Beth "O" Stern

Yes, she is the wife of Howard Stern. But more importantly, Beth Ostrosky-Stern is an avid animal advocate and she's fostering a bunch of animals at home. Beth says Howard is really into her pets and sometimes he'll get very emotional when the animals find homes.

Beth fosters momma cats and their litters. This all happens at her house and keeps her busy! Unfortunately it is kitten season (when is it not?) in these summer months and every shelter is overpopulated with cats.

Previously, Beth went into a municipal shelter and grabbed a litter of kittens. Both Beth and Howard fostered the litter. Howard even mentioned it on his radio show. As a result, they received over 100 applications from wonderful people who wanted to adopt the kittens. Beth, along with the North Shore Animal League, screened potential adopters and found all of the kittens wonderful homes. Beth then decided to grab another litter, while fostering a current litter.

Somehow we can't picture Howard Stern with kittens, but Beth assures us that he is right there with her. He even photographs and names them and even cried when the first litter went to their new homes. Beth states that Howard falls in love with these kittens as quickly as she does.

Beth was the host of the show, "Spoiled Rotten Pets" on Nat Geo, and when asked what she does to spoil her pets, she tells us that Leon Bear, her 22-pound cat, sleeps in the bed with Howard and her and takes up more space than she does. Beth tells us that there are so many nights when she has the worst sleep because Leon Bear is comfortable and she is left sleeping on the edge of the bed. She says she always puts her pets' comfort first and always has about three cats in bed with her and Howard every night.

When Beth was growing up, her family always had rescued animals. These included everything from Guinea Pigs to chickens. They always had two cats and a dog in the household as well.

Beth and Howard have rescued many cats from the North Shore Animal League. They always rescue adult cats, which fill her house with so much love! They usually have a dog in their house too. When asked if she is a cat or dog person, Beth states that she is, "An equal opportunity."

Beth and Howard Stern were married at Le Cirque restaurant in New York City on October 3, 2008. Stern received her first noticeable move role as one of the daughters of Ben Stiller's supposed birth parents in the 1996 film, Flirting with Disaster. Stern played a more prominent role four years later, in the film Whipped, with Amanda Peet. Beth has also appeared on television, appearing in the final season of G4 show Filter, and the Spike TV series Casino Cinema.

Pet Restraints FAIL
Lindsey Wolko, Center for Pet Safety

A study from the Center for Pet Safety revealed that the pet restraints tested have a 100% failure rate. Does this mean you shouldn't use them when traveling with your pet? Absolutely not! However, Lindsey Wolko has the lowdown on what works and what doesn't when it comes to keeping your pets safe in the car.

The focus of this pilot study was to determine the general effectiveness of canine automotive restraints. Do they prevent injury of the pet? Do they prevent secondary injury to humans in an automobile accident?

Because standardized testing does not exist for this class of pet product, they used a test generally referenced by some canine safety harness manufacturers for child restraint systems.

The testing was conducted at MGA Research Corporation's test facility located in Manassas, Virginia. The pilot study was completed using a specially designed crash test dog model weighing 55 pounds at a speed of 30 miles per hour. They do not use live animals in their testing. For the purpose of this initial study, they tested products intended for large dogs, generally 50-85 pounds. (Sample breeds in this size include Poodles, German Shepherds, Irish Setters, Labrador Retrievers, Boxers, and Weimaraners.)

They tested multiple brands and sizes of selected harness products that claimed they have been tested for crash testing and crash protection.

Other add-on products to vehicles such as booster seats, zip-lines and extension tethers don't have to go through testing, so many manufacturers do not test these products at all.

Alarmingly, the pilot study revealed a 100-percent failure rate. None of the harnesses were deemed safe enough to protect both the dog and the humans in the event of an accident.

Examples of problems include:

- Extremely low likelihood of survivability for the animal.
- Danger to humans when the dog becomes a missile.
- Choking and/or other bodily harm to the animal when harness materials cinch tightly upon impact.
- Extensive damage to fixtures within the vehicle caused by the projectile animal.

Pet product safety is a concern shared by consumers and manufacturers, and they understand why people want to know the brand names tested in the pilot study conducted by CPS. However, they were not in a position to reveal the names of individual products or brand names, and here's why:

Their primary concern was NOT to attack individual manufacturers for selling well-intentioned products. If they had shared brands at an early stage in their work, they shifted the focus away from what is truly needed: measurable, safe standards that manufacturers can follow for the benefit of consumers.

After these standards are put in place, they can then work with manufacturers to guide them as they develop safe, tested products.

In other words, manufacturers are not ignoring safety standards. There simply are no existing standards in place. This is not the fault of the manufacturer. Pet product safety is an emerging issue, and the Center for Pet Safety was formed to address it. The good news is that we are seeing better protection, but you need to be very discerning on how you shop for these products.

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Devices That Allow Us To Talk To Our Pets
Con Slobodchikoff, Animal Behaviorist

Con Slobodchikoff, Animal Behaviorist and Professor Emeritus, Biology Department, Northern Arizona University, was studying animal linguistics. He noticed patterns that indicated language among cats and even prairie dogs. He even said that some day we may have an App that will translate our conversations with animals.

Slobodchikoff was decoding animal language and trying to understand what they talk about. You can read more about it in his book, Chasing Dr. Doolittle. He specialized in working with prairie dogs and found out that they have alarm calls that have words for different predators. They have a word for coyote, another word for dog, hawk and even a word for a human. Within those words, they can describe the size and shape of the individual predator. For example, they can describe the color and size of a dog and the color of clothing on humans. It is a very sophisticated language.

When asked about cat language, Slobodchikoff stated that we don't know much about cat vocalization. We do know, however, that cats have about 5 different kinds of vocalization. Some of these seem to be universal; such as the clicking sounds when a cat sees a bird and when it sees an insect it makes a slightly different clicking sound. But, we unfortunately don't really know that much about cat language, and have only recently started exploring the language of cats.

Not too long ago, we thought that cats were solitary animals who were quite happy to be off by themselves. But when people started looking at semi-feral cats, they found that cats were very social animals who liked to socialize with other cats that they were related to. We are just now starting to find out more about both the social structure and the vocalization of cats. However, we still have a ways to go.

Slobodchikoff understands the prairie dogs' language with the use of technology. The prairie dog's calls were recorded and then put into a computer. They then measured various aspects of the calls. They then were working on a way to duplicate their language so as to speak back to them. This meant that they would speak English into the computer and have a program synthesize the proper prairie dog language and then play it back to the prairie dogs. Slobodchikoff stated that they have the potential to do this back and forth speaking with these animals.

One of the biggest problems between humans and their companion animals, according to Slobodchikoff, is a lack of ability to understand each other. He believes that in using this technology, there will come a time when they will be able to develop perhaps apps on a cellphone which would allow us to talk to our cats and dogs, and maybe even farm animals on a basic level.

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E-Cigarette Toxicity in Pets - Dr. Debbie

Think that vapor cigarettes (a.k.a. electric cigarettes or e-cigarettes) are a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes? The vapor habit might be better for you and decrease your pet's exposure to second hand smoke, but can increase the chance of a pet's toxic ingestion of nicotine. A story from England told of the tragic death of a puppy that died after chewing on an e-liquid container.

Ivy was a 14-week on Staffordshire Bull Terrier that chewed on her owner's bottle of e-liquid used to refill the electric cigarettes. Within 30 seconds of nibbling on the container, she fell sick with vomiting and disorientation and was rushed to a veterinary office. Sadly, Ivy died within 24 hours due to heart and respiratory failure.

What's in e-liquid?
The ingredients in e-liquid vary but include carriers such as propylene glycol, polyethylene Glycol 400 and vegetable glycerin, as well as flavoring agents and nicotine. The amount of nicotine in e-liquid varies with some products not containing any nicotine, to others ranging from 18 mg/ml to 100mg/ml.

How toxic is nicotine?
The toxic dose of nicotine for pets is 0.5 to 1mg per pound of body weight. The fatal dose is 4mg per pound. So if you consider a 20 pound dog, toxicity would occur if 10mg were ingested, and the pet would die if 80mg were ingested. Therefore with the high nicotine levels in e-liquid, it wont take much to reach those fatal levels. That hypothetical 20 pound dog could die from less than 1ml of the highest potency liquid nicotine.

Pets likewise can develop toxicity if other sources of nicotine are ingested such as cigarettes, chewing tobacco, nicotine gum, or nicotine nasal sprays. The typical amounts of nicotine in these products are: Cigarette 9-30 mg; Nicotine gum 2 - 4 mg per pieces; and Nicotine patches 8.3 - 114 mg.

Even cigarette butts can be toxic if enough are ingested - cigarette butts retain 25-percent of the nicotine in the original cigarette.

What are symptoms of nicotine poisoning?
Symptoms usually develop within one hour of ingestion. Pets may display excitability, rapid heart rate, drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, seizures, and coma.

How are pets treated for nicotine toxicity?
The first step is to decontaminate by inducing vomiting. Nicotine typically causes vomiting when ingested, but further decontamination is advised at the veterinary office. Other emergency care includes intravenous fluids, medications to manage elevated blood pressure and heart rate, and anti-seizure medications. Nicotine is metabolized by the liver and excreted within 16 hours after ingestion. Pets that survive the initial four hours after ingestion have a favorable chance of survival.

The vapor cigarette trend is becoming more popular world wide. It's important to recognize that nicotine is a toxin and poisonous to animals and children. Consider the e-liquid a hazardous material and store it safely in a locking cabinet, away from children and pets.

To read more about Ivy's toxicity after ingesting E-fluid go to "Dog dies after chewing e-fluid container."

Featured veterinarian known as "Dr. Debbie" on national pet radio program, Animal Radio. Ebook author of "Yorkshire Terriers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Pugs: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Mini Schnauzers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; and "Shih Tzu: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend." Dr. Debbie's books.

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The Dogfather's Grooming Tip with Joey Villani

Brushing and Combing Your Pet
People have a misconception that they don't need to brush or comb a pet who has been shaved down. This is the biggest fallacy when it comes to grooming and will cause many problems.

All pets need to be brushed, even those that are shaved down as well as those called non-shedding pets. These so-called non-shedding pets actually do shed. They may not shed at the degree of other pets, such as a Bichon who will not shed as much as a German Shepherd, but the Bichon will shed.

People may also think they can get away without the maintenance of brushing and combing if they shave their dog down.

Unfortunately, groomers don't take the proper amount of time when shaving down a dog to remove the undercoat. So what happens is that the undercoat wants to come out, which it does after it is shaved, as shorter hair, and it gets caught in you comforter, pillows carpets and rugs. This shorter hair is a lot harder to get out of your house.

If a dog is left with long hair, as they move about either indoor or outdoor, the dead undercoat is being pulled out as they rub against things.

Unfortunately, you will still find this hair in your house, but this process builds healthy, nice, new coat. This will leave the coat better looking, with better texture and will also keep your pet smelling better. This natural process also stimulates the skin, so everything works better.

So make sure you brush and comb your pet on a regular basis. Not only will this be better for your pet's well being (and your home!) it is also a great way to socialize the pet who is a little shy.

Animal Radio News with Stacey Cohen

Dinosaur Found In Utah
Scientists in Utah revealed details about a dinosaur species that was discovered. The animal's unique features showed how diverse dinosaurs were in the southern U.S. It was found on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the southern part of Utah. The species was part of the triceratops family and it had one horn over its nose and the other horn over its eyes.

Fisherman Caught Shark With Bare Hands
A man pulled a 200-pound sandbar shark from the water with his bare hands in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The shark was reportedly eating the bluefish the fisherman wanted to catch. He stated he caught the shark on his fishing line and when it had tired out, he ran into the water and snatched it up by the tail. He then released the shark so it could go back to hunting. The fisherman also told the paper he's pulled dozens of sharks from their watery home because, quote "there's something satisfying about catching something bigger than you."

Woolen Coffins
A funeral director in Scotland found a way to help people stay environmentally friendly in the afterlife. According to The Scotsman, John Fraser and Sons offered their customers the option of using a woolen coffin rather than the standard model made out of wood. They explain that the softer caskets are made from 100-percent British wool and are supported by a strong recycled cardboard frame and cotton lining. They also come with a personalized nameplate and a biodegradable waterproof base. Vicki Fraser, who runs the business with her father, says the demand for the alternative is growing. She adds that many people are impressed with how "comforting" the woolen coffins feel.

Sunbathing Alligator Caught
An alligator that had been roaming around ditches in Gulfport, Mississippi was caught. Police said the gator was caught while sunbathing near a UPS building. Officers used a catchpole, typically reserved for dogs, to nab the animal. The three-and-a-half-foot gator was relocated to a safer place and away from neighborhoods.

Bugs Intentionally Added To Your Food
Acclaimed European Chef David Faure wasn't worried about his diners finding a bug in their meals. In fact, he started intentionally adding a variety of creepy crawlies to the dishes he served at his restaurant in Nice, France. Among the new specialties were a dessert with crickets, which Faure liked for their "popcorn" flavor, and a cod dish with mealworms, which he claimed added nice nutty tones to the fish. Faure got the idea for his "alternative foods" menu while traveling to countries where citizens used insects in their everyday diets. He said the biggest obstacle in his quest to make his own cooking more adventurous was finding a reliable local supplier of edible insects. He solved that problem with the help of nearby companies that raised their insects on organic vegetables and meal.

Apes Don't Forget!
Scientists discovered that just like humans, chimpanzees and orangutans can apparently remember things that happened years ago in their lives. The ability to remember events from the remote past "has been considered a defining feature of human nature," said comparative psychologist Gema Martin-Ordas, of Denmark. She and her colleagues found that chimpanzees and orangutans can also recall distant memories. In experiments with 15 chimpanzees and four orangutans, the scientists tested whether the animals could remember events they experienced years ago. Three years prior, the apes had watched the researchers hide tools that the chimpanzees and orangutans needed to grab rewards that were otherwise out of their reach. As the apes looked on, the researchers repeatedly hid the tools a total of four times. In the last experiment, the scientists had the apes carry out the same tasks, in the same rooms, with the same experimenters. With just one exception, all the apes tested recalled where the necessary tool was hidden to reach its reward. "I was surprised to find out not only that they remembered the event that took place three years ago, but also that they did it so fast," Martin-Ordas said.

Listen to the entire Podcast of this show (#1218)