In this heartwarming episode, we sit down with Dr. Rustin Moore, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University, to explore the profound connection between humans and animals. As a proud dog dad to Travis, Tucker, and Teddy, Dr. Moore shares insights from his latest book, Unleashing the Bond-Harnessing the Power of Human-Animal Interactions, which delves into touching stories of how pets enrich our lives. Join us as we discuss the inspiration behind Dr. Moore’s journey into veterinary medicine and the unexpected path that led him to write a book after delivering a TED Talk on the human-animal bond. He reveals heartfelt stories from over 100 interviews, highlighting the transformative power of pets in our lives, including tales of resilience, love, and healing. We’ll also touch on practical veterinary advice featured in his book, ranging from traveling safely with pets to understanding the emotional and physiological benefits of pet companionship. Plus, Dr. Moore introduces us to some remarkable individuals, like those involved in providing care for pets of the homeless and the fascinating science behind the human-animal connection. Whether you’re a pet owner, animal lover, or simply curious about the incredible bond we share with our furry friends, this episode is sure to inspire and uplift. Tune in for an engaging conversation that celebrates the joys and challenges of being a pet parent and the lifelong lessons learned along the way.
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How Pets Enrich Our Lives – Dr. Rustin Moore
Welcome to the show. I’m Dr. Alice Novotny Jeromin, a board-certified veterinary dermatologist.
I’m Janet Novotny King. I am the doctor’s sister. I am not board-certified medically trained in anything except CPR in humans. It’s nice to have you. We have someone very special who’s a two-timer. We’re going to start giving out like those jackets they give out at the golf. It’s the green jacket for multiple guests. They’re going to be scarlet and gray. They’re going to have Brutus Buckeye on. They’re going to be tricked out. I am excited to have our special guest back.
Dr. Rustin Moore is the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine of The Ohio State University. More importantly than that, he is a dog dad to Travis, Tucker, and Teddy. He is the author of my new favorite book which is Unleashing the Bond, which I already read on Kindle, but I’ve dog-eared a million pages. Thank you, Dr. Moore, for sending it. It just came. It is very timely. Anyone tuning in, I’m saying this is going to be a new gift for birthdays and Christmas.
The reason is that not only does it tell you the fabulous, touching stories about how animals have touched people’s lives, but one of the things I love, Dr. Rustin, is that at the end of the book, there’s a lot of veterinary advice. There’s traveling with your pet. Don’t let your pet walk on hot surfaces. That was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed that part.
Looking Back To Dr. Rustin’s Career Journey
I want to know what inspired you. How did this all start? When, who, and what?
Buckle your seatbelt. Back in the fall of 2015, the university put out a call for speakers for their TED Talk series, which was in the Spring. I had just become the dean. I’d tried hard to get at least a faculty member to submit something to be possibly in that. Nobody had done it. It was the night before. I wrote an application to discuss the power and importance of the human-animal bond. I ended up somehow getting selected.
You wouldn’t believe how many hours I spent on that for a thirteen-and-a-half-minute TED Talk. That was titled The Power of a Pet. That is still out there on the internet. People can go watch it. In the fall of ‘23, I got an email from a gentleman named Eric Koester, who was the founder of a publishing company called Manuscripts Press. Remember, this is 7 or 8 years later. “I saw your TED Talk and I think you should turn it into a book.” I replied very professionally and politely and said, “Thank you so much, but I don’t have time and I’m not the right person to write this book.”
I went back and forth about three times. He asked me to get on a Google call and I said, “I’ll do it.” He’s pretty compelling and convincing. Not only did he convince me to write it, but he convinced me to pay them to help me write it, meaning editing and stuff. That’s how it started. I never intended to write a book. Having said that, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve interviewed over 100 people. Their stories are so inspiring. I’ve learned a lot from research and other things. I got so carried away that there’s already book two in the process. It’s in revisions, editing now, and will probably be out by the end of 2025.
It’s a series.
It’s called Unlocking the Bond: The Power and Paradox of Human-Animal Interactions.
I love the paradox part.
We can talk more about that if you want later. People always wonder what that means as it relates to the bond.
Isn’t Dr. Stewart with Seamus in the second book?
Yes, Dr. Kim Stewart. There’s a whole chapter dedicated to her and the work she does with Seamus as a search and rescue dog. There’s a series of chapters in one of the sections on working dogs. I devoted an entire chapter to her because of the incredible examples she gave me.
Does anyone know if Seamus is down with all the flooding in Texas?
I texted Kim and said, “Are you involved in rescue?” She says, “Not yet. I’m in Ohio. I’m headed back.” I haven’t followed up to see if she has since become involved or not.
She’s from Tallmadge, Janet.
Tell me about Rita Jean Wolfe, your dedication.
Rita Jean was as sweet as pie or was. I met her when her dog, Isaly, who was a Bernese Mountain Dog, ingested a corn cob and ended up having to have intestinal surgery here. The dog had not only one complication but two. The first one was that there was some dehiscence or leakage from the site where they removed his foreign body. They went in a second time and fixed that. The dog developed pneumonia, which abscessed, and then part of the lung ruptured. It developed a pneumothorax, which means air inside the chest, but outside the lungs. They had to go in and do a lung lobectomy. He survived remarkably.
I got to know her through that. She and her sister, Katie, have been very loyal clients and supportive. They both served on our college’s philanthropic engagement council. Her mother also has dogs and has been a loyal client of the veterinary medical center. When Rita got sick and then died of cancer at a young age of 56. Before she passed, the family they decided to do an endowed position. The Dean at the College of Veterinary Medicine is now called the Rita Jean Wolfe Endowed Deanship. That came with a significant endowed gift.
Rustin, when I was re-reading the book to ask you some questions about, I forgot about Odin. That was in ‘85, our first year of vet school. Would you mind telling Janet about Odin? I love Odin.
Is it a dog?
Odin was a mixed breed. He looked like a lab mix. He was Black and he might’ve had a little White on him. I can’t remember. He ended up developing renal failure. I think it was from antifreeze ingestion. It’s the first and maybe the only renal or kidney transplant we did at Ohio State. They located one of his littermates, which was mixed breed. They were adopted out. They were able to locate one of the littermates who served as the donor. He lived and did well.
Janet, back in ‘85, a kidney transplant for dogs was not anything anyone was doing.
Even for humans.
I’ve probably had three clients who were like, “I had a kidney transplant.” It’s like a heart transplant now.
Most Inspiring Stories From The Book
Dr. Rustin, I know this is tough. It’s like Sophie’s story. What is your favorite, most inspiring story from your book?
It is tough. Those touch on a few of the stories. There are so many other stories that I’ve written that haven’t been told. Almost every person I interviewed at some point, I got chill bumps listening to the story. Whether it was from happiness, sadness or whatever. I’ll mention a few because I don’t want to single one out, but these are the ones that pop into my mind. There’s a lady. A dear friend of mine, who also has passed away from cancer. Her name is Connie.
Connie had had a lot of loss in her life in a very short period of time. Her youngest son was murdered. She lost a grandchild, her son, mother, and grandmother all in a relatively short period of time. Plus, she ended up having a serious auto accident and was injured. On top of all that, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The ovarian cancer happened before those things happened. When her son died, she decided to do something in his honor.
When they would go downtown to go to a restaurant for lunch or dinner, she remembers he would always bring some kind of food to give to a homeless person. Many of those homeless people had pets. One evening, they were driving home. They hadn’t been down there. I don’t know where they were, but they had gone out to get a pizza. They were headed home with the pizza.
Christian, her son, said, “Mom, let’s pull over and give this homeless person the pizza.” She’s like, “That’s my pizza,” but they did because he also had three rescued dogs. He loved helping homeless people. When he passed away, in the first year, she could hardly do anything. It’s so awful but she finally got the strength and all that to do something. She co-founded something called Faithful Forgotten Best Friends, which is an organization that started off by providing pet food for the homeless and low-income.
That advanced to where they started providing veterinary care to the homeless and low-income. We got involved in that program in 2016. We continued in that program until the pandemic, when we felt like it was too risky. Not for us, but for the people that we were going to see. We still are involved with them, but not directly. We serve as a referral in our spectrum of care clinic. We have a program that can help offset the costs for those people. It gives our students an opportunity to see and do things that they might not otherwise see or get to do.
The other part of this story, she reappears in book two. At one point, their dog would come up to her and put her nose right up in her lower abdomen repeatedly. It was only after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Once she had surgery, had that removed, went on chemo, and was in remission for fourteen years, the dog never did that again. We know that there is the ability for dogs to detect cancer as well as many other things. That’s all in book two as well. That’s an interesting piece to it.
The other one, there’s a lady named Sally Malaret. She adopted a dog named Max, who was rescued. Probably a minute later, he’d have gone not to a good place. He lived for several years. He made about 350 visits to hospitals, schools, and other places as a therapy dog. This dog was not trained when she got it. She put it through all the training, got it certified, and all that stuff, then Max dies. Some time went by and she decided they were going to rescue another dog. That was Fiona. Fiona was part Great Pyrenees and part Golden Retriever. I know Alice would like that part.
She was a beautiful kind dog. That dog didn’t have any training, so she put it through that training. Sally and Fiona made 1,005 visits to high school, junior high, and other facilities. I went and visited on the thousandth visit to the high school. I could see the presence of the two of them. The calmness came over the kids. They’d come in, pet and talk. Fiona got sick and ended up most likely having a gastric or other intestinal perforation based on the signs and all the other things. I went over to the hospital and spent time with her, reassuring her she was making the right decision.
She euthanized Fiona, which was very difficult for her. I went to my first-ever dog funeral. It was at a funeral home, one of the Schoedinger funeral homes. It was a beautiful event. It was well attended. You think about all the kids and others that the dog had helped along the way. She says, “I don’t think I can ever get another dog.” I said, “Sally, give it a little time. You can.” She now has another dog. It’s half Great Pyrenees, and it might be half Golden Retriever. We got him again from Kentucky or it might’ve been Tennessee. She’s probably having two weeks.
I have to tell you, Rustin, that was one of my favorites. That’s the one I got teary-eyed on when Bob died. Honest to God, that was one of my favorite stories in the book. I also love the elderly people, the gentleman who was around 300 pounds and got a dog. Janet, his weight came down because you’ve got to walk the dog. You’ve got to get up and feed the dog. It’s not all about you anymore. You have a responsibility. I love those stories where it transforms the human’s life. The thing is, the dog is rescuing the human as opposed to the human rescuing the dog.
The first half hour of my morning is opening the door in and out for two cats and a dog.
Taking Care Of Three Schnauzers
Food preparation, too. That’s what I wanted to ask Rustin. I was preparing their food and the fifteen-year-old cat’s food.
You’re elaborate with the food.
I know. I’ve got to ask Rustin because he’s got those three Schnauzers. What’s dog food preparation like at your house? They can’t be on the same diet. I know they’re not.
You’re correct, Alice. The three dogs are not on the same diet. Teddy is on a prescription diet for his kidneys because he has protein-losing nephropathy. Travis is on a biomed diet that has fiber and other things because he started messing up in the house, almost like it was urgent. He had this urgency. Thankfully, that did it. That has gone away. Tucker, the young one, is on a good-quality maintenance young adult diet.
Do you have to feed them separately so they don’t get into each other’s bowls?
Travis and Teddy’s bowls are right beside each other in one of those little holders. They never go to each other’s bowl. Tucker is over a little bit from him. He’s done like that. He gulps. They run to their kennel and wait for their dental treat in the morning, or they run to the kennel for something else in the evening.
When home builders are building, they need to do a dog kitchen with dog cupboards because everything’s on the counter, like the chewy treats. Annie’s sitting here, my allergic one. I’ve got her on the transdermal immunotherapy, which is something new instead of shots or oral liquid. That’s on the counter. We need a dog kitchen.
We have a big tin like trash can, but cute. That’s in the laundry room. It has the scoop. It has that squirty stuff. What’s that called?
It is the Omega-3s.
There are the Omega-3 and the arthritis pills or whatever they are. In the morning, you do two scoops and the bottles in there and the pills. Her treats are in the snack cupboard with our snacks. When you go into the snack cupboard, she’s like, “Get in there.”
Let me tell you a little bit more about the routine for us. Teddy and Travis are also on Pimobendan because they have mitral valve disease. They have to get that 30 minutes before they eat. Teddy, in the morning, also gets an anticoagulant because a couple of years ago, he was having these weird episodes where he’d stare into space and be confused.
Is it clopidogrel?
Yes.
Is that a blood thinner?
Yes. I thought you said you weren’t a specialist.
No, but I know Coumadin because my mom was on it forever. I was going to name a dog Coumadin.
Janet, you were on an injectable blood thinner, remember, in your stomach?
I was not on an injectable blood thinner.
Somebody I know was on it.
Tucker has a seasonal flank alopecia.
My neck of the woods.
He gets melatonin twice a day in his food. In the evening, Teddy also gets the liquid medication for his protein-losing nephropathy for his kidneys, which is Telmisartan. Around 7:00, the two who were born with cataracts, Teddy and Travis, they get eye drops. They come over to us and say, “It’s time.” They come over and get up on whichever one of us has given them. We sit in a chair. They put their front paws on our knees. They reach their head back, and they run to their kennel for their next treat.
I was going to say, I bet a treat is involved with those eye drops.
It’s a high-value treat.
I’m amazed because Daddy James has a lot of work to do when you’re traveling.
Even when I’m not.
You’ve got a lot of evening activities that you’ve got to go to. Do you have treatment sheets as we had in the ICU?
No. He knows it better than I do. Sometimes, if I haven’t done it for one of them, I say, “Does he get this in the evening or in the morning?”
Our neighbor takes care of the two cats and the dog when we go on vacation. They stay here, and then the neighbor comes over. I describe Isabelle the cat. I’ll write, “The one with the good eyeliner,” because she has a good eyeliner. My husband’s like, “Why don’t you put a picture on the page?” I’m like, “Any woman would know which cat has good eyeliner.”
That’s important that you say that because, Rustin, with your three dogs and my two Goldens, people come over and say, “Which one is this?” I get it. We’re around them all the time, so you get to know the little idiosyncrasies. It’s three Schnauzers or two Goldens. Janet, you had two Goldens. Which one is that?
Nobody knew which one was which.
To start with, Teddy had a red collar, and Ted rhymes with red. Travis had blue. We got Tucker, and he initially had a black collar, but he has also transitioned. When he goes out in the yard with his invisible fence collar, he also has a blue collar. When we go anywhere with a harness, it’s black.
A Story About A Cow And An Orphaned Calf
I want to hear more about your cow and the orphaned calf.
That might bring up bad memories, Jan.
It’s good. What do you want me to do, repeat the story?
Tell us the story so our audience wants to read the book.
That was the initial inspiration for your animal love, wasn’t it?
It was one of my early experiences with animals. I had a menagerie of them at the time. It was my first cow. I had bought her when she was a heifer, a yearling. She was a Hereford. She was then bred, was pregnant, and was due to calve in the summer of 1977.
Where did you grow up?
In the hills of Appalachia in West Virginia.
I’ve been there.
She was supposed to calve that summer in July. I was at a week-long basketball camp. It was a day camp, so I’d be back and forth. The day must have been the last because there was an award ceremony, and I got the Hustle Award, not because I had any talent at all. I just worked hard. You’re happy when you’re that age. You’re on cloud nine. You’re going home. Your mom’s driving the car. I walked into the house and I knew something was wrong. I could tell the way my dad was looking. He said, “Your cow had her calf.”
For a second, I had a little glimmer of hope. Shortly after that, he said, “It was a difficult birth. The calf didn’t make it.” As a twelve-year-old, I was feeling guilty, upset, and all that. It must have been a Thursday because the stockyard sales were always on Fridays. The next day, I went to the stockyard and happened to find an orphan, a day-old bull calf. I purchased it, not knowing whether she would accept it or not, but she did. She raised that calf just like it was her own.
It’s one of those you have this emotional high, and then you’re in the basement or in the valley. You get the calf, and then you see her take it. For someone at that age, it started to prepare me for how good things and bad things sometimes go hand in hand, and you have to navigate through that. There’s a picture of that cow and a picture of that calf in the book.
That cow took right to that calf. Isn’t that something?
A lot of times, they’ll do that. Many times, not the first calf heifers, the first time they had one, but she did.
That’s a great story. Alice, I know you have some questions about the book.
Thinking About Love When Thinking About a Pet
I love that when you ask people the question, “When you think about your pet, what’s the first word that comes to mind?” Love is undoubtedly the number one response.
There were a lot of different words, but the one that was most consistent around 30% was love. There were other words like friend, confidant, and family. The interesting thing was they were all around feelings or thoughts.
Our Libby, who’s a Golden, is a rescue. She has jobs, Rustin. It started the first day she was here. We get the Times delivered. It’s in a little bag. She waits because we have the electric fence. It goes in her mouth, she comes up and she gets a treat. She did it from day one, not knowing she was going to get a treat. I’ll go to the mailbox later. Thank God there’s always a piece of junk mail because she brings that up. When people come to the house, it’s like, “Who’s here?” She goes out to get them and walks them up. When they’re leaving, “Could you walk them out?” She walks them out. It’s like she has jobs. She’s a very important part of our family.
I was telling you about the emotional stories and the veterinary stuff. There’s a lot of science in here, too. Janet, you’ll love this. It’s the love hormone oxytocin. There was a little brief paragraph in there, Rustin. I should let you tell it about when people are eye to eye with their dog as opposed to eye to eye with their pet wolf. Would you explain that? This is fascinating.
We know when we gaze into the eyes of our pets, dogs and cats, or we stroke them by petting them. We have an increase in the release of oxytocin. We also have a release of dopamine and serotonin. We have a decrease in cortisol. Some of those same hormonal changes occur in the actual pet. They’ve shown that. We also know that if you go into a room and you’re sitting there in a room alone, and then they bring a pet in. Your heart rate and blood pressure will go down as you’re holding that animal. There’s so much more science coming out. The Human Animal Bond Research Institute is a fabulous organization.
When we gaze into the eyes of our pets or pet them, we have an increase in the release of oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. We also have a decrease in cortisol. Share on XWe’ve had them on the show.
I was on a Zoom call with Steve Feldman.
I think they’re the ones that have the hysterical, super professional commercials.
Some of that was sponsored by Zoetis, I believe. I don’t know if you’ve seen the one with the cat playing the piano. You’ve got to look that up. The cat’s playing the piano and in the end, instead of, “Adopt an animal.” It’s “Adopt a human.” It is hilarious.
They have good information about the human bond, as you said, the heart rate, and all that stuff. It’s fascinating. It’s a good website.
The oxytocin does go up. Oxytocin and those same hormonal things occur. Not just with your own pet. It can go up if you walk a dog. You go visit your family who has a dog. You go walk a dog at a shelter. There are many ways people can get the benefit of the pet without having to own one, because some people can’t own one due to a partner or restriction.
That’s a whole other chapter in the book around pet-friendly or pet-inclusive housing, pet-friendly or inclusive businesses, or pet-friendly cities. What we need to make sure of is that public housing and rental housing are pet-friendly or pet-inclusive. There is a difference. Most of the time, pets do not damage apartments. Kids do. There’s a down payment if you have a dog, or there are weight restrictions.
We have to make sure that public and rental housing are pet-friendly or pet-inclusive. Most of the time, pets do not damage apartments. Kids do. Share on XThe other sad thing is that most homeless shelters do not allow pets. Still, I would say the majority of women’s domestic violence shelters don’t allow pets. Women won’t leave a domestic violence situation unless they can somehow get their dog or cat taken care of. Fortunately, there are some. We have one here in Columbus called CHOICES. There’s a kennel on site that people in the community, some of the shelter or some of the dog and cat facilities, help in terms of caring for them when they’re in those situations.
For a long time here in Columbus, between Columbus Humane, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the women’s penitentiary in Marysville, there was a program called Safe Haven. Dogs or cats from these domestic violence situations will be cared for in the short term at the women’s prison, with medical care provided by. If it’s emergent and after hours, it us. If not, it’s the shelter. When the woman or the family gets back on their feet, they reunite with the animal.
What a wonderful program.
That’s been going on for many years.
In the book, was it Dr. Amy Acton who said Columbus should be the dog City of America?
The capital of the country.
I kept reading it. I’m like, “Yes, it should be because of all the accolades going on.”
Do you all know Amy Acton?
I know of her because of COVID. We saw her on TV here in Ohio all the time.
Amy Acton was Governor DeWine’s Director of the Department of Health and was so calming to people talking about the pandemic. She was attacked. I don’t mean physically, but attacked verbally. It’s partly because of the decision she made and partly because she’s Jewish.
I did not know that.
She is the kindest and sweetest person. She is a huge animal advocate. She has dogs. One of her dogs is in the book, Winnie.
He is the Yorkie.
He had a heart issue that we managed for a long time before he passed. There’s a picture of her son with his dog and then her with the dog. She’s an MD and has a Master’s in Public Health. She was homeless at one point.
She was living in a tent.
She told me that when she was growing up, two things saved her, which were her pets and public libraries.
God bless her. How true is that?
It’s because they’re welcome.
She’s running for office.
She’s running for governor.
Let’s think back to COVID. Nobody knew what was going on. How could you be right in any situation?
It’s because, Janet, no matter what, people will express their opinion, however crazy it is, based on nothing. I would see her on TV and I thought, “What a calm person,” and so knowledgeable, too. What’s interesting about that, Rusty, is she’s so calm, and she owned a Terrier.
I don’t think she goes for designer breeds. She also takes rescues.
Handling Wild Animals And Taking Care Of Domesticated Animals
Finish the story about the oxytocin and the pet wolves because that’s fascinating. It’s about how they would not look you in the eye.
I’m trying to remember because I’m getting the fox’s story mixed up, too.
That came after the wolf story.
Wild animals in general are not going to look you in the eye because of fear. Certainly, at a zoo or wherever, you don’t want to look them in the eye because it makes them nervous. Wolves are wild, although dogs are descendants of them. It just goes to show over time how the domestication process has evolved. I’ve seen some articles where we’re in a new phase of the evolution of dogs. That would be an interesting topic to talk about.
It’s because the other one came over to be petted. This one has to be the boss.
Is that a Golden?
This is Annie. She’s your Amish rescue. She’s a small Golden. I think she wasn’t a good producer, so they got rid of her when she was one. Gidget is a China rescue. You can’t see her because she’s not a leaper.
Alice’s Goldens are more like a darker red.
They’re dark.
The other story, which we don’t need to go into, is about how they bred foxes and progressively, through breeding and selective breeding, worked toward domesticating them. There are certain species that you can tame, but you can’t domesticate. There are fewer than twenty truly domesticated animals. I think the number is sixteen.
Isn’t that fascinating? Out of 40,000 species, or some huge number like that, there are only that many that are domesticated.
Alice, I just wrote the book. I don’t remember all those details.
I love details. I was the only one in the Derm College when we were taking our boards. The last question was, “What is the name of the substance that makes a flea jump?” It’s called resilin or something like that. People were like, “What is she doing?” I remember little stuff like that.
As a pharmacist, you have to remember all those little things.
I don’t know about that. Janet, I want to tell you in the book what Rustin says about domestication. Zebras can’t do it. They’re crazy. They’re wild.
They have attitude.
This is another thing I learned that’s not in the book. There was a study done where they took black cows, and they put white vertical stripes all over their body like a zebra.
Who did this? What university?
There was a 50% reduction in the number of biting flies that landed on them. They think part of that is a natural thing to prevent a fly bite.
I wonder if I could do that with the no-see-ums in Florida to myself.
You should try it and take pictures.
I use that Ranger Ready stuff.
It’s Ranger Ready with picaridin in there. I was reading our episode with Mona Rutger. She runs Back To The Wild. It’s in Castalia, Rustin. Janet, I missed this the first time. When they are working with wild animals, like squirrels and things, she said, “We never smile because wild animals see that as big teeth coming at me prey.”
Unless I can take my dentures out.
TMI.
I live in the woods. We have a coyote. Our neighbors, we all on text will say, “Coyote over the McGillicuddy’s, or whoever.” I’m concerned because we have the two cats. Nothing’s happened yet. Knock on wood. Donald and I are in the car and I see it coming to the neighbor’s yard. I put my window down. It’s acting like it’s the boss. I go, “Hey, yo,” using one of your favorite words, Alice. That thing turned and ran.
It was your teeth.
I scared the crap out of that coyote.
I couldn’t hear part of what you said.
Poor Duke, our producer. He’s got his work cut out for him.
It’s Alice’s favorite word, especially after two rum and Cokes.
The Mission To Rescue Turtles
I don’t drink anymore. Here’s the other thing I was thinking. I read this good book about a turtle rescue group in the Northeast, out by you, Janet, like Massachusetts, around in there. A lot of the turtle rescuers are former drug addicts or former abused people, but they’re very serious, and they rarely smile. The turtles have an emotional bond with them. I’m wondering about that teeth thing now.
When you think about it, turtles don’t look in the eye.
No, they do. I love turtles.
You have to lie on your belly, though, so that you can look into their eyes.
Poor Mike will be driving, and I’ll yell, “Turtle.” He knows he’d better pull over. He never pulls over soon enough.
He does pull over. It’s terrifying.
I pull right over. I know exactly where those emergency blinkers are. He’s like, “Where are the emergency blinkers?”
She’s got a whole kit and caboodle in the back.
I do. I have anything and everything for snapping turtles, like a big snow shovel.
What did you think of the two stories, the one about the snapping turtle and the one about the mallard ducks?
The duck story made me cry. When I was walking in the park, a snapping turtle was laying its eggs. They leave them then. The raccoons come in the next morning. All the shells are all over. If I were to call these people in Massachusetts, they would come, get those eggs, and incubate them. A lot of people hate snapping turtles. I get it. They’re primitive, and they eat little ducklings and stuff, but they still want to live like everybody else.
It’s all about ecosystem balance.
I’ll tell you who’s not nice. We have wild turkeys. They are mean.
We have a family in the back.
You’re driving your car, and they’re like, “I’m not moving.” They’re all over town.
You sure they’re not Canada geese?
I know the difference because we have a pond. We have that. We have geese. We have swans here.
Geese will come after you. I’ve not seen a turkey go after anyone.
They don’t go after you, but they’re bold.
You exaggerate. You’re thinking they are going to go after you.
We have giant swans here in the river.
What color is the bill?
Orange.
It’s not black.
What does that tell me? I’m going to look next time. They have a big body.
There are trumpeter swans, and then there are the ones that were imported from Europe.
We have trumpeter swans because I’ve heard someone tell me that.
I thought they had black beaks. I don’t know.
I keep forgetting which one’s the orange and which one’s the black, because in Ohio, the one with the one type of beak, they won’t save them because they wipe out marshes.
Trumpeters have black, so we must have black ones. They’re big and pretty mean.
I’ve heard swans are not nice.
Real quick, the snapping turtle thing. I was out walking one summer evening in my neighborhood, coming down over this hill into this little valley. It was a subdivision road. It wasn’t a main highway. As I was coming down, I saw this car parked in the middle of the street. There were these two people out in the middle of the street. As I walked, I said, “I wonder what they’re doing.” When I got there, I saw this snapping turtle. They’d been trying for a long time to get it off the road because they care about animals. I said, “What do you do?” They said, “We’re trying to get this off the road.” I said, “Let me help you.”
You got your cape, and you said, “Excuse me. I’m the dean.”
He never does that.
Quite the opposite. After I got this out of the road, they said, “Where do you live?” I said, “I live over there. My name’s Rustin.” They said, “What do you do?” “I’m a veterinarian.” They said, “We’re big dog lovers. Where do you work?” “I work at Ohio State.” “We come there with our dogs, and we love it. That’s our go-to place. What do you do there?” “I’m an administrator there.”
You have to pull it out of him. I swear to God.
“What exactly do you administrate?” I tell them. We chatted, and we stayed in touch. We’ve gotten together time to time, one time in Sarasota, where they go in the winter. Heidi Ward is their veterinarian down there. This story of this turtle and this situation is in the chapter called Giving Bonds because they have become donors. They have an endowed stewardship. My thing is always to say, “Never let a chance encounter get away.” We never talked anything about money or any of that for probably two years.
Never let a chance encounter get away. Share on XIt was a snapping turtle that was helping the university. Think about that. That is the perfect title because it can take a little 5-pound Yorkie or a 20-pound snapping turtle. How big was that snapper, by the way?
The fish was very big.
It was probably a foot in cross diameter.
Helping Out at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW)
I have to tell you this story, Rustin. One day, when we were in Sanibel, I helped out CROW, which is stands for Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife. We have a red tide, which is a brevetoxin. It’s a neurotoxin. It’s horrible. Every year, I’ll walk the beach. I call Mike, “Bring the box. Bring the beach towel. We got to take to CROW.” We go take the dogs out for a walk. We live in a development with a cul-de-sac and stuff. There is a cormorant paddling, walking up the middle of the street, which is not natural. He probably had some brevetoxin.
This was Thanksgiving Day. It was two minutes to 5:00. CROW was closed. We have big storage rooms under the house for tools and stuff. He spent the night there. I get up the next morning to take him to CROW. I opened the door, and he’s like, “You’re ready to go.” He did well because, Rustin, they’re using IV Liposyn to displace that neurotoxin. They’re going through Intralipid like crazy at these places. Janet, it’s an IV of a fatty solution.
How do you stick that into a bird? How do you make the bird sit?
They can do a wing catheter. The fun part is when you have to put medication in a Pelican because you have to stop your arm.
It’s because they have that pouch. What are you hiding in there?
Sadly, a lot of times it’s fish hooks, but don’t get me started on that.
You know what I learned on Sanibel and one of those nature tours? They only weigh 3 or 4 pounds.
They don’t weigh a lot.
They go in the branches and the branch hardly falls. It’s interesting.
I love how they have the web feet, and they’re still up on those branches. I’m like, “How’d they do that?”
Try putting some swimming flippers on. Try that and see how it works.
One time, one was listing in the water. I could see the blood on the side of it. Mike and I were walking. He took his shirt off, waded in there, and put it around. It was so sweet because its little web feet were on his arm. It was the sweetest thing. That one didn’t make it. I don’t know if it was shot or what. Shooting something in Sanibel is a mortal sin.
Mike has to pull over, take his shirt off, and wade into the water.
We were walking on the beach. As you know, there’s nowhere to park in Sanibel to go to the beach. I digress.
Alice, we got to wrap it up.
Discussion Wrap-up And Closing Words
I know. It’s our favorite guest. One more time, Unleashing the Bond. It’s going to come out. It’s our next Christmas gift for you, Janet.
It’s available in paperback, hardback, and eBook. Also, probably in early September, there will be an audiobook. It was an interesting process with this company. What you do is you upload a couple of pages of your book. I uploaded a page with the dogs talking and a page with me talking from the book. I had 57 people submit auditions. I narrowed it down to 14 to 9 to 5 to 3 to 1. The one I chose, not because of this, but because of the voice and the ability to do it and to capture the emotion that’s in the story. He’s a veterinarian.
You didn’t even know that.
I knew it when I got down to the top three.
Is he doing this on the side? This is the first veterinarian I’ve heard doing a side gig.
He’s a full-time veterinarian in Oklahoma.
I know it was on Facebook because I did your survey. You surveyed people about the cover. Did you get a good response? That was cool. I love that.
I was allowed to come up with three covers. I talked to the designers about two ideas. They said, “Do you give us artistic permission to come up with a third one for you to consider?” I said, “Of course,” and I went with theirs. I tweaked it.
That’s my favorite.
Originally, the person had their hand on the chin of the dog. I wanted the palm. I wanted them to be looking into the eyes. I wanted a cat there. I wanted a horse. There’s a horse on the back. If you don’t have the hard copy, there’s a little boy and his calf. You got a copy from me with a bookmark in it. The calf is on the back of the bookmark.
I know this sounds silly, but when I opened it, and the bookmark fell out, I love a bookmark because I hate to, no pun intended, dog-ear the pages. I am one of those people who love a bookmark. I know it’s silly.
Bookmarks are good for marketing purposes.
If you look at the back of it, there’s a QR code at the top that takes you to Amazon, where you can either purchase or leave a review. The second one goes to my personal website.
Thank you.
Congrats on the book and on the launch. This is exciting. Are you going on a circuit?
I’m trying to get him to do the Hudson Library.
I was thinking Jenna and Friends. I’m thinking big.
Yes, Jenna Bush.
I’m open to whatever to raise awareness about the human-animal bond. I’ve had two book signings, one here and one in Korea. I have one that is a conference. I may have one at AVMA in DC. Any opportunities that you think of or have any connections for either signings, podcasts, or whatever, this is a universal topic that would be of interest to a whole array of people.
Janet, after each chapter, the boys, Travis, Teddy, and Tucker, make comments. That was one of my favorite parts.
That’s adorable.
They have a thing at the beginning. It’s called a beginning note from Teddy, Travis, and Tucker. At the end, they have a parting note from Teddy, Travis, and Tucker.
It’s just yelling, “Teddy, Travis, Tucker, get over here.”
Most of it’s a spoof on me. A lot of it is. He takes pictures of us at the most inopportune times, like when we’re napping. We do this because we know we’re going to get a morsel of his food.
Rusty, I have to tell you. We walked Libby, our Golden. It was hot. It was close to 90 degrees and humid. We did 3 miles. We’re at the end and we didn’t know it was this deep. There’s this puddle. She goes in. I sent you pictures, Alice.
I didn’t know it was a puddle.
Donald has the leash. She immediately goes down. You saw her whole face. It was too hot for her. You’ve got to go. Over and out.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, Dr. Moore. We always love having you on the show. Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State, dog dad to Travis, Tucker, and Teddy, and author of one of my new favorite books, Unleashing the Bond. It’s available on Amazon. You’ll love it. You’ll learn a lot. You’ll cry a little bit, but you’ll also get some good veterinary advice. I love that part of it. Janet, let’s wrap it up. This is Dr. Alice Novotny Jeromin from Cleveland, Ohio.
This is Janet Novotny King from Cleveland, Ohio, saying thanks for tuning in. Give your pets extra biscuits for us, and an extra hug.
Important Links
About Dr. Rustin Moore
A distinguished veterinarian, author, and lifelong advocate for the transformative power of the human–animal bond. Growing up on a small farm in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia, he learned early how animals shape lives—a passion that has guided his nearly four-decade career.
Recognized globally for his leadership, scholarship, and mentorship, he serves as the 11th dean of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and the inaugural Rita Jean Wolfe Endowed Dean.
Author of Unleashing the Bond: Harnessing the Power of Human–Animal Interactions and its companion, Unlocking the Bond: The Power and Paradox of Human–Animal Interactions, Dr. Moore blends science, storytelling, and heart to illuminate the connections that enrich and heal both people and animals. Through his work, he inspires others to protect, preserve, and promote these enduring bonds.