Steve Dale and Rob Gronkowski; A Vet Dentist; and Amazing Cat EveryCat Cat Health Stories

Jackie Ott Jaakola

Listen HERE to Steve Dale’s Pet World on WGN Radio with Jackie Ott Jaakola, executive director of 55-year old nonprofit EveryCat Health Foundation. She explains how this organization has had it’s paw in pretty much everything we know about cat health. Examples include but aren’t limited to solving diabetes in cats to kidney disease to dilated cardiomyopathy (a significant heart disease) in cats by adding more of an amino acid called taurine in cat foods. EveryCat (then called the Winn Feline Foundation) funded Dr. Paul Pion, who was correct, and today cat foods worldwide offer just the right amount of taurine in cat foods.

A most recent example was hanging feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) from fatal to treatable by funding research to veterinarians worldwide, though most significantly Dr. Niels Pedersen (now professor emeritus) at University of California, Davis. The story of how FIP was barely understood to decades later finding a cure, and how that cure for cats made it possible for the U.S. government to consider Remdesivir to treat COVID-19, contributing to saving countless human lives around the globe.

Ott Jaakola explains there’s a free e-newsletter, and also free webinars.

You Don’t Really Need to Brush Your Cats’ Teeth? Cutting-Edge Predictor for Cats Mouths

One of so many veterinary books which Dr. Bellows has authored and/or contributed to

Boarded legendary veterinary dentist Dr. Jan Bellows explains HERE on WGN Radio there are alternatives to brushing your pet’s teeth. Dr. Bellows talks about about basic prevention techniques.

And in cats, there’s a new and cutting-edge genetic test from Basepaws to predict and potentially protect against all sorts of dental problems, called Oral Microbiome testing, which is a two-second simple saliva test. Also, he explains bad teeth and gums are often painful, but pet parents don’t always know this.

Surprising Household Toxins in Pet Birds

Dr. Renee Schmid is manager of professional services and senior veterinary toxicologist at Pet Poison Helpline.  Discussed are sometimes surprising hazards for pet birds, from Teflon toxicity to avoiding Guacamole.

Gronk with Jane Fonda

Gronk and a Vet Conference?

Former National Football League star Rob Gronkowski at the Western Veterinary Conference celebrating his dog Ralphie the French Bulldog and awareness for a new Valley Fever vaccine with Anivive Animal Health. “I’m all in for my dog,” he says.  And he talks HERE on WGN Radio about working on the movie 80 for Brady. Maybe this is the first of more movies to come, he says.