October 10, 2024 • 19 mins
Dr. Greer answers some of the web's most Googled pet questions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey thirty eight thirteen ten WIBA and ask the experts
with check Out Veterinary and doctor Marty Greer. Doctor Greer
is recognized by the Westminster Kennel Club as the Veterinarian
of the Year. And of course doctor Greer comes to
us from Checkout Veterinary. The website check out vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. They're right on Prairie Lakes,
(00:21):
drive in sun Prairie. A great concept, a great model
with their drive through service. You can learn more online
checkout vet dot com. The telephon number six oh eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six oh eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. If they're for you.
Every day of the week, checkout Vet is open Monday
through Wednesday and then Friday through Sunday. Yes, that includes
(00:42):
weekends from nine and till five. And you say, well,
what about Thursdays while they're open of course Monday through
Friday at check and vet, and of course all the
information available at checkout vet dot com. Your first visit
it is free, That exam will be free. Obviously any
type of testing or medications are other things. There is
a fee associated with that. But to visit itself and
exam it is included. Great day to start that relationship
(01:04):
and start that conversation. Doctor Greer, how are you doing
this morning.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm doing great. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
It's so important and a great important time of year
and a great day to talk with you. And this
week we're going to be talking about the most commonly
google pet questions and a lot of these we've discussed
on this show, and I feel like not I call
it a disclaimer or whatever. Google's a great resource, but
it shouldn't be the resource for your health or your
(01:31):
pets health either either.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Correct right, No, doctor Google. It's okay to do some reading,
but choose your sources wisely. Choose veterinary clinics, veterinary hospitals
and that schools. You know, good places to research because
not every thing is created equal on Google, as you
probably know, but medicine is the most important. You know,
(01:53):
if your mistake, make a mistake with your car, it's bad.
If you make a mistake with your pet, oh it's tragic.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, that is important to know. And again, it's a
great day to start that relationship with your vet. And
of course check out Vett would love to talk with you.
Telphe number six. Soaight, three one eight sixty seven hundred.
That's three one eight sixty seven hundred and doctor. So,
as I kind of go through some of these questions,
like I said, we've we've mentioned a few of them,
and we've kind of got got pretty pretty deep into
the importance of some of these, and of course folks
(02:20):
can listen back from the website WIBA dot com. One
that I don't know that we've talked about, but it's
the number one most googled question, which is is my
pet too fat? Oh yeah, I thought it's.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Oh gosh, yeah, how.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Do we how does how? Is there a way for
folks to determine that and get an answer to that question.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
There's a couple of ways. I wouldn't have thought of
that being the first one, but I believe you. So
there's a couple of things you can do. One is
you can look back at their weight when they were
about eight to ten months old. So if you have
a veterinary visit around the time they were stayed or
need if they were done at that age at other
veterinary visits, that should be their typical close to their
(03:03):
adult weight. So if they were forty two pounds then
and now they're seventy two. Yeah, you're you're in trouble now.
Some of these space and neuters are done when they're
really young, so we can't do you know, eight weeks
or twelve weeks. Of course that's much too young. But
around eight to ten month is when most dogs are
achieving their full adult heights, and from then on the
additional weight tends to be around, not up and down.
(03:26):
So that's one way. A second way, of course, is
ask your veterinary professional and hopefully they'll be honest with you.
It's a hard question to answer in the examiner, and
it's a hard topic. It's even harder to bring up
as the client happens. If you've brought it up, you know,
it's a lot easier for us to approach it. But
if it's something that we have to address just out
of the box and say, uh, you know, in the
(03:47):
last year she's gained you know, this many pounds, that's
a more difficult conversation. Because people tend to be pretty
sensitive about their weight and their pets weight. And I
understand that, and it's not that veterinarians are onsympathetic. The
whole point is we care so much that we want
to make sure your pet has their best life expectancy,
and it's going to be shortened like ours if we
(04:09):
carry too much weight. The third is to feel them,
and when you put your hands on your pets, you
should be able to feel their ribs dog or cat,
feel their ribs without too much pressure, but not be
able to see them if it's a shortcut of dog.
The easiest thing to do is to take your hand
and turn it into a fist. If you feel the
back of your hand between your wrist and your knuckles,
(04:31):
that's what your pet's ribs should feel like. If they
feel like your knuckles like you turn your hand upright
and the knuckles are If you feel those, that's too thin,
unless you have a greyhound or a sidehound. And if
you turn your hand over and feel right above your
wrist that soft spot next to your pinky when you
make a fist on the underside of your hand, that's
too fat. The fourth thing is to put them on
(04:51):
the scale, and those numbers can be really helpful, except
that if you say I have a golden retriever and
we see golden retrievers that way between forty and seven pounds.
That doesn't help you a lot. You need to have
something a little bit more specific to that pet because
females are going to be typically a little smaller than males.
Once they're spaded and neutered, they tend to need a
twenty five percent reduction in their calorie and take every
(05:13):
single day. So that's if you were feeding four cups
to day, that's now down to three. So those are
some pretty drastic changes that you may have to make
if you're feeding at the same rate you did when
they were in a growth phase when they were six
eight months old, you know, somewhere in that range. So
those are four different ways you can do it. So
what they were weighing when they were eight to ten
months old, what your veterinary professional says, what your hand
(05:36):
feels like, and what the scale number is. And weighing
on the scale at home is great if you have
either a pet that's small enough to stand on the scale,
or if you can hold the pet on the scale
with and without the pet. But sometimes we exceed the
weight of the scale's capacity based on you know, if
you have a ninety pound dog, it may be either
hard to pick them up or by the time you
(05:56):
add your weight to it, you may go over the
scale's capacity.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Fascinating stuff this morning at doctor I've got to ask you,
and I know depending on how you ask Google, you
get a variety of different answers as far as what
are those questions? What would if you have guessed the
number one most common pet question would have been asked
to Google.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, this time of year, I would guess it to
be scratching, king, writing, chewing, some kind of allergy thing,
maybe splain tick questions, maybe diarrhea questions. Those are the
most common things we see at the practice, so I
would have assumed if that's what we would be on Google.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That's fascinating, and you mentioned those things. I know we've
recently done programs on a lot of those issues. So
for folks that want to give it a listen Wiva
dot com. Speaking of the website, checkout vet dot com.
Great website and resource to learn about the doctors. Learn
more about checkout veterinary service and of course their drive
through service and those garage based I bring it low
you to bring your pet right on in. How safe
(06:50):
and convenient that setup is. It's a great, great model.
You can learn more online at checkout vet dot com.
That's check out vet dot com. The second one. I
think we're getting light in the season for this one.
But I know a lot of dog owners ask this question,
which is why does my dog eat grass?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Dogs because it tastes good. I don't know the next question,
because some dogs and cats do too. If you give them,
like there's little pots of indoor grass you can grow
for your cat. If you have a pet that needs
some kind of ruffige or greens in their diet, they
may go out and eat grass. Sometimes it is to
make themselves vomit, but sometimes it's just because my dogs
(07:29):
like the grass that's not trimmed around the trees and
the bushes, the longer, more tender stuff than little stubby stuff.
Don't let them eat big clumps of grass from underneath
the lawnmower, because that's just too much grass and they're
definitely going to vomit if they do that. But if
your pet looks like the kind of pet that wants
to eat greens, feed them greens. You can feed them.
Let us celery, broccoli, green beans, any of those are fine.
(07:51):
No grapes and raisins, but otherwise most fruits and vegetables
are fine, and it's a great way for them to
have low calorie snacks and to get some ruffage into
their diet because they may be looking for something like that,
that's brush, that's a little bit different than what you
put in the bowl.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Homer likes carrots. Yeah, I think it's it. Is it?
I think some of it's like that. I don't know,
just to me when I watch him eating, she went
on his little carrot. There is is it's like it's
got to be like a very almost like a primal
kind of thing where it's like that kind of that crunch,
and he just craves that stuff. So, talking this morning
(08:25):
with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinarian, I mentioned the
website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
The next almost googled question is a little more serious,
and I think this could be asked of dogs and
cast cats, but it's asked specifically of dogs. They ask,
my older dog seems to have dementia? Is this possible?
(08:46):
Is that is that something that cats or dogs can experience.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Absolutely, we recognize it better in dogs than cats, simply
because of their interactive behaviors with us. It's called canine
congress is dysfunction. It's a form of stainility, just like
in people. We have more than one form. And we've
actually at our practice Lonnie, that works for me. She's
been with me thirty five years. We were involved twenty
(09:10):
five twenty eight years ago in a drug trial that
they were looking at a drug made by Pfizer now
as Zoetis to help with senility and dogs. It's the legaline.
It's used for people in Parkinson's and it does help
slow the progression of sinility. And then two of our
pex food companies, Purina and Hills, make diets, and again
we were involved in the Hills diet trial for BD.
(09:32):
B stands for either brain or behavior. They name all
their diets with a letter, so I is intestinal diet,
h's heart diet, HE is kidney diet. B is behavioral diet.
And so those two diets, both the Purina they make
an over the counter called bright Mind and a prescription
called Neurocare, and then that plus Hills BD give you
some options for diet that you can feed to improve
(09:54):
your pets cognitive function. So the symptoms are going to
be things like they get lost in the corner behind
the door, like they're on the hinge side of the
door instead of the opening side of the door. They
forget to go potty when they go outside and they
come back in and they do it. This is not
what puppies do. This is what elderly dogs do. They
don't recognize you. They don't hop up when they walk
in the door anymore. Maybe that's partly that they don't
(10:15):
hear you and see you as well. And hearing and listening,
of course, are two different things, as most wives will
tell you. You know, husband may hear you but may not
listen to you. Those are differences. So the pet may
hear you but not process correctly. So there's a lot
of senility changes that happen. My son's dog is currently
experiencing a lot of this, but he's almost sixteen years old.
He's a little corgy, so we definitely see this kind
(10:37):
of condition. So diet and medications can help, but reality
is their age and they have changes that happen just
like we do. The diets, both the Hills and the
Purina diets, actually have a proprietary blend of certain fatty
acids and amino acids and some other things. In them
that improve cognitive function. And every time I go to
(10:57):
a lecture on this, I go up to the speaker
towards and say, so, what supplements do you take Because
you know that they've learned from the pet experience and
what they've put into their formulas. I'm like, oh, so
I'm going to take that too to help improve my
cognitive function. We know DHA and people floads the progression
of stinility, so there's definitely things that we can do
for our pets to improve their cognitive function. And then
(11:20):
little things if they're starting to age and having trouble
with not seeing as well at night, make sure you
put lights where they're going down the hall, like motion
sensor lights or motion sensor lights up in the yard
so that when they're outside it's illuminated for them when
they're walking around. Teach them to if they still can't
see but they don't hear you very well, teach them
to respond to either something like a whistle or the
(11:41):
flicking of a light switch or flashlight so that they
can identify that you're trying to reach out to them
and get them back in the house. And really be
careful with them that they don't fall down the steps,
that they don't wander out of the yard. If your
pet spent fourteen and a half years sticking around the
house with no fence, or even with an invisible fence,
and now they forgot can wander away and don't let
(12:01):
that happen. That's a terrible thing to lose your pet.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Two, very scary and that really important stuff to be
aware of with your pet. As we talk this morning
with doctor Marty Greer, if you've got a new pet,
or maybe you've you've got an older pet and you've
got questions, it's a fantastic day to start that conversation
and start that relationship. At Checkout Veterinary. You can learn
more online the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
(12:25):
vet dot com. Or pick up phone, gimme call six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three
one eight sixty seven hundred. You can always stop on
in twenty seven ten Prairie Lakes drive in sun Prairie,
a really amazing concept at checkout Veterinary with that drive
through service. Again, you can learn more online at checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. We'll talk
(12:47):
about a couple more more of the more googled most
googled commonly googled pest pet questions. We will do that
next we continue our conversation with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary here and ask the experts thirteen to ten
wiba thirteen ten wiba and ask the experts with Checkout Veterinary.
(13:07):
Talking with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary. The website
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. You
can learn more on that website all about Checkout Veterinary.
What makes them so unique. The term pet centric comes
to mind when you when you start to learn more
about Checkout Veterinary and how it works and that drive
through service really amazing stuff. Again, you can learn more
(13:29):
on the website checkout vet dot com. Tell for number
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. Before
we get to the final two, doctor Greer, I just
want to ask you a little bit about We're just
just I was just mentioning the drive through service and
other things check Out Veterinary. It is. It is an
amazing concept and something that that you launched on not
(13:50):
too long ago, and pets and families absolutely love it.
Let's talk a little bit about how that and vets
as well. I know you guys love it, love it also.
Let's talk a little bit about that experience and what
drove this innovation.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Sure, so we really did it because we wanted to
make things as as you said, pet centric and as
clients centric as we could, and to really upend the
veterinary business model of everybody does this this way, you
have to call, make an appointment, drive over, take your
pet out of the car, go inside in the lobby,
go into an exam room. It's just really difficult for
(14:23):
the pets to make all those transitions. It's much cleaner
if they just hop in the car and then they're
in the exam room and then they're gone again. And
the reason we do the first visit free is because
it's a novel concept and we want people to feel
comfortable with it before they've actually committed to having to
spend any money. So please feel free to bring in
the pets see how they like it. See if you
like my doctors, our staff, you know, they're amazing people
(14:46):
that really work very hard to make your experience as
positive as possible, because we want this to be fun
and enjoyable, and we want your pet to think that
like you drove them to a restaurant. We don't want
them to think that they're at the veterinary clinic. So
we have lots of andreas and very low stressed, easy stuff.
There's no waiting room with a you know, big rottweiler
stirring into the cat carrier, or you know, the the
(15:08):
little dog that's yapping in the corner, or any of
those things. It's just right like you're in the bay
and then you're gone and there's no lobby waiting room experience.
Now your pets exam can be done in their car,
in your car if you're comfortable with that. But we
also have an exam table in the garage bays, or
we have exam rooms adjacent to the car. So when
you pull into the garage, the door is literally there,
(15:30):
so you can leave the kids in the car, put
the doors down in the garage. There's one door to
drive into them wonder drive out of. So the kids
are safe in the car, Grandma's safe in the car.
You don't have to worry about stuff happening because you
walked away from the vehicle. Your vehicle's right there, so
it's really cool, and my staff loves it. My doctors
absolutely love it because the pets are so much more
(15:52):
at ease and so we can see them in a
more natural setting than what we see in the typical
veterinary clinic. And of course the clients love it because
it's really convenient and it's close to everything. It's right
right around the corner from Costco and Target, It's right
across the street from Woodmand It's very convenient.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's super convenient, and again right at Prairie Lakes Drive.
Prairie Lakes Drive, folks evan haven't had a chance. It's
literally right on the highway, just near the just up
from the interstate. So you can definitely learn more at
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com at
a great place take your pet, but a great place
for you as well. A couple of things on this
list as well that jumped out. Somebody had asked how
often should I give my pet a bath? And I'm
(16:31):
guessing it differs between not cats and dogs, And I
bet if you ask the cat and dog, they may
also have their own opinions on they will.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, there are actually a few dogs that love to
be in the shower with people. They are laboratorio retrievers.
They like they like the water most of the time.
We will say a cat should be bathed about once
a year, and many dogs once or twice a year
is enough, depending on the kind of coat they have.
If they's a type of dog that has a coat
that grows continuously and you have to take them to
the groomer, they're typically going to be bathed and groomed
(16:59):
every six to eight weeks. And we don't like to
bathe the pets too often unless the pet has a
skin condition. If they already have a skin condition, they
have allergies, they have a rash, they've boffed hair, they've
got scabs, scales, you know, any kind of skin lesions.
Then bathing them more often can actually be beneficial. But
you want to make sure that you've met with your
veterinarian and selected the appropriate shampoo. We have so pre shampoos,
(17:22):
we have conditioning shampoos, we have things of oatmeal and
steroids and all kinds of different shampoos that are out there.
Denzyl peroxide to help with bacterial infections, called hexidine, things
that help with east infections. So all this stuff really
depends on what your pet's particular needs are, and if
your groomor isn't comfortable in helping you with that, then
please reach out to your veterinary professional and get some
(17:44):
direct advice from them, because they have entire lines of
shampoos that are designed for different skin conditions, and we
want to make sure we get the right one, that
we're not drying out the coat or moisturizing the coat
that we shouldn't be. We really need to know what's
going on with the pet before we make those decisions.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Really great, really great information there, and then we've got
just about one minute left, Doc, we'll leave it on.
I know this one that we've dug into a little
bit deeper on previous shows. But along those same lines,
should I be brushing my pets teeth?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Oh gosh, yes, I actually have one client that comes
floss our cat's teeth. That's pretty unusual. But brushing is
really important, and people are like, well, my groomer brushes
my dog's teeth. Well, if you brush your teeth every
eight weeks, what kind of oral health do you think
that you would have not that good? So really frequent
brushing can be helpful. And then if your pet is difficult,
you can put a fingertooth brush on. You can use
(18:34):
gaws on your finger. You don't have to open their mouth,
they don't have flat molars. Just brush along the side
where the lips touch. It's pretty easy to do. And
then we have lots of great dental treats as well,
dental foods and gental treats that can really help in
oral health. So please pay attention to their health. It's
not just about their breast smelling bad. It's really about
their overall health. Kidney's arts, all that.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
One of the things I've observed observed over the years.
I think a lot of pet owners when you have
noticed this, when you take your head into the vet,
I know one of the things first things you guys
are looking at are lifting up those gums and checking
on the teeth. In the overall, Doctor Greer, it's always
great chatting with you. You have safe travels. We will
talk really soon and thanks for joining us this morning.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Doctor Gear comes to us from check Out Veterinary the
website checkout vet dot com. Check out vet dot com.
Get there today again. That's checkout vet dot com. Dan
O'donnald has a chance for you to win one thousand dollars.
Next here on thirteen ten, Wiba
Hey thirty eight thirteen ten WIBA and ask the experts
with check Out Veterinary and doctor Marty Greer. Doctor Greer
is recognized by the Westminster Kennel Club as the Veterinarian
of the Year. And of course doctor Greer comes to
us from Checkout Veterinary. The website check out vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. They're right on Prairie Lakes,
(00:21):
drive in sun Prairie. A great concept, a great model
with their drive through service. You can learn more online
checkout vet dot com. The telephon number six oh eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six oh eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. If they're for you.
Every day of the week, checkout Vet is open Monday
through Wednesday and then Friday through Sunday. Yes, that includes
(00:42):
weekends from nine and till five. And you say, well,
what about Thursdays while they're open of course Monday through
Friday at check and vet, and of course all the
information available at checkout vet dot com. Your first visit
it is free, That exam will be free. Obviously any
type of testing or medications are other things. There is
a fee associated with that. But to visit itself and
exam it is included. Great day to start that relationship
(01:04):
and start that conversation. Doctor Greer, how are you doing
this morning.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm doing great. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
It's so important and a great important time of year
and a great day to talk with you. And this
week we're going to be talking about the most commonly
google pet questions and a lot of these we've discussed
on this show, and I feel like not I call
it a disclaimer or whatever. Google's a great resource, but
it shouldn't be the resource for your health or your
(01:31):
pets health either either.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Correct right, No, doctor Google. It's okay to do some reading,
but choose your sources wisely. Choose veterinary clinics, veterinary hospitals
and that schools. You know, good places to research because
not every thing is created equal on Google, as you
probably know, but medicine is the most important. You know,
(01:53):
if your mistake, make a mistake with your car, it's bad.
If you make a mistake with your pet, oh it's tragic.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, that is important to know. And again, it's a
great day to start that relationship with your vet. And
of course check out Vett would love to talk with you.
Telphe number six. Soaight, three one eight sixty seven hundred.
That's three one eight sixty seven hundred and doctor. So,
as I kind of go through some of these questions,
like I said, we've we've mentioned a few of them,
and we've kind of got got pretty pretty deep into
the importance of some of these, and of course folks
(02:20):
can listen back from the website WIBA dot com. One
that I don't know that we've talked about, but it's
the number one most googled question, which is is my
pet too fat? Oh yeah, I thought it's.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Oh gosh, yeah, how.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Do we how does how? Is there a way for
folks to determine that and get an answer to that question.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
There's a couple of ways. I wouldn't have thought of
that being the first one, but I believe you. So
there's a couple of things you can do. One is
you can look back at their weight when they were
about eight to ten months old. So if you have
a veterinary visit around the time they were stayed or
need if they were done at that age at other
veterinary visits, that should be their typical close to their
(03:03):
adult weight. So if they were forty two pounds then
and now they're seventy two. Yeah, you're you're in trouble now.
Some of these space and neuters are done when they're
really young, so we can't do you know, eight weeks
or twelve weeks. Of course that's much too young. But
around eight to ten month is when most dogs are
achieving their full adult heights, and from then on the
additional weight tends to be around, not up and down.
(03:26):
So that's one way. A second way, of course, is
ask your veterinary professional and hopefully they'll be honest with you.
It's a hard question to answer in the examiner, and
it's a hard topic. It's even harder to bring up
as the client happens. If you've brought it up, you know,
it's a lot easier for us to approach it. But
if it's something that we have to address just out
of the box and say, uh, you know, in the
(03:47):
last year she's gained you know, this many pounds, that's
a more difficult conversation. Because people tend to be pretty
sensitive about their weight and their pets weight. And I
understand that, and it's not that veterinarians are onsympathetic. The
whole point is we care so much that we want
to make sure your pet has their best life expectancy,
and it's going to be shortened like ours if we
(04:09):
carry too much weight. The third is to feel them,
and when you put your hands on your pets, you
should be able to feel their ribs dog or cat,
feel their ribs without too much pressure, but not be
able to see them if it's a shortcut of dog.
The easiest thing to do is to take your hand
and turn it into a fist. If you feel the
back of your hand between your wrist and your knuckles,
(04:31):
that's what your pet's ribs should feel like. If they
feel like your knuckles like you turn your hand upright
and the knuckles are If you feel those, that's too thin,
unless you have a greyhound or a sidehound. And if
you turn your hand over and feel right above your
wrist that soft spot next to your pinky when you
make a fist on the underside of your hand, that's
too fat. The fourth thing is to put them on
(04:51):
the scale, and those numbers can be really helpful, except
that if you say I have a golden retriever and
we see golden retrievers that way between forty and seven pounds.
That doesn't help you a lot. You need to have
something a little bit more specific to that pet because
females are going to be typically a little smaller than males.
Once they're spaded and neutered, they tend to need a
twenty five percent reduction in their calorie and take every
(05:13):
single day. So that's if you were feeding four cups
to day, that's now down to three. So those are
some pretty drastic changes that you may have to make
if you're feeding at the same rate you did when
they were in a growth phase when they were six
eight months old, you know, somewhere in that range. So
those are four different ways you can do it. So
what they were weighing when they were eight to ten
months old, what your veterinary professional says, what your hand
(05:36):
feels like, and what the scale number is. And weighing
on the scale at home is great if you have
either a pet that's small enough to stand on the scale,
or if you can hold the pet on the scale
with and without the pet. But sometimes we exceed the
weight of the scale's capacity based on you know, if
you have a ninety pound dog, it may be either
hard to pick them up or by the time you
(05:56):
add your weight to it, you may go over the
scale's capacity.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Fascinating stuff this morning at doctor I've got to ask you,
and I know depending on how you ask Google, you
get a variety of different answers as far as what
are those questions? What would if you have guessed the
number one most common pet question would have been asked
to Google.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, this time of year, I would guess it to
be scratching, king, writing, chewing, some kind of allergy thing,
maybe splain tick questions, maybe diarrhea questions. Those are the
most common things we see at the practice, so I
would have assumed if that's what we would be on Google.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That's fascinating, and you mentioned those things. I know we've
recently done programs on a lot of those issues. So
for folks that want to give it a listen Wiva
dot com. Speaking of the website, checkout vet dot com.
Great website and resource to learn about the doctors. Learn
more about checkout veterinary service and of course their drive
through service and those garage based I bring it low
you to bring your pet right on in. How safe
(06:50):
and convenient that setup is. It's a great, great model.
You can learn more online at checkout vet dot com.
That's check out vet dot com. The second one. I
think we're getting light in the season for this one.
But I know a lot of dog owners ask this question,
which is why does my dog eat grass?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Dogs because it tastes good. I don't know the next question,
because some dogs and cats do too. If you give them,
like there's little pots of indoor grass you can grow
for your cat. If you have a pet that needs
some kind of ruffige or greens in their diet, they
may go out and eat grass. Sometimes it is to
make themselves vomit, but sometimes it's just because my dogs
(07:29):
like the grass that's not trimmed around the trees and
the bushes, the longer, more tender stuff than little stubby stuff.
Don't let them eat big clumps of grass from underneath
the lawnmower, because that's just too much grass and they're
definitely going to vomit if they do that. But if
your pet looks like the kind of pet that wants
to eat greens, feed them greens. You can feed them.
Let us celery, broccoli, green beans, any of those are fine.
(07:51):
No grapes and raisins, but otherwise most fruits and vegetables
are fine, and it's a great way for them to
have low calorie snacks and to get some ruffage into
their diet because they may be looking for something like that,
that's brush, that's a little bit different than what you
put in the bowl.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Homer likes carrots. Yeah, I think it's it. Is it?
I think some of it's like that. I don't know,
just to me when I watch him eating, she went
on his little carrot. There is is it's like it's
got to be like a very almost like a primal
kind of thing where it's like that kind of that crunch,
and he just craves that stuff. So, talking this morning
(08:25):
with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinarian, I mentioned the
website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
The next almost googled question is a little more serious,
and I think this could be asked of dogs and
cast cats, but it's asked specifically of dogs. They ask,
my older dog seems to have dementia? Is this possible?
(08:46):
Is that is that something that cats or dogs can experience.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Absolutely, we recognize it better in dogs than cats, simply
because of their interactive behaviors with us. It's called canine
congress is dysfunction. It's a form of stainility, just like
in people. We have more than one form. And we've
actually at our practice Lonnie, that works for me. She's
been with me thirty five years. We were involved twenty
(09:10):
five twenty eight years ago in a drug trial that
they were looking at a drug made by Pfizer now
as Zoetis to help with senility and dogs. It's the legaline.
It's used for people in Parkinson's and it does help
slow the progression of sinility. And then two of our
pex food companies, Purina and Hills, make diets, and again
we were involved in the Hills diet trial for BD.
(09:32):
B stands for either brain or behavior. They name all
their diets with a letter, so I is intestinal diet,
h's heart diet, HE is kidney diet. B is behavioral diet.
And so those two diets, both the Purina they make
an over the counter called bright Mind and a prescription
called Neurocare, and then that plus Hills BD give you
some options for diet that you can feed to improve
(09:54):
your pets cognitive function. So the symptoms are going to
be things like they get lost in the corner behind
the door, like they're on the hinge side of the
door instead of the opening side of the door. They
forget to go potty when they go outside and they
come back in and they do it. This is not
what puppies do. This is what elderly dogs do. They
don't recognize you. They don't hop up when they walk
in the door anymore. Maybe that's partly that they don't
(10:15):
hear you and see you as well. And hearing and listening,
of course, are two different things, as most wives will
tell you. You know, husband may hear you but may not
listen to you. Those are differences. So the pet may
hear you but not process correctly. So there's a lot
of senility changes that happen. My son's dog is currently
experiencing a lot of this, but he's almost sixteen years old.
He's a little corgy, so we definitely see this kind
(10:37):
of condition. So diet and medications can help, but reality
is their age and they have changes that happen just
like we do. The diets, both the Hills and the
Purina diets, actually have a proprietary blend of certain fatty
acids and amino acids and some other things. In them
that improve cognitive function. And every time I go to
(10:57):
a lecture on this, I go up to the speaker
towards and say, so, what supplements do you take Because
you know that they've learned from the pet experience and
what they've put into their formulas. I'm like, oh, so
I'm going to take that too to help improve my
cognitive function. We know DHA and people floads the progression
of stinility, so there's definitely things that we can do
for our pets to improve their cognitive function. And then
(11:20):
little things if they're starting to age and having trouble
with not seeing as well at night, make sure you
put lights where they're going down the hall, like motion
sensor lights or motion sensor lights up in the yard
so that when they're outside it's illuminated for them when
they're walking around. Teach them to if they still can't
see but they don't hear you very well, teach them
to respond to either something like a whistle or the
(11:41):
flicking of a light switch or flashlight so that they
can identify that you're trying to reach out to them
and get them back in the house. And really be
careful with them that they don't fall down the steps,
that they don't wander out of the yard. If your
pet spent fourteen and a half years sticking around the
house with no fence, or even with an invisible fence,
and now they forgot can wander away and don't let
(12:01):
that happen. That's a terrible thing to lose your pet.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Two, very scary and that really important stuff to be
aware of with your pet. As we talk this morning
with doctor Marty Greer, if you've got a new pet,
or maybe you've you've got an older pet and you've
got questions, it's a fantastic day to start that conversation
and start that relationship. At Checkout Veterinary. You can learn
more online the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
(12:25):
vet dot com. Or pick up phone, gimme call six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three
one eight sixty seven hundred. You can always stop on
in twenty seven ten Prairie Lakes drive in sun Prairie,
a really amazing concept at checkout Veterinary with that drive
through service. Again, you can learn more online at checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. We'll talk
(12:47):
about a couple more more of the more googled most
googled commonly googled pest pet questions. We will do that
next we continue our conversation with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary here and ask the experts thirteen to ten
wiba thirteen ten wiba and ask the experts with Checkout Veterinary.
(13:07):
Talking with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary. The website
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. You
can learn more on that website all about Checkout Veterinary.
What makes them so unique. The term pet centric comes
to mind when you when you start to learn more
about Checkout Veterinary and how it works and that drive
through service really amazing stuff. Again, you can learn more
(13:29):
on the website checkout vet dot com. Tell for number
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. Before
we get to the final two, doctor Greer, I just
want to ask you a little bit about We're just
just I was just mentioning the drive through service and
other things check Out Veterinary. It is. It is an
amazing concept and something that that you launched on not
(13:50):
too long ago, and pets and families absolutely love it.
Let's talk a little bit about how that and vets
as well. I know you guys love it, love it also.
Let's talk a little bit about that experience and what
drove this innovation.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Sure, so we really did it because we wanted to
make things as as you said, pet centric and as
clients centric as we could, and to really upend the
veterinary business model of everybody does this this way, you
have to call, make an appointment, drive over, take your
pet out of the car, go inside in the lobby,
go into an exam room. It's just really difficult for
(14:23):
the pets to make all those transitions. It's much cleaner
if they just hop in the car and then they're
in the exam room and then they're gone again. And
the reason we do the first visit free is because
it's a novel concept and we want people to feel
comfortable with it before they've actually committed to having to
spend any money. So please feel free to bring in
the pets see how they like it. See if you
like my doctors, our staff, you know, they're amazing people
(14:46):
that really work very hard to make your experience as
positive as possible, because we want this to be fun
and enjoyable, and we want your pet to think that
like you drove them to a restaurant. We don't want
them to think that they're at the veterinary clinic. So
we have lots of andreas and very low stressed, easy stuff.
There's no waiting room with a you know, big rottweiler
stirring into the cat carrier, or you know, the the
(15:08):
little dog that's yapping in the corner, or any of
those things. It's just right like you're in the bay
and then you're gone and there's no lobby waiting room experience.
Now your pets exam can be done in their car,
in your car if you're comfortable with that. But we
also have an exam table in the garage bays, or
we have exam rooms adjacent to the car. So when
you pull into the garage, the door is literally there,
(15:30):
so you can leave the kids in the car, put
the doors down in the garage. There's one door to
drive into them wonder drive out of. So the kids
are safe in the car, Grandma's safe in the car.
You don't have to worry about stuff happening because you
walked away from the vehicle. Your vehicle's right there, so
it's really cool, and my staff loves it. My doctors
absolutely love it because the pets are so much more
(15:52):
at ease and so we can see them in a
more natural setting than what we see in the typical
veterinary clinic. And of course the clients love it because
it's really convenient and it's close to everything. It's right
right around the corner from Costco and Target, It's right
across the street from Woodmand It's very convenient.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's super convenient, and again right at Prairie Lakes Drive.
Prairie Lakes Drive, folks evan haven't had a chance. It's
literally right on the highway, just near the just up
from the interstate. So you can definitely learn more at
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com at
a great place take your pet, but a great place
for you as well. A couple of things on this
list as well that jumped out. Somebody had asked how
often should I give my pet a bath? And I'm
(16:31):
guessing it differs between not cats and dogs, And I
bet if you ask the cat and dog, they may
also have their own opinions on they will.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, there are actually a few dogs that love to
be in the shower with people. They are laboratorio retrievers.
They like they like the water most of the time.
We will say a cat should be bathed about once
a year, and many dogs once or twice a year
is enough, depending on the kind of coat they have.
If they's a type of dog that has a coat
that grows continuously and you have to take them to
the groomer, they're typically going to be bathed and groomed
(16:59):
every six to eight weeks. And we don't like to
bathe the pets too often unless the pet has a
skin condition. If they already have a skin condition, they
have allergies, they have a rash, they've boffed hair, they've
got scabs, scales, you know, any kind of skin lesions.
Then bathing them more often can actually be beneficial. But
you want to make sure that you've met with your
veterinarian and selected the appropriate shampoo. We have so pre shampoos,
(17:22):
we have conditioning shampoos, we have things of oatmeal and
steroids and all kinds of different shampoos that are out there.
Denzyl peroxide to help with bacterial infections, called hexidine, things
that help with east infections. So all this stuff really
depends on what your pet's particular needs are, and if
your groomor isn't comfortable in helping you with that, then
please reach out to your veterinary professional and get some
(17:44):
direct advice from them, because they have entire lines of
shampoos that are designed for different skin conditions, and we
want to make sure we get the right one, that
we're not drying out the coat or moisturizing the coat
that we shouldn't be. We really need to know what's
going on with the pet before we make those decisions.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Really great, really great information there, and then we've got
just about one minute left, Doc, we'll leave it on.
I know this one that we've dug into a little
bit deeper on previous shows. But along those same lines,
should I be brushing my pets teeth?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Oh gosh, yes, I actually have one client that comes
floss our cat's teeth. That's pretty unusual. But brushing is
really important, and people are like, well, my groomer brushes
my dog's teeth. Well, if you brush your teeth every
eight weeks, what kind of oral health do you think
that you would have not that good? So really frequent
brushing can be helpful. And then if your pet is difficult,
you can put a fingertooth brush on. You can use
(18:34):
gaws on your finger. You don't have to open their mouth,
they don't have flat molars. Just brush along the side
where the lips touch. It's pretty easy to do. And
then we have lots of great dental treats as well,
dental foods and gental treats that can really help in
oral health. So please pay attention to their health. It's
not just about their breast smelling bad. It's really about
their overall health. Kidney's arts, all that.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
One of the things I've observed observed over the years.
I think a lot of pet owners when you have
noticed this, when you take your head into the vet,
I know one of the things first things you guys
are looking at are lifting up those gums and checking
on the teeth. In the overall, Doctor Greer, it's always
great chatting with you. You have safe travels. We will
talk really soon and thanks for joining us this morning.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Doctor Gear comes to us from check Out Veterinary the
website checkout vet dot com. Check out vet dot com.
Get there today again. That's checkout vet dot com. Dan
O'donnald has a chance for you to win one thousand dollars.
Next here on thirteen ten, Wiba
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