Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eight thirty eight thirteen ten wib and Ask the Experts,
brought to you by Checkout Veterinary online. Checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. A great website resource to
learn more about Checkout Veterinary. Just a really nice job
illustrating that drive through service that they offer at Checkout Veterinary. Again,
(00:21):
you can learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Great data start that relationship, of course,
taking new patients at Checkout Veterinarian, don't forget that first
visit that exam. It will be free to you again.
You can learn more online checkout vet dot com. And
joining us this morning from Checkout Veterinary is doctor Marty Greer,
recognized by the Westminster Kennel Club as Veterinarian of the Year. Doctor.
(00:45):
Great to have you this morning. How's your day going
so far? Great?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you, great, beautiful day, wonderful patience. I have the
best job in the world.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, I'm pretty jealous. It's it seems like a great,
a great job. And I know we talked a couple
of weeks ago, and if anyone wants to listen back
to the podcast over at WIBA dot com talked about
careers in veterinary medicine and us there's some great opportunities
out there. And speaking of careers, you've brought on some
more vets. Check out Veterinary and you guys have phenomenal
(01:18):
hours as it is, of course Monday through Wednesday and
then Friday through Sunday nine until five at checkout VET.
And you say, well, what about Thursdays? Well, check in vests.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
You go hop, sorry, yeah, we're open on Thursdays.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, let me put a line through that line because
guess what that also makes my life easier. Congratulations, that's
awesome to hear.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, but I'm going to mess it up a little
bit because we are going to start offering some evening
hours as well. But I'm not quite ready to share
these specifics on that. We're still kind of hammering out
the details. But there will be some evening hours too.
So we want to make this as easy as we
can to get you in during a time that's convenient
for you because those you know, those pesty jobs, and
then you've got the kids and the soccer and the
(02:02):
dance class and eight thousand other things that you've got
to be doing. So we're trying to keep our hours
as available for you as possible.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And that's what we talk about. That overall kind of
overarching theme at Checkout veterinarias convenience. And I know one
of the things, and one of the reasons why it's
so important, is if you make it easy for folks
to get their pets in, they get their pets in
more regularly, the pets are healthier, everybody's happier. And I
know one of the big conversation conversation that always happens
(02:28):
is whether they're little puppy dogs or they're older, older dogs,
older cats, or little kittens. Is weight and weight management
for just like for a human, weight management is a
very important aspect of a pet's life, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh yeah, And I think it's significantly overlooked. I think
we just think there they look normal, or they're cute,
or we kind of like them fluffy, and you know,
suddenly we realize that they've put on a pound or
two a year, and pretty fast that adds up, especially
on a really small dog, So really important we are
keeping an eye on their weight. And one of the
best tools to use is your veterinary professionals and their
(03:06):
medical records, so you can go back and see how
old were they when you did their spay or neuter.
And two things with that. One is that gives you
a really good idea of what their adult weight should be.
It should be pretty close to that because they are
going to be close to adults when you do that,
so we don't want them to get too heavy too
much over that. The other is to realize that at
that spay and neuter, as soon as you remove their hormones,
(03:28):
if you decide to do that, you don't have to.
There are people who leave their dogs intact, or leave
the ovaries and do an over extrengthday, or leave the
testicles and do a vadectomy. You can do those things,
and those are procedures that we offer. But as soon
as you remove the ovaries in the testicles or you
don't have both either the overaries of the testicles, then
you instantly change their metabolic rate by twenty five percent.
(03:51):
So that means the day you go home from that
spay or neuter, you need to cut their colork and
take by twenty five percent. So if they're eating two
cups a day, that's a cup and a half instead
of two and very fast, your dog is going to
look at you like, maybe you forgot to put all
the food in my bowl, and they start begging at
the table, or they start knocking over the garbage can
and getting into that, or you know, doing things outside
(04:13):
that they wouldn't do, you know, stealing pizza from the kids.
My son used to be afraid to leave the dinner
table during a meal. He was afraid of the dog
his food during the middle of his meal. So those
are really important things to be aware of. So the
day you go home from that, say and now you
have to be measuring what they were taking in before
and immediately cut it by twenty five percent if you
(04:33):
don't want to end up with the dog that's overweight.
The problem with weight is it happens gradually. You don't
really notice until your friend or your neighbor or your
family comes over and says, what happened to your dog,
Because if you see him every day, you don't notice
that gradual change. It's sort of like you you don't
notice that your pants aren't fitting quite right. And so
sometimes it's that wake up call or when you go
to the vat a year later and say he gained
(04:53):
how much or what. So you know, these are really
important things, and your veterinary professional is very willing and
able to tell you this, but they may not want
to bring up the message of your dog is overweight
or your cat is overweight. So a lot of people
are really sensitive about that, and so veterinaries tend to
be maybe a little reluctant to bring it up. So
that's for you to say, is how is my pet's weight?
(05:16):
Am I feeding the right food? Am I feeding the
right amount of food? What can I do that can
improve this so that we have a good.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Handle on that, you know, doctor, it's interesting. Years ago
PBS there was I don't remember the exact title of
the program, but it was basically about the evolution of
domestic dogs and one of the things that they had
pointed out is dogs that kind of have that muscle
that can make their eyes look very sad and can
actually they're manipulating, like they were the ones that were
(05:45):
most successful. And I think for pet owners that could
be the hardest part. Is you mentioned, you know, adjusting
the diet dogs do and cats as well, And I
don't want to just say that cats don't have their
own little tricks. They can. They really know how to
play on your emotions and really really can make it
difficult as a pet owner to feed them properly.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh yeah, and they do. They come over to the
table with those big brown eyes and they look very sad,
and you're like, oh, well, I'm just going to give
you a little snipple off my plate, and pretty quickly
it adds up into a lot of calories. So fruits
and vegetables are great treats for the dogs. If you
must feed off the table, feed fruits and vegetables other
than grapes and raisins, almost any other fruit and vegetable
(06:27):
that you're eating a spine. Of course, you know, no
sour cream on the potatoes, no cheese sauce on the broccoli,
but just straight up fruits and vegetables are great snacks
for the dogs, and of course they're great for us too.
They're high in fiber, they're high in an oxidants, they're
lowering calories. So all those things that you and I
know we should be eating because our mother tried to
tell us that, or we try to tell our kids
that and they're like, oh, but I want a cookie now,
(06:49):
you don't need a cookie and a dog treat can
have one hundred calories and up in a little treat.
And if your dog's chloric intake is only supposed to
be three hundred calories a day, and now you bump
to four hundred with one tree, that very quickly is
going to pack the weight on. So those are important
things now there is there are some charts online like
Purina has a metabolic calculator chart. You can put in
(07:11):
your pet breed and their weight and it will help
you to calculate how many calories they should take in.
And the average dog food is going to have about
three hundred killo calories and a cup of food, so
you can read the label on the bag. You just
have to turn it over and look at the fine prints.
You might put on your readers, or you know, get
the magnifying glass out because it's really small, or you
can look online before you go to the pet store.
(07:33):
You can sit down at the computer and say, well,
how many calories are in a cup of food and
you can find some that are low calorie that maybe
two hundred and twenty two hundred and fifty calories. If
you have a dog that's overweight, you want to switch
them to one of those foods so that they're still
getting the amount of volume and they're still getting the nutrition,
the minerals of vitamins, the protein, all the things that
they need, but not getting the calories. So do some
pre planning before you go pet food shopping, if you
(07:55):
go to the store, if you go online, look at
those killo calories per cup. It's really easy to find.
You just click on the pet food, click on it
and say you know ingredients and it'll tell you that
killer calories per cup. And so those are important tools
for you to have.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, doctor, what is the heart? I feel like a
lot there's like cat people that have this that are
the kind of the attitude of what's the you know,
what's the harm in having of a big you know,
the fat cat or you know. I think for dogs,
I think most people are are generally like I want
to keep them fit. But what about that? What are
some of the health health concerns and health problems that
(08:28):
arise from from obesity and pets.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
They're all the same things we have. They have an
increased risk of cancer, increased risk of joint disease, so
knee problems, dog chair cruciates. Dogs have hyptysplasia, cats can
tear their cruci It's all the things. Arthritis, diabetes, big problem,
heart disease, big problem. I had a client that came
in years ago and he had two overweight cats, and
(08:52):
I said, you really have to get some weight off
of these two guys. They're going to end up with diabetes.
And he goes, well, my mom, my, dad, and I'm
all diabetics. Oh you know, well, I'm oh no, you're
not just going to say, oh well, I'm just going
to give another injection of inflin. It's just not that
good for you to be diabetic. So all those things
are really important that you do good weight management so
that you don't end up with those issues. And I
(09:13):
don't know anybody at the end of their pet's life
that said, yeah, you know, two years of God's good
I didn't you know, I didn't care if you live
to be fourteen. No, everybody wants them to live a
little bit longer. They just want a little bit more
time with their pets. So this is the gift that
your veterinarian can give you. I can give you is
to say, we know pets that are not overweight live
two years longer. Dogs live two years longer. There was
(09:35):
a study done by Purina a number of years ago
by Dennis Lawler that shows that if the dogs are
in an ideal body condition, they have two more years
of life. And so this is a gift you can
give to your pet. Your vet can give to you
by looking at the record saying this is what your
pet's goal weight should be. Let's have you come in
once a month, put you on the scale, see how
you're doing on weight, because it can be hard to
(09:55):
waig I'm at home. If you can stand on the
scale and hold the dog, and then you stand on
the scale without the dog, weag you know, compare the difference.
That's great. But if you weigh two hundred pounds and
the dog weighs eighty pounds, you're going to top out
the scale, Your scale and your bathroom isn't going to
go that high. So you know, go to the vet,
get them on the scale, get an idea, record it,
and then you can very carefully get some weight off.
(10:15):
Now we don't want them to lose weight too quickly,
just like for us, but it's really important that we
do this cats, especially if you try to get weight
off of them too fast, they can end up with
a liver problem called typadic lipidosis, so it's not safe
for them to lose more than about a pound a
month for a cat. But there's lots of pet food
management diets on the market. Hills makes the wonderful line
of diets, rail Cana does, Purina does, so you can
(10:37):
go to their website take a look. Some are prescription,
some are non prescription, Some are higher in fiber. Some
put all carnetene into the food to help improve metabolism.
There's a lot of tools.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
That we can use.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You can give the fruits and vegetables, so if you
cut back the amount of food, you can throw half
a cup of green beans or a cup of green
beans into their bowl because there's thirty calories and a
cup of green beans and three hundred and a cup
of dog foods, so you can fill up your pet.
Because we don't want them reading the garbage and rummaging
around outside to try and find food. If they're hungry,
they're going to feel like cobwebs are growing in their stomach,
like you forgot to feed them. So we don't want
(11:10):
them hungry. We want them at an ideal body weight
with the amount of nutrition that they need. So those
are some tools that you have at your disposal. They're
pretty easy to get your hands done, and your vet
is going to be more than happy to help you.
If you express to them a concern, they may not
bring it up, but you should bring it up at
the visit and say, how is my diet, how is
my pets diet? What can I do? What is their
(11:30):
weight supposed to be? Can you help me with this?
And many times they'll have a technician or an assistant
that was willing to work with you on a weight
management diets. Very cool.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
It sounds a really really great and of course a
great important conversation to have. It's a great data start
that conversation, start that relationship at check out vet. Of
course that first visit that exam it will be free.
You can learn more online the website checkout vets dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. Clinics very easy to get
to write in sun Prairie right off the interstate, off
theeway there Highway one fifty one at twenty seven to
(12:02):
ten Prairie Lakes. Drive in some prairie again you can
learn more online check out vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. We're going to continue our conversation with
doctor Marty Greer. We'll talk a little bit about some
waste and techniques to help control your pet's diet. Also
also the importance of getting some exercise as well. Not
only keep the weight down, we keep them nice and lean.
(12:23):
We'll find out some of the details from doctor. We
will do that next as Ask the Experts with doctor
Marty Greer and check Out Veterinary continues right here on
thirteen ten Wuiba thirteen ten Wiba and Ask the Experts
check Out Veterinary talking with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary,
of course, recognized as Veteran of the Year from Westminster
(12:45):
Kennel Club. You can learn more about Checkout Veterinary on
their website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Open seven days a week for you at checkout Vet
and for your pet as well. Don't forget that first
visit that exam. It is free again. All the details
online checkout vet dot com. Make that appointment six eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred talking about the importance of
(13:08):
keeping your pet at a healthy weight In Doctor. We
touched on a little bit in that earlier segment about
you know, dogs and cats find ways to you know,
they toy with you. They know they know they've got you.
There are things that you can do, though you mentioned
giving them healthy snacks and some alternatives. Are there other
things out there? I know I've seen like certain bowls
(13:30):
for dogs that kind of make it a little more
difficult for them to I think some of those, like labs,
are things tend to kind of gorge themselves. Do that
stuff work work? Well? Do those tools work?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
They do? Yeah, they do. There's a low feeders for dogs,
flow feeders for cats. My favorite one for cats is
made by Doc and Phoebees, and it's basically a little
mouse shaped feeding device that you measure these food. It's
goggle measuring cup that comes in it. They're shaped like
a little mouse. And then you put those around the
house in different places every day. So one day you
feed in the kitchen, then one day's feed in the bathroom,
(14:01):
one day you feat in the launder room, and one
day you's feeding the shoe in your closet and so
the cat, instead of just getting up and waddling across
the floor and going over their food dish and then
waddling back to the couch, has to go looking for
their food. Now, you don't feed them in six places
all the same day. You move it around so that
on Monday it's in the kitchen and on Tuesday it's
in the laundering room, and so they have to go
(14:21):
searching and they don't know it's Tuesday, so they don't
know Tuesday is laundry room day. They go wandering through
the hall house multiple times a day looking for their food.
Because it's really hard to take a cat for a walk.
You can't take them out for a jog. So that's
a really great trick for cats, is not just the
slow feeder, but the hiding devices that you can use
around the house. For dogs, slow feeders do help plow
(14:41):
them down. And of course dogs can get more exercise,
so if they swim, that's great. There's pools you can
take your pet too on a weekly basis and get
the dog in the pool for a swimming exercise. This
time of year is perfect to get out and walk.
It's not too hot, it's not too cold, it's not
too humid, the bugs aren't bad. So get out there,
get up in the morning, take your dog for a walk,
after work in the evening, take the dog out for
(15:03):
another walk. So get some exercise for yourself and the dog.
It's a wonderful combination of ways that you can get
things going. And so that combination of increasing their activity
level and decreasing their caloric intake is going to be
magical in getting some weight off. And you want to
know what your goal is for your pet, so that
you know how close to being successful are you and
how much further do you need to go, and do
(15:23):
you need to continue the prescription food or can you
go back to a weight maintenance diet instead of a
weight loss diet. So there's a lot of different techniques
that you can use. And I keep going back to
the veterinarian saying that they can help you because this
is really a medical thing for your pet to have
involvement with is your vet and your vet text need
to have some input into this so that we make
sure that they're healthy. We don't have any magical drugs
(15:45):
for weight loss in dogs, although el carnatine is an
amino acid that get that to some of the pet
foods as the senior diet have some of these in
them to help. And of course if your pets on
a prescription diet for another health concern, you don't want
to interrupt that for weight loss, but you can talk
to your vet because some of these products a combination products.
We have products that are low stress and improve bladder
(16:08):
health and can still get weight off. So you can
find a combination products from Surina, from Hills, from Royal
o Canaan that can help you with those. So be
sure you're speaking to your veterinary professional about what can
you do. Because if we can do this with diet,
like manage their bladder or manage their joints or whatever
happens to be and not have to use a drugs,
I think it's always best to do it with diet
(16:29):
and exercise instead of having to do a drug based
weight loss program or drug based whatever you know, health problem, joint,
bladder's heart, whatever it is. We've got lots of great
diets on the market from these three companies that are
really the pioneers in developing pet food for specific problems.
So there's some really great stuff you can do. I
don't buy treats for my dogs. My dogs never see
(16:51):
milk bones, They never get any of that stuff. My
dogs get fruits and vegetables. The little cheese puffs that
they sell at some of the stores, those are low
in calories. Cheerios great snacks. There are three cheerios to
one calorie. So there's lots of things we can do.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary,
talking this week about your pets weight and of course
ways to ways to keep them healthy, maintain that healthy weight.
And as we talk with doctor Greer, the importance of
the doctor the patient the pet, that relationship and that conversation.
I know in talking with you, and I know at
(17:29):
Checkout Vet, you and all the veterinarians at Checkout Vet.
Overall pet health is absolutely vital. Do you guys help
people sometimes put together an action plan for pets? They say,
you know, pet is overweight? What can we do? Do
you guys work with them to kind of put together
some steps to to really put into practice.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Absolutely, we're more than happy to help you select a diet,
figure out the number of cat calories per day, the
number of cups or tibbles, pieces that you can put
into the dish, get them on the scale monthly, get
an exercise program set up for you. We're really happy
to help you with that because it's our goal to
do the same for you. Is that we want this
pet to live as long as possible because it's good
(18:12):
for you, it's good for our hearts to see how
well the pets are doing. So we absolutely want to
make sure that we're helping you with those things. So
don't hesitate to ask, don't hesitate to question if there's
something more that we can do for you, because we
definitely want this to be a lifelong good experience for you.
And that's what my doctors are there for, is to
help you with those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And one final thing too, doctor I want to ask
you about is when we're talking about some of the
physical activity, and I know personally, when I'm more physically engaged,
my diet just naturally changes. I don't know, my body
craves more salads and things like that and less so
that fried stuff. Do we see the same with pets,
is like as you get them on maybe a better
diet and more of a healthy regimen where they're just
(18:53):
kind of some of that early begging and prodding kind
of fades back a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I don't know if they really have that kind of control,
not sure about that, but it's the only treats they
get is a carrot or a banana instead of a milk bone.
Pretty quickly they're going to enjoy that. And you're going
to figure out fast which vegetables and fruits each of
your pets likes, because not all of them are going
to like the same thing. Which makes it kind of
fun too, is you're going to have somebody celery and
(19:22):
somebody broccoli, and some that look at banana and goes, yeah,
that's really awesome. Most dogs don't like citrus, but hey,
if you have a dog that he's oranges and you
like oranges, go for it. You know, grapefruit, So pretty
much any of the fruits and vegetables other than grapes
and raisins can be something you can share with your pet. So,
you know, peel two oranges and have an orange with
(19:42):
your dog and the kit It's a great way to
get your kids eat vegetables and fruits is to have
them share with the dog because then you don't really mind.
It's not like they're eating half the kid's pizza. And
for the cats, it's really important when you are cleaning
up after you have dinner in the kitchen that you
put the dishes into the sink with water or to
the dishwasher, because those cats are really good at getting
on the countertops and helping themselves the elect over milk
(20:05):
from the cereal or the ice cream or the soup
or whatever it happens to be. So don't let your
cat become, you know, a victim of getting into the
sink for those dirty dishes. Just clean the kitchen up,
pop them in the dishwasher and be done with it
so that the cat's not hanging out on the countertop
getting extra calories.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
The cat's just trying to help out. Doctor Oh yeah,
yeah yeah. Talking this story with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary. What a great day to start a relationship
with the vets. At checkout Veterinary, they'd love.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
To see you.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
You can learn more online the website checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. Don't forget that first visit
that exam. It is free at checkout Vetelephone numbers three
one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight three one
eight sixty seven hundred, Doctor Greer, It's always great chatting
with you. You have a great day and we'll talk real soon.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Thank you, and.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Again that website check out vet dot com. Vicky McKenna
is back from Poland. She comes your way next with
a chance to win one thousand dollars right here on
thirteen ten Wiba
Eight thirty eight thirteen ten wib and Ask the Experts,
brought to you by Checkout Veterinary online. Checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. A great website resource to
learn more about Checkout Veterinary. Just a really nice job
illustrating that drive through service that they offer at Checkout Veterinary. Again,
(00:21):
you can learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Great data start that relationship, of course,
taking new patients at Checkout Veterinarian, don't forget that first
visit that exam. It will be free to you again.
You can learn more online checkout vet dot com. And
joining us this morning from Checkout Veterinary is doctor Marty Greer,
recognized by the Westminster Kennel Club as Veterinarian of the Year. Doctor.
(00:45):
Great to have you this morning. How's your day going
so far? Great?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you, great, beautiful day, wonderful patience. I have the
best job in the world.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, I'm pretty jealous. It's it seems like a great,
a great job. And I know we talked a couple
of weeks ago, and if anyone wants to listen back
to the podcast over at WIBA dot com talked about
careers in veterinary medicine and us there's some great opportunities
out there. And speaking of careers, you've brought on some
more vets. Check out Veterinary and you guys have phenomenal
(01:18):
hours as it is, of course Monday through Wednesday and
then Friday through Sunday nine until five at checkout VET.
And you say, well, what about Thursdays? Well, check in vests.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
You go hop, sorry, yeah, we're open on Thursdays.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, let me put a line through that line because
guess what that also makes my life easier. Congratulations, that's
awesome to hear.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, but I'm going to mess it up a little
bit because we are going to start offering some evening
hours as well. But I'm not quite ready to share
these specifics on that. We're still kind of hammering out
the details. But there will be some evening hours too.
So we want to make this as easy as we
can to get you in during a time that's convenient
for you because those you know, those pesty jobs, and
then you've got the kids and the soccer and the
(02:02):
dance class and eight thousand other things that you've got
to be doing. So we're trying to keep our hours
as available for you as possible.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And that's what we talk about. That overall kind of
overarching theme at Checkout veterinarias convenience. And I know one
of the things, and one of the reasons why it's
so important, is if you make it easy for folks
to get their pets in, they get their pets in
more regularly, the pets are healthier, everybody's happier. And I
know one of the big conversation conversation that always happens
(02:28):
is whether they're little puppy dogs or they're older, older dogs,
older cats, or little kittens. Is weight and weight management
for just like for a human, weight management is a
very important aspect of a pet's life, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh yeah, And I think it's significantly overlooked. I think
we just think there they look normal, or they're cute,
or we kind of like them fluffy, and you know,
suddenly we realize that they've put on a pound or
two a year, and pretty fast that adds up, especially
on a really small dog, So really important we are
keeping an eye on their weight. And one of the
best tools to use is your veterinary professionals and their
(03:06):
medical records, so you can go back and see how
old were they when you did their spay or neuter.
And two things with that. One is that gives you
a really good idea of what their adult weight should be.
It should be pretty close to that because they are
going to be close to adults when you do that,
so we don't want them to get too heavy too
much over that. The other is to realize that at
that spay and neuter, as soon as you remove their hormones,
(03:28):
if you decide to do that, you don't have to.
There are people who leave their dogs intact, or leave
the ovaries and do an over extrengthday, or leave the
testicles and do a vadectomy. You can do those things,
and those are procedures that we offer. But as soon
as you remove the ovaries in the testicles or you
don't have both either the overaries of the testicles, then
you instantly change their metabolic rate by twenty five percent.
(03:51):
So that means the day you go home from that
spay or neuter, you need to cut their colork and
take by twenty five percent. So if they're eating two
cups a day, that's a cup and a half instead
of two and very fast, your dog is going to
look at you like, maybe you forgot to put all
the food in my bowl, and they start begging at
the table, or they start knocking over the garbage can
and getting into that, or you know, doing things outside
(04:13):
that they wouldn't do, you know, stealing pizza from the kids.
My son used to be afraid to leave the dinner
table during a meal. He was afraid of the dog
his food during the middle of his meal. So those
are really important things to be aware of. So the
day you go home from that, say and now you
have to be measuring what they were taking in before
and immediately cut it by twenty five percent if you
(04:33):
don't want to end up with the dog that's overweight.
The problem with weight is it happens gradually. You don't
really notice until your friend or your neighbor or your
family comes over and says, what happened to your dog,
Because if you see him every day, you don't notice
that gradual change. It's sort of like you you don't
notice that your pants aren't fitting quite right. And so
sometimes it's that wake up call or when you go
to the vat a year later and say he gained
(04:53):
how much or what. So you know, these are really
important things, and your veterinary professional is very willing and
able to tell you this, but they may not want
to bring up the message of your dog is overweight
or your cat is overweight. So a lot of people
are really sensitive about that, and so veterinaries tend to
be maybe a little reluctant to bring it up. So
that's for you to say, is how is my pet's weight?
(05:16):
Am I feeding the right food? Am I feeding the
right amount of food? What can I do that can
improve this so that we have a good.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Handle on that, you know, doctor, it's interesting. Years ago
PBS there was I don't remember the exact title of
the program, but it was basically about the evolution of
domestic dogs and one of the things that they had
pointed out is dogs that kind of have that muscle
that can make their eyes look very sad and can
actually they're manipulating, like they were the ones that were
(05:45):
most successful. And I think for pet owners that could
be the hardest part. Is you mentioned, you know, adjusting
the diet dogs do and cats as well, And I
don't want to just say that cats don't have their
own little tricks. They can. They really know how to
play on your emotions and really really can make it
difficult as a pet owner to feed them properly.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh yeah, and they do. They come over to the
table with those big brown eyes and they look very sad,
and you're like, oh, well, I'm just going to give
you a little snipple off my plate, and pretty quickly
it adds up into a lot of calories. So fruits
and vegetables are great treats for the dogs. If you
must feed off the table, feed fruits and vegetables other
than grapes and raisins, almost any other fruit and vegetable
(06:27):
that you're eating a spine. Of course, you know, no
sour cream on the potatoes, no cheese sauce on the broccoli,
but just straight up fruits and vegetables are great snacks
for the dogs, and of course they're great for us too.
They're high in fiber, they're high in an oxidants, they're
lowering calories. So all those things that you and I
know we should be eating because our mother tried to
tell us that, or we try to tell our kids
that and they're like, oh, but I want a cookie now,
(06:49):
you don't need a cookie and a dog treat can
have one hundred calories and up in a little treat.
And if your dog's chloric intake is only supposed to
be three hundred calories a day, and now you bump
to four hundred with one tree, that very quickly is
going to pack the weight on. So those are important
things now there is there are some charts online like
Purina has a metabolic calculator chart. You can put in
(07:11):
your pet breed and their weight and it will help
you to calculate how many calories they should take in.
And the average dog food is going to have about
three hundred killo calories and a cup of food, so
you can read the label on the bag. You just
have to turn it over and look at the fine prints.
You might put on your readers, or you know, get
the magnifying glass out because it's really small, or you
can look online before you go to the pet store.
(07:33):
You can sit down at the computer and say, well,
how many calories are in a cup of food and
you can find some that are low calorie that maybe
two hundred and twenty two hundred and fifty calories. If
you have a dog that's overweight, you want to switch
them to one of those foods so that they're still
getting the amount of volume and they're still getting the nutrition,
the minerals of vitamins, the protein, all the things that
they need, but not getting the calories. So do some
pre planning before you go pet food shopping, if you
(07:55):
go to the store, if you go online, look at
those killo calories per cup. It's really easy to find.
You just click on the pet food, click on it
and say you know ingredients and it'll tell you that
killer calories per cup. And so those are important tools
for you to have.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, doctor, what is the heart? I feel like a
lot there's like cat people that have this that are
the kind of the attitude of what's the you know,
what's the harm in having of a big you know,
the fat cat or you know. I think for dogs,
I think most people are are generally like I want
to keep them fit. But what about that? What are
some of the health health concerns and health problems that
(08:28):
arise from from obesity and pets.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
They're all the same things we have. They have an
increased risk of cancer, increased risk of joint disease, so
knee problems, dog chair cruciates. Dogs have hyptysplasia, cats can
tear their cruci It's all the things. Arthritis, diabetes, big problem,
heart disease, big problem. I had a client that came
in years ago and he had two overweight cats, and
(08:52):
I said, you really have to get some weight off
of these two guys. They're going to end up with diabetes.
And he goes, well, my mom, my, dad, and I'm
all diabetics. Oh you know, well, I'm oh no, you're
not just going to say, oh well, I'm just going
to give another injection of inflin. It's just not that
good for you to be diabetic. So all those things
are really important that you do good weight management so
that you don't end up with those issues. And I
(09:13):
don't know anybody at the end of their pet's life
that said, yeah, you know, two years of God's good
I didn't you know, I didn't care if you live
to be fourteen. No, everybody wants them to live a
little bit longer. They just want a little bit more
time with their pets. So this is the gift that
your veterinarian can give you. I can give you is
to say, we know pets that are not overweight live
two years longer. Dogs live two years longer. There was
(09:35):
a study done by Purina a number of years ago
by Dennis Lawler that shows that if the dogs are
in an ideal body condition, they have two more years
of life. And so this is a gift you can
give to your pet. Your vet can give to you
by looking at the record saying this is what your
pet's goal weight should be. Let's have you come in
once a month, put you on the scale, see how
you're doing on weight, because it can be hard to
(09:55):
waig I'm at home. If you can stand on the
scale and hold the dog, and then you stand on
the scale without the dog, weag you know, compare the difference.
That's great. But if you weigh two hundred pounds and
the dog weighs eighty pounds, you're going to top out
the scale, Your scale and your bathroom isn't going to
go that high. So you know, go to the vet,
get them on the scale, get an idea, record it,
and then you can very carefully get some weight off.
(10:15):
Now we don't want them to lose weight too quickly,
just like for us, but it's really important that we
do this cats, especially if you try to get weight
off of them too fast, they can end up with
a liver problem called typadic lipidosis, so it's not safe
for them to lose more than about a pound a
month for a cat. But there's lots of pet food
management diets on the market. Hills makes the wonderful line
of diets, rail Cana does, Purina does, so you can
(10:37):
go to their website take a look. Some are prescription,
some are non prescription, Some are higher in fiber. Some
put all carnetene into the food to help improve metabolism.
There's a lot of tools.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
That we can use.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You can give the fruits and vegetables, so if you
cut back the amount of food, you can throw half
a cup of green beans or a cup of green
beans into their bowl because there's thirty calories and a
cup of green beans and three hundred and a cup
of dog foods, so you can fill up your pet.
Because we don't want them reading the garbage and rummaging
around outside to try and find food. If they're hungry,
they're going to feel like cobwebs are growing in their stomach,
like you forgot to feed them. So we don't want
(11:10):
them hungry. We want them at an ideal body weight
with the amount of nutrition that they need. So those
are some tools that you have at your disposal. They're
pretty easy to get your hands done, and your vet
is going to be more than happy to help you.
If you express to them a concern, they may not
bring it up, but you should bring it up at
the visit and say, how is my diet, how is
my pets diet? What can I do? What is their
(11:30):
weight supposed to be? Can you help me with this?
And many times they'll have a technician or an assistant
that was willing to work with you on a weight
management diets. Very cool.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
It sounds a really really great and of course a
great important conversation to have. It's a great data start
that conversation, start that relationship at check out vet. Of
course that first visit that exam it will be free.
You can learn more online the website checkout vets dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. Clinics very easy to get
to write in sun Prairie right off the interstate, off
theeway there Highway one fifty one at twenty seven to
(12:02):
ten Prairie Lakes. Drive in some prairie again you can
learn more online check out vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. We're going to continue our conversation with
doctor Marty Greer. We'll talk a little bit about some
waste and techniques to help control your pet's diet. Also
also the importance of getting some exercise as well. Not
only keep the weight down, we keep them nice and lean.
(12:23):
We'll find out some of the details from doctor. We
will do that next as Ask the Experts with doctor
Marty Greer and check Out Veterinary continues right here on
thirteen ten Wuiba thirteen ten Wiba and Ask the Experts
check Out Veterinary talking with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary,
of course, recognized as Veteran of the Year from Westminster
(12:45):
Kennel Club. You can learn more about Checkout Veterinary on
their website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Open seven days a week for you at checkout Vet
and for your pet as well. Don't forget that first
visit that exam. It is free again. All the details
online checkout vet dot com. Make that appointment six eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred talking about the importance of
(13:08):
keeping your pet at a healthy weight In Doctor. We
touched on a little bit in that earlier segment about
you know, dogs and cats find ways to you know,
they toy with you. They know they know they've got you.
There are things that you can do, though you mentioned
giving them healthy snacks and some alternatives. Are there other
things out there? I know I've seen like certain bowls
(13:30):
for dogs that kind of make it a little more
difficult for them to I think some of those, like labs,
are things tend to kind of gorge themselves. Do that
stuff work work? Well? Do those tools work?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
They do? Yeah, they do. There's a low feeders for dogs,
flow feeders for cats. My favorite one for cats is
made by Doc and Phoebees, and it's basically a little
mouse shaped feeding device that you measure these food. It's
goggle measuring cup that comes in it. They're shaped like
a little mouse. And then you put those around the
house in different places every day. So one day you
feed in the kitchen, then one day's feed in the bathroom,
(14:01):
one day you feat in the launder room, and one
day you's feeding the shoe in your closet and so
the cat, instead of just getting up and waddling across
the floor and going over their food dish and then
waddling back to the couch, has to go looking for
their food. Now, you don't feed them in six places
all the same day. You move it around so that
on Monday it's in the kitchen and on Tuesday it's
in the laundering room, and so they have to go
(14:21):
searching and they don't know it's Tuesday, so they don't
know Tuesday is laundry room day. They go wandering through
the hall house multiple times a day looking for their food.
Because it's really hard to take a cat for a walk.
You can't take them out for a jog. So that's
a really great trick for cats, is not just the
slow feeder, but the hiding devices that you can use
around the house. For dogs, slow feeders do help plow
(14:41):
them down. And of course dogs can get more exercise,
so if they swim, that's great. There's pools you can
take your pet too on a weekly basis and get
the dog in the pool for a swimming exercise. This
time of year is perfect to get out and walk.
It's not too hot, it's not too cold, it's not
too humid, the bugs aren't bad. So get out there,
get up in the morning, take your dog for a walk,
after work in the evening, take the dog out for
(15:03):
another walk. So get some exercise for yourself and the dog.
It's a wonderful combination of ways that you can get
things going. And so that combination of increasing their activity
level and decreasing their caloric intake is going to be
magical in getting some weight off. And you want to
know what your goal is for your pet, so that
you know how close to being successful are you and
how much further do you need to go, and do
(15:23):
you need to continue the prescription food or can you
go back to a weight maintenance diet instead of a
weight loss diet. So there's a lot of different techniques
that you can use. And I keep going back to
the veterinarian saying that they can help you because this
is really a medical thing for your pet to have
involvement with is your vet and your vet text need
to have some input into this so that we make
sure that they're healthy. We don't have any magical drugs
(15:45):
for weight loss in dogs, although el carnatine is an
amino acid that get that to some of the pet
foods as the senior diet have some of these in
them to help. And of course if your pets on
a prescription diet for another health concern, you don't want
to interrupt that for weight loss, but you can talk
to your vet because some of these products a combination products.
We have products that are low stress and improve bladder
(16:08):
health and can still get weight off. So you can
find a combination products from Surina, from Hills, from Royal
o Canaan that can help you with those. So be
sure you're speaking to your veterinary professional about what can
you do. Because if we can do this with diet,
like manage their bladder or manage their joints or whatever
happens to be and not have to use a drugs,
I think it's always best to do it with diet
(16:29):
and exercise instead of having to do a drug based
weight loss program or drug based whatever you know, health problem, joint,
bladder's heart, whatever it is. We've got lots of great
diets on the market from these three companies that are
really the pioneers in developing pet food for specific problems.
So there's some really great stuff you can do. I
don't buy treats for my dogs. My dogs never see
(16:51):
milk bones, They never get any of that stuff. My
dogs get fruits and vegetables. The little cheese puffs that
they sell at some of the stores, those are low
in calories. Cheerios great snacks. There are three cheerios to
one calorie. So there's lots of things we can do.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary,
talking this week about your pets weight and of course
ways to ways to keep them healthy, maintain that healthy weight.
And as we talk with doctor Greer, the importance of
the doctor the patient the pet, that relationship and that conversation.
I know in talking with you, and I know at
(17:29):
Checkout Vet, you and all the veterinarians at Checkout Vet.
Overall pet health is absolutely vital. Do you guys help
people sometimes put together an action plan for pets? They say,
you know, pet is overweight? What can we do? Do
you guys work with them to kind of put together
some steps to to really put into practice.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Absolutely, we're more than happy to help you select a diet,
figure out the number of cat calories per day, the
number of cups or tibbles, pieces that you can put
into the dish, get them on the scale monthly, get
an exercise program set up for you. We're really happy
to help you with that because it's our goal to
do the same for you. Is that we want this
pet to live as long as possible because it's good
(18:12):
for you, it's good for our hearts to see how
well the pets are doing. So we absolutely want to
make sure that we're helping you with those things. So
don't hesitate to ask, don't hesitate to question if there's
something more that we can do for you, because we
definitely want this to be a lifelong good experience for you.
And that's what my doctors are there for, is to
help you with those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And one final thing too, doctor I want to ask
you about is when we're talking about some of the
physical activity, and I know personally, when I'm more physically engaged,
my diet just naturally changes. I don't know, my body
craves more salads and things like that and less so
that fried stuff. Do we see the same with pets,
is like as you get them on maybe a better
diet and more of a healthy regimen where they're just
(18:53):
kind of some of that early begging and prodding kind
of fades back a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I don't know if they really have that kind of control,
not sure about that, but it's the only treats they
get is a carrot or a banana instead of a milk bone.
Pretty quickly they're going to enjoy that. And you're going
to figure out fast which vegetables and fruits each of
your pets likes, because not all of them are going
to like the same thing. Which makes it kind of
fun too, is you're going to have somebody celery and
(19:22):
somebody broccoli, and some that look at banana and goes, yeah,
that's really awesome. Most dogs don't like citrus, but hey,
if you have a dog that he's oranges and you
like oranges, go for it. You know, grapefruit, So pretty
much any of the fruits and vegetables other than grapes
and raisins can be something you can share with your pet. So,
you know, peel two oranges and have an orange with
(19:42):
your dog and the kit It's a great way to
get your kids eat vegetables and fruits is to have
them share with the dog because then you don't really mind.
It's not like they're eating half the kid's pizza. And
for the cats, it's really important when you are cleaning
up after you have dinner in the kitchen that you
put the dishes into the sink with water or to
the dishwasher, because those cats are really good at getting
on the countertops and helping themselves the elect over milk
(20:05):
from the cereal or the ice cream or the soup
or whatever it happens to be. So don't let your
cat become, you know, a victim of getting into the
sink for those dirty dishes. Just clean the kitchen up,
pop them in the dishwasher and be done with it
so that the cat's not hanging out on the countertop
getting extra calories.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
The cat's just trying to help out. Doctor Oh yeah,
yeah yeah. Talking this story with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary. What a great day to start a relationship
with the vets. At checkout Veterinary, they'd love.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
To see you.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
You can learn more online the website checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. Don't forget that first visit
that exam. It is free at checkout Vetelephone numbers three
one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight three one
eight sixty seven hundred, Doctor Greer, It's always great chatting
with you. You have a great day and we'll talk real soon.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Thank you, and.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Again that website check out vet dot com. Vicky McKenna
is back from Poland. She comes your way next with
a chance to win one thousand dollars right here on
thirteen ten Wiba
Popular Podcasts
Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com