Cattitude

Jumping for Nine Lives: Joey Luthman's Million-Dollar Mission for Cats

BIO:

Transcript:

Hello, feline friends, welcome to Cattitude. I'm your show host, Michelle Fern. And wow, what an amazing show we have for you today.

Not only is my guest going to do so much good for animals, he is an interesting and charismatic guy, you probably know of him. And what he's doing is amazing. Like, whatever that mind blown little emoji.

That's what I'm thinking right now. So what are we talking about? Stay tuned. We'll be right back.

Welcome back, everyone. I'd like to welcome Joey Luthman to Cattitude. Welcome, Joey.

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to have you. So the mind blowing thing that I alluded to in my intro is that you are going to do something really special to raise money for Every Cat Health Foundation to help with chronic kidney disease, which happens to cats, unfortunately.

But before we get in for people that might not recognize your name, can you give us a little background on yourself? Yeah, I'm an actor. I'm a filmmaker. I grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and moved out here for the entertainment industry with my family when I was younger.

And I've had a lot of success doing lots of TV shows, some movies, and now I'm the one making them. I'm making short films, music videos, feature films. I have such a passion for, you know, creating art.

And my first entry into the entertainment industry is, of course, acting. And so I love performing in front of the camera, but I also love creating a story behind the camera. So I found a love for cinematography as well.

And so that meld the two really nicely into all acts of life that I've been, you know, been a part of and the projects that I've been creating, which takes me into the stuff that I'm doing now with Every Cat Health Foundation. I have been working with them for over a year now, and they are amazing. I know you were in Weeds and many other shows that you've transitioned behind the scenes.

I watched the whole series, by the way. Weeds is fabulous. Yeah, it's a great show.

So you were going to talk about what led you to being so passionate about canoe scenes. But you also have this amazing goal to actually, with a pogo stick, handless pogo, I can barely walk and not fall on the floor. I'm a little klutzy.

I actually tripped over a dryer sheet. And I was limping because my whole leg, people say, dryer sheet, people say, you know, yeah, your whole leg was black and blue. It really was a dryer sheet.

So can you imagine me on a pogo without, I would be like, break something for sure. And you never know unless you try. Maybe it's easier somehow.

Okay, we're going to get into that. That's the mind-blowing thing. We're going to talk about that more.

But first, and this is, I'm so sorry to hear this. You lost your cat, Wynter, to chronic kidney disease a couple of years ago. What was this experience like? What made you say, you know, I have to do something about this? Well, it struck me very intensely because it came out of nowhere.

As someone who has been a cat owner for many years with Wynter and with previous cats in our family growing up, you know, I had never heard of this, which is surprising because it is a very common illness. Chronic kidney disease, you know, takes, unfortunately, the lives of cats 80% of the time over the age of 15 and Wynter was 15. And so it was, unfortunately, almost one of those things that you expect to happen because the odds are that high.

But I didn't know about it. And cats are very good at hiding their symptoms. So I didn't see anything wrong with Wynter until the last 48 hours before he passed.

It was that fast. We took him to the vet that night. He was in the hospital.

And then the next day, they said that he wasn't getting any better. And so as someone who didn't know about any of this, this was a very big surprise and a very big shock. So, you know, it really hit me hard for a while.

And then my friend lost his cat the following year to cancer. And so it altogether, it made me realize, you know, I want to do something. I want to do something to help cats, to help cat owners know at least a little bit more about what to expect in the later years of a cat's life and to get cats, you know, tested early on so that they can detect.

Every cat is a big advocate about that as well. Detecting early on signs of chronic kidney disease. There are ways to slow it down.

There is no cure currently. And that's what I'm working towards with this whole goal. But there are ways to slow it down.

Okay. You're working with Every Cat Health Foundation. What do they do? They are amazing.

They have been in the business of helping cats, furthering the research side and the medicine side of health for cats since 1968. And they've raised over $11 million of working towards breakthroughs. They've been one of the leading teams to have a breakthrough in, I believe, curing a form of FIP in cats, which is a very serious illness that has been developing in recent years.

And they are big on advocating for early signs of detection for all kinds of things, including chronic kidney disease. So I reached out to them because they have such a history. And I knew that the money donated for my crazy adventures would be going directly towards the research that would matter through Every Cat Health Foundation.

Okay. Thank you. And you set an enormous goal of a million dollars, but I'm just blown away about pogo sticks.

Last year, you rode a one-wheeled bike across America to raise awareness. What made you decide, yeah, I'm going to ride a unicycle across the country for cats. And how are you that balance? You must have a great balance.

Well, I know it always is confusing. I know it sounds like it would be a unicycle. It actually is not a unicycle, but it's a very common, understandably misconception.

A one-wheel is a skateboard. It's an electric skateboard with one wheel. So I still have to have really good balance.

That's still hard. That is still very much the case. Yeah.

But it was intense. It was sort of a goal of mine that I've had for a long time, well before I had lost winter. This was something that I thought about as a fun challenge, as a fun goal that would be once in a lifetime trip.

And the cause working towards with Every Cat, and after losing winter, this was sort of all coming together in my life as a way to be a big challenge over a long period of time to raise a lot of money and get a lot of eyes on it. Something that's fun about these stunts that I do is that they get a lot of attention. And that's exactly what we need when we're raising a lot of money.

And you also turn that adventure into a film, a documentary, Catman, Journey to Save the Catkind. Yes, that's right. It is a beautiful film that my lovely friends Dylan and Alison Snyder made.

We're all filmmakers and all actors. We all grew up together on different shows on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. And now we're all loving filmmaking.

And we've been making films together for a very long time, over 10 years at this point. And this was just a great way to use our skills to turn this whole journey and fundraising campaign into a documentary for other people to enjoy and to spread the word. Was there at any point during that journey that you maybe thought, what in the world made me think I could do this? Many times, many times.

Then you're saying so, okay. But I think it's great, though, and amazing. I mean, it's always good to set a giant goal and just, you know, like anything, probably, you know, take it off in chunks.

Was there? Well, I don't want you to upset any states. I was about to say, were there any places that you were like, oh, what am I doing skateboarding through this area? Well, you know, not people, but like, like scary or weird. Like when I drove across the country, I moved from LA to back to Florida.

Oh, yeah. That's a distance to never end. I know you could be driving through Texas for 15 hours and still be in Texas.

Yes. Wild is so, so large. Well, I will say, man, you know, when I think about it, and maybe this is just me because I take away the positive side of things.

There was such amazing scenery across this country, the beautiful landscapes. I mean, I was going at the perfect time of year as the summer was going into fall, and it was just magical. I have to say, going through New Mexico and, you know, different parts of, let's see, Kansas and Missouri, all the way up into Pennsylvania was beautiful.

Going into New York, the whole country all across was just magical. I would say the only time, and even still, it had its highlights, I will say, because I find joy in all of it. But the only time that I felt like I was really struggling to find new videos to post and something unique, because I would make a video every day, and I would post it on my socials, but something that, you know, was struggling when I was going through the panhandle of Oklahoma, that one was a little tricky because it was very flat, and there was hardly anything going on, except a couple of large trucks going by every now and then, you know.

So it was a struggle. I would see a cow every now and then, which was very exciting. Oh, geez.

But that one was pretty rough because we were going, it was the longest part, we were going through the whole panhandle of Oklahoma, and it took about a week. So it was a week of that. So that was probably the lull of the exciting part of the trip.

But even then, I found ways to enjoy it and, you know, find it interesting. Yeah. That's amazing.

I cannot wait to talk about what you're going to do next. So everyone stay tuned. We'll be right back after this message from our sponsor.

Welcome back, everyone. We're talking to Joey Loopman. So now, Joey, you are set on taking on a Guinness World Record.

That's right. With the attempt to do on a hands-free pogo stick. That's just like, you're just jumping, there's nothing to hold on to.

What is the current record? The current record was set by Abigail Webster in 2021. It was 16,100 jumps over the course of two hours and 28 minutes. Wow.

Well, if anybody has the stamina and ability to do this after the one wheel across the country, I think it's you. So what made you decide to do this for the fundraiser? I have had an unusual love for pogo sticks since I was a child. And I've always wanted to be in the world record book for a pogo stick record.

Ever since I was 13, I had it in my mind that that's what I wanted to do. But I never really went through the process to make it happen or to really go for it seriously and to train for it until now, you know, this felt like the perfect opportunity. After coming off the one wheel trip across the country, I wanted to keep pushing and doing more exciting things to raise money to get to our million dollar goal for Every Cat Health Foundation.

So I thought, well, this has been a lifelong goal of mine. Why not do it now? And so I've had this, you know, unusual talent to be able to jump on a pogo stick with no hands and hold on to it with just my legs. So I figured, why not go for the full thing, go for the record.

That's incredible. So how do you even begin to, I can't even imagine practicing, I can get on a bicycle, that's fine. But a pogo stick, I've never attempted and I'd probably fall and break something.

I know me, but I'm so excited to hear about you. How do you prepare for this? You know, there's a lot of different ways, a lot of different ways to go for it. You know, there's a lot of training and working out different muscles because you're using your legs more than your hands.

You're not touching it at all. It's just your legs and your feet. So strengthening the leg muscles and, you know, working that out and the core.

There's a lot of, you know, muscles just within the core, stomach as well. You're like holding onto and clenching tight. But really, the only training that I've been doing most of the time has just been jumping on the pogo stick and trying to go further and further to see how far I can go.

And as of now, I've actually beaten the record at home so that I know that I can do it on the day officially. But unofficially at home, I have beaten the record. So I have gone two and a half hours, over 16,100 jumps.

And so my goal is to hit 20,000 jumps. And that way, you know, I'm for sure going to be well over the record. It'll hold that record for a while.

But what I love about it too is there are other kids out there like me when I was 13 that open up the record book, see a record and think, man, I want to do that. And so my goal is to hopefully have somebody be inspired by my 20,000 goal and be like, man, I'll go for 30,000 and that, you know, just push it further for the next generation. I love that.

And what is the actual date of your attempt? Because people might be listening to the show after and so we want the date so that and where they could maybe see the recording of all the jumps. We're going to be doing the world record attempt on September 19. So depending on when you're listening to this might already have happened, and I've already done it.

But you will be able to see the highlights from the day we're going to have a big event with live comedy as well, and a lot of food and merch and all kinds of people showing up to support. So all the highlights from that day of the jumping and the comedy is all going to be up on my Instagram page, which is just my name, which is just at Joey Luthman with no space. But yeah, on my Instagram, you'll be able to see all the highlights from the day.

Okay. And for those of you that are like, Hmm, I wonder when, how far in advance this was planned. We're actually recording on the 14th.

I'm going to try to bribe my producer, see what we can to get this posted after. But I know that people listen to Cattitude at all times. I've had people that listen to a show and will tell me, What about this? And it's a show I did four years ago.

It's coming on 10 years where it's nine years of Cattitude. So I'm grateful. Now let's talk again about the whole reason for this exciting challenge.

So it's for CKD, which if you don't know, it's chronic kidney disease in felines. And can you talk? I know you can only talk from a cat parent view. And I know that we talked about cats as stoic creatures.

We've talked about that a lot on Cattitude. But what can you tell people that are listening to this as far as you know, what, from your perspective as a cat parent, what to be aware of and what you can do? And, you know, what, even though there's no cure, what's possible? What's the outcome? So people are getting this outcome now they're not, you know, oh my gosh, or there's potential to for my cat to live a little bit longer. Yeah, the biggest thing with kidneys is water is hydration, you know, something that we all fall into, if you just don't know, or if you were told something else when you were younger, and you just do that your whole life, with the food that cats eat, or the type of, you know, feeding and drinking that they the habits that they have can play into their condition later down the line.

And you won't know because I mean, you're not seeing what's going on, because they don't show it. And maybe you weren't told about it. But water is a big, big deal.

One of our sponsors for the event is a company called Cat Years. And they are amazing because they have a treat that cats can eat, like it's a little like gel that they can like eat and snack on, but it has water built into it. And that's one of their biggest things that they encourage, which with education is that cats get a lot of their water through food, not just from drinking water, but it's more efficient, if they eat their water, I guess, so to speak.

And that's what a lot of companies like Cat Years have done is incorporate the hydration element into the eating and it encourages them to intake more water. And it's just it's just a healthier way because that early on, especially when they're really young is a great way to prevent more problems down the line. And of course, there is no cure right now.

But I think staying on top of that with vet visits for early detection as well, especially from ages one to five, especially, or even younger, is a great way to stay on top of it. And to potentially get more years with your with your cat. Thank you for that.

I know another and this isn't any particular product. But see, my cats are all water drinkers. But that's because I had dogs also up there.

Yeah. And doggy heaven or, you know, somewhere special for them. But my cats got used to fountains.

Yeah. So cats like moving water. So And that's perfect, too.

I always see all three of them. And guess what? They all like a different fountain. So I have a whole lineup.

Oh, wow. So it sounds like it's raining in my house kind of all the time. They're very particular.

One likes it dripping with Dennis likes that it like falls over like a waterfall with disco lights. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, Charlotte's afraid of it. So she she has the fountain with least movement. And and Molly likes her own but she's something that looks like a flower with water falling from Cats are very particular.

You know, they can choose. Yeah. And that brings me to a great point because our other sponsor for the event is Brook glass pet fountains.

They do just that they promote that exact thing because, you know, glasses is an antibacterial sort of material that sort of it is is, you know, good material for keeping clean. But it's also got that moving water just like you're talking about. It stimulates that part of their brain that says, you know, this is exciting.

I want this and and it has elevation to it. Sometimes cats like to drink it from up top. Sometimes it's down below.

And so they've been on top of that. And so they're one of our sponsors. So it's very perfect that you mentioned that because it's very true.

Cats, cats are different to dogs in certain ways like that, where they like it, you know, flowing or moving or they or not as much depending on on the cat. But yeah, it depends on it. But we've said more than one time, many, many times on this show that cats are not small dogs.

Cats are cats. No, exactly. They are their own species.

That's right. Yes, they are who they are. OK, so, Joey, you know, you've turned the heartbreak of losing your precious cat winter.

And I'm so sorry for your loss into a mission that could potentially help millions of cats. So what would it mean to you to hit that one million dollar goal? Because besides from the Guinness World World Record that you want to break, and I'm sure you're going to do it. What about that hitting that goal? What would that mean? And then also, how can our Cattitude audience help? Well, you can absolutely help by by spreading the word of my mission, my Instagram, TikTok, everything is at Joey Luthman.

We have a website that will have information about film screenings for our film Catman, which is Catman film dot com. And you'll find out how much we raised and where the film is screening next and how you can have your own film screening as well to help spread the word. But the million dollars hitting that million dollars for me means so much because, you know, ultimately, that is a fraction of what is really ultimately needed to push to the next level years and years and years to come.

But that is a very big step towards hitting that cure goal of curing chronic kidney disease and other illnesses like cancer and, you know, et cetera, et cetera. So to me, the million dollars, by the time we have that million dollars and we've raised it, we'll go further. We'll raise even more and past the money as well.

I just want people to have every Cat Health Foundation as a household name. I want them to know the great work that they're doing for chronic kidney disease and other illnesses and that they are funding amazing, amazing work. And they are the only nonprofit feline specific based organization that's a worldwide organization that's been running as long as they have.

And they've been doing such, such amazing work. So I want more people to know about them and I want to keep going to a million dollars and beyond. And it would just mean the world to me and millions of cat owners around the world.

Thank you so much for coming on Cattitude. Please let people know again, where on your socials that where they can find out about you. And then one more question.

So now we've done a one wheel across the world, across the world. Well, maybe that's the next wheel across the U.S. Pogo stick Guinness World Record. I'm not going to jinx it, but I know I'm confident.

And so what next? Maybe it is around the world with that one wheel. Maybe it's around the world. I don't know.

You know, I go on some ferries and well, I already did a little bit of that when I went to New York. I wanted to go to the bottom of Manhattan and all the way up. So I took a ferry from Jersey City over to the bottom of Manhattan, which was fun.

So, you know, technically me and the one wheel have already been across the ocean, but I, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what the adventure will be next. I have a lot of ideas and there are other Pogo stick world records that I have been thinking about as well past the one with no hands.

So maybe there's something there. Maybe there's more Pogo stick world records that I can break and maybe that's what's next, but time will tell. I will tell.

And where can we find out more about you? You can find all about highlights from the one wheel trip, the Pogo stick adventure, and more things to come on my Instagram and Tik TOK at Joey Luthman. And as well, you can find out about where you can watch cat man journey to save cat kind, our documentary that we made about the one wheel adventure on catmanfilm.com and see how much money we've raised. And you can donate as well on the website and support the mission.

Joey, I want to thank you so much for coming on Cattitude and sharing your information. And I'm so excited for your record breaking reveal. Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me. I want to thank my guest, Joey Luthman. You can find out more about him at Joey Luthman.

That's his social handle for Instagram and Tik TOK. And I believe YouTube as well can find out more on catmanfilm.com. I'm so excited for his Guinness record world breaking attempt. I know he's going to do it, but I don't want to jinx anything.

So thank you, Joey, for coming on Cattitude. Thank you to my amazing audience for listening and supporting Cattitude all these years. I greatly appreciate it.

We bring so much knowledge to the feline world. So thank you. Thank you.

And that's the goal of the show. Thank you to my cat crew, Dennis, Charlotte and Molly. Please keep drinking water.

If you listen to the show, you know why I said that. And of course, thank you to my amazing producer, Mark Winter. The show would not be the same without his magic.

And of course, remember, always lose the attitude. Have Cattitude.