Good Wednesday morning. The middle of the week is upon us – SO FAST!
Pet ownership in the U.S. has reportedly reached an all-time high, with an estimated 70 percent of households across the nation reporting that they’re sharing their space with some sort of creature – furry, finned, scaled or otherwise.
This is likely in part due to a surge during the pandemic, when people who were locked down and desperate for some sort of diversion and also with time on their hands for training, care and feeding etc., decided to finally take the pet plunge.
Of course, there are some very disturbing reports of people deciding to give up their new animal friends now that the worst of the Covid crisis is (maybe?) passed. I don’t even want to entertain this. It makes me too sad.
However, digging deeper suggests that those reports were vastly overblown. Here’s some encouraging news from ASPCA that the vast majority of Covid puppies and kitties are still in their forever homes, for example, and another report that seeks to set the record straight on shelter returns.
Phew.
Pets, by the way, are big business. Americans spent $21.4 billion on non-medical pet products through November of last year, plus another $28.4 billion on dog food, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.
Also, Rover, which, for the uninitiated, is an online platform that matches pet owners in need with overnight boarding and dog-sitting services, has been reporting record revenue since the onset of the pandemic.
The cost of caring for a pet is also a consideration for owners when they are struggling to feed the human members of their families as prices for food and other necessities continue to rise.
Pets do eat a lot – especially if they’re on the larger side. But we also might be loving them to death by overfeeding them, dramatically putting them at risk for a whole host of health problems and inadvertently shortening their lives.
The prevalence of overweight and obese pets has reached epidemic levels in the U.S., according to surveys conducted by Banfield Vet Hospital, which has more than 1,000 general veterinary hospitals in 42 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Mexico.
Sadly, this isn’t a “Covid 15” situation, but rather one that predates the coronavirus quarantines.
In fact, over the past decade Banfield saw a whopping 108 percent increase in dogs diagnosed as overweight or obese, rising from 16 percent in 2011 to 34 percent in 2020. The increase in cats was even more alarming – 114 percent, almost doubling from 18 percent in 2011 to 38 percent in 2020.
It just so happens to be National Pet Obesity Day, which is held to raise awareness about the dangers of allowing your furever friend to carry around excess pounds. If you are curious about how much your dog should weigh, BTW, check this handy chart.
Generally speaking, pets need what humans need to be fit and healthy – a balanced diet and regular exercise. I know there’s a lot of debate over what to feed a dog, in particular. Raw? Grain-free? Canned? With supplements?
I’m not even going to touch this because I know from personal experience just how passionate true believers can be. Just try to be reasonable, and know that as much as your pet might seem to dislike it – and I know how insistent they can get about their food – restricting their diet to ensure they maintain a healthy weight is the best for them in the long run.
It keeps them around longer. And who doesn’t want that?
Today would be a GLORIOUS day for getting in some steps with your favorite pooch. (Just be sure to check for ticks when you get home, they’re brutal around this time of year). We’ll have partly cloudy skies and temperatures flirting with 70 degrees.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden said that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “rational actor” who nonetheless badly misjudged his ability to invade Ukraine and suppress its people.
Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a deluge of Russian missiles targeted cities across Ukraine, condemning the strikes and pledging continued US security assistance “including advanced air defense systems.”
For all of the assurances, there remains a problem. Kyiv also needs more of the Russian-style weapons that the Ukrainian military is trained to use, and the available global supply of them is running low.
Biden feels that the US’ relationship with Saudi Arabia needs to be re-evaluated in the wake of the OPEC+ decision last week to decrease oil production, a National Security Council spokesman said.
Days before a major oil-production cut by OPEC and its Russia-led allies, U.S. officials called their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and other big Gulf producers with an urgent appeal—delay the decision for another month. The answer: a resounding no.
The president said he doesn’t believe there will be a recession in the near future and if there is, he expects it to be a “slight” economic dip.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell yesterday in volatile trading, upended by Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey’s remark that the U.K. central bank’s plan to rescue pension funds hit by interest-rate increases will end as scheduled Friday.
For the first time, Biden during a CNN interview addressed his son’s exposure to possible criminal charges for allegedly lying on a gun-purchase application, but he said he was proud of Hunter Biden for confronting his struggles with drug addiction.
Biden said Hunter Biden is “on the straight and narrow” and denied his offspring committed a gun-purchase crime that the US attorney in Delaware reportedly is considering charging.
It will be a birthday like no other in White House history when Biden turns 80 next month. But those inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. are not keen on having a blow-out celebration.
The Biden administration is proposing a new rule that could put more gig workers on company payrolls, scrapping a Trump administration rule from 2021 that made it easier for firms to classify workers as independent contractors.
Thousands of officials across the government’s executive branch reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
The White House called for three Los Angeles city council members to resign after the release of a recorded conversation they participated in where one used racist language, and California’s AG said his office is considering whether to investigate the incident.
Los Angeles residents flooded into their City Council meeting yesterday, demanding the resignation of three lawmakers — one of whom was caught on tape making racist comments to the other two.
Republicans in competitive House and Senate districts are hitting Democrats with a barrage of ads focused on voters’ increased fears about the surge in violent crime in recent years, with the issue playing a central role in many tight races.
House Republicans are fielding a slate of 67 Black, Latino, Asian or Native American candidates on the ballot in November, by the party’s count, raising an opportunity to change the composition of a conference that now has only a dozen members of color.
New York has nine of its 26 House seats in play this November – more than any other state but California.
Asian stocks wallowed at two-year lows today, weighed by signs China had no immediate plans to ease strict COVID curbs while an unrelenting dollar rally and wobbles in the U.K. bond market and pound shook global investor sentiment.
New variants of the rapidly mutating coronavirus are popping up around the world, and a new iteration of COVID on the rise in Asia may be the most immune-evasive yet. The XBB strain is causing a small surge in cases in countries like Bangladesh and Singapore.
Vaccine experts are pushing back on an analysis published by Florida’s surgeon general that warns COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of cardiac-related deaths in young men, calling the study poorly designed and dangerously misleading.
U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Sarah Lovenheim called Ladapo’s analysis flawed and a far cry from science.
AstraZeneca PLC produced one of the world’s most widely used Covid-19 vaccines. As demand for the shot ebbs, the company is betting on tackling breast cancer and a different respiratory virus.
For millions of people, medium COVID – a stretch that lasts for about 12 weeks after you get sick – is as bad as it gets.
Thousands of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 among Medicare recipients were avoided in New York due to the widespread use of the vaccine, a report released this month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found.
A court case brought by state Republican and Conservative leaders that is challenging a law change that has allowed voters to use absentee ballots if they fear contracting COVID-19 is set to be argued this morning in state Supreme Court in Ballston Spa.
The Big Apple’s halting return to the office following the coronavirus shutdown is gaining steam – with occupancy rates jumping by nearly 12 percentage points in just the last month, new statistics show.
Ongoing monitoring of wastewater in the New York City metropolitan area has found repeated evidence of poliovirus in sewage, the state Department of Health announced.
The shooting of two teenagers directly outside his Long Island home has given Rep. Lee Zeldin, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, an opportunity to push his tough-on-crime message within a personal frame.
“This is an issue that Lee Zeldin should be talking about every single day,” Tom Doherty, a Republican consultant with Mercury, told City & State. “This event outside his house gives him the opportunity to keep talking about it.”
The incident marks the second violent crime to impact Zeldin in the last three months, as he was assaulted at a campaign event in Monroe County back in July.
Recently retired Brooklyn College Economics Prof. Robert Cherry says he has never voted Republican, but is “deeply troubled” by the Democratic Party and supports Zeldin for governor.
Many political observers, including Republicans, don’t see how Zeldin can obtain the winning coalition of independents and moderate Democrats that brought George Pataki that first success in 1994.
Hochul directed the state Division of Human Rights to investigate the Connetquot schools after LGBTQ advocates alleged the district violated the state’s Dignity for All Students Act when it banned Pride flags from being displayed in a high school classroom.
Elected sheriffs in New York are skeptical of the state’s new concealed carry law, questioning whether it will keep people safe and pointing to confusion over its enforcement amid multiple legal challenges.
State University of New York programming, staff and services could face steep cuts across its 64 public campuses without higher state funding to help offset multimillion-dollar budget gaps expected at most of its upstate facilities.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer agreed to a Spectrum News debate with his GOP challenger Joseph Pinion on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. The state comptroller candidates – incumbent Tom DiNapoli and his GOP challenger Paul Rodríguez – will debate on Oct. 19.
Mayor Eric Adams signed legislation establishing how the city will make Times Square a gun-free zone even as the state law underpinning the policy was overturned in federal court.
Adams signed the bills even as the designation remains in legal limbo due to a recent ruling from a federal judge in upstate New York.
“Millions of New Yorkers and tourists flock to Times Square to see Broadway shows,” Adams said. “…we will not allow them to live in fear or distrust that someone is walking around with a gun ready to harm them.”
Four days after calling on the state and federal governments to step up efforts to assist New York City in managing its burgeoning asylum seeker crisis, Adams said that neither has committed any additional help to the Big Apple.
The Big Apple will soon have emergency shelters for migrants in “every community” — and residents should expect them to open without warning, Adams said.
Upstate New York communities could play a role in providing housing to some of the thousands of migrants who have flooded into New York City in recent weeks, according to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
More people are living in New York City shelters than at any point in decades, according to figures released by the city’s Homeless Services Department, underscoring an escalating crisis related in part to the surge in the number of asylum seekers.
A Manhattan public school with just one certified bilingual teacher is reeling under the weight of a sudden influx of migrant students who don’t speak any English.
Two planes carrying a total of 48 unaccompanied migrant teens landed at the Orange County Airport Friday, taking officials by surprise, with some of the teens being sent to Kingston, according to Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus.
October baseball in New York City is expected to generate at least $93 million in economic activity for the city, Adams, a Mets fan, announced.
The Big 12 Conference tweeted out a photo yesterday afternoon showing Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark delivering a KU Football jersey to Adams. The caption: “New York City Mayor Eric Adams now knows Kansas is a brand.”
The Adams administration is reopening the city’s subsidized childcare program to applications from low-income residents across all five boroughs after clearing a hefty backlog of priority cases.
The rapid growth of deliveries by e-commerce websites like Amazon have over the last decade sparked a rise in trucks and vans clogging New York City streets — and elected officials are scrambling to find a solution.
Killings in the New York City subway system since 2020 have skyrocketed to the highest annual levels in 25 years, even amid plummeting ridership numbers, as the city grapples with an overall spike in random violence, NYPD data show.
An alleged member of the neon-cloaked “Green Goblin” gang accused of pummeling two 19-year-old women on a Times Square subway train was released without bail yesterday — with her lawyer insisting she didn’t do anything wrong.
Fed up with an increase in crime and pro-criminal policies, former top NYPD official and retired judge George Grasso plans to challenge incumbent Melinda Katz in next year’s Democratic primary for Queens district attorney.
In the first nine months of this year, New York City fielded almost 21,600 rat complaints, a tally about 74% higher than the count reported at the same point in 2020, according to rattling government data.
“A Strange Loop,” the winner of this year’s Tony Award for best musical, will close on Broadway on Jan. 15, after a short run that reflects the industry’s ongoing pandemic-related struggles and the challenges of marketing an unconventional musical.
New York state officials honored 11 firefighters who died in the line of duty by adding their names to the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Albany.
Superintendent Kaweeda Adams, who has led the Albany school district for six years, said she will depart in January for a statewide job advocating for students.
An independent redistricting commission has incorrectly drawn new district lines for the Ulster County Legislature, according to New York state law, and local Democrats dissatisfied with the redistricting process are threatening to sue.
Discover Albany announced a new Halloween festival will be haunting downtown Albany next year. The month-long All-Hallow E’en Festival is resurrecting and reimagining Albany’s All-Hallow E’en Carnival, a legendary yet fleeting festival from over a century ago.
Meteorologist Tim Drawbridge is leaving News10ABC to accept a job leading communications for the City of Glens Falls.
A $100,977 state award will help restore and eventually reopen the Cohoes Public Library building, closed since the summer of 2021 after pieces of the external bluestone façade fell onto the sidewalk.
Three Capital Region companies are finalists in a business commercialization contest held by Albany-based FuzeHub that is offering a grand prize of $150,000 to the winner.
Two scientists will share the 21st Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for their discoveries in gene regulation, according to a hospital news release.
Prosecutors in Baltimore have dropped the murder charges against Adnan Syed after DNA evidence cleared him of the crime in a case that drew national attention after it was featured on the podcast “Serial.”
The fate of Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 at his former high school in Parkland, Fla., will soon be in the hands of a jury, after prosecutors and defense lawyers made closing arguments over whether he should spend life in prison or be put to death.
Angela Lansbury, a formidable actress who captivated Hollywood in her youth, became a Broadway musical sensation in middle age and then drew millions of fans as a widowed mystery writer on the TV series “Murder, She Wrote,” died at the age of 96.
Eileen Ryan, a stage, TV and film actress who paused her career to raise her sons, the actors Sean and Chris Penn and the musician Michael Penn, then later racked up dozens of acting credits, died at the age of 94.
