Episode 230
#230 - Interview with podcaster Julie Marty-Pearson
Story of My Pet Podcast, Julie opens up about her deep love for animals. Her journey into podcasting, and why storytelling isn’t just a creative outlet. it’s a vital tool for healing, advocacy, and community.
We get into it all, from wild stories of raising bottle-fed kittens and housing a rescued possum (yes, really). To why breed stereotypes hurt more than help. Seeing how Julie using her platform to shift the conversation. Around rescue, adoption, and ethical animal care. You’ll also hear candid takes on flat-faced dogs, calico cat chaos. Why some pets just aren’t a good fit, and how her own furry companions have shaped her life.
Whether you’re a fellow podcaster, animal lover, or just here for the stories. This episode is a celebration of connection, to our fur babies, and to each other. Most important is the stories we tell that tie it all together.
Where to Find the Guest?
🌐 Website: https://www.juliemartypearson.com/
🎧 Work: Julies Pod, The Story of My Pet is available everywhere you listen to podcasts. https://www.thestoryofmypetpodcast.com/
📲 Social: Follow Julie @thestoryofmypetpodcast
And of course, you can find all the links for L.I.T.G, and where to listen at:
Transcript
Julie Marty-Pearson
but news out it only showed two of her 153 episodes i was like no we gotta fix this
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
and The problem also for like, I totally get that too, right? Because like you have like podcasts such as myself and i don't know about yours. we When we first started the podcast, it was a society and culture podcast.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You you know it's still a society and culture podcast, but like honestly, at like this point, like it's more comedy. It's more like me talking with people, you know, like such as yourself as like a podcaster or I have artists that come on or whatever may be.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
but when you're changing, you know, the algorithm doesn't understand that like, the old shit is not what you're doing, know?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
crap. Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
want to free.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yes. Yeah, there are definitely costs and you know pluses and benefits to doing that and keeping on the same feed. I've seen several people do it, but yeah, I get what you're saying.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Just because you know you change doesn't mean the app knows it's different. Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Speaking of which, my phone is on do not disturb and it just freaking goes off. Great example of software not working when you want it to.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I have so many spam calls come through when I'm on Do Not Disturb. I'm like, how much did you pay to do that?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
wanna see your Verizon phone bill please. Like all 15 e-pages, you know? Jesus.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
cheese
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, that's funny.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
um What I wanted to ask you because i mean we were we were kind of touching on this before, because um i'm i'm I'm sure we're kind of getting the drift that we both like animals. We both love pets.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And it is just absolutely adorable where I am busy trying to like work and make podcast episodes or trying to unwind.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And all of a sudden I hear this little meow. And then this cat is like right in front of my freaking legs. And she jumps up and like she plops herself down. And like, keep in mind, like I'm trying to like do stuff.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So like I have to like be like this.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, yes. Yes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah. You know, and I kind of like like move my legs.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, my mine always either goes between my hands and my keyboard or my keyboard and then blocks I can't see the monitor. And they always know the exact moment that will cause the most chaos.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
who
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right? Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They really are. I feel like but really like we domesticated cats, but like the thing the Egyptians got wrong is you can't domesticate cats. All you did was just make them smaller.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Give him a nicer place to rule.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Right, yeah, they nice place of ruling smaller. like Imagine Fluffy was 480 pounds.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I don't think there would be a family left if Fluffy was 480 pounds.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You know, it's funny. are So, so we currently have three cats and our youngest pumpkin is two and she's a calico.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh, Jesus. God bless you.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And i don't know if you've ever heard about calicos.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I have one. I have one.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And she thinks she runs this house. Like everything is about her. She loves to go out in our backyard. It's very small, but, and we only let her out if we're out there. My husband likes the garden, but you know, she thinks she's this big tigress and this is my kingdom.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And then there's a loud sound and she goes running into the house.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh, God, they they are. Calicos are hilarious because um I have I've had mine for about six years. And she's a calico tuxedo. had her since she was about three weeks old.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And as long as I can remember, she is just I mean, this is the sweetest possible. She's a little bitch. Okay. She's a little bitch. And, you know, she's just so cute and adorable when she like does the most insane things like throw stuff on the floor, you know, or try to like play touchy with the knife.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
ah hey
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's like, hang Hang on. No stabby stab.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I do not have money right now for veterinary bill and stitch stitches. I just don't. Just don't.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
ah but I don't know what it is in Cat's Brain that know that they they're finding the thing to do that causes the most destruction and you don't want it. And if you say no, they want to do it more. Yeah, they're little demons, but we love them. Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Well, honestly, I'll tell you something that also I really love about pets. And like, i again, i I can talk about this shit for like an hour or even five hours.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Even though she's a little girl, she's so manly. Like, she's such a boy.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
a
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But at the same time, like, it's like weird with pets. It's like, they could be a girl or a boy.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But doesn't really matter, you know, they could be like the biggest lesbo like on the planet and like it's cute as shit! It's so freaking cute!
::Julie Marty-Pearson
We... We had a male cat and he was um gay. Yep. He only liked tumping his brother. Not...
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh wow.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
when we got the first When we got the first girl kitten, he liked playing with her, but he didn't try to bite her neck and hump her like he did with the male cats.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh wow.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But he was also very fluffy. So um we caught had a lot of names for him, like Mr. Poose. And we my husband had a voice he would do, like, look at my beautiful tail. We had a whole caricature of him. because that's And his name was Jack.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
He was named after Jack Daniels because that's what my husband drank. But we ended up realizing it was really Jack from Will and Grace because he was literally embodied that character.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Just Jack. That was one of his nicknames.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Jack.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It was honestly like, it's so funny because when you look at, um especially like old TV, like especially from that period, it's just so exact.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I give you a great example, right? We're talking about Will and Grace. Take Karen Walker. What is the first cat that comes to your mind when you think of Karen Walker?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Black or Siamese, you know?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Or Persian.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yes. Or like sleek black. I mean, like just shiny black hair, like the best, the most prettiest regal cat you've ever seen.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
One you could poke on um like a silk like a silk pillow.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Bringing that shit back, bro.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Drinking her martini full of tuna sauce or whatever.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
With the stroke. Can I have another olive? For the cat. The cat.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh, God.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, well, and that's why when I decided to start my pet podcast, it was like, everybody's like, I want to come on to talk about my pets because we could talk about them for hours. and And it also connects us, right?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Our love of animals also connects us to humans. And then when we meet a human that says, oh, I'm not a cat person. It's like, okay, well, we're all we we can't be friends. So it's all good. Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
The thing that appreciate the most about pets is is relationships in your life, whether sexual or non-sexual, comes and goes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But they're always there.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You know, you can be so intimate with somebody, you know, or just so close and then bam. But you come home and...
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They're always there. You know, it's something that we as humans cannot give to other humans.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Am I saying this correctly? But animals can give it to us, which is in its sense is unconditional love.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
That's what it is.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, it is. And I think that's why we bond so much with them. Because no matter what, they don't talk back to us. They don't tell us, well, that happened because you're wrong or you did something you shouldn't have.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
They're just there to comfort us, happy, sad, whatever it is. And I have several friends who are or have gone through a divorce in the last couple of years. that their pets, their dogs, their cats have been a support for them, you know, because it is that consistency, that that soul that is always there for you, no matter what craziness is going on in your life.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
they um They've always had a very important role throughout our history too, which is interesting. I mean, like we were talking about this earlier, you know. If you go back in time, all right, when wolves and, you know, like canines and felines, like large prey dominated the planet.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Okay, like I literally was on my Facebook thread today and there's just like this freaking picture like of this American leopard that like crushed somebody's skull by sticking two of their teeth through their eyes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And that's how they like found the bone fragments, you know, i like the fog. And I'm just like, And some like freaking bald man in Egypt that's a priest that believes in voodoo dead and all that kind of shit was like, you know what?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I'm gonna domesticate a thing that could crush my skull.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
yet
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Let's do that.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You know that's so true because there are these like kind of different sides of animal love and not everyone loves them and app appreciates them as we do. I could say that for sure.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But there's also, especially through history, this idea of man wanting to conquer an animal. like I want to capture them or kill them. If I kill a bear, I'm more manly.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
or i'm gonna And then we put them on our walls and create rugs out of them.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Trophy... Trophy prey. Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. And i I will be the first day. I've never understood that. I will never understand it. But as you were saying, historically, sometimes that's like where the, you know, they thought they could kill them or they thought they could, you know, overtake them.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But ultimately, the animals have been here way longer than us. So...
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I think what it was, it was the same thing that happened with wolves. We as humans realized in order for us to become very much the most deadliest species on this planet, where we literally manipulate nature in our very own name.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But we saw that in order for us to survive around other prey, we had to learn to be able to adapt with the prey.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like, you know, Even listening to podcasts when they talk about like culture in regards like bringing back like the dire wolves or looking and bringing back wolf populations, different things.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's important because they play a part within our ecosystem.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You know, it's like.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, you know, something that I learned in the last couple of years, I think we always, just like people, we stereotype. We stereotype certain dog breeds, like they're bad, they're all bad. Or we stereotype certain animals as aggressive or bad or whatever. And so one is possums.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And, you know, I always thought of possums as a dirty animal, as bad, they carry diseases, they're going to kill your dog if they're outside, that sort of thing.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
no they're actually pretty clean.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
only maybe yeah so Only because what i had heard or experienced, there was an animal in ah in a neighborhood when I was younger that got attacked by a possum. But I know none of that's true because we had a possum for nine months.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
One day my husband came home with a big brown box and said it was almost my birthday and he told it was my gift. And I opened it hoping and praying it was a kitten or a puppy and it was a baby possum.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And he my husband is a carpenter. He works at a local school district and they found the baby possum inside a classroom inside a cupboard. So it's like, how did it even get there? There was it was far away from any grassy area, let alone somewhere possums would be able to be hiding.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So my husband brought it home because he was afraid other people might try to hurt it or something. So William the Possum became a part of our family. And my I like to say my husband you know did so much research to make sure we were giving him all the right nutrients and all these things.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So we've learned a lot. And one of the things we learned is they don't carry rabies or any of those diseases. And they're really important for our environment. They eat termites and other bugs that we don't want.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And then we also learned that They're a lot like cats. The way they groom themselves. And that's the thing. know, I thought possums is dirty and yucky. But possibly William kept himself clean. He used his little creepy hands to wash his face just like a cat.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And so... I say that because it's like, I learned so much about possums and I realized, no, they're not bad. You want them in your neighborhood. You want them. They're eating bad things that we don't want to get on our pets and that kind of thing.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So yeah, there's definitely that historical ah aspect of labeling certain animals and deciding we don't want them or need them anymore. and But it's also kind of on the flip side. Now we're trying to bring back animals that became extinct.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And it's like, well, Do we have an environment to even support them anymore?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Well, I think we do, and I think it's important because, you know, pray prey animals play a very key role In keeping balance, you know, the same way and how having, for example, wolves can help balance like deer population or even elk population.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
um plays very key I was I was reading and I was also watching this. It turns out in Tasmania that obviously Tasmanian tiger no longer exists, but.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
There has been ah like research and study where they've put like images or silhouettes of the Tasmanian tiger and mimic the sounds. And animals, like small prey, when they hear these sounds, they freak the fuck out. like They're just like, whoa.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So there's still almost like an ancestral trauma where they're in environment that is used to. And by the way, believe it or not, like. the In Tasmania, the ah Tasmanian devil actually is suffering because the Tasmanian tiger no longer exists.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like, they get cancer on their face because they fight with each other.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
oh
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
so this was the interesting thing about Tasmanian tigers and Tasmanian devils. Tasmanian tigers used to kill Tasmanian devils. But they used to kill the weak and the young.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Or the sick.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
and in this Right. But... They're no longer around anymore, so the Tasmanian devils just continue what they're doing and then just die slow and horrible and painful deaths.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
That's awful.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But, you know, I see that a lot in our own culture because I live in California. And so one of the things we have where I live, but all over is feral cats, huge feral cat population.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And in California, all cats are considered free roaming. So if someone finds a feral cat and brings it to a shelter, they'll say, sorry, we can't take it. It's not sick or injured.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So, and they... Some do and some are getting better, but they don't often but say wait, we'll spare neuter at first and then you can take it back out.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You know, there's a lot of lack of that. But we have a ton of feral cat populations and a place my husband worked for a long time that had several acres of land. That was their biggest issue because.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
they were just multiplying and multiplying and they'd find them injured and sick. And, you know, there was so much that they needed, but there was no way for those ones that shouldn't still be out on the street by themselves.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You know, there's that, there's that lack of, know, being able to reduce the population because we can only handle so much in a space, right? But when there aren't predators to do it for us, then we're overrun with all types of animals of some kind that don't, you know, aren't the best, aren't healthy, you know, and they they're just going to cause more damage.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
the The same idea applies with not only with feral cats, but also with feral dogs. You know, we have a tendency where yeah we can live manipulate our environment.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But like we're saying over here is there are ways of doing it that either benefit our environment or ways that actually harm. I mean, Look at the type of breeds of dogs that we make.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Okay. We literally created pugs, bulldogs, and French terry.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Which, don't even get me started on flat-faced.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Look at their face. Look at their face.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And look, I'm going just say this. I am not a hater. I do not say I don't like these animals.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, they're adorable.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I am a proud, I'm a proud auntie to ah Black Pug.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They're freaking cute.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But he has had so many health issues. Because for flat faces is not a natural product. And that's not, that doesn't exist. It was created. That breed was created by mixing certain dogs to get that.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Inbreeding.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And the flat faces of dogs and cats, those animals have so many more health issues, breathing issues, eating issues, you know, because that's not how a dog should have its face, right?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
yeah
::Julie Marty-Pearson
It's just not supposed to be like that. And I'm not saying I don't want those dogs anymore. It's just that people have to realize buying and breeding them you're are going to be more than likely. There's a high risk. There's some medical issue because of how they've been bred,
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And it breaks my heart because the poor animals didn't ask to be made like that. They don't want to suffer.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, there's so much of that breeding issue. of the ones I've seen a lot in my own area and is ah breeding huskies. And some of the research I did a while back said that the breeding of Huskies significantly increased because of Game of Thrones.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Everybody wanted a dog that looked like one of, yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
A dire wolf. Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And where I live in California, we have at least three to four months of every year where our are it's hot here. 100 and over for months.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Huskies should not be living here. This is not. And then because there's so many and people keep breeding, there's so many in the shelters. And then they're stuck in a shelter, which is hot and sweaty in the heat.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
It's just it drives us all crazy. And as many as we can, we try to trans... You know, the organization is trying to transport to a Pacific Northwest, Canada, you know, Colorado, places where it makes sense for them to be. But there's also more homes.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But i it just makes me so sad. People, just because it's pretty or cute doesn't mean it's the right dog for you or the right dog for where you live.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
All of that.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I mean, it the the same thing also applies. And this is something I wanted to talk to you about because I have friends that have pit bulls and Rottweilers. And in my personal experience, pit bulls and Rottweilers are some of the sweetest dogs.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
The thing that I have noticed about pit bulls more than anything is they watch you.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep. yep
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
so well they learn your your mimics your um hiccups your weird things that you do like so if you're generally a vicious and violent person usually the pit bull is going to be vicious and violent like they're the type of dog that you know exactly what kind of person youre to deal with and ron weilers are the exact same like They look big and scary, but they are the biggest babies.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh my god. And I can say, yeah, i
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
the biggest babies
::Julie Marty-Pearson
ah That is a struggle I have on the podcast or when I meet people and they go off on pitties.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
e
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And I'm like, first of all, just like you can't label people by their skin color and breed and gender or whatever. Not all, you know, not all pitties are bad because you think they are.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And absolutely. yeah pitties I have met when I volunteer or i actually doxed that for a while for the sweetest damn pity you would ever meet. Um, Lizzie. And it's just like, people don't get, these are the sweetest dogs.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
They are so loyal, are so loving. They will like protect their people. They will watch over the kids in their family. They're there. I, I don't know how many pitties I follow that they call them nanny dogs.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Cause they literally will watch over their children. Like it it's their puppy. Um,
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I mean, it's crazy.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
it's so sad that people just think they're all bad because they're not. They're some of the most amazing dogs that you can interact with.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You can own and you know, like it's it's wild because, okay, here's a newsflash. All right. If you're in a situation where you're being robbed or, you know, you're like being threatened, a pit bull will probably save your life.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
ah husky will just run away.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Absolutely. And I, I, you know, I'm having images of things I've seen where a pit bull has protected their owner or, or they've gone back into a house on fire to get somebody out. Like they will literally put their life on the line for people and they're the sweetest.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And what you said was so true. They learn about you. Like our pets know what we do at certain times in certain ways. And, and, you know, if you have a great pet, they're just going to want to be with you all the time. And that is totally how pitties are. The ones I've interacted with personally, they love people.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Lizzie wanted to sit in front of her front door all day long because she wanted to say hi to everybody that walked or drove by. Like they were all coming to meet her. She was the most social dog I have ever met. It was crazy.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Well, I think what we're learning from this is, even with all the advancements of technology and how we know how to do gene modification, we know how to make pretty good genes.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Thank you.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
you know, breeds of dogs. Okay. Let's be real. But at the same time, it's like, we always like to hold onto the past, you know, the same idea. Like I'm going to throw this out there. Cause like, we've already been talking about this.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You know, people like to throw the idea, like, why would you bring back a woolly mammoth? Like that sounds stupid. They're huge. Well, it turns out woolly mammoths are about the same size as an Asian elephant.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I've seen elephants in person. They're freaking huge. They're an elephant.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Okay. you know, like, it's like we have big animals to begin with anyway. Like the idea of bringing back the woolly mammoth is to help the environment in really harsh and cold conditions survive in those conditions because some of those
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Arctic um mammals used to know how to like um dig and be able to deal with the vegetation and be be able to help move around soil and different things. So there's just so many ways we could go about this, right?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And then you just have to say to yourself, okay, if we're able to make better versions of dogs and we've had, even with a limited amount of technology, now we have all the advancements. Why are we still doing the same things?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like we could definitely fix pit bulls.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like we could do that I'm talking in regards to their like a problem of not understanding pain, which is a huge problem with pit bulls. I mean, I've I spoke with a veterinarian like there was one pit bull that like literally shredded themselves through a barbed wire fence and almost tore off the
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And it just came back for pets.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, that is true. They like will do anything because they don't even realize how they're being hurt by it, but they'll do it just because they're saving someone or helping someone. Whereas it's like you know like a golden retriever or a doodle will be like, oh my god, my paw went, I have to go.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's like, you know, pick it up, you know, pick it up. Oh, God. But...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
ah But that's also why we love pets, why we love dogs and cats, because of that loyalty, because of that, like, we know out of everyone in the world, our pet's going to stand up for us before anyone else will.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
but
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
but Do you think, though, like with the advancement of technology, we can be able to fix like eventually start to see a lot of these fixes made on these breeds, you know, like with pit bulls and um with ah ah pugs and, you know, ah bulldogs and things like could we possibly be able to modify their genes in order to get rid of some of these issues?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I think so. I think. um you know I follow a few different people and rescues who deal with kind of special cases of things. And one of the ones I i follow, um Hannah Shaw, her her handle is Kitten Lady.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And she started an organization called the Orphan Kitten Club. And one of the things they do is not only rescue... You know, orphan kittens, neonates, kittens with certain medical issues that are rare, but they also research. She works with like UC Davis. And even if they lose one, they'll do a they'll do an autopsy and figure out why what happened. Like they're actually utilizing her rescue.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
efforts and the individual animals. And now she does dogs too. They have two puppies now, their chihuahuas. And they've been really looking at like, you know, no matter what, yes, certain breeds have certain characteristics, but certain breeds are also more likely to get certain cancers or certain other illnesses that And so I do think we should be utilizing that information to make improvements because what I've learned is breeding is not going to go away because there's too much money in the world of dogs, but we could be breeding more ethically.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
In a lot of ways. And the big thing we need to stop is backyard breeding. Individual people should not be breeding dogs because they think they're going to make money. Because then we end up with too many and they can't handle it and they can't find people to buy them and they have medical costs they can't cover.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But we are talking about breeding specifically for important things. Like I'm a big advocate for therapy dogs and You know, of course first they're breeding. They're breeding lines of historical lines of dogs that are great therapy dogs, that are great guide dogs, that are great, you know, whatever it is.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So they have a lot of labs, they have a lot of goldens, but they're also not breeding just to breed. They're breeding for a purpose. And if a dog goes through their training and doesn't end up being a good service dog, then they make sure they're adopted.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
yeah
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And I think that's important for people to realize that we should be using this info to make advances so that the dogs we know are, know, we can make it better. We can give them longer, healthier lives.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's the same idea like um with Feral or, you know, for example, my case, I have, she's a mutt. And she is a runt.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So she's a runt of her little, and she's 16 pounds.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
oh
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Okay? But, it like, this little trooper has is, like, down to two lives. Okay?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Burnt paws, like, ripped tush off by raccoon. I mean, the list just goes on. And I asked Yvette, I said to her, I said... Is it normal? Like, I mean, you know, because I've heard stories like, you know, cats, they eventually get cancer and stuff.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
She looked me dead ass in the face. She said, let me tell you something. She said, Calicos are not only like the guardians of the galaxy of cats, but they can be put through hell and back.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And they're she's like, they live like 25 years. You're So. you're ok
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, it's probably because, you know, Calico kind of comes from a mixture of certain things, right? A mixture of a lot of things, breeds, colors, ah you know.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
A lot. Some believe it's like up to 215 breeds. I was reading online. They did some tests.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, my God.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's crazy.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So our Calico pumpkin, her full name is Princess Pumpkin Spice, um
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Mine's Twix, so hey, we're in the same...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Her full, you know, legal name.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
and don't know if you could...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Gotta get her a passport so she can vote. um You know, she was... One of six. So couple years ago, i fostered a single kitten who i we they didn't realize how sick he was. And he actually being sexually passed away in my arms. It was very traumatic and awful.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But the day I finally went back in the shelter to bring back his carrier, they had just gotten in a litter of six kittens that were they thought about two weeks old. So in Beeks' honor, I said, sure. or Like, what was I thinking? i I've bottle fed single kittens.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I've never done a litter. And it was literally a full time job. You start feeding the first. By the time you get to the sixth, the first one's hungry again. like But so Pumpkin.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So there were three boys and three girls. Pumpkin is a calico. She has a ton of dark hair, black and, you know, really dark and bright orange. The other two girls were more white with little spots of calico.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And then one boy was white with spots of orange and the other two boys were tuxedos. Oh my God. They were so cute. And one of those tuxes was the runt like yours.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I love tuxedos.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
He was so little and it it really struggled for him to gain any weight in the first couple of weeks. And After six and a half weeks, he was, i think, either the biggest or the second to biggest, right? Because I made sure that runt was getting extra.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But just in that litter alone shows all the variations that are connected to calico. Like you said, tuxedos are and orange cats are. And then there's, you know, like the white ones also had a little calico. So just those six really helped me to see the vast difference.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
not just the vast, but how much different breeds and colors and versions are in that calico family, because they were all probably born from either a mom or a dad that was a calico, but they all got different parts of it.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And only some of them got the full calico.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I really it's funny because, you know, people look at certain breeds as like, you know, the creme de la creme. But the interesting thing is, like, first all, calico is not even a breed. I mean, it's just, you know, different color patterns and like.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But they evolved from street cats.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
hey
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
That's where calicos come from. And it's just it's interesting in how, like, almost a whole species evolved from With human interaction, but not like purposely interaction. Like the fact that we have dumpsters and trash cans.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
The fact that like there's a little like boxes and like things that are thrown out that you can like turn into homes. you know what I'm saying?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, i I almost got one home.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
i I was in the Target parking lot near where I live and there was a calico and she would eat from me and come up and let me pet her. But when I tried to pick her up, it was, nope, gone, never see you again.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
yeah, you know... people don't realize how much of the domestic cats came from just being street cats, being feral cats. And, you know, the, the changes in the colors and the breeds have all come for over time with them mating with different versions. And I will always stand that no matter what, no matter what kind of pet you want or what kind of look who you want, nothing is better than a mutt, a mutt cat, a mutt dog.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You don't know what they are, but they are amazing. um, people need to give rescue animals and mutts more of a chance because
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They last long. They they they do. it's I mean, it's it's it's a fact. They do last longer.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
are Our oldest, Charlie, we actually, my sister found her in my parents' backyard. She was in the swimming pool and heard her a cry. had gotten down like in a we retaining wall where we could barely reach down to get him out.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Thank you.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So the mama cat must have dropped him. He was like, yeah i don't even think his ears were open. His eyes were a little open. So he was a baby, baby, baby. Well, he's now 16 and he is one of the hardiest cats.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
He's diabetic and we have been giving him to two shots of insulin a day for over three years. When I took him to the vet the end of last year, even the vet was like, I can't believe how long he's lasted on insulin.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Like they were shocked at I think they were thinking maybe a year two, right? Eventually they get used to the insulin and they need more, all of that. Now, he's scruffy at this point.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
he struck me at this point.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
he He doesn't clean as well as he used to. You can feel his bones. But even the vet said, like, gosh, he is a hearty cat. And he survived on his own, we don't know how long, at two weeks old. and Was covered in fleas.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And now he's this... And when he was in his full prime, was a Big cat. People thought he might be part bangle because he has a lot of the big spots, but he's also really tall for a cat and really long. Like he's twice as big as one of our other cats that's full grown too. So like you said, you know, the mutts, who knows how many, what his parents look like.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And maybe he is a descendant of bangles in some way, but it didn't matter because he's a hardy dog. He's a hardy cat and he's lasted a long time because of that.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
it's um It's really strange because no matter how many ways you look at it, it's like they age differently than we do.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I mean, it's like crazy because like right now she's six. But she's like double my age, you know, like I'm in my twenty s you know, and she's like my mom's age, you know, in like her 60s.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
No!
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I know, you know, we call Charlie our little old man because it's like some days we got to come to him and be like, can you do it or do we need to lift you down or lift you up?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
you
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. It's a little old man. But again, you know, it's crazy. And I also want people to think about the fact that their lives are so much shorter. Like we're going to give them the best life because we only get them for a little piece of ours.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah. And it is interesting sometimes when you realize how much they've aged at certain points, like at six or at eight, right? And you're like, wait, you're still a kitten. You still do kitten things.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But yeah, they it is interesting to, you know, live with and connect with animals that the age on such a different timeline than we do.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I think also a hard point to get at is sometimes you run into those pets that aren't the most ideal and you try to make those relationships work.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But unfortunately, it usually ends up where people are like, can you please get rid of this thing? Like, I know you love it, but it's it's driving us all crazy.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I've run that into this too. And the thing that I learned the most, especially with cats, this is just my philosophy. If a cat does not come up to you, does not want to go home with you.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
i I feel like if they're going to choose you like dogs are different. Dogs, like you can go up and you can figure out the personality and you're fine. Cats.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Listen, if you want Satan in your house,
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And you know, it is hard like in shelters because most cats are in cages, so they're not all going to come running to you. But i also think people, it's a really important point because not every pet is right for you.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right for you and your family, right for you and the way you live, the space you live in. you know, I would love to have a dog. I'd love to have a big dog or a little dog, but we have a very small yard and there's not a lot of grass.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And it's like, we know it doesn't make sense. But someday maybe it will or we'll come across the right one, right? So don't I always say to people, don't force it. Like if it's not working, but also don't give up on them so easily. That's why so many are in shelters. Like, oh, this is inconvenient now. I'll just take it to the shelter.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So there's, you know, different levels of that. But finding the right pet, breed, personality is important because you don't want to... Go through all that and then end up with a pet that makes no sense for you. Like a husky.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Don't get a husky if you don't have a yard. Don't get a husky if you don't have time to walk in
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
or live in Florida or yeah, or live in California. Like don't, don't, no, no, no, no.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. Unless you're in the mountains.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But
::Julie Marty-Pearson
That's okay. But other places, no.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
no, especially where it's hot and dry, absolutely not.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I just, I mean, in my case, i I don't really talk about this very often, but I did have another cat besides Twix. and the problem with her was
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
She was possessed by the devil, okay? She was an evil cat, all right? Like, she liked biting just out of enjoyment. She liked scratching and hurting just so you could bleed.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
like And the problem was also, like, when I had Twix and, like, she was three weeks old, she was bullying and stealing food from Twix.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So there were times, like, Twix wasn't getting any food.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And then I had a video on my phone. This is so cute. Like, imagine, like, this little tiny little peewee. So what did she figure out? She would go on top of the... I had their food set up, like, under my um and coffee table.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
She... shoot She'd get on top of the coffee table and she'd wait until the other cat would like go and eat and then she would like get into a little shimmy yay yay and jump on top her.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Attacker like from above and she became like a little bit resilient, but like eventually I had to get rid of the other cat and it was crazy like the night and day differences like Twix was still like a really sweet cat But she all of a sudden was like was more communicative Like she was more eager to more active.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
oh more active.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah, like she more like kind of wanted to come out and like explore And then like it it kind of it that it kind of clicked.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
That,
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
i it's
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's still hard, though.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And it's true. There are some there are some pets that should be only pets for whatever reason, whether it's their personality. you know someone I've interviewed a couple of times on my pet podcast. She is the executive director of a dog rescue.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And before she became that, she volunteered with the same rescue and met her dog that is now her personal dog. And she said, I had to realize that if I got her, I knew because I do.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Because they told me she cannot live with other dogs.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Thank you.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
She just doesn't like it. She could be around it. But we they learned through having her in foster that she needed to be the only dog. And so she she made the decision to adopt her because they wanted her.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But she knew the whole time they had her, she wouldn't be able to rescue any other dogs for her family. And so, yeah, I think it's true. There are some animals that just... Whether it's their personality or trauma they've been through, they just need to be the only pet.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And you also want to protect your pets, both sides. You know, you don't want to put your pets in situations that are going to stress them out all the time.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, and it's also understanding, like, amount of, like, limitation. I mean, I can talk about from my own personal experience. um Twix is very much like a dog where, you know, she likes to roll over. She likes to go on walks and things of that nature.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And, like, I used to take her out on walks. But the thing is that, like... She's still a runt and a mutt. And I got her at three weeks. and like I kind of became her mother.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And obviously like I'm not a cat.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So. She's very.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So she doesn't have those basic feral ins instincts as much. i mean, cats still have certain things they do no matter how they were raised, but I get what you're saying because that's why we don't let our cats outside without us because we know they don't know how to defend themselves or or deal with unknown animals.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So yeah, it is about protecting your pet too.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
and And, you know, the problem is is that like she doesn't understand that if you run away for three days, it's not going to be fun.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
OK, every time she's ran away and come back, I have had to be her physical therapist, her psychiatrist.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like, I remember, like, my I think my mom has a picture of this. like i literally had to hold her to put her to sleep. Like she was that much traumatized. And you think like she'd do this once.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, no, there's been.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, I... We... One of my dogs growing up was a runner, and if we put him outside before... after the gardener had been there, which he hated, if they hadn't secured that fence, he was off on his adventure. And he did it all the time. So he didn't understand the danger he he was facing by doing it.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But then they come back and you have to like, yeah got put him through trauma therapy.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
ri really cool God, I mean, i don't know if you've dealt with this with pets, but I had a period with especially with her where she had no fear.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, gosh.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
She still has no fear of danger of knives. We have to constantly I have to constantly be like aware and putting them away. But she used to put her hand into flames.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
She has got some deep-seated personality disorder.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I don't know.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
i don't know.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And like I remember she had... um The word she got was second-degree burns. it was It was so bad, like she couldn't even walk.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
gosh.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I brought her into the vet, and the vet looked at me, and he she was like...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
What did you do to your cat? What?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah. I'm like, what do you mean what I did? And she's like, these are really serious burns. And she's like... Give candles or a stove or anything and I'm like, yeah, and she's like I think your cat burnt her paws and I'm like Doc I'm paying you $200 you're telling me that my cat purposely burnt them themselves This
::Julie Marty-Pearson
My cat sat down on the the turned on stove.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
is like an everness and song you know
::Julie Marty-Pearson
That's funny. Well, i will say, ah Jack, are my first cat ever, i didn't have cats growing up and he was my first cat first pet as an adult on my own.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
o
::Julie Marty-Pearson
he loved some weird things. He loved licking plastic bags He loved licking that lighter of the shower curtain, but he also loved cords, but he would only chew on them. If the cord was plugged in, he liked a little zing with his chewy time.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
He would not cue cords. We just had laying out. Like if it was just sitting somewhere, he would only, can I just tell you now, this was a long time ago.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
My God.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I got Jack in: ::Julie Marty-Pearson
And he even got my laptop charger one time. i was in school, in graduate school, and I had to overnight a new cord because the battery was only going to last so long and he had just destroyed it would always say why are you doing that?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You could kill yourself. But... He liked it, so he was going to do it. I could just see yours like, this is hot. That's not too bad. And just kind of like putting its paw back.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
they it You know what? like I think this comes down to we were talking about before. It's where we can manipulate our environment to a certain degree. I mean, ah again, like let's let's look at this from a bird's eye view perspective, okay?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
We have animals in our house that thousands and thousands of years ago were about four or 500 pounds and would eat you. Okay?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Now, we have shrunken them down and given them the point where that they need like a CPAP machine.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
ah
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I don't even know if they make CPAP machines for dogs.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
they They probably do.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They probably do. But...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Well, right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
yeah
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I have a cat who we found and a backyard, which means probably his mom was feral, who now gets insulin shots twice a day. I mean, we have to buy syringes.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And when it first happened, it was before they've done some changes with, you know, medication. We had to pay $300 bottle for that
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So I know not a lot of people would have done that, but we always will do whatever they're our family. And also my husband, that's like his best friend. They are BFFs. He almost divorced me when I brought him home because we were living in in an apartment and we already had two cats and we weren't supposed to have them. And I brought him home as a baby.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
husband didn't have a job at the time. i was in school and he's like, what are you thinking? But I left for a weekend to go to school. And when I came home, they were... best friends. Charlie has followed him around like a little duckling behind him the last 16 years.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So, you know, I think the right pets find us, but I really like that you mentioned that above because sometimes it's not the right fit, whether it's the pets we already have or how we live or the environment and our space.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You just got to make sure You know, you got to make good decisions when it comes to animals because they're not objects. You can't just decide, I'm done with this. I'll go take it back.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, and and something I've also learned, grew up in upstate New York. A lot of people don't call it upstate because we like I grew up in the county, like just border Jersey. But over up there, we like further up in New York, like there were stables where people had like you know ranches and things, and they had horses.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And the thing that you learn, i think horses are the best example of domesticated animals.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Because a horse, you can't just ride them.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You have to respect them. You know, a horse, the thing that people think is like, oh, i'm I'm telling this horse what to do. No, you're not. This horse is doing this because it wants to do this, but it's going to do it if you respect it.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You know, there's like this bond that's been created.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I think like if we even look at, for example, Native American culture. OK, and this thing I love so much about Native American culture is they never use saddles.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Why didn't they use saddles? I think, and I've spoken to Native Americans they talked about this, it's because the rider and the horse are supposed to bond.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So it's basically where the horse is galloping, but it's also minding the rider so that the rider doesn't fall off.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You know, and it just goes to show, again, that balance of domestication exists, right? when it's done properly.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, that's so true. And I, too, love the Native American culture because they had a respect for animals, right?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
ah
::Julie Marty-Pearson
They have a respect for animals. And even though, of course, they killed animals because that's how they live, that's how they survive, they used all of it.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But they made sure every part, every part, no.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, they didn't waste anything. They used it in 20 different ways for, you know... for blankets, for other things, medicine, whatever it was.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And that's what I hate about, um you know, sport killing now, because it's not. It's just about you proving your you're better than something and you can, you know, take them down. But Native Americans are such a great example of how it's about a connection and a balance between you and them.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Not about you being like this and you're going to tell it how it's going to act and live and how it's going to behave because that doesn't work. And I think wyat ist why we see it more with horses is because they're so much bigger than us.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
If they don't want to do it, they're going to do it. And then you're the one that's going to get hurt.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
If you have not seen American Primeval yet on, I mean, first, it's an amazing series. Look at what a horse can do to a kid, okay? Like, obviously there's lot of like CGI and effects and stuff, but like that is just sheer power.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
yeah
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And look, the thing is, I'm one of those people, like I don't think there's anything wrong with hunting. You know what? If you want to be a person that goes out and gets your own game, you know, and want to use the animal and like, that's fine.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But i agree at the same point. as like, look, man, when you're going out in nature and killing an animal, you're doing the same thing every other prey animal does is to survive, you know?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So is this some?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Well, and that's the people i have, i've I've seen a few people that are like home centers or live off the earth.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Like, okay, i get while they're hunting. And yes, a lot of sports, they do hunt and then eat. But sport hunting, like you said, like that's not for survival.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
That's for just, and I've never understood catch and release fishing.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Fun.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
good catch and release fishing Like, you're just torturing them. You're not even going to eat them. Like, you know? and and But also, like we said, like...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
We don't want them to be tortured. We don't want them to die awful, horrible deaths. We don't want them to just be killed and for nothing, for no reason, right? Eat them, do whatever you're doing.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But yeah, there there is that. And it's also that I think a lot of us, we have lost our respect and compassion for animals and their purpose.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Sorry.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
We have, I think also, again, like that, that is kind of the idea of being able to domesticate animals, even down to like, you know, people have raccoons and possums and foxes and ferrets. And I mean, this just goes on. Like there's a lot of different animals you can domesticate and keep.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, and I will say, I mentioned possums earlier. you know, we did not keep him to domesticate him. He did live inside for two-thirds of the time we had him, but he was in a cage. He was never allowed to free roam, never allowed to be around our cats.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And when he grew to a size and age big enough, I would hear him in his cage at night just rattling it. Like, you'd And we realized he got to the point where he was grown and mature enough. He needed more space. He needed to be outside.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And so we would have we could have forced him to live like that for as long as he lived. But we weren't going to do that. Like we wanted to protect him. But we also knew that he that wasn't the right place for him now that he was bigger. And so my husband built him an outside house. And but he could come in and out of it. My husband, like, did all the things in the yard to make sure he was protected and nothing would hurt him.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And in the morning, husband gets up really early for work. I would hear them. i would hear little footsteps and I would hear my husband talking to William. They would go a little stroll in the yard in the morning.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And, you know, we gave him a space and one morning he went out there and he was gone. No evidence of him We didn't see him hurt anywhere. he had just decided it was time to go find some other possums. Right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And that was what we did. We didn't want to carry him around like a baby or put him in a backpack. Like we weren't trying to force him into a life that wasn't right for him. we took care of him and raised him as well as we could but we also allowed him to still be a possum
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah, i I like that. I mean, it's the type of attitude where, know, you got to remember, like,
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
they're animals, you know, in the end of the day, like they're wild and free and they're just going to you know, the the same thing goes down to like, we're even talking about like when you're taking animals off the streets.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
As much as I love her, she's a street cat. She's feral. Like, we call it domestication.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
She's not a domesticated cat who by any shape or form, you know?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And sometimes you even find cats on the street that definitely had a home, so they want that again. But yeah, if they're raised that way or that's how they've lived for a length of time, you can't force them to be something they're not.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And I also think that The big thing I see a lot and I've heard from a lot of people on my podcast is people adopt from a rescue or shelter. And then, oh God, I saw it so many times when I helped with adoption events that a day, two days later, the dog was back.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, it did this. Oh, my cat didn't like it. Or I tried to eat my cat or pulled this down or it chewed this up. It's like, guys. It can't understand why it's all of a sudden in a new place.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's an animal.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Maybe they didn't, you know, why he but they were in the shelter. And like, imagine if it was us, right? If somebody took us right now, didn't speak English, couldn't communicate in any way I understood and put me in this brand new house place out in the middle of somewhere, right?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I would be it on high alert, anxious, not knowing what to do, not knowing who to trust, right? You can't give an animal a day or two and expect them to be just like, oh, cool, I have a new home.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Hey, guys. Like, it doesn't work that way. Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, and i i I've had conversations about this before with people where they are animals, right? Through and through, they are animals. You know, this idea, like, you even see, like, these videos popping up where comparing animals, you know, to, like, humans, you know, they do the cute little meme things.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
People, they're animals, okay? They don't cry. They don't feel emotions the same way we do, and they don't process emotions the same way we do, okay?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Cat's way of processing fear Is attack you ever see a tiger where they always get nice and cute and they get in a cute little That is called a pounce.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They are getting into a mode to attack you, you know Yes
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. And also they learn from you.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
yeah
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So if you're doing something destructive or harmful, they're going to learn. They're going to think it's okay. Right. And I've had that happen with cats where it's like with us, they'll play and they'll bite a little, but they know not to fully, you know, chomp in like pumpkin will play. She'll bite nibble a little, but she had a whole, she had a litter that she grew up with.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And part of being in a litter for dogs and cats is learning play and how to play and all of that. Well, Charlie, who was didn't have a litter, at least from two weeks on, he likes to play and be pet and, you know, use his buddy feet.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But there was always this point at which we knew we had to stop because he would grab onto your arm or your hand and he would just grab it. And then he would bite. And the strength of that cat's bite We were hurt a few times and we learned there's a certain point where we don't want to push him because he doesn't know that that's like going to push him to the edge of actually be more of a predator bite than just playing.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I have the same thing.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And people think they can do that with so many kinds of animals that like, guys, it's still an animal.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
have the same thing.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You can't get mad of it for biting when you did that to it.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah, I mean, also, like, something I've had to deal with particularly is she doesn't understand, like, boundaries and, like, rules.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And, you know, I've gotten scolded at, like, oh, my God, you're being too rough with your cat. I'm like... Listen, okay, I have seen this cute little fluffy Maul a poor little bird to death.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I have watched her torture a squirrel.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Okay, I've seen this. All right, she may be cute and fluffy, but when she gets into certain modes I just know like I got to get involved and I got to get her out of this, you know,
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, you know, we dealt with that a lot with Charlie because he, um he had, we had two other cats with him most of the time, but he was never around other animals. He was never outside of the house. He didn't go out at all.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
um And so when we had to take him to the vet, He would go full feral. Like, as soon as he saw that carrier.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
not
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Like, so we wouldn't put it out. We wouldn't even, we'd like have it somewhere where he couldn't see it and then try to get him. Like, no, he would pee on us if we picked him up. He would, he would, he had a change in his meow.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
like, there's this talking meow.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And then there it's like, down deep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, I did.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
The first time it happened, i didn't even know he could make those noises. And we tried everything. We tried the put a towel or blanket over him and scoop him up.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
ah
::Julie Marty-Pearson
We tried sedating him. like Like put something in his water. To make him sleepy. Every time we tried it. He would take a sniff and look at us like. You think I'm going to fall for that?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Like he was so smart. So like feral. And. It broke our heart that we had to put him through that, but we also had to take care of him. And so for a while, they would have to sedate him to do his exams because he wouldn't even let them and their professionals.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And I hated that we were doing that. But eventually, as he got older, well, he lost a little fight. But also he realized, especially after he got sick, was it's like he knew that meant he's being taken care of.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. So it's a little easier now. We don't have to go through all that. And the and the vet can can examine him and do tests and he doesn't fight them. But we also had to really realize that like we were putting him in a situation that was not good for him. It was dangerous.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And that we would only do it if we absolutely had to. to take care of his health. But people who force their animals to do things that they don't like or that could harm them, that's the hardest part for me when I hear those stories because you just don't want any animal to suffer in any way.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, and not at all. I mean, I remember when I moved down um from Florida, I moved from New York and I drove down here with Twix. And i mean, the car ride was insane.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
and something that I realized particularly with her is that the reason why she's screaming is not because she's in a moving car. It turns out is because she likes to look out the window.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So I have to figure out to like put a cushion or something underneath so she's high enough so she can look up. But the adorable part was the second like we went, I stopped twice. I went to a hotel. The second like we got into the hotel and i mean, there was like at one point like she was just covered in urine.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Covered. And i had to wash her down. I have scars. It's okay.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
I, I,
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They're my battle scars. I had no choice because you know this, like if cats are covered in urine, like they can get extremely sick.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I finish up that whole experience. I like, I get into the hotel bed. She comes out of the bathroom. I'll never forget this. She like comes to like the, the, like the end of the bed and she like sits down and she looks at me and she goes, like the so like this, like soft meow.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I look at her and I'm like, yeah, bitch, I know what you did.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
She jumps on the bed and she like tucks herself in, you know, and like, obviously, does she understand like what the hell went on? No, like in her mind, like I tried to like wash her with that water, yeah you know, but I think she like kind of like put the pieces together.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like, oh, I don't.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I don't kind of like, yeah, you know, like after scratching me to death, you figured this out.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You're helping me.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You-
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Nice.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And it's it's funny.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Nice.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
i have I have two examples related to that. One when we moved from our apartment to the house we live in now, we had Charlie. We had three cats. So they all moved in carriers.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
We moved them and put them in the master bathroom so they could be in there, have the door shut, that it wouldn't bother them with people coming and going and bringing our furniture in and all that. So, of course, they all are...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
our bathroom is connected to our closet. So of course, you know, eventually they were all in the closet under things hiding because they didn't know what was happening. So, so then late that night, my husband and I are exhausted. You know, it was June. It was sweaty.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
ah I can imagine.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
get in our brand new, we get our brand new bed and we're like falling asleep. And then I feel one of them are one of the other cats we had time was Cosbo. And he got on the bed and got where he likes to lay. And then all of a sudden I felt something. was like, what is that? And I look, up he'd been so upset and everything. he never used the litter box, but once he got on the bed with us and got comfortable and like relaxed, he peed everything out. He'd everything out he'd had that day.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And so our brand new comforter on our brand new mattress was covered in cat pee. And I had to take that mattress and just go put it in the dumpster because it was just too much. Yeah. But of course, you know, Cosmo, we put you through a lot. It's okay.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But we were not happy at the moment.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yeah. ki
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But on the flip side of that, I had Jack or one of my other cats. He loved going in cars when he was a kid and I took him places to hang out at my mom's or with my friends. So he was very social.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And so for a couple of years, I commuted to l LA. I worked at a university and i lived on campus during the weekend and came home on the weekends and And Jack got diagnosed with kitty kidney disease, so we had to give him a special diet.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But because I wasn't home all the time, we couldn't make it was hard to manage the other cats not eating his food, and we didn't want to waste it So I decided to take him with me. he... Went on a two hour car drive both ways each day. And sometimes I pull into a drive through to get a soda or coffee or something.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And they would, you know, come to the window and they look and they're like, there's a cat on your lap. I'm like, yeah, there's a cat. Because he he didn't mind car rides, but he didn't like staying in his carrier.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You know, just like you said about she wanted to be able to look out the window. So I learned what he liked. And so if I stopped or was taking a break, I would let him out and he'd get to heart you know crawl all over things and sit in my lap.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
um One time he got out while I was driving and it was like on a freeway and I couldn't stop. And then he tried to go under my legs. You know, the legs I was using to like...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
you know, stop and start the car. So that experience was not great. But in general, he liked that. I don't think I could have done that with any other cat I've ever had. He was just social and chill. And he also loved the fact that he got to be in that on-campus apartment with me during the week and get all of my attention.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
There is honestly like something about particularly with cats that are social. Like when when i tell like i when I tell people like she's on like leash, you know and you see her on a leash.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They're just like, is that a cat? And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, oh my God, that's cute.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
yeah
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And I'm like, yeah i know But it is. it's It's kind of adorable when you have those like little I don't know.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Adventure kitties.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Adventure kitties, yes!
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But what I've learned is you have to start early. If you have them at a young age and you want to be able to go hiking with them or take them in a car ride a lot, do it.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You gotta do it when they're young.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You got it. Yeah. Because the ones that we didn't and we would try to do stuff. No.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Same thing with...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
When Frenchie was little, she would let me do the harness. But once she got to a certain age and I had waited too long, she was like, nope, you're not even getting that on me, let alone taking me somewhere.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
yeah
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
the The crazy part is also like the same thing with training. Like people don't realize you can train cats. The problem is that if you wait too long, you can't do it.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Like, I mean, Twixie's trained and it's adorable. She does paw. She sits.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's adorable. But, you know, I had a friend of mine when I got her. She like was around animals and like train animals. She was like, train your cat. I'm like, I'm like, you stupid. And she's like, no, like seriously. And she showed me and I was like, oh my God, this is actually real. Like you could actually do this.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So,
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, it works with a lot of animals, you know, so my education's in psychology and when I took a behavioral psychology class, you know, we can learn a lot from training animals.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But we also know that depending on the animal type, breed, personality, depending on what you use, like, is it food? Is it some other enrichment or reward?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, you can train animals to do things. you know to learn where they need to go in certain situations. And I love that you've done that with yours. It's so cute. Yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
but Honestly, I think out of all of this, something that we humans crave the most, and and I kind of want to wrap this up with this, is it's not just unconditional love.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's the fact that, do you know how many relationships is just a bunch of just word garbage, okay? There's a fight and it's just about something this one said and the other person.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
This doesn't exist with animals. I mean, it doesn't exist with horses.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It doesn't exist with cows. It doesn't exist with possum. It doesn't exist with cats, dogs. like It just exists with us humans, you know? And like, if animals can learn to communicate with us without speaking our language, but yet we find it so easy to lose faith in somebody based on just words.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
he
::Julie Marty-Pearson
So true.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
ah Yeah, maybe we'd be doing better if we didn't, we couldn't talk.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
No, but honestly, like from a psychological perspective, I think it's really interesting to see the differences between the level of communication and the amount of empathy and love and desire that comes with it.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah, we i'm the first i i we over-explain, over-analyze, over-over-use words and things and images, whereas as pets, it's like simple. It's like basic. like you're on that You're on that level. You look at them, they look at you, right? That's how we communicate, and they can often sense things in us, whether we're physically sick or...
::Julie Marty-Pearson
dealing with mental health issues or just having a bad day, right? if And it's not the garbage. It's not us sitting there complaining and telling them all these things. It's they can connect with us and feel it, but we can't, we we all have a really hard time doing that with each other.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
We do. i think also, um and and I want to tie this in with your podcast, I think that's where the conversation is so important.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
It's not necessarily about you know a person having a pet, obviously.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Mm-hmm.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
like Look, like we as podcasters, we need to communicate and talk and be able to have that flow. like you know We need to be able to have what makes us us.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yep.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
But it's those conversations with those people that have those relationship with those animals. Like we've been discussing this whole time, like your relationship with Jack and your relationship with your pets you've had in your life.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
And the same thing for me, too. You know, whether it be positive or negative, we all have those stories.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
yep
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
We all and I'm not sorry, not all of us. Some of us have those stories and some of us have those stories.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. All pet parents have those doors.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
He has a pet parents.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Sorry. I should have been little more exclusive. But yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Right. Yeah, absolutely. And I did, I don't think I, I definitely didn't know that and I didn't expect it with my pet podcast. It was more of like, for fun, let's talk about our pets and let me try out this whole podcasting thing.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But the fact that people listened to those first five episodes and started reaching out to beyond, it was like this, this momentum that started for me with the story of my pet that I didn't expect.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
But I realized, yeah, there's a lot more people out there like me. And like when I tell my story, they're like, oh, yeah, I had that habit, too, just like you and I have done today. And that is what has like created and kept my podcast going are those stories. And then the way that we connect with each other and the way the listener connects with us because of us sharing them.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I think it's so important. um um Got a frog stuck my throat. ah What is um name of the podcast and obviously ah socials?
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
How can people find it? you know, I'm sure you've got Apple Podcasts and Spotify and all the beautiful stuff.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yeah. Yes. Yes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh, yeah.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
It's, it's everywhere. So the story of my pet podcast.com, you will find all of our episodes, blog posts. I do traditional audio. So I'm on Apple, Spotify, all the things, as well as full video episodes on my YouTube channel, Julie, Marty Pearson.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And you can find me and the podcast on, i'm mainly on Instagram and Facebook. Yeah. But I am testing out Substack, so come join me there too.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Ooh, I like that. i love like exploring like those different, like sub stack I'm trying rumble, which turns out to actually be helping us.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
So I'm honestly, in your case, I think sub stack is excellent.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
so cool.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
You know, you definitely, for example, like you get, um, subscribers and people that might be able to comment, you know, even maybe other rescue you or associations that might be doing something things similar.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Exactly. This
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh my god, there's just so much there's so much opportunity. It's amazing.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
is what I love about podcasting. It can be overwhelming, but there are so many opportunities and things to test out and see what's right for you and what you do that. Yeah, I love. I feel like I'm constantly learning and it's really it's been a really fun journey.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
And who knows where I'll end up in another four years.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Hopefully with more pets. Is that the goal?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Oh, yeah.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Okay. Okay.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
You get me. You see me.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
I get you. Listen, Julie, it has been and absolute pleasure. And unfortunately, um we haven't had any physical pets on the podcast, but we've definitely had them in mind the whole way.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Yes.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Yes.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Of course. The time we talk about them, they don't show up.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
They don't show up. It's will of the nature.
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Well, thank you. so
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
What are the beasts?
::Julie Marty-Pearson
Thank you so much for having me. I had a great time talking with you.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
Oh, my pleasure. And listen, to anybody out there, if you want to check out more of the pod, you know where you could find us? At Lost in the Groove Pod. So with that, catch you all on the next one. Peace out.
::Lost in the Groove Podcast
yeah
