January 8, 2025 • 55 mins
On this episode of In the Vet’s Office, Dr. Josie shares a crazy case of the week when a dog’s family thought he was turning into a zombie. She answers listener questions like, “Why does my dog eat poop?!” This week’s guest is Shake Chatterjee, former Love is Blind contestant and fellow veterinarian. Dr. Josie and Dr. Shake dive into what it was like being labeled a reality TV villain and still practicing veterinary medicine. Dr. Shake talks about his experience with producers and how he lost his job after the show. Dr. Shake also discusses his experience working with exotic animals- he’s even done a dental on an otter! The show wraps up with Paw & Order, where Dr. Josie and Morgan discuss why your pet might be getting a muzzle at the vet.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to In the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horchak.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, everyone, welcome back to in the Vets Office.
I am your host, doctor Josie, and today we have
the president of the Nashville Podcast Network sitting with me,
Miss Morgan. Hello, thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm glad I get to be your co host today.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I know, I'm so excited. I hate sitting up here
being alone and talking to myself, so it's better to
have you here.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You do it great, but I'm glad to fill in.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, we will dive right into our case of the week.
This happened not too long ago. I had a little boy,
I think he was probably like ten or twelve, call
the clinic and a child, a child, you'd be surprised.
I have had multiple children call being like I don't
know what to do with my dog when something's going
(01:00):
on or cat, and this one in particular really stuck
out to me. The little boy was very upset and
he called me and he said, hey, my dog is
turning into a zombie. There's something wrong with him. He's
in the in the yard. And I was like, okay, Like,
why don't you just talk me through what's going on?
And he was like, he's projectiling, Well he didn't say projectile,
(01:21):
but he's puking and throwing up, and he was saying,
and he's pooping everywhere, and his puke is green. There's
green stuff in his puke. And I was like, oh God.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
What's going on? Where's mom? And dask so many questions.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Where are your parents? And so I did ask him
where your parents? And Mom gets on the phone and
she says, I don't know what's going on. This dog
is actually projectile vomiting bright Neon green, and he's also
profusely diary and bright Neon green, like the Nickelodeon slime,
exactly like Nickelodeon slime, Sure, exactly. And I'm racking my brain.
(01:55):
I'm like, Okay, what toxin can cause this? We could
he possibly have ingested and I'm like, I have no idea, whatever,
whatever it was, get your dog to the vet now,
like this is not normal. So they bring the dog in.
He is covered in just like you said, Nickelodeon's slime
is coming out of both ends. And we come to
(02:16):
find out that the little boy had just gotten a
new paintball gun and left his paintball pellets I think
bullets out and the dog ate fifty the whole pack
five zero bright green paintball pellets and proceeded to eject
them viciously, eject them out of both ends of his body.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Oh my gosh, could that have killed that dog? I mean,
paint has to be Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
He Luckily, this dog started throwing up really quickly, and
I think he got most of it out of his system.
And he did spend the night in the hospital, Like
we kept him on ivy fluid and like flushed his
system out. I think if he hadn't have had great
supportive care, like, there's definitely a chance he could have
been significantly hurt. But luckily he was. Okay, he just
traumatized his little human child literally, but it's on him, honestly.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, do you ever judge the owner when they come
in with a case that is totally avoidable if you
just were to keep those paint pellets out of reach? Er,
I get, sometimes things just happen.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I don't I always. I actually like pride myself and
telling owners it's a judge fore zone, like things happen.
I am the last, like nobody's perfect. I'm the last
person to judge you. I think now, if there's cases
of like neglect and they're hurting their animal, then I'm
going to be like, hey, this is I might be
judging you a little bit, but things like this happen.
I mean, it's it's not my place to judge them.
(03:47):
It's just my place to make the animal get better.
And the pup was okay, yeah he did great, totally great,
big hound, big guy.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Lots of lessons to learn, and just keep paint out
to reach of lessons.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Okay, well we'll dive right into our listener QS and A's.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Hi, doctor Josie. I had a reading done yesterday with
Carrie Kennedy and she made this suggestion that I have
a stomach X ray done for my pet. Is it
odd if I go into the vet and make that
request because a psychic told me so? Or do you
have any advice on how to navigate that more appropriately?
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay, So, for the listeners that don't know, Carrie Kennedy
was the pet psychic that came on in season one.
It's a great episode. You should go listen to it
if you haven't already. Just disclaimer, take a box of
tissues with you. And I don't think this Obviously, this
is a little unusual, but I don't think it's weird
and I don't think you should be embarrassed about it.
A lot of my job is giving owners peace of mind.
(04:49):
So a lot of owners just want to know, like, hey,
is my pet okay, and they just want to selly
our hands on them and take a look at them.
And if it's going to give you peace of mind,
I'm all for it, I think. I think especially if
it's a minimally invasive procedure like an X ray. That is,
you know, we don't need to sedate the pet, we
don't need to do anything crazy. We'll just snap a picture.
(05:10):
Hopefully it will make you feel better. Hopefully everything's normal.
And so no, I wouldn't feel weird about it. I
think your vet should be understanding. If they're not, then
come on down to Nashville and I'll get just squared away.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah. If the pet psychic had suggested like a ten
thousand dollars procedure exactly, my weigh out a little differently.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yes, if she was like, you need to go in
and buyopsie the stomach, I'd be like, not happening. But no,
if you a quick X ray, it's a little bit
of exposure to radiation, but in the grand scheme of things,
is not not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I know that the pet psychic, she nailed some things
she did with Saya and Biggie.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The funny thing is Biggie she said he's having jaw
pain and she I can't remember if it was this
right or left side, but she had mentioned it, and
he actually went in for a dental a few weeks
and had an infected tooth on that side that had
to come out.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I know so, and I remember at the time that
didn't stand out to you as anything.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
No, I was like, hmm, that's so unusual. I'm I
don't know exactly what you're talking about. And that's a
great lesson is your dogs can have dental pain and
you may have no idea. It's just like us. You
can have a hurt tooth and your tooth looks totally
normal to the naked eye, but when you go in
and take an X ray, there's like a big infection
around the roots. So great reminders for me that they
(06:31):
need routine dental procedures. And it was really really crazy
that she was able to detect that.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Wow, So maybe just take him in. Yeah, take him in, Okay,
our next collar, next collar.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Hi, doctor Josie, my dog is for every other dogs.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Who how do I get him to stop?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Keep up our good work.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
We love the show.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Here ah uk listener, I think we have listeners overseas
across the pond. I think it was a little hard
to hear him, but he said he is forever eating
his poop or other dogs poop. And I see this
a lot in practice, and I get asked about it
a lot in practice. And there's a lot of different
reasons why dogs eat poop, all of which don't. It's
(07:13):
disgusting no matter how you send your pets on exactly,
one of which is if they're like really underweight and malnourished,
they will eat their own feces. That is like a
very small percentage most of the pets and people listening
to the show. It's probably just because it's like a
weird behavioral, bad habit thing, and more times than not
(07:33):
it's when they're puppies and they grow out of it.
But there are some adults that will relentlessly still eat poop.
And really the only great trick I have for you
is to go onto Amazon and buy a supplement. There's
two that I know of, and I think they both
work equally well. One is called Forbid, kind of like forbidden,
and then the other one is called corporal band. The
(07:55):
fancy doctor term for eating poop is called corporal phasia.
And so I know words, big word, and so corporal
band and forbid. What they do is they're like tasty
treats to dogs. You feed them the treat and then
it goes through their gi tract and makes their poop
taste really bad to them.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Oh my goodness, I thought you were going a different direction.
I thought you were going to say that those supplements
taste like the poop themselves. So the dogs are getting
their poop fixed. It's a poop treet.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, no, it's supposed to make their poop taste bad.
And if your dog is eating other I.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Think poop would already taste bad.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
But you would think, right, No, they some dogs like
really love it. My dogs love goose poop. When we go,
it's like a delicacy to them. When we go, we'll
run around in Nashville. We go out to a farm
and let the dogs run around and in the spring
when the geese are there, I can't take them because
they just want to eat gooset poop. They love it.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Are they following the geese?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Are? I mean it's just all over like by this
little pond and they just get like they'll roll in it.
They'll have like green poop all over them.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Mm hmmmm.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm sure there's other listeners out there that can relate.
It's like a AVR for dogs.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Right. My dog is chill by comparison. She if she
sees some goost paper, we're walking the other way.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yes, that's the shit too. In her She's like, oh
she never never. My street dogs are like this is delicious.
All right. Well, I'm so excited about today's guest. We
have doctor Shake Chatterjee joining us. He is a fellow veterinarian,
but you and I probably best know him for being
a contestant on Love is Blind and the villain's shakes
(09:32):
volatile breakup with his ex played out on TV, and
I think it's safe to say that he was not
America's sweetheart after his Love is Blind season, And honestly,
I can't really blame America for that. But today we're
going to give him just a little benefit of the
doubt and see what life is now like for him
being a veterinarian and a reality show villain.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You're going and cautiously optimist her, expecting the worst and
hoping for the best.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll
be back with shake all right, doctor shake chatter gee,
welcome to in the Vets office. We are happy to
have you here today.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Very happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Thank you, Josie, You're welcome. I just read an article
that says you are saving puppies by day and dropping
beats by night as a DJ. How is life going
for you? Are you still practicing?
Speaker 4 (10:33):
I'm practicing full time. I work in urgent care. I
had a couple of different clinics, but mainly mainly one.
But you know, here and there taking up shifts here
in Miami.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You're in Miami, so you're not practicing in Chicago anymore.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
No, I moved to Miami about two and a half
years ago.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
That probably suits your DJ lifestyle a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Yeah, you know, I did in the beginning, but you know,
I think I got a little bit older and just
got a little bit busier. With other things, so I uh,
you know, in Chicago, I used to DJ just about
every weekend, but that was in my That was in
my twenties and I guess very beginning of my thirties.
(11:17):
In Miami, I still DJ probably once a month or
every other month. But it's definitely not how it used
to be. I don't have the same energy for that
as I used to.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I get that, especially if you're practicing and doing urgent care.
I mean, that can be pretty exhausting. So finding the
time to be a VET m DJ, I'm sure is
not easy.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
You know, my schedule is actually really awesome now. So
I worked through Wednesday and it's a twelve hour shift,
so then I have four days off, so you know,
it's just really nice. I just I think it really
just comes down to my my energy level, you know.
(12:00):
It's just that I'll have that same drive to go
out and do it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
As much drop.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I mean, I love it, but right now it's more
I would for the right opportunities, I say, I say
no more than I say yes.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
That is that sounds fair.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And when you say urgent care just for the listeners,
I think most people have a pretty good understanding of
what general practice is like and then what the er
is like. What how would you explain urgent care.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, So the location I work at mainly during the day,
we do a lot of general practice stuff, but then
we're open a little bit later than most gps. We're
open till ten or eleven. So a lot of times
people come home from work and they see something's wrong
with their dog, and uh, they're the regular bit might
(12:50):
be closed the er. You know, it might not be
as severe of a case that needs to go to
an er. We're open late, and we see a lot
of those cases. That being said, we do get the
hit by cars and things like that too, and you
focus mainly on stabilizing them and then transfer them to
(13:12):
a twenty four hour facility.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah. I think that's great for listeners to hear because
there are a lot more urgent cares popping up all
over the country and a lot of times urgent cares
can take care of like ear infections, urinary tract infections,
things that don't require them to be hospitalized or go
to surgery. And so if you are listening and you
live in a major city, you probably have an urgent
care about you. And if you feel like, hey, my
(13:36):
pet needs to be seen. It's nine o'clock at night.
I don't think it's a dire emergency where they're going
to need to be hospitalized or need surgery. Going to
an urgent care is probably your best option.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Yeah. And as far as those listening that are at
school thinking about being a vet, I've really enjoyed the
urgent care lifestyle. So it's kind of the perfect balance
of the VP stuff where you know, I still form
relationships with the clients and I have my repeat clients,
but then there's a little bit of anything can happen,
(14:11):
which makes it interesting. And yeah, exactly. And so as
far as my surgery skills and you know, just my
skills for more advanced diagnostics and things like that, those
are staying sharp because again, you don't know what you're
going to get, and you get get a lot of
cool opportunities.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
What are some of the craziest things you've seen working
urgent care?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I mean, you know, the hit by cars are always
stressful and I don't want to say exciting, but you know,
they get the blood flowing, that's for sure. But one
of the interesting things about Florida is there's a lot
of toad toxic cities here in Chicago. Yeah, toad like
poison toad, so in Chicago, so that's not a thing
(15:01):
at all, So that was completely new to me. But
you know, it kind of seems to happen more when
it's just rained and the toads are kind of out
hopping around, and then we'll have like a rush of
like three four pets coming in. Dogs lick these toads,
and depending on how long they had the toad in
(15:23):
their mouth or you know, just how much of the
toad they licked, they can get pretty sick from that.
So they start foaming at the mouth, the gums turned
bright red, they they can have seizures, lots of central
nervous issues. They can they can even go into a
(15:44):
like a stupor or even like a coma. So it's
definitely a thing that I've learned to identify. Quickly, decontaminate
the mouth, wash out the mouth. One pro tip for
anybody you know who might have this come in. So
it's not just flushing in the mouth. So what happens
is the toxin is kind of on the gums and
(16:06):
in the mouth. So what you want to do is
take take like a damp cloth or something and really
wipe away the toxin. And then beyond that, it's putting
them on fluids and you know, if they're having sees
and managing the feedures and that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I they did not teach us that in that school,
probably because I was in Ohio, but I did not know.
And maybe they did teach me. Sorry, professors, if you did,
I miss that, I guess, but I did not know
that that was a thing very interesting, and it's just
from yeah, I mean, like I said, not eating them liqually.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Well, if they eat them, it could potentially be worse
because you know, the toxins are in there, right, but
it's really the oral mucosa that that does a lot
of the absorbing.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Do they do they know if because we know it's
like when shield viper fluid that it tastes sweet to them?
Did that just a slime on the toad tastes good
to dogs? Like why are they licking toads?
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Why are they licking toads?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Like I'm wondering if they think it tastes good.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I think it's because the prey instinct. They just see
this thing hopping around and like you know. I mean
they're like, hey, what's that? Yeah, you know, I mean
I think a dog is more likely to lick a
toad than in my mind anyway, drink drink like anti
freeze or something like true you're this funny smelling liquid
(17:34):
versus like a little thing that's hopping and you know,
dogs want to catch that are hopping around. So that's
it's like chasing after a squirrel, except the squirrel poisons you.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
How terrible. I think God's squirrels aren't poisonous. My dogs
would be in big trouble. So one of the big
questions I had for you is what was it like
coming off Love is Blind or The Villains and going
back into practice. I don't think it's like any secret
that you weren't at the top of everyone's nice list
coming off these shows. Were clients? Did they recognize you?
(18:06):
Did anyone say anything? How was that?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah? So it's interesting. You know, I just opened up
about this really recently. It's something I didn't really feel
like talking about when I was going through it, But
as soon as the show came out and I time
of became this villain. And let me also say, you know,
(18:31):
these shows that edit you to make you look a
certain way. Everybody kind of has this idea in the
back of their mind that that happens, but it's not
until you go through it that you realize like just
how much they can twist things and take things out
of context and so on and so forth. So so
not only was I the villain, but I wasn't able
(18:56):
to talk about what happened because we'd signed all these
contracts say, hey, whatever comes out on the show, like
you have to go along with it, and if you
speak out against it, they're like, we're going to sue
you and blah blah blah. So I not only could
I speak out against it, but also I didn't even
(19:18):
feel like, you know, people wanted me to apologize, and
I'm like, I'm not going to apologize. I didn't do anything,
you know what I mean, Like the show made me
look a certain way. I'm not going to apologize for
something I didn't do, or you know, to the extent
that I was portrayed, And that made people even more
mad because I'm like unapologetic about it. So what happened
(19:39):
is the clinic that I worked at in Chicago got
review bombed by strangers on the internet really and I
got I got to let go. So this happened within
you know, two months of the show coming out, so
I didn't get to even experience much of clients recognizing
me or anything. I was. It was a corporate practice
(20:03):
and one of the big corporations. I don't want to
say who it was, but it was one of the
big corporations. And you know, first they put me on
like a leave, like a paid lead, and I was like,
all right, sweet, I'm just gonna go to Miami. Then
I guess, you know, just like hang out during this
(20:23):
paid lead. But you know, obviously I didn't. I didn't
have a good feeling about it. I'm like, oh, am
I being put on this paid leave. And I remember
I was at the pool one day and I get
a call from I guess one of the HR people
or you know, somebody higher up in the corporate and
they like basically told me like, hey, you know where
(20:44):
what they call it an involuntary separation. I'm like, okay,
that's a fancy way of saying I'm fired because of
of these reality and I can't blame them. I can't
be mad at the corporate ration, even because who would
want that you know that it's not good for business.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, that brings up a really interesting point that I
think about a lot, and that meta especially is how
dependent these clinics are on reviews, customer reviews on Google
and Yelp. I feel like I know that when I
owned a practice, I checked them every single day, and
bad reviews are really detrimental for business. I don't know
(21:29):
that other healthcare providers have that same you know that
they worry about them as much as we do, not
the same extent.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
I mean, I think reviews are important for most industries,
but some industries, like you said, rely on them and
focus on them a lot more. But you know, it
worked out really great for me in the long run
because I had gotten this really big signing bonus just
like maybe even like six months before the show came out,
(22:01):
like big big signing bonus, Like I didn't even this
was like you know, around COVID time, when ve's were
like really in demand, so like close close to a
year's salary type of signing bonus. And I was like, okay,
well what happens with the signing bonus then? Like I
didn't leave, so you're telling me to leave and They're like, oh,
(22:23):
you're gonna have to You're gonna have to get it back,
and I was just like, I can't, like I spent
it like and then ultimately I had a lawyer review
everything and send them a letter, and my lawyer said,
just just don't pay him back and if they'll want
to do something, they'll do something. And you know, they
didn't do anything. So I took that sign on bonus
(22:45):
and I was loving Miami so much that I was like,
you know what, I'm just gonna move down here, you know.
So I had I had a little period there where
you thankfully I didn't have to work work this to
this nice bonus that I had, So I had a
(23:06):
lot of fun and then and frankly, I just started
missing being in practice because that's you know, that was
my whole life. Really. Yeah. I was DJ two and
had my fun things. But you know, we go to
a lot of school. I mean, being a vet is
more than just a profession for most of us, right,
It's something that you know, is like a part of it, right, yeah, exactly.
(23:30):
So I was like, you know what, let me get
my Florida license. And the demand for vets down here
is just as high as everywhere else in the country, right, So,
and I had never worked in this urgent care environment before,
so I didn't realize how much I was going to
like that. The pay is better too, as an early
(23:52):
care vet, because not everybody wants to work those long hours,
you know, but they find somebody that will.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Do. You have clients down there recognize you from TV.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Oh that's the other thing. While people in Chicago were
like shunning me, Miami just welcomed me with open arms.
They just love me down here. And I even felt that,
you know, before I started working down here, I just
felt it socially because you know, my season of Lovis
Blind was filmed in Chicago. I was the villain. A
(24:26):
lot of people switched stuff on me, you know what
I mean, and people that knew me switched up on me.
And I was like, all right, this is this is cool,
you know. And then I come down to Miami and
all of a sudden, they're like, oh my god, we
love you, like come to the seacht party, come to
this house party. And I was like, this is where
(24:47):
I've lost, you know, Miami's you know, my kind of place.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
So it really it seems like they're handling it pretty well,
like being labeled a villain. I would that veterinarians. I
just inherently we are kind of people pleasers for the
most part. Do you feel like at any part you're like, Wow,
this sucks, Like I wish I'd never gone on this show.
Are you just like this is it? This is what
it is?
Speaker 4 (25:13):
No? Actually, I never never for a second thought that,
because the hate and most of that was all online.
In person is a whole of my story. You know,
you're like the man of the hour, and especially here
in Miami. Yeah, even though some of this was editing
(25:37):
in portrayal, even that that negatively portrayed version of me,
they loved that in Miami. They loved it, you know. Yeah, yeah,
So yeah, I was getting a lot of opportunities that
I wouldn't have gotten, met a lot of people that
I otherwise wouldn't have met. And really it's like a huge,
(25:59):
huge that's positive. But you bring up a good point,
because I don't think I don't think many people could
handle what I went through. Frankly, I really don't.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I would certainly, I know would it.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
And you know, my parents took it a lot harder
than me. To me like, you know, they're seeing all
this negative stuff. They're seeing the articles and blah blah blah,
but like they're not experiencing like the awesome fun stuff
that I'm doing right, Like they're not seeing like the
positive stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
They don't get to go to Miami and drop beats
and be welcomed with open arms.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Now, overall it's been great, And then
you know, I started leaning into it a little bit.
I was like, all right, I'll be your villain. I
could be your villain. You know, why not have fun
with it? At this point?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You did say because nothing you know, Oh sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I was just gonna say, at some point, you figure
out what people believe is not going to change, you know,
based on what you say, So just just have fun
with it at this point. Yeah, and I was also
just lucky again going back to being a vet. I
lost my job, but nobody can take my career, you
(27:21):
know what I mean, Like, yeah, I lost that opportunity,
but I have a degree and I'm good at what
I do, so you know, no matter what, like I
knew i'd land on my feet. I think, not being ave,
somebody was in my shoes. I think it might be tougher.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, that's that is interesting where it's like, you know,
as a viewer or anybody sitting behind a screen, we
can watch reality TV and we forget like these are
real people with real jobs and and like you said, yes,
you're so lucky you have a career because you do
have that degree. But man, those people that don't, I mean,
I can't imagine coming out and losing your job. Maybe
(28:01):
could be very detrimental.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, yeah, that happened to one of my castmates. And
the irony is so show like love is blind. You know,
you have all these people that before the show airs,
you know, you're just an everyday person, and all of
a sudden, you're somebody, you know, even if it's for
(28:24):
just the fifteen minutes of fame, Like, all of a sudden,
you're somebody. And people were desperate to keep that image,
and for that reason, they found it very easy to
turn on me. Even though my castmates knew who I was,
they saw me as all right, everybody hates this guy.
(28:44):
We can't associate with him, we can't defend him, you know,
because all of a sudden they've had a taste of
this like being a special person and being in the
public's eye, and they didn't want to do anything to
tarnish that. And and then the irony is, you know,
one of my castmates eventually it caught up to him
(29:06):
and he lost his job and he didn't have a
doctorate in anything, you know what I mean. And I
don't know, I mean, this is the same this is
the same person that when when he had the chance,
he took his shots at me too. So I'm just like,
I don't know, Karma is a bitch, dude, Like, I
(29:26):
don't know what else to say. I mean, I would
never wish wish that upon anybody to lose their job.
Was the livelihood you know, he was, he was at
risk at one point of having his home foreclosed upon
and things like that. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
But it's just it's just ironic, like a taste of
(29:46):
the limelight will do to somebody. You can switch on
you in a second.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You had mentioned that you think that maybe this what
led to you being a villain, But people also really
like that you're open and you're honest and you're real,
and that you don't you just don't come off as
fake and I'm wondering does that translate into how you
practice medicine. I know, for me, like when I go
into a room and there's a fat, fat dog or
an overweight pet, I'll say, hey, like, Fluffy looks a
(30:14):
little a little round. Are you like, Hey, your dog's fat.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
I don't think I've ever you know, put it so bluntly. Okay,
But I but I but I but I do let
them know. Yes, you know, I'm not doing anybody a
favor by letting the pets get bigger and rounder and
ultimately live a shorter life. Sure you know what I mean. Like,
(30:42):
same thing, if I see some bad teeth, I'm just like,
look at this. You know obviously you never want to
make somebody embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
No, but.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I mean I am blunting And those are those are
those are the things that I feel have helped me
in my career, being able to just cut to the
chase and tell people what maybe other people didn't want
to say, or make something that's difficult to hear. I
don't know. And really, at the end of it, I think,
(31:16):
you know, being a that has given me a lot
of confidence, even being on reality TV again, to be
so bold and honest because you know, at the end
of the day, I know that I'm speaking my truth,
I'm being honest, and I'm doing I'm doing good things
(31:40):
in my life, you know what I mean. Like, I
feel like being a vet has been such a huge
source of karma for me, Like in this profession where
we take care of animals and you know, they can't
say anything to their owners, and we're the ones who
had to speak up for the animals. Like doing that,
it makes me feel really a bit about myself and
(32:01):
it makes me feel that nobody can really you know,
nobody can really get me down.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
As a result, I think that's beautiful. I mean, it
is a really fulfilling career, and we are advocating for
creatures that can't advocate for themselves. So I definitely understand
what you mean. And you said something about being a
vet has like given you confidence and going on reality TV,
and I think it's interesting because people forget we meet
a new stranger every fifteen to twenty minutes for ten
(32:30):
hours a day as veterinarians, and so I know, for
me personally, it's like really helped with feeling confident in
stressful situations and in our personal skills and just meeting
all different kinds of people and being able to chat
with anyone, so I can understand for sure where you're
coming from. You have mentioned that I read it online
(32:54):
somewhere that you treat exotic pets. What are some of
the exotic pets that you see or have seen?
Speaker 4 (33:01):
So living in Chicago. Actually, even before Chicago, I practiced
in the suburbs of Chicago, and that's where I saw
the majority of my exotic pets. So in my early career,
say the first three years of my career, sixty percent
of my practice was exotics. Wow, that ranges sixty Yeah,
(33:23):
so that ranges from irregular bunnies and hamsters and guinea
pigs to birds, snakes, And then I was also the
vet for a local zoo while while in the suburbs,
So then we had a pretty crazy collection. So we
(33:44):
had mountain lions and wolves, elk, alligators, like really big snakes,
like Burmese python. There was one Burmese python, bald eagles,
so big birds, about two. So one of the things
that really interested me about veterary and medicine was the
ability to treat so many animals. You know, I thought
(34:06):
that was the coolest thing. Humans are like, all right,
you're treating one and male and female. That's kind of
like the two big varieties that you're dealing with. But
I just thought it was so cool that somebody could
be so knowledgeable that they could treat so many different
species so early in my career. That's that's been that cool.
(34:27):
What I did, I went back and worked at the
same clinic that I'd looked at in high school, so
I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew
these exotic animals were going to be there, and that
kind of just that was my goal all along. But
as I kind of just got busier and things, it's
over time. Now it's just dogs and cats here in Miami.
(34:49):
It's just dogs and cats. No one to bringing me
either pedaligator.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Here, not yet. Maybe after this this interview they might.
That is interesting though. I do have a lot of
owners and just people in general ask me, when you
go to VET school, do you learn how to treat
a python? And what I tell owners is, in order
to pass your boards, you really should have the basic
foundation of how to treat a dog, a cat, a horse,
(35:13):
a cow, a pig, and like some chickens. But exotics
is really I'm assuming you took a lot of like extracurriculars.
How how did you get that knowledge? Did you learn
it through a mentor.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Yeah? So I took every single selective for exotics because again,
at this stage, I knew where I wanted to work
when I graduated, what kind of pets i'd be seeing there.
Plus you know the relationship between that clinic and the
zoo has been for like decades, so you know, in
(35:47):
high school, we you know, I'd go with the owner
of the clinic to the zoo and see those pets,
and then you know, it's funny because I remember once
when I was like fifteen or sixteen, there was this
honor that we sedated, and I like had a picture
with the Otter and I was like, Oh, this is
the coolest thing ever. And then then one side graduated,
(36:09):
I ended up sedating that same honor again to pull
a tooth, and then you know, we had the side
by side pictures and the same on. You know, like
it's like ten years later and like Totter the Otter
here I was again, So I knew I was going
to be going into that And Minnesota had a wonderful
program for exotics. They have a ton of different ton
(36:29):
of different electives for that. I had an elective with
the Minnesota Zoo. So there's two. There's the Minnesota Zoo
and then there's the Como Zoo, which is like a
smaller zoo near the campus of the big school. And
there was the snow leopards there that they for some reason,
(36:50):
they just wouldn't mate, and it was my project to
get them to make like figure out why they weren't mating,
get them to mate. So again, if you want to
do exotics in that school is a good time because
they offer those like structured learning opportunities, whereas once you
graduate you have to get a mentor or like you're
(37:12):
cracking open a textbook. I mean you're still cracking open
a textbook. You know, there's just too much.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
You know, you're definitely watching a few YouTube videos.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Yeah, YouTube videos too.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Wait, I have to know, did the snow leopards mate?
They did me, all right, they did me?
Speaker 4 (37:30):
So yeah. So the reason they weren't mating is because
snow leopards are primarily solitary creatures, so in the wild
they are on their own doing their own thing. When
the females and heat. You know, she like vocalizes or whatever,
meets up with the male. They do their thing, and
(37:51):
then out they're they're they're gone again. But in the
zoo environment, they're like together, right, They're like in the
same enclosure, and they just kind of get sick of
each other, you know. Yeah, so they're just because they
like end up playing like siblings, right, because they're just
(38:11):
together all the time. So what we had to do
was separate them, but leave they shared like a wall
of the enclosure, like a like a netted wall. So
once we saw that they were starting to like sniff
around each other more, we could tell that she was
coming into heat. And there's other signs too, and then
(38:32):
we put them together and then they.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Made it very smart. But I always joke around and
healthy marriage is when your spouse goes on trips from
time to time. Like my husband will go on work
trips and then he comes home, I'm like, oh, I
missed you. It's just like a snow lepard.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. You know, my girlfriend just left
for a bachelorette party earlier today, and you know it,
distance always makes the heart grow fonder.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
The healthy level of separation are you would you say
you're more of a dog or a cat person, dog person?
And if you had been in the pods and the
other person was like, I don't like dogs or I
don't like pets in general, would that have been a
deal breaker for you.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Oh, that's an absolute deal breaker. And that's that's one
of the things that the producers were asking me too.
It's funny that you ask for that about being a
vet that are like, what if they don't like pets?
You spend you spend a lot of time with the
producers too. It's not just like talking to the people
in the pods. Then you're spending this one or one
time with the producers with the cameras on, and they're
(39:38):
asking me all kinds of stuff. Here's a little tip.
So all that time you spend in there with the producers,
and that's when they grabbed their sound bites. So you
say something to a producer that you cannot you would
never say to a person. You would never say this
to another person, But they'll grab the sound bite and
then they'll stick it in the conversation and make it
(39:59):
look like you said it to a person. So that's
in one of the ways they do it. And you're
just talking for hours, right, and they're asking you all
kinds of questions, so nothing seems out of the ordinary
because they're just asking you everything. And that's why.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Wow, that's very sneaky. I don't have any plans to
go on reality TV, but if any listeners out there
do like that's that is a helpful tip. They're always listening,
all right. Well, before we wrap it up, any if
you could give any piece of advice to pet owners listening,
what is one piece of advice you would give.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Pet owners.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Yes, it can be what to do, what to do?
Speaker 4 (40:45):
I would just say take your pets mental health seriously,
because something like seventy five percent of dogs under or
over the age of five have carried down to the disease.
So you know that there's just below the gun line.
So don't think that just because you look at their
teeth and there's not a rotting tooth in front of you,
(41:06):
it doesn't mean that the teeth are all good. But also,
before we wrap up, I'd love to tell you about
a project that I'm working on. Now. Maybe I should
have mentioned this earlier, but this is something we've been
spending a lot of time on and I'm really excited
about so my tea. Yeah, my team and I are
creating a platform for pet owners to store their pets
(41:29):
medical records. So pet owners are notoriously bad about keeping
their pets records organized. Sometimes they're in pds, sometimes they're
you know, scattered through a bunch of emails. A lot
of the time they're like a big, big folder. And
as an urgent care of that, especially the pet comes
(41:50):
in they're they're sick, they're vomiting, maybe they're you know,
they have previous thing conditions like diabetes and cushings, and
all of a sudden, I have this big stack of
records and I'm looking through it, or my technicians looking
through it, and you know, twenty minutes later, you know,
we finally found what we needed to find.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
That is one of the most frustrating parts of our job,
I will say, is having to catch up on you know,
Fluffy is twelve years old. Were catching up on twelve
years of medical records and they're kind of hard to decipher,
and you know, it takes like five minutes before you
walk into the room. That's that is a challenge for us,
for sure. As much area.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Well, well, I think you're really going to find pepster
interesting then. So what pepster does is it organizes the
pets records chronologically, draws out all the important information and
creates instant reports. So on that stack of papers, now
we have everything in order. We have a list of
(42:49):
all the prescriptions. We have a list of all the
lab work, we have a list of all the diagnoses
and the treatments that have been done, all instantly and
at a click. So for the pet owner, it's nice
as an organizational tool as a veterinarian, so like say
Fluffy comes in, now you can quickly look at the
(43:13):
most important things. So this is a diabetic pet. What
dose of insulin are you in? When was the least
glucose curve? You know, what are the previous prescriptions that
have been made? Any co como abidities?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Is this up and running? Like how could listeners and
owners out there go and start using it for their
pets records?
Speaker 4 (43:34):
So right now it's under development. So we're looking at
a launch state of about March. Petster dot ai is
our website and also our handle on Instagram, So I
would say give us a follow or go on the
website and drop your email. We have thousands of people
interested in this idea because it's so useful, not for
just the pet owner, but also for the veterinarian. It
(43:57):
makes our job easier and it is very useful for
pet owners. And let me tell you about you know,
that was the very core functionality, right. So now that
we have all this information, we use a learning language
model AI that takes all that pertinent info and then
(44:20):
gives education points to the pet owner. So we can
see that your pets had ear infections. Now will tell
you possible causes of your infections, treatments for your infections,
underlying reasons your pet may have, and your infection like allergies.
(44:42):
Same thing with any prescription that's ever been made. You know,
you and I know what gaba petn is. You and
I know what car profen is, metronite is all. But
pet owners don't know what that stuff is. So by
putting their records into our system, they're going to be
much more knowledgeable about what's being do into their pet
and why.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
I think that's that's great. I mean, any added ways
we can educate our owners is really important. And it's
true we give them these medications and they may have
no idea exactly what they are for. Hopefully they do,
but a lot of times they don't. And so that's
that's a really another added bonus. It sounds like a petster.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
Yeah, yeah, so stay tuned for that. I'll definitely be
sharing that with you. You know, it'd be great if
you could even use it in your hospital when into
the beta. Yeah, just so we can get some feedback,
and you know, because I want this to be for
that time for pet owners to help them both.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I'd love to take her first spin. I'll definitely give
it a shot. Well, thank you so much for coming
on Shake. I know it sounds like it was a
little bit of some ups and downs after the show,
but it sounds like you've landed on your feet and
you're where you're meant to be in Miami and still practicing,
which I love to hear. And I really appreciate you
coming on.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity to tell my story.
And I'll be listening to your your podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
You're so welcome, and we'll check out Petster when it
when it comes out in March.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Bye. All right, now it is time for our favorite
segment of the week Paw and Order. The first thing
(46:34):
I would never do as a veterinarian with my own
pets is restrict their water intake. When people doing this,
some people will do this where they will only give
them water like morning and night with their breakfast or
their dinner. The only time I restrict water with my
pets is when they're puppies.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Okay, when you're potty training, Yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
They're like guzzling water. Like you have some puppies that
like want to take a swim in their water bowls.
Then I'll pick up their water bowl like around seven
o'clock at night. But typically I don't recommend restricting their
water intake. It's really important for us to see how
much they're drinking. If they're drinking more than usual, that
can be like a red flag for us as veterinarians,
(47:14):
and so we want to make sure that they have
full access to it, even if they seem thirstier than usual.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Andy has water down at all times, but she will
not drink it if it's not in her her mind fresh. Okay,
so I'm having to like switch it out several times
a day. She wants it to be cold and refreshing.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I love that she wants some ice cubes in there.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
I do that depending on the day and how hot.
It is.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
The other big thing with cats and maybe maybe small dogs.
I haven't heard a lot of owners doing this with
small dogs, but you might want to look into this
as cats especially love these like cute little water fountains
where the water is like continuously running. And so if
you have a cat that doesn't like to drink a
lot of water, getting them a water fountain can change
their life.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Okay, Bobby has one of those. Okay, well Dussy has
one of those.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
First does of course, Stanley tildered water whatever he wants.
It's like Fiji and the water fountain for him. But yeah,
water is really important. I know it seems silly, but
I do hear owners being like, oh, I only give
them water with their meals, and I would recommend not
doing that.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Okay, noted, What's next?
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Number two? This is a sensitive topic too many owners
out there, but I would not be offended or take
it personally. If your veterinarian has to muzzle your pet
while they're at the.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Vet, I'm feeling called out? Are you did I have
to muzzle Andy? So a year or so ago, she
gets chronic ear infections and she has had her ears
treated at the VET more times than I can count.
But they were putting the optic solutions if they call
(48:47):
it the slow release solution in our hungers yea, And
the tech pulled out a muscle and put it on
her and she did it bark or growl, And honestly,
I've never seen Andy Bye anyone in her life. And
I was looking at that tech like, who do you
think you're dealing with right now? She's the sweetest, goodest girl.
(49:07):
It's not gonna hurt you. And ever since that appointment,
I think it made it in her chart that maybe
she's aggressive and they muzzle her and trust and I'm like,
maybe they noticed something that I'm a did it?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
I think? So we are trained in at school, like
certain body language to be looking for that the average
person probably wouldn't notice, so like licking of the lips, yawning,
a certain kind of tail wag, all those can signify
like hey, I'm really stressed, and especially if they're auchy
on top of it, then yawning yawning.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
You wouldn't think a dog would yawn and then go
into a tag mode.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
And yawning is a big sign of anxiety, and dogs,
especially casts, are ones where they're just like, all of
a sudden, they're like, bam, I'm attacking you for note
with nobody language at all, but dogs definitely will we'll
do these very subtle. So maybe that's what they were noticing,
especially with her like being painful on top of it.
I know that we we sort of take it as
(50:07):
like whoa, my dog and Kat are perfect. I have
trained them, They've never would never try and bite me, Like,
how dare you muzzle them? You may as well just
muzzle me too, exactly.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
And he's not perfect by any stretch, but in that
area I've never really had issues. She'll snap at like
another dog, but I've never seen her get aggressive with even.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
Had she gone back to the treatment area or was
she with you and she in the room the whole time?
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Whole time? Interesting and she's getting older, so I don't know,
maybe there's just something about that.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yeah. The other thing too is like although we find it,
I know we can find it hard to see write
your dog in a muzzle. Nobody wants to see that.
But I will say the other thing too is it
can distract them where they're like focused on hey, what's
this thing around my nose? And they're more distracted by that.
It's not painful, but it's just taking their mind off
of what we're doing to them. So it can also
be used as like a distraction tool. But it is
(51:00):
not anything against her or you. Hear this, I still
feel salty about it. You know what, you should talk
to your bet. I would ask and just be like, hey,
why do you think she needs that? Like what sort
of body language are you seeing? I will always ask
and tell owners, Hey, are you okay with this? I'm
going to put this party hat on her. I like
to call it a party hat. I think that's a
little bit nicer than a muzzle, just because this is
(51:20):
what I'm seeing, and so I think it's totally reasonable
for you to be like, hey, why why are you
putting a muzzle on I'm not questioning you, I just
want to understand.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
Yeah, I'll ask that question. My thought process is they
probably just deal with a lot of feisty small dogs
that they think maybe she might be another one, and.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Little firecrackers out there.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
I get to heart.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Don't take it to heart, but I do you think
you can absolutely ask the question. I mean that's your
you're her owner, and you can advocate for her. And
I think it's good to know because maybe she's like
doing body language that you may not even have picked
up on, or she's just falsely being accused. We're convinced
either way. Owners out there listeners do not take offense
to it. I know it can be it's something that
(51:58):
you don't always want to see, but it's not meant
to be taken personally. If anything, is meant to keep
us safe, because if I get bit, then I'm not
able to do my job, and the same with my verses.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
So exactly, I was trying to think about it through
that lens.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
A safe story. Okay. Number three is I would not
change my dog's food frequently if I don't have to.
I have a lot of an cats. Sorry I keep
singling out dogs, dogs and cats. It goes for both pets.
A lot of owners want to give their pets variety
when eating, and so I'll hear them saying I'm sticking
with the same brand, but each month I'll switch up
(52:31):
the protein from lamb to chicken to beef. And this
can be kind of detrimental to their gut. Also, if
they do have underlying like food allergies, that can trigger
underlying food allergies to flare up. And so I really
recommend sticking with one protein. If it ain't broken, we
don't got to fix it kind of thing. I actually
(52:52):
went through this recently because I switched Andy to a
senior dog food and it had a chicken protein when
she's used to LAMB, and I noticed she started she
gets an allergy shot every month, but I noticed she
her ear infection came back around and she started scratching
sooner than she normally does, and so I took her
(53:14):
off that and put her back on her old regular
dog food. We're going to do a whole episode on allergies,
but food allergies and pets nine percent of the time
are triggered by the protein in the food, and chicken
is without a doubt the number one most common offender.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
So and also like the most common yeah saug food,
it is grocery store.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
It's the easiest protein and least typically least expensive protein
for us to get our hands on. Like I know,
I eat a lot of chicken, but it definitely is
the most common to cause food allergies, so switching up
the protein I don't recommend it if they're doing well
on what they're eating. I know we are like, oh
my gosh, I want to have a pizza burger of
salad like I like variety, but we don't need to
(53:57):
anthropomorphize on our pets when it comes to food. I'm sorry,
what either for more or five? I'm a veterinarian and
a wordsmith.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
Okay, is that it.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
That's it for the day. Thank you all so much
for tuning in. Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (54:17):
I have stars only, but if you don't, having less
nothing more.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
Yeah three stars. Keep your stars to yourself, but no,
let us know what you're liking, what you're not liking.
Feel free to DM me at doctor Joe Civett and
then click that link in my bio to record questions
so that we can continue with our listener. Queuings awesome,
We'll see you next week.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
Hi,
You're listening to In the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horchak.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, everyone, welcome back to in the Vets Office.
I am your host, doctor Josie, and today we have
the president of the Nashville Podcast Network sitting with me,
Miss Morgan. Hello, thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm glad I get to be your co host today.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I know, I'm so excited. I hate sitting up here
being alone and talking to myself, so it's better to
have you here.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You do it great, but I'm glad to fill in.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, we will dive right into our case of the week.
This happened not too long ago. I had a little boy,
I think he was probably like ten or twelve, call
the clinic and a child, a child, you'd be surprised.
I have had multiple children call being like I don't
know what to do with my dog when something's going
(01:00):
on or cat, and this one in particular really stuck
out to me. The little boy was very upset and
he called me and he said, hey, my dog is
turning into a zombie. There's something wrong with him. He's
in the in the yard. And I was like, okay, Like,
why don't you just talk me through what's going on?
And he was like, he's projectiling, Well he didn't say projectile,
(01:21):
but he's puking and throwing up, and he was saying,
and he's pooping everywhere, and his puke is green. There's
green stuff in his puke. And I was like, oh God.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
What's going on? Where's mom? And dask so many questions.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Where are your parents? And so I did ask him
where your parents? And Mom gets on the phone and
she says, I don't know what's going on. This dog
is actually projectile vomiting bright Neon green, and he's also
profusely diary and bright Neon green, like the Nickelodeon slime,
exactly like Nickelodeon slime, Sure, exactly. And I'm racking my brain.
(01:55):
I'm like, Okay, what toxin can cause this? We could
he possibly have ingested and I'm like, I have no idea, whatever,
whatever it was, get your dog to the vet now,
like this is not normal. So they bring the dog in.
He is covered in just like you said, Nickelodeon's slime
is coming out of both ends. And we come to
(02:16):
find out that the little boy had just gotten a
new paintball gun and left his paintball pellets I think
bullets out and the dog ate fifty the whole pack
five zero bright green paintball pellets and proceeded to eject
them viciously, eject them out of both ends of his body.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Oh my gosh, could that have killed that dog? I mean,
paint has to be Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
He Luckily, this dog started throwing up really quickly, and
I think he got most of it out of his system.
And he did spend the night in the hospital, Like
we kept him on ivy fluid and like flushed his
system out. I think if he hadn't have had great
supportive care, like, there's definitely a chance he could have
been significantly hurt. But luckily he was. Okay, he just
traumatized his little human child literally, but it's on him, honestly.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, do you ever judge the owner when they come
in with a case that is totally avoidable if you
just were to keep those paint pellets out of reach? Er,
I get, sometimes things just happen.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I don't I always. I actually like pride myself and
telling owners it's a judge fore zone, like things happen.
I am the last, like nobody's perfect. I'm the last
person to judge you. I think now, if there's cases
of like neglect and they're hurting their animal, then I'm
going to be like, hey, this is I might be
judging you a little bit, but things like this happen.
I mean, it's it's not my place to judge them.
(03:47):
It's just my place to make the animal get better.
And the pup was okay, yeah he did great, totally great,
big hound, big guy.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Lots of lessons to learn, and just keep paint out
to reach of lessons.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Okay, well we'll dive right into our listener QS and A's.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Hi, doctor Josie. I had a reading done yesterday with
Carrie Kennedy and she made this suggestion that I have
a stomach X ray done for my pet. Is it
odd if I go into the vet and make that
request because a psychic told me so? Or do you
have any advice on how to navigate that more appropriately?
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay, So, for the listeners that don't know, Carrie Kennedy
was the pet psychic that came on in season one.
It's a great episode. You should go listen to it
if you haven't already. Just disclaimer, take a box of
tissues with you. And I don't think this Obviously, this
is a little unusual, but I don't think it's weird
and I don't think you should be embarrassed about it.
A lot of my job is giving owners peace of mind.
(04:49):
So a lot of owners just want to know, like, hey,
is my pet okay, and they just want to selly
our hands on them and take a look at them.
And if it's going to give you peace of mind,
I'm all for it, I think. I think especially if
it's a minimally invasive procedure like an X ray. That is,
you know, we don't need to sedate the pet, we
don't need to do anything crazy. We'll just snap a picture.
(05:10):
Hopefully it will make you feel better. Hopefully everything's normal.
And so no, I wouldn't feel weird about it. I
think your vet should be understanding. If they're not, then
come on down to Nashville and I'll get just squared away.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah. If the pet psychic had suggested like a ten
thousand dollars procedure exactly, my weigh out a little differently.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yes, if she was like, you need to go in
and buyopsie the stomach, I'd be like, not happening. But no,
if you a quick X ray, it's a little bit
of exposure to radiation, but in the grand scheme of things,
is not not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I know that the pet psychic, she nailed some things
she did with Saya and Biggie.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The funny thing is Biggie she said he's having jaw
pain and she I can't remember if it was this
right or left side, but she had mentioned it, and
he actually went in for a dental a few weeks
and had an infected tooth on that side that had
to come out.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I know so, and I remember at the time that
didn't stand out to you as anything.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
No, I was like, hmm, that's so unusual. I'm I
don't know exactly what you're talking about. And that's a
great lesson is your dogs can have dental pain and
you may have no idea. It's just like us. You
can have a hurt tooth and your tooth looks totally
normal to the naked eye, but when you go in
and take an X ray, there's like a big infection
around the roots. So great reminders for me that they
(06:31):
need routine dental procedures. And it was really really crazy
that she was able to detect that.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Wow, So maybe just take him in. Yeah, take him in, Okay,
our next collar, next collar.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Hi, doctor Josie, my dog is for every other dogs.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Who how do I get him to stop?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Keep up our good work.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
We love the show.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Here ah uk listener, I think we have listeners overseas
across the pond. I think it was a little hard
to hear him, but he said he is forever eating
his poop or other dogs poop. And I see this
a lot in practice, and I get asked about it
a lot in practice. And there's a lot of different
reasons why dogs eat poop, all of which don't. It's
(07:13):
disgusting no matter how you send your pets on exactly,
one of which is if they're like really underweight and malnourished,
they will eat their own feces. That is like a
very small percentage most of the pets and people listening
to the show. It's probably just because it's like a
weird behavioral, bad habit thing, and more times than not
(07:33):
it's when they're puppies and they grow out of it.
But there are some adults that will relentlessly still eat poop.
And really the only great trick I have for you
is to go onto Amazon and buy a supplement. There's
two that I know of, and I think they both
work equally well. One is called Forbid, kind of like forbidden,
and then the other one is called corporal band. The
(07:55):
fancy doctor term for eating poop is called corporal phasia.
And so I know words, big word, and so corporal
band and forbid. What they do is they're like tasty
treats to dogs. You feed them the treat and then
it goes through their gi tract and makes their poop
taste really bad to them.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Oh my goodness, I thought you were going a different direction.
I thought you were going to say that those supplements
taste like the poop themselves. So the dogs are getting
their poop fixed. It's a poop treet.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, no, it's supposed to make their poop taste bad.
And if your dog is eating other I.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Think poop would already taste bad.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
But you would think, right, No, they some dogs like
really love it. My dogs love goose poop. When we go,
it's like a delicacy to them. When we go, we'll
run around in Nashville. We go out to a farm
and let the dogs run around and in the spring
when the geese are there, I can't take them because
they just want to eat gooset poop. They love it.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Are they following the geese?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Are? I mean it's just all over like by this
little pond and they just get like they'll roll in it.
They'll have like green poop all over them.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Mm hmmmm.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm sure there's other listeners out there that can relate.
It's like a AVR for dogs.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Right. My dog is chill by comparison. She if she
sees some goost paper, we're walking the other way.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yes, that's the shit too. In her She's like, oh
she never never. My street dogs are like this is delicious.
All right. Well, I'm so excited about today's guest. We
have doctor Shake Chatterjee joining us. He is a fellow veterinarian,
but you and I probably best know him for being
a contestant on Love is Blind and the villain's shakes
(09:32):
volatile breakup with his ex played out on TV, and
I think it's safe to say that he was not
America's sweetheart after his Love is Blind season, And honestly,
I can't really blame America for that. But today we're
going to give him just a little benefit of the
doubt and see what life is now like for him
being a veterinarian and a reality show villain.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You're going and cautiously optimist her, expecting the worst and
hoping for the best.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll
be back with shake all right, doctor shake chatter gee,
welcome to in the Vets office. We are happy to
have you here today.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Very happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Thank you, Josie, You're welcome. I just read an article
that says you are saving puppies by day and dropping
beats by night as a DJ. How is life going
for you? Are you still practicing?
Speaker 4 (10:33):
I'm practicing full time. I work in urgent care. I
had a couple of different clinics, but mainly mainly one.
But you know, here and there taking up shifts here
in Miami.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You're in Miami, so you're not practicing in Chicago anymore.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
No, I moved to Miami about two and a half
years ago.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
That probably suits your DJ lifestyle a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Yeah, you know, I did in the beginning, but you know,
I think I got a little bit older and just
got a little bit busier. With other things, so I uh,
you know, in Chicago, I used to DJ just about
every weekend, but that was in my That was in
my twenties and I guess very beginning of my thirties.
(11:17):
In Miami, I still DJ probably once a month or
every other month. But it's definitely not how it used
to be. I don't have the same energy for that
as I used to.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I get that, especially if you're practicing and doing urgent care.
I mean, that can be pretty exhausting. So finding the
time to be a VET m DJ, I'm sure is
not easy.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
You know, my schedule is actually really awesome now. So
I worked through Wednesday and it's a twelve hour shift,
so then I have four days off, so you know,
it's just really nice. I just I think it really
just comes down to my my energy level, you know.
(12:00):
It's just that I'll have that same drive to go
out and do it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
As much drop.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I mean, I love it, but right now it's more
I would for the right opportunities, I say, I say
no more than I say yes.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
That is that sounds fair.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And when you say urgent care just for the listeners,
I think most people have a pretty good understanding of
what general practice is like and then what the er
is like. What how would you explain urgent care.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, So the location I work at mainly during the day,
we do a lot of general practice stuff, but then
we're open a little bit later than most gps. We're
open till ten or eleven. So a lot of times
people come home from work and they see something's wrong
with their dog, and uh, they're the regular bit might
(12:50):
be closed the er. You know, it might not be
as severe of a case that needs to go to
an er. We're open late, and we see a lot
of those cases. That being said, we do get the
hit by cars and things like that too, and you
focus mainly on stabilizing them and then transfer them to
(13:12):
a twenty four hour facility.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah. I think that's great for listeners to hear because
there are a lot more urgent cares popping up all
over the country and a lot of times urgent cares
can take care of like ear infections, urinary tract infections,
things that don't require them to be hospitalized or go
to surgery. And so if you are listening and you
live in a major city, you probably have an urgent
care about you. And if you feel like, hey, my
(13:36):
pet needs to be seen. It's nine o'clock at night.
I don't think it's a dire emergency where they're going
to need to be hospitalized or need surgery. Going to
an urgent care is probably your best option.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Yeah. And as far as those listening that are at
school thinking about being a vet, I've really enjoyed the
urgent care lifestyle. So it's kind of the perfect balance
of the VP stuff where you know, I still form
relationships with the clients and I have my repeat clients,
but then there's a little bit of anything can happen,
(14:11):
which makes it interesting. And yeah, exactly. And so as
far as my surgery skills and you know, just my
skills for more advanced diagnostics and things like that, those
are staying sharp because again, you don't know what you're
going to get, and you get get a lot of
cool opportunities.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
What are some of the craziest things you've seen working
urgent care?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I mean, you know, the hit by cars are always
stressful and I don't want to say exciting, but you know,
they get the blood flowing, that's for sure. But one
of the interesting things about Florida is there's a lot
of toad toxic cities here in Chicago. Yeah, toad like
poison toad, so in Chicago, so that's not a thing
(15:01):
at all, So that was completely new to me. But
you know, it kind of seems to happen more when
it's just rained and the toads are kind of out
hopping around, and then we'll have like a rush of
like three four pets coming in. Dogs lick these toads,
and depending on how long they had the toad in
(15:23):
their mouth or you know, just how much of the
toad they licked, they can get pretty sick from that.
So they start foaming at the mouth, the gums turned
bright red, they they can have seizures, lots of central
nervous issues. They can they can even go into a
(15:44):
like a stupor or even like a coma. So it's
definitely a thing that I've learned to identify. Quickly, decontaminate
the mouth, wash out the mouth. One pro tip for
anybody you know who might have this come in. So
it's not just flushing in the mouth. So what happens
is the toxin is kind of on the gums and
(16:06):
in the mouth. So what you want to do is
take take like a damp cloth or something and really
wipe away the toxin. And then beyond that, it's putting
them on fluids and you know, if they're having sees
and managing the feedures and that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I they did not teach us that in that school,
probably because I was in Ohio, but I did not know.
And maybe they did teach me. Sorry, professors, if you did,
I miss that, I guess, but I did not know
that that was a thing very interesting, and it's just
from yeah, I mean, like I said, not eating them liqually.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Well, if they eat them, it could potentially be worse
because you know, the toxins are in there, right, but
it's really the oral mucosa that that does a lot
of the absorbing.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Do they do they know if because we know it's
like when shield viper fluid that it tastes sweet to them?
Did that just a slime on the toad tastes good
to dogs? Like why are they licking toads?
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Why are they licking toads?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Like I'm wondering if they think it tastes good.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I think it's because the prey instinct. They just see
this thing hopping around and like you know. I mean
they're like, hey, what's that? Yeah, you know, I mean
I think a dog is more likely to lick a
toad than in my mind anyway, drink drink like anti
freeze or something like true you're this funny smelling liquid
(17:34):
versus like a little thing that's hopping and you know,
dogs want to catch that are hopping around. So that's
it's like chasing after a squirrel, except the squirrel poisons you.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
How terrible. I think God's squirrels aren't poisonous. My dogs
would be in big trouble. So one of the big
questions I had for you is what was it like
coming off Love is Blind or The Villains and going
back into practice. I don't think it's like any secret
that you weren't at the top of everyone's nice list
coming off these shows. Were clients? Did they recognize you?
(18:06):
Did anyone say anything? How was that?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah? So it's interesting. You know, I just opened up
about this really recently. It's something I didn't really feel
like talking about when I was going through it, But
as soon as the show came out and I time
of became this villain. And let me also say, you know,
(18:31):
these shows that edit you to make you look a
certain way. Everybody kind of has this idea in the
back of their mind that that happens, but it's not
until you go through it that you realize like just
how much they can twist things and take things out
of context and so on and so forth. So so
not only was I the villain, but I wasn't able
(18:56):
to talk about what happened because we'd signed all these
contracts say, hey, whatever comes out on the show, like
you have to go along with it, and if you
speak out against it, they're like, we're going to sue
you and blah blah blah. So I not only could
I speak out against it, but also I didn't even
(19:18):
feel like, you know, people wanted me to apologize, and
I'm like, I'm not going to apologize. I didn't do anything,
you know what I mean, Like the show made me
look a certain way. I'm not going to apologize for
something I didn't do, or you know, to the extent
that I was portrayed, And that made people even more
mad because I'm like unapologetic about it. So what happened
(19:39):
is the clinic that I worked at in Chicago got
review bombed by strangers on the internet really and I
got I got to let go. So this happened within
you know, two months of the show coming out, so
I didn't get to even experience much of clients recognizing
me or anything. I was. It was a corporate practice
(20:03):
and one of the big corporations. I don't want to
say who it was, but it was one of the
big corporations. And you know, first they put me on
like a leave, like a paid lead, and I was like,
all right, sweet, I'm just gonna go to Miami. Then
I guess, you know, just like hang out during this
(20:23):
paid lead. But you know, obviously I didn't. I didn't
have a good feeling about it. I'm like, oh, am
I being put on this paid leave. And I remember
I was at the pool one day and I get
a call from I guess one of the HR people
or you know, somebody higher up in the corporate and
they like basically told me like, hey, you know where
(20:44):
what they call it an involuntary separation. I'm like, okay,
that's a fancy way of saying I'm fired because of
of these reality and I can't blame them. I can't
be mad at the corporate ration, even because who would
want that you know that it's not good for business.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, that brings up a really interesting point that I
think about a lot, and that meta especially is how
dependent these clinics are on reviews, customer reviews on Google
and Yelp. I feel like I know that when I
owned a practice, I checked them every single day, and
bad reviews are really detrimental for business. I don't know
(21:29):
that other healthcare providers have that same you know that
they worry about them as much as we do, not
the same extent.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
I mean, I think reviews are important for most industries,
but some industries, like you said, rely on them and
focus on them a lot more. But you know, it
worked out really great for me in the long run
because I had gotten this really big signing bonus just
like maybe even like six months before the show came out,
(22:01):
like big big signing bonus, Like I didn't even this
was like you know, around COVID time, when ve's were
like really in demand, so like close close to a
year's salary type of signing bonus. And I was like, okay,
well what happens with the signing bonus then? Like I
didn't leave, so you're telling me to leave and They're like, oh,
(22:23):
you're gonna have to You're gonna have to get it back,
and I was just like, I can't, like I spent
it like and then ultimately I had a lawyer review
everything and send them a letter, and my lawyer said,
just just don't pay him back and if they'll want
to do something, they'll do something. And you know, they
didn't do anything. So I took that sign on bonus
(22:45):
and I was loving Miami so much that I was like,
you know what, I'm just gonna move down here, you know.
So I had I had a little period there where
you thankfully I didn't have to work work this to
this nice bonus that I had, So I had a
(23:06):
lot of fun and then and frankly, I just started
missing being in practice because that's you know, that was
my whole life. Really. Yeah. I was DJ two and
had my fun things. But you know, we go to
a lot of school. I mean, being a vet is
more than just a profession for most of us, right,
It's something that you know, is like a part of it, right, yeah, exactly.
(23:30):
So I was like, you know what, let me get
my Florida license. And the demand for vets down here
is just as high as everywhere else in the country, right, So,
and I had never worked in this urgent care environment before,
so I didn't realize how much I was going to
like that. The pay is better too, as an early
(23:52):
care vet, because not everybody wants to work those long hours,
you know, but they find somebody that will.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Do. You have clients down there recognize you from TV.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Oh that's the other thing. While people in Chicago were
like shunning me, Miami just welcomed me with open arms.
They just love me down here. And I even felt that,
you know, before I started working down here, I just
felt it socially because you know, my season of Lovis
Blind was filmed in Chicago. I was the villain. A
(24:26):
lot of people switched stuff on me, you know what
I mean, and people that knew me switched up on me.
And I was like, all right, this is this is cool,
you know. And then I come down to Miami and
all of a sudden, they're like, oh my god, we
love you, like come to the seacht party, come to
this house party. And I was like, this is where
(24:47):
I've lost, you know, Miami's you know, my kind of place.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
So it really it seems like they're handling it pretty well,
like being labeled a villain. I would that veterinarians. I
just inherently we are kind of people pleasers for the
most part. Do you feel like at any part you're like, Wow,
this sucks, Like I wish I'd never gone on this show.
Are you just like this is it? This is what
it is?
Speaker 4 (25:13):
No? Actually, I never never for a second thought that,
because the hate and most of that was all online.
In person is a whole of my story. You know,
you're like the man of the hour, and especially here
in Miami. Yeah, even though some of this was editing
(25:37):
in portrayal, even that that negatively portrayed version of me,
they loved that in Miami. They loved it, you know. Yeah, yeah,
So yeah, I was getting a lot of opportunities that
I wouldn't have gotten, met a lot of people that
I otherwise wouldn't have met. And really it's like a huge,
(25:59):
huge that's positive. But you bring up a good point,
because I don't think I don't think many people could
handle what I went through. Frankly, I really don't.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I would certainly, I know would it.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
And you know, my parents took it a lot harder
than me. To me like, you know, they're seeing all
this negative stuff. They're seeing the articles and blah blah blah,
but like they're not experiencing like the awesome fun stuff
that I'm doing right, Like they're not seeing like the
positive stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
They don't get to go to Miami and drop beats
and be welcomed with open arms.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Now, overall it's been great, And then
you know, I started leaning into it a little bit.
I was like, all right, I'll be your villain. I
could be your villain. You know, why not have fun
with it? At this point?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You did say because nothing you know, Oh sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I was just gonna say, at some point, you figure
out what people believe is not going to change, you know,
based on what you say, So just just have fun
with it at this point. Yeah, and I was also
just lucky again going back to being a vet. I
lost my job, but nobody can take my career, you
(27:21):
know what I mean, Like, yeah, I lost that opportunity,
but I have a degree and I'm good at what
I do, so you know, no matter what, like I
knew i'd land on my feet. I think, not being ave,
somebody was in my shoes. I think it might be tougher.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, that's that is interesting where it's like, you know,
as a viewer or anybody sitting behind a screen, we
can watch reality TV and we forget like these are
real people with real jobs and and like you said, yes,
you're so lucky you have a career because you do
have that degree. But man, those people that don't, I mean,
I can't imagine coming out and losing your job. Maybe
(28:01):
could be very detrimental.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, yeah, that happened to one of my castmates. And
the irony is so show like love is blind. You know,
you have all these people that before the show airs,
you know, you're just an everyday person, and all of
a sudden, you're somebody, you know, even if it's for
(28:24):
just the fifteen minutes of fame, Like, all of a sudden,
you're somebody. And people were desperate to keep that image,
and for that reason, they found it very easy to
turn on me. Even though my castmates knew who I was,
they saw me as all right, everybody hates this guy.
(28:44):
We can't associate with him, we can't defend him, you know,
because all of a sudden they've had a taste of
this like being a special person and being in the
public's eye, and they didn't want to do anything to
tarnish that. And and then the irony is, you know,
one of my castmates eventually it caught up to him
(29:06):
and he lost his job and he didn't have a
doctorate in anything, you know what I mean. And I
don't know, I mean, this is the same this is
the same person that when when he had the chance,
he took his shots at me too. So I'm just like,
I don't know, Karma is a bitch, dude, Like, I
(29:26):
don't know what else to say. I mean, I would
never wish wish that upon anybody to lose their job.
Was the livelihood you know, he was, he was at
risk at one point of having his home foreclosed upon
and things like that. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
But it's just it's just ironic, like a taste of
(29:46):
the limelight will do to somebody. You can switch on
you in a second.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You had mentioned that you think that maybe this what
led to you being a villain, But people also really
like that you're open and you're honest and you're real,
and that you don't you just don't come off as
fake and I'm wondering does that translate into how you
practice medicine. I know, for me, like when I go
into a room and there's a fat, fat dog or
an overweight pet, I'll say, hey, like, Fluffy looks a
(30:14):
little a little round. Are you like, Hey, your dog's fat.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
I don't think I've ever you know, put it so bluntly. Okay,
But I but I but I but I do let
them know. Yes, you know, I'm not doing anybody a
favor by letting the pets get bigger and rounder and
ultimately live a shorter life. Sure you know what I mean. Like,
(30:42):
same thing, if I see some bad teeth, I'm just like,
look at this. You know obviously you never want to
make somebody embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
No, but.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I mean I am blunting And those are those are
those are the things that I feel have helped me
in my career, being able to just cut to the
chase and tell people what maybe other people didn't want
to say, or make something that's difficult to hear. I
don't know. And really, at the end of it, I think,
(31:16):
you know, being a that has given me a lot
of confidence, even being on reality TV again, to be
so bold and honest because you know, at the end
of the day, I know that I'm speaking my truth,
I'm being honest, and I'm doing I'm doing good things
(31:40):
in my life, you know what I mean. Like, I
feel like being a vet has been such a huge
source of karma for me, Like in this profession where
we take care of animals and you know, they can't
say anything to their owners, and we're the ones who
had to speak up for the animals. Like doing that,
it makes me feel really a bit about myself and
(32:01):
it makes me feel that nobody can really you know,
nobody can really get me down.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
As a result, I think that's beautiful. I mean, it
is a really fulfilling career, and we are advocating for
creatures that can't advocate for themselves. So I definitely understand
what you mean. And you said something about being a
vet has like given you confidence and going on reality TV,
and I think it's interesting because people forget we meet
a new stranger every fifteen to twenty minutes for ten
(32:30):
hours a day as veterinarians, and so I know, for
me personally, it's like really helped with feeling confident in
stressful situations and in our personal skills and just meeting
all different kinds of people and being able to chat
with anyone, so I can understand for sure where you're
coming from. You have mentioned that I read it online
(32:54):
somewhere that you treat exotic pets. What are some of
the exotic pets that you see or have seen?
Speaker 4 (33:01):
So living in Chicago. Actually, even before Chicago, I practiced
in the suburbs of Chicago, and that's where I saw
the majority of my exotic pets. So in my early career,
say the first three years of my career, sixty percent
of my practice was exotics. Wow, that ranges sixty Yeah,
(33:23):
so that ranges from irregular bunnies and hamsters and guinea
pigs to birds, snakes, And then I was also the
vet for a local zoo while while in the suburbs,
So then we had a pretty crazy collection. So we
(33:44):
had mountain lions and wolves, elk, alligators, like really big snakes,
like Burmese python. There was one Burmese python, bald eagles,
so big birds, about two. So one of the things
that really interested me about veterary and medicine was the
ability to treat so many animals. You know, I thought
(34:06):
that was the coolest thing. Humans are like, all right,
you're treating one and male and female. That's kind of
like the two big varieties that you're dealing with. But
I just thought it was so cool that somebody could
be so knowledgeable that they could treat so many different
species so early in my career. That's that's been that cool.
(34:27):
What I did, I went back and worked at the
same clinic that I'd looked at in high school, so
I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew
these exotic animals were going to be there, and that
kind of just that was my goal all along. But
as I kind of just got busier and things, it's
over time. Now it's just dogs and cats here in Miami.
(34:49):
It's just dogs and cats. No one to bringing me
either pedaligator.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Here, not yet. Maybe after this this interview they might.
That is interesting though. I do have a lot of
owners and just people in general ask me, when you
go to VET school, do you learn how to treat
a python? And what I tell owners is, in order
to pass your boards, you really should have the basic
foundation of how to treat a dog, a cat, a horse,
(35:13):
a cow, a pig, and like some chickens. But exotics
is really I'm assuming you took a lot of like extracurriculars.
How how did you get that knowledge? Did you learn
it through a mentor.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Yeah? So I took every single selective for exotics because again,
at this stage, I knew where I wanted to work
when I graduated, what kind of pets i'd be seeing there.
Plus you know the relationship between that clinic and the
zoo has been for like decades, so you know, in
(35:47):
high school, we you know, I'd go with the owner
of the clinic to the zoo and see those pets,
and then you know, it's funny because I remember once
when I was like fifteen or sixteen, there was this
honor that we sedated, and I like had a picture
with the Otter and I was like, Oh, this is
the coolest thing ever. And then then one side graduated,
(36:09):
I ended up sedating that same honor again to pull
a tooth, and then you know, we had the side
by side pictures and the same on. You know, like
it's like ten years later and like Totter the Otter
here I was again, So I knew I was going
to be going into that And Minnesota had a wonderful
program for exotics. They have a ton of different ton
(36:29):
of different electives for that. I had an elective with
the Minnesota Zoo. So there's two. There's the Minnesota Zoo
and then there's the Como Zoo, which is like a
smaller zoo near the campus of the big school. And
there was the snow leopards there that they for some reason,
(36:50):
they just wouldn't mate, and it was my project to
get them to make like figure out why they weren't mating,
get them to mate. So again, if you want to
do exotics in that school is a good time because
they offer those like structured learning opportunities, whereas once you
graduate you have to get a mentor or like you're
(37:12):
cracking open a textbook. I mean you're still cracking open
a textbook. You know, there's just too much.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
You know, you're definitely watching a few YouTube videos.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Yeah, YouTube videos too.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Wait, I have to know, did the snow leopards mate?
They did me, all right, they did me?
Speaker 4 (37:30):
So yeah. So the reason they weren't mating is because
snow leopards are primarily solitary creatures, so in the wild
they are on their own doing their own thing. When
the females and heat. You know, she like vocalizes or whatever,
meets up with the male. They do their thing, and
(37:51):
then out they're they're they're gone again. But in the
zoo environment, they're like together, right, They're like in the
same enclosure, and they just kind of get sick of
each other, you know. Yeah, so they're just because they
like end up playing like siblings, right, because they're just
(38:11):
together all the time. So what we had to do
was separate them, but leave they shared like a wall
of the enclosure, like a like a netted wall. So
once we saw that they were starting to like sniff
around each other more, we could tell that she was
coming into heat. And there's other signs too, and then
(38:32):
we put them together and then they.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Made it very smart. But I always joke around and
healthy marriage is when your spouse goes on trips from
time to time. Like my husband will go on work
trips and then he comes home, I'm like, oh, I
missed you. It's just like a snow lepard.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. You know, my girlfriend just left
for a bachelorette party earlier today, and you know it,
distance always makes the heart grow fonder.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
The healthy level of separation are you would you say
you're more of a dog or a cat person, dog person?
And if you had been in the pods and the
other person was like, I don't like dogs or I
don't like pets in general, would that have been a
deal breaker for you.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Oh, that's an absolute deal breaker. And that's that's one
of the things that the producers were asking me too.
It's funny that you ask for that about being a
vet that are like, what if they don't like pets?
You spend you spend a lot of time with the
producers too. It's not just like talking to the people
in the pods. Then you're spending this one or one
time with the producers with the cameras on, and they're
(39:38):
asking me all kinds of stuff. Here's a little tip.
So all that time you spend in there with the producers,
and that's when they grabbed their sound bites. So you
say something to a producer that you cannot you would
never say to a person. You would never say this
to another person, But they'll grab the sound bite and
then they'll stick it in the conversation and make it
(39:59):
look like you said it to a person. So that's
in one of the ways they do it. And you're
just talking for hours, right, and they're asking you all
kinds of questions, so nothing seems out of the ordinary
because they're just asking you everything. And that's why.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Wow, that's very sneaky. I don't have any plans to
go on reality TV, but if any listeners out there
do like that's that is a helpful tip. They're always listening,
all right. Well, before we wrap it up, any if
you could give any piece of advice to pet owners listening,
what is one piece of advice you would give.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Pet owners.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Yes, it can be what to do, what to do?
Speaker 4 (40:45):
I would just say take your pets mental health seriously,
because something like seventy five percent of dogs under or
over the age of five have carried down to the disease.
So you know that there's just below the gun line.
So don't think that just because you look at their
teeth and there's not a rotting tooth in front of you,
(41:06):
it doesn't mean that the teeth are all good. But also,
before we wrap up, I'd love to tell you about
a project that I'm working on. Now. Maybe I should
have mentioned this earlier, but this is something we've been
spending a lot of time on and I'm really excited
about so my tea. Yeah, my team and I are
creating a platform for pet owners to store their pets
(41:29):
medical records. So pet owners are notoriously bad about keeping
their pets records organized. Sometimes they're in pds, sometimes they're
you know, scattered through a bunch of emails. A lot
of the time they're like a big, big folder. And
as an urgent care of that, especially the pet comes
(41:50):
in they're they're sick, they're vomiting, maybe they're you know,
they have previous thing conditions like diabetes and cushings, and
all of a sudden, I have this big stack of
records and I'm looking through it, or my technicians looking
through it, and you know, twenty minutes later, you know,
we finally found what we needed to find.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
That is one of the most frustrating parts of our job,
I will say, is having to catch up on you know,
Fluffy is twelve years old. Were catching up on twelve
years of medical records and they're kind of hard to decipher,
and you know, it takes like five minutes before you
walk into the room. That's that is a challenge for us,
for sure. As much area.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Well, well, I think you're really going to find pepster
interesting then. So what pepster does is it organizes the
pets records chronologically, draws out all the important information and
creates instant reports. So on that stack of papers, now
we have everything in order. We have a list of
(42:49):
all the prescriptions. We have a list of all the
lab work, we have a list of all the diagnoses
and the treatments that have been done, all instantly and
at a click. So for the pet owner, it's nice
as an organizational tool as a veterinarian, so like say
Fluffy comes in, now you can quickly look at the
(43:13):
most important things. So this is a diabetic pet. What
dose of insulin are you in? When was the least
glucose curve? You know, what are the previous prescriptions that
have been made? Any co como abidities?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Is this up and running? Like how could listeners and
owners out there go and start using it for their
pets records?
Speaker 4 (43:34):
So right now it's under development. So we're looking at
a launch state of about March. Petster dot ai is
our website and also our handle on Instagram, So I
would say give us a follow or go on the
website and drop your email. We have thousands of people
interested in this idea because it's so useful, not for
just the pet owner, but also for the veterinarian. It
(43:57):
makes our job easier and it is very useful for
pet owners. And let me tell you about you know,
that was the very core functionality, right. So now that
we have all this information, we use a learning language
model AI that takes all that pertinent info and then
(44:20):
gives education points to the pet owner. So we can
see that your pets had ear infections. Now will tell
you possible causes of your infections, treatments for your infections,
underlying reasons your pet may have, and your infection like allergies.
(44:42):
Same thing with any prescription that's ever been made. You know,
you and I know what gaba petn is. You and
I know what car profen is, metronite is all. But
pet owners don't know what that stuff is. So by
putting their records into our system, they're going to be
much more knowledgeable about what's being do into their pet
and why.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
I think that's that's great. I mean, any added ways
we can educate our owners is really important. And it's
true we give them these medications and they may have
no idea exactly what they are for. Hopefully they do,
but a lot of times they don't. And so that's
that's a really another added bonus. It sounds like a petster.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
Yeah, yeah, so stay tuned for that. I'll definitely be
sharing that with you. You know, it'd be great if
you could even use it in your hospital when into
the beta. Yeah, just so we can get some feedback,
and you know, because I want this to be for
that time for pet owners to help them both.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I'd love to take her first spin. I'll definitely give
it a shot. Well, thank you so much for coming
on Shake. I know it sounds like it was a
little bit of some ups and downs after the show,
but it sounds like you've landed on your feet and
you're where you're meant to be in Miami and still practicing,
which I love to hear. And I really appreciate you
coming on.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity to tell my story.
And I'll be listening to your your podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
You're so welcome, and we'll check out Petster when it
when it comes out in March.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Bye. All right, now it is time for our favorite
segment of the week Paw and Order. The first thing
(46:34):
I would never do as a veterinarian with my own
pets is restrict their water intake. When people doing this,
some people will do this where they will only give
them water like morning and night with their breakfast or
their dinner. The only time I restrict water with my
pets is when they're puppies.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Okay, when you're potty training, Yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
They're like guzzling water. Like you have some puppies that
like want to take a swim in their water bowls.
Then I'll pick up their water bowl like around seven
o'clock at night. But typically I don't recommend restricting their
water intake. It's really important for us to see how
much they're drinking. If they're drinking more than usual, that
can be like a red flag for us as veterinarians,
(47:14):
and so we want to make sure that they have
full access to it, even if they seem thirstier than usual.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Andy has water down at all times, but she will
not drink it if it's not in her her mind fresh. Okay,
so I'm having to like switch it out several times
a day. She wants it to be cold and refreshing.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I love that she wants some ice cubes in there.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
I do that depending on the day and how hot.
It is.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
The other big thing with cats and maybe maybe small dogs.
I haven't heard a lot of owners doing this with
small dogs, but you might want to look into this
as cats especially love these like cute little water fountains
where the water is like continuously running. And so if
you have a cat that doesn't like to drink a
lot of water, getting them a water fountain can change
their life.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Okay, Bobby has one of those. Okay, well Dussy has
one of those.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
First does of course, Stanley tildered water whatever he wants.
It's like Fiji and the water fountain for him. But yeah,
water is really important. I know it seems silly, but
I do hear owners being like, oh, I only give
them water with their meals, and I would recommend not
doing that.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Okay, noted, What's next?
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Number two? This is a sensitive topic too many owners
out there, but I would not be offended or take
it personally. If your veterinarian has to muzzle your pet
while they're at the.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Vet, I'm feeling called out? Are you did I have
to muzzle Andy? So a year or so ago, she
gets chronic ear infections and she has had her ears
treated at the VET more times than I can count.
But they were putting the optic solutions if they call
(48:47):
it the slow release solution in our hungers yea, And
the tech pulled out a muscle and put it on
her and she did it bark or growl, And honestly,
I've never seen Andy Bye anyone in her life. And
I was looking at that tech like, who do you
think you're dealing with right now? She's the sweetest, goodest girl.
(49:07):
It's not gonna hurt you. And ever since that appointment,
I think it made it in her chart that maybe
she's aggressive and they muzzle her and trust and I'm like,
maybe they noticed something that I'm a did it?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
I think? So we are trained in at school, like
certain body language to be looking for that the average
person probably wouldn't notice, so like licking of the lips, yawning,
a certain kind of tail wag, all those can signify
like hey, I'm really stressed, and especially if they're auchy
on top of it, then yawning yawning.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
You wouldn't think a dog would yawn and then go
into a tag mode.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
And yawning is a big sign of anxiety, and dogs,
especially casts, are ones where they're just like, all of
a sudden, they're like, bam, I'm attacking you for note
with nobody language at all, but dogs definitely will we'll
do these very subtle. So maybe that's what they were noticing,
especially with her like being painful on top of it.
I know that we we sort of take it as
(50:07):
like whoa, my dog and Kat are perfect. I have
trained them, They've never would never try and bite me, Like,
how dare you muzzle them? You may as well just
muzzle me too, exactly.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
And he's not perfect by any stretch, but in that
area I've never really had issues. She'll snap at like
another dog, but I've never seen her get aggressive with even.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
Had she gone back to the treatment area or was
she with you and she in the room the whole time?
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Whole time? Interesting and she's getting older, so I don't know,
maybe there's just something about that.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yeah. The other thing too is like although we find it,
I know we can find it hard to see write
your dog in a muzzle. Nobody wants to see that.
But I will say the other thing too is it
can distract them where they're like focused on hey, what's
this thing around my nose? And they're more distracted by that.
It's not painful, but it's just taking their mind off
of what we're doing to them. So it can also
be used as like a distraction tool. But it is
(51:00):
not anything against her or you. Hear this, I still
feel salty about it. You know what, you should talk
to your bet. I would ask and just be like, hey,
why do you think she needs that? Like what sort
of body language are you seeing? I will always ask
and tell owners, Hey, are you okay with this? I'm
going to put this party hat on her. I like
to call it a party hat. I think that's a
little bit nicer than a muzzle, just because this is
(51:20):
what I'm seeing, and so I think it's totally reasonable
for you to be like, hey, why why are you
putting a muzzle on I'm not questioning you, I just
want to understand.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
Yeah, I'll ask that question. My thought process is they
probably just deal with a lot of feisty small dogs
that they think maybe she might be another one, and.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Little firecrackers out there.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
I get to heart.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Don't take it to heart, but I do you think
you can absolutely ask the question. I mean that's your
you're her owner, and you can advocate for her. And
I think it's good to know because maybe she's like
doing body language that you may not even have picked
up on, or she's just falsely being accused. We're convinced
either way. Owners out there listeners do not take offense
to it. I know it can be it's something that
(51:58):
you don't always want to see, but it's not meant
to be taken personally. If anything, is meant to keep
us safe, because if I get bit, then I'm not
able to do my job, and the same with my verses.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
So exactly, I was trying to think about it through
that lens.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
A safe story. Okay. Number three is I would not
change my dog's food frequently if I don't have to.
I have a lot of an cats. Sorry I keep
singling out dogs, dogs and cats. It goes for both pets.
A lot of owners want to give their pets variety
when eating, and so I'll hear them saying I'm sticking
with the same brand, but each month I'll switch up
(52:31):
the protein from lamb to chicken to beef. And this
can be kind of detrimental to their gut. Also, if
they do have underlying like food allergies, that can trigger
underlying food allergies to flare up. And so I really
recommend sticking with one protein. If it ain't broken, we
don't got to fix it kind of thing. I actually
(52:52):
went through this recently because I switched Andy to a
senior dog food and it had a chicken protein when
she's used to LAMB, and I noticed she started she
gets an allergy shot every month, but I noticed she
her ear infection came back around and she started scratching
sooner than she normally does, and so I took her
(53:14):
off that and put her back on her old regular
dog food. We're going to do a whole episode on allergies,
but food allergies and pets nine percent of the time
are triggered by the protein in the food, and chicken
is without a doubt the number one most common offender.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
So and also like the most common yeah saug food,
it is grocery store.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
It's the easiest protein and least typically least expensive protein
for us to get our hands on. Like I know,
I eat a lot of chicken, but it definitely is
the most common to cause food allergies, so switching up
the protein I don't recommend it if they're doing well
on what they're eating. I know we are like, oh
my gosh, I want to have a pizza burger of
salad like I like variety, but we don't need to
(53:57):
anthropomorphize on our pets when it comes to food. I'm sorry,
what either for more or five? I'm a veterinarian and
a wordsmith.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
Okay, is that it.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
That's it for the day. Thank you all so much
for tuning in. Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (54:17):
I have stars only, but if you don't, having less
nothing more.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
Yeah three stars. Keep your stars to yourself, but no,
let us know what you're liking, what you're not liking.
Feel free to DM me at doctor Joe Civett and
then click that link in my bio to record questions
so that we can continue with our listener. Queuings awesome,
We'll see you next week.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
Hi,
Host
Josie Horchak
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