Pets, Wildlife, and How They Interact with Dr. Greer of CheckOut Vet

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eight thirty eight thirteen ten Wiba and ask the experts.
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number six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred.
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And if you've got a question, love to have you
join us this morning, get you on the air. Six
soh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six so

(01:05):
eight three two one thirteen ten will get you on
the air with doctor Marty Greer, who is recognized as
Veterinarian of the Air from Westminster Kennel Club. Doctor, how
you doing this week?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm doing great, Thank you, It's great to.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Talk to you and uh, and we've got a conversation
this week about pets and wildlife, and just kind of
happened that this week's been just in my neighborhood, a
busy week for a different wildlife kind of passing through,
and I thought, you know, what might be might be
an interesting conversation, and there can be harm done both ways,
both to your pet and the wildlife as well. Buy

(01:40):
your pet just in a nutshell, real quick. Doctor. When
we talk about keeping your pets safe and other things,
a lot of the a lot of things like like
routine vaccinations, other things. These type of things can really
can really help keep your your pet protective, protected, whether
it's direct or indirect contact with was certain forms of wildlife,

(02:02):
can't they indeed?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And interestingly, I was looking up before you called, some
information about using a drug on a dog. So I
was looking through the protocols for it and popped up
rabies because one of the rabies initiatives is being funded
in part by one of these companies. So I think
it's important that we have that conversation about all vaccines,
including rabies.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
So with that and what's the there's one that starts
with an L liptolepto.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, leptoleptosprosis is that, and that those are the type
of diseases that that can go from go from wildlife
to your pets, can't.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
They It can, and it can actually affect people as well.
It's not common to see leptosporosis in people. Leptosporosis is
most common in dogs. It is rarely reported in cats.
But it's probably under reported in cats because we typically
don't think of it that way and we don't check
for it. But it spread through the urine of little
creatures that come up into your yard. And I have

(03:01):
lots of people that say, oh, well, my dog doesn't
need to be vaccinated for lepto. I'm like, well, does
your dog touch the grass? Well, yeah, but you know
it's only in my yard. Well, in New Flash, folks,
in the middle of the night there are are deer
and bowl and mice and chippy's and raccoons and dungs
and all kinds of things that come up into your yard.
So if your dog touches the grass, they're at risk.

(03:23):
And unfortunately, we see at least one case of fatal
lepto a year in our practice, so it's not unheard of,
it's not rare, and it is something that we should
be vaccinating for. And now lepto vaccine, for a while
it's only given to dogs, was kind of getting a
bad rap because if we were going to see a
vaccine reaction, it was to lepto. But about ten years
ago the vaccine companies were sold and merged in all

(03:45):
the stuff that happens with mergers and acquisitions, and one
of the things that they said to the vaccine manufacturers was, okay,
if you could do anything like the scientists of the company,
you could do anything with any vaccine, what would it be?
And that would be clean up lefto. So they have
and we see a far smaller percentage of pations that
respond badly to a lepto vaccine. So we encourage everyone
with a dog to vaccinate for lockdown. In fact, when

(04:07):
the weather is really wet, some years are really wet
I'll vaccinate my dogs an extra time, so twice a
year during the season, simply because I see enough lepto. Oh,
I wanted to happen to my dogs.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
With that too. When you mentioned, you know, vaccines and
lepto and that they're they're obviously a very safe, very
effective vaccine there. Rabies is one that I know most communities,
I think you have the I know you've in the
past mentioned. I think just about every community does require
for registrations and other things a rabies vaccine. Most people
are familiar with that. That is a very very important

(04:41):
vaccine to keep up on, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
It is. It's required for dogs in every municipality, every state,
every place, and in depending on the municipality, it may
or may not be required for caps, but that doesn't
mean that they shouldn't get it. So I think again
it's really important that we do that, and a lot
of people try to skate by and say, oh, well,
you know, I don't want to vaccinate for rabies, and
it's really essential that we do this. I was just

(05:06):
reading through some of this material, and according to the literature,
most rabies that happens in people happens from a dog bite,
not from wildlife. So protecting our pets is is the
barrier between myld life and us being exposed to rabies.
So we need to be vaccinated so that if our
pets goes out, And as you were talking about earlier,
you know woodchucks or you know other creatures that come

(05:27):
up into your yard, if your dog is exposed, they're
protected because they've been vaccinated. And you know, we have
people that push back all the time about rabies. It's
a killed vaccine. It's very safe, and we take it
very seriously. When we were in bed school, we were
vaccinated for rabies so that we were all protected. When
my kids were two and four years old, my kids
came to work with me every day, so they were

(05:48):
sticking their fingers into cages all day long. And when
my kids were babies two and four, I had them
vaccinated for rabies. And I thought my mother was going
to have a heart attack. She's like, you're doing what
to my grand babies. I said, Mom, it's safe. It's
really safe. So you can prophylactically vaccinate for rabies. You
don't have to wait till there's exposure. So people that
are in really high risk categories people that work for

(06:09):
the DNR and people that work in certain labs, and
veterinarians and veterinary staff. We take it seriously enough that
we offer rabies vaccinations for every person on the staff,
from the reception team to the doctors and everybody in between.
And once you're vaccinated for rabies, then you can do
on a human. You can do a tighter and see
if you still have protection. My last raby's vaccination was
in nineteen eighty and when I was tired last year,

(06:31):
I still have protective levels, so I don't need a
booster unless I have an exposure, so I've been merely
going along without any concern. My husband and my son
did not have immunity that lasted that long, proving once
again that women are superior to men. My daughter and I,
my daughter and I both have fighters, and my son
and my husband do not. But again, all it takes

(06:52):
is one vaccination to booster it if we need to
do that, if it's necessary because of an exposure. Now,
if a human is exposed to an animal that might
be rabbit or is rabid, or we don't know the
status of the animal because it took off and we
couldn't test it. Then we do vaccinate, and that is
also usually paired with a globulin that's given at the

(07:13):
injection site or the bite site, and then another so
half of it's given that the injection site. So if
you're bitten on the hand, some of the globulin's given
into your hand, the other half of it's given into
your muscle. The globulin injections are a little painful because
that's a pretty large volume to put into an area
like your hand that may not have a lot of
tissue to stretch into. But the rabies vaccine themselves. You

(07:35):
know the story of oh, you have to get vaccinated
in the stomach and it's terrible. It's not. You get
three vaccinations, they go in your arm. It's not that
big a deal. So people need to not be so
afraid of the rabi's vaccine. If they're exposed, and if
there is the possibility of capturing the little creature, whether
it's a bat or a skunk or whatever, if you
can capture it safely and have it tested, that's always

(07:56):
your best thing to do. The testing lab is in Madison,
only one lab in the state that does it, And
if someone has an exposure. You want to keep that
pet or that animal, whatever it is that that bits you,
if it's deceased, keep it cool, don't freeze it, don't
shoot it in the head, because that's where we test
the tissue is it's the brain, and so if you
do something to damage the brain, then we don't have

(08:16):
any way to test it, and then you may end
up having to be vaccinated anyway. And typically rodents don't
carry rabies, so mice and rats and little creatures like
that don't typically carry it, but gunks, raccoons, bats very
commonly carry it. Pasts can carry it, dogs can carry it.
So any exposure to a bite is a risk, and
it is a potential risk. So we're going to want

(08:38):
to test the animal if it's deceased, if it's a pet,
then we're going to quarantine it and not euthanize it
unless that's some of the reason to be using it,
like it gets sick. So it's important that you know
those things. It's important that you refrigerate that animal if
you can, or put ice packs with it, don't freeze it,
and then I tell people just to drive that animal
to the diagnostic lab in Madison. We have people the

(09:00):
distance away and they're like, oh, can I just ship it? Okay?
If you ship it and it gets lost or it
gets damaged in shipment, then you're going to have to
go through the raby sactines. This is your kid, Like,
is your kid not worth a drive to Madison just
to have the test? Oh? I guess it is, so yeah,
you know, I just tell people don't take a chance.
Like UPS and postal Service, they don't mean to lay

(09:20):
your package, but if it gets lost and delayed for
five days, your doctor is going to tell you that
you have to go through the series. So those are
the things to know about. And we received seventeen hours
of lecture on rabies when we were in that school.
Doctors typically get one hour, so they oftentimes don't understand
rabies as well as the veterinarians do. But we are
not allowed to make those medical decisions about our patients
that are human. We're only allowed to make veterinary decisions.

(09:43):
So if there is exposure, your doctor, er doctor, your
regular doctor, whoever it is, is going to make those
decisions about whether you get the ana globulin and the
ravy svaccine one or both or neither so it's important.
My years ago, my nephew got bitten by a dog
at a park in Colorado and dog disappeared, never to
be seen again. Well guess what, Yeah, you know you

(10:03):
better get the series because it's way safer than taking
a chance.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, I was gonna ask you two deest tok this
morning with doctor Marty Greer. A lot of times people
assume like, oh, if I'll know my exposure, I'll know
if I And generally that is that is true. Obviously,
if you get bit by an animal, you'll know you
could have potentially been exposed, but not universally. And I
know you and I have talked in the past about
a case here in Wisconsin with a young gal that
that did not realize she and think, thank goodness she survived,

(10:32):
did not realize that she had she had been exposed
to rabies.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Right, That was the little girl in fond Lac and
which to high school with my kids. So I know
her personally, and yes, that did happen. And in the
US there's typically one person of the year that dies
of rabies, believe it or not, even in the United States. Now,
most rabies cases are in third world countries, India, Philippines, Africa,
those kinds of places, so there's big campaigns to vacinate
those dogs. But here in the US, one person in

(10:59):
your guy of rabies, and ten percent of the people
with rabies that are diagnosed and positive for rabies do
not have any history of exposure. So that's the question
is how did that happen? You know, you can end
up with a bat in your apartment. You can end
up with We had a bat that came in to
our practice a few years ago that was in the
garbage bin at a school and the kid reached into

(11:20):
the recycling bin and got bitting on the hand. Unfortunately
they realized it had the bat brought in to us.
We uthanized it and tested it and that child was safe.
But it happened, so and it happens in a minute.
You know, I've been at a barn for a wedding
reception and there was a bat in the barn. So
you know, anytime these things happen, you just have to
be really cautious and always there on the state of caution.

(11:42):
You never want to be the person who's taking a
risk on it. So if there's an exposure, I'm looking
at a commercial right now, there's a raccoon on it.
You know, these things are around if people are taking
their trash out and there's a raccoon on the commercial
on TV. So this stuff happens. Raccoons are up in
our yards and skunks and all the things. You know,
you you just gave me the example of the fox

(12:02):
in your neighborhoods. So those are all possibilities of exposure.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
We talks talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinario, talking this week about about wildlife and the
interactions you and your pet are going to have with wildlife,
whether it's directly or indirectly, and the importance of protecting
yourself and of course protecting your pets as well. And doctor,
I know we get reports from time to time. Actually, Katie,

(12:28):
our producer here, I had a photo she took of
a coyote walking right through town here. There are also
predators out there that can do as somebody with the chihuahua,
always very aware of this. There are there are predators
out there. It's a dangerous world for your pet, isn't.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
It It is? It doesn't take much and you know
we see injuries and accidents every year with like you said,
a woodchuck. They'll hang onto a dog's lip or ere
and of course the dogs have a blast doing it,
like the dog's gonna fight it. It was really fun,
but it ends up kind of be a little bit
messy in a Chuawa is not going to farewell with
Gus the woodshock because the witchuck probably outweighs your dog. Yes,

(13:07):
so yeah, you got to be careful. So yes, we
have to be conscious, careful. And even if you think
your yard is sensed and safe and you know you,
oh I live in town, this would never happen. I mean,
deer walk right through town. They walk right through your
front yard, and you know, they come up in your
garden and eat your flowers and your vegetables. And so
they're in our yards whether we know it or not.

(13:27):
We've moved into their territory. We have to really realize
that we kind of invaded their space. So it's not
their fault that they come up into your yard.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
We moved in, and speak of moving in, a lot
of us move in and and other things coming into
our yard are coming into our house. I know for us,
one of the we love our cats, but one of
the main reasons why we got cats was they do
a really really good job of taking care of mice.
Is there's just that we haven't seen a mouse since
we've got our kittens. I do know that there are

(13:57):
there are concerns about about that, and also concerns about
and for folks that love songbirds. Are things about folks
that let their cats outdoors. You want to be really
cautious with that stuff too, don't you, doctor.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh yeah, and there's lots of things you can do
to prevent the songbird till from your cats. People will
put a collar on their cat and then put a
fishing a little glittery fishing who were on the cast's collar,
so it flickers and then the birds will be afraid
of it. You know, sounds don't typically scare the birds,
but that light flashing from the glittery reflective tag can

(14:31):
do that. So yeah, we want to be thoughtful. We
want to be careful. If you're feeding the birds, feed
them where they're high enough and far enough away from
where the cats are going to go to prey on them.
So you know, be thoughtful about how these things happen.
If you're putting bird food out, you're going to have squirrels,
You're going to have stuff coming up in your yard.
I mean, this is just sort of the reality of
what happens. That's life. And it's lovely to feed the birds.

(14:54):
And you know, some people like to see the squirrels,
but many times they don't want the squirrels feeding the
bird food. So yeah, it's a little trippy.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
It is a lot of wildlife management, that is for sure.
As we talk this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary, great data, get on in start that relationship
at checkout Vet. They are looking for new patients. They
have openings for you and your pet. Don't forget that
first visit, that first exam. It will be free. It's
a great way to get to know the team as
well at checkout Vet and see firsthand how convenient checkout

(15:24):
Vet really is and great doctors, great design. Again, you
can learn more online checkout vet dot com. Even better,
pick up the phone today six eight three one eight
sixty seven hundred. That's six oh eight three one eight
sixty seven hundred. Check Out Veterinary again accepting new patients
right now. A great opportunity for you. Learn more online
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. We're

(15:44):
gonna continue our conversation with doctor Marty Greer. We will
do that next as Ask the Experts with Checkout Veterinary
continues right here. I'm thirteen ten WUIBA thirteen ten wi
b A and ask the Experts, brought to you by
Checkout Veterinary online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet
dot com. Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary. Don't forget they are accepting new patients right

(16:08):
now at checkout Vet. Great opportunity for you. Don't forget
that first visit and exam that is free. Of course,
you can learn more online checkout vet dot com. Call
the day to start that relationship. Make an appointment six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred telphone number,
and all that information of again available to you at
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. And

(16:30):
UH and doctor. We had a neighborhood cath that we
affectionately called STU because none of us knew, like anybody
in the neighborhood, had no idea where it came from
or anything they used toy. I used to hang out
around the around the neighborhood and around the area, and
we learned that Stu was a she not a he,
and I started calling her Stusan because that's a little

(16:51):
more a little more accurate. Yes, exactly. Uh, well, Stusan
has since had kiddies, and I know that this happens
a lot. And then people go like, do you know,
like as far as like who's responsible ultimately for these
Like I don't know if they're technically feral or what's
there's kind of like neighborhood cats, Like do you have

(17:12):
questions about that from folks from time to time? Like
what do you do with these things?

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, And really the responsible thing to do
is to get them spayed or neutered and get them vaccinated.
And you know there's spay neuter clinics to do those things.
We certainly do them. If you bring in a cat,
for instance, and we've never seen the cat before, and
all you want is a raby vaccination and you're at
the checkout or check in clinics, you know, our first
exam is free, so we would charge you for the

(17:36):
vaccine for the rabies and the distemper, but not for
the office es it, so that sort of lessens the
burden on you. But you know, we have people all
the time that tell us, you know, this isn't my cat,
Well have you been feeding it? Oh yeah, I've been
seeing here for three years. Well you new it's your cat. Yeah,
so you brought it here. You have a check you know,
checking account and a credit card and the cat doesn't.
So sorry, you know, a certain amount of this calls

(17:58):
on you, but it is a responsible thing to do,
and it's not that hard to get a ragis vaccination,
And I don't really understand the pushback people have about
rabies vaccines. Like I said, my kids are vaccinated, my
husband and I are vaccinated, my staff is vaccinated. We
take it seriously. So get your pet in and get
them vaccinated.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Follow the rules.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Typically the first vaccine is good for one year, and
for dogs, after the first vaccination it's good for three
years at a time, so when they're a year and
a half and then when they're four and a half,
when they're seven and a half they get boostered. So
it's not a big burden, it's not that frequently. It's
easy on their system and the vaccine is a killed product,
and we do have one that's called dimerosol free, so

(18:35):
it has less preservative in it. And then there's a
vaccine especially made for cats called pure vax that doesn't
have an adjuvant in it, reducing the risk of aluminum
exposure to the cat and the possibility of a tumor
developing out the injection site, which can happen in cats
but not dogs. And again it's only a one year vaccine,
but it's a really safe product. And for cats to

(18:56):
have a tendency to not tolerate vaccines, well, it's a
very good product. Really not a reason for you not
to vaccinate, even if you're cat's one hundred percent indoors.
We have bats in the house. My sister lived in Minneapolis,
lived in Minneapolis and had two bats in her apartment
building in the time that the short time that she
lived in the apartment. It was an old house done
by Lake of the aisles, and baths would come into

(19:16):
the house. So, you know, don't take a chance on it.
Just go in get a vaccination, you know, buck up
and do it. And it's really not that hard on
the patient. It's not that hard on your checkbook and
it certainly will save you a lot of grief. So
I can't emphasize enough the importance of it. In Wisconsin.
As veterinarians, we're not required to report. Some states are,

(19:36):
so they will be a little bit more likely to
be involved in the enforcement of that veterinarians and not
required to be enforcers in Wisconsin. But that doesn't mean
you shouldn't be the responsible pen owner and do those
things to the safety of your family and the other
people that come into your home.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Really important stuff. This morning, as we talked with doctor
Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary again, you can learn more
online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Great opportunities for you right now they are accepting new
patients at checkout vet. Great day to start that relationship again.
All the details about checkout Veterinary online checkout vet dot com.
That first visit that exam it is free. They're telling

(20:11):
phone number six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred.
That's six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
Doctor.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
It's always great chatting. You have a fantastic day. Thank you,
and again that website, checkout Vet dot com Vicky McKenna,
She comes you away next right here. On thirteen ten
WIBA