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Avian Flu and Raw Pet Food with Dr. Marty Greer - CheckOut Veterinary · Ask The Experts

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Sorry, what was I I think we should have I
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: think we had do we have? Doctor you there?
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: There, it's been one of those mornings. So let's talk
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: about there there's a connection there between raw food and
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  Speaker 1: bird food. And I think I saw there's been there's
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  Speaker 1: been some recalls, hasn't there?
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  Speaker 2: There have so far it's just been on the West coast.
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  Speaker 2: It's been monarch pet foods and Northwestern naturals. So right
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  Speaker 2: now it seems to be limited to cat food and
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  Speaker 2: it seems to be limited to the West Coast, but
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  Speaker 2: it's not beyond the scope of believing that it could
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  Speaker 2: be in other pet foods as well, because the raw
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  Speaker 2: poultry turkey, chicken, and duck are all putting our pets
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  Speaker 2: at risk of developing that. And right now it looks
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  Speaker 2: like cats, but we don't know yet if it'll be
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  Speaker 2: dogs too, do we see?
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  Speaker 1: And I you know I've had chickens and other things
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  Speaker 1: in the past. You know, obviously bird flu is definitely
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: are pets susceptible. I know that we've had a few
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: human cases, if I if I'm remembering this right, our
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: pets cat obviously cats through food? Can dogs? Can they
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: get it? Cats and dogs get it through the air.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Do we have any science or anything on that.
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  Speaker 2: Yet, not yet. So far, the only dogs that have
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  Speaker 2: been reported have been asymptomatic. They've just been tested and
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  Speaker 2: found to be positive, no symptoms. But the cats, they've
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  Speaker 2: had some die of either respiratory disease or neurologic disease.
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  Speaker 2: So at this point it looks like it's cats. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, if you have a dog that's not doesn't
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  Speaker 2: have a normal immune system, that's concern. And then my
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  Speaker 2: bigger concern is not just the pets, but what happens
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  Speaker 2: if we have someone in the household that immuno compromised
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  Speaker 2: and they're handling these foods. And so many people are
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  Speaker 2: on you know, anti inflammatory doses of steroids, they're on chemotherapy,
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  Speaker 2: they're very young, they're very old, they're on a lot
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  Speaker 2: of these I mean when you watch the commercials on TV,
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  Speaker 2: either there for immunosuppressive drugs for things like rheumatoid arthritis
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and storiatic arthritis and GI disease, or therozembic type drugs
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: for weight loss. Well, all the people on the drugs
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: that suppress the immune system are to be at risk
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  Speaker 2: as well. So I'm really worried about utensils and breadboards
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  Speaker 2: and hands and all the stuff that goes on in
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  Speaker 2: the kitchen. Who and you're handling those foods if they're
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  Speaker 2: not cooked. So the current recommendation is to take, if
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  Speaker 2: you feel like you must be this particular diet because
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  Speaker 2: your pet does well on it, to gently cook it,
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  Speaker 2: to cook it to one hundred and sixty five degrees,
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  Speaker 2: which is what's recommended for poultry. And there's a link
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  Speaker 2: on you know, you can look up what temperatures to
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  Speaker 2: cook foods too, So get out your food thermometers, cook
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  Speaker 2: your pet food, and just cook it to that temperature.
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  Speaker 2: So you're controlling the amount of heat that it gets,
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  Speaker 2: and you're controlling how long it's been since it was cooked,
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  Speaker 2: and all those bits and pieces that may make you
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  Speaker 2: more comfortable. If you feel like a ra meat diet
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  Speaker 2: is what's best for your pet, the current recommendation is
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  Speaker 2: to perhaps consider not feeding a ra meat diet until
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  Speaker 2: we understand this better to go to kibble or canned food.
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  Speaker 2: And I know that isn't appealing to certain people, but
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  Speaker 2: it is something to think about. There's a really good
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  Speaker 2: blog out there called Worms and Germs. It's written by
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  Speaker 2: a veterinarian up in Canada. It's an easy name to remember,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: worms and germs, and it has a tremendous amount of
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: information that's very accurate. The guy's an infectious disease specialists
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  Speaker 2: and really really has great information and he's been updating
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  Speaker 2: it pretty regularly as this whole thing has evolved.
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  Speaker 1: Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary,
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  Speaker 1: today's a great day to start that conversation, start a
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  Speaker 1: relationship with the vets and the doctors at the doctors
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: at Checkout Veterinary. Of course you can learn more online
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. TELVEM
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  Speaker 1: number six so eight three one eight sixty seven hundred,
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  Speaker 1: that's three one eight sixty seven hundred. And doctor this
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  Speaker 1: does tie in with it, and you would mentioned, of
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  Speaker 1: course we mentioned I think we've all known maybe folks
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  Speaker 1: in our in our lives that have had their pets
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  Speaker 1: on some type of raw food diet. Are there are
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  Speaker 1: there benefits?
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  Speaker 2: Is it?
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  Speaker 1: Is it something that's people just do because they perceive
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  Speaker 1: benefits medically? Is there is there any reason to for
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  Speaker 1: most pets to be on any type of raw food diet.
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  Speaker 2: Actually no, I know a lot of people are pretty
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  Speaker 2: attached to it. It's a very hot button issue for
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  Speaker 2: our clients. The people that feed raw are pretty interested
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  Speaker 2: in continuing that, and I understand that. But there really
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  Speaker 2: hasn't been any published information that indicates that there's a
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  Speaker 2: better outcome for life expectancy or disease prevention by feeding
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  Speaker 2: a raw meat diet. So I think it's important that
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  Speaker 2: if you're doing so, and you're doing it without a
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  Speaker 2: veterinarian's recommendation, at this point, I would not be feeding
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  Speaker 2: a raw meat diet. I really just think that the
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  Speaker 2: risk is too great until we better understand this, because
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  Speaker 2: the highly pathogenic avian influenza hp AI H and H
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  Speaker 2: five and one is a very big concern right now,
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  Speaker 2: not only in our pets, but in our humans as well.
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  Speaker 2: So we just want people sick. And people are getting
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  Speaker 2: sick from this. Not very many, but there have been
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  Speaker 2: people that have been reported sick, and I believe one death.
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  Speaker 1: When we talk about then in other feeding options, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: I think, especially with dogs is very common and I
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  Speaker 1: know we've talked in the past about what to feed
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  Speaker 1: your pet in There are some really really high quality
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  Speaker 1: for folks that are very and as we all should
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  Speaker 1: be by the way, when it comes to our pets
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  Speaker 1: diets that want to get that really really high quality
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  Speaker 1: food and that nutrition. There are some really good brands
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  Speaker 1: out there, and it's a good time to have that
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  Speaker 1: conversation with your vet. Maybe if you have been feeding
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  Speaker 1: them ra off food. You see this type of story,
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  Speaker 1: it's a really good time to start that conversation. Isn't
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  Speaker 1: it about making the switch?
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  Speaker 2: It is? It is, and we don't know what the
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: freeze dried food they're going to be doing. We don't
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  Speaker 2: know what the gently cooked of the high pressure pasteurization
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  Speaker 2: is doing to the Ivian influence, and we just don't
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  Speaker 2: have that information at this point. So yes, this is
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  Speaker 2: a great opportunity to talk to your veterinary professional, maybe
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  Speaker 2: your vet, maybe one of the vet techs that your practice,
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  Speaker 2: and they are all very well educated about nutrition, so
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  Speaker 2: please don't hesitate to discuss this with them. Explain to
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: them what your concerns are. That you've seen this in
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  Speaker 2: the new you have worries about it, and you want
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: to know what their recommendation would be. And a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people feel like they feel guilty if they're not
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  Speaker 2: feeding something that's raw meat, and I don't think they
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  Speaker 2: should feel that way. I think because of the current
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  Speaker 2: recommendations that we need to be changing that now. If
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  Speaker 2: you feel like you want to feed something raw, feedom carrots,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: you know, feed them fetam, uncooked carrots, Feed them fruits
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  Speaker 2: and vegetables other than grapes and raisins. They can eat
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  Speaker 2: almost any fruit and vegetable, So feed those kinds of
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  Speaker 2: things to augment their diet. If you feel like they're
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  Speaker 2: not getting an adequate amount of nutrients from a Kibbel diet,
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  Speaker 2: you can do that. You can have the multivitamins. There's
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: things that you can do to make sure that they're okay.
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  Speaker 2: But please involve your veterinarian. We try to talk about
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  Speaker 2: pet food at every single visit, find out what they're on,
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  Speaker 2: discuss that, discuss their weight. We try to do that.
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  Speaker 2: Does it happen at absolutely every visit? Well, no, you know,
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  Speaker 2: nobody's perfect. But I think nutrition is really important. And
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are either under the
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  Speaker 2: impression that they VET doesn't want to talk about the
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  Speaker 2: VET doesn't know anything about it. And you know, I've
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  Speaker 2: heard people say, well you that you don't have any
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  Speaker 2: nutritional education, and actually we do, and the texts do
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  Speaker 2: as well, So I think that using those resources would
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  Speaker 2: be a really good idea because your pet is known
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  Speaker 2: better by your veterinarian then but anybody else. You go
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  Speaker 2: to the pet store, the teenage kid that's they're selling
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  Speaker 2: pet foods been told to sell this particular product this
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  Speaker 2: month because that's what their markup is or that's what
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  Speaker 2: their recommendation is for that month. But he doesn't know
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  Speaker 2: anything or she doesn't know anything about nutrition. Talk to
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  Speaker 2: the people who know your pets medical condition, who know
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: your lifestyle, who understand you because they know you better
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  Speaker 2: than anyone else other than maybe your groomer, about what
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: is going to be best for your lifestyle, your pet,
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  Speaker 2: and your budget. And the Robbie diets frankly are pretty expensive,
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  Speaker 2: the fresh diets are pretty expensive. Shipping the diets can
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  Speaker 2: be expensive. So there are ways to afford really good
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  Speaker 2: quality food. And my recommendation is to go to the
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  Speaker 2: back of the store where the pet food is not
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  Speaker 2: the stuff it's at the front, because again that's the
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  Speaker 2: stuff that they have a higher markup on, so they're
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: going to be wanting to sell you those brands. At
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  Speaker 2: my house, I seed Royal Canaan and I feed sixteen dogs,
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  Speaker 2: so I know how much pet food cost. I understand it.
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  Speaker 2: I recommend Purina, and I recommend Royal Canaan, which is
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  Speaker 2: also you can google well Frome Pedigree, that whole line,
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  Speaker 2: and that's actually the largest pet food company in the world.
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  Speaker 2: It's not Purina, it's the other it's the Walsame line
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  Speaker 2: of foods, which is Royal Canaan, and they're high quality foods.
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  Speaker 2: They are researched carefully. Your pet food companies are spending
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  Speaker 2: millions of dollars to research and do some great nutrient profiles.
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  Speaker 2: And the three companies that make prescription diets are the
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  Speaker 2: ones that do the research and do the feeding trials,
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  Speaker 2: and that's going to be bills science Diets, Purina and
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Royal Canaan. So these are the people that are doing
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  Speaker 2: the research, coming up with cutting edge information about what
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  Speaker 2: we can do to manage different medical conditions with diet
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: instead of with drugs. And I think you need to
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  Speaker 2: understand that those are the companies that are doing the research.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody else is a me too. They come along and
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: they try to copy what those other companies.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Are doing dog this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Checkout Veterinary. Learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: checkout vet dot com. I sometimes feel like and I
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: think of, you know, raw food, and when you see
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  Speaker 1: like the coolers and stuff at the pet store and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: other things like that, there's a lot of marketing and
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: it also I kind of tell you, doctor, I think
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  Speaker 1: one of the areas that makes and one of the
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  Speaker 1: reasons why it may be hard for some people to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: pass is it does look as human, does kind of
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  Speaker 1: look appetizing. And that's a strategy, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: It sure is. And your dog can't see the color
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  Speaker 2: of the food. They don't care what the color of
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  Speaker 2: it is. They don't care what the shape of it is.
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  Speaker 2: They just care that it tastes good and it's got
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  Speaker 2: good nutrition. And most people only use two things to
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: judge their pet food. One is the quality of their
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: stool and the other is the quality of their coat,
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  Speaker 2: and they don't really understand that there can be other
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: significant impacts. For instance, some of the high prot diets
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  Speaker 2: are really not good for our senior diets. It puts
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: too much strain on their kidneys. Trying to process all
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: that protein. So we need to be listening to what
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: our veterinarians are telling us about what our pet food
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: should be, and then we can see something that's appropriate
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: and keep them alive for a longer period of time,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: healthy for a longer period of time, and have good
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: quality of life. So your vet wants the same thing
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: that you want, and that's for your pet to live
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: as long as possible with the best quality of life
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: and the fewest disease conditions that they have to deal with.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: So trust your veterinary clinic to help you select the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: right food for your pet.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: What about doctors or talks morning with doctor Marty Grief
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: checkout veterinary. What about some of the budget pet foods
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I see when you go to the kind of the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: big box store. You'll see certain brands and they've got
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: big names, but they're you know, they buy them in
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: a ginormous twenty some pound bag. Are those okay or
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: should they be avoided? I mean, is there is there
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: something to be said for kind of that step up
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the kibble options for pet food?
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Well, you need to look really at the nutrient profile
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: and not the price tag and not the ingredient list.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: A lot of people get hung up on ingredients. They
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: look at corn and they think it's a bad thing.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: So no, actually, some of those pet foods are absolutely fine.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: We have people that feed a lot of those foods
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: and they do very well. So the companies are in
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the business of keeping your pet alive, not making your
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: pet stick. But you've got to watch the amount of
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: protein in the diet. Carbohydrates are not a bad thing
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: for dogs. They need to have carbs, they need to
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: have protein, they need to have fat, they need all
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: those things, and they need fibers. So those are the
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: four things that they need in their diet, just like
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: you and I do. So we know that certain nutrient
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: profiles are not appropriate for certain life stages. So puppies
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: need a different diets than senior dogs. So really look
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: at what that is. And like I said, they put
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: the extensive food at the front of the pet store,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: go to the back of the store where the purina,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: where the hills, where the royal cana and all those
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: diets are because that's where your best bargain is going
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: to be. Is you can get those bigger bags of
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: food for a good quality. Now you know, Sleep themselves
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: a great line of products. There's pet stores that do
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: so there's lots of places that you can get your
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: pet food. I had one lady in yesterday at my
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: practice and she was struggling to find a certain type
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: of food and I went on Amazon and there it
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: was and it was free shipping, and she's like, oh wow, Like,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I'm carrying this dog food from the store. Why would
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I be doing that? Because you can get free shipping
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: from a lot of these places if you sign up
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: through their websites. They have like Hills has Hills to Home,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: they have the ability to ship the food directly to you,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: so you don't have to go to the store, lug
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: it into the cart, lug it out of the cart
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: into your car, and then drom your car into the
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: house and all that stuff. Oh and then one thing
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: that's really important is a lot of people take their
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: pet food when they get at home and jump it
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: into a plastic container. Pet food is meant to store
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: in the bag that it comes in, not in plastic.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Plastic containers become rancid. The oils soak into the plastic
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: of the container and they start to become rancid. And
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: so over the course of time, those containers become contaminated
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: with bacteria and other things. Do you want to lower
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: the bag of pet food if you want to keep
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: it away from the mice and they other stuff, or
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: like your dog is going to go open up the
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: bag and shoot through the side of it, because I
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: don't know some of mine would, So you want to
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: lower that pet food in the bag it's in into
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: the container. Number one, That keeps it safe from the plastic.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: The plastic liner of the bag is met to store
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: the protein and the fats in and it protects it
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: from the outer package. It's going to be thrown away
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: every time you get a new food bag. Number two
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: is if something happens with that bag of food, if
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: you need to look up a lot number, a serial number,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: an explorationc it's there. Because we have people that come
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: in and they'll they'll be like, well, it's this food
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: on a recall and I said, well, where's the bag
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: and they don't have it. So you want to make
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: sure that you're keeping that packaging intact so that you
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: have that information if necessary.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: I know what I'm doing. I get home because I
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: think like a lot of folks do we've got the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: bins thinking well, that keeps it nice and fresh. But
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I never thought of any of those points. And that's
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: one of the great things about getting opportunity to each
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and every week's talk with doctor Mardy Career of Checkout Veterinary.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Don't forget we do this each Thursday morning at eight thirty.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: You can always call in with your question. Even better, Uh,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: today's a great day to start that relationship at Checkout Veterinary.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: You can learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: checkout vet dot com. Telph number six O eight three
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: seven hundred. Doctor Greer, it's always great talking with you.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Have a fantastic Dan. We'll do it all again real soon.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Our good friend Vicky McKenna. Has your chance to win
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: one thousand dollars. Yeah, one thousand dollars next right here,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: I'm thirteen ten WIBA