People are SO AWFUL to Animals | Would You Believe...? Podcast 

When I was in third grade me and my friends went around each other's neighborhood and asked for donations for our local humane society and we raised $81.03 I remember vividly how happy it made the people. That memory just makes me happy.

I read a heart breaking story about a family that dropped off their dog at a shelter and a couple weeks later came to adopt a new dog. Their dog they dropped off saw them, got all excited and they even loved on the poor thing and then proceeded to try and get another dog. I think the shelter told them off.

One of my first ex roommates exes actually kicked a puppy when he got mad at them. There was a number of problems with those people but it’s a very long story.

My cat died last year. I miss her so much. I'm not alone but I feel alone without her sometimes. I want her back so much. Thank you so much for everything you do for these animals. I am so grateful that people like you and people who work or volunteer at shelters, etc., exist.

I love this podcast for me whenever I have to do chores clean my room clean the house for my parents get ready for bed or just in mid day please keep on making episodes we all love it!

I won't ever forget how my wife and I adopted our first dog as a couple. We had just been married for a year at this point and finally moved to a rental that allowed pets. We had been searching online at local shelters and found Benny, a 1 year old Jack Russel mix about a two hour drive away. We put in our application to adopt him and were approved, so the first weekend after that we made the drive to arrive at the shelter when they opened. Turns out what the shelter didn't tell us was that they were having an adoption event at PetSmart that day and were loading the animals into their truck to move them when we arrived. We thankfully were early enough that we were able to ask for Benny to be removed from the truck and we could see him in the shelter. He was the only dog in the shelter at that point when we saw him and was sad and tucked in a corner in his cage. When we approached and asked if he was Benny, he immediately lit up and wanted to greet us and was super affectionate with us. We took him on a walk around the shelter's park / parking lot and fell in love with him. Adopted him right then and there, went to the PetSmart they had the event at to get him his puppy starter kit, and made the drive back. It's been five years since we got him and he has been the best dog I've ever had. I couldn't imagine something happening to him where we wanted to return him or had to get rid of him, he is my fur child.

This made me want to cry. Just thinking of giving my cat to the shelters made me cry. She's apart of our family. I can't even think about giving her away. The only reason we haven't gotten another cat is because at the point we realized we could have she was pretty scared of everyone and I don't want to give her more stress at this point. She still has several years left but she's starting to get old.

I always said that people who don't like cats, they don't understand consent...cause cats teach consent quickly. I made a tiktok about it with out kitten a couple years ago.

I was driving down the road one day, and almost hit a puppy, I stopped and looked around (no houses in sigh) and she was 3 days old (still on milk) I picked her up expecting to just foster her. Took her to the vet, she had worms and parvo. We got her back to health. She ended up syncing with me. Her name is Bailey❤️ now she's almost 2 years old! Best choice and i would do it again!

My heart hurts for all the poor animals in shelters who have gone through so much. 🥺💗

I call myself a crazy dog lady. Because all pet parents are crazy for their furry, feathery, scaly, or... amphibious? Whatever, they're all sweet precious baby angels that we love. 😊

I’m more of a dog person but my aunt has a cat and I absolutely love her every time I go to my aunts house she’s my go to even though I am a little allergic😅 one of my dogs, my almost two year old female acts like a cat too and it’s so cute! She’ll like cat walk the back of my couch or curl up and lay on my lap, she’s also such a scaredy-cat 😂 my mom even helps out with a foster in NJ called no paw left behind, she’s fostered about 150 puppies in a year and she never takes in any over the summer for vacation reasons but that doesn’t stop her from helping at their adoption events, which there are a bunch of stories from. She once had a litter of three and it was spring so she did all flower names, the one she named Lilly was like one of the first ones adopted and she was adopted for this woman’s little girl who was around 8. About a whole YEAR LATER this woman returns Lilly the dog because she just doesn’t have the time and her daughter doesn’t want her anymore, the dog had been in the cage while the woman was work even though she worked AT HOME. Things like this is what makes me really hate people sometimes 😅what I’m trying to get at is that is I don’t understand how some people can be so cruel to animals whether it’s dogs or cats, each separate animal has it’s own personality just like us humans. They deserve the love that we give each other ❤❤❤ you guys are doing great with what you represented today in this video ❤❤❤❤❤

Awww omg as someone who works at an animal shelter… this is beyond Amazing!! Thank you guys soooo much for advocating for this!! It makes my heart sooo happy. Our shelter right now with kitten season is way over 100% capacity & that does not take into account the 100+ cats/kittens that are already in foster. Most shelters are non profit, so anyone who can donate either time or resources is HUGE. I volunteered 2hrs a week just socializing with the animals before I finally got a job there. Best decision ever, hard work but the most rewarding 🥰🥰

I love this podcast! I grew up with cats, dogs, the occasional bunny, many fish and pets of all kinds. My 1st cat, after I left home, picked me. I had a friend who's cat had kittens and she brought them into where we worked. I sat there with my arms folded on the table admiring them (cause I told myself I am not getting a cat! as much as I loved them) and this little ball of floof scampered over, crawled over my arms and fell asleep. Yup I took said kitty home when she was old enough. BJ (Black Jack cause I was a bartender and she looked like a shooter called a Black Jack) was the best travel (across Canada), camping, exploring cuddle bug ever. Loved car rides and I think even got a kick out of freaking out other drivers when a cat appeared in my back window to look at them. lol She was just about 23 when she had a stroke and I made the choice to send her over the rainbow bridge. While I had her I had another cat and a dog. They all tolerated each other lol. Sadly both my other cat, Rocky (aka little butt cause he was a Manx) and my sweet puppers Jasmine (Rotty/Husky cross) are no longer with me. I did finally feel the urge for another living creature in my house and adopted from a local cat rescue in my town. Kitty Cat Pals does fostering, TNR, the whole thing. Some that are assessed in the TNR will either be returned to the colony, sent to foster or to a barn cat program to help farmers in the area. I was lucky enough to scoop up Fiona after she gave birth to a single kitten at barely a year old. Though feral, she did well in foster so they decided to place her up for adoption. Several conditions where that there was no other animals and no young kids. Done as I didn't have either. Several years later my grandson arrived and who loved him the most... Fiona. They would chase each other around the house, play hide a seek, and just love to cuddle each other. I never let my grandson start the chase, Fiona always started it. 7 yrs later and I love her to bits...even though she eats bugs then promptly pukes them up, has taken up residence to sleep in a planter pot that I'll never be able to use again (she killed the plant that was in it 7yrs ago to claim it) and is a bit of a chunk. Honest...she gets treats once a day, when I get home form work. Thanks for such relatable content in all your podcasts! Sorry this was long. lol Crazy cat ladies can go on and on....

OMG, it just breaks my heart hearing about people surrendering their pets. I can’t imagine giving up my sweet little kitty boy. And to surrender a dog?! I don’t have one, but honestly they have such human emotions and my heart is completely shattered at how devastated those poor dogs must be. I could honestly cry just thinking about it. I need to go snuggle my cat now.

He has me enthralled while he speaks BECAUSE he maintains ‘eye contact’ with the camera thus involving the viewer in the conversation ❤

Can we please make space for people who have to make the hardest decision in their life to rehome an animal. I haven’t put this story out in the ether yet bc it’s only been 42 days since this happened & I’m so sad & ashamed & my heart breaks every time I have to think of it. We rescued a 1yo 70lb husky 2yrs ago, an 11th hour street dog from Houston, and brought him home to WNY. Very little was known about him bc the rescue agency only had him for 2days before we took him. This was not our first rodeo with pets/huskies/rescues and knew we were more than capable. We brought him into our family of hobos: our 10yo maltipoo, 2yo cat, and our son’s 4yo pit/lab/boxer mix. Everything was wonderful, until it wasn’t. He suffered from night terrors, where he’d wake up in fight or flight mode and aggressively lunge & bark at whoever was near out of no where. About a year in, he ended up attacking our 10lb maltipoo during one of these episodes, giving her a huge black eye which blinded that eye, as well as 3 other puncture wounds, one going through her ear. She healed well & had absolutely no fear of him after. We finally found a treatment that eased the night terrors & completely had them under control, but he started to lash out and resource guard after that attack on the maltipoo. One day I was walking through the living room and bent over to pick something off the floor & he jumped up 10ft from me and bit my arm leaving 4 punctures (only one was bad enough to leave a scar). I love him, I worked with him, I was never afraid of him. He had plenty of daily exercise, lots of play & enrichment time, always socialized, and just loved beyond belief. We went to great lengths to keep our tiny dog safe - we enclosed a section of the couch using a very large folding table where we put her bowl and I provided water using a travel bottle. She still did not fear hüsker dü at all and because of that we took measures so she couldn’t antagonize him. Then in October, I ran to the bathroom for a few moments, not realizing she still had food in her bowl. Hüsker Dü decided he wants it & she tried to stop him & ending up with four puncture wounds on top of her head. She also lost a good amount of vision in her other eye. Up until this point, my mom kept saying that I sounded like a battered wife when excusing Hüsker Dü’s actions bc I love him. But he had become unpredictable, something we had seen for awhile. On our vet’s recommendation we contacted the rescue he came to us from. They were so kind and understood that we loved him and hated what we were asking for. But after 2yrs, we were no longer able to provide a safe home for anyone, and that ultimately wasn’t fair to anyone, including Hüsker Dü. The agency found him a great match, one where he’s the only kid (two or four legged), with acres of land & two brothers who have opposite schedules and plenty of time to better his life. We were able to meet with them about halfway between our 7hr distance at my son’s new home. Hüsker Dü was able to play with his pitty bff who had moved out just a month prior. The 70lb husky/ 70lb pitty zoomies were amazing. There got to terrorized the house together for about four hrs while we got to know his new family. It was bittersweet, and my heart still hurts, but I know we did all we could. My husband & I were able to rationalize only one way - as an 11th hr dog, he was set to be put down the day after the rescue were able to pick him up. The day after he was scheduled to be put down, we offered him a better life. We gave him everything we had, and by doing so we gave him another chance at life. We (really want to) believe we were a stepping stone for his next adventure. It’s hard not to feel guilt & shame & devastating sorrow every minute of every day, especially when “giving back a pet” is not a position we ever thought we’d be put in. But it’s even harder than it should be bc the community of rescuers will never understand unless it happens to them. We love and miss that boy so so much. ~Be Kinder~ *I’m not proofreading this, so grammar/spelling errors are staying the way it is bc I just can’t go thru it again*

My sister runs a rescue here in Georgia and we have had some really entitled people tell us things about our cats. We have 4 special needs cats. 3 of them are one-eyed wonder kitties and the 4th one has a limp. On more than one occasion they have told us that "they will not have a good life", "you should just put them down", and "they will never have a good life". One of the one eyed cats Sonny can jump from the dresser in the cat room to my back 4 feet away. None of our cats has any issues with their various health problems.

Our cat, Spartacus, came from a situation where he was one of three cats owned by a woman who had to flee from her abusive ex-boyfriend. She couldn’t take the cats with her, so left them in the apartment with her ex. The ex then threw all of the cats out into the parking lot and left. We helped neighbors catch the three cats and found all of them new homes, keeping Spar with us. We called the previous owner (from his microchip information), and she gave us permission to keep him and change his microchip information to our own information. He is now the sweetest, cuddliest cat! His favorite thing is to put his front paws on our shoulders, tuck his head into our necks, and be held like a baby. We are so glad we saved him. 💖

My first cat was a cute little grey baby who we found in the hood of my uncle’s truck. He’d climbed in there to stay dry from the rain that night. We found out he was about four weeks old and was likely part of a drop off (other kittens were found around town at similar times). My grandma (the cat lady that trained me) took care of him till he could eat solid food, then brought him out to our house. Eight years later, he’s a giant and still my baby ❤. I’m so glad we found him so he could save our family!!!

I had this Jack Russell Terrier named Luke. My family got him in 2011 from his previous owners. My parents bought a tv from them. Seemed like they were moving. My family loves JRTs so they asked if they could pet him & gave them their number just in case the couldn't keep him. 3 months later my mom got the call. He was the sweetest dog ever & was the best dog I've ever had. He went missing in February 2020 & I never found him. I'm still grieving him. Heck I still miss my childhood dog like crazy & it was his time to go in 2016. Also my oldest sisters cat to, miss her. 2020 - 2022 we lost a pet. My cat died in 2021, my step moms dog & cat had to be put down in 2022 months apart. It was just their time & I still miss them. I miss the cats & sheltie dog i grew up with to. I still think about them from time to time.

I saw a story on the internet/YT body cam footage of a cop arresting a woman because she was in a public park feeding feral cats so someone complained. Anyway cop goes out there and she explains that she is feeding them to trap them and fix them. He’s like well you need to leave. So she didn’t he came back and arrested her!!! She’s like I’m doing the city a favor. Just like that other lady 78 trying to feed the homeless in a park - they arrested her!!!! Like what is wrong with this world and these people. So gross how people in power lose site of what the true problems are

it’s unbelievable how so many people treat animals as if they’re objects. i couldn’t believe that someone abandoned their cat after TEN YEARS! did they never get emotionally attached to their cat? imagine your mom/parent abandoned you at 10 years old to foster care simply because they didn’t want you any more. i can’t believe some people can be so heartless

OMG SOMEONE ELSE FINALLY SAID IT!! I judge people SO hard by whether or not they like cats for the same reasons. Really does say a lot about a person

My cat and I are teaching the neighborhood kids boundaries/patience. I like to sit in my yard on my days off, and my cat loves it outside also. I take him outside on a harness an a 30ft leash. He's only out there when I am able to be out and supervise him. We have a playground not far from our yard, and the neighborhood kids love my cat. At first they asked if they could pet him. I told them "don't ask me, ask him" so they walked over to him, and of course, he backed up and ran off. I told them to pay attention to his body language, and be patient. Let him come to you. They've gotten better over the years. He's let a bunch of them pet him now. They've gradually learned he'll come to them if he wants pets and they can't go running up to him screaming. Funny how the neighborhood kids learn, but most of the adults walking by still can't fathom that lesson. They'll go up to my cat and he'll run for the door, tail puffed up all the way. He'll even hiss sometimes. The adults take it so personally and I think that's really something lol

My sweet dog, Capper, was a rescue. My coworkers, boyfriends parents had a dog that didn’t know was pregnant basically until she was almost giving birth. She was overbred and had a litter of 13 PUPPIES. My Capper was second to last born. The last one unfortunately passed. Capper was a runt and premature I believe. My coworker took him to try and help him so he wouldn’t die, but she couldn’t keep him. My husband and I got him and when we first took him to the vet, he was 5lbs underweight. Was skin and bones and had worms. Poor thing. Luckily, he’s so happy and healthy now and we’re so glad he’s ours. He’s such a good sweet boy and one of my best friends. He would have died if we didn’t take him home, as my coworker would’ve giving him to the pound and he wouldn’t died from health issues. I’m so thankful we saved my sweet boys life ❤

I’ve heard to many stories of animals abuse on the news these days and it’s really sad

When I was six, my mom used to take me to this small hobby farm that had ponies, goats, chickens, geese, pigs, etc. It was on the way my dentist at the time and being the BIGGEST animal lover/fanatic in the world, my parents always stopped there for me! I remember particularly one Autumn, we stopped to visit the ponies and one of them came out to greet us, and it looked sick? I remember that pony's name was Sparkles and she was a very friendly pony, some ponies can be sassy 💁‍♀ I could just make out her ribs and her mane was dull and full of knots! Her hooves were over grown and she looked just miserable! After my appointment, my mom called this woman who fostered all sorts of animals that were either abused, abandoned or injured in the wild. She finds good places to for them to stay or families that will give them the best life they can have! My mom told her about the place and she was concerned because before when we always saw the animals, they seemed to be in pretty good shape! The woman visited the place the following day, along with her friend who inspects farms and animal rehab places to make sure it's safe, cleane, and that the animals are being well taken are of. Half of the animals were dead! They placed them at 2-3 days at most. Not to mention it was in the middle of July and we were having a heat wave!? I can only imagine the stench coming from them. They called animal services and the living animals were immediately taken to vets and some of them didn't make it. The people that owned the farm, weren't there! They abandoned the farm and didn't even leave a note for anyone on what to do if they stumble upon their farm!? I'm happy to report that, that farm has been gone for a very long time and the animals that they managed to save lived VERY good lives! One of them, I believe it was a cow? Went to live in Vermont and LOVED eating apples 🍎 😂

I'm a cat lover, I've had one since I was 6 and visiting a dairy farm. The farmer handed me a kitten and said "take this, my cat had kittens and I have too many." We currently have a 15 yr old female, a 4yr old male both rescues and a 10 year old English setter that we got from someone that couldn't keep him bc they were moving somewhere that didn't except dogs don't know why they'd move there, but didn't ask. The male cat wants to play and the female doesn't want anything to do with him yet they'll sleep 2 inches apart from each other on my bed. She's an old lady and her playing days are over. People that abandoned their animals on the street or wherever makes my blood boil. Animals are a responsibility and if you can't handle being responsible for a living thing then don't have them.

My mum intermittently Foster's cats. She was returning 1 & says ”this one doesn't match my new sofa, so I'm returning it" & then was horrified to discover people did that

I used to not like cats. My first introduction to cats was one that liked to attack everyone. Slowly over time I've grown to love cats and it started by just seeing if a cat in the neighbourhood would like to come to me to be petted. Now I help take care of 2 cats that my parent's own. One cat named Marmalade being an Indoor/Outdoor cat comes to visit my home very often (my residence and parent's place are backyard to backyard). There was a period where we just started seeing cats in the neighbourhood and started feeding them. Marmalade came from a house one street over. The owners didn't care about him at all so they never went looking for him and since he can roam outdoors he has every chance to go back to that house but doesn't. We have had him about 2 years now. Then in June we had a friend that was looking to adopt out barn cats because the mother couldn't be fixed and would die if she were to be fixed. It was just a feeling that we had as a family that this cat needed to be ours and we named her Nutmeg. Finally after months Marmalde has chilled about her being a completely indoor kitty but I love I get to see these cats almost everyday. Also we prefer to have the "More Needy" kitties. But these last few months have been a big learning curve thanks to Nutmeg about how to raise a cat to the way we want her to be raised. In fact now I see that cats are IMHO a little easier to care for than dogs.

Omg this is so sweet. Love y’all! I have adopted two cats and they love each other, with the occasional fighting. ❤. I plan on donating food, litter, and water in the future when I can! ❤😀. See you next time!!

5 years ago, a mother cat had snuck into our unfinished basement and had kittens. We got them out and tried to TNR the feral mom and kittens. We got some, but not all. Over the years we had a small colony grow and we worked to TNR the colony. Today we have one cat remaining at our house. She (Oreo) is the great grandkitten of the OG cat from 5 years ago. She has been spayed and has chosen a feral-ish life living outside and being fed on our porch 2-3 times a day. She doesn't want to be inside, so she has a safe place on the porch. She only likes pets on her terms, but she's great!

This was my favorite episode of your new podcast I've seen so far. I love how it raises awareness and I adore cats. The Fineas and Ferb one was really good too though :)

Im allergic to my guineapigs but I get over it eventually, everytime one sadly passes away I replace it as the other one needs a new friend. New ones bother me for a good while until I get used to them. Its so cool that it can happen and i wouldnt be without them ❤

I've known some cat people who were very hateful about dogs, actually! One woman in a pet store told me to get my 'mutt' away from her. :( We were in the cat aisle because I also own cats and they needed food, but honestly, it's a pet store, what kind of person goes in a pet store and gets mad about seeing a dog? He wasn't barking or jumping, just walking next to me and wagging his tail. Incidentally, I have two dogs and three cats. Two of my cats were ferals that I tamed and kept myself and the third came from a shelter, and both of the dogs came from the shelter. One was born there, but the other was a 'pandemic puppy' who came in as a stray in 2020, was adopted and then eventually found back on the street. We know it's the same dog because the shelter microchips him and it was still registered under the name they gave him; the people who dumped him never changed it to their own information, and never responded when the shelter tried to contact them. We have no idea how long they actually kept him, how they treated him or why he wound up homeless again.

I had a similar issue to Rebecca's cat adoption story. In early May '06, a month & a half before our wedding, my (now ex) fiance made sure we moved into a new apartment that allowed cats & as a combo bday (May)/college graduation (June)/wedding (June) gift, I was able to pick out a kitten. We had a hard time finding any since our city had started banning single kitten adoptions & being early 20's, we didn't listen to their reasoning. Well, I managed to find a Craigs list post of farm cat kittens way outside the city & fell in love with a little girl kitten. She was so sweet at first, then decided it was fun to bite at my feet & my feet only. My fiance/husband became her human, so much so that during her first heat, she cornered him in the kitchen, yowling & backing up towards him. My husband finally gave in, decided we could look at some other kittens when we took her to the human society to get her spayed, which is when we found a little grey/blue boy. Our female cat finally had a playmate, but the little boy cat was pretty shy, spending more time hiding under covers & in the closet, than with people. It wasn't until our 3rd try, when we went to a shelter that all the kittens were out together & roaming around that I found MY cat. A little tortie kitten curled up on my lap, refusing to move, even as other kittens crawled over her. Better yet, when we took her home, she wanted nothing to do with my ex, who at that time was yelling more & more. After the divorce, my oldest female would fall in love with any male we lived with: my brother & another ex boyfriend were HERS. My youngest girl kitty eventually came around to tolerating my ex boyfriend too, deciding that beards make great rubbing surfaces. My male cat, the only one still with me (oldest passed of diabetes complications/pancreas mass & youngest of cancer, 2 years longer than they gave her), now almost 17 & very healthy, really started clinging to me at the end of my marriage. He has been super loving & snuggly, still sleeping under the covers, but now between my (bone death afflicted) knees, keeping them warm & me on my back at night, which is better for my GERD & neck. He even saved my life this last June by not letting me sleep, pawing at me so that I was well awake & alert when I started to have a "widows maker" heart attack. Knew right away it what it was from the symptoms, within 5 min 911 was telling me how much asprin to take & within 20 min, I was in the ambulance. I guess the stats on cat ownership preventing heart attacks was a little wrong & its more like cats help prevent DEATH by heart attack! 🐾💖

This is so good I love it

I work at a vet and honestly the majority of breeders are awful. For those that don't know french bulldogs can't push out puppies, they are to small and its to much on their bodies. I am haunted by the first so called breeder I ever personally set up an account in our system for. He called and said that he had a French Bulldog that was coming close to her due date and made an appointment to bring her in. The way he was describing her behavior she was clearly in labor and I told him this. He made the appointment and didn't show up that day and the next day he called and said that he had watched her on his home camera trying to push out puppies and she was too small to push out she needed a C-section. He said the two puppies that she had pushed out the night before were dead. And that she was still circling and panting and he wanted to know what that meant. I told him that she was still in labor there was more puppies that she was trying to get out and he needed to bring her in he never did he called three days later she birthed seven puppies that were all dead and wanted to know what would have caused this. After all the conversations I had had with this guy I was absolutely in shock and I had to step away for a minute because it absolutely broke my heart. I spoke with him over and over and kept telling him what was wrong and that he needed to get her to us or some emergency clinic something and he just sat there and watched her push out dead puppy after dead puppy and she died because of it. Breeding is expensive and most people that try and get into it have no idea of the costs associated with it and they are right in this video it is not as easy to get rid of puppies as you think it is

My dad's side of the family treated animals like they were disposable, they had fish(they killed eachother), a puppy and a guinea pig, I was able to rescue the guinea pig named Porkchop and my family was able to give him a good life in his golden years. This all happened because my step mom wanted another baby and she would get tired of cleaning up after the animals, If she knew that she should've stopped getting more animals after Porkchop! Before that my mom's dog Booboo was owned by his side of the family, they shoved him and his sister into a bathroom most of the time, when my dad saw Booboo again he acted shocked when he growled at him. People who repeatedly get animals, only to get rid of them later on infuriate me the most.

Behind where my late brother worked, an auto repair shop, there was a huge colony of feral cats. He would feed the cats out of his own pocket. He partnered with an organization that would fix and cats her trapped and later release. One night a trap was set. They thought there were two cats in the trap, but it was one huge cat; the alpha male of the colony. He must have been 20 pounds, and was covered in battle scars. The organization fixed him, then realized he was not suitable for release because he had FIV. They wanted to put him down, but my brother took the car and said he would find someone to take him. The cat was extremely wild and untouchable without protection. I saw him and said I would take him. I kept his kennel (a big dog one) in my bedroom and slowly got him acclimated to me. I even took my bed off the frame so he could come over and check me out in my sleep easier. He eventually became one of the most loving cats I ever owned. He would eat out of my hand and I would walk around the house with all 20 pounds of him sitting on my shoulder like a parrot. He became a big brother to a disabled kitten we tried to foster. The kitten (Lucky) sadly only lived a year. I had the big guy (Goliath) for 5 years before we eventually had to put him down because he was dying of cancer and in pain.

I lost my 6 year old baby boy kitty floof almost a year ago unexpectedly due to cancer and I miss him SO MUCH... some of these stories broke me 💔

for the last thing, i feel like most people acting angry towards content creators are just children who don’t know better. they don’t realize that comments can get overwhelming for content creators. i have a huge respect for many content creators for dealing with thousands upon thousands of negative comments and not letting them break them down. once, on a video i saw a person on instagram saying a negative comment, and when people defended the creator, they said something like “I am a professional who has been studying this topic for over a decade! i have a degree!” blah blah blah. like they aren’t even answering any of the replies, they just respond with their “success”. and they were being the most downright toxic person ive ever seen, and responded to people SO unbelievably angry for no reason. worst person ive seen on social media.

My mom works at a daycare and the daycare has this cat there named snowball. When the daycare is closed my mom's coworker (ima call her g) takes the cat and takes care of it. They have had that cat for about 10 years. The cat is around my age (somewhere between 11-13) and i LOVE that cat. One yime when i was at the daycare, i was sitting on the floor, and snowball came right up next to me and layed down. So i started petting him and i heard him purring. Later that same day, i was laying down nearby snowball and i slowly moved closer, snowball let me mive right next to him, (close enough so that we were touching) and i pet him, then g came out of one of the rooms and stared at snowball as if he went crazy. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I dont know how he is letting you get that close to him. He would have murdered anyone else." Mind you snowball used to HATE me. He would hiss and try to scratch me whenever i came close, but then over the years he let me get closer and now me and him are pretty good friends! Also the daycare has this red wagon they used to transport stuff and i took the wagon, put snowball in it, and took him for a little joyride around the daycare😂 snowball loved the ride, me and him are basically best friends, and he no longer hates me! You gotta have a LOT of patience with cats but once you befriend the cat, its SO worth it!

I remember back in 2020, during lockdown, humane societies were celebrating that the shelters were empty, and I remembered thinking, "This isn't going to end well." Lo and behold, 2021 rolls around, and we're finding dumped dogs, cats, kittens, puppies everywhere. And I live in rural mn. The summers are hot and humid, the winters are brutal, and there are wild animals everywhere. It's not uncommon to see a coyote walking through the middle of town. Thank God for vigilant farmers who are picking them up and giving them homes.

God the surrendering story killed me I had to give up my pup because there was an altercation between my daughter who was one where I had to step in and got pretty scratched up. No family would take him and it kept happening. I cried for days and kept checking to make sure he got adopted. It hurts whenever he is brought up.

It's so appalling how many people toss out domesticated animals thinking that they'll "survive" just because they're animals. Like what?!

26:56 I personally am not a cat person (I do love big lazy cats) I’m a dog person (I just love dogs). I 100% would NEVER adopt a cat & return it (if I was ever to adopt a cat, I would make sure it’s something I’m doing for the rest of the cats life & in a position to love it like a child), I 100% support cat adoption & feel your doing something so incredibly special & amazing. I could NEVER imagine one day, after having my pups (they’re dogs, I just call them the pups) for 10 years & deciding to relinquish them. These dogs are like my kids. They are INCREDIBLY spoiled, they are well well loved, they literally think they are my kids. I joke about one who’s so attached to me, I tell him “Okay Quasi, yes you are my baby, yes I love you, yes you are my boy but you did not come from my uterus. You’ve gotta let me take a shower alone. You don’t need to wait by the shower for me to get done” 😂. They are two min wiener dogs & a Chihuahua, Jack Russel Terror & Min Ausie mix. They literally are my baby’s! They sleep with me every night, they have their own blankets, they have their own “hoodies” when it’s chilly. They are so spoiled & so loved.

My dog is my absolute life, she’s my best friend and no one will be able to hurt her, but if I saw someone, talking about how they hate my dog, I don’t know if I’d be able to control myself from yelling at them and saying things I wouldn’t say usually. And I’d do the same thing for anyone else in my family, because my dog, is my family

I swear people are so evil! I loved this podcast, but it makes me sad how mean people can be to animals. We are human which means we are animals too so these animals need us to help them live their lives. And I’m not a cat person but I would never say I hate them I think they are so cute and I always love on friends’ cats. So I am so sorry for the people that have to deal with the hate of just loving an animal.

I almost surrendered my new kitten. I had lost my cat of 17 years to kidney failure, and a month later, I thought I was ready for a new cat but the next day I started having panic attacks because I didn't think I would be able to love him as much as my first one and I was just thinking "I don't want a new kitten I just want Buddy". I did keep him, and he has grown on me, but I'm curious, would I have been the bad apple if I would have returned him? I had only had him for a day at that point.

I have cats, Chrono is my soulmate in cat form. I love them, and my husband does as well. All my animals, I have horse, sheep and chickens as well. I try to do my best for them, and they know it. I vet them, care for them and if my pets don't like you, chances are I won't like you. I'd never abandon my babies.

I am firmly in team cat and dog I have a dog and work as a cat sitter for disabled cats. I myself have chronic pain and working with animals is the best thing ever!

My boyfriend doesn't like cats... near him. He is HIGHLY allergic, as in, to the point that even if he is in a house that has cats, but the cats aren't in the room he is in, he will start having allergic reactions up to and including severe asthma attacks and twice he's had an anaphylaxic reaction from cats. He can't even go near a zoo due to his allergy. He won't hurt cats, and he understands that people have cats and love them, but he can't be anywhere near a cat. Not if he would like to live, anyway. I have been around when he had a severe asthma attack when we went to one of his friends house that had just adopted a cat but forgot to tell him, and it scared the living bejeesus outta me. He can be around dogs just fine, but the cosmos just decided to torture him with cats.

The families who left behind the older dog/ cat for their puppy/ kitten have no soul Unfortunately when we decided to try and adopt a new dog to keep the older one company as my mum had gone back to work, the new dog was very aggressive towards our older dog and the new dog was a big dog like a retriever mix and our old one was a spaniel, we did unfortunately have to return the new dog as she bit our first dog and wouldn’t let go, thankfully he was ok but we had to return her and her information on the website was changed to ‘doesn’t do well with young kids and smaller dogs’ it honestly broke our hearts though but our first dog was our priority.

Can we please raise some awareness ab out how cruel it is to light off fireworks in residential neighborhoods? It's literal animal abuse, and no one seems to care.

I used to have a firend that had a cat for years but when she had to move out of her house she gave her cat to a none kill shelter because her bf at the time didn't want to buy a cat carrier for her. 😭 I loved that cat and I hope she's okay.

I have had a couple traumatic experiences with cats but I still love them. I get to scared to try to pet it but I would still take one in and get better with it if I can. I don’t get how some people can treat these animals horribly

A couple years ago someone dropped off three kittens on our property 😢 they were so cute, I can't imagine how anyone could just not care what happens to them

Anyone who wants to say "why can't you do more?" They need to turn that question on themselves or shut up

the people not liking cats red flag is amazing. I had a ex friend who hated cats and tried to kill one so I probably should have seen that red flag sooner

Watching this with my boxer rescue it breaks my heart that people are this cruel

I’m severely allergic to cats, my eyes swell shut. also I have tried the daily exposure, but it didn’t work. They’re all good. The only animal I can’t be near because of a phobia is snakes. I have nothing against them. I love my dog that I adopted from the shelter. She’s a quiet, calm girl who was passed over so many times before we came looking for a calm dog. We adopted her at 2&1/2 years old. She’s now 10. I can’t go through life without a fur baby.

You should do a segment for clerical workers in education as well as Paraprofessionals

Wonderful video. Thank you for doing this. I love these types of videos that raise awareness, especially for animals. Its true, if you did record or say something, how would people know? People can't read minds. I will definitely share this. Thanks again for a wonderful video and job well done.

I am big on saving & rescuing guinea pigs. I currently have 17 that I free roam in my house and it is their forever home.

Having had a palette expander myself, it is NOT fun.

I suspect people who complain about the way other people are doing good may simply be feeling guilty that they themselves aren't actually trying to make a positive difference in the world.

30:04 - YES! YESSSSS! When I was a kid I was allergic to cats, face would get red and swollen, itchy burning watering eyes, little red bumpy hives all over my body, it would feel hard to breath, etc. (also had a similar experience w/strawberries, but only had the hives/rash response to those), but I loved animals sooo much (& strawberries 😆), that when I would spend time at my friends who had 3 cats I wouldn’t avoid them & instead I would pet them & play with them, and my mom would give me allergy medication (I had a liquid prescribed to me & I got allergy shots every few months). And the more time I spent there the less reactions I would have, it got to the point where I was able to sleep over her house & be comfortable and able to breathe & her cat would be snuggled right up against me. I’m 31 now, have had a cat for the past 7 years & only deal with occasional runny noses if there’s an excessive amount of fluff floating around (my kitty is a long haired cat so she’s quite fluffy 😆) But it’s absolutely possible & so worth it - as long as it’s not an anaphylactic reaction, if it is DO NOT try this because it doesn’t work with anaphylaxis 😬😁

I had the same pallet expander when I was a kid. It was awful!! I feel it for you

Thank you for talking about irresponsible breeding! It's a huge issue and I'm so tired of seeing people breed for profit, fads, or just to "have more for themselves." Nobody should be breeding unless it's for a purpose (show, working, service dog work), the dogs should be healthy tested with OFA to ensure the future generations have no health issues in their bones and bodies, and they should be breeding TO THE BREED STANDARD (in color, temperament, and size) to ensure that the breed stays healthy. People also need to start doing research before getting certain breeds or animals in general because that's a big part of why so many animals are getting dumped. People are getting animals they don't understand the genetics and temperaments of, can't handle it, and dump the animal

I had 2 cats and i had to put the male down and my female cat freya saw him go to the vet she always waited she stayed by the door for 2 days we had to feed her there she was mewoing at the doir so loud i sat with her for hours comforting eachother 😢😢

It was the toughest decision in the world for me to surrender my 3 boys, but i was in an abusive relationship, & he wouldnt just hurt me, but he would hurt the cats...... The cops did fucking nothing!!!! & just made it worse.... But i couldnt leave that house not knowing my boys were in a safe place, i tried for MONTHS to find them a good home! Eventually after a bad day of his, while he was at work, i went & left tgem on the humane societys door, its was the most gutcwrenching. & painful thing to hear thier meows as i walked away...... I really hope my boys got loving homes....... To preface, i was leaving & moving into a small room at my job where i could not bring 3 cats... But i couldnt do it till they were safe.... 💔 i miss you every day Chester, Crowley & Roscoe 😔

I find the crazy cat lady stereotype so interesting cause in my country there is more of a crazy dog lady stereotype

There are also allergy shots to "cure" people who are allergic to cats, too. Doesn't work for everyone, but unless the person who says they are allergic has tried otc allergy meds, allergy shots, & e even changing to a non-clay litter (granted allergies to pine/cedar & other litter substrates could also cause allergies), they can't say they haven't tried to address a cat allergy. I'm allergic to clay litter & pine, which sticks to cat paws & fur, so I get how difficult it can be to try to find the right litter, too. My dad is both allergic to cats & has a traumatic cat story of cat sitting in high school & the cat jumping on his bare back when he was changing his shirt, nails scaling all the way down. He did attempt the cat allergy shots too, when I lived in a trailer with my 3 esa cats next to the house, but his reaction never decreased. I get there will also be people who don't like cats & who have "bad genes"...well, not really genes, as reality is that babies have to be introduced to different allergens in their first 6 months of life to decrease risk of allergies & my dad wasn't exposed to cat, but rather dog. Take your babies to petting zoos, pet stores, county fairs, 4H events, get them exposed to the animals. Its the people that have the dangerous germs!

My cat was a porch kitten they had this one cat I REAL wanted this cat but she was born half blind but we end up with my cat we go back to this family we’re my cat was born and the cat I wanted was still there and the family was still taking care of this wonderful beautiful cat this one small cat is now huge and strong I was so happy to see it but I LOVE my cat best decision of my life

I have 4 cats and I am severely allergic to all plants and animals, but I can grow an immunity to my own cats but other cats will still cause me to have a sever allergic reaction.

... I became allergic to cats and dogs when I moved out of my mother's house. I got a dog anyway for the kids but the hoops I need to jump through for the dog I can't do for a cat, dog gets baths as often as the kids.

Dog person here who also likes cats! My old vocal coach had a cat named Cashew who would come in and rub against my legs and purr and I would pet her and it was sooo cute

i have a cat and i’m terribly allergic and have had her for 7 years but she is my baby and i love her so much and she has the sass of a 2 year old

I really enjoyed this episode. Helped me continue to put into perspective the loss of my 15 yr old Persian this week. My Shih Tzu died 6 months ago, also 15 yrs old, and I got a puppy. He is so energetic and in your face, he chased Kitty a lot. I believe he chased her to death. She got the last laugh though, and came back to haunt him, almost daily now he is cowering from nothing, barking at nothing, watching nothing... I'm looking for another cat, but need to be sure it can withstand his energy level.

If the US gov would include universally designed condos for disabled large enough to humanely have 2 service dogs/3-4 cats with outdoor terraces, then would provide work credits for volunteer work, we could drastically increase the amount of foster homes. Lots of disabled people have the ability, but not the funds or housing to do many volunteer jobs, like fostering/training animals, working in onsite food banks, blood/plasma donations, on site medical research (knock out huge chunk of ambulance medicare costs by housing disabled in one large campus with research medical center & underground people movers to transport emergency cases to ER or urgent care), etc. We have an entire "workforce" that are just waiting to die of poverty who could still thrive & participate in society with accommodations. Many disabled were never able to work enough hours to get SSDI & have way to increase their pay, but if we were give work credits (what determines how much pay you get monthly) for volunteering & our basic needs met, we want to have purpose again, not just be seen as burdens or worthless because capitalism has decided we aren't functional enough to be exploited. Its already been shown that housing us is cheaper than letting us be homeless, but the US gov sees our misery as a great motivation tool to keep people from forming unions & striking for better workers rights instead. Not to mention all the slave labor we are forced to do in for profit prisons.

Oh yeah my mom sorta build an immunity to the cats. My mom is really allergic to all fur, but one day we started feeding this stray pregnent cat, and then later helped her kittens get addopted, and one cat left so we kept feeding her we did the thing when she can't have kittens anymore (english?), and my mom is no longer reacting to her. And now I when I moved out I thought I will be living on my own forever so I adopted a cat myseld buut then later I had to move back with my parents and I brought the kitty with me, and at firs mok was still reacting to my cat, but after some time she again built an immunity. I've heard for some people they can buld the immunity for all cats, my mom only stopped reacting to our cats, she's still allergic to stranger cats, and to all other fur animals

Yay! 😁

Watching this with my cat on my lap! 🐈❤️

love this podcast! keep it up!

I don't understand people who hurt cats or any kind of animal or people who surrender animals for dumb reasons. I totally understand that if you financially or physically or for health reasons aren't able to take care of an animal anymore. But for people who say "I just don't want to anymore" or "They pooped on my carpet" or what ever, that's part of taking care of an amazing little animal. You might have to train them or clean up messes. The good comes with the bad. I would rather die than give up my cats. They are my babies even though one is 9 years old lol.

30:59 I love cats so much, but I can't function with them around, they love me and follow me, and it's so upsetting cause I want to pet them but if I touch my face it's game over and I'm sneezing and coughing and itching

I live with 6 cats. 5 were rescued from out and about by my roommate and the other was an unexpected adoption when she took a friend to the humane society telling herself she doesn’t need another cat (at the time she had two) but he claimed her and now she has six mamas boy cats 🐈 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛

I wish my husband would let my daughter and I have cats. We love animals but my husband won't let us have them. He doesn't like animals in the house. It makes me so sad.

I would love to help all the kitties but I'm super allergic 😢 I do help as much as I can with the puppers!!❤

I've seen Nathan before on your videos, but when he mentioned about teaming up with Stray Cat Alliance I know I've seen his foster program. Anyways, he makes a good point about some breeders just tossing out not "perfect" animals. Which makes me wonder if my youngest cat is one of those. I believe he is Bengal, but he doesn't have the full coat pattern that U typically see when U think or see a Bengal. Found his on the street during a festival and wondered how he got there. Now I have an idea and am kinda sad for my Blaze. Although I'm also happy cause I wouldn't give him up the world. He's such a sweet and wonderful cat. Even loves and plays with my 11 month old son and treats him like a sibling.

I could not stop crying

DON'T LEAVE AN ANIMAL IN YOUR CAR, especially if I see it... I give out free broken windows!

I love cats but in junior high school I had a friend who had a severe allergy to cats like deathly severe and you know we still remain friends even though I couldn't really trust him cuz was allergic to the cats but he nearly died once from coming to my house because I had cats

If you're not sure if it's a raven or a crow, it's a crow! Ravens are MUCH bigger than crows!

Oh we sharing cat stories? Hell yeah! i have 3 cats & each 1 came from a rescue in 1 way or another. My friend picked up Yin-Yin from his band mates, she had a messed up leg that healed funny but to fix it would mean they would have to rebreak it, she walked & jumped perfectly fine after a couple months, so we left as is, most lovely cat. She got pregnant after we left her with friends for 2 weeks to hide her from my real estate cause my place was no pets, we'd been saving to get her spayed but were just too slow, we were struggling financially at the time but giving her up was not an option. She had 3 kittens under my bed, we loved them. 1 we adopted out to his family, 1 my other housemate kept & 1 took I with me when I moved cities as the mum was more bonded to my friend, my boy Yang is now 9. Callie i rescued from living around a dumpster, she was heavily pregnant. I suspect she was mistreated & dumped cause it took me 2 weeks & a nasty bite for her to finally let me touch her which was good cause when she had her kittens she freaked out, I had to help out. It was during the pandemic so I was WFH but I just clocked out cause she needed me, without me there, 2 would have died. 1 from falling off the blankets onto cold concrete & mum not noticing, the other from an umbilical cord around the neck I had to cut. Scariest thing I ever had to do but once they were born she was the perfect mum. I had 2 litter experiences under my belt at the time but this was a little of 5, it burned through almost all my savings but they were well looked after & healthy. Thankfully I have a friend who is a vet and she did all the checks for me and gave me discounted vaccines & desexing when the time came, I was extremely fortunate to have her cause 1 did get sick, we didn't know for ages cause he was always full of energy, it was only when we realised he wasn't growing like his siblings that we knew something was up, he had to be separated from the others & put on antibiotics. They are all fine now, went to good homes. I met every single adoptee before they went out but I still had them all desexed & vaccinated before they went to new homes. Callie was meant to be a foster but once I moved from my sharehouse, she bonded with me heavily, I knew she already had had too much trauma to rehome so she stayed, it's taken 3-4 years but she is now a lap cat, she never used to come up to anyone but now she jumps on mine & my partners laps for love. She still very much has her boundaries & is vocal about them which we respect. The last 1 Pepperoni, was the last of Callies litter, all black even her beans. My partner fell in love with her the first time he visited & I couldn't say no, so she also stayed, she is the biggest out of all of them but has the smallest meow, super sweet, is enthralled with Yang & will follow him around & does what he does. I live in a place too small for all of us but I sublet off my vet friend so having them has not been an issue thankfully. I've been very very fortunate to have the connections I do that allowed me to do all this, which I know is not the case for many, but it has helped me learn that animal care is something I not only want but can do, I would die for these guys, they mean the world to me & have done so much for me. I literally knew my partner was a keeper cause the 1st time he visited his goal was to make friends with Yang, he knew he was the man of the house & my best boy. He loves them all just as much as me & even though housing cost in Aus is awful right now, we are making sure to look for a place that will allow them, giving any of them up is not an option. I was also able to resuce another 2 this year, both in the same week, they were adopted pretty quickly, both seemed to have been abandoned( happens a bit in my area unfortuanlty, we did try to find their owners), they just wanted to be loved from the get go, it's hurts to think some1 just threw them out cause they either weren't what they wanted or just didn't spay their current cat. They are both living their best lives & I get photo updates all the time. Even if you can't foster, donating to shelters makes all the difference. I donate to a local that helped me trap Callie as I'm forever in their debt for their their help, they even lent me a trap as I didn't own 1 at the time. If your in Aus, I highly recommend donating to SWARS or Mini kitty Commune, they really care for their cats & are always in need of funds as they give them all the medical care they need, even if others would just have them put down. Those volunteers put in so much work to not only resuce but save cats lives & give them a 2nd chance. I love hearing these stories, the love for shelters & their cats, thank you so much for creating a space to share these stories ❤

I am cat person

It’s so weird because I had my cat for years and at home with him fine other cats my eyes would swell shut 😂

nathan is so cute with his gap tooth :D I hope all the medical benefits are what the ENT guy said.