September 4, 2024 • 40 mins
In this episode of In The Vet’s Office, Dr. Isabella Stepanovic, a veterinarian friend of Dr. Josie joins the podcast with her Goldendoodle named Monkey. Dr. Isabella takes over this week’s Case of the Week segment, summarizing many crazy things she has seen in practice at her ER Vet clinic, including a dog with severe burns that had fallen out of the bed of its owner’s truck and had unfortunately been dragged behind the vehicle. Dr. Josie & Dr. Isabella take listener calls and give their feedback on how often to bathe your pets and explain reverse sneezing and whether it is cause for concern. They discuss in depth which vaccines your pet should definitely receive (like rabies, distemper/parvo) and which vaccines are more circumstantial. Dr. Isabella shares a story of a dog that came into her office having seizures, which is normal for her to see, but the dog didn’t respond to meds and passed away. It turned out that the dog was infected with rabies and everyone that had been in contact with the animal had to go through intense rabies treatment. They discuss zoonotic illnesses - meaning diseases that animals can pass to humans, like rabies, if they are not properly vaccinated. Dr. Josie & Dr. Isabella touch on the importance of flea, tick and heart worm treatment and dispute the myth that garlic is a home remedy for tick prevention. They wrap up the episode with PAW & ORDER where Dr. Josie details things she’d never do with her own pets including declawing cats. She and Dr. Isabella talk through how intense that procedure is and the complications that can come from it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to in the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horchak.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello everybody, and welcome to in the Vets Office. I
am your host, doctor Josie, and sadly today my co
host Shannon is out of town, but we have an
amazing fill in for her today. We've got doctor Isabella
Stapanovic here.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hi, We're so excited to have you. Doctor Isabella is
one of my friends. She's also one of my coworkers
and really one of the best veterinarians I've ever worked with.
So feel so excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thank you. I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I knew you would be perfect for this because you
have one of the best voices. When I hear you
talking to clients, I'm like, wow, I it's so soothing.
I want you to tell me a bedtime story every night,
like it's just made for podcasting. So I am pomped
to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
That's funny because I don't want anyone to hear me
when I talk to clients, so I talk quietly, and
apparently that's turned into some like well known phone voice
that I have. Apparently, but it's an accident. I don't
mean to do it.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I like your phone voice. It kind of gives me
the like Dela I love, like that old radio host. Anyways,
it's amazing. I love it, and I figure to be
really great to bring in another vet today because we're
gonna dive into all things wellness and it's great to
get just like an added perspective. I feel like when
clients come into the clinic they can be overwhelmed with
all of the big words that we use, and like,
(01:39):
what the heck is a leptos borosis vaccine? So I
thought this would be a great episode to dive into
all those things. But before doing that, we always start
with a case of the week. And doctor Isabella was
internship trained in the emergency room, so we now are
in general practice, but for a good year and a
half she worked in the veterinary, so I figured you
(02:01):
might have some interesting cases for us.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I do working in the er. I feel like it
just exposed me to a wide variety of cases, lots
of trauma to name a few. I saw a dog
with his leg hanging on by a thread after a lawnmower, right, yeah,
he was lounging in the yard. Owner didn't know he
(02:24):
was laying there and just ran him over with the lawnmower.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That is traumatizing.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yes, that one was crazy. I've seen venomous snake bites.
I've accidentally ratted out to a college student who was
visiting for the summer and the dog suddenly comes in
with marijuana toxicity. Oh my gosh. But the one case
that oftentimes like just stands out in my mind that
(02:50):
I think is really important to kind of bring awareness
to leash safety, yeah dogs, is this one case in
particular where I saw a dog who was in the
bed of a truck and she was attached to her leash,
and her leash was attached to something in the truck
(03:10):
bed to just make sure she wasn't going to fall out.
She was having a blast, I'm sure, hair blowing in
the breeze, but something happened. She either fell out or
jumped out, and she ended up actually being dragged by
the truck for probably one hundred feet and she came
in with severe burn wounds all over her body. Wow,
(03:33):
she did great, but she was hospitalized for a long
time and it was a long road for her. And
so I feel like here in Nashville, especially, a lot
of people live in apartments and we always hear the
scary stories of like dog in elevator, human outside of elevator,
leash in between doors closing. So I think just being
(03:57):
aware of, you know, how close you keep your dog
on the leash, maybe if they're small enough like Biggie
and my dog is not small enough, but pick them
up when you're walking into the elevator, right, because I
feel like you don't expect that to happen until it
actually does.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, absolutely we I one of the episodes I talked
about retractable leashes and like how they're such a nightmare
because your dog is basically walking you. So that's a
really great point, like just having that awareness because they
are attached to a rope and essentially and you don't
know what's going to happen. The other thing, too, is
like I feel like this goes without saying, but we
see it all the time in the South, especially, don't
(04:34):
put your dogs in the back of a truck bed.
It's so scary, Like put them in the car with you,
and if they are leaning out the window, I really
like for them to be in a seatbelt. We hear
of them jumping out of windows all the time.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I had a friend's dog just jump right out the window, husky,
crazy boy.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, I feel like people don't realize the veterinary er
is just so intense. I think that's why you're such
a great veterinarian, because you saw all of those crazy cases.
And here in general practice, I'm like, oh my god,
I got shot in the face by anal gla. We
do actually have one funny story from general practice where
I had this patient. He was a rottweiler. I cannot
(05:13):
remember his name. He was so cute and he had
somehow cut his penis, and in reflecting on this podcast,
I say, penis so much and I'm just not sure why.
I guess I have a lot of penis cases. But
either way, he cut his penis and I was he
was coming back in for a recheck. And for those
of you who have curl dogs and don't know, the
(05:34):
male dog penis like lives in a sheath of skin.
The prep use and getting it, like pulling back the
prep use and getting the penis out is like really
a work of art. I mean, it takes some talent.
It's hard. Yeah, it's not always easy. And so we
have him in the back and he's laying on his
side and I am going to like extrude his penis.
(05:55):
My face is like in his crotch. I can't get
it out. I'm like on all fours trying to like
get a good look in there. And at the same time,
Isabella is giving a tour to her sister and soon
to be brother in law, and I don't even like
really process that they're there, but I look up and
I make eye contact with her brother in law and
he's looking at me and he is like ghost white.
(06:16):
His eyes are huge. I'm like holding this about to
pass out. Yeah, he was about to go down. And
so it's funny because afterwards Isabella was like, he looked
at us and he goes, am I next. So Ryan,
this is my apology to you. I'm sorry that you
had to see that, and really just it always makes
me think that like any random bystander coming into the
(06:37):
vet clinic at any given time would just be like
shocked at some of the things we have to do.
And no, you're not next, so don't worry. Hilarious. Okay,
So the next segment that we always do is we'll
take some questions from listeners and so we have two
listener questions this week, so we'll get started with the first.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Hey, doctor Josie, how often should I be giving my
dog a bath?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I've heard that giving him too many baths can dry
out his skin. I can ask this all the time, too,
do you yes, all the time? Especially puppies, Yes, puppies.
I feel like puppies need baths more than adult dogs.
They're like rolling in their own pee and poop. They
are getting into things that they shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Know, like I do hear about this. We are online
and like, don't bathe too much, they dry out, they
get flaky. I haven't really like people aren't bathing their
dogs that much that that happens for me. So I say,
give them a bath as needed.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, I'm like, if they visibly look dirty or they smell,
give them a bath. Otherwise, just like routine grooming. Yeah,
I think, Yeah, I agree with that. I probably give
my dogs a bath. I don't know, maybe like once
a month or two.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
But people really get like locked up on this, and
so I wouldn't be overly concerned. We've never I have
never personally seen anyone dry out their dogs skin from
bathing them too much.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
No, And I'll also recommend if they are gonna be
bathing frequently at home, to be using like an oatmeal shampoo,
something that's like really soothing, or even like downdish soap.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
If they're really dirty. Yeah, I feel like it doesn't
dry them out as much. Yeah, don cuts through like
the grease and grime. Yeah. And I avoid human shampoos too.
I just feel like that can be a little bit
more like rough on their skin. So I totally agree
oatmeal dog labeled for dogs. Yeah, but most of the
time I just let the groomer take care of it. Yeah,
(08:23):
soothe your dooodle, not me. I'm in the bath of
like wrangling all three of them. I look like a
psycho whatever, All right, next, Hey, I.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Just had a quick question about my dog. He's been
doing this weird thing where it's it's kind of like
a sneeze, kind of like a cough. But let me
try to describe it for you. It's almost like this,
and I'm just wondering. I mean, he gets into fits
while he's doing this, and I have no idea what's happening.
(08:54):
So I guess, is this something I need to be
concerned about? Is this something you've seen before. I would
really like to get more in thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Well, what's the first thing that comes to your mind
when you hear that?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Definitely reverse sneezing? How about you?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes, reverse sneezing.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
That question cracks me up because imitating sounds with owners
is part of our daily routine. Yes, Like, I don't
know about you, but I'm not afraid to make a
vomiting sound or a coughing sound or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It's honestly hilarious and I love that he imitated it
because it helps us understand. Yeah, so when an owner
comes in and they're like, hey, my dog's coughing, and
I'm like, are they coughing or are they vomiting? Or
are they reverse sneezing? So I will literally be on
the ground with the animal like are they doing this look?
And they're looking at me like, oh, yeah, that's what
it is, and then they'll start imitating it, and the
(09:44):
next thing it knows, we're just like making these crazy
sounds at each other. The dog's looking at us like
you morons. But it's like hard to know what exactly
they're seeing at home without imitating it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It really helps us narrow down our differential lists, I
think if we can like get to one specific sound,
because some pretty specific, like the reverse sneezing.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, we get asked about reverse kneezing a lot, especially
here at Nashville. I feel like a lot of it
is because it's triggered by allergies and we're in like
the allergy capital of the world. And reverse sneezing in
my own dog. Even my husband hears and he's like,
something's very wrong. I'm like, nope, it's like she's fine,
she'll get over it. But it can be really shocking.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's scary. I mean, especially if they go into a
fit and it sounds like they're not able to breathe.
I think is what people get stressed about. Yeah, but
if someone were to send me a video, not even
bring their dog in, just send me a video of that,
I would not be concerned. No, usually I don't even
I don't get concerned unless it's increasing in frequency or severity.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And that's not common, no, very uncommon. And that's another
thing too, is you don't ever think I feel like
as an owner to like whip out your phone and
record what's happening. But if you can record it, then
that's gonna save us a lot of time making crazy
noises at each other in the exam room.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Super helpful, and it might even save you a trip
to the BG.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, can you do a cough imitation? What do you do?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Oh? Well, it depends on the call. Like if it's
like a kennel cough cough, then I'm going.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Like, yeah, a really good one.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You got to get that end. And that is what
triggers people to be like, that's exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That was a really good one. Amazing. I love that.
Now I figured we can really dive into all things wellness.
I want to keep it simple, but still I feel
like people get informed, and so I thought we would
be good to break it down into two sections. So
I figure the first section, we can just talk about vaccines,
(11:42):
like what in the heck are these vaccines that are
being recommended to me? I feel like we just come
in and we're like they're due for X, Y and Z,
and people are just like okay, yeah, like you say,
so let's do it. But I feel like it's good
to understand why your pet is getting these vaccinations. So
the first, the big one, the big shebang, be like
non negotiable for me is the rabies vaccine.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Definitely. I think most of our clients, if they're gonna
know any vaccine, it's gonna be the rabies vaccine.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yes. And the thing for me is that I didn't
realize really until I got to VET school, was like,
rabies is real. You hear about it and you're like,
we don't see that anymore, Like that's from like old Yeller,
like a decade ago, but like it's real. We just
had a case here in Tennessee. And if you con
tract rabies as a human and you don't get treated
right away, like you will die. There is not a cure,
(12:32):
and we see it.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, I saw a case of rabies in the er
when I was working there.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, terrifying. And I also think I guess I didn't
really understand this until I was like practicing in general
practice too. But like this vaccine is required by the state. Yes,
I don't think it's required by all states, but in
Tennessee it is required for you to vaccinate your dog
or your cat by six months of age. Yeah, and
if you don't and they find out, it's a class misdemeanor.
(13:01):
I don't know that either. So, yeah, it's the law.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's the law. It's really important. It's a public health risk,
and if you don't do it, like we kind of
have to look like the bad guys. We were like, Okay,
you don't have to. We can't force you into it,
but you have to understand the ramifications of it, and
you have to like sign up a document. So it's
a big deal. What was the case that you saw
in the er that had rabies?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
It was actually rabies. Was not at the top of
anyone's list thinking this dog had rabies, because again, no
one actually understands that it's real. This dog came in
for seizures and it was just neurological and in the er,
like we saw seizures once a day. Yeah, so having
a dog come in for seizures is not abnormal. So
(13:49):
we kind of just went through the normal protocol of
getting the dog hospitalized, getting them started on seizure meds,
and along the line, a lot of people came in
contact with this dog and the dog just wasn't responding
to any of the seizure meds, which is unusual, especially
for a dog presenting pro seizures. Right the first time.
(14:11):
So the neurology service ended up getting involved, and the
only way to test for rabies, unfortunately in dogs, is
by testing a piece of their brain tissue, and so
oftentimes we don't get a diagnosis until they're already deceased.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Just for all of you out there, like, I know,
this is gruesome, but the reality is, like we have
to cut their head off and send it into the lab.
That's how we test for it. So it's not an
easy test. And if there is any suspicion that your
pet has rabies, like that's the way we test for it,
so even more reason to get them vaccinated.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So this dog ended up being hospitalized for a while,
coming into contact with a lot of different staff members,
and then it ended up I think being euthanized because
it wasn't responding and we found out later that she
wasn't up to date on her rabies vaccine and so
she was sent for testing, came back positive, and anyone
(15:09):
who was in contact with her had to get the
rabies prophylaxis vaccine treatment, which is intense, inexpensive, very expensive.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I don't think your insurance covers that.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
So very scary, very scary, because I mean, just coming
into contact with the saliva of a dog who's seizing.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Is very easy, very easy.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And rabies is transmitted most commonly through bites, but through
bodily fluids, so very very scary, very real.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Another thing I hear owners say is, oh, well, my
dog doesn't really go outside, and you just had a
case or someone in the hospital had a case last
week of a cat having a bat in its mouth.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yep, that got in the house. It wasn't my case,
but yeah, indoor only cat. So most people will be like,
why do I need a vaccine my indoor only cat
for rabies? But the family, I guess solve the cat
with a live bat in its mouth.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
He's like running by, like hey, guys, like what I got?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And bats are the number one car and carrier of rabies,
So that cat had to come into the hospital and
get boostered for its Raby's vaccine, even though it was
up to date. We boostered them early. Yeah, and then yeah,
not not only for the safety of the pets, but
like if you have kids in your home and your
cat gets Raby's, like you know, it's yeah, you got
(16:30):
to vaccinate them so that we can be protected. As well,
because vaccination against rabies and people is not common.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
No, really, it's just a suvarians. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we
had to get it in that school. Well, we haven't
convinced you yet. I don't know what will. Okay, The
next vaccine that we the other like big core vaccine
(16:58):
is the distant parvo vaccine. So the distemper virus is
one thing, parvovirus is another. It's combined into one vaccine
with a few other things, but like those are the
two big ones, and I feel like we don't talk
about distemper a lot. Luckily, we have been vaccining our
pets for a long time against it, so we don't
see it as often. But I do know that we
(17:19):
had a big outbreak of distemper virus, which can do
attack the GI track, the respiratory system, the neuros neurologic system,
and they it's fatal, like nine times out of ten,
they usually don't make it. We had a big outbreak
in Columbus. Isabella and I actually went to Ohio State
for veterinary school, and so there was a big outbreak
(17:40):
there and they had to like all the animals in
the shelter had to be euthanized terrible.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
How Yeah, that is scary. I've only seen it one
time ever.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
We had a Wags and Walks dogs that had it too,
though I thought that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Was very vague symptoms. We would never think right that
dog was POSSI differ distemper. Yea, It's kind of like
Rabi's like we've vaccinated well enough for it that it's
not super common, but it still happens.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
It does. And parvo parvo virus carvo is so bad.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Parvo is still a thing. Yes, super super super contagious virus.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
It's crazy to me that it lasts in the environment
for so long, so they don't even have to come
into contact with each other. Like the dog that's infected
can go to the bathroom on the ground and then
that virus will live in the environment for a very
long time years. Yeah, yours.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, I usually tell my puppy owners. Obviously. I think
most people know not to socialize them with strange dogs
before they're fully vaccinated, but even a step beyond that,
like don't take them to a place where other dogs
are commonly using the bathroom just because you never know.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, and if they get parvo virus, they get very
very very sick. You're looking at like a massive medical bill.
They're going to be hospitalized for days, sometimes weeks, and
even then they may not make it. It is very serious.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, it's very serious and often, I mean, just like
many viruses, we're just treating their symptoms. There's not like
a pure, one and done cure. But yeah, it's thousands
of dollars in the er if it comes to that.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, onto the next thing. This is my favorite ones.
I feel like people don't know about this. The name's
cool and there's a lot of interesting facts about it.
It's called lepto sporrosis. This is one where depending on
where you live, it may not be necessary. I came
from Chicago. We definitely saw it there, and really I
feel like it's becoming more prevalent. So if you have
(19:45):
any questions in your pet isn't up to date on it,
I would ask your veterinarian, what are your thoughts on lepto.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I so lepto is it's considered a lifestyle vaccine, which
basically is what doctor Josie just described, So it may
not be recommended for everyone. Here in Nashville. I mean,
we consider it pretty much a core I am recommending
it to every puppy I see because we have lepto here.
So it's a bacterial disease that is spread in water
(20:17):
by wildlife rodents. And so if your dog and just
a contaminated water source, which I also tell people can
be a puddle in the city. New York City has
lepto for all their rats.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
In Sawa, Chicago rats running around.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So even if they're not like swimming in ponds or lakes, like,
they can still get it living in a city, and
if they do, it can cause really severe kidney and
liver damage and failure. And then the most important part
of this disease, like Rabi's, is that it can be
transmitted to humans through their urine.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So one of the nurses we work with, her old
doctor that she her old veterinarian that she worked with
lost to kidney. She contracted leptosporosis from one of her patients.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
And that is scary. Yes, usually I find that I'll
go through this whole spiel with my clients and as
soon as I say they can give it to you,
they're like absolutely not vaccinated.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, because it's scary.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
It is, and with of course like children, I feel like,
because really the route that you would get that is
if you're touching their urine and like put your fingers
in your mouth or touch your eyeball. Yeah, and kids
don't know any better, no, So those are the people
who are going to be like really at risk.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, people don't realize. This is such an interesting point
that as veterinarians, we're really taught in school about what
our pets can carry that can affect humans. So a
lot of what we do is like public health risks
and mitigating those, and so you know, when these diseases
are zoonotic, meaning humans can get them from animals, it's
(21:54):
really our job to educate people on that, and like
we do a good job at that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I think so too.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Here we are just slave in the world, one lipto
vaccine at a time. Okay, next, bord to Tella. This
one always gets me because I'll be like, you guys
need to get bored to Tella and they're like, yeah,
but my.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Dog doesn't bored yes all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yes, And I'm like, well, bored of Tella is actually
of a bacteria that causes kennel cough. Has nothing to
do with boarding and it's super important. It's very contagious.
Dogs go nose to nose or they cough droplets into
the air and then any one, any dog in that
area can contract it super easily.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And same with lepto. It's also a lifestyle vaccine, so
a lot of clients are like, we don't need that.
My dog isn't social with other dogs. But again in Nashville,
everyone has dogs. Everyone's living in apartments. I've had multiple
cases recently of dogs who are not social, but they're
walking around their apartment complex, could have sniffed an area where.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
A dog just coughed, or go to the groomer exactly
groomer someone was in there infected beforehand. And so it's
I feel like the one vaccine that's like the most
tolerated by dogs.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
It's super easy on them. We use the oral versions.
We just squirt it in their mouth. It's not even
a poke.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
They love it. It's like chicken flavored. They're like, this
is awesome.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
They love it, so you might as well just be
covered for it because it's so easy. It's once a year.
You don't have to booster it for a year.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
And we see a lot of kennel cough in Nashville
a lot. Chicago, we saw a lot. Anywhere there's a
lot of dogs, you will there will be outbreaks, yep.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
And I mean a lot of people in Nashville. I
feel like they leave for the holidays or spring break
and they board their dogs and then there's like another surge.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, it's just like that mystery respiratory illness that was
going around. I think probably that was linked to influenza,
which brings us to our next vaccine. And a big
thing that is interesting for owners to learn is kennel
cough is like this broad umbrella and then there's so
many things that fall into it, so bored, totella, plasma, influenza,
all these different things that cause the symptoms of kemel
(24:04):
cough and influenzas. Our last vaccine we're going to touch on,
which is also lifestyle. And I feel like people hear
that and they're like, oh, well, I don't get the
flu shot for myself. Why would I do that for
my dog? And I feel like it's a little bit different.
I mean, obviously it's an influenza virus, but it's different
than it is in humans.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, this one I do. It's definitely a little more
lifestyle for me. Like bordetella. Everyone should be getting bored totella,
but influenza. If your dog is going to dog parks, daycare, boarding,
or grooming, do it. They should get influenza too.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, and one's a scary too, because it's not a bacteria,
So when they are sick with it, we give them.
Typically we can give an antibiotic for bordetella, but in
the case of influenza, they don't typically respond to antibiotics
and they can get really sick, really sick.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, you were in Chicago for that big influenza.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, right, we were seeing there were so many pets
that were sick and contagious that we were seeing them
in the parking lot, just one after the other. We
didn't even bring them into the building because we didn't
want them to be in close proximity. That's scary. First school,
I was still in that school, baby, Laura. My armpits
were sweat and it was awful. I was so scared. Yeah,
it was really, it was crazy. It was Yeah, it
(25:23):
was like six months in. But yeah, I mean, if
your dog's social, just get it. It's better than the
alternative of them not getting boostered and then they end
up with influenza.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, and a lot of places in Nashville are actually
requiring the influenza vaccine as one of their vaccine requirements
for boarding or for daycare.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
So think that's smart.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
If you're planning on boarding your dog or taking them
to get to daycare, I would definitely find out their requirements.
It's a two shot series, so you have to give
yourself ample amount of time.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah. People come in like, I need the flu shot today,
I'm boarding tomorrow. I'm like, well, it takes it takes
two shots for them to be fully up to date,
So give yourself a month. Okay. I feel like that
really covers most of the vaccines, the big ones, and
then that really leads us just to the one other
big area of preventative wellness that I feel like we
talk about on a daily basis, which is prevention flea tick,
(26:18):
heartworm prevention. Without a doubt, I think heartworm is the
most important.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Definitely, And yeah, we super important in the South. We
were just talking recently about how up in the Midwest,
I feel like we just didn't dedicate a whole lot
of our bed school curriculum to this disease. Yeah, it
just isn't as common up there. The winters are cold,
but we.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Do still see it up there, but not as much.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It's changing too with the with the weather changing and everything,
they're starting to move a little bit more north. But
in the South, heartworm disease is so bad and it
is fatal if it is untreated. So heartworm disease is
a parasitic disease. So it is a parasite that dogs
(27:07):
get from being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
So that always shocks owners when they hear that, Like
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yep. So any dog, even if they're sitting on your balcony,
but they don't really go outside very much, they can
get heartworm diseased. Fortunately, it's very rare in cats, but
it is very common in dogs. And then I always
tell people too that in the name, it's literally a
(27:38):
worm like it looks like a piece of spaghetti. When
it's a full adult worm, it's me the ebgb's creepy,
and they live in the heart and the lung structures
of dogs who are infected, and so as you can
imagine having giant, long spaghetti worms in your heart doesn't go, well, yeah,
your heart's not gonna pump very well.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
No, not at all.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
So, yeah, clinical signs that we see.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, coughing, they can be sometimes a lot of times
the dogs that we see here in the South are
asymptomatic will catch it kind of early and they may
not be showing any signs at all. And really that's
why we recommend doing an annual heart room test every
single year to make sure that they don't have it.
If they do have it, we want to be treating it.
And I do have a lot of owners are like, well,
my dog's never missed a month of prevention, why am
(28:23):
I running this heartroom test? And what we are finding
more and more of is dogs or the heartworms are
developing resistance to some of the heartworm medications out there.
So even though you have your pet on prevention, not
all of them are as effective as others. And so
there's always the chance that yes, you have your pet
(28:44):
on prevention, but they have still gotten infected.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yep. And if we test them and they test positive,
it's not the end of the world.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
There is a treatment for it.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yes, it sucks, albeit expensive, Yep, it's painful, and it sucks.
It's painful for the dog.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
And they have to and the treatment itself comes with
some side effects. They can have really bad reactions if
we don't do it appropriately, so it's not a fun treatment.
It's over the course of like six months. But if
we catch it early enough, before any damage has been done, then.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Oh, we're so angry. Hey, think you want to come
back up here, buddy. Oh monkey's barking at him. And
but he's barking at monkey monkey.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
That's a good girl.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Oh no, no, no, she's said. Now, she's perfect.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I think I was saying. If we catch it early
enough and there's no there hasn't been any damage to
their heart and lungs yet, at that point, then we
can treat them, we can cure them, and they will
live a happy, normal life.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
It is like a solid year though, of having to
keep them activity restricted. And most of the dogs are
like young and healthy and want to run around, and
you have to keep them in a crate for almost
a year, We'll say, because if they're too active, they
can die of a lot of complications with their heart.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, and it's terrible. So heartworm disease really bad.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, And I just saw TikTok the other day about
how heartworm is made up and it's a scam and
it's just a way for veterinarians to make more money.
And I was like, why I ought to ouch a lie?
I know, And so that's not true for all of
you have had TikTokers out there. It's real, it's very real.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We wouldn't be promoting anything that we wouldn't do to
our own dogs.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
No, No. And honestly, prevention nowadays has gotten so much
easier to give. Like it's a you can do a
once monthly that does lease ticks heart rooms all in one.
It's a beef flavored two. Biggie's pumped about it. He's like,
this is a treat.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, she gets so excited.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
He loves heartworm Day.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
And we prescribe those options, like the chewable options very
frequently and I can't remember the last time I had
a client tell me their dog didn't eat it.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
No, they like it, they love it. Yeah, so that's
a great day of the month for your pet. And
then also if you forget to give it, which this
is a judge free zone. I can barely remember to
brush my teeth sometimes, so if you can't remember to
give your dog heartworm prevention. We do have injectable too,
where it can last for up to a year and
then you don't have to worry about giving it.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And any owners who have dogs with like seize your
history and they're really, really, really scared to put their
pets on certain prevention options. I feel like the injectable
form is really helpful, So there are options for those
dogs too.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
There are one other thing to note that I see
a lot in practice is people wanting to do like
a holistic approach, like something with garlic. People think garlic
can prevent it. I think is one of them. And
do you think that's okay? Do you think that that's
for ticks? And then sometimes I wonder if that came
from vampires.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Are vampires supposed to be afraid of me?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, garlic and.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Ticks suck your blood.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Maybe maybe I'm just here to tell you it doesn't work.
I wish it did. If it did, I'd be giving
Biggie some garlic every day. He would love it. But
it just it doesn't work. And a lot of the
over the counter options that you can get at the
pet store also don't work great, And so still come
in with fleas, yeah, all the time.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Also, something that's really important if you are going to
get an over the counter product for like a flea
spot on thing for your cat, which I don't recommend,
you should see your vet if your cat has fleas,
but you have to make sure that it's labeled for cats,
because cats have really bad reactions to the flea products
(32:26):
that are labeled for dogs.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, it can be life threatening, really bad. They also
can get like crazy wild bald patches on their back
from those spot drengthen. Yeah, just like that's a cosmetic issue.
The hair grows back, that's the end of the world.
Though usually can't resurrect them though if they take the
bad drugs. So I feel like that is like a
fairly comprehensive like main prevention vaccines, heartworm prevention, get them
(32:50):
tested once a year. And then of course there's other
things too, but those are like the big ones. Not
to overwhelm everybody, all right, Well, moving right along, we
this is doctor Isabella's first paw and order, so we'll
(33:14):
jump right in. We've got paw and order, all right.
First on the docket is as a veterinarian, I would
never declaw my cats. We hear this, you know, people
wanting to do this all the time, and in theory
it's like, yeah, just take their claws out, no big deal.
But in reality it is actually a pretty gruesome procedure
(33:37):
where we have to disarticulate that joint, so basically amputating
if you think of it like your finger, the very
last part of your finger. We amputate that entire joint,
and if it's not done very very very well, they
can get like lifelong arthritis and complications. And even if
it is done well, like it just as a little barbaric.
(33:59):
So there's a lot of other great options out there.
If your cat is scratching things that they shouldn't be,
get a scratch post, get feel away, get soft paws,
which are like these really cute little cute gel nails
you can put on your cat. I love them. They're
so cute. So rather than jumping to amputating all ten
of your cat's fingers, there's a lot of great alternatives.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I will never forget. I was volunteering this was before
at school at a clinic and they declawed a cat
and the cat was hospitalized at the general practice overnight
with like bandages on and stuff, and we came in
the next morning and it ripped its bandages off and
it looked like I am murder scene. There was blood
(34:46):
spewed everywhere because of I mean, like it's it's a
lot of trauma to a lot those joints.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So it's illegal now in Europe. Is in Australia, like
a lot of countries have outlawed.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, there might be some states.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yes, illegal to New Jersey, Yeah, has made it illegal.
Still legal hair in Tennessee, but I don't recommend do
not all right. Next up, doctor, is.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I, personally, coming from a doodle owner, would never attempt
to cut my own dog's hair. And I say that
because we see so many pets, dogs and cats who
come in when their owners tried to groom them at home.
And I've seen a cat whose owner tried to cut
(35:33):
their hair with clippers and just like clip their skin
right off, like there was a giant chuok of skin missing.
And then dogs commonly they have like this little extra
like flap of skin kind of in their groin and
that inevitably always gets cut with scissors.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
I see that like ten times a year always.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, and the ears too, and the ears bleed a lot,
so it would just be better off to let the
groomers handle that.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I know it's tempting, like I love, I'm like a
pimple popper. I want to cut their eyebrows, like I
want to just do all the things, but like leave
it to the professionals. We see so many wounds, and
you feel and the owners feel so guilty, so bad.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Worst, and the money that you could have just put
towards the grooming is now like being spent at the
vet for wound care. And it's just yeah, I would
just rather rather let the groomer handle it.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
For the doodle owners out there that people that want
to get doodles, how often do you get monkey groomed?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
I get monkey groom probably every once every three months.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Okay, but that being said, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Like we are my husband and I are psychopaths, and
we never want them to shave her, and so we
get her book for her groomer, and then like the
three days before her groom happens, we are spent like
religiously brushing her out and getting out all of her mats,
so we're basically doing half the work. And then the
(37:00):
groomer takes her and cuts her hair.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Otherwise they come looking like a naked hule rat.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
They can, yeah, they can look herny.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
People are so sad and like you got to do
the work.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, so yeah, it takes a lot of work. Like
we'll oftentimes we'll bathe her and brush out all of
her mats, like two days before her groom I love
that monkey.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
You're a lucky girl. He's out of here. Okay, next
on the docket. I would never have two few litter
boxes in a house of multiple cats, even one cat.
We learned invet school the rule of however many cats
you have plus one is how many litter boxes you
should have. And we see so many cats that will
(37:43):
go to the bathroom outside of the litter box or
like in their parents closet because they just don't have
like they're very, very particular creatures. And so if you
have two cats, you need three litter boxes. If you
have three cats, you need four litter boxes. And just
kind of like planning that in your head if you
adopt multiple cats.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
My clients are so surprised by that when I tell them, like,
if you have one cat, you should have two litter boxes.
And you got to give them options because, like you said,
they're like very particular and if one litter box has
one piece of poop in it, they won't go They're
not going to go in it. They're going to look
for the other one that's clean. So you got to
(38:24):
have options for them. They're like our divas. Yes, I
love it, and they will do anything to let you
know that. They are spiteful. They will pee on your work,
they will pee on your bedding.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Cat py the smell of cat py, it just does
not go away easily. So No, they did do a
big study where they wanted to find out what kind
of litter cats prefer. And obviously every cat is an
individual and it may be different for your cat, but
the overwhelming majority of cats prefer unscented, non clumping litter.
I thought that was interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I feel like people. I mean, that's probably like the
cheapest bottom of the rack. Yeah litter, and a lot
of clients go for the really good expensive.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
And they're like spink, pink, sparkley litter now organic.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah, and cats don't like that.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
No, they don't care this one. Like they love sandboxes.
If you have a sandbox in your yard like that's
their jam, So.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Keep it simple.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Keep it simple, and you'll save some money and your
cat will be happy and your house won't smell like
cat be all right, Well, thanks for coming in, Doctor Isabella, Like,
this was awesome. We get this is like a Bogo
buy one, get one veterinarian podcast.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Well, I feel like I learned everything from you.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Also, that's not true. I've learned so much from you.
So thanks for coming in and going over all the
wellness things with us. Thanks for bringing sweet Monkey in.
This is a Doctor Isabella's Golden doodle. By the way,
we didn't even give you an introduction. That was so rude.
And then for all of you listeners out there, please
(40:00):
rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram with
any of your questions Doctor Josie Vett and any questions, feedback, reviews.
We love to hear it all. We'll talk to you soon,
see you next week.
You're listening to in the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horchak.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello everybody, and welcome to in the Vets Office. I
am your host, doctor Josie, and sadly today my co
host Shannon is out of town, but we have an
amazing fill in for her today. We've got doctor Isabella
Stapanovic here.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hi, We're so excited to have you. Doctor Isabella is
one of my friends. She's also one of my coworkers
and really one of the best veterinarians I've ever worked with.
So feel so excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thank you. I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I knew you would be perfect for this because you
have one of the best voices. When I hear you
talking to clients, I'm like, wow, I it's so soothing.
I want you to tell me a bedtime story every night,
like it's just made for podcasting. So I am pomped
to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
That's funny because I don't want anyone to hear me
when I talk to clients, so I talk quietly, and
apparently that's turned into some like well known phone voice
that I have. Apparently, but it's an accident. I don't
mean to do it.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I like your phone voice. It kind of gives me
the like Dela I love, like that old radio host. Anyways,
it's amazing. I love it, and I figure to be
really great to bring in another vet today because we're
gonna dive into all things wellness and it's great to
get just like an added perspective. I feel like when
clients come into the clinic they can be overwhelmed with
all of the big words that we use, and like,
(01:39):
what the heck is a leptos borosis vaccine? So I
thought this would be a great episode to dive into
all those things. But before doing that, we always start
with a case of the week. And doctor Isabella was
internship trained in the emergency room, so we now are
in general practice, but for a good year and a
half she worked in the veterinary, so I figured you
(02:01):
might have some interesting cases for us.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I do working in the er. I feel like it
just exposed me to a wide variety of cases, lots
of trauma to name a few. I saw a dog
with his leg hanging on by a thread after a lawnmower, right, yeah,
he was lounging in the yard. Owner didn't know he
(02:24):
was laying there and just ran him over with the lawnmower.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That is traumatizing.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yes, that one was crazy. I've seen venomous snake bites.
I've accidentally ratted out to a college student who was
visiting for the summer and the dog suddenly comes in
with marijuana toxicity. Oh my gosh. But the one case
that oftentimes like just stands out in my mind that
(02:50):
I think is really important to kind of bring awareness
to leash safety, yeah dogs, is this one case in
particular where I saw a dog who was in the
bed of a truck and she was attached to her leash,
and her leash was attached to something in the truck
(03:10):
bed to just make sure she wasn't going to fall out.
She was having a blast, I'm sure, hair blowing in
the breeze, but something happened. She either fell out or
jumped out, and she ended up actually being dragged by
the truck for probably one hundred feet and she came
in with severe burn wounds all over her body. Wow,
(03:33):
she did great, but she was hospitalized for a long
time and it was a long road for her. And
so I feel like here in Nashville, especially, a lot
of people live in apartments and we always hear the
scary stories of like dog in elevator, human outside of elevator,
leash in between doors closing. So I think just being
(03:57):
aware of, you know, how close you keep your dog
on the leash, maybe if they're small enough like Biggie
and my dog is not small enough, but pick them
up when you're walking into the elevator, right, because I
feel like you don't expect that to happen until it
actually does.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, absolutely we I one of the episodes I talked
about retractable leashes and like how they're such a nightmare
because your dog is basically walking you. So that's a
really great point, like just having that awareness because they
are attached to a rope and essentially and you don't
know what's going to happen. The other thing, too, is
like I feel like this goes without saying, but we
see it all the time in the South, especially, don't
(04:34):
put your dogs in the back of a truck bed.
It's so scary, Like put them in the car with you,
and if they are leaning out the window, I really
like for them to be in a seatbelt. We hear
of them jumping out of windows all the time.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I had a friend's dog just jump right out the window, husky,
crazy boy.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, I feel like people don't realize the veterinary er
is just so intense. I think that's why you're such
a great veterinarian, because you saw all of those crazy cases.
And here in general practice, I'm like, oh my god,
I got shot in the face by anal gla. We
do actually have one funny story from general practice where
I had this patient. He was a rottweiler. I cannot
(05:13):
remember his name. He was so cute and he had
somehow cut his penis, and in reflecting on this podcast,
I say, penis so much and I'm just not sure why.
I guess I have a lot of penis cases. But
either way, he cut his penis and I was he
was coming back in for a recheck. And for those
of you who have curl dogs and don't know, the
(05:34):
male dog penis like lives in a sheath of skin.
The prep use and getting it, like pulling back the
prep use and getting the penis out is like really
a work of art. I mean, it takes some talent.
It's hard. Yeah, it's not always easy. And so we
have him in the back and he's laying on his
side and I am going to like extrude his penis.
(05:55):
My face is like in his crotch. I can't get
it out. I'm like on all fours trying to like
get a good look in there. And at the same time,
Isabella is giving a tour to her sister and soon
to be brother in law, and I don't even like
really process that they're there, but I look up and
I make eye contact with her brother in law and
he's looking at me and he is like ghost white.
(06:16):
His eyes are huge. I'm like holding this about to
pass out. Yeah, he was about to go down. And
so it's funny because afterwards Isabella was like, he looked
at us and he goes, am I next. So Ryan,
this is my apology to you. I'm sorry that you
had to see that, and really just it always makes
me think that like any random bystander coming into the
(06:37):
vet clinic at any given time would just be like
shocked at some of the things we have to do.
And no, you're not next, so don't worry. Hilarious. Okay,
So the next segment that we always do is we'll
take some questions from listeners and so we have two
listener questions this week, so we'll get started with the first.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Hey, doctor Josie, how often should I be giving my
dog a bath?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I've heard that giving him too many baths can dry
out his skin. I can ask this all the time, too,
do you yes, all the time? Especially puppies, Yes, puppies.
I feel like puppies need baths more than adult dogs.
They're like rolling in their own pee and poop. They
are getting into things that they shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Know, like I do hear about this. We are online
and like, don't bathe too much, they dry out, they
get flaky. I haven't really like people aren't bathing their
dogs that much that that happens for me. So I say,
give them a bath as needed.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, I'm like, if they visibly look dirty or they smell,
give them a bath. Otherwise, just like routine grooming. Yeah,
I think, Yeah, I agree with that. I probably give
my dogs a bath. I don't know, maybe like once
a month or two.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
But people really get like locked up on this, and
so I wouldn't be overly concerned. We've never I have
never personally seen anyone dry out their dogs skin from
bathing them too much.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
No, And I'll also recommend if they are gonna be
bathing frequently at home, to be using like an oatmeal shampoo,
something that's like really soothing, or even like downdish soap.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
If they're really dirty. Yeah, I feel like it doesn't
dry them out as much. Yeah, don cuts through like
the grease and grime. Yeah. And I avoid human shampoos too.
I just feel like that can be a little bit
more like rough on their skin. So I totally agree
oatmeal dog labeled for dogs. Yeah, but most of the
time I just let the groomer take care of it. Yeah,
(08:23):
soothe your dooodle, not me. I'm in the bath of
like wrangling all three of them. I look like a
psycho whatever, All right, next, Hey, I.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Just had a quick question about my dog. He's been
doing this weird thing where it's it's kind of like
a sneeze, kind of like a cough. But let me
try to describe it for you. It's almost like this,
and I'm just wondering. I mean, he gets into fits
while he's doing this, and I have no idea what's happening.
(08:54):
So I guess, is this something I need to be
concerned about? Is this something you've seen before. I would
really like to get more in thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Well, what's the first thing that comes to your mind
when you hear that?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Definitely reverse sneezing? How about you?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes, reverse sneezing.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
That question cracks me up because imitating sounds with owners
is part of our daily routine. Yes, Like, I don't
know about you, but I'm not afraid to make a
vomiting sound or a coughing sound or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It's honestly hilarious and I love that he imitated it
because it helps us understand. Yeah, so when an owner
comes in and they're like, hey, my dog's coughing, and
I'm like, are they coughing or are they vomiting? Or
are they reverse sneezing? So I will literally be on
the ground with the animal like are they doing this look?
And they're looking at me like, oh, yeah, that's what
it is, and then they'll start imitating it, and the
(09:44):
next thing it knows, we're just like making these crazy
sounds at each other. The dog's looking at us like
you morons. But it's like hard to know what exactly
they're seeing at home without imitating it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It really helps us narrow down our differential lists, I
think if we can like get to one specific sound,
because some pretty specific, like the reverse sneezing.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, we get asked about reverse kneezing a lot, especially
here at Nashville. I feel like a lot of it
is because it's triggered by allergies and we're in like
the allergy capital of the world. And reverse sneezing in
my own dog. Even my husband hears and he's like,
something's very wrong. I'm like, nope, it's like she's fine,
she'll get over it. But it can be really shocking.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's scary. I mean, especially if they go into a
fit and it sounds like they're not able to breathe.
I think is what people get stressed about. Yeah, but
if someone were to send me a video, not even
bring their dog in, just send me a video of that,
I would not be concerned. No, usually I don't even
I don't get concerned unless it's increasing in frequency or severity.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And that's not common, no, very uncommon. And that's another
thing too, is you don't ever think I feel like
as an owner to like whip out your phone and
record what's happening. But if you can record it, then
that's gonna save us a lot of time making crazy
noises at each other in the exam room.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Super helpful, and it might even save you a trip
to the BG.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, can you do a cough imitation? What do you do?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Oh? Well, it depends on the call. Like if it's
like a kennel cough cough, then I'm going.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Like, yeah, a really good one.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You got to get that end. And that is what
triggers people to be like, that's exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That was a really good one. Amazing. I love that.
Now I figured we can really dive into all things wellness.
I want to keep it simple, but still I feel
like people get informed, and so I thought we would
be good to break it down into two sections. So
I figure the first section, we can just talk about vaccines,
(11:42):
like what in the heck are these vaccines that are
being recommended to me? I feel like we just come
in and we're like they're due for X, Y and Z,
and people are just like okay, yeah, like you say,
so let's do it. But I feel like it's good
to understand why your pet is getting these vaccinations. So
the first, the big one, the big shebang, be like
non negotiable for me is the rabies vaccine.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Definitely. I think most of our clients, if they're gonna
know any vaccine, it's gonna be the rabies vaccine.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yes. And the thing for me is that I didn't
realize really until I got to VET school, was like,
rabies is real. You hear about it and you're like,
we don't see that anymore, Like that's from like old Yeller,
like a decade ago, but like it's real. We just
had a case here in Tennessee. And if you con
tract rabies as a human and you don't get treated
right away, like you will die. There is not a cure,
(12:32):
and we see it.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, I saw a case of rabies in the er
when I was working there.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, terrifying. And I also think I guess I didn't
really understand this until I was like practicing in general
practice too. But like this vaccine is required by the state. Yes,
I don't think it's required by all states, but in
Tennessee it is required for you to vaccinate your dog
or your cat by six months of age. Yeah, and
if you don't and they find out, it's a class misdemeanor.
(13:01):
I don't know that either. So, yeah, it's the law.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's the law. It's really important. It's a public health risk,
and if you don't do it, like we kind of
have to look like the bad guys. We were like, Okay,
you don't have to. We can't force you into it,
but you have to understand the ramifications of it, and
you have to like sign up a document. So it's
a big deal. What was the case that you saw
in the er that had rabies?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
It was actually rabies. Was not at the top of
anyone's list thinking this dog had rabies, because again, no
one actually understands that it's real. This dog came in
for seizures and it was just neurological and in the er,
like we saw seizures once a day. Yeah, so having
a dog come in for seizures is not abnormal. So
(13:49):
we kind of just went through the normal protocol of
getting the dog hospitalized, getting them started on seizure meds,
and along the line, a lot of people came in
contact with this dog and the dog just wasn't responding
to any of the seizure meds, which is unusual, especially
for a dog presenting pro seizures. Right the first time.
(14:11):
So the neurology service ended up getting involved, and the
only way to test for rabies, unfortunately in dogs, is
by testing a piece of their brain tissue, and so
oftentimes we don't get a diagnosis until they're already deceased.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Just for all of you out there, like, I know,
this is gruesome, but the reality is, like we have
to cut their head off and send it into the lab.
That's how we test for it. So it's not an
easy test. And if there is any suspicion that your
pet has rabies, like that's the way we test for it,
so even more reason to get them vaccinated.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So this dog ended up being hospitalized for a while,
coming into contact with a lot of different staff members,
and then it ended up I think being euthanized because
it wasn't responding and we found out later that she
wasn't up to date on her rabies vaccine and so
she was sent for testing, came back positive, and anyone
(15:09):
who was in contact with her had to get the
rabies prophylaxis vaccine treatment, which is intense, inexpensive, very expensive.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I don't think your insurance covers that.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
So very scary, very scary, because I mean, just coming
into contact with the saliva of a dog who's seizing.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Is very easy, very easy.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And rabies is transmitted most commonly through bites, but through
bodily fluids, so very very scary, very real.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Another thing I hear owners say is, oh, well, my
dog doesn't really go outside, and you just had a
case or someone in the hospital had a case last
week of a cat having a bat in its mouth.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yep, that got in the house. It wasn't my case,
but yeah, indoor only cat. So most people will be like,
why do I need a vaccine my indoor only cat
for rabies? But the family, I guess solve the cat
with a live bat in its mouth.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
He's like running by, like hey, guys, like what I got?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And bats are the number one car and carrier of rabies,
So that cat had to come into the hospital and
get boostered for its Raby's vaccine, even though it was
up to date. We boostered them early. Yeah, and then yeah,
not not only for the safety of the pets, but
like if you have kids in your home and your
cat gets Raby's, like you know, it's yeah, you got
(16:30):
to vaccinate them so that we can be protected. As well,
because vaccination against rabies and people is not common.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
No, really, it's just a suvarians. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we
had to get it in that school. Well, we haven't
convinced you yet. I don't know what will. Okay, The
next vaccine that we the other like big core vaccine
(16:58):
is the distant parvo vaccine. So the distemper virus is
one thing, parvovirus is another. It's combined into one vaccine
with a few other things, but like those are the
two big ones, and I feel like we don't talk
about distemper a lot. Luckily, we have been vaccining our
pets for a long time against it, so we don't
see it as often. But I do know that we
(17:19):
had a big outbreak of distemper virus, which can do
attack the GI track, the respiratory system, the neuros neurologic system,
and they it's fatal, like nine times out of ten,
they usually don't make it. We had a big outbreak
in Columbus. Isabella and I actually went to Ohio State
for veterinary school, and so there was a big outbreak
(17:40):
there and they had to like all the animals in
the shelter had to be euthanized terrible.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
How Yeah, that is scary. I've only seen it one
time ever.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
We had a Wags and Walks dogs that had it too,
though I thought that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Was very vague symptoms. We would never think right that
dog was POSSI differ distemper. Yea, It's kind of like
Rabi's like we've vaccinated well enough for it that it's
not super common, but it still happens.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
It does. And parvo parvo virus carvo is so bad.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Parvo is still a thing. Yes, super super super contagious virus.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
It's crazy to me that it lasts in the environment
for so long, so they don't even have to come
into contact with each other. Like the dog that's infected
can go to the bathroom on the ground and then
that virus will live in the environment for a very
long time years. Yeah, yours.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, I usually tell my puppy owners. Obviously. I think
most people know not to socialize them with strange dogs
before they're fully vaccinated, but even a step beyond that,
like don't take them to a place where other dogs
are commonly using the bathroom just because you never know.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, and if they get parvo virus, they get very
very very sick. You're looking at like a massive medical bill.
They're going to be hospitalized for days, sometimes weeks, and
even then they may not make it. It is very serious.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, it's very serious and often, I mean, just like
many viruses, we're just treating their symptoms. There's not like
a pure, one and done cure. But yeah, it's thousands
of dollars in the er if it comes to that.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, onto the next thing. This is my favorite ones.
I feel like people don't know about this. The name's
cool and there's a lot of interesting facts about it.
It's called lepto sporrosis. This is one where depending on
where you live, it may not be necessary. I came
from Chicago. We definitely saw it there, and really I
feel like it's becoming more prevalent. So if you have
(19:45):
any questions in your pet isn't up to date on it,
I would ask your veterinarian, what are your thoughts on lepto.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I so lepto is it's considered a lifestyle vaccine, which
basically is what doctor Josie just described, So it may
not be recommended for everyone. Here in Nashville. I mean,
we consider it pretty much a core I am recommending
it to every puppy I see because we have lepto here.
So it's a bacterial disease that is spread in water
(20:17):
by wildlife rodents. And so if your dog and just
a contaminated water source, which I also tell people can
be a puddle in the city. New York City has
lepto for all their rats.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
In Sawa, Chicago rats running around.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So even if they're not like swimming in ponds or lakes, like,
they can still get it living in a city, and
if they do, it can cause really severe kidney and
liver damage and failure. And then the most important part
of this disease, like Rabi's, is that it can be
transmitted to humans through their urine.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So one of the nurses we work with, her old
doctor that she her old veterinarian that she worked with
lost to kidney. She contracted leptosporosis from one of her patients.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
And that is scary. Yes, usually I find that I'll
go through this whole spiel with my clients and as
soon as I say they can give it to you,
they're like absolutely not vaccinated.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, because it's scary.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
It is, and with of course like children, I feel like,
because really the route that you would get that is
if you're touching their urine and like put your fingers
in your mouth or touch your eyeball. Yeah, and kids
don't know any better, no, So those are the people
who are going to be like really at risk.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, people don't realize. This is such an interesting point
that as veterinarians, we're really taught in school about what
our pets can carry that can affect humans. So a
lot of what we do is like public health risks
and mitigating those, and so you know, when these diseases
are zoonotic, meaning humans can get them from animals, it's
(21:54):
really our job to educate people on that, and like
we do a good job at that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I think so too.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Here we are just slave in the world, one lipto
vaccine at a time. Okay, next, bord to Tella. This
one always gets me because I'll be like, you guys
need to get bored to Tella and they're like, yeah,
but my.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Dog doesn't bored yes all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yes, And I'm like, well, bored of Tella is actually
of a bacteria that causes kennel cough. Has nothing to
do with boarding and it's super important. It's very contagious.
Dogs go nose to nose or they cough droplets into
the air and then any one, any dog in that
area can contract it super easily.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And same with lepto. It's also a lifestyle vaccine, so
a lot of clients are like, we don't need that.
My dog isn't social with other dogs. But again in Nashville,
everyone has dogs. Everyone's living in apartments. I've had multiple
cases recently of dogs who are not social, but they're
walking around their apartment complex, could have sniffed an area where.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
A dog just coughed, or go to the groomer exactly
groomer someone was in there infected beforehand. And so it's
I feel like the one vaccine that's like the most
tolerated by dogs.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
It's super easy on them. We use the oral versions.
We just squirt it in their mouth. It's not even
a poke.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
They love it. It's like chicken flavored. They're like, this
is awesome.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
They love it, so you might as well just be
covered for it because it's so easy. It's once a year.
You don't have to booster it for a year.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
And we see a lot of kennel cough in Nashville
a lot. Chicago, we saw a lot. Anywhere there's a
lot of dogs, you will there will be outbreaks, yep.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
And I mean a lot of people in Nashville. I
feel like they leave for the holidays or spring break
and they board their dogs and then there's like another surge.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, it's just like that mystery respiratory illness that was
going around. I think probably that was linked to influenza,
which brings us to our next vaccine. And a big
thing that is interesting for owners to learn is kennel
cough is like this broad umbrella and then there's so
many things that fall into it, so bored, totella, plasma, influenza,
all these different things that cause the symptoms of kemel
(24:04):
cough and influenzas. Our last vaccine we're going to touch on,
which is also lifestyle. And I feel like people hear
that and they're like, oh, well, I don't get the
flu shot for myself. Why would I do that for
my dog? And I feel like it's a little bit different.
I mean, obviously it's an influenza virus, but it's different
than it is in humans.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, this one I do. It's definitely a little more
lifestyle for me. Like bordetella. Everyone should be getting bored totella,
but influenza. If your dog is going to dog parks, daycare, boarding,
or grooming, do it. They should get influenza too.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, and one's a scary too, because it's not a bacteria,
So when they are sick with it, we give them.
Typically we can give an antibiotic for bordetella, but in
the case of influenza, they don't typically respond to antibiotics
and they can get really sick, really sick.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, you were in Chicago for that big influenza.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, right, we were seeing there were so many pets
that were sick and contagious that we were seeing them
in the parking lot, just one after the other. We
didn't even bring them into the building because we didn't
want them to be in close proximity. That's scary. First school,
I was still in that school, baby, Laura. My armpits
were sweat and it was awful. I was so scared. Yeah,
it was really, it was crazy. It was Yeah, it
(25:23):
was like six months in. But yeah, I mean, if
your dog's social, just get it. It's better than the
alternative of them not getting boostered and then they end
up with influenza.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, and a lot of places in Nashville are actually
requiring the influenza vaccine as one of their vaccine requirements
for boarding or for daycare.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
So think that's smart.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
If you're planning on boarding your dog or taking them
to get to daycare, I would definitely find out their requirements.
It's a two shot series, so you have to give
yourself ample amount of time.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah. People come in like, I need the flu shot today,
I'm boarding tomorrow. I'm like, well, it takes it takes
two shots for them to be fully up to date,
So give yourself a month. Okay. I feel like that
really covers most of the vaccines, the big ones, and
then that really leads us just to the one other
big area of preventative wellness that I feel like we
talk about on a daily basis, which is prevention flea tick,
(26:18):
heartworm prevention. Without a doubt, I think heartworm is the
most important.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Definitely, And yeah, we super important in the South. We
were just talking recently about how up in the Midwest,
I feel like we just didn't dedicate a whole lot
of our bed school curriculum to this disease. Yeah, it
just isn't as common up there. The winters are cold,
but we.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Do still see it up there, but not as much.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It's changing too with the with the weather changing and everything,
they're starting to move a little bit more north. But
in the South, heartworm disease is so bad and it
is fatal if it is untreated. So heartworm disease is
a parasitic disease. So it is a parasite that dogs
(27:07):
get from being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
So that always shocks owners when they hear that, Like
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yep. So any dog, even if they're sitting on your balcony,
but they don't really go outside very much, they can
get heartworm diseased. Fortunately, it's very rare in cats, but
it is very common in dogs. And then I always
tell people too that in the name, it's literally a
(27:38):
worm like it looks like a piece of spaghetti. When
it's a full adult worm, it's me the ebgb's creepy,
and they live in the heart and the lung structures
of dogs who are infected, and so as you can
imagine having giant, long spaghetti worms in your heart doesn't go, well, yeah,
your heart's not gonna pump very well.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
No, not at all.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
So, yeah, clinical signs that we see.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, coughing, they can be sometimes a lot of times
the dogs that we see here in the South are
asymptomatic will catch it kind of early and they may
not be showing any signs at all. And really that's
why we recommend doing an annual heart room test every
single year to make sure that they don't have it.
If they do have it, we want to be treating it.
And I do have a lot of owners are like, well,
my dog's never missed a month of prevention, why am
(28:23):
I running this heartroom test? And what we are finding
more and more of is dogs or the heartworms are
developing resistance to some of the heartworm medications out there.
So even though you have your pet on prevention, not
all of them are as effective as others. And so
there's always the chance that yes, you have your pet
(28:44):
on prevention, but they have still gotten infected.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yep. And if we test them and they test positive,
it's not the end of the world.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
There is a treatment for it.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yes, it sucks, albeit expensive, Yep, it's painful, and it sucks.
It's painful for the dog.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
And they have to and the treatment itself comes with
some side effects. They can have really bad reactions if
we don't do it appropriately, so it's not a fun treatment.
It's over the course of like six months. But if
we catch it early enough, before any damage has been done, then.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Oh, we're so angry. Hey, think you want to come
back up here, buddy. Oh monkey's barking at him. And
but he's barking at monkey monkey.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
That's a good girl.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Oh no, no, no, she's said. Now, she's perfect.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I think I was saying. If we catch it early
enough and there's no there hasn't been any damage to
their heart and lungs yet, at that point, then we
can treat them, we can cure them, and they will
live a happy, normal life.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
It is like a solid year though, of having to
keep them activity restricted. And most of the dogs are
like young and healthy and want to run around, and
you have to keep them in a crate for almost
a year, We'll say, because if they're too active, they
can die of a lot of complications with their heart.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, and it's terrible. So heartworm disease really bad.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, And I just saw TikTok the other day about
how heartworm is made up and it's a scam and
it's just a way for veterinarians to make more money.
And I was like, why I ought to ouch a lie?
I know, And so that's not true for all of
you have had TikTokers out there. It's real, it's very real.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We wouldn't be promoting anything that we wouldn't do to
our own dogs.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
No, No. And honestly, prevention nowadays has gotten so much
easier to give. Like it's a you can do a
once monthly that does lease ticks heart rooms all in one.
It's a beef flavored two. Biggie's pumped about it. He's like,
this is a treat.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, she gets so excited.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
He loves heartworm Day.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
And we prescribe those options, like the chewable options very
frequently and I can't remember the last time I had
a client tell me their dog didn't eat it.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
No, they like it, they love it. Yeah, so that's
a great day of the month for your pet. And
then also if you forget to give it, which this
is a judge free zone. I can barely remember to
brush my teeth sometimes, so if you can't remember to
give your dog heartworm prevention. We do have injectable too,
where it can last for up to a year and
then you don't have to worry about giving it.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And any owners who have dogs with like seize your
history and they're really, really, really scared to put their
pets on certain prevention options. I feel like the injectable
form is really helpful, So there are options for those
dogs too.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
There are one other thing to note that I see
a lot in practice is people wanting to do like
a holistic approach, like something with garlic. People think garlic
can prevent it. I think is one of them. And
do you think that's okay? Do you think that that's
for ticks? And then sometimes I wonder if that came
from vampires.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Are vampires supposed to be afraid of me?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, garlic and.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Ticks suck your blood.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Maybe maybe I'm just here to tell you it doesn't work.
I wish it did. If it did, I'd be giving
Biggie some garlic every day. He would love it. But
it just it doesn't work. And a lot of the
over the counter options that you can get at the
pet store also don't work great, And so still come
in with fleas, yeah, all the time.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Also, something that's really important if you are going to
get an over the counter product for like a flea
spot on thing for your cat, which I don't recommend,
you should see your vet if your cat has fleas,
but you have to make sure that it's labeled for cats,
because cats have really bad reactions to the flea products
(32:26):
that are labeled for dogs.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, it can be life threatening, really bad. They also
can get like crazy wild bald patches on their back
from those spot drengthen. Yeah, just like that's a cosmetic issue.
The hair grows back, that's the end of the world.
Though usually can't resurrect them though if they take the
bad drugs. So I feel like that is like a
fairly comprehensive like main prevention vaccines, heartworm prevention, get them
(32:50):
tested once a year. And then of course there's other
things too, but those are like the big ones. Not
to overwhelm everybody, all right, Well, moving right along, we
this is doctor Isabella's first paw and order, so we'll
(33:14):
jump right in. We've got paw and order, all right.
First on the docket is as a veterinarian, I would
never declaw my cats. We hear this, you know, people
wanting to do this all the time, and in theory
it's like, yeah, just take their claws out, no big deal.
But in reality it is actually a pretty gruesome procedure
(33:37):
where we have to disarticulate that joint, so basically amputating
if you think of it like your finger, the very
last part of your finger. We amputate that entire joint,
and if it's not done very very very well, they
can get like lifelong arthritis and complications. And even if
it is done well, like it just as a little barbaric.
(33:59):
So there's a lot of other great options out there.
If your cat is scratching things that they shouldn't be,
get a scratch post, get feel away, get soft paws,
which are like these really cute little cute gel nails
you can put on your cat. I love them. They're
so cute. So rather than jumping to amputating all ten
of your cat's fingers, there's a lot of great alternatives.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I will never forget. I was volunteering this was before
at school at a clinic and they declawed a cat
and the cat was hospitalized at the general practice overnight
with like bandages on and stuff, and we came in
the next morning and it ripped its bandages off and
it looked like I am murder scene. There was blood
(34:46):
spewed everywhere because of I mean, like it's it's a
lot of trauma to a lot those joints.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So it's illegal now in Europe. Is in Australia, like
a lot of countries have outlawed.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, there might be some states.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yes, illegal to New Jersey, Yeah, has made it illegal.
Still legal hair in Tennessee, but I don't recommend do
not all right. Next up, doctor, is.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I, personally, coming from a doodle owner, would never attempt
to cut my own dog's hair. And I say that
because we see so many pets, dogs and cats who
come in when their owners tried to groom them at home.
And I've seen a cat whose owner tried to cut
(35:33):
their hair with clippers and just like clip their skin
right off, like there was a giant chuok of skin missing.
And then dogs commonly they have like this little extra
like flap of skin kind of in their groin and
that inevitably always gets cut with scissors.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
I see that like ten times a year always.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, and the ears too, and the ears bleed a lot,
so it would just be better off to let the
groomers handle that.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I know it's tempting, like I love, I'm like a
pimple popper. I want to cut their eyebrows, like I
want to just do all the things, but like leave
it to the professionals. We see so many wounds, and
you feel and the owners feel so guilty, so bad.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Worst, and the money that you could have just put
towards the grooming is now like being spent at the
vet for wound care. And it's just yeah, I would
just rather rather let the groomer handle it.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
For the doodle owners out there that people that want
to get doodles, how often do you get monkey groomed?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
I get monkey groom probably every once every three months.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Okay, but that being said, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Like we are my husband and I are psychopaths, and
we never want them to shave her, and so we
get her book for her groomer, and then like the
three days before her groom happens, we are spent like
religiously brushing her out and getting out all of her mats,
so we're basically doing half the work. And then the
(37:00):
groomer takes her and cuts her hair.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Otherwise they come looking like a naked hule rat.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
They can, yeah, they can look herny.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
People are so sad and like you got to do
the work.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, so yeah, it takes a lot of work. Like
we'll oftentimes we'll bathe her and brush out all of
her mats, like two days before her groom I love
that monkey.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
You're a lucky girl. He's out of here. Okay, next
on the docket. I would never have two few litter
boxes in a house of multiple cats, even one cat.
We learned invet school the rule of however many cats
you have plus one is how many litter boxes you
should have. And we see so many cats that will
(37:43):
go to the bathroom outside of the litter box or
like in their parents closet because they just don't have
like they're very, very particular creatures. And so if you
have two cats, you need three litter boxes. If you
have three cats, you need four litter boxes. And just
kind of like planning that in your head if you
adopt multiple cats.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
My clients are so surprised by that when I tell them, like,
if you have one cat, you should have two litter boxes.
And you got to give them options because, like you said,
they're like very particular and if one litter box has
one piece of poop in it, they won't go They're
not going to go in it. They're going to look
for the other one that's clean. So you got to
(38:24):
have options for them. They're like our divas. Yes, I
love it, and they will do anything to let you
know that. They are spiteful. They will pee on your work,
they will pee on your bedding.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Cat py the smell of cat py, it just does
not go away easily. So No, they did do a
big study where they wanted to find out what kind
of litter cats prefer. And obviously every cat is an
individual and it may be different for your cat, but
the overwhelming majority of cats prefer unscented, non clumping litter.
I thought that was interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I feel like people. I mean, that's probably like the
cheapest bottom of the rack. Yeah litter, and a lot
of clients go for the really good expensive.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
And they're like spink, pink, sparkley litter now organic.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah, and cats don't like that.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
No, they don't care this one. Like they love sandboxes.
If you have a sandbox in your yard like that's
their jam, So.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Keep it simple.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Keep it simple, and you'll save some money and your
cat will be happy and your house won't smell like
cat be all right, Well, thanks for coming in, Doctor Isabella, Like,
this was awesome. We get this is like a Bogo
buy one, get one veterinarian podcast.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Well, I feel like I learned everything from you.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Also, that's not true. I've learned so much from you.
So thanks for coming in and going over all the
wellness things with us. Thanks for bringing sweet Monkey in.
This is a Doctor Isabella's Golden doodle. By the way,
we didn't even give you an introduction. That was so rude.
And then for all of you listeners out there, please
(40:00):
rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram with
any of your questions Doctor Josie Vett and any questions, feedback, reviews.
We love to hear it all. We'll talk to you soon,
see you next week.
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