanted to mention before I forget is part of this responsible ownership is people have to know you have to know the animal that you're getting. So going on to you didn't mention, oh, you did say birdfish, so bird, okay, bird. But I have a feeling you're not talking about parakeets and cockatiels that have a short lifespan. Or I'm talking about I I didn't know that. Yeah, they have a short lifespan. Yeah, like the small, I thought there were certain birds that live forever like longer than us. Yes, and there's what I wanted to go to. Part of responsible pet ownership is what are you gonna do when you pass away? Who what is your plan for your animals? Now, it's bad enough trying to figure out what you're gonna do with your dog and your cat and your fish or whatever, but what are you gonna do with your African gray parrot that you thought would be a great idea to buy when you're 50 years old and the bird lives to be a hundred? Oh, yeah. You know, so like think about this, people. What are they eating that I'm not eating? Seeds, I guess, right? No, they actually they have a very diverse diet, but yeah, you know, and one of the one of the decisions Jim and I even made was when our when our horses were getting older, you know, we said there will be a time that there'll be no more because we expected our last horse to get me into my 60s and 70s, but that was going to be our last one because you know what's gonna happen? Well, ended up unfortunately he passed away with cancer, but I'm like, I'm not buying another horse because you know, we are getting it upper in age, and I don't how fair is that of me to take in an animal that I know could possibly outlive me, or I won't be able to care for. And if I can't care for it, then what's the plan B? Rehome it? I mean, that's not always an option, you know, or you don't know who they're gonna go to, or you know, so it's just like, yeah, so that really gets me. And I I think that's the biggest thing I I I really have a problem with is when people don't have a plan for their pets. They may plan in their will who's gonna take care of their kids or who's gonna have their car, who's gonna have their house, but they don't figure out what's gonna happen to Fluffy. And working in animal control, I've seen it way too many times where I've had to go to the house because someone passed away and Fluffy's there, and the family's like, Well, I don't know, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want that dog, or whatever. And the animals left at the shelter because you did not plan. So that's my it's not dysfunctional pets, it's like we said, dysfunctional ownership. Well, yeah. The the pets are just different types of animals. Yes. The people, like with everything else we usually discuss is where the whole fingerprint do you have something you want to do?

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Well, that's my I I said, you know, ginger, our our younger gold doodle, might be our last dog. Well, I I mean, you know, if she lives her normal lifespan, we'll be in our mid-sixties probably.

KERRY 30:13

Well then you know what I think you should do if you get older is probably adopt older pets who generally don't get a chance at having a home. That's a good plan. You can have an older you can have a pet in when you're older, you just need to have a plan, you know, because there's nothing worse than going into a house when someone passes away and find out they have 60 cats. What are you gonna do? Well, that's it's two different issues. Right, but but still You're telling me you should never have said that. Yeah, I don't know. That this is gonna because I will just keep buy dogs because I'm gonna think they'll help me live forever. Yeah, I would say that I would have a I will have a dog until the day I Did you ever tell me that this is gonna be our last time?

SPEAKER_00 31:04

She could very well may be our last. I don't see that happening because we'll be in our mid-60s.

KERRY 31:09

Well, he really doesn't. What do you think you're gonna be for me? And I'm the one with uh uh cancer. So what the will is he saying? I'm really not happy right now.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

I'm trying to be a responsible dog owner here.

KERRY 31:27

The responsible part of the plain cold. The responsible part of it is just having a plan that if you do have a dog or a cat or a pet, especially in your older years, but it doesn't matter. You could be 20 years old, you should have a plan because you could get smacked by a car or whatever, you know what I mean? So it's just having a plan. Who's gonna be responsible for your that should be in your will? That absolutely should be in your will. Like who's not only who's gonna take care of your children, but who's gonna take care of ginger and booker? Did we do that in our our stuff? Mr. Know at all? Did we do that? Did we make arrangements for the dogs since I'm gonna be dead tomorrow?

SPEAKER_01 32:14

No, I don't think we did anything with the pets in the will. Well, there you go.

KERRY 32:19

I guess I'm gonna call the lawyer tomorrow. I guess Booker and Ginger are probably coming to the anti carry's house if you guys both die in an accident at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Wait, I'm not gonna get no 80-pound standard golden doodle anymore. Well, that's true.

KERRY 32:35

Now that see, now there again, Jim and I were just talking about this the other day because we have the little small dog and then we have a bigger dog. And we were just saying that when something happens to the bigger dog, we probably won't get another bigger dog. We'll stick with the smaller ones because yeah, that's they're only three years old. So, in essence, if that's 10 years from now, you know, we'll be in our 60s and 70s. So, yeah, that might not be the best time to buy a great Perenece or a really big great Dane or whatever, you know. But the smaller dog, that's more you're thinking better, you know. You still own it, just have a plan, just have somebody on your call list that if something happens to me, here's Fluffy's paperwork, and here's the vet, and here's how you take care of them. Like I have everything right now in my binder. Says what they feed, what supplements they get, where they're vaccine, everything is all there. So God forbid if something happened to Jim and I, somebody could know that, at least know how to take care of my animals and they know who to call to responsible. My bird, my bird that could live 30 years old, 30, 40 years that I have. I already have a backup person, a younger girl that I know if anything happens to me, she will inherit my bird. And I've talked to them about it too. That's the other thing. Get permission. Don't just they'll just put their name down and then you croak, and all of a sudden, knock, knock, knock. Here's T go. No.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

So I think you should let people know that that look on your face is about me and not about what Carrie was saying.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Oh, I can totally tell that that look is going toward you. That's that's all aimed at you, Nick.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

You know, I have to tell you what.

KERRY 34:18

My face right now.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

I um, you know, all part of this also is I hate that you know, when you finally have to put a dog down, it's like losing a member of the family. I don't want to go through that too many more times in my life. That's awful. It is awful, but my dogs, all of them.

Saying Goodbye And Doing It Right

KERRY 34:37

It is awful, and everybody handles that differently. And some people like you, that happens, and they they can never, they don't ever want to do it again. That's fine. That's everyone's choice. But at the same time, like you can that that is part of pet ownership, is knowing when you might have to make a decision that again, not about you, about the animal, you know. So, but that's being a responsible pet ownership is knowing whenever your animal is suffering. So, but well, he j Nick is very good pet owner. Yes, you both are, even though I'm the one that grew up with pets, he did not have pets growing up. Yeah, so having a pet was new for him, and he's he's always been good about you know making sure you know they have their necessities, they've gone to their vet appointments, they've gotten groomed. He used to groom our Yorkes himself, or we've got the bigger dogs, they go to a groomer, but so he's been that very good, and he has unfortunately we lost two of our dogs during the pandemic. Yeah. And so I had kids that were home that didn't go to school, so we basically had to do our goodbyes separate. Yeah, yeah. So it was it was hard. Two of our original generation of dogs, the oldest one, the first one that passed away, he died at home with us there with him. Because we didn't, we were about to get him to the vet, but he didn't make it. And then the second one we lost was at the vet, but well, by the time we got there to be able to be with him, he actually she yeah, it was he died before the vet could do what he needed to do. Yeah. So yeah, it was this really turned into a daughter. I really just wanted to attack idiots who had the wrong pets. This has turned into such a flipping bummer.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

I'm sorry. I know we will, so whatever.

Hoarding Concerns And Final Wrap

KERRY 36:46

To my 80s, it doesn't sound like it. So I guess you can I'll leave you my dog for your new wife and you to take care of. What? Yay! So I don't know how to wrap this up cleanly. We uh briefly you did mention about people who have like 60 cats or yeah, whatever. That's generally never a good situation. No, it isn't. And it's usually there's there's no mental health crisis way to have that many. It's a mental health crisis. It's a mental health crisis. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Having too many animals, like how many would you say is too many? Probably five plus. I can't you can't put a number on it because if you are adequately taking care of them and all of their needs, then too many for one person could be owning one dog. Too many for another person could be having two cats, too many for another person could be eight dogs. It all depends on how well you are able to care for them and provide for them. So that that's hard question to answer. Okay, so you're taking care of them, that's fine. But not too many people are gonna visit you when you have if you know. Yeah, and I know I know, like in over the years with me, I mean, there's been times where I've had my fair share number of dogs, and I know that that means some people won't visit me, and that's okay. They don't have to come to my house. It's my house, you know. I don't have to go to their house because for whatever thing that they have in their house. Too many kids. Oh boy, they don't do their dishes, they let their cats sit on the counter where they're cooking food. Yeah, I won't go back to that house. Okay, well, I would I would agree with that. It's generally I don't want people in my house because I just don't, I don't care. I I just don't want people in my house. Yeah, I hear you. And I'm getting worse about that. Jim and I have talked about that since we moved here, and I'm like, yeah, he's like, are we never gonna have people over? And I'm like, maybe not, just a few people are allowed. But where you are, at least it's somewhat the temperatures are yeah, okay that you might be able to keep everybody outside. Yeah, but that means they would have to come in my house to go outside. And I know we'll meet you down at the rec center. So I kind of got scared the other day because there is somebody in my life that reached out that I have not really been in communication with, and they were all like, Oh, let me know when I can come to visit. And I'm thinking, like, yeah, never. And then I got scared. I'm like, holy shit, what if they show up on my porch? Like, they ain't coming in. Is it somebody I know? I'll tell you off. Yeah. So the point of the story is don't be the dysfunctional pet owner. Appropriate pet. Don't be the dysfunctional pet owner. Follow the local state, city state, and local laws on what you're allowed to own. And if you are allowed to own it, make sure you can care for them properly. Make sure that you can provide them all of their needs, you know, their physical needs, their mental needs, their well-being, everything, and that they're not a danger to yourself or society. So that's my pet tip for this episode. Thank you for that. All righty. Well, this has been uh this is a longer one. We got yakky on this one. So, but hey, we are finishing up the month of April, and this is our autism awareness month. So be sure to check out your local autism societies to learn more about autism. If you live in the Wooster area or northeast Ohio, you can check out the autism society in Akron. They do amazing work, they have an awesome website. So here's where I always forget is it autismacron or acronutism.org. But they have great websites, so definitely want to support them this week. Now we've got some changes coming up here in the next month or so. So we are possibly going to be parting partnering with some other uh groups that are gonna help us with our audio and our video, and so hopefully we'll be coming at you even bigger and better in the next month or six weeks or so. So yes, all right. Well, that's uh that's the way it goes. Go go give your dog kisses. Yeah, especially since it's my last one.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

Yeah, right.

KERRY 41:41

Okay, you're good. That's a wrap.