Talking Couch Potatoes

This fortnight we're talking about a tiny parasite causing a very big problem 🪱🔬
We're joined by Dr James Routledge, a veterinarian in northern New South Wales who is helping local rescue Friends of The Hound tackle treatment-resistant hookworm in their rescued greyhounds.
James has been caring for greyhounds for decades 🩺 from a vet practice in Auckland in the '80s, to the Gold Coast near the Tweed Heads track, to heading a large veterinary hospital in Hong Kong and Macau.
These days he's pleased to say he only looks after the rescue hounds 💚
In this episode, James breaks down:
🪱 What hookworm actually is, and the sneaky ways it spreads (yes, it can burrow in through paws and bellies😕)
💊 How some hookworm now resists all three families of dog wormers (anthelmintics) available in Australia
🏚️ Why crowded kennels on sandy soil in warm, humid climates have created the "perfect storm"
🔦 Why it's only coming to light now, as ex-racers come into our homes instead of disappearing
🐶 Why greyhounds are the "sentinels", and why this is now an issue for ALL dogs
✅ What adopters can do: the simple before-and-after poo test (fecal egg count) to ask your vet about
Plus Mel asks why WA's racing regulator, aware of hookworm in rehomed dogs for years, still isn't testing at the source 🧐
And we've got three big dates in Perth for your diary 📅
🌱 World Vegan Day – Sunday 1 November, Supreme Court Gardens
🏳️‍🌈 Pride Fair Day – Sunday 8 November, Wellington Square (word is Freda Hound and Sherlock Houndz may drop by 👀)🥫 Our annual Tin Shake – Friday 4 December, Murray Street Mall (coins, notes or tap – every bit helps!)

We're back 🙌
...and what a guest to return with!

Kayley is a graphic designer, content creator and founder of The Long Dog Club, a creative advocacy community celebrating greyhounds as companions. She's also mum to Chilli 🌶️, the good boy whose online antics have inspired people to adopt a greyhound of their own 🥹

In this episode:
🤩 Adopting Chilli...love at first sight! And how he became President of The Long Dog Club
🗺️ The first interactive and inclusive map of greyhound adoption programs across Australia & NZ
🤝 Why everyone has a role to play, and how we need to unite as greyhound advocates

Plus Mel catches us up on the WA inquiry (still waiting ⏳), South Australia's Perna Report and Queensland's step backwards 😤

👉 Visit The Long Dog Club and follow @chilli.thegrehound🐾

#TalkingCouchPotatoes #FreeTheHounds #EndGreyhoundRacing #RescuedNotRetired #LongDogClub

A very personal episode. We sit down with Dr Ann Hakara Holdsworth, veterinarian and founder of Pets at Peace - Home Vet, a gentle home euthanasia and palliative care service for our furry family members 🕊️

Dr Ann is the vet who came to Matt's home the day he said goodbye to his beloved Princess, Bunny. Her first words at the door were "do you need a hug?" and honestly, that tells you everything about how she does this work 🤍

In this episode, Dr Ann shares:
🐦 Why she became a vet in the first place (spoiler: baby birds!)
😿 The loss of her own beloved cat, Kimmy...and the night that reshaped her entire approach to end-of-life care
⏰ Why it is kinder to be a week too early than a day too late
✨ The "three spunkies and still eating" rule, a beautifully simple way to gauge when it might be time
🧊 The iceberg effect..."nothing to see here".
🏡 Her whole model of care: peace over perfection, every single time

Plus Mel brings the latest WA injury figures and they are grim 😔, we sit in the silence from the inquiry 🦗, Matt urges you to hound your MP 📣, and we meet Goofy, our Foster of the Fortnight who badly needs out of kennels 🐕

💛 A gentle heads up: this episode covers pet loss, grief and euthanasia. Be kind to yourself while you listen.
🕊️ Find Dr Ann here
🏡 Could you foster or adopt? Goofy and Zeus are both still waiting. Reach out to Greyhound Adoptions WA
🍽️ Huge thanks to our podcast sponsor Sprinkles and Sprouts

Rescued, not retired 🐾

#TalkingCouchPotatoes #FreeTheHounds #EndGreyhoundRacing #AnimalAdvocacy #PetsAtPeace #PetLoss #RescuedNotRetired

Seventy episodes in, and we've marked it with one of the most remarkable conversations we've had!

Michelle Carr first joined us back in Episode 48, sitting firmly on the other side of the fence. A welder by trade, dog enthusiast by nature, deep into ethology, breed history and genetics...she came on to make the case for racing.

Then she reflected. Listened back. Started examining her arguments, going right through the stewards' reports, the economics and the research, until she'd written a full piece of her own: 📄 Public Costs, Private Industry.

In this episode, Michelle discusses some of what she found:

🧵 Unravelling arguments
🏭 An industry consolidating
💸Gambling Harm and demographics
🐕 The "greyhounds will go extinct!" trope, dismantled
🧠 And her advice for anyone still sitting on the fence

Plus
💔 Mel and Matt on the shocking death of a dog exercised behind a quad bike
📣 why right now - with the inquiry report due - is the moment to talk to your local MP, and
🐶 Foster of the Fortnight Zeus, a gorgeous black houndy mix who badly needs out of kennels and into a couch. 🛋️
🙏 Special thanks to our podcast sponsor Sprinkles and Sprouts — delicious food made with grocery store ingredients
🐾 Want to meet Zeus? Get in touch with Greyhound Adoptions WA

#TalkingCouchPotatoes #FreeTheHounds #EndGreyhoundRacing #AnimalAdvocacy

We are thrilled to bring you Stephen Walters - independent economist with Optimal Economics, and author of the very first Cost-Benefit Analysis of Greyhound Racing in WA (2026), commissioned by Animals Australia 📊

Perth-raised and now Sydney-based, Stephen started with a blank sheet of paper 📄, trawled through budget papers, audited annual reports and ABS data, followed the money trail 💰... and what he found blows the industry's "economic benefit" claims clean out of the water.

In this episode, Stephen breaks down:
💸 Why WA is set to LOSE around $36 million in economic value from greyhound racing this year alone
🎰 The $110+ million in gambling harm that industry-sponsored studies conveniently leave out of their economic studies
🏛️ The estimated $39+ million this year of YOUR taxes propping up prize money, breeding bonuses and track upgrades
📉 A cost-benefit ratio of just 0.79 - spend $100, get only $79 of value back (odds no punter would take! 🙅)

Plus 🐾 Mel introduces our Foster of the Fortnight, Red ❤️ a sweet, shy two-year-old boy looking for his forever family through Greyhound Adoptions WA ...and Matt opens proceedings with his best Summer of (Episode) '69 serenade 🎸😅

Read about the report here 👉 https://animalsaustralia.org/our-work/greyhound-racing/greyhound-racing-in-western-australia-is-costing-community-millions/

Special thanks to our awesome podcast sponsor Sprinkles and Sprouts 🌱https://www.sprinklesandsprouts.com/

#TalkingCouchPotatoes #FreeTheHounds #EndGreyhoundRacing #AnimalsAustralia