A Beautiful Day for the Dog Park with Dr. Greer of CheckOut Vet

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eight forty thirteen ten. Doubuib and ask the experts. Brought
to you by check Out Veterinary online. Check out vet
dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Going to be
joined by doctor Marty Greer, recognized as Veterinarian of the
Year by the Westminster Kennel Club. I say we're going
to be joined by doctor Greer in just a moment.
I want to mention to you if you've got a

(00:20):
question for the doctor, we'd love to have you join us.
Of course, full lines are always open during the program.
Six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six
oh eight three two one thirteen ten. Love to have
you on the air. If you've got a question for
the doctor about your pets, she is here to answer
those questions for you. Of course, you can learn more
about Checkout Veterinary on their website. Check out vet dot com.

(00:41):
That's checkout vet dot com. Convenient clinic, convenient location. They
really make it great for you and your pets, an
all around fantastic experience. It's a great day to start
that relationship at Checkout Veterinary. I gotta do this pick
up phone game a call six oh eight three one
eight sixty seven hundred. That's six oh eight three one
eight sixty seven hundred talking about how convenient it is.

(01:02):
Checkout vet dot com you can learn more. Of course,
they're right in sun Prairie, right off the interstate. So
if you can hear us you are nearby, and that
first visit that exam, it'll be free to you and
your pet. In joining us this morning is doctor Marty
Greer from Checkout Veterinary Doctor. How you doing this week?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing great.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Thank you, it's good to talk to you. How did
the How was the open house? Unfortunately I had a
and this sounds weird. I had a wedding on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, interesting day. Yeah, it was beautiful weather, wonderful opportunity
to come in and meet everybody. We had cheese and
crackers and beer and wine. We had beer from the
Fifth Ward Brewery which is up in Ashcott, and so
we had we had some pretty pretty good stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
That's awesome. And for folks that missed that opportunity, I know,
obviously sometimes people get busy and they do want to
check it out. You like having if folks want to
stop by and just kind of see how the clinics
work and maybe ask a couple of questions. One of
the great things about Checkout Veterinary is is you welcome
people to stop by and take a look at what
you're up to.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
We do we do. If you want to come without
your pet, just come in, say hi, look around. That's great.
If you want to come with your pet, the first
exam is free, so that means if you want to
bring you in your pet and you just want them
to walk around, or you want a physical exam and
you don't want any blood work, you don't want any vaccines,
you just want to see this, see the place, have
the doctor meets the pets, see how our doctors relate

(02:19):
to your pet, and vice versa. You're absolutely welcome. That
costs you nothing. We do suggest that you make an
appointment so that you don't have to wait, but it
doesn't cost you anything if that's all you want to
do now. If you want vaccines, you want your heart
room tests, you want your heart room and you fling
tick preventives, then of course we charge for that. But
the exam is free. It's always free, and if it's
your pets first time, it's a great opportunity to see

(02:39):
If we click for you or you know, because a
lot of pets are they struggle with anxiety at the
veterinary clinic. So we want to make sure we fit
your needs. And that's it.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
And I know the for folks, and I hope folks
are regular listen, I probably know all about this. But
for those of you that are new to the new
to the program, welcome to the show. But I know
literally from the ground up, Checkout Veterinary is designed for
to you know, low stress, keep your pet comfortable, keep
you comfortable as you're coming in. And it's really set
up to make that with a drive through service in

(03:10):
those four bays, really set up to make it safe
and convenient for you and your pet. Of course they're
right at twenty seven to ten Prairie Lakes Drive in
sun Prairie, right off the highway, right near the interstate.
There great data, make that appointment, start that relationship. As
the doctor mentioned, it's always best to have the appointments
six so eight three sixty seven hundred. That's three one
eight sixty seven hundred. More details online check out vet

(03:32):
dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. And doctor I
always I call it Chihuahua Weather. The past few days,
we go out back in the and the chihuahua just
lays out and absorbs as much of that sunshine as
as his little body can can take in. But with
this changing seasons, in this chihuahua weather going on, there

(03:54):
are things to get prepared for with your pet spending
more time outdoors doing more activities. There's some import things
sometimes that we don't always think about, things like getting
kind of a spring tune up for your pet, kind
of getting getting going, but not too fast, not too hard,
making sure, just like any anyone that's going to participate
in any type of athletic endeavor, you really want to

(04:16):
do some training, don't you.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Right, you don't want to do a weekend warrior thing
with your pet where you go out and you run
five or six miles on the weekend and the poor
thing on Monday is just, you know, really exhausted and
sore and stiff. So if you do have an opportunity
to start them slowly, that's always a good idea. So
a short walk and then a longer walk, and the
longer so you gradually work your way up to it.

(04:39):
Of course, be careful that their feed are protected that
if the asphalt is hot, that you're careful with that,
so you know, you some good common sense. Take the
water along. So they make those nice little water bottles
now with this little tray that flips down, so you
can carry water with you for your pet. You're going
to be out on a longer walk. If your pet
has a history of allergies, make sure that you've got
your allergy meds stocked up before you go, because you

(05:00):
don't want to have something that's you know, pretty miserable.
And if your dog does have a tendency to have
arthritis or stiffness or any of those things, those anti
inflammatories that you can get from your veterinarian very important
to start those a day or two ahead of the
exercise that you do. Don't let them go out and
follow the lawnmower for four hours, you know, walking back
and forth in the yard if they haven't done anything
all winter. So you know, just kind of use some

(05:23):
common tents. Make sure you've got your flee in tick preventives,
because the ticks are out, man, they are out in
four So even if you live in a groomed yard
and in a little nice neighborhood, you still probably are
going to have ticks, and nobody wants them on their pet.
And nobody wants them on them not only because the
ticks are icky, but because they carry diseases that affect
you and your pets, like lime disease, at the plasmosis, erlikia,

(05:44):
a whole bunch of other things. So just use some
good common sense when you go out. Don't just you know,
take off for a three day camping hiking trip without
some preparation.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
I talked this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout
Veterinary online checkout vet dot com. That's check out vet
dot com on great tips as always from the doctor,
and so we talked with doctor Greer and of course
talked about the website checkout vet dot com. We're going
to get into things like dog parks safety, and we
touched a little touched on earlier in the program about
dog parks and of course keeping your pets safe. There

(06:15):
also a lot of folks getting ready vacation season. Spring
break is now behind us, so we're getting into summertime
and maybe your pet's got to go to a kennel.
Some things need to do there, doctor, real quick though,
One thing I was going to ask you about is
kind of somewhat related and some unrelated. Seasonally, I was
on Reddit and I'm reading like there's like a whole
thing about ask a vet, and somebody had said I

(06:36):
haven't had my cats into the vet for like I
wish I would have saved it. But basically the crux
of the question was, my cat hasn't been to the
vet for a number of years. Should I feel guilt?
Should I feel shame or embarrassed about calling the vet?
And obviously the question and the answers from the vets
were very much like, no, just get them in. And

(06:56):
I do think that that is a thing for some
people that may fall behind on whether it's cat or dog,
with their preventative and other things. Times sometimes they start
to hesitate because they're like I don't want to seem
like a bad pet owner, or like I didn't care
life happens. The important thing is is to get them
up to speed and get them caught up, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Absolutely so, don't be embarrassed if somebody makes you feel
bad at the veterinary clinics, find another one because they
should be welcoming, they should be glad to see you.
It's our opportunity to get your cats back up to speed,
whether they need boosters or whether they need brianted preventives.
We don't see a lot of heartwarn disease in Wisconsin
and cats, so probably not too likely to need that.
But sometimes it's bloodwork. Once our cats get to be

(07:36):
at three quarters of their respected life expectancy, so usually
by age twelve or so, we want to start getting
them in for routine bloodwork so that we can make
sure that their liver and kidney function is fine, and
that their syroids are good, and if there's anything going
on with their intestinal tract, any of those things, we
can start addressing those and getting ahead of them instead
of waiting until our cats have lost after their body weight.
And trust me, we see that we see cats that

(07:57):
we haven't seen in twenty years. You know, they were
spade or new when they were six months old and
then they haven't been back. And now they're nineteen years old,
and so it's well past time and they're now down
to four and a half pounds and where they were,
you know, maybe sixteen or so, and so you know,
those are your opportunities. Don't let it get to that
point if you have, of course, still get help, but
if you haven't, please go in at the first sign

(08:19):
that something isn't right. If you have friends or family
that come over and say, gosh, your cat doesn't look
quite like it used to take advantage of that as
a you know, nudge to get in because it happens
gradually in front of you, and so oftentimes we don't
see the changes. But when somebody that hasn't seen the
cat for weeks, months, maybe years, walks into your house
and said, what happened, this is your opportunity to jump

(08:42):
in and fix the problem.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's a great time to do that and start that relationship.
As we talk with doctor Marty Grier of Checkout Veterinarian,
and we get more information online checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com Telvin number six eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six h eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred. Between checkout Vet and check
in Vet. They are open seven days week nine am
until five pm. Of course checkout Vet Monday through Wednesday,

(09:05):
and then Friday through Sunday. Yes, that includes weekends at
checkout vet. And you say, well what about Thursdays? Well,
check in Vet. The sister clinic of Checkout Vet is
available Monday through Friday from nine until five. And of course,
as we talk with doctor Greer, don't forget to check
Out Vet. That first visit is free. So let's talk
doctor about just getting your pet ready for you know what,

(09:26):
I think a lot of it has to do with
this dogs, specifically socialization around other other dogs. There are
things obviously you want to make sure they're up to
up to speed on their vaccines and shot sha and
other other preventative stuff, But there are other things you
just want to kind of get them ready for this
time of year, aren't there when it comes to socializing
with other dogs?

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Oh right, Yeah. I make sure that they're current on
their vaccines, especially things like bordertella, which is came cough.
Influenza may be indicated. Those are the upper respiratory in
sections that dogs can share by barking at each other,
sharing water bowls. Be careful not to share water balls
when you go to the brewery, a dog park or whatever.
Those could be sort of a cesspool for dogs. It's
polite of those businesses to put them out, but it

(10:06):
may not be the safest water source for your pet.
So carry your own and make sure that they're current
on their vaccines. Rabies, if of course, is required in dogs,
so don't try and cheat on that. Make sure that
they're up to date because if your dog scratches somebody
or bite somebody, then you can be in big trouble.
So don't think you're beaten the system by skipping those vaccines. Distemper, parvo,
those are typically given every three years or so. Lepto.

(10:27):
A lot of people have shied away from lepto over
the years because they've been concerned about the vaccine causing
some adverse events, but the vaccine is a much cleaner,
much less anergenic vaccine than it used to be that
does need to be given once a year, so wordtells
once a year, line is once a year, tenoclosts influences
once a year, and leptos once a year. Distemper and

(10:47):
parvo and rabies are every three so it can be
a little confusing to try and keep up with which
schedule you're supposed to be on. But lepto is a
bacterial infection that we see from standing water, urine in
the grass, things like that. So if your dog runs
up the door in the morning and runs out, licks
and rolls around. You can bet there was a little
wild animal in the yard the night before, and those
are the kind of things that pick up that spread

(11:08):
lepto to our dogs. And actually this week I had
a dog in that we diagnosed in twenty nineteen at
Halloween on Halloween Day with leptosporosis. And he is still
alive and doing well, but only because of the furs
were attentive and determined that the first diagnosis they got
on him, that was he's in kidney failure. He's going
to die wasn't the answer that they took. So we're

(11:30):
now almost six years out and he's doing great. But
you know, you have to be a tenante of those things,
So keep your dog up to date. On vaccines. There
is a vaccination for lame disease, there is a vaccination
for lepto. Those should be given once a year. Bordetella,
my favorite bordertella vaccine is the nose drops one that
has three different anigens in it, para influenza, abnovirus in bordetella.

(11:50):
The oral vaccine doesn't protect against para influenza, and that's
a very common cause of kennel coffin doogs. So if
they're going to the dog park, going to the groomer,
going to dog training classes, any of those things that
they're exposed to, the dogs, they're exposed, So make sure
you're keeping your vaccines up to day.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Is kennel clough kind of a catch all for for
respiratory illnesses for dogs?

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yes, okay, yeah, there's about fourteen or fifteen organisms that
cause kennel coughs. So you're absolutely correct.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
It's a garbage can diagnostic because I've obviously I've heard
of it, and i've when we've with Homer when he's
he doesn't our dog doesn't, he doesn't spend time at
the kennel. But when he was little and of course
you know, had those conversations and he was taking obedient
school and on some other things, are like, yeah, make
sure he's got all that stuff. And it's so important.

(12:38):
As we talk with doctor Greer, it's a great data
to get your pet in. It's if you haven't had
a chance to check out check out veterinary, today is
the day to do that. Of course, Kindler more online,
check out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Great day to day to start that relationship. Obvious pick
up pone gamccall six so eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty seven hundred. The

(12:58):
website check out vet dot com. That's check out vet
dot com. We'll come to your conversation with doctor Marty
Greer of Checkout Veterinary. We'll do that next as Ask
the Experts continues here on thirteen ten double U I
B I eight fifty five thirteen ten WUI b A
and Ask the Experts talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer.
Of course, doctor Greer. She comes to us from Checkout Veterinary.

(13:19):
The website check out vet dot com. That's all one
word checkout vet dot com. Fantastic website kind of lays
out how Checkout Veterinary works, what makes it so unique,
what makes it so special. It makes it especially convenient
for you and safe for your pet as well, and
convenient for your pet. Pets absolutely love getting into Checkout
Veterinary again. You can learn more about the clinic online

(13:42):
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Talk
in springtime into summertime this morning with doctor Greer. Getting
your pet ready for the season. And speaking of we're
talking about dog parks and you know, dogs socializing. It's
really good for them obviously to spend time with with
other dogs and friends, to run and play with and

(14:03):
do all that fun dog stuff that they that they
like to do. There's things that you want to be
on the lookout for. There's things you want to prepare
for as well. And doctor I often think about man
made things that could be a danger, and there's plenty
of those, but there's also things like just naturally occurring
things like mushrooms and other things you really do, even
at dog park, want to be keeping a very close
eye on what your pet is experiencing and encountering, don't you.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
Oh yeah, mushrooms, there's toxic plants. We had a dog
in a couple of weeks ago that lives down the
street from a junior high and high school and came
in in the afternoon. It was fine. At eight o'clock
in the morning, own her left to visit her husband
in the hospital. Came back, the dog was wobbly, falling, asleep, daggering,

(14:49):
drinking a lot, urinating a lot. Looked really weird and
turned out it was a marijuana toxicity that dog picked
up a I think a gummy or a bud of
a joint or something. We don't really know for sure
because it happened in the yard and the owner saw
her pick something up and didn't get to her fast
enough to get it out of her mouth, and ended
up with a pretty significant toxicity from the marijuana. They

(15:10):
don't get the munchies, and unfortunately, the urine tests that
are available at the dollar store and the other pharmacies
for checking people for marijuana and their metabolite of marijuana
and their urine doesn't work on dogs very effectively. So
we were left with a presumptive diagnosis. But the dog
made a beautiful recovery with some supportive care and she's
fine now. So you just have to be aware that

(15:31):
people are careless and they don't think about what dogs
can pick up and eat, so you have to be
the protector. You can't just let them run wild and
loose because who knows, and you know, sometimes people do
things deliberately. Most of the time it's an accident, So
just be really careful with what your pet's putting in
their little mouth when they're on the end of the leash,
because they are fast. Man the faster you run toward

(15:52):
them to get it out, the faster they swallow. So
it's a challenge.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
I've always amazed to their curious, Like I don't know
that dogs get enough credit for the cat too, whereas
I know they're saying about curiosity and cats, but dogs
as well. I think sometimes we don't fully appreciate. They
want to know as much information about everything, like what
it tastes like, was you know that stuff?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah? Absolutely, Yeah. My dog was my grandson's baseball game
last night and there was a little boy walking around.
It was just a toddler and there was a spray
of cheetos everywhere. Oh my goodness. She had a blast.
So those were cheetos. I saw the kids drop them.
It was pretty safe. But yes, dogs are very curious.
They put things in their mouth. They experience the world
just like young children do. Everything goes in their mouth,

(16:34):
they touch, they feel, you know, all the stuff that
you're not supposed to do. They do because that's what
they that's who they are and what they do, and
they don't hesitate, and they don't really understand that there's
a negative impact to putting something in their mouth. It's
like a kid that drops their sucker on the leaves
in the grass. You know, they put it back in
their mouth. You're like, eh, go do that. So our
dogs don't have the understanding of those things. So we

(16:57):
have to protect them just like we do our children.
So they're just kids that don't ever grow up.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
They are and that's that makes them so great and
it's so so fun. As we talk each week with
doctor Marty Grier of Checkout Veterinary, don't forget. You can
get to know doctor Greer and the rest of the team,
the other doctors as well. At Checkout Veterinary. You can
also learn more about the clinic what makes it so
special all online the website checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Of course your pet special to you,

(17:23):
special to your family and important, also important to the
doctors at checkout Vet. They'd love to see him or her.
Just get on into check out Vet. You can learn
more online, great data start that relationship. Check out vet
dot com or pick up phone game a call six
so eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three
one eight sixty seven hundred. Doctor. It's always great chatting.
You have a fantastic Dan We'll do it all again
real soon. Great, thank you, and again that website check

(17:44):
out vet dot com. Met Kittle has your chance to
win one thousand dollars next year. On thirteen ten, wiv
A