Cats and Critters, Continued with CheckOut Vet

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thirteen ten WIBA and ESK the experts brought to you
by Checkout Veterinary Online. The website checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. You can learn a ton
about Checkout Veterinary how it's so convenient for you and
your pet. Of course, you can also learn about the
setup and the design. It's a really cool novel and

(00:20):
you think, wonder why doesn't every evet clinic work this
way when it comes to how they get you and
your pet in and out at Checkout veterany keeping a
nice and low stress for you. Again that website checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. All one
word good news. They are accepting new patients right now
at checkout Vet. Great day to start their relationship. You
forget that first visit. That exam is free. If that

(00:42):
wasn't enough, as they used to stay on those old
over and ITV shows, But wait, there's more.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
They are open seven days a week at check out Vet.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
And joining us this morning is doctor Marty Greer, recognized
as Veterinarian of the Year from the Westminster Kennel Club.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Doctor Greer, how you doing this week?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm doing great.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you it's great.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
To talk with you and talking speaking of recognized as
Veterinarian of the Year Westminster Kennel Club. Obviously, a lot
of folks understand and know the prestige with Westminster and
there's a lot when it comes to dog shows that
goes on. And for folks that don't know, you are
joining us this morning from Pennsylvania getting ready for a
big dog show out there. Let's talk a little bit

(01:23):
about a little bit about that environment, that culture, what
goes on at these events.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
These are really big deals, aren't they. They are.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
I mean, this is one of the biggest dog shows.
This is the one a lot of people know about.
Of course, everybody knows about Westminster because they see it
on TV. But this one's on TV on Thanksgiving morning
between the parades, the Macysa Parade and the football games.
And what most people don't know is the judging is
this week, so it's two weeks ahead of the actual
time that it's televised. But that's kind of the interesting

(01:56):
part is that people keep the winners very, very qual
it so that there's really not a lot of publicity
until the day of Thanksgiving and.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
You're going to be showing dogs, aren't you.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, we have five dogs entered, so yes, we are showing,
and two of the days it's a bench show, which
we don't have very many of. They're not as popular
with the exhibitors as they are with the people who
attend the shows as spectators. But basically, a bench show
means that when you get there at ten in the morning,
you stay intil five at night in a specific area

(02:28):
of the hall except for when you're in the ring,
and that way allow that allows the general public who
wants to come through and say they want to see
Golden retrievers, or they want to see Siberian huskies, or
they want to see something more exotic and unusual, then
they can select what breeds they see and they're going
to have the whole day to see them. The other
thing that some of the shows have done is meet

(02:49):
the breeds, and that's a little bit different in that
each breed has a booth and they tend to then
highlight the history of the breed and they'll have a
few individuals there as well. So there's a couple of
different ways that the AKC and the people who show
dogs have elected to make this more spectator friendly. So

(03:09):
that you can come in and see, you know, if
you're absolutely nuts about you want to meet these three
breeds of dogs because you're thinking about getting one of
them and you want to see them up close and
personal and get your hands on him and talk to
the people who live with them and love them. That way,
you have an opportunity to see them in person, and
it's just a lot more real than watching it in
the ring. Now, of course, you still have to be

(03:31):
you still have to have good etiquette. You don't go
over and touch the poodles hair when it's all pushed up,
and you don't go over and put your kid in
front of a giant dog. You know, you have to
be smart about it. But it does give us some opportunities.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
And we think too about obviously the big ones. Of
course you mentioned Westminster. We all see the one you're
at in Pennsylvania. Right now, everybody, everybody gets a chance
to watch our television. There's dog shows that go on nationwide,
including right here in Wisconsin, right here in southern Wisconsin.
A great opportunity, you men, for folks that want to
learn more about specific breeds and get a little bit of,

(04:04):
you know, a first hand look as well as I know.
One of the things I've learned about folks when it
comes to showing dogs is they love talking about their dogs.
And what a great opportunity when there are events like
this here in Wisconsin are in the area for folks
to learn more about about breeds from the people who
live with the dogs each and every day and can
really give you some great insight, isn't it right?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
And you know, certainly the Renaissance dog shows those are
held at the Alliance Center, those are great opportunities for
people to go and see the breeds, talk to the people,
and you don't really know, I mean, you can watch
the dogs on CDB, you don't really know if it's
a dog you want to live with or not, or
how active they are and what their grimming requirements are,
on their activity levels and personalities and all those things
until you're up close and personal with them. So it's

(04:47):
a really great opportunity whether you're in Wisconsin or anywhere
across the country that has a dog show, And honestly,
there's a dog show every day somewhere, so just depending
on where you live, you're going to be able to
find plenty of shows. Wakshaw has, Madison has the Marshfield
and Chicago and all kinds of places around us not

(05:08):
terribly far away have dog shows. So it gives you
a chance if you just go to the AKC calendar
to take a look at where the shows are and
get a feel for it. Because it's a really fun
family opportunity. Take the kiddos, you know, pack the kids up.
They're not terribly expensive to get to. Some are free,
some you have to pay for parking, but it's a
it's a really fun family opportunity.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
It is a great opportunity to learn about different breeds
and find the right fit, possibly for your family. I
was going to ask you to doctors. We think about
how much fun it is for obviously for the folks
that are participating, the folks that get to see, the
folks that get, you know, the human side of it.
The dogs love this this time of year as well,
don't they.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yes, they sure do.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Just like people.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
They love, they love, they love the attention, they love
the awards. One final thing before we get to this week. Actually,
it's funny we you and I were talking the other
aged about what we're going to talk about, and I
do want to get to this time of year, in
interactions with wildlife, with your with your pets. I did
want to ask you one final thing just kind of
how you're feeling about the dogs you're showing. He got some,

(06:12):
he got some pretty good, pretty good poppers this year.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
We got some pretty nice ones. Yeah, we'll see some.
We own some we've bred, so you know, And I
do want to just give a little bit of information
one more thing to say that when we have specific
breeds of dogs, the advantage to those, the reason people
show dogs, the reason people breed dogs is a predictability
of traits. I can tell you what a Jack Russell
is going to act like. I'm going to tell you

(06:35):
what most gold or retrievers are going to act like.
Great games.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
You know.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
I can go down the list and kind of give
you the idea of those kinds of pieces of information.
And although rescue dogs are really important in our communities.
I think it's great that people rescue dogs. We have
rescued dogs over the years as well. But the predictability
of traits in the pure bread dog community is what
really is a good benefit for people who say you're

(06:59):
getting your last dog, saying getting a dog and you've
got a young family with young children. You may decide
that a Golden Retriever is a really great choice because
they're great with kids. You may decide that certain other
breeds are better for you as you get to be older,
as you're getting your last dog when you're seventy five,
you don't want a dog that's going to be one
hundred and forty pounds that you can't pick up and carry.

(07:20):
You want a dog at ten pounds that you can
tuck under one arm and get it to the car
if you need to. So I think those are really
important things that we appreciate both sides of the community
of what the value of the pure bread dog and
purpose bread dog is and what the value of the
rescue dogs.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Are really good insight, really important stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
As we talked this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
check Out Veterinary online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. Don't forget that first visit, that first
exam that is going to be free. You can learn
more online, also make an appointment right on the website
checkout vet dot com. They are accepting new patients right
now at checkout Veterinary. Again, all the information online and
of course you can book that appointment right at checkout

(08:00):
dot com or get McCall six oh eight six three
one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight three one
eight sixty seven hundred and and doctor. One of the
things that came up this week, and I don't think
we talked about it on the show, but it was
a conversation in the halls here at the radio station,
which is what a great thing it is simply having
the presence of a cat in your house, cats in

(08:21):
your house this time of year. Because part of why
we bought cats is one, I think they're just the
most amazing creatures, one of the most amazing creatures out there.
But also they do they earn their keeps simple, at
least in my person oppression is they earn their keeps
simply by their presence? Is it is it for cats?
Is it okay for them to be mousers? I know

(08:42):
folks use that term. Is that something that's okay for
their health? Or should people be concerned about that? What's
kind of the take on that area of things.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Sure, and there's a lot of value in having a
cat or a dog that's willing to do those kinds
of activities just to keep the vermin under control in
your garage, maybe things that move into your house. So yes,
there's definitely value in that. Nobody wants to have little
creatures walking around in their kitchens. So and generally, a
well fed cat will kill a mouse. It may tormented

(09:14):
a little bit, it may kill it, but a lot
of the weal fed cats aren't going to actually eat
the mouse. So from a safety perspective, it's probably okay.
And then there's always people that are concerned about, well,
I put out mouse poison, So if the mouse ate
it and then my cat eats the mouse or my
dog eats the mouse, is there a secondary toxicity? And
the answer is generally not. But if there's ever a question,
then you should always call your veterinarian or poison control

(09:37):
and discuss with them what your exposure may have been.
So that kind of gives you a little bit of information.
A lot of well fed cats will just play with
the mouse until it dies, because cats are really sagistic
little creatures. As adorable as they are and as much
fun as they are, and as much as I love
them and you love them, we have to know that
they're a little sagistic when they just play intiling quick
playing back, some of.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
The can dicerned then with the poison, not so much indirectly,
but directly. I think two of cats are are very sly,
they're very clever, they're you know, they they they're completely
designed to be very maneuverable. Is there concern that a
cat may go after some of that the poison directly?

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Is that? Is that a legitimate concern or or not? Not? Necessarily?

Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, cats, More likely it's dogs and those things are
all flavored to be grain based, and so dogs and
cats are pretty happy to eat them. There are several
kinds on the market. There's some that interfere with vitamin K,
which calls bleeding. There's some that interior with vitamin D,
which causes the calcium to go high and can put
a dog into kidney failure. So my recommendation is to
not use those, to not use the cottonseed meal ones

(10:43):
that say that they're birth control for mice. But there
is a corn gluten product on the market. It's basically
just corn and it's formulated so that the rats are
the mice will eat it and then it basically slows
down the gae attract and they die from that. But
it doesn't cause any harm to your dog. Now, I
wouldn't encourage your dog to go eat that, but my
dog actually ate an entire package of it because I

(11:03):
had some in my closet and cause no harm. I
have firsthand experience for that. So the vitamin d ones,
the vitamin k ones, the neurotoxins, those are the street
general categories. They're all very dangerous and I don't put
any of those out. So get a cat, get the
core and gluten stuff, get a dog that likes to mouse.
But be careful with the other products because even when

(11:23):
they say that they're in resistant packaging, yeah, no, your
dog has really good teeth and they're going to rip
that package right open. I was just dealing with the
case of it yesterday. That was a vitamin detoxic kosis
where the calcium level goes high, So be super.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Careful and doctor.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Are there antidotes for some of those other Are there
things that can be done medically if let's say a
dog or guys, most likely a dog becomes exposed to
this stuff. Are there treatments? Are there things that can
be done to prevent damage? Obviously it's a medical emergency.
But what can folks be thinking about there?

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, the neurotoxin ones are really really dangerous. We don't
have any kind of an antidote for those. The vitamin
D ones, we have a little kind of an antidote.
It's not great, but when the calcium goes high, we
can give us something to buy the vitamin D. And
the third choice is the vitamin K. One's the ones
that cause bleeding. We can put the dogs on vitamin
K to counteract that. It's expensive, but it may only

(12:18):
cost you one hundred or two hundred dollars as approached
to what some of these other products will cost you.
So be thoughtful about what you're doing. Put them where
the dogs and cats can't get them. Even if you
put it high on a shelf and a mouse or
a cat knocked it on to the floor of the
dog is going to find it. So I can't tell
you how many of these toxicities we see every year,
especially this time of year when the mice are moving
in and people are starting to become a little bit

(12:39):
more assertive about trying to keep the mice out. STICKI
traps those, you know, they're a little unpleasant, but they
are safe. You're not going to have your dog ingest
anything that's going to cause them any harm. So those
would be the things I would recommend to the corn, gluten,
the sticky traps, doing those kinds of things, and generally
just keeping your food packaged so that the mice can't
really get to it. They'll choose through packages, you know,

(13:01):
plastic wrappers and cordboard boxes. Myself too into so put
things in plastic the best you can to keep them out.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer, checkout Veterinary online.
Checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. A
lot of great information, really important information to keep your
pets safe and healthy. Don't forget if you ever missed
part of the program, you can always listen back to
the podcast at WIBA dot com or your favorite podcast platform.
It's a great day speaking of taking action, really great

(13:28):
day if you're looking for a start a new relationship.
They are accepting patients right now at checkout vet, so
it's a great day to make that appointment. If you
head on over to check out vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. You can learn more about checkout Veterinary.
You can also make an appointment right online or call
the office right off the highway in sun Prairie.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Very convenient no matter where you are.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
If you can hear our voice this morning, you are
near checkout Vett and give McCall six 'h eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six 'h eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred. Anyone with a cat that
spends any time outdoors has occasionally opened up the back
patio door to find a couple of little things laying
dead on the back of.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
The packs new putt.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Look at the details from doctor Greer about what's going
on there.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
We'll talk a.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Little bit more about keeping your pets healthy, happy and
saved this time of year and keeping those critters out.
We will do that next as ask the experts, which
Checkout Veterinary continues right here on thirteen ten double UiB
A thirteen ten double u ib A and ask the
experts brought to you by Checkout Veterinary online. Check out
vet dot com. That's all one word, checkout vet dot com.

(14:29):
Not only can you make an appointments right online, you
can learn more about Checkout Veterinary.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
How unique the clinic is.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
It's really about making things convenient, but also keeping your pets,
pets happy and healthy and in a nice calm state.
If you've got kitty cats, for example, I know sometimes
when they're in a new environment they get a little strange.
And one of the nice things about Checkout Vet is
there in the comfort of the car, you can take
them right in, pull into those bays and they're going
to be treated by the vets right there at the clinic.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Again, very very easy, very convenient, and conveniently.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Located right on Prairie Lakes Drive and Sun Prairie right
off Highway one fifty one near the interstate. You can
learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet
dot com. Great opportunity right now is they're accepting new
patients at checkoutt talking of course with doctor Marty Greer
this morning from Checkout veterinarian doctor just before the break.
And I think anybody with an outdoor cat has experiences.

(15:20):
You'll it's always the back door for some reason too.
You'll open it up and there will be sometimes one
or sometimes a pile of corpses of gritters.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Do we know why cats do that?

Speaker 3 (15:33):
Well, they're very proud of them. So they've done a
good job keeping your yard free and your garage free
of all these little creatures. So they just kind of
show off. They want to come over and say, look
at what I did, and now could you feed me
some caps? I don't really want to ease these a
key tasting things. So yes, I think it's primarily just
a communication thing that they have with us as humans

(15:55):
of you should be really proud of me, and look
what I did. And I'm a good kiddy. So I
think it's I think it's normal. I think it's okay.
I think it's kind of great. Actually it's a little
entertaining and better the backdoor than the front door. If
you have a newspaper delivery or bail devery or your
neighbor comes over, they're going to look at this pile
of carcasses and wonder what who lives here? What kind

(16:16):
of a crazy person does this?

Speaker 1 (16:18):
It is and it's great to see that. You know,
obviously you think of cats. And aside from amazing companions,
they also.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
They do a lot. They give a lot in return
as well.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
One of the things too, doctor and I kind of
earlier in the program alluded to it, but I don't
know that I've actually outright asked, which is does a
simple presence of cats do has it been researched? I
feel like maybe it's it's absolutely the case, or maybe
it's just in my head, but it does seem like
simply having cats in the house seems to simply oftentimes
deter some of those critters like mice, from from coming

(16:52):
in the first place.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Is there any research on that? Have you seen anything
on that?

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Or is that just something that that's simply because they're
there and working on keeping them away? Do we know
what's causing that?

Speaker 3 (17:04):
I don't think there's ever been any research that say
cats per se are repellents and it's you know. And
the other thing that's interesting is a lot of people
will say that cats only catch mice if they were
taught by their mothers. So if you got a cat
as an adult whose mother was a house cat and
never learned a mouse, she may not have taught the
kit in that And I think that's kind of an
interesting theory as well, is will that cat even know

(17:26):
what to do her?

Speaker 1 (17:27):
You know?

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Is it just going to sit there. At one point,
we were remodeling our kitchen and I was in the
kitchen and a couple of my friends were putting down
thiland stuff and I looked and all three of my
cats were sitting in this very tight cluster together, all
facing each other in this little triangle, and I thought,
what is this? What is going on? Like this isn't
what I'm used to seeing. And I went over and

(17:48):
there was a mouse right between the three of them.
This poor mouse probably had something approaching a heart attack,
probably died of fear more than a diued of anything else.
But I thought, oh, well, that's really interesting. So is
this the standoff?

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Is this?

Speaker 3 (18:01):
You know, you get it, it's your turn, or I'm
going to get it? Because I really love doing this.
I wasn't quite sure what was going on in the
minds of all three cats because they were just just
staring at this mouse, and like, well, someone needs to
make the first move. So I did.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Problem solve is Yeah, I scrapped.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
A little creature in a cup and relocated it.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Sent them on. Is very very relieved and very thankful
for that moment.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
I was going to just kind of as we talk
about some of these scenarios, I've had friends talk about,
you know, their cats are not they're not killers that
literally sometimes you mentioned kind of they're almost like that
sadistic behavior. I had a friend who's talking about mouse.
Mice would get into their house and the cat would
like almost play like games with it, like like clearly not.

(18:48):
You know, the cat's got very sharp claws and very
sharp teeth, and they're very quick if they want to
take care of it. They they seem to in some
cases not necessarily show interest in killing in as much
just messing around with the critter.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Right, And that's kind of the discussion. Is our cat's
really that statistic that they just want to play with
it until it dies or are they just not sure
that they're quite filled enough to kill it? And there's
a lot of talk about that too. Is when cats
pick up a piece of cat food out of the bowl,
just try kibble, they'll oftentimes shake their head before they
eat it if you kind of watch your cats closely.
And the question is our cats just making sure that

(19:24):
their food is dead before they eat it. So is
that what they're doing with this mouse is they're kind
of playing with it, waiting for it. They're trying to
kill it, but they're not should I should not? But
they don't want to eat it while it's alive, and
so is that what they do with the food goal too,
when they shake their head before they eat every single
bite of food. So I don't think we really understand
cats as well as we would like to. Remember. They

(19:46):
aren't as domesticated as our dogs are. Dogs have been
companions with us in a different way and cats are
and I love, love, love cats. They're fascinating, but they're different,
and you can't consider a dog and a cat to
be the same species or have the same characteristics. So
I think it's important people identify that there are differences.
So I don't think we really know. I would love

(20:07):
to know more about what goes on in their heads,
but I'm not sure if AI tells us if I'm
really gone, I want to know.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
That, yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
I remember you had said on a previous show that
cats are not little dogs, and I think that's an
important and important perspective. One final thing, as we wrap
up this week with our conversation with doctor Marty Greer,
of course of check out VET, as we're talking about
kiddies and some of their behaviors with wildlife. Some of
that stuff is perfectly replicated in the toy world, and

(20:36):
there are some great toys for.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Cats that are stimulating for them.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
But there's also some great toys that are there interactive
and really can help bond people with their pets and
it can be a lot of fun as a as
a cat owner to spend time. There's some really good
stuff out there. As far as toys and entertainment for
cats aren't there, there are.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
There's everything from the very low tech that are actually
made in Nita, Wisconsin. They're the cat Answer, which is
to wire with some spinners on the end of it.
Very simple, very low tech, all the way to iPad
applications that people have for their cats. So as the
cats touch the screens, have you seen those on the iPads?
So they set up the iPad. Oh yeah, there's apps
for your cat. So you just download the app and

(21:15):
your cat can play like there's it's chasing a little
miles across the screen or whatever fish or whatever the
app is. So yes, there aren't just TV programs for
your catins actually iPad application so if you really feel
the need, you can download one of those for your kiddy.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
I can see my cat sneaking over my shoulder, and
stealing my Apple IDs right now.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right, Yes, you use that one already, I know, Yeah,
that is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Oh, it's such a you know, we talk about all
the great joys that pets bring our lives, and if
you've got a new pet coming into the family, or
maybe looking to bring a new pet into the family,
it's a great day to start that conversation at check
out Vet. Maybe you've got you're looking for something more convenient,
maybe had a situation where you go, you know what,
me and our current vet just don't jive. It's a

(22:04):
great opportunity at checkout vet to learn more and make
that appointment.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Don't forget that first visit. It is free, that exam
is free.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Great day to start that relationship and a great opportunity
with them accepting new patients right now at checkout Veterinari
the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Doctor good luck in Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for
taking the time join us this morning and.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Have a great day.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Thanks by news comes your way next here on thirteen ten,
wib I