May 2, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Charlotte Milazzo, an experienced veterinarian, to discuss pet emergencies, general care, and how to keep your furry friends safe and healthy
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Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Hi everybody.
We're gonna have a very interestingand informative episode today.
I'm sitting down here to chat withmy good friend and animal lover,
Charlotte, who is also a veterinarian.
Dr.
Milazzo, can you please tellus a little bit about yourself?
Charlotte (00:25):
I am Dr.
Charlotte Milazzo.
I am from New Orleans, Louisiana,and I got my veterinary degree from
Tuskegee University in Alabama, andI did my preceptorship in Australia.
A couple of externships in California.
And I like to do private practiceand charity work as well.
(00:47):
Birds are my favorite.
Everybody always asks.
Dixie (00:51):
So, what's special about birds?
Why are they your favorite?
Charlotte (00:54):
Well, they're forgotten about by a lot of other vets.
Vets will say, oh no, I don't see birds.
And some things are pretty easy to takecare of with birds, but some things are
highly specialized 'cause they're sodifferent than all the other species.
They're just really cool creatures.
And the amount, the type of speciesand the wide variety is huge.
There's so much diversity,we've got raptors, we've got
(01:15):
parrots, we've got songbirds.
It's just interesting.
Dixie (01:20):
I wanted to talk about a trend that I'm seeing a lot on social media,
and it's basically where people geton social media and they'll be having
some kind of veterinary emergency andthey're out there asking people for help.
Hey, what do I do?
So I wanted to quickly chatabout situations where people
should be going to the vet asap.
(01:41):
From your experience, what are someof the most common situations where
pet owners hesitate to go to theemergency room, but absolutely should?
Charlotte (01:49):
Well, I, one of the hard ones to make the call is when an animal eats
an object that is obviously dangerousor something that's not gonna pass like
rope or material a lot of times it doespass, but, some things are just obvious
foreign bodies that are gonna get stuckand sometimes people will wait until the
(02:12):
animal gets really sick and they go in.
I think we probably see more casesof object eating where people
wait too long than, coming inand not needing to have come in.
So it's always best to catchthose things right away.
Dixie (02:28):
I actually had a situation with that when I was younger.
It was Christmas.
I had a relatively new cat.
He was probably about maybeseven, eight months old.
And I saw him steal a piece ofribbon off of a Christmas present.
Charlotte (02:42):
Wow.
Dixie (02:42):
And I saw him eat the ribbon
Charlotte (02:45):
uhhuh.
Dixie (02:45):
So I chased him down.
I tried to get it, couldn't get to him intime, and I saw him swallow that ribbon.
Well, we ended up at the emergency vet.
It was like my worst Christmas ever.
Charlotte (02:56):
Yep.
Dixie (02:57):
And the vet had to try to induce vomiting.
He vomited several times.
And it never came up.
Charlotte (03:06):
Yep.
Dixie (03:06):
And so the vet was like, are you sure that, are
you sure you saw him eat it?
I'm like, I am absolutely100% certain that he ate it.
Oh, well.
So they did send him home.
They said they thought that maybeI just didn't see it correctly.
Charlotte (03:20):
Uhhuh.
Dixie (03:20):
So we got home and they just, they did tell me, look
out for vomiting and diarrhea.
But we got home and hedid end up throwing it up.
Charlotte (03:30):
Well that's good.
Dixie (03:31):
Yeah.
So he did eat it.
Charlotte (03:32):
Uhhuh.
Dixie (03:33):
I wasn't wrong.
I did see him eat it.
Charlotte (03:34):
Yep.
Dixie (03:34):
So, what would you say about that?
Should people be a hundredpercent certain that they see them
eat it?
Charlotte (03:41):
If you have any idea that you think your animal ate something bad?
If you even have that inkling and theanimal seems in any way distressed, yes,
you definitely need to go to the er.
Also with like medications I have like.
Dogs and cats that will get into humanmedications, eat a whole bottle of
like blood pressure medicine or ADDmedication or something like that.
(04:05):
And you have about 20 minutesto get them to puke it up.
Sometimes emergency vets will tellpeople to give a little bit like a
teaspoon or so of hydrogen peroxide toget the animal orally, to get the animal
to throw up, especially if it's pillsbecause you only really have about.
10, 15 minutes really with somepills before they start to be
(04:25):
metabolized and absorbed in the GI.
So, otherwise if not you need to rush tothe hospital and have them induce vomiting
so they can vomit up as many of thosepills as they can or whatever they ate.
You have to be careful too becausesometimes if they eat things like
batteries, like those button batteries.
You don't want them to vomit in thosecase cases, they have to be opened up
(04:48):
because if they vomit that up, the acidin the stomach, it's gonna burn the
esophagus and everything on the way up.
Same thing with things like bleach.
If an animal like eats a bleach bottle,like gel bleach pen or something like
that, and they manage to get it down,you probably don't want them throwing
that up again because it's just gonnairritate the esophagus on the way up.
(05:09):
So it depends on what they ate.
And another big one too istampons, feminine products,
baby diapers, dental floss.
Those are all the things that wepull out of animals, underwear.
All kinds of things.
So, if you see your animal eatingthat, then it's time to go in.
(05:29):
A lot of people wait days and days,and then by that time we have to go
in and remove sections of intestinethat have died and things like that.
And then the outcome of thesurgery is generally not very
good in, in a lot of those cases.
String foreign bodies like the ribbon,you have to really be careful about.
If you think your animal has swalloweda ribbon, the first place you wanna
(05:51):
check is the back of their tongue.
If you can, you should open the mouthand check the base of the tongue.
There are cats that I have seenthat have played with yarn.
I always tell people it's notcute to give a kitten yarn.
Not at all.
So if you have a cat thatplays with yarn, no stop.
I pull way too much yarn out of animals.
So, it can get wrapped around the tonguebase, go through the entire GI and be
(06:15):
hanging out the butt end of the cat.
And people will call the ER andsay, well, should I pull the string
that's hanging from my cat's butt?
And I'll tell them, no.
Check under the tongue first, andyou'd be surprised how many people
find the beginning of the yarn or theribbon or whatever it is wrapped around
the base of the tongue dental floss.
You it's incredible to think that itcould travel that far out of the animal.
(06:38):
And the problem is they get indistress pretty quickly because
it's like everything from mouth tobutt turns into an accordion, all,
bunched up together on a string.
So definitely keep stringsaway from your animals.
Dixie (06:50):
Yeah.
And
I hate that every time you see adrawing of a kitten they always
have a fricking ball of yarn.
Charlotte (06:56):
Yes.
Exactly.
Dixie (06:57):
And I hate that because kittens should not be playing with string.
They should not be playing with yarn.
Charlotte (07:02):
Yep.
I'll see people give rope toyssometimes to the wrong size animal.
And they'll have a large dog with arope toy that they could easily swallow.
And there's plenty of safe things forthem to chew on without giving them
anything that could be dangerous.
Dixie (07:22):
If they have string like hanging out of the butt and Yeah.
So if they have the string hangingout the butt, they should not
pull it.
Charlotte (07:31):
Never pull string hanging out of a butt.
Now if they're defecating and yousee a little bit and you know they
can't poop and you're, you cangently apply a little pressure.
But if you have to, if you have toactually pull on it, leave it alone.
If you can wipe it with a Kleenex or apaper towel and it comes off or out, okay?
(07:51):
If you have to pull it, do notpull it, go immediately to the er.
Dixie (07:57):
Because I can imagine it can get tangled on intestines
and all kinds of stuff too.
Charlotte (08:02):
Oh yeah.
Dixie (08:02):
Not just The tongue base.
Charlotte (08:03):
Yep
Dixie (08:04):
so are there other situations aside from.
Foreign bodies.
Charlotte (08:10):
Well, I see a lot of unnecessary visits to the emergency room.
Well, I guess we'll talkabout the necessary ones.
Bloat in dogs is a big onewhere people will see just the
animal uncomfortable pacing.
Sometimes there'svomiting, but not always.
Sometimes the stomach can twistand nothing's coming in or out.
It's extremely painful.
And if you stand overthe animal, you can see.
(08:32):
One side, bulging and it's, you can evenping it and it sounds like a basketball
or some other air-filled cavity.
And it, if you don't decompress it verysoon, it will it can actually rupture.
So, there's certain breeds that aremore predisposed to that, like, mostly
large dogs and deep chested dogslike German shepherds, greyhounds,
(08:54):
poodles standard sized poodles.
Dobermans they are one of thosethat are suspect for bloat.
So, a lot of times when they eat, they'lleat too quickly and swallow a lot of air.
And that can also be thecause of like air bloat.
Sometimes they can bloat fromeating too much food, but usually
if the dangerous one is air bloat.
Dixie (09:15):
Now, I don't know if it's true, but I've heard something
about not giving them ice either.
Can ice cause bloat?
Charlotte (09:20):
Not necessarily.
I think if you have an animal that hasa sensitive GI, that may be a bad idea.
I.
Most of the time, icereally isn't gonna matter.
I'd be more worried about themchoking on it or, aspirating on a,
on something the size of an ice cube.
'cause some ice cubes are justperfect to fit down the trachea.
But as far as it being cold, that'sreally shouldn't be an issue.
(09:43):
But they even tell human athletes, that,if you're overheated, sometimes it's a
bad idea to drink something that's verycold, so it may cause cramping, but it's
certainly not gonna, cause anything major?
I always tell people two things.
You must go to the ER for if an animalcan't breathe and that it's turning blue.
This is not a regular thing,meaning you, you have a boxer or
(10:07):
a French bulldog that gets excitedand they turn blue for a second.
If they're coughing or theyhave a reverse sneeze situation
going on that's one thing.
But if you think they've inhaled food andthey look like they're really struggling,
it's time to, to get to the er.
But some of the things you can try athome, if it's a dog that you can pick
(10:27):
up actually holding it upside down.
Is an excellent way to get somethingout of a trachea with a small animal
or even a small person if need be.
People always forget, work with gravity.
So that's another one that youa must for going to the er.
Bleeding.
Anything that's bleeding, that'sspurting blood a few inches up,
(10:48):
yes, you need to apply quickpressure and get them to the er.
Things like toenails, bleedingtoenails, or dogs that bite their
tongues sometimes there can be a lotof blood associated with that, but it's
not like a dangerous amount of blood.
So, I have never seen an animalbleed out from a toenail ever though.
Generally toenails donot need to go to the er.
(11:11):
It's always best to have quickstop, which is some like styptic
powder that people use for shaving.
You can pack on the end of the toenail.
You can even use cooking flour in areal emergency to help congeal some of
that blood at the base of the toenail.
And that's one of themost painful injuries.
I see that in the ER a lot becausethe dogs will limp and people
will think, oh, it's a broken leg.
(11:33):
It's a toenail that's cracked.
So I always say if your dog's limpingor your cat's limping, first thing
you should do is check the toenails.
If you can't do anythingelse, at least do that.
And that's one thing you can rule out.
Dixie (11:46):
I'd like to get into cats a little bit too.
What are gonna be some of your more commonemergencies that you're gonna see in cats?
Charlotte (11:55):
Cats.
One of the big things we see with cats,especially male cats, is bladder stones.
And what happens is it they get astone in the bladder, same way that
people get stones in their bladderand kidneys and other places as well.
The only problem is the urinarytract of male cats is so small.
(12:15):
It's like a couple of hairs.
wide.
So if they get even just a little bitof grit in their urine or a stone,
it can easily block the bladder fromdraining into the urethra, especially
in a male because it's much smallerand it has to go through the penis.
So, a lot of times they'll getblocked and people don't realize that
(12:36):
their cat hasn't urinated for a dayor two and they're acting strange.
They're crying, they're just laying there.
And if they're starting to be in direemergency state, . You can even squeeze
the area of their body where their bladdershould be just around the pelvis from
underneath the abdomen, and you can feel,it feels sometimes like the size of a
(12:56):
lemon or a baseball and it's completelyfilled with urine and they can't urinate.
And it's a series of emergency.
So as soon as we get themin, we try to sedate them
immediately and pass a catheter.
If we can't pass a catheter to pushthe stone back into the bladder.
We'll we have to go in and, aspirate orsuck some of the urine out with a syringe
(13:17):
and needle to give them some relief sowe have a little time to work and that
they're not, in danger of their bladderrupturing because if they don't get
attention for that, they, their bladderwill rupture and it will kill them and
that it's not a very pleasant way to go.
So I've unfortunately seen some somefolks that maybe didn't have the
funds to go to the emergency vet.
(13:38):
I think they can do something athome, and unfortunately I've had to
tell them sometimes euthanasia is thekindest option in those cases because
it's not a nice way to pass with yourbladder ruptured and dying of sepsis.
So if that's the case, it'salways best to put your animals'
feelings ahead of yours for sure.
(13:59):
Yeah, and
Dixie (14:00):
Dr.
Milazzo also helped me with my cat Kipper.
Charlotte (14:04):
Yes.
Dixie (14:05):
Would you like to take the credit for Kipper , Dr Milazzo?
Charlotte (14:08):
Well, just to give you guys an idea, I'm 45, so I'm
on the route to becoming whatwe call a dinosaur veterinarian.
So I still know some of the old waysof teaching and some of the quick fixes
that we've had to do to save animals.
Almost like battlefield medicine.
And sometimes that comes in handy,especially when there are a lot
(14:29):
of young vets around that arevery smart, very on top of things,
very into the latest and the besttechniques and the current research.
And so, there's a little bit battlebetween the dinosaur vets and the new
vets about what to do with blocked cats.
And over the 20 yearsthat I've been practicing.
(14:50):
I can tell you that the proof is in thepudding and what I see when I treat it,
what cats get better and what cats don't.
And a lot of times when you have acat that either has a stone or has
severe urethral inflammation, so muchso that it's so swollen that they
can't pee and it's not necessarily astone, but it's just swelling of the
(15:12):
urethra that keeps them from urinating.
You have to go in and you have to put acatheter in there just like a human would
get in the hospital so that they're ableto urinate from the bed or whatever.
And you have to leave that in therefor at least two to three days.
So that while the inflammation isgoing on going down and you give
(15:33):
antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
The body has a chance to be ableto rid itself of waste products.
And while the inflammation isstopping and you don't have to
worry about re blocking up again.
Now, there's a newer school ofthought that, that says, the
catheter shouldn't be in that long.
It needs to be taken out after,10 or 12 hours, or sometimes even
(15:56):
less once the cat is unblockedbecause it's a source of infection.
Well.
My, my train of thought is that youdon't have to worry about infection
killing you if your bladder ruptures.
So, you gotta pick thelesser of two evils.
So the funny story is how Dixie and Ibecame friends many years ago was when
(16:17):
Kipper was blocked and for the first time.
Usually some male cats will happenonce in a lifetime, sometimes
twice if it becomes a repeat thing.
And they like, they're going into theemergency several times with this.
Then they have to get what's calleda urethrotemy which is basically
they remove the penis and theymake a new opening that's much
(16:40):
larger for the bladder to drain.
So, it's basically just like theywill, most of them leak urine
after that, but it's a surgery thatyou can do to save their lives.
But it's not something thatyou wanna do on a cat that's
been blocked once in its life.
'cause chances are it had an infection.
And once we clear up the infectionor get rid of the stone and change
(17:00):
the diet, it won't happen again.
So Kipper went into a local er and they.
Wanted to perform a urethrotemy onKipper after he was there for the day.
And I wasn't at work that day, butI was chit-chatting with Dixie here.
And I was out on the town inmy much younger days having
(17:21):
a drink and I got very angry.
I was like, I'm not lettingthem cut your cat's penis off.
So I said, do I sound soberenough to call the emergency room?
And Dixie says.
maybe, but just don't use the F word.
So, so at which point I instructedher to go and get her cat in any
(17:44):
state that was in and bring itto me first thing in the morning.
And thankfully she listened tome and I saw the cat and we were
able to catheterize him a fewdays and he lived the rest of his
life not having to have a Romy.
So, 'cause that's a big thing, that's likea person getting like a colostomy bag.
(18:05):
Imagine if you had constipation oneday and somebody said, well, we're
gonna just give you a colostomy bag.
No that's definitely not the answer.
So, before you agreeto a surgery like that.
May maybe ask an older vet.
I don't know.
It's just a thought.
Us old folks, and I say I'm old,but there's plenty of vets in their
eighties that are still practicing.
(18:25):
So I guess they think I'm a youngin still.
But if you run it by an older vet andthey make a face, chances are you might
wanna reconsider or get a second opinion.
Dixie (18:36):
And Kipper never had a problem.
Charlotte (18:38):
Exactly.
Dixie (18:39):
After that it was just a one time thing and we put him on
the special diet and that was it.
We never had a another problem.
Now I did watch 'em like a hawk.
To make sure.
Charlotte (18:49):
Yep.
Dixie (18:49):
And so some of the signs that I would like to say if you see
first inappropriate elimination.
Charlotte (18:56):
Yep.
Dixie (18:56):
Okay.
Don't go on Facebook, don'tgo on social media and ask.
Why is my cat peeingoutside the litter box?
Go to a vet because it could bea sign of something much worse.
Charlotte (19:07):
Exactly.
It could be just a UTI or infection.
It could be behavioral.
But if your cat always uses a litter boxand it stops, something is usually wrong.
And a lot of times if they urinatein strange places to get your
attention, something's wrong.
Inappropriate.
Elimination is.
Probably more of a sign of issuesin cats than it is in dogs.
(19:30):
Sometimes dogs like tomark certain things.
Of course, cats do too, but with catsit's usually a sign that something
hurts them or something's going wrong.
Dixie (19:40):
I'd also like to talk a little bit about people who just
do fostering for younger animals.
So we're gonna talk about likebottle kittens and bottle puppies.
Of course, I'm more familiarwith the bottle kittens.
'cause that's what I do.
So I see something frequently withpeople when they have the bottle kittens.
The kittens might start todehydrate 'cause they're not
(20:01):
giving them say, enough fluid.
What is a good way for somebody to testfor that, to see if they're dehydrated?
Charlotte (20:08):
Well, you can check what's called their skin tur
or how wrinkled the skin is.
If you pull up the skin, either, ontheir side or at the scruff area or
anywhere really, and you pick it up andit tenses or it stays up in the pinch
position for longer than a second.
Then they're probably dehydrated,sunken eyes around the eye sockets.
(20:29):
You'll see that they're sunken in.
And also of course really dark,strong urine and not urinating
enough as well as a, is a prettygood sign of dehydration too.
Weakness also.
And another good thing since we broughtit up, not that it's related to, well, it
could be related to bottle kittens too.
A lot of times peopleget kittens and puppies.
(20:51):
They'll come in and they'll say, oh mygosh, my kitten or my puppy is really
weak, and it's just laying there.
It's breathing.
It's okay, but it's just laying there.
Sometimes I've had, I've told peoplebefore they do anything, as long
as the animal was breathing and notobstructed in any way, like choking
on anything, I've told them to getsome plain karo syrup or pancake
(21:12):
syrup and rub it on the animal's gums.
A lot of times puppies and kittenssuffer from hypoglycemia or low
blood sugar if they miss a feeding,or let's say mom got distracted
and didn't feed them and they went.
A little bit too long without a feeding.
Their blood sugar can dropand they look horrible.
They look like death, and then all of asudden they're up and running around again
(21:33):
and it's because their blood sugar drops.
So that's alwayssomething to keep in mind.
If you see a recumbent animalthat looks normal, otherwise, gums
are pink, they're breathing okay.
There's no bleeding anywhere.
They're not painful, but theyjust look listless sometimes
a little bit of pancake syrup.
Which is probably the safest thingto give them so they don't choke.
Rub it on the gums and it'llbe absorbed pretty quickly.
Dixie (21:55):
Yep.
And that is somethingthat I have done plenty
times and they usually popright back up after that.
Charlotte (22:01):
Yep.
Like if you find abandoned kittens,a lot of times if they're weak,
that's the first thing you should do.
Along with hydrating them isget their blood sugar back up.
Dixie (22:10):
Another thing that I would like to talk about too is parasites
and the little babies like that.
Because I've seen situations wherethe parasites can really do a number.
Charlotte (22:21):
Oh, yes.
Dixie (22:21):
And I know like coccidia and Giardia are two really big ones.
So what are signs of that peoplewould need to look out for?
Charlotte (22:28):
Usually they look bad.
They're they're on the thin side.
They have watery diarrhea.
Sometimes it's discolored and green,sometimes there's a strange odor to it.
And the one thing to remember about thingslike that is, especially, let's say.
You find a cat in either a hoardingsituation or a kitten in a hoarding
(22:49):
or even a cat in a hoarding situationor where they're in an unclean
environment that has a lot of animalfeces around sometimes will get them.
And those are the ones that areprone to having things like that.
It's easy to get stuck in places.
I've seen some rescues thatdon't have very good cleaning.
protocol.
And so what'll happen is they'llhave one kitten that comes in with
(23:12):
giardia or coccidia and they'llclean, but they don't clean enough.
And then the next batch ofkittens that come in also gets it.
And it just continues in to persistbecause they haven't cleaned properly
or they haven't done a, like aproper quarantine to make sure that
any new animals that come in aren'thaving profuse watery diarrhea.
Dixie (23:34):
Yeah.
That's why I alwaysquarantine all my kittens.
Charlotte (23:37):
Yep, yep.
I see it all the time and peopleare like, why do all my kittens
come to come and get sick?
Everyone, they all have diarrhea.
No.
You just need to clean a littlebit better and practice a
little bit different intake.
And it doesn't mean that you have totreat them like a, hospital patient,
like things were, no, it just means youneed to keep them alone and keep the
ones that have not been exposed to theother ones away until, and then if you
(24:01):
see diarrhea, you just keep 'em separateand clean, it's not a hard thing, but
it's an accumulation of all the littlethings you do that make a successful
like a shelter or rescue situation.
I worked at a very fancy hospital inanother state at one point, and the kennel
staff cleaned with a rag in a bucket indetergent, or it was an antibacterial
(24:23):
detergent, but still each cage was washwashed with the same like rag and sponge.
So I saw multiple cases ofdiarrhea from boarding animals,
and it didn't look unclean.
It didn't smell unclean, but you'retransferring bacteria from cage to cage.
So if one animal has something nowthey all have it, so that's a big one.
(24:46):
And then when you're talking aboutparasites, like actual worms, coccidia
and giardia are parasites, but they'remore akin to a bacteria than actual worms.
You're not gonna see giardia, you'renot gonna see coccidia in the stool.
That's something microscopic.
But if you see things like round wormsthat look like spaghetti, anything
that looks like spaghetti that'scoming out the butt, or sometimes
(25:09):
vomited is usually a roundworm.
We usually don't, sometimes you can seehookworms, but they're much smaller.
They have a mouth part that allowsthem to attach to the wall of
the intestine and suck blood.
Hookworms can actually be much moredangerous than roundworms because they
can make them anemic and, suck allthe nutrients and blood from them.
Whereas the roundworms just sitaround and obstruct the bowel.
(25:31):
Maybe they stop absorption of nutrients,but it's not quite the same as hookworms.
Those, both, all thoseeggs come from the ground.
That's why they tell kids thatare playing in the sandbox.
Wash your hands, kids playing outside.
Wash your hands.
You can also get them, you can getworms from walking around barefoot
(25:51):
because there's a certain stage ofthe larva that will migrate through
the skin and then pick up residentsthrough the bloodstream into the GI.
So that's how people very often in ruralareas end up getting worms as well.
So, making sure your animals on a regulardeworming routine or that the monthly meds
that they take cover, that is important.
(26:13):
People get overlyconcerned about tape worms.
I see that a lot on emergency peoplefreaking out because tape worms,
they look like little grains of rice.
People have also describedthem to look like inch worms.
And sometimes they can be alittle long, but usually they
look like long grain rice, andthose do not come from the ground.
(26:33):
They come from swallowing a flea.
And an animal doesn't have to beinfested to have to have tape worms.
All it takes is one flea.
They can swallow, one flea whilethey're licking themselves and.
They've got tape worms.
So one problem I have with that ispeople will come in and they want me
to treat the tape worms because theysee them coming out the butt or stuck
to the fur and they're freaked outby it and they think they can get it.
(26:56):
And I have to tell the owners,no, you cannot get tape worms
unless you swallow a flea.
You have to swallow a flea.
So unless you're swallowingfleas, you're gonna be okay.
Yes, it's gross, but we can takecare of it and they'll want.
Their animal to be treated for tape worms,but then they don't get flea prevention.
So they come back in a few weeksand they're like, I thought
you treated the tape worms doc.
And I say, well.
(27:16):
Your animals swallowed another flea.
And even though they're on prevention,sometimes they still swallow a flea.
So it's just one of thosethings you have to look out for.
A lot of times tapewormsdon't usually cause problems.
They just hang out and look gross,but they can cause soft stool and
they can cause their butts to itch.
So if you see them rubbing their butts,chances are it could be tapeworms or it
(27:37):
could be their anal glands, which are.
Two little glands at the opening ofthe anus that have a lubricant in them.
It's a remnant from wild animals thatwhen they eat bones and fur, not that
our current domestic animals couldtolerate a diet of bones and fur.
They still have those vestigial typeorgans there and it's supposed to
(27:58):
lubricate the feces on its way out.
Our animals now do not havebulky stools like that.
So some of them have problems withtheir anal glands and they need
to come in to see me and I have toexpress them, or, basically push on
them so that they can evacuate those.
And that will help with but itching, so
Dixie (28:17):
since you mentioned fleas of course I always recommend people to
go for flea prevention, the topicals.
And the oral medication to go to a vet.
You don't wanna go to the grocerystore to go get those things.
Exactly.
Charlotte (28:30):
There is a particular brand which starts with an H and ends with
a Z that is sold commonly in storesthat I see repeated Intoxications
with that topical medication.
Specifically for cats.
Also, you never want to use dogflea prevention on cat and cat flea
prevention on dog stay within thespecies guidelines on the box, and
(28:53):
also read how to administer it.
I've seen some people administertopical meds or meds that are put on
the skin or applied to the skin orally.
And I've seen some things.
I've also seen somebody give asuppository for the butt orally and
wondered why there was a problem orwhy the animal wasn't getting better.
So always read your instructions andif you have any doubts about where the
(29:15):
medication goes and how to give it.
Ask the vet, they will be more than happyto answer any question that you have.
So don't ever fear thatyou're gonna look silly.
We would much rather answer thequestion than try to figure out
the mystery of what happened later.
But yeah you wanna ask the vet andif you don't necessarily want to
make an appointment to see a vet.
(29:38):
You can at least establisha relationship with one.
My clients, even if they aren't comingin to see me, I get a lot of questions
or they want prescriptions filled forflea prevention and I have no problem
doing that as long as I have somesort of established relationship with
them and some sort of knowing thatthey're gonna use the product correctly
and I can keep it in their records.
So I know if something comesup or they have a problem, I
(30:01):
can see what they've taken.
Dixie (30:03):
So another thing that I would like to ask you about, this
is something that people freak outabout all the time is ringworm,
Charlotte (30:13):
oh
lord.
Ringworm is the hot topic,especially when it comes to rescue.
People see missing fur that lookslike it could be in a round like
shape on an animal, and theycompletely lose their minds and.
The first issue being that it's a zoonoticdisease, and that's a fancy word for
(30:35):
saying humans can get it and speciescan transfer it from one to another.
So, that's part of the reasonwhy people freak out, but
also the name freaks them out.
Ringworm is not actuallya worm, it is a fungus.
It is the same thing as athlete'sfoot or jock itch that humans get.
It is nothing dangerous.
(30:56):
But the problem isthat, it is contagious.
If you go walking around ondirty gym floors, you're probably
gonna get athletes' foot.
Kittens that have ringworm, chances areall of the kittens that were exposed and
sometimes the people who handled themwill come up with a few ringworm spots.
It is not anything to panic over.
(31:17):
You go to the drugstore, youget some antifungal cream.
The same stuff you would useon Athletes' Foot or Jock itch.
You apply it to the lesions abouttwice a day for a week or so, sometimes
a little longer, and they go away.
If you have an immunocompromisedperson in the family or around, then
that might be a little bit different.
But basically that's how youhandle it without freaking out.
(31:39):
, I see it all the time.
One time I had to do a bunch ofexams for some rescue animals that
were going to a different state.
And I got a callback from one ofthe rescue people screaming at me
telling me, you let a puppy withringworm go to another state.
And I'm like whoa.
First of all, by the time we would havetaken a sample of the missing fur on
(32:02):
the spot on the dog in question andactually put it in a medium to grow out.
It would've been several daysbefore we would have a positive.
Like we would have an answer towhether or not it was ringworm or not.
So if you don't know, a little fungalantifungal cream will not hurt.
And as I had told them before, itdid not turn out to be ringworm.
(32:25):
It was a scab that had fallen offand it was in a round shape and the
hair had to grow back on the animal.
So a lot of times things that peoplethink are ringworm are not actually that
just because they're round and hairless.
You can look up pictures on Googleand see what ringworm looks like.
But just remember that some ofthose pictures are not accurate.
(32:46):
And also some of them arelike worst case scenarios.
It's like if you look up a diseaseonline, you're going to see someone
in a third world country that hassuch an advanced state of disease
that we may not even recognize.
What it is because it's so far gone.
So, just be aware of that.
When you look things up on theinternet, usually it's the worst
case scenario that you'll see.
(33:07):
And what you have in real life issomething that's barely questionable.
And if you bring your animal to the vet.
If you want an answer of yes or no, thisis definitely ringworm or not, it's gonna
take days to grow out on a culture platebefore we know if it's actually ringworm.
We can even look at it with ablack light and sometimes that will
help identify it, but not always.
(33:28):
So when in doubt, just go getyou some miconazole cream at the
drugstore and you'll be good.
Dixie (33:36):
Another topic that I'd like to touch on are gonna be three of the
feline diseases that people see a lot of.
So one of 'em is gonna be FIP.
Which there, last year it seemslike there was a huge FIP outbreak.
And then of course the feline leukemia.
And FIV.
Charlotte (33:54):
Feline leukemia and FIV are more like long-term illnesses.
FIV is almost like a person that has HIV.
It's not a death sentence.
It just means we need to watch themfor passing on the disease or also
having problems with their immunesystem and catching other things.
So that's a big part of that is,is not the actual disease, but the
(34:17):
things that, that go along with them.
That's the problem.
I see a lot of people that have maybeone cat and they'll see that it tested
positive for FIV or feline leukemiaand they wanna put it to sleep, or
the vet suggests putting it to sleep.
There's no need for that.
Keep your cat inside and keep yourone cat or adopt another cat that's
positive and they'll be okay.
(34:38):
So, there's that FIP isa little bit different.
There's still a lot that's not completelyunderstood about FIP and it is.
Very much a diagnosis of exclusion.
We have to rule out a bunch ofother things to realize that it's
FIP and it's one of those thingsas you get to be older as a vet,
you can pick them out as they come.
(35:00):
But it's often a disease of excludingother things like feline leukemia,
FIV, and other immune diseases.
Dixie (35:09):
Now back to the feline leukemia and FIV.
Can you tell us how feline leukemia is
transferred
Charlotte (35:19):
Well, basically blood and saliva, and those are two
things with cats especially ifthey're un neutered or unspayed.
They're mating.
There's lots of biting goingon, they're scratching.
And exchange of saliva and bloodin any kind of way is just,
that's the way to pass it on.
So, that's basically howthey contract these diseases.
Dixie (35:44):
When it comes to the feline leukemia.
I've always heard that one's a little biteasier to catch so that if you have a cat
that has feline leukemia, you do not wannabring another cat into the household.
Charlotte (35:56):
Exactly.
Dixie (35:57):
Now with the feline aids?
Or FIV.
Charlotte (35:59):
Yeah.
Dixie (35:59):
That one I have heard it's more difficult for a cat to catch that because
you actually have to have a bite for that.
Charlotte (36:07):
Exactly.
Dixie (36:08):
So.
There's a little bit of controversywith that because you hear some
people will say, oh, well no, an FIVcat cannot live with a another cat.
But then you have other people thatare like, no, as long as you have cats
that don't fight and they're not bitingeach other, then they're fine together.
So what are your thoughts on that?
Charlotte (36:24):
I tend to agree as long as you know what kind of risk you're assuming
and you understand how the disease istransmitted I'm of the thought that.
If the cat's going to lose its home orthis cat would be otherwise put to sleep
or put in a shelter, it would be betteroff given a chance to get along with
another cat in an inside environment tobe given a chance at a good home versus
(36:47):
ending up at a shelter or ending upbeing put down as long as they get along,
There are vets that woulddisagree with me on that.
But especially here, we have so manyunwanted animals and so many animals
that die in the shelters in Louisianathat I feel like anything we can do
to stop that, at least to try is good.
Dixie (37:11):
Another topic that I would like to touch on a little bit too is
if you are open to any alternative,holistic, or say new age concepts
when it comes to treating animals?
Charlotte (37:23):
Absolutely.
I say the best medicine that we canprovide would be western medicine and
eastern medicine or alternative medicines.
If we could actually, if thecommunities could get along.
We could definitely do some wonderfulthings for people and for animals.
It's a shame though that people tendto be extremists and either, okay,
(37:44):
I want it textbook, I want drugs, Iwant surgery, I want Western style.
Or we have people thatare completely holistic.
They won't give antibiotics.
They do everything to avoidsurgeries and things like that.
Sometimes things just need antibiotics.
Sometimes they're not gonnaget better without surgery.
(38:05):
But there are so many otherthings, so many other modalities.
Cold laser ultrasound, there areherbal medications that are very good.
Now you have to be careful 'cause peoplethink just because it's herbal, it's safe.
No the way we've derived antibioticsand every other drug that's manufactured
is originally from nature, from plantsand compounds that already exist.
(38:27):
So a drug is a drug, whether it's aplant or it's been rendered in a lab
to mimic the same makeup as a plant.
It's all drugs and it's allgoing in your body, whether it's
from the ground or from a lab.
So you have to be careful,especially with human supplements.
People will take all kinds ofthings and not tell their doctors,
and then bad things will happen iftheir doctors give them medicine.
(38:49):
So, like a prescription medicine.
and they're taking certain herbal things.
But I think if the two communitieswork together, we would really
benefit from each other.
I've met some holistic vets that are antiparasite drugs and things like heartworms.
Here in the south we get heartwormsare carried by mosquitoes and if
(39:10):
your animal is not on heartwormprevention here, more so with dogs
than cats, but cats can get heartworms.
If they're off prevention, they'reprobably going to contract heartworm
because we have so many mosquitoes.
In the Mississippi Deltaarea that it's ridiculous.
So, you have to do that, and the amountof drug that it takes every month to keep
(39:32):
away heartworms or an injection that lastsfor a few months is so minuscule and tiny
and really has no lasting ill effectsto the liver or the kidneys or anything.
It's necessary to do that.
So I disagree with some holistic
medical people that don'tbelieve in doing that.
And also you need to use antibiotics whenantibiotics are warranted because nobody
(39:55):
wants to get septic, certainly if you havea minor infection, you can try things.
One of, one of the things that I seehumans mess up all the time is, well,
I'm not gonna get antibiotics for thisUTI, I'm gonna drink cranberry juice.
While that's great.
And cranberries, actually can help as anatural way to rid yourself of bacteria.
(40:16):
You would have to have like several poundsof dried concentrate cranberry to eat
in capsules at a much higher dose thandrinking a few glasses of cranberry juice.
Sure, it'll help flush out, butit's certainly not gonna fix
something the way antibiotics would.
Dixie (40:32):
To touch on that a little bit . How would you feel about some of the
supplements that they have out thatwould be for assisting with the cats
that do have the urinary tract problems?
Charlotte (40:44):
I think it's great.
I think there is certainlynothing wrong with giving some
of the cranberry supplements.
That are veterinary tested and approvedfor having efficacy and safety.
Because sometimes if you getproducts online or in, in pet stores,
you don't know what's in there.
I've seen actually some supplementsin pet stores that are like 0.0,
(41:06):
zero, zero 1% of active ingredient.
It's like, well, you might as welljust give them water 'cause that's
not gonna help, so make sure you geta brand that is veterinary approved.
Also fish oil.
Fish oil is a great thing for all animals.
Even for us, I'm a big user of fishoil like salmon and krill oil and
like your Omega-3 and six fatty acids.
(41:28):
For all the itchy dogs that don'thave fleas or other skin problems, or
even if they do, it really does helpchange the quality of their skin.
We can put moisturizer on andhelp ourselves, but there's very
little topically you can do fora cat or dog to help their skin.
But if you give them good nutrientsinternally and you give things like
fish oil, that can absolutely helpthe way their coat looks, the way they
(41:50):
feel all their organs and everything.
Dixie (41:54):
Yep.
I do the fish oil.
And it's remarkable to see thedifference on the hair when
you start 'em, on the fish oil.
Charlotte (42:00):
Yep.
You can sometimes see pets, especiallyshort coated dogs and cats too.
You'll see flakes dry skin andall of that will go away a lot
of times just with some fish oil.
and let me remind that goes on thefood internally because I once had
a lady come to me and tell me, well.
I've been slathering the fish oil allover my dog every day for the month, and
(42:22):
I just can't stand the way he smells,especially when he lays in the sun.
And then I see the dog and I'm like,oh my gosh, this poor lady, she's
been slathering fish oil on thedog and letting it bake outside.
Wow.
That will take your breath away for sure.
Dixie (42:40):
Yeah,
I can imagine.
'cause
It's nasty smelling whenyou get it on your fingers.
Charlotte (42:44):
Oh, yes.
Dixie (42:44):
When you're trying to put it on the food.
Charlotte (42:45):
Oh, yes.
And this lady , I have toadmire her commitment because
she really did love her dog.
And I couldn't laugh at her.
I just said, no ma'am.
And she's like, I'm so sorry.
I can't believe I didn't think about that.
I just saw it was an oil in a capsuleand I assumed I was supposed to squeeze
it out, like, face stuff for women.
And I'm like no.
No, it was for the skin, but youwere supposed to put it in the food.
So, but you know what, I always tellpeople, I'd rather you ask or come
(43:09):
in when you think something's wrong.
I'm not gonna make fun of you.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna makesure you get it right.
Dixie (43:16):
Considering the human animal bond, do you feel that incorporating
emotional and energetic wellbeinginto treatment plans is beneficial?
Charlotte (43:25):
Absolutely.
Our animals pick up on our energy a lot.
There's some spooky things that happen.
Oh, I wouldn't call 'em spooky.
I think we just don't understand it yet.
Very often I see animals and people withthe same diseases, and I'm not talking
ones that they caught from each other.
Things like thyroid disease diabetes like.
Insulin dependent diabetics glaucomaand it's not a case of like, oh, well
(43:50):
they're both intoxicated with something.
It really is truly an energetic thing.
And you can almost, if you're sensitiveto that kind of stuff, you can almost,
tell, especially in animals thatare closely bonded with the human
that has these issues as well.
I think there's a whole lot ofenergetic exchange with our animals,
so I think there's a lot we can dowith them, for them in that sense.
(44:12):
I'm not educated on a whole lot of thosethings, but things like reiki and a
massage, acupuncture, stuff like that.
All that's really good.
I said that wrong.
It's Reiki, isn't it?
Dixie (44:22):
It's Reiki, yeah.
It was close enough so it works.
There we go.
Charlotte (44:25):
It works exactly that.
That's how much I know about Reiki.
Although I'm planning tolearn one of these days.
I've seen wonders of that used with.
Little weenie dogs ordachshunds that have back pain.
I've seen that in particular, along withacupuncture make a difference for them.
So, yeah.
Dixie (44:44):
Well,
I'm a reiki master and then I cansay I have seen Reiki work, so.
Charlotte (44:48):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Dixie (44:51):
So before we end this episode, is there anything else you would like to add?
Charlotte (44:55):
When you're looking for a veterinarian.
You want one that wants toestablish a relationship with you,
one, that when you come in, theyknow you, they know your animal.
They know as soon as they look at youranimal, they know something's wrong.
And you wanna try to keep the sameveterinarian from puppy and kitten hood
all the way through the animal's life.
If and when it comes time at the end oftheir life and you have to talk about
(45:18):
euthanasia, it's a lot better when youhave a relationship with that vet because.
They're gonna act in the bestinterest of the animal too.
And also to remember, if you have aproblem with your veterinarian, 99.9%
of the time your veterinarian isthinking of your animal first,
or the animal's best interest.
And sometimes people don'talways understand that.
(45:40):
So if you have a problem with your vet oryou have something you don't understand,
go to them and talk it out face to face.
And tell them how you feel from theheart and just, never underestimate
the power of just a good conversationand and a good relationship nowadays.
There's a lot of huge veterinary clinicsand there's nothing wrong with that.
They're wonderful places, but sometimesyou don't always see the same doctor.
(46:04):
But if you're in a big place,request the doctor that you
like, find one that you like.
Stick with that one each time . AndI think you'll have a much easier
experience and your pet will too.
Dixie (46:16):
Well, thank you so much Dr.
Charlotte.
Charlotte (46:18):
Absolutely.
I
was glad I could be here today.
. Dixie: And that's all the time we have for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Hi everybody.
We're gonna have a very interestingand informative episode today.
I'm sitting down here to chat withmy good friend and animal lover,
Charlotte, who is also a veterinarian.
Dr.
Milazzo, can you please tellus a little bit about yourself?
Charlotte (00:25):
I am Dr.
Charlotte Milazzo.
I am from New Orleans, Louisiana,and I got my veterinary degree from
Tuskegee University in Alabama, andI did my preceptorship in Australia.
A couple of externships in California.
And I like to do private practiceand charity work as well.
(00:47):
Birds are my favorite.
Everybody always asks.
Dixie (00:51):
So, what's special about birds?
Why are they your favorite?
Charlotte (00:54):
Well, they're forgotten about by a lot of other vets.
Vets will say, oh no, I don't see birds.
And some things are pretty easy to takecare of with birds, but some things are
highly specialized 'cause they're sodifferent than all the other species.
They're just really cool creatures.
And the amount, the type of speciesand the wide variety is huge.
There's so much diversity,we've got raptors, we've got
(01:15):
parrots, we've got songbirds.
It's just interesting.
Dixie (01:20):
I wanted to talk about a trend that I'm seeing a lot on social media,
and it's basically where people geton social media and they'll be having
some kind of veterinary emergency andthey're out there asking people for help.
Hey, what do I do?
So I wanted to quickly chatabout situations where people
should be going to the vet asap.
(01:41):
From your experience, what are someof the most common situations where
pet owners hesitate to go to theemergency room, but absolutely should?
Charlotte (01:49):
Well, I, one of the hard ones to make the call is when an animal eats
an object that is obviously dangerousor something that's not gonna pass like
rope or material a lot of times it doespass, but, some things are just obvious
foreign bodies that are gonna get stuckand sometimes people will wait until the
(02:12):
animal gets really sick and they go in.
I think we probably see more casesof object eating where people
wait too long than, coming inand not needing to have come in.
So it's always best to catchthose things right away.
Dixie (02:28):
I actually had a situation with that when I was younger.
It was Christmas.
I had a relatively new cat.
He was probably about maybeseven, eight months old.
And I saw him steal a piece ofribbon off of a Christmas present.
Charlotte (02:42):
Wow.
Dixie (02:42):
And I saw him eat the ribbon
Charlotte (02:45):
uhhuh.
Dixie (02:45):
So I chased him down.
I tried to get it, couldn't get to him intime, and I saw him swallow that ribbon.
Well, we ended up at the emergency vet.
It was like my worst Christmas ever.
Charlotte (02:56):
Yep.
Dixie (02:57):
And the vet had to try to induce vomiting.
He vomited several times.
And it never came up.
Charlotte (03:06):
Yep.
Dixie (03:06):
And so the vet was like, are you sure that, are
you sure you saw him eat it?
I'm like, I am absolutely100% certain that he ate it.
Oh, well.
So they did send him home.
They said they thought that maybeI just didn't see it correctly.
Charlotte (03:20):
Uhhuh.
Dixie (03:20):
So we got home and they just, they did tell me, look
out for vomiting and diarrhea.
But we got home and hedid end up throwing it up.
Charlotte (03:30):
Well that's good.
Dixie (03:31):
Yeah.
So he did eat it.
Charlotte (03:32):
Uhhuh.
Dixie (03:33):
I wasn't wrong.
I did see him eat it.
Charlotte (03:34):
Yep.
Dixie (03:34):
So, what would you say about that?
Should people be a hundredpercent certain that they see them
eat it?
Charlotte (03:41):
If you have any idea that you think your animal ate something bad?
If you even have that inkling and theanimal seems in any way distressed, yes,
you definitely need to go to the er.
Also with like medications I have like.
Dogs and cats that will get into humanmedications, eat a whole bottle of
like blood pressure medicine or ADDmedication or something like that.
(04:05):
And you have about 20 minutesto get them to puke it up.
Sometimes emergency vets will tellpeople to give a little bit like a
teaspoon or so of hydrogen peroxide toget the animal orally, to get the animal
to throw up, especially if it's pillsbecause you only really have about.
10, 15 minutes really with somepills before they start to be
(04:25):
metabolized and absorbed in the GI.
So, otherwise if not you need to rush tothe hospital and have them induce vomiting
so they can vomit up as many of thosepills as they can or whatever they ate.
You have to be careful too becausesometimes if they eat things like
batteries, like those button batteries.
You don't want them to vomit in thosecase cases, they have to be opened up
(04:48):
because if they vomit that up, the acidin the stomach, it's gonna burn the
esophagus and everything on the way up.
Same thing with things like bleach.
If an animal like eats a bleach bottle,like gel bleach pen or something like
that, and they manage to get it down,you probably don't want them throwing
that up again because it's just gonnairritate the esophagus on the way up.
(05:09):
So it depends on what they ate.
And another big one too istampons, feminine products,
baby diapers, dental floss.
Those are all the things that wepull out of animals, underwear.
All kinds of things.
So, if you see your animal eatingthat, then it's time to go in.
(05:29):
A lot of people wait days and days,and then by that time we have to go
in and remove sections of intestinethat have died and things like that.
And then the outcome of thesurgery is generally not very
good in, in a lot of those cases.
String foreign bodies like the ribbon,you have to really be careful about.
If you think your animal has swalloweda ribbon, the first place you wanna
(05:51):
check is the back of their tongue.
If you can, you should open the mouthand check the base of the tongue.
There are cats that I have seenthat have played with yarn.
I always tell people it's notcute to give a kitten yarn.
Not at all.
So if you have a cat thatplays with yarn, no stop.
I pull way too much yarn out of animals.
So, it can get wrapped around the tonguebase, go through the entire GI and be
(06:15):
hanging out the butt end of the cat.
And people will call the ER andsay, well, should I pull the string
that's hanging from my cat's butt?
And I'll tell them, no.
Check under the tongue first, andyou'd be surprised how many people
find the beginning of the yarn or theribbon or whatever it is wrapped around
the base of the tongue dental floss.
You it's incredible to think that itcould travel that far out of the animal.
(06:38):
And the problem is they get indistress pretty quickly because
it's like everything from mouth tobutt turns into an accordion, all,
bunched up together on a string.
So definitely keep stringsaway from your animals.
Dixie (06:50):
Yeah.
And
I hate that every time you see adrawing of a kitten they always
have a fricking ball of yarn.
Charlotte (06:56):
Yes.
Exactly.
Dixie (06:57):
And I hate that because kittens should not be playing with string.
They should not be playing with yarn.
Charlotte (07:02):
Yep.
I'll see people give rope toyssometimes to the wrong size animal.
And they'll have a large dog with arope toy that they could easily swallow.
And there's plenty of safe things forthem to chew on without giving them
anything that could be dangerous.
Dixie (07:22):
If they have string like hanging out of the butt and Yeah.
So if they have the string hangingout the butt, they should not
pull it.
Charlotte (07:31):
Never pull string hanging out of a butt.
Now if they're defecating and yousee a little bit and you know they
can't poop and you're, you cangently apply a little pressure.
But if you have to, if you have toactually pull on it, leave it alone.
If you can wipe it with a Kleenex or apaper towel and it comes off or out, okay?
(07:51):
If you have to pull it, do notpull it, go immediately to the er.
Dixie (07:57):
Because I can imagine it can get tangled on intestines
and all kinds of stuff too.
Charlotte (08:02):
Oh yeah.
Dixie (08:02):
Not just The tongue base.
Charlotte (08:03):
Yep
Dixie (08:04):
so are there other situations aside from.
Foreign bodies.
Charlotte (08:10):
Well, I see a lot of unnecessary visits to the emergency room.
Well, I guess we'll talkabout the necessary ones.
Bloat in dogs is a big onewhere people will see just the
animal uncomfortable pacing.
Sometimes there'svomiting, but not always.
Sometimes the stomach can twistand nothing's coming in or out.
It's extremely painful.
And if you stand overthe animal, you can see.
(08:32):
One side, bulging and it's, you can evenping it and it sounds like a basketball
or some other air-filled cavity.
And it, if you don't decompress it verysoon, it will it can actually rupture.
So, there's certain breeds that aremore predisposed to that, like, mostly
large dogs and deep chested dogslike German shepherds, greyhounds,
(08:54):
poodles standard sized poodles.
Dobermans they are one of thosethat are suspect for bloat.
So, a lot of times when they eat, they'lleat too quickly and swallow a lot of air.
And that can also be thecause of like air bloat.
Sometimes they can bloat fromeating too much food, but usually
if the dangerous one is air bloat.
Dixie (09:15):
Now, I don't know if it's true, but I've heard something
about not giving them ice either.
Can ice cause bloat?
Charlotte (09:20):
Not necessarily.
I think if you have an animal that hasa sensitive GI, that may be a bad idea.
I.
Most of the time, icereally isn't gonna matter.
I'd be more worried about themchoking on it or, aspirating on a,
on something the size of an ice cube.
'cause some ice cubes are justperfect to fit down the trachea.
But as far as it being cold, that'sreally shouldn't be an issue.
(09:43):
But they even tell human athletes, that,if you're overheated, sometimes it's a
bad idea to drink something that's verycold, so it may cause cramping, but it's
certainly not gonna, cause anything major?
I always tell people two things.
You must go to the ER for if an animalcan't breathe and that it's turning blue.
This is not a regular thing,meaning you, you have a boxer or
(10:07):
a French bulldog that gets excitedand they turn blue for a second.
If they're coughing or theyhave a reverse sneeze situation
going on that's one thing.
But if you think they've inhaled food andthey look like they're really struggling,
it's time to, to get to the er.
But some of the things you can try athome, if it's a dog that you can pick
(10:27):
up actually holding it upside down.
Is an excellent way to get somethingout of a trachea with a small animal
or even a small person if need be.
People always forget, work with gravity.
So that's another one that youa must for going to the er.
Bleeding.
Anything that's bleeding, that'sspurting blood a few inches up,
(10:48):
yes, you need to apply quickpressure and get them to the er.
Things like toenails, bleedingtoenails, or dogs that bite their
tongues sometimes there can be a lotof blood associated with that, but it's
not like a dangerous amount of blood.
So, I have never seen an animalbleed out from a toenail ever though.
Generally toenails donot need to go to the er.
(11:11):
It's always best to have quickstop, which is some like styptic
powder that people use for shaving.
You can pack on the end of the toenail.
You can even use cooking flour in areal emergency to help congeal some of
that blood at the base of the toenail.
And that's one of themost painful injuries.
I see that in the ER a lot becausethe dogs will limp and people
will think, oh, it's a broken leg.
(11:33):
It's a toenail that's cracked.
So I always say if your dog's limpingor your cat's limping, first thing
you should do is check the toenails.
If you can't do anythingelse, at least do that.
And that's one thing you can rule out.
Dixie (11:46):
I'd like to get into cats a little bit too.
What are gonna be some of your more commonemergencies that you're gonna see in cats?
Charlotte (11:55):
Cats.
One of the big things we see with cats,especially male cats, is bladder stones.
And what happens is it they get astone in the bladder, same way that
people get stones in their bladderand kidneys and other places as well.
The only problem is the urinarytract of male cats is so small.
(12:15):
It's like a couple of hairs.
wide.
So if they get even just a little bitof grit in their urine or a stone,
it can easily block the bladder fromdraining into the urethra, especially
in a male because it's much smallerand it has to go through the penis.
So, a lot of times they'll getblocked and people don't realize that
(12:36):
their cat hasn't urinated for a dayor two and they're acting strange.
They're crying, they're just laying there.
And if they're starting to be in direemergency state, . You can even squeeze
the area of their body where their bladdershould be just around the pelvis from
underneath the abdomen, and you can feel,it feels sometimes like the size of a
(12:56):
lemon or a baseball and it's completelyfilled with urine and they can't urinate.
And it's a series of emergency.
So as soon as we get themin, we try to sedate them
immediately and pass a catheter.
If we can't pass a catheter to pushthe stone back into the bladder.
We'll we have to go in and, aspirate orsuck some of the urine out with a syringe
(13:17):
and needle to give them some relief sowe have a little time to work and that
they're not, in danger of their bladderrupturing because if they don't get
attention for that, they, their bladderwill rupture and it will kill them and
that it's not a very pleasant way to go.
So I've unfortunately seen some somefolks that maybe didn't have the
funds to go to the emergency vet.
(13:38):
I think they can do something athome, and unfortunately I've had to
tell them sometimes euthanasia is thekindest option in those cases because
it's not a nice way to pass with yourbladder ruptured and dying of sepsis.
So if that's the case, it'salways best to put your animals'
feelings ahead of yours for sure.
(13:59):
Yeah, and
Dixie (14:00):
Dr.
Milazzo also helped me with my cat Kipper.
Charlotte (14:04):
Yes.
Dixie (14:05):
Would you like to take the credit for Kipper , Dr Milazzo?
Charlotte (14:08):
Well, just to give you guys an idea, I'm 45, so I'm
on the route to becoming whatwe call a dinosaur veterinarian.
So I still know some of the old waysof teaching and some of the quick fixes
that we've had to do to save animals.
Almost like battlefield medicine.
And sometimes that comes in handy,especially when there are a lot
(14:29):
of young vets around that arevery smart, very on top of things,
very into the latest and the besttechniques and the current research.
And so, there's a little bit battlebetween the dinosaur vets and the new
vets about what to do with blocked cats.
And over the 20 yearsthat I've been practicing.
(14:50):
I can tell you that the proof is in thepudding and what I see when I treat it,
what cats get better and what cats don't.
And a lot of times when you have acat that either has a stone or has
severe urethral inflammation, so muchso that it's so swollen that they
can't pee and it's not necessarily astone, but it's just swelling of the
(15:12):
urethra that keeps them from urinating.
You have to go in and you have to put acatheter in there just like a human would
get in the hospital so that they're ableto urinate from the bed or whatever.
And you have to leave that in therefor at least two to three days.
So that while the inflammation isgoing on going down and you give
(15:33):
antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
The body has a chance to be ableto rid itself of waste products.
And while the inflammation isstopping and you don't have to
worry about re blocking up again.
Now, there's a newer school ofthought that, that says, the
catheter shouldn't be in that long.
It needs to be taken out after,10 or 12 hours, or sometimes even
(15:56):
less once the cat is unblockedbecause it's a source of infection.
Well.
My, my train of thought is that youdon't have to worry about infection
killing you if your bladder ruptures.
So, you gotta pick thelesser of two evils.
So the funny story is how Dixie and Ibecame friends many years ago was when
(16:17):
Kipper was blocked and for the first time.
Usually some male cats will happenonce in a lifetime, sometimes
twice if it becomes a repeat thing.
And they like, they're going into theemergency several times with this.
Then they have to get what's calleda urethrotemy which is basically
they remove the penis and theymake a new opening that's much
(16:40):
larger for the bladder to drain.
So, it's basically just like theywill, most of them leak urine
after that, but it's a surgery thatyou can do to save their lives.
But it's not something thatyou wanna do on a cat that's
been blocked once in its life.
'cause chances are it had an infection.
And once we clear up the infectionor get rid of the stone and change
(17:00):
the diet, it won't happen again.
So Kipper went into a local er and they.
Wanted to perform a urethrotemy onKipper after he was there for the day.
And I wasn't at work that day, butI was chit-chatting with Dixie here.
And I was out on the town inmy much younger days having
(17:21):
a drink and I got very angry.
I was like, I'm not lettingthem cut your cat's penis off.
So I said, do I sound soberenough to call the emergency room?
And Dixie says.
maybe, but just don't use the F word.
So, so at which point I instructedher to go and get her cat in any
(17:44):
state that was in and bring itto me first thing in the morning.
And thankfully she listened tome and I saw the cat and we were
able to catheterize him a fewdays and he lived the rest of his
life not having to have a Romy.
So, 'cause that's a big thing, that's likea person getting like a colostomy bag.
(18:05):
Imagine if you had constipation oneday and somebody said, well, we're
gonna just give you a colostomy bag.
No that's definitely not the answer.
So, before you agreeto a surgery like that.
May maybe ask an older vet.
I don't know.
It's just a thought.
Us old folks, and I say I'm old,but there's plenty of vets in their
eighties that are still practicing.
(18:25):
So I guess they think I'm a youngin still.
But if you run it by an older vet andthey make a face, chances are you might
wanna reconsider or get a second opinion.
Dixie (18:36):
And Kipper never had a problem.
Charlotte (18:38):
Exactly.
Dixie (18:39):
After that it was just a one time thing and we put him on
the special diet and that was it.
We never had a another problem.
Now I did watch 'em like a hawk.
To make sure.
Charlotte (18:49):
Yep.
Dixie (18:49):
And so some of the signs that I would like to say if you see
first inappropriate elimination.
Charlotte (18:56):
Yep.
Dixie (18:56):
Okay.
Don't go on Facebook, don'tgo on social media and ask.
Why is my cat peeingoutside the litter box?
Go to a vet because it could bea sign of something much worse.
Charlotte (19:07):
Exactly.
It could be just a UTI or infection.
It could be behavioral.
But if your cat always uses a litter boxand it stops, something is usually wrong.
And a lot of times if they urinatein strange places to get your
attention, something's wrong.
Inappropriate.
Elimination is.
Probably more of a sign of issuesin cats than it is in dogs.
(19:30):
Sometimes dogs like tomark certain things.
Of course, cats do too, but with catsit's usually a sign that something
hurts them or something's going wrong.
Dixie (19:40):
I'd also like to talk a little bit about people who just
do fostering for younger animals.
So we're gonna talk about likebottle kittens and bottle puppies.
Of course, I'm more familiarwith the bottle kittens.
'cause that's what I do.
So I see something frequently withpeople when they have the bottle kittens.
The kittens might start todehydrate 'cause they're not
(20:01):
giving them say, enough fluid.
What is a good way for somebody to testfor that, to see if they're dehydrated?
Charlotte (20:08):
Well, you can check what's called their skin tur
or how wrinkled the skin is.
If you pull up the skin, either, ontheir side or at the scruff area or
anywhere really, and you pick it up andit tenses or it stays up in the pinch
position for longer than a second.
Then they're probably dehydrated,sunken eyes around the eye sockets.
(20:29):
You'll see that they're sunken in.
And also of course really dark,strong urine and not urinating
enough as well as a, is a prettygood sign of dehydration too.
Weakness also.
And another good thing since we broughtit up, not that it's related to, well, it
could be related to bottle kittens too.
A lot of times peopleget kittens and puppies.
(20:51):
They'll come in and they'll say, oh mygosh, my kitten or my puppy is really
weak, and it's just laying there.
It's breathing.
It's okay, but it's just laying there.
Sometimes I've had, I've told peoplebefore they do anything, as long
as the animal was breathing and notobstructed in any way, like choking
on anything, I've told them to getsome plain karo syrup or pancake
(21:12):
syrup and rub it on the animal's gums.
A lot of times puppies and kittenssuffer from hypoglycemia or low
blood sugar if they miss a feeding,or let's say mom got distracted
and didn't feed them and they went.
A little bit too long without a feeding.
Their blood sugar can dropand they look horrible.
They look like death, and then all of asudden they're up and running around again
(21:33):
and it's because their blood sugar drops.
So that's alwayssomething to keep in mind.
If you see a recumbent animalthat looks normal, otherwise, gums
are pink, they're breathing okay.
There's no bleeding anywhere.
They're not painful, but theyjust look listless sometimes
a little bit of pancake syrup.
Which is probably the safest thingto give them so they don't choke.
Rub it on the gums and it'llbe absorbed pretty quickly.
Dixie (21:55):
Yep.
And that is somethingthat I have done plenty
times and they usually popright back up after that.
Charlotte (22:01):
Yep.
Like if you find abandoned kittens,a lot of times if they're weak,
that's the first thing you should do.
Along with hydrating them isget their blood sugar back up.
Dixie (22:10):
Another thing that I would like to talk about too is parasites
and the little babies like that.
Because I've seen situations wherethe parasites can really do a number.
Charlotte (22:21):
Oh, yes.
Dixie (22:21):
And I know like coccidia and Giardia are two really big ones.
So what are signs of that peoplewould need to look out for?
Charlotte (22:28):
Usually they look bad.
They're they're on the thin side.
They have watery diarrhea.
Sometimes it's discolored and green,sometimes there's a strange odor to it.
And the one thing to remember about thingslike that is, especially, let's say.
You find a cat in either a hoardingsituation or a kitten in a hoarding
(22:49):
or even a cat in a hoarding situationor where they're in an unclean
environment that has a lot of animalfeces around sometimes will get them.
And those are the ones that areprone to having things like that.
It's easy to get stuck in places.
I've seen some rescues thatdon't have very good cleaning.
protocol.
And so what'll happen is they'llhave one kitten that comes in with
(23:12):
giardia or coccidia and they'llclean, but they don't clean enough.
And then the next batch ofkittens that come in also gets it.
And it just continues in to persistbecause they haven't cleaned properly
or they haven't done a, like aproper quarantine to make sure that
any new animals that come in aren'thaving profuse watery diarrhea.
Dixie (23:34):
Yeah.
That's why I alwaysquarantine all my kittens.
Charlotte (23:37):
Yep, yep.
I see it all the time and peopleare like, why do all my kittens
come to come and get sick?
Everyone, they all have diarrhea.
No.
You just need to clean a littlebit better and practice a
little bit different intake.
And it doesn't mean that you have totreat them like a, hospital patient,
like things were, no, it just means youneed to keep them alone and keep the
ones that have not been exposed to theother ones away until, and then if you
(24:01):
see diarrhea, you just keep 'em separateand clean, it's not a hard thing, but
it's an accumulation of all the littlethings you do that make a successful
like a shelter or rescue situation.
I worked at a very fancy hospital inanother state at one point, and the kennel
staff cleaned with a rag in a bucket indetergent, or it was an antibacterial
(24:23):
detergent, but still each cage was washwashed with the same like rag and sponge.
So I saw multiple cases ofdiarrhea from boarding animals,
and it didn't look unclean.
It didn't smell unclean, but you'retransferring bacteria from cage to cage.
So if one animal has something nowthey all have it, so that's a big one.
(24:46):
And then when you're talking aboutparasites, like actual worms, coccidia
and giardia are parasites, but they'remore akin to a bacteria than actual worms.
You're not gonna see giardia, you'renot gonna see coccidia in the stool.
That's something microscopic.
But if you see things like round wormsthat look like spaghetti, anything
that looks like spaghetti that'scoming out the butt, or sometimes
(25:09):
vomited is usually a roundworm.
We usually don't, sometimes you can seehookworms, but they're much smaller.
They have a mouth part that allowsthem to attach to the wall of
the intestine and suck blood.
Hookworms can actually be much moredangerous than roundworms because they
can make them anemic and, suck allthe nutrients and blood from them.
Whereas the roundworms just sitaround and obstruct the bowel.
(25:31):
Maybe they stop absorption of nutrients,but it's not quite the same as hookworms.
Those, both, all thoseeggs come from the ground.
That's why they tell kids thatare playing in the sandbox.
Wash your hands, kids playing outside.
Wash your hands.
You can also get them, you can getworms from walking around barefoot
(25:51):
because there's a certain stage ofthe larva that will migrate through
the skin and then pick up residentsthrough the bloodstream into the GI.
So that's how people very often in ruralareas end up getting worms as well.
So, making sure your animals on a regulardeworming routine or that the monthly meds
that they take cover, that is important.
(26:13):
People get overlyconcerned about tape worms.
I see that a lot on emergency peoplefreaking out because tape worms,
they look like little grains of rice.
People have also describedthem to look like inch worms.
And sometimes they can be alittle long, but usually they
look like long grain rice, andthose do not come from the ground.
(26:33):
They come from swallowing a flea.
And an animal doesn't have to beinfested to have to have tape worms.
All it takes is one flea.
They can swallow, one flea whilethey're licking themselves and.
They've got tape worms.
So one problem I have with that ispeople will come in and they want me
to treat the tape worms because theysee them coming out the butt or stuck
to the fur and they're freaked outby it and they think they can get it.
(26:56):
And I have to tell the owners,no, you cannot get tape worms
unless you swallow a flea.
You have to swallow a flea.
So unless you're swallowingfleas, you're gonna be okay.
Yes, it's gross, but we can takecare of it and they'll want.
Their animal to be treated for tape worms,but then they don't get flea prevention.
So they come back in a few weeksand they're like, I thought
you treated the tape worms doc.
And I say, well.
(27:16):
Your animals swallowed another flea.
And even though they're on prevention,sometimes they still swallow a flea.
So it's just one of thosethings you have to look out for.
A lot of times tapewormsdon't usually cause problems.
They just hang out and look gross,but they can cause soft stool and
they can cause their butts to itch.
So if you see them rubbing their butts,chances are it could be tapeworms or it
(27:37):
could be their anal glands, which are.
Two little glands at the opening ofthe anus that have a lubricant in them.
It's a remnant from wild animals thatwhen they eat bones and fur, not that
our current domestic animals couldtolerate a diet of bones and fur.
They still have those vestigial typeorgans there and it's supposed to
(27:58):
lubricate the feces on its way out.
Our animals now do not havebulky stools like that.
So some of them have problems withtheir anal glands and they need
to come in to see me and I have toexpress them, or, basically push on
them so that they can evacuate those.
And that will help with but itching, so
Dixie (28:17):
since you mentioned fleas of course I always recommend people to
go for flea prevention, the topicals.
And the oral medication to go to a vet.
You don't wanna go to the grocerystore to go get those things.
Exactly.
Charlotte (28:30):
There is a particular brand which starts with an H and ends with
a Z that is sold commonly in storesthat I see repeated Intoxications
with that topical medication.
Specifically for cats.
Also, you never want to use dogflea prevention on cat and cat flea
prevention on dog stay within thespecies guidelines on the box, and
(28:53):
also read how to administer it.
I've seen some people administertopical meds or meds that are put on
the skin or applied to the skin orally.
And I've seen some things.
I've also seen somebody give asuppository for the butt orally and
wondered why there was a problem orwhy the animal wasn't getting better.
So always read your instructions andif you have any doubts about where the
(29:15):
medication goes and how to give it.
Ask the vet, they will be more than happyto answer any question that you have.
So don't ever fear thatyou're gonna look silly.
We would much rather answer thequestion than try to figure out
the mystery of what happened later.
But yeah you wanna ask the vet andif you don't necessarily want to
make an appointment to see a vet.
(29:38):
You can at least establisha relationship with one.
My clients, even if they aren't comingin to see me, I get a lot of questions
or they want prescriptions filled forflea prevention and I have no problem
doing that as long as I have somesort of established relationship with
them and some sort of knowing thatthey're gonna use the product correctly
and I can keep it in their records.
So I know if something comesup or they have a problem, I
(30:01):
can see what they've taken.
Dixie (30:03):
So another thing that I would like to ask you about, this
is something that people freak outabout all the time is ringworm,
Charlotte (30:13):
oh
lord.
Ringworm is the hot topic,especially when it comes to rescue.
People see missing fur that lookslike it could be in a round like
shape on an animal, and theycompletely lose their minds and.
The first issue being that it's a zoonoticdisease, and that's a fancy word for
(30:35):
saying humans can get it and speciescan transfer it from one to another.
So, that's part of the reasonwhy people freak out, but
also the name freaks them out.
Ringworm is not actuallya worm, it is a fungus.
It is the same thing as athlete'sfoot or jock itch that humans get.
It is nothing dangerous.
(30:56):
But the problem isthat, it is contagious.
If you go walking around ondirty gym floors, you're probably
gonna get athletes' foot.
Kittens that have ringworm, chances areall of the kittens that were exposed and
sometimes the people who handled themwill come up with a few ringworm spots.
It is not anything to panic over.
(31:17):
You go to the drugstore, youget some antifungal cream.
The same stuff you would useon Athletes' Foot or Jock itch.
You apply it to the lesions abouttwice a day for a week or so, sometimes
a little longer, and they go away.
If you have an immunocompromisedperson in the family or around, then
that might be a little bit different.
But basically that's how youhandle it without freaking out.
(31:39):
, I see it all the time.
One time I had to do a bunch ofexams for some rescue animals that
were going to a different state.
And I got a callback from one ofthe rescue people screaming at me
telling me, you let a puppy withringworm go to another state.
And I'm like whoa.
First of all, by the time we would havetaken a sample of the missing fur on
(32:02):
the spot on the dog in question andactually put it in a medium to grow out.
It would've been several daysbefore we would have a positive.
Like we would have an answer towhether or not it was ringworm or not.
So if you don't know, a little fungalantifungal cream will not hurt.
And as I had told them before, itdid not turn out to be ringworm.
(32:25):
It was a scab that had fallen offand it was in a round shape and the
hair had to grow back on the animal.
So a lot of times things that peoplethink are ringworm are not actually that
just because they're round and hairless.
You can look up pictures on Googleand see what ringworm looks like.
But just remember that some ofthose pictures are not accurate.
(32:46):
And also some of them arelike worst case scenarios.
It's like if you look up a diseaseonline, you're going to see someone
in a third world country that hassuch an advanced state of disease
that we may not even recognize.
What it is because it's so far gone.
So, just be aware of that.
When you look things up on theinternet, usually it's the worst
case scenario that you'll see.
(33:07):
And what you have in real life issomething that's barely questionable.
And if you bring your animal to the vet.
If you want an answer of yes or no, thisis definitely ringworm or not, it's gonna
take days to grow out on a culture platebefore we know if it's actually ringworm.
We can even look at it with ablack light and sometimes that will
help identify it, but not always.
(33:28):
So when in doubt, just go getyou some miconazole cream at the
drugstore and you'll be good.
Dixie (33:36):
Another topic that I'd like to touch on are gonna be three of the
feline diseases that people see a lot of.
So one of 'em is gonna be FIP.
Which there, last year it seemslike there was a huge FIP outbreak.
And then of course the feline leukemia.
And FIV.
Charlotte (33:54):
Feline leukemia and FIV are more like long-term illnesses.
FIV is almost like a person that has HIV.
It's not a death sentence.
It just means we need to watch themfor passing on the disease or also
having problems with their immunesystem and catching other things.
So that's a big part of that is,is not the actual disease, but the
(34:17):
things that, that go along with them.
That's the problem.
I see a lot of people that have maybeone cat and they'll see that it tested
positive for FIV or feline leukemiaand they wanna put it to sleep, or
the vet suggests putting it to sleep.
There's no need for that.
Keep your cat inside and keep yourone cat or adopt another cat that's
positive and they'll be okay.
(34:38):
So, there's that FIP isa little bit different.
There's still a lot that's not completelyunderstood about FIP and it is.
Very much a diagnosis of exclusion.
We have to rule out a bunch ofother things to realize that it's
FIP and it's one of those thingsas you get to be older as a vet,
you can pick them out as they come.
(35:00):
But it's often a disease of excludingother things like feline leukemia,
FIV, and other immune diseases.
Dixie (35:09):
Now back to the feline leukemia and FIV.
Can you tell us how feline leukemia is
transferred
Charlotte (35:19):
Well, basically blood and saliva, and those are two
things with cats especially ifthey're un neutered or unspayed.
They're mating.
There's lots of biting goingon, they're scratching.
And exchange of saliva and bloodin any kind of way is just,
that's the way to pass it on.
So, that's basically howthey contract these diseases.
Dixie (35:44):
When it comes to the feline leukemia.
I've always heard that one's a little biteasier to catch so that if you have a cat
that has feline leukemia, you do not wannabring another cat into the household.
Charlotte (35:56):
Exactly.
Dixie (35:57):
Now with the feline aids?
Or FIV.
Charlotte (35:59):
Yeah.
Dixie (35:59):
That one I have heard it's more difficult for a cat to catch that because
you actually have to have a bite for that.
Charlotte (36:07):
Exactly.
Dixie (36:08):
So.
There's a little bit of controversywith that because you hear some
people will say, oh, well no, an FIVcat cannot live with a another cat.
But then you have other people thatare like, no, as long as you have cats
that don't fight and they're not bitingeach other, then they're fine together.
So what are your thoughts on that?
Charlotte (36:24):
I tend to agree as long as you know what kind of risk you're assuming
and you understand how the disease istransmitted I'm of the thought that.
If the cat's going to lose its home orthis cat would be otherwise put to sleep
or put in a shelter, it would be betteroff given a chance to get along with
another cat in an inside environment tobe given a chance at a good home versus
(36:47):
ending up at a shelter or ending upbeing put down as long as they get along,
There are vets that woulddisagree with me on that.
But especially here, we have so manyunwanted animals and so many animals
that die in the shelters in Louisianathat I feel like anything we can do
to stop that, at least to try is good.
Dixie (37:11):
Another topic that I would like to touch on a little bit too is
if you are open to any alternative,holistic, or say new age concepts
when it comes to treating animals?
Charlotte (37:23):
Absolutely.
I say the best medicine that we canprovide would be western medicine and
eastern medicine or alternative medicines.
If we could actually, if thecommunities could get along.
We could definitely do some wonderfulthings for people and for animals.
It's a shame though that people tendto be extremists and either, okay,
(37:44):
I want it textbook, I want drugs, Iwant surgery, I want Western style.
Or we have people thatare completely holistic.
They won't give antibiotics.
They do everything to avoidsurgeries and things like that.
Sometimes things just need antibiotics.
Sometimes they're not gonnaget better without surgery.
(38:05):
But there are so many otherthings, so many other modalities.
Cold laser ultrasound, there areherbal medications that are very good.
Now you have to be careful 'cause peoplethink just because it's herbal, it's safe.
No the way we've derived antibioticsand every other drug that's manufactured
is originally from nature, from plantsand compounds that already exist.
(38:27):
So a drug is a drug, whether it's aplant or it's been rendered in a lab
to mimic the same makeup as a plant.
It's all drugs and it's allgoing in your body, whether it's
from the ground or from a lab.
So you have to be careful,especially with human supplements.
People will take all kinds ofthings and not tell their doctors,
and then bad things will happen iftheir doctors give them medicine.
(38:49):
So, like a prescription medicine.
and they're taking certain herbal things.
But I think if the two communitieswork together, we would really
benefit from each other.
I've met some holistic vets that are antiparasite drugs and things like heartworms.
Here in the south we get heartwormsare carried by mosquitoes and if
(39:10):
your animal is not on heartwormprevention here, more so with dogs
than cats, but cats can get heartworms.
If they're off prevention, they'reprobably going to contract heartworm
because we have so many mosquitoes.
In the Mississippi Deltaarea that it's ridiculous.
So, you have to do that, and the amountof drug that it takes every month to keep
(39:32):
away heartworms or an injection that lastsfor a few months is so minuscule and tiny
and really has no lasting ill effectsto the liver or the kidneys or anything.
It's necessary to do that.
So I disagree with some holistic
medical people that don'tbelieve in doing that.
And also you need to use antibiotics whenantibiotics are warranted because nobody
(39:55):
wants to get septic, certainly if you havea minor infection, you can try things.
One of, one of the things that I seehumans mess up all the time is, well,
I'm not gonna get antibiotics for thisUTI, I'm gonna drink cranberry juice.
While that's great.
And cranberries, actually can help as anatural way to rid yourself of bacteria.
(40:16):
You would have to have like several poundsof dried concentrate cranberry to eat
in capsules at a much higher dose thandrinking a few glasses of cranberry juice.
Sure, it'll help flush out, butit's certainly not gonna fix
something the way antibiotics would.
Dixie (40:32):
To touch on that a little bit . How would you feel about some of the
supplements that they have out thatwould be for assisting with the cats
that do have the urinary tract problems?
Charlotte (40:44):
I think it's great.
I think there is certainlynothing wrong with giving some
of the cranberry supplements.
That are veterinary tested and approvedfor having efficacy and safety.
Because sometimes if you getproducts online or in, in pet stores,
you don't know what's in there.
I've seen actually some supplementsin pet stores that are like 0.0,
(41:06):
zero, zero 1% of active ingredient.
It's like, well, you might as welljust give them water 'cause that's
not gonna help, so make sure you geta brand that is veterinary approved.
Also fish oil.
Fish oil is a great thing for all animals.
Even for us, I'm a big user of fishoil like salmon and krill oil and
like your Omega-3 and six fatty acids.
(41:28):
For all the itchy dogs that don'thave fleas or other skin problems, or
even if they do, it really does helpchange the quality of their skin.
We can put moisturizer on andhelp ourselves, but there's very
little topically you can do fora cat or dog to help their skin.
But if you give them good nutrientsinternally and you give things like
fish oil, that can absolutely helpthe way their coat looks, the way they
(41:50):
feel all their organs and everything.
Dixie (41:54):
Yep.
I do the fish oil.
And it's remarkable to see thedifference on the hair when
you start 'em, on the fish oil.
Charlotte (42:00):
Yep.
You can sometimes see pets, especiallyshort coated dogs and cats too.
You'll see flakes dry skin andall of that will go away a lot
of times just with some fish oil.
and let me remind that goes on thefood internally because I once had
a lady come to me and tell me, well.
I've been slathering the fish oil allover my dog every day for the month, and
(42:22):
I just can't stand the way he smells,especially when he lays in the sun.
And then I see the dog and I'm like,oh my gosh, this poor lady, she's
been slathering fish oil on thedog and letting it bake outside.
Wow.
That will take your breath away for sure.
Dixie (42:40):
Yeah,
I can imagine.
'cause
It's nasty smelling whenyou get it on your fingers.
Charlotte (42:44):
Oh, yes.
Dixie (42:44):
When you're trying to put it on the food.
Charlotte (42:45):
Oh, yes.
And this lady , I have toadmire her commitment because
she really did love her dog.
And I couldn't laugh at her.
I just said, no ma'am.
And she's like, I'm so sorry.
I can't believe I didn't think about that.
I just saw it was an oil in a capsuleand I assumed I was supposed to squeeze
it out, like, face stuff for women.
And I'm like no.
No, it was for the skin, but youwere supposed to put it in the food.
So, but you know what, I always tellpeople, I'd rather you ask or come
(43:09):
in when you think something's wrong.
I'm not gonna make fun of you.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna makesure you get it right.
Dixie (43:16):
Considering the human animal bond, do you feel that incorporating
emotional and energetic wellbeinginto treatment plans is beneficial?
Charlotte (43:25):
Absolutely.
Our animals pick up on our energy a lot.
There's some spooky things that happen.
Oh, I wouldn't call 'em spooky.
I think we just don't understand it yet.
Very often I see animals and people withthe same diseases, and I'm not talking
ones that they caught from each other.
Things like thyroid disease diabetes like.
Insulin dependent diabetics glaucomaand it's not a case of like, oh, well
(43:50):
they're both intoxicated with something.
It really is truly an energetic thing.
And you can almost, if you're sensitiveto that kind of stuff, you can almost,
tell, especially in animals thatare closely bonded with the human
that has these issues as well.
I think there's a whole lot ofenergetic exchange with our animals,
so I think there's a lot we can dowith them, for them in that sense.
(44:12):
I'm not educated on a whole lot of thosethings, but things like reiki and a
massage, acupuncture, stuff like that.
All that's really good.
I said that wrong.
It's Reiki, isn't it?
Dixie (44:22):
It's Reiki, yeah.
It was close enough so it works.
There we go.
Charlotte (44:25):
It works exactly that.
That's how much I know about Reiki.
Although I'm planning tolearn one of these days.
I've seen wonders of that used with.
Little weenie dogs ordachshunds that have back pain.
I've seen that in particular, along withacupuncture make a difference for them.
So, yeah.
Dixie (44:44):
Well,
I'm a reiki master and then I cansay I have seen Reiki work, so.
Charlotte (44:48):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Dixie (44:51):
So before we end this episode, is there anything else you would like to add?
Charlotte (44:55):
When you're looking for a veterinarian.
You want one that wants toestablish a relationship with you,
one, that when you come in, theyknow you, they know your animal.
They know as soon as they look at youranimal, they know something's wrong.
And you wanna try to keep the sameveterinarian from puppy and kitten hood
all the way through the animal's life.
If and when it comes time at the end oftheir life and you have to talk about
(45:18):
euthanasia, it's a lot better when youhave a relationship with that vet because.
They're gonna act in the bestinterest of the animal too.
And also to remember, if you have aproblem with your veterinarian, 99.9%
of the time your veterinarian isthinking of your animal first,
or the animal's best interest.
And sometimes people don'talways understand that.
(45:40):
So if you have a problem with your vet oryou have something you don't understand,
go to them and talk it out face to face.
And tell them how you feel from theheart and just, never underestimate
the power of just a good conversationand and a good relationship nowadays.
There's a lot of huge veterinary clinicsand there's nothing wrong with that.
They're wonderful places, but sometimesyou don't always see the same doctor.
(46:04):
But if you're in a big place,request the doctor that you
like, find one that you like.
Stick with that one each time . AndI think you'll have a much easier
experience and your pet will too.
Dixie (46:16):
Well, thank you so much Dr.
Charlotte.
Charlotte (46:18):
Absolutely.
I
was glad I could be here today.
. Dixie: And that's all the time we have for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
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