Animal Radio® Show #664 August 25, 2012         Bob Barker Makes 10th Guest Shot  Bob Barker, the 19-time Emmy Award-winning host of The Price is Right, has been taking care of the animals since he was a kid. In recent years, he has had more time for it and is now taking care of animals all over the world. Currently, Bob is teaming up with Mercy For Animals following an undercover investigation by the national animal protection organization that revealed shocking cruelty to pigs at Christensen Farms, a factory farm supplying pork to Wal-Mart stores in the Los Angeles area. Christensen Farms is one of the five largest pork producers in the country. To view the undercover video, visit http://www.WalmartCruelty.com. These pigs are suffering terribly in gestation crates, which are a barred crate that is just barely bigger than the pigs themselves. This doesn’t allow them to turn around or lie down comfortably. They are kept in these crates their entire lives. Bob is working with the efforts to get these crates barred altogether. Through the work of Mercy For Animals, they have exposed this situation resulting in companies that are refusing to buy pork from farms where they still use these gestation crates. Costco is one such company that after reviewing the undercover video, said, “We won’t buy any more from companies that use the gestation crates.” K-Mart also agreed to stop buying this pork. However, Wal-Mart stated they would need about 4 weeks to consider it. “Gestation crates are unremitting hell on earth,” world-renowned animal behaviorist Dr. Jonathan Balcombe said after viewing the footage. “These intelligent animals endure awful physical and psychological suffering. No animal ever deserved to be treated like this." The horrifying undercover footage shows: • Thousands of mother pigs confined to filthy, metal gestation crates so small they are unable to even turn around or lie down comfortably for nearly their entire lives • Pigs suffering from large, open wounds and pressure sores from rubbing against the bars of their tiny cages or lying on the hard concrete flooring • Workers slamming piglets into the ground and leaving them to slowly suffer and die • Workers ripping out the testicles and slicing off the tails of fully conscious piglets without the use of any painkillers • Sick and injured pigs with severe, bleeding wounds or infections left to suffer without veterinary care Bob states that the reason for this treatment “Is all a matter of greed. They don’t have to have as much room for the pigs then and they don’t have to have as large as staff to take care of pigs on these huge farms.” Bob goes on to state, “That that’s the basis of almost all animal cruelty, animal exploitation, animal mistreatment.” When asked if there were people and organizations that treat animals well and make money at the same time (such as commercials), Bob stated, “Unfortunately, I haven’t met a lot of them!” Bob said people would lead you to believe they treat animals well, such as the American Humane Association (AHA) who has been putting its stamp of approval on everything. The AHA has supposedly been protecting animals in movies over 50 years. In his humble opinion, Bob states “They have completely failed to fulfill their responsibility.” Bob also goes on to mention that the “AHA office in Hollywood is supported financially by the movie industry… In all the years that they have been supposedly protecting animals in movies, I don’t know, and I will accept a correction, but I don’t know of a single time that they have filed charges against any animal trainer for cruelty!” When Bob sees the AHA stamp “No Animals Were Harmed” at the end of a movie’s credits, he is very skeptical. Bob is the most frequent guest on Animal Radio and said if anyone should appear on our show more times than he has, he wants to be interviewed immediately, as he wants to remain Number One!     4th Annual Get Your Licks On Route 66 Victoria Stilwell     The Fourth Annual Pet Adoption & Humane Outreach National Tour in search of loving homes for rescued pets from California to Chicago begins on Saturday, October 6, 2012 through Sunday November 3, 2012. Victoria Stilwell is the spokesperson for this year's cross-country adoption tour, sponsored by Fido Friendly and Animal Radio®. For the fourth year in a row, FIDO Friendly magazine is setting out on America’s Favorite Highway for this exciting month long pet adoption tour! The Get Your Licks on Route 66 Tour will raise awareness to the plight of homeless pets, vital services that participating animal shelter and rescue partners provide to their communities, and engage younger generations through humane education programs that are available. Check back often for updates and sponsor information. Victoria currently lives with in Atlanta, Georgia with her two dogs, a Chocolate Labrador named Sadie and a Chihuahua named Jasmine. You can see Victoria on It’s Me Or The Dog and American Dog. Fido Friendly Magazine: The Travel Magazine For You & Your Dog, a complete guide to Fido-friendly accommodations across the United States and Canada. "Fido Friendly is the only magazine dedicated to the travel lifestyle of man's best friend, and the one magazine your dog will thank you for." And don't forget to join the Fido Friendly Travel Club. FidoFriendly.com FidoFriendlyTravelcCub.com     A Manual For Senior Dog Care Jennifer Kachnic, Your Dog’s Golden Years  Jennifer Kachnic has assembled 20 canine professionals from around the country. Each canine expert has written a chapter on their particular expertise including natural remedies and complementary therapies in her new book “Your Dog’s Golden Years.” You will find information on basic senior dog care, what senior dogs go through, what their needs are and some tips to better care for your senior dog. You will also find information on alternative, natural and even holistic therapies and remedies for your dog. Your dog reaches his senior years at different times depending upon the size of your dog. Smaller dogs live longer, so it might be 10 or 12 years for a small breed to reach his senior years; but for a medium dog like a black lab, it is usually around seven years of age. As your dog ages, questions begin to surface, including: • How can I assess the quality of life my dog is experiencing? • What alternative or complementary treatments might be best for my dog as he ages? • What are the exact laboratory tests I should have my veterinarian do, and how often? • Should I consider hospice care for my dog? • How can I deal with the “anticipatory grief” I feel when I know my dog is dying? As you dog ages, he will slow down. He may not want to climb the stairs any more or even jump up on your bed. He may also be slower on his walks. He may also not eat as he normally did and may sleep more. He may even start to show some signs of anxiety when he is in pain. Dogs naturally try to cover their pain, so if you do see signs, your dog is probably already in significant pain. The book includes some great information on how to make life easier for your senior dog by installing ramps and making sure that they don’t slip on wood or tiled floors. You will also find information on how to deal with grief during you dog’s last stage of life. While some senior dogs may have many health issues, there are others that live very long lives without many issues. The good thing is that all of the help that is available for us, like chiropractic care and acupuncture, is also available for our dogs to make them more comfortable. http://seniordogbooks.com     The Dogfather's Grooming Tip with Joey Villani How To Properly Bathe An Oily Dog   Joey recently received an email form a woman who stated that no matter when her Shih Tzu gets bathed, within two days his coat gets greasy and has a funny odor. While Joey can help with the problem, he can’t cure it. The reason being is it is most likely a nutritional problem and is probably the food that you are feeding the dog. This may require a consultation with your veterinarian for a long-term solution to this problem. In the short term, you can bathe your dog properly. Think about it. Any time you add water to something that is oily to begin with, as soon as you add water to it, it’s going to form a barrier. So, to start with, dilute your shampoo with water before applying it to your dry dog. You should always start with a good shampoo, and in this case, one that is for an oily, greasy coat, or even a pesticide shampoo for fleas and ticks. These types of shampoos will usually dry the coat out even more than regular shampoos. This will remove the residue currently on you dog’s coat. After you shampoo, you need to use a good conditioner. You may think that your dog has an oily coat to begin with, so you don’t want to apply a conditioner. However, the conditioner will help the coat mend itself and grow. Find a conditioner that will be absorbed and that doesn’t have oils, lanolin or grease in it. Read the label carefully, and if it has oils or any type of silicone, you don’t want to use it. If you don’t bathe your dog properly, in a week or two the problem will return. An oily coat will also matt up and stink. Besides, fleas like a dirty oily coat, so the more you bathe your dog, the less likely the fleas will remain. If the problem still remains after a proper bath, talk to your veterinarian about changing your dog’s diet.     Animal Radio® News with Stacey Cohen  Over The Top Pet Owners      There should be no shortage of potential profile subjects for this show: Nat Geo has just ordered a new series called Spoiled Rotten Pets. As the nicely self-explanatory title suggests, the series is about pet owners who go over the top when taking care of their animals. Examples from the series include terriers getting their own lavish “Bark Mitzvahs,” kittens taken to plush and extravagant cat spas and fawned-over ferrets dressed up for a ferret fashion show. The series is hosted by Beth Stern (wife of Howard Stern), a animal advocate and host of the HGTV series Mom Caves. The six-episode series starts production in September. Where Does The Poop Go?       From the backyard grill to the picnic basket, Americans seem to have a love affair with meat and poultry. To supply that demand, livestock production has turned to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as the new business model, growing high volumes of cows, pigs and birds within short time spans and in the smallest spaces possible. These “factory farms” are designed to be efficient at producing meat, but they also generate enormous amounts of manure. Livestock animals create 13 to 25 times more of it than humans, on a per-weight basis, resulting in quantities from a single large CAFO that can surpass the sanitary waste production of a city as large as Philadelphia. Treatment is not required for animal manure as it is for human sewage. So where does all of that waste go? A growing body of evidence indicates that CAFO-generated contaminants are ending up in the waters that we depend on for commerce, recreation and perhaps most importantly drinking. Spills that occur during manure transport or when storage facilities fail, can lead to easily discernible, significant impacts on water quality. Spreading livestock manure in quantities greater than the plants can use or the soil can absorb can cause severe water quality problems and thereby harm human health. Unfortunately, that does not fully capture the likely impacts of discharges from CAFOs because only 27.5 percent of rivers and streams and 45.5 percent of lakes nationally have been assessed. If You Go To County Fairs – Watch Out For The Pigs It's the season for state and county fairs, and health officials are reminding fairgoers to be careful around pigs because of a new flu spreading from the animals to people. Officials say 29 human cases of the new strain of swine flu have been confirmed in the last year, including 12 recently. The new flu has a gene from the 2009 pandemic strain that might make it more contagious. But so far, the strain hasn't spread easily among people, and recent cases have been mild. Fairgoers should wash their hands and avoid taking food and drinks into barns. Pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems should be extra careful. Valentines Made From Poop A greeting card maker in India is getting a little help from local elephants for his next batch of Valentine's Day cards. According to Orange News, Vijender Shekhawat and his company Haathi Chaap (which means Elephant Stamp) will use 30-tons of the animal's feces every month to make a special paper from the grass and leaf fibers in the droppings. Shekhawat explains that 40-percent of everything that goes through an elephant's gastrointestinal tract comes out untouched. But it is softened and pre-pulped, which he says makes fantastic paper when pressed and processed. And he assures any potential customers that their products smell "as sweet as any other Valentine's Day cards on the market." Cheetah Cubs Named After American Sprinters Two of the planet's fastest land mammals now have names fitting their status. Washington, DC's National Zoo has teamed up with USA Track & Field to name two new cheetah cubs after Justin Gatlin and Carmelita Jeter, who were the fastest American sprinters in the 100-meter dash in the London Olympics. The three-month-old cubs still have a lot of growing up to do, but they are fast becoming a major attraction at the zoo. The move to name the cubs after the fastest Americans is part of a Zoo campaign to celebrate the finest animal athletes. New Sate Law Benefits Animals Massachusetts’s taxpayers will be able to lend a hand to homeless animals under a new state law. The bill signed recently by Governor Deval Patrick creates a new state fund to pay for vaccinations and spaying and neutering of dogs and cats in animal shelters. The fund will be supported by voluntary check-off donations made by Massachusetts’s residents on their state income tax returns. The new law would ban certain euthanasia methods used on animals in shelters that are considered inhumane. It would also allow pets to be covered along with people in domestic violence restraining orders. The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it worked with lawmakers, animal control officers, veterinarians and others to pass the legislation.   NEWS UPDATE Brought To You By ScoopFree.com.  Free Shipping on trays plus up to $20 off your first subscription.     Listen to the entire Podcast of this show (#664)

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