Happier News...Mostly
Happy Friday. As promised we are here to provide some better news today after the rough economic update from last week. Today is also a lot more on the animal world than the human/market world. Hope you enjoy the read and this newsletter brings a smile to your face.
—CN & JB
Company Performance (6/17 - 6/23)
After a rough week last week, stocks have rebounded a bit. Though tough times are still ahead.
Embracing Animalistic Perceptions of the World
(Source: GIPHY)
In a new book by Ed Young, writes about the vastly different sensory experiences of animals. In an interview with NPR, Young talks about how our animal co-habitants can teach us how to experience the world from a different point of view. While we haven’t read the book, the interview definietely sparked some interest. Seeing sound in 3-D sounds trippy but could be used by some pop artist as their next ablum title.
Shelter Adoption Need Stories abound
(Image Source: Shelter Animal Counts)
If you have taken a look at any major news outlet this past week you might have noticed multiple reports of full shelters and needs for adoption. Definitely a reversal from the news of two years ago when shelters were reportedly empty. Much of the stated cause of the the increase in shelter populations is the crunch everyone is feeling from inflation and increasing costs of other staples. From Hawaii to Texas to North Carolina, everyone is throwing adoption parties. Our pups are one dog only households unfortunately (for now?!). A check up on national statistics suggests that intakes are higher than adoptions by a decent margin, but nothing that hasn’t been experienced throughout the last couple years.
How Elephants Help Fight Climate Change
(Source: GIPHY)
With all the discussion around animal agriculture and cow farts/burps - never thought that I would need to clarify those two stands of research - it is good to see that the macrobiologial world is getting some positive news coverage. In a recent study about the effects of large mammals on the effects of climate change, researchers argue that large wild herbivores do impact landscpaes in a way that help combat climate change. Even those in the ocean! Yes, even the majestic whale family can benefit the climate. It goes to show that wildlife conservation is key to battling one of the biggest challenges of our time. Maybe Jumanji was onto something with all those animals running around in a neighorhood…
Economy Update
Well I think it’s safe to say that a lot has happened with the economy over the last week. Inflation and the aggressive response by the Fed to bring down demand through interest rate hikes seem to be having visable affects on people’s choices now. When it comes to food and staple goods (which correlates well with spending on pets), people are trying their hardest to stop the fad diets and eating out. Almost like the pandemic is starting all over again…sourdough bread for the comeback??
In case you need a sourdough starter here is the one we used. See the end of the newsletter for some of our favorite sourdough recipes.
But in all seriousness, this trend is showing up in the decline in visits to veterinarians and the flat growth in revenue as reported by VetSuccess. It’s time to start thinking about what the industry needs to do in order to brace for a coming recession. Remember, the industry may have been pandemic proof but it is not recession proof. Expectations around the coming economic downturn and decline in vet visits mirrors that of the Great Recession era of veterinary medicine. Let’s hope that it just doesn’t last 5+ years like it did then.
Grab Bag
Pets are Stress relievers - In a new survey of pet owners, it was found that 95% of us rely on our pets for stress relief. And most of us prefer that over mindless Netflix binging the latest Tiger King.
Monkey Pox Continues to Rise - Could our next pandemic begin before the last one is really over? According to the World Health Network, the rising number of monkeypox cases should already be considered a pandemic. More countries are identifying cases and creating concerns about how to curb the spread.
Heat Stress and Cattle Deaths - In case you missed it last week, the extreme heat that moved slower across the midwest than George R. R. Martin on the last two Game of Thrones books killed at least 2000 cattle in Kansas alone. This can’t be good news for already high costs of beef at the grocery store.
Sourdough recipes to make on the regular:
Waffles - Clint makes these every weekend. Store in freezer bags. Turn oven to 350 F and pop in frozen waffle while the oven is heating up and it will be ready! If using a toaster over, I pop in like a normal oven but find it needs up to 5 minutes once it hits 350 to be warmed through.
Biscuits - who doesn’t like a warm flaky biscuit? Make it sourdough and it is even better!