Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thirty seven thirteen ten double Uiba and ask the
experts brought to you by check Out Veterinary online. Checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Great website
to learn more about checkout Veterinary. How convenient they are
for you and your pet. How they are really completely
designed ground up to make it a great experience for
(00:22):
both you and your pet. Checkout Veterinary does an amazing
job with that. You can learn more online checkout vet
dot Com. Opportunity for you. Also, they are currently accepting
new patients at checkout Vets, so it's a great chance
for you and your pet to get on in again.
You can schedule amployment online checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Don't forget that first visit is free,
(00:42):
that free exam and you can also set up apployment
over the phone. Six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred that's six 'h eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. And joining us this morning from Checkout Veterinary
is doctor Marty Greer, recognized as Veterinarian of the Year
from the Westminster Kennel Club. Doctor. How you doing this?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm great? Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's good to talk to you. And we've got a
great conversation ahead about about unwanted pregnancy and pets and
talk about the importance and reasons to spay your dog,
and uh, we'll talk about all of that. A couple
of things though, I want to I want to mention
before we get rolling on this week's conversation. One, phone
lines are always open. If you've got a question for
(01:23):
doctor Greer, what a great opportunity is to get on
the air. We'd love to have you give us a
call six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's
six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. You can
email as well as matter of fact, we've got an
email we're going to touch on in just a moment,
but uh, the phone calls are always are always best.
And Doctor, before we get to get talking about this
week's conversation, let's talk about Checkout Veterinary and about the
(01:45):
clinic itself. And you guys do such an amazing job
treating and taking care of pets. And it's I mentioned
at the start of the segment about really it started
like a ground up kind of thing. Is this is
literally every aspect of Checkout veterinary is designed to make
it convenient and comfortable for people and more importantly, for
pets as well.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Wasn't it You bet it's really about the pets, right,
It shouldn't be about us. Well, I mean, you know, yeah,
So we really focus on the pets comfort and there's
been a whole movement toward low stress and I fear
free and all these buzzwords that go along with making
the visits more comfortable, and some of them include giving
treats to the pets, which we've done for decades. This
(02:27):
isn't new for us, and for most veterinarians. It may
include medications before the appointment so that the pet is
more comfortable dogs certainly, and cats even more importantly, because
a lot of cats get very stressed out by the
car ride and the visit to the veterinary clinic. And
by designing the building so that you never walk into
a lobby, you never sit there with a big dog
(02:48):
staring at your cat and a little carrier, you're never
in that situation. You go into your garage bay at
our practice, at checkout, you've drive it to the garage bay,
and you can either stay in your vehicle with your
pet if you have a a vehicle that lends itself
to that. So if you have a happy labrador in
an suv, we're going to do that right in the vehicle.
If you have a dog that might be a little
protective of the vehicle, or a small cat, then we're
(03:09):
going to want to take you into the exam room,
which is adjacent. You don't leave the area. You can
stay in your car and see what goes on through
the window. You can leave the kiddos in the car
if you have a situation that you've got kid DeLong.
They don't have to get out of the car. They
can stay right where they are and eat their dinner,
have their movie or whatever, do their homework, whatever they're
doing on their way to soccer. So you don't have
to worry about leaving them in the parking lot, because
(03:30):
that's kind of scary. Like we always hear about these
people that leave their kids in the car long left's
running and pay for a tank of gas and they
come back and the kids the car is gone. So
you don't have to worry about that because the car
is locked into the garage bay. If you have mobility issues,
if you just don't just don't want to get out
of the car, that's okay. You know Americans have gotten
used to drive up windows for food, for prescriptions, for
(03:54):
dry cleaning, for all the things that we do. So
we can make this as convenient as those things as
you never have to get out of the car. Your
banking is done in your car. Why wouldn't we do
you Veterinar's here in your car like that just makes sense?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It does, And it's such a revolutionary design. And I
know you've been consulted by other clinics across the country
and around the globe looking to replicate and work with
you and designing similar things for others. And we're lucky
we've got checkout VET, the og the original right here
in our area. If you can hear our voice, it's
a great day to get on into check out VET again.
(04:27):
The clinic's super convenience right off the Interstate on the
Highway and sun Prairie and the Prairie Lakes Prairie Lakes
Drive area. Fantastic data, make that appointment again. They are
accepting new patients right now, so a fantastic opportunity for
you and that first visit it will be free. Learn
more online checkout vet dot com. That's check out vet
dot com. Before we get into the conversation about to
spay or not to spay emails and we do get
(04:50):
emails from time to time from folks, and Christy took
the time to email she says, good morning, Doctor Greer
and Sean big fan of the show, particularly appreciate Doctor
Greer's advice on the importance of getting cats and pairs.
I'm writing today with a sat update and a question.
We recently lost one of our two fifteen year old kittens.
She was a litter maate to our remaining cat and
(05:11):
we've had them since they were little. I suspect her
life was shortened by the amount of time she spent
outside as her sister, who always stayed strictly indoors. As
an excellent health Our remaining cat is doing well and
it has a very friend relationship with the dog and
they frequently cuddle with each other. My main question is
should we consider adding a second kitten now or should
(05:31):
we just stick with our one remaining senior cat. Want
to ensure that she has the best quality of life,
and wondering if a new kitten might be too much
disruption for her. At this age, even though she is
currently bonded with the dog. Thank you so much for
taking the time to read this, and that email is
from Christy and that well spelled out Christy, I will
give you credit very perfect details on that, doctor Greer.
(05:53):
What's kind of the advice and guidance on a situation.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Like that well, as always so it will depend on
whether the other cat is in really good health or
if there's some kind of health problem that would start
to just signol a decline. So before when you bring
into the cat into the house, I would go into
your veterinary clinic have a full senior panel done, which
would include a blood count, a check for the kidneys,
(06:19):
check on the livers, see the thyroid function. A lot
of cats in this stage category are starting to show
signs of early kidney disease. Diabetes or thyroid diseases are
really common, and I wouldn't want to bring a kitten
into the house if it was going to stress this CAP.
So that's first and foremost where I would start is
with a blood panel and probably your analysis, so you know,
(06:40):
a really complete work up on the CAP. If the
cat seems incredibly healthy and everything else seems great. Then
you may want to consider bringing two kittens into the house.
And I know this sounds a little weird, but the
two kittens can keep each other company, still be interacting
with her, but not end up in another situation several
years from now. Say she gets to be eighteen and
(07:03):
then she starts to fail. What happens to that other cat?
And then can you introduce a new cat into that household.
A lot of cats are not really social with other
cats that they don't know when they get into that
age category. They've grown up in families. As you already
have experienced, that two cats family is a really effective
tool of having the cats really be social. So if
(07:23):
she's healthy and everything else looks great, I'd probably get
two kittens. If she doesn't look healthy, if there's early
kidney disease, if you've got to put her on a
particular diet because of that, if you've got medications to
start administering, I'd probably just leave her to be happy
with the dog in her life. And then once that
cat fails, then look at another pair of kittens.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
What about it? And I love the insight on that doctor,
and I love getting a chance to and I know
Christy probably really appreciates that too. Is get your perspective
on that. Can dogs and cats, you know, dogs and
cats living together? I mean, can they can? Can they
perform a bond as well? Is that something that that
in this situation are they are? Is it a similar
(08:06):
type of relationship there?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
It's different because it's different species that they can have
very good relationships with one another. So there really isn't
any reason to think that the cat doesn't have some
kind of a social interaction with another animal, because the
dogs and the cats do get along pretty well. I
used to have, oh my gosh, a bunch of cats.
I used to have seven cats and a bunch of dogs,
and they, you know, different cats have different interactions with
(08:30):
the dogs. The dogs ever chased the cats because they
grew up with them and they never saw any reason
to do that. And I think that's really important is
a lot of people when they bring a new pet
into the house, there ends up to be this sort
of chase thing that goes on, and it's not really
fair to the kitten or to the puppy if they're
the young, small one in the family, to be hunted down.
So you want to really make sure your introductions are
(08:52):
done appropriately and that you're really careful that there isn't
any of that kind of behavior that get started, because
once it starts, then it perpetuates. There's just no reason
for a chase to take place.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary.
If you've got a question, we've got a line open
for you right now. If you've got a question about
your pet, doctor Greer would love to answer. Maybe you've
got a question about Checkout Veterinary. I'd love to get
you on the airtann forh number six oh eight three
two one thirteen ten. That's six soh eight three two
one thirteen ten. Great resources well to learn more about
Checkout Veterinary is the website checkout vet dot com. That's
(09:24):
checkout vet dot com. They've got an opportunity right now
they are accepting new patients at checkout Veterinary and get
the information online checkout vet dot com. Give a call
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's
six soh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. Doctor.
We're going to talk about about accidental breeding and reasons
to spay, and it's not I think For some folks,
(09:46):
they think, well, it's it's it's clearly a black and
white thing. Yes, of course you spay and neuter. Bob
Barker told us to do that. And then for others say, wait,
wait a second here, for a variety of different reasons,
maybe not. It's not a simple it's not a simple
thing that can that can always just be answered right
or wrong. This is important conversation to have with your vet.
(10:06):
But things like accidental breedings, other things, pets are going
to do what pets are going to do, and that's
how we end up with more pets. I do believe.
Let's talk let's talk a little bit about this, about
this subject, doctor.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Right, and many years ago, you know, back when I
was a kid, people used to have a little of
puppies just sort of, you know, just because they had
a female dog and they wanted to show the children
and the miracle of life. And you know, that kind
of philosophy is really largely passed. I rarely see clients
coming in with a breeding that has that as an explanation. Now,
if you look at overall how we have animals in
(10:41):
our lives, we have these big dairy farms, not little
dairy farms anymore. We have really consolidated those animal husbandry
kind of events where there's big places they raise chickens.
Of course, people still have vacuum chickens, but they're breeding
chickens in their backyard most of the time. So we
have these big places that raise chickens and big places
that raise beef cattle, and big places that raise dairy cattle.
And so we also seen that happen on the dog side,
(11:03):
as we do have large, larger scale commercial breeders, and
that's not a bad thing. A lot of these large
scale commercial breeders do a fantastic job of raising the puppies,
selecting their breeding stock, doing their health clearances, socializing the puppies,
finding great homes for them. I mean, there's some very
very skilled people out there and that's what they spend
their life doing. So I think it's important that we
(11:24):
distinguished from the beginning that there are different kinds of breeders. Now, Unfortunately,
for people that don't want to say their female or
neuter their male dog, they may end up with an
accidental breeding if they have a dog in the house
that may be eligible. If they have a neighbor dog
if they have friends dogs. If you know, those kinds
of things happen, and we want to be really clear
that accidental breeding shouldn't happen. You should have good control
(11:47):
over your pets. You should have If you can't control
the situation, you're not certain that you can one prevent
a breeding, then spaying and neutering or doing a vazectomy
or an over ea sparing spay is an alternative, is
a good choice. But there are people who are really
resistant to taking out the hormones, to removing the ovaries
of the testicles, because there are definitely health benefits to it.
(12:08):
So I want to be really clear that there are
options to doing a spean neuter, a regular span neuter,
to saying we can do a vzectimy on the male
so he can still have his parts and he doesn't
have the ability to breed a female. Effectively, you know,
we can leave the ovaries on a female and she
can still have heat cycles, still have all the benefits
of ovaries, but not have the concern about a pregnancy
(12:31):
or a piometra. But if you choose to leave your
dog intact, and you choose to have that happen, sometimes
we have accidental breedings. Then that's kind of how this
came up this week is we got a phone call
at four point thirty on Monday afternoon from a client
who had a dog that he didn't realize was pregnant
until she was very advanced in her pregnancy. There are
some things we can do to intervene if we need
(12:51):
to earlier on, and those are a whole different conversation
for another day. But by that point it was too
late for him. The female was already going into labor
and he was in trouble because she wasn't successfully delivering
her puppies. And we don't want that to happen to anybody,
and unfortunately, it happens more often than we'd like, probably
five to ten percent of all pregnancies, and more in
(13:12):
certain breeds like French bulldogs. And bulldogs can end up
ending up as a dystocia, which means difficult labor and
birth and a c section, which then ends up being
a fairly significant bill. So bottom line is, don't just
breed for the miracle of life. There are plenty ways
that your children can understand the miracle of life. They
can go to a petting zoo, they can go to
(13:33):
the zoo, they can go online. There's lots of ways
for children to learn that. So having a litter of
puppies that you end up not being able to find
homes for, that's really not a good choice. So if
you deliberately want to bread your dog, great dog in.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
This Morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary online,
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. And
I think sometimes people underestimate the drive, the ambition, the stealth,
the cunning of animals when they they're like your dog
that was perfectly fine and content, never jumped the fence,
(14:09):
never did anything. That dog goes into heat, suddenly they've
got they've got super superabilities and they are able to
leap giant fences and other things. It is, it is
really can be a pretty significant behavioral change, can't it.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Oh? Yeah, The drive to reproduce is the strongest, probably
the strongest drive that we see in the animal kingdom,
humans included. So there's no question that there's We've had
people that have been standing at the top of the
stairs holding one dog and the other dog bolts up
the stairs, knocks them over and manages to do a breeding,
you know, instantly in front of them. So unfortunately those
(14:44):
things can happen much too easily. So yes, it's really important.
And if you are intending to breed your dog, deliberately
get your health grinning's done. Make sure your veterinary clinic
has had an assessment of the dog that everything is
good before you do it. Don't just say, oh, you
know what, she's a really cute dog and oh, I
like him, let's breed them together. That is really not
responsible breeding. There are good ways to do responsible breeding,
but that is not the one. So please speak to
(15:07):
your veterinary and your breeder and other people that are
in the know to help you make good decisions about that.
Because there are good reasons to breed dogs, but there's
some really bad ones too. Someone should end up in
a bad situation and end up at the emergency clinic
in the middle of the night with a C section.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
What about, doctor, some of the health benefits you mentioned
with having your pet spade pyometra pyametra prevents that what
exactly I've heard that term before. I don't know that word.
I don't know what that is. And let's talk about
some of those health benefits to spaying and neutering pets.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Sure, So saying reduces the risk of a piometer, which
is an infection in the uterus. It can be a
life threatening infection requires immediate intervention, So it's not something
that you can sit on for a couple of weeks.
If your dog ends up with it, you really need
to go to surgery pretty quickly. Of course, it prevents
memory tumors, breast cancer. I bathe them when they're young,
under two years of age. For neutering, we see the
(16:03):
reduction of prostate disease and testicular cancer. Now, testicular cancer
is not that common in dogs as far as it
being serious. A fair number of dogs will get it,
but it's not as serious disease, as serious it is
as it is in humans. If men get testicular cancer,
it's really bad. Dogs, Yeah, you neuterum and they're fine.
So there are definitely differences in the species. And I
(16:25):
want to be really clear about how those differences work.
So those are really important things for people to know.
And certainly you know these again should be the individual
conversations that you have with your own veterinary. And this
is not something that I'm going to tell you to
do with a radio interview. This is really up to
you and your veterinarian and what their opinions are of
(16:45):
your pet, what your pet's life is, what their lifestyle is,
what your lifestyle is, because can you accommodate the liter
of puppies? Is that something that's a good idea, so
really important. In the Society for Seogenealogy, which is a
group of veterinarians that do reproduction, they recommend universally that
you have an individual conversation with your veterinarian about it.
And if your that's really opposed to it and you're
(17:07):
really going hope for it, then find a veterinary that
does reproductive services. We do them in some prairie, we
do them in Marshall. There are definitely places you can
go to get the information and then you can make
a good decision on whether breeding is for you and
for your family or not. So really important that you
have those conversations, and we are most open to that.
(17:28):
I'm happy to do phone calls as well. So there's
a lot of things that we can do to help
people at least initially make some decisions. And you may
decide after one phone call, one ten minute phone call, Nope,
this is not for me, and then just go ahead
and either scheduleist pay or schedule in or very experience
day say, to keep you out of trouble. We just
don't like to see people ending up in a situation
where they are in over their heads.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Well, you know, one of the things and I love
getting a chance to talk with you each and every week,
is the openness and that conversation. The importance of having
an open line of conversation with your vet. And I
know one of the one of the big important parts
of what you guys offer at Checkout Veterinary. You know,
we talk about all the different services and then but
we all I tend to I think, as as caretakers
(18:13):
and as pet owners, we tend to forget that that
are our veterinarians are such great resources for information conversation
as far as conversations about about your pet, and these
type of conversations are so vital to have with your
with your vet. Net reinforces the importance of getting in
have that first visit at checkout Vet. Don't forget it's
going to be free, that exam is going to be
(18:34):
free for your pet. Great chance for you to get
to know the veterinarians at Checkout Veterinary as well. You
do all that online. You can set an appointment and
learn more about Checkout Veterinary all on the website checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Accepting new
patients right now. You can also call the office six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred to make
an appointment. That's six oh eight three one eight sixty
(18:54):
seven hundred. We're going to continue our conversation with doctor
Marty Greer. We will do that next as ask the
experts with Checkout Veterinary. Continues right here on thirteen ten
wu iv A talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer
of Checkout Veterinary. Don't forget. You can learn more online
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. It's
got a couple of minutes and doctors. As I'm quickly realizing,
(19:17):
this topic is a whole lot more complicated than that
I thought. I always felt like you do where you don't,
and it really highlights the importance of having that conversation
with your vet about about what you want, what's best
for your pet, and having that that conversation and real
quick at Checkout VET. I do think that's one of
(19:37):
the things that we've talked about this on the program.
Really important for you in the in the vets is
having that that conversation and that openness to talk with
with pet owners. That's a really important quality when you
when you're finding new vets to work at Checkout Veterinary.
Really important quality that you look for is really good
communication skills, and folks should really take advantage of that,
(19:59):
shouldn't they.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Oh yeah, And if you go to a veterinary clinic
and you feel like they're just shutting you down, if
they're not willing to have these conversations with you, you know,
there's a lot of other choices. So I'm not suggesting
that you jump ship right away, but if you feel
like you're not connecting with the veterinarian or the veterinary staff,
then you know we have other options for you. So
come in, get to know us, you know, meet us,
because we're going to do that first visit. And if
(20:22):
you think that we're the place for you that you
can communicate with us, then by all means, come back.
We're happy to see you. And I think it's important
that people know that they have those options. I love
my nurse practitioner because I really feel like I am
heard when I go to hear her, and there's a
lot of good conversation. So those are the same kinds
of relationships that you should have, not only with your
(20:44):
nurse practitioner, with your physician, but with your veterinarian as well.
And if you feel like that's just really hard and
it's really rocky, then find somebody else. You have lots
of choices.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
There are great opportunities out there, and definitely check out
checkout vet. You can learn more online the webs web
site check out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Doctor Greer, it's always great hanging out with you, talking
with you, learning from you. Thank you so much for
taking this time this morning, and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And again that website, check out vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Vicky McKenna has your chance to
win one thousand dollars next right here thirteen ten Wiba
Hey, thirty seven thirteen ten double Uiba and ask the
experts brought to you by check Out Veterinary online. Checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Great website
to learn more about checkout Veterinary. How convenient they are
for you and your pet. How they are really completely
designed ground up to make it a great experience for
(00:22):
both you and your pet. Checkout Veterinary does an amazing
job with that. You can learn more online checkout vet
dot Com. Opportunity for you. Also, they are currently accepting
new patients at checkout Vets, so it's a great chance
for you and your pet to get on in again.
You can schedule amployment online checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Don't forget that first visit is free,
(00:42):
that free exam and you can also set up apployment
over the phone. Six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred that's six 'h eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. And joining us this morning from Checkout Veterinary
is doctor Marty Greer, recognized as Veterinarian of the Year
from the Westminster Kennel Club. Doctor. How you doing this?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm great? Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's good to talk to you. And we've got a
great conversation ahead about about unwanted pregnancy and pets and
talk about the importance and reasons to spay your dog,
and uh, we'll talk about all of that. A couple
of things though, I want to I want to mention
before we get rolling on this week's conversation. One, phone
lines are always open. If you've got a question for
(01:23):
doctor Greer, what a great opportunity is to get on
the air. We'd love to have you give us a
call six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's
six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. You can
email as well as matter of fact, we've got an
email we're going to touch on in just a moment,
but uh, the phone calls are always are always best.
And Doctor, before we get to get talking about this
week's conversation, let's talk about Checkout Veterinary and about the
(01:45):
clinic itself. And you guys do such an amazing job
treating and taking care of pets. And it's I mentioned
at the start of the segment about really it started
like a ground up kind of thing. Is this is
literally every aspect of Checkout veterinary is designed to make
it convenient and comfortable for people and more importantly, for
pets as well.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Wasn't it You bet it's really about the pets, right,
It shouldn't be about us. Well, I mean, you know, yeah,
So we really focus on the pets comfort and there's
been a whole movement toward low stress and I fear
free and all these buzzwords that go along with making
the visits more comfortable, and some of them include giving
treats to the pets, which we've done for decades. This
(02:27):
isn't new for us, and for most veterinarians. It may
include medications before the appointment so that the pet is
more comfortable dogs certainly, and cats even more importantly, because
a lot of cats get very stressed out by the
car ride and the visit to the veterinary clinic. And
by designing the building so that you never walk into
a lobby, you never sit there with a big dog
(02:48):
staring at your cat and a little carrier, you're never
in that situation. You go into your garage bay at
our practice, at checkout, you've drive it to the garage bay,
and you can either stay in your vehicle with your
pet if you have a a vehicle that lends itself
to that. So if you have a happy labrador in
an suv, we're going to do that right in the vehicle.
If you have a dog that might be a little
protective of the vehicle, or a small cat, then we're
(03:09):
going to want to take you into the exam room,
which is adjacent. You don't leave the area. You can
stay in your car and see what goes on through
the window. You can leave the kiddos in the car
if you have a situation that you've got kid DeLong.
They don't have to get out of the car. They
can stay right where they are and eat their dinner,
have their movie or whatever, do their homework, whatever they're
doing on their way to soccer. So you don't have
to worry about leaving them in the parking lot, because
(03:30):
that's kind of scary. Like we always hear about these
people that leave their kids in the car long left's
running and pay for a tank of gas and they
come back and the kids the car is gone. So
you don't have to worry about that because the car
is locked into the garage bay. If you have mobility issues,
if you just don't just don't want to get out
of the car, that's okay. You know Americans have gotten
used to drive up windows for food, for prescriptions, for
(03:54):
dry cleaning, for all the things that we do. So
we can make this as convenient as those things as
you never have to get out of the car. Your
banking is done in your car. Why wouldn't we do
you Veterinar's here in your car like that just makes sense?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It does, And it's such a revolutionary design. And I
know you've been consulted by other clinics across the country
and around the globe looking to replicate and work with
you and designing similar things for others. And we're lucky
we've got checkout VET, the og the original right here
in our area. If you can hear our voice, it's
a great day to get on into check out VET again.
(04:27):
The clinic's super convenience right off the Interstate on the
Highway and sun Prairie and the Prairie Lakes Prairie Lakes
Drive area. Fantastic data, make that appointment again. They are
accepting new patients right now, so a fantastic opportunity for
you and that first visit it will be free. Learn
more online checkout vet dot com. That's check out vet
dot com. Before we get into the conversation about to
spay or not to spay emails and we do get
(04:50):
emails from time to time from folks, and Christy took
the time to email she says, good morning, Doctor Greer
and Sean big fan of the show, particularly appreciate Doctor
Greer's advice on the importance of getting cats and pairs.
I'm writing today with a sat update and a question.
We recently lost one of our two fifteen year old kittens.
She was a litter maate to our remaining cat and
(05:11):
we've had them since they were little. I suspect her
life was shortened by the amount of time she spent
outside as her sister, who always stayed strictly indoors. As
an excellent health Our remaining cat is doing well and
it has a very friend relationship with the dog and
they frequently cuddle with each other. My main question is
should we consider adding a second kitten now or should
(05:31):
we just stick with our one remaining senior cat. Want
to ensure that she has the best quality of life,
and wondering if a new kitten might be too much
disruption for her. At this age, even though she is
currently bonded with the dog. Thank you so much for
taking the time to read this, and that email is
from Christy and that well spelled out Christy, I will
give you credit very perfect details on that, doctor Greer.
(05:53):
What's kind of the advice and guidance on a situation.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Like that well, as always so it will depend on
whether the other cat is in really good health or
if there's some kind of health problem that would start
to just signol a decline. So before when you bring
into the cat into the house, I would go into
your veterinary clinic have a full senior panel done, which
would include a blood count, a check for the kidneys,
(06:19):
check on the livers, see the thyroid function. A lot
of cats in this stage category are starting to show
signs of early kidney disease. Diabetes or thyroid diseases are
really common, and I wouldn't want to bring a kitten
into the house if it was going to stress this CAP.
So that's first and foremost where I would start is
with a blood panel and probably your analysis, so you know,
(06:40):
a really complete work up on the CAP. If the
cat seems incredibly healthy and everything else seems great. Then
you may want to consider bringing two kittens into the house.
And I know this sounds a little weird, but the
two kittens can keep each other company, still be interacting
with her, but not end up in another situation several
years from now. Say she gets to be eighteen and
(07:03):
then she starts to fail. What happens to that other cat?
And then can you introduce a new cat into that household.
A lot of cats are not really social with other
cats that they don't know when they get into that
age category. They've grown up in families. As you already
have experienced, that two cats family is a really effective
tool of having the cats really be social. So if
(07:23):
she's healthy and everything else looks great, I'd probably get
two kittens. If she doesn't look healthy, if there's early
kidney disease, if you've got to put her on a
particular diet because of that, if you've got medications to
start administering, I'd probably just leave her to be happy
with the dog in her life. And then once that
cat fails, then look at another pair of kittens.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
What about it? And I love the insight on that doctor,
and I love getting a chance to and I know
Christy probably really appreciates that too. Is get your perspective
on that. Can dogs and cats, you know, dogs and
cats living together? I mean, can they can? Can they
perform a bond as well? Is that something that that
in this situation are they are? Is it a similar
(08:06):
type of relationship there?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
It's different because it's different species that they can have
very good relationships with one another. So there really isn't
any reason to think that the cat doesn't have some
kind of a social interaction with another animal, because the
dogs and the cats do get along pretty well. I
used to have, oh my gosh, a bunch of cats.
I used to have seven cats and a bunch of dogs,
and they, you know, different cats have different interactions with
(08:30):
the dogs. The dogs ever chased the cats because they
grew up with them and they never saw any reason
to do that. And I think that's really important is
a lot of people when they bring a new pet
into the house, there ends up to be this sort
of chase thing that goes on, and it's not really
fair to the kitten or to the puppy if they're
the young, small one in the family, to be hunted down.
So you want to really make sure your introductions are
(08:52):
done appropriately and that you're really careful that there isn't
any of that kind of behavior that get started, because
once it starts, then it perpetuates. There's just no reason
for a chase to take place.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary.
If you've got a question, we've got a line open
for you right now. If you've got a question about
your pet, doctor Greer would love to answer. Maybe you've
got a question about Checkout Veterinary. I'd love to get
you on the airtann forh number six oh eight three
two one thirteen ten. That's six soh eight three two
one thirteen ten. Great resources well to learn more about
Checkout Veterinary is the website checkout vet dot com. That's
(09:24):
checkout vet dot com. They've got an opportunity right now
they are accepting new patients at checkout Veterinary and get
the information online checkout vet dot com. Give a call
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's
six soh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. Doctor.
We're going to talk about about accidental breeding and reasons
to spay, and it's not I think For some folks,
(09:46):
they think, well, it's it's it's clearly a black and
white thing. Yes, of course you spay and neuter. Bob
Barker told us to do that. And then for others say, wait,
wait a second here, for a variety of different reasons,
maybe not. It's not a simple it's not a simple
thing that can that can always just be answered right
or wrong. This is important conversation to have with your vet.
(10:06):
But things like accidental breedings, other things, pets are going
to do what pets are going to do, and that's
how we end up with more pets. I do believe.
Let's talk let's talk a little bit about this, about
this subject, doctor.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Right, and many years ago, you know, back when I
was a kid, people used to have a little of
puppies just sort of, you know, just because they had
a female dog and they wanted to show the children
and the miracle of life. And you know, that kind
of philosophy is really largely passed. I rarely see clients
coming in with a breeding that has that as an explanation. Now,
if you look at overall how we have animals in
(10:41):
our lives, we have these big dairy farms, not little
dairy farms anymore. We have really consolidated those animal husbandry
kind of events where there's big places they raise chickens.
Of course, people still have vacuum chickens, but they're breeding
chickens in their backyard most of the time. So we
have these big places that raise chickens and big places
that raise beef cattle, and big places that raise dairy cattle.
And so we also seen that happen on the dog side,
(11:03):
as we do have large, larger scale commercial breeders, and
that's not a bad thing. A lot of these large
scale commercial breeders do a fantastic job of raising the puppies,
selecting their breeding stock, doing their health clearances, socializing the puppies,
finding great homes for them. I mean, there's some very
very skilled people out there and that's what they spend
their life doing. So I think it's important that we
(11:24):
distinguished from the beginning that there are different kinds of breeders. Now, Unfortunately,
for people that don't want to say their female or
neuter their male dog, they may end up with an
accidental breeding if they have a dog in the house
that may be eligible. If they have a neighbor dog
if they have friends dogs. If you know, those kinds
of things happen, and we want to be really clear
that accidental breeding shouldn't happen. You should have good control
(11:47):
over your pets. You should have If you can't control
the situation, you're not certain that you can one prevent
a breeding, then spaying and neutering or doing a vazectomy
or an over ea sparing spay is an alternative, is
a good choice. But there are people who are really
resistant to taking out the hormones, to removing the ovaries
of the testicles, because there are definitely health benefits to it.
(12:08):
So I want to be really clear that there are
options to doing a spean neuter, a regular span neuter,
to saying we can do a vzectimy on the male
so he can still have his parts and he doesn't
have the ability to breed a female. Effectively, you know,
we can leave the ovaries on a female and she
can still have heat cycles, still have all the benefits
of ovaries, but not have the concern about a pregnancy
(12:31):
or a piometra. But if you choose to leave your
dog intact, and you choose to have that happen, sometimes
we have accidental breedings. Then that's kind of how this
came up this week is we got a phone call
at four point thirty on Monday afternoon from a client
who had a dog that he didn't realize was pregnant
until she was very advanced in her pregnancy. There are
some things we can do to intervene if we need
(12:51):
to earlier on, and those are a whole different conversation
for another day. But by that point it was too
late for him. The female was already going into labor
and he was in trouble because she wasn't successfully delivering
her puppies. And we don't want that to happen to anybody,
and unfortunately, it happens more often than we'd like, probably
five to ten percent of all pregnancies, and more in
(13:12):
certain breeds like French bulldogs. And bulldogs can end up
ending up as a dystocia, which means difficult labor and
birth and a c section, which then ends up being
a fairly significant bill. So bottom line is, don't just
breed for the miracle of life. There are plenty ways
that your children can understand the miracle of life. They
can go to a petting zoo, they can go to
(13:33):
the zoo, they can go online. There's lots of ways
for children to learn that. So having a litter of
puppies that you end up not being able to find
homes for, that's really not a good choice. So if
you deliberately want to bread your dog, great dog in.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
This Morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary online,
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. And
I think sometimes people underestimate the drive, the ambition, the stealth,
the cunning of animals when they they're like your dog
that was perfectly fine and content, never jumped the fence,
(14:09):
never did anything. That dog goes into heat, suddenly they've
got they've got super superabilities and they are able to
leap giant fences and other things. It is, it is
really can be a pretty significant behavioral change, can't it.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Oh? Yeah, The drive to reproduce is the strongest, probably
the strongest drive that we see in the animal kingdom,
humans included. So there's no question that there's We've had
people that have been standing at the top of the
stairs holding one dog and the other dog bolts up
the stairs, knocks them over and manages to do a breeding,
you know, instantly in front of them. So unfortunately those
(14:44):
things can happen much too easily. So yes, it's really important.
And if you are intending to breed your dog, deliberately
get your health grinning's done. Make sure your veterinary clinic
has had an assessment of the dog that everything is
good before you do it. Don't just say, oh, you
know what, she's a really cute dog and oh, I
like him, let's breed them together. That is really not
responsible breeding. There are good ways to do responsible breeding,
but that is not the one. So please speak to
(15:07):
your veterinary and your breeder and other people that are
in the know to help you make good decisions about that.
Because there are good reasons to breed dogs, but there's
some really bad ones too. Someone should end up in
a bad situation and end up at the emergency clinic
in the middle of the night with a C section.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
What about, doctor, some of the health benefits you mentioned
with having your pet spade pyometra pyametra prevents that what
exactly I've heard that term before. I don't know that word.
I don't know what that is. And let's talk about
some of those health benefits to spaying and neutering pets.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Sure, So saying reduces the risk of a piometer, which
is an infection in the uterus. It can be a
life threatening infection requires immediate intervention, So it's not something
that you can sit on for a couple of weeks.
If your dog ends up with it, you really need
to go to surgery pretty quickly. Of course, it prevents
memory tumors, breast cancer. I bathe them when they're young,
under two years of age. For neutering, we see the
(16:03):
reduction of prostate disease and testicular cancer. Now, testicular cancer
is not that common in dogs as far as it
being serious. A fair number of dogs will get it,
but it's not as serious disease, as serious it is
as it is in humans. If men get testicular cancer,
it's really bad. Dogs, Yeah, you neuterum and they're fine.
So there are definitely differences in the species. And I
(16:25):
want to be really clear about how those differences work.
So those are really important things for people to know.
And certainly you know these again should be the individual
conversations that you have with your own veterinary. And this
is not something that I'm going to tell you to
do with a radio interview. This is really up to
you and your veterinarian and what their opinions are of
(16:45):
your pet, what your pet's life is, what their lifestyle is,
what your lifestyle is, because can you accommodate the liter
of puppies? Is that something that's a good idea, so
really important. In the Society for Seogenealogy, which is a
group of veterinarians that do reproduction, they recommend universally that
you have an individual conversation with your veterinarian about it.
And if your that's really opposed to it and you're
(17:07):
really going hope for it, then find a veterinary that
does reproductive services. We do them in some prairie, we
do them in Marshall. There are definitely places you can
go to get the information and then you can make
a good decision on whether breeding is for you and
for your family or not. So really important that you
have those conversations, and we are most open to that.
(17:28):
I'm happy to do phone calls as well. So there's
a lot of things that we can do to help
people at least initially make some decisions. And you may
decide after one phone call, one ten minute phone call, Nope,
this is not for me, and then just go ahead
and either scheduleist pay or schedule in or very experience
day say, to keep you out of trouble. We just
don't like to see people ending up in a situation
where they are in over their heads.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Well, you know, one of the things and I love
getting a chance to talk with you each and every week,
is the openness and that conversation. The importance of having
an open line of conversation with your vet. And I
know one of the one of the big important parts
of what you guys offer at Checkout Veterinary. You know,
we talk about all the different services and then but
we all I tend to I think, as as caretakers
(18:13):
and as pet owners, we tend to forget that that
are our veterinarians are such great resources for information conversation
as far as conversations about about your pet, and these
type of conversations are so vital to have with your
with your vet. Net reinforces the importance of getting in
have that first visit at checkout Vet. Don't forget it's
going to be free, that exam is going to be
(18:34):
free for your pet. Great chance for you to get
to know the veterinarians at Checkout Veterinary as well. You
do all that online. You can set an appointment and
learn more about Checkout Veterinary all on the website checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Accepting new
patients right now. You can also call the office six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred to make
an appointment. That's six oh eight three one eight sixty
(18:54):
seven hundred. We're going to continue our conversation with doctor
Marty Greer. We will do that next as ask the
experts with Checkout Veterinary. Continues right here on thirteen ten
wu iv A talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer
of Checkout Veterinary. Don't forget. You can learn more online
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. It's
got a couple of minutes and doctors. As I'm quickly realizing,
(19:17):
this topic is a whole lot more complicated than that
I thought. I always felt like you do where you don't,
and it really highlights the importance of having that conversation
with your vet about about what you want, what's best
for your pet, and having that that conversation and real
quick at Checkout VET. I do think that's one of
(19:37):
the things that we've talked about this on the program.
Really important for you in the in the vets is
having that that conversation and that openness to talk with
with pet owners. That's a really important quality when you
when you're finding new vets to work at Checkout Veterinary.
Really important quality that you look for is really good
communication skills, and folks should really take advantage of that,
(19:59):
shouldn't they.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Oh yeah, And if you go to a veterinary clinic
and you feel like they're just shutting you down, if
they're not willing to have these conversations with you, you know,
there's a lot of other choices. So I'm not suggesting
that you jump ship right away, but if you feel
like you're not connecting with the veterinarian or the veterinary staff,
then you know we have other options for you. So
come in, get to know us, you know, meet us,
because we're going to do that first visit. And if
(20:22):
you think that we're the place for you that you
can communicate with us, then by all means, come back.
We're happy to see you. And I think it's important
that people know that they have those options. I love
my nurse practitioner because I really feel like I am
heard when I go to hear her, and there's a
lot of good conversation. So those are the same kinds
of relationships that you should have, not only with your
(20:44):
nurse practitioner, with your physician, but with your veterinarian as well.
And if you feel like that's just really hard and
it's really rocky, then find somebody else. You have lots
of choices.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
There are great opportunities out there, and definitely check out
checkout vet. You can learn more online the webs web
site check out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Doctor Greer, it's always great hanging out with you, talking
with you, learning from you. Thank you so much for
taking this time this morning, and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And again that website, check out vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. Vicky McKenna has your chance to
win one thousand dollars next right here thirteen ten Wiba
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