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Heat and Summer Safety with the Checkout Vet · Ask The Experts

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Thirteen Tuba and Ask the Experts, joined in studio this morning by doctor Marty
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Greer of Checkout Veterinary Online. Checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot
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com area location right in sun Prairie on Prairie Lakes Drive, telephone number six
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oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty seven
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hundred, Doctor Greer, Good morning. How you doing today? I'm doing
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great? Thank you. Where have you been since last time we spoke?
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You've been some We've done some traveling. Oh yeah, I was in New
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Jersey for an AKC delegate meeting. I'm a delegate for the Walkershaw Kennel Club,
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so I had the opportunity to go to the quarterly meeting there and then
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we flew from there to Finland for the International Partnership for Dogs meeting. Oh
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yeah, what does it? Well, start off with the with the conference
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and the meeting in New Jersey. You were representing some local organizations. What
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what was what was kind of gained and what was kind of the overall theme
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there? Sure? So, the AKAC is the largest registry for dogs in
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the United States, so they manage all the dog events, all the dog
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registrations, so purebred dogs registries, all the events, the dog shows,
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the agility, the field trials, hunt tests, all the performance events that
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fall under the ACAC umbrella. So as a delegate, I get to be
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influential in the decision making. We have a health committee. I'm on that.
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Fortunately I got on that committee because that's something I'm interested in. And
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one of the new things that's come up and we spent a lot of time
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talking about, was the new CDC rule for importing dogs. So as of
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the beginning of August, it will be required that a dog is at least
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six months old and has full adult teeth before they can come into the United
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States from any country. Interesting, I've heard stories of changing also if you're
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moving overseas, certain countries have updated what's obviously preventing the spread of illness and
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those types of what's kind of changed some of these some of these things.
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Is there any particular disease or illness or is kind of what we went through
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as humans in the twenty twenty is some of that? I mean, what's
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what's kind of changing some of those requirements. The primary motivation behind this CDC
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rule is human health. So it's rabies. Oh okay, So they've had
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too many dogs coming into the United States on fraudulent papers that are sick with
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rabies, and of course rabies being a zoe out of disease for which there
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is no cure, human health comes first, So the CDC had to take
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a stand and just block the entrance of all dogs under six months of age
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to allow time for the rabies vaccination to give them protection. And then they're
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tightening up all the regulations for the paperwork that has to come along with that
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dog. That's fascinating and good to see that you staying on you know,
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of course the AKC and other organizations really keeping on top of this stuff.
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So you go to beautiful New Jersey, which, by the way, there
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are parts for folks that have this vision maybe event through the been through,
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like the airport out this place, there are beautiful parts of Jersey. What
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about though, that he board a plane for Finland, which is unquestionably beautiful
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and fantastic time of year to get over there. What was going on there?
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The International Partnership for Dogs, I'm on their board. So basically what
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we do is oversee the harmonization of DNA testing genetic testing for dogs. So
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right now, there are no criteria for diagnostic labs that run DNA tests to
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have any kind of accreditation through the government in the United States or most countries,
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So basically it's just trying to get everybody on the same page so that
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what you get for a DNA test from one diagnostic lab is the same for
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others. So there's EMBARK and pawprint and AKC and a number of other labs
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associated with universities and smaller testing profiles. So actually the DNA testing is really
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cool because there are four basic categories of DNA testing. There is parentage,
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so you know who the father or the mother of the dog, or there
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are traits, so things like how curly is the coat, how red is
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the hair, the diseases. Of course, we always concern ourselves with diseases
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and then breed, so that if you have a dog that you got his
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rescue or unknown parentage, you can at least determine what the likely genetics of
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the parents would have been. So it's kind of fun. It doesn't really
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help veterinary medicine at this point, but it's kind of fun to know if
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your dog has got border Collie in it, or if it's got you know,
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Scottish terrier and it it just kind of helps you understand your dog better.
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I've known some folks who've done the DNA with their with their pupper and
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discovered breeds that they never thought. I mean, I guess you probably see
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that quite often, like how is this how is this big dog at Chihuala?
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But it does have dog in this morning with doctor Marty Greer. Of
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course. Doctor Greer comes to us from checkout Veterinary the website checkout vet dot
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com. That's checkout vet dot com. The clinic Write and Sun Prairie right
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in Prayer Lakes Drive. Their telephone number six oh eight three one eight sixty
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seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty seven hundred one hundred. Open weekends
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open Monday through Wednesday, nine am to five pm, and then Friday through
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Sunday also nine till five. Your first visit that office visit there's no charge
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for that office visit is their doctor good Sam is free. Anything else.
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If you need vaccines, medications, heart room tests, those we charge for.
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But if you just want to come in and get to know us and
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see what the place is like. And kind of understand how it works and
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how your pet responds to it, your dog or your cat. It's an
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opportunity for you to meet us without having a financial obligation, and then if
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you like us, then we vaccinate or we do whatever else you need to
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have done. The other great thing too, is you mentioned pricing and other
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things. A very important part of what you do at checkout Vet is transparency.
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Is putting those prices, you know that so people kind of understand what
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to expect. Right on the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet
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dot com. Looking back to where the doctor's been, We're going to look
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forward to kind of where we're all going. We've got the fourth of July
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coming up. We've had the heat wave recently and it's not the last one.
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We're gonna get some tips from the doctor about making sure your pet is
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prepared, safe and healthy during during the summer months. We will do that
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next as at the Experts, which Checkout Veterinary continues right here on thirteen ten
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Wuiba thirteen ten Wiba and ask the Experts with Checkout Veterinarian doctor Marti Greer.
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The website checkout vet dot com that's checkout vet dot com. There telephone number
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six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty
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seven hundred. Open weekends also Monday through Wednesday, nine to five. More
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information online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. And I
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started circling high temperatures on the forecast, and I just see eighties, eighties,
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eighty five ninety. We've got a warm stretch ahead. And there's there's
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some obvious things you know, we know about pets and cars, although I
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don't know that everybody fully grasps how quickly things can get serious with pets left
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in vehicles, even with windows like cracked open. It gets very hot and
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very dangerous very fast, doesn't it It does. They say six minutes or
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less is the amount of time it takes for your car to overheat your dog.
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So you have to be very careful. The problem is, you know,
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you tend to forget that the dog is in the car, or maybe
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your child is in the car. So what I tell people to do is
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when they get out of their car, put their leash around their neck so
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that when you go into the store, you know you just run in for
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a second, and then you run into somebody and then you start talking and
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then fifteen minutes passes, or you run into the house to grab the grocery
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list and then you realize, uh, oh, I have to throw in
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a load of laundry. You know, whatever happens, you get distracted.
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So having that leash around your neck is just sort of a reminder that,
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oh, yeah, the dog is still in the car. So you need
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some kind of a reminder. Set an alarm on your phone so that you
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don't overstay what you were planning on. It doesn't take very long for it
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to get and for the dogs to get into trouble, and you don't want
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to come out and find some good citizen has bunched in your window or you
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know something like that, and so you just have to be really careful.
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And even the best meaning people don't always understand what the temperatures should be and
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how distressed the dog is. The dog may be distressed because you left them,
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but you just have to be really careful because you don't want anything to
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happen to your pet, or you don't want anything to happen to your vehicle.
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The other thing you can do is put a card on your window of
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the driver's side that has your cell phone number on it. So if anybody
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has a concern about your pet, it's too hot, it's too cold,
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it's to this, you know, whatever it happens to be, that they
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have your cell phone instead of again, you know, doing something to try
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and get into the vehicle to save your pet, because it may not actually
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be in distress. So putting up a cell phone number is very helpful.
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It also is useful should you have a car accident to have that information and
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if you end up seriously injured that someone can find you or find someone that
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can take care of your pets. So it's important that you have that communication.
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That's something I've never thought of. And you mentioned putting the node in
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the window with the cell number. I know a lot of modern vehicles have
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preconditioning where even though it's off and I use air quotes there the air conditioning
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or in the winter months the heat is going. And I see some very
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clever notes saying dog is fine, Arizon chilling out to some tunes or something
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with that. Exactly what about hydration And we hear this for people all the
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time. Very important for your pets, cats, and dogs as well.
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They're going to need more water of course when it's this kind of weather,
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so make sure they have access to fresh water that you replenish the dish.
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You should wash the dish at least once a day so that there's not algae
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and gross stuff in the dish. The dog doesn't want to drink that water
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and it's not good for them, So just make sure that you have a
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nice, clean, fresh bowl of water. Some dogs like ice cubes floated
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in and it's kind of fun. If you have an ice spencer on your
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freezer, you can just put little ice cubes in. The dogs can bob
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for ice cubes. You can do some fun stuff to keep them high traded.
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Same thing for cats. They want to get a lot of a lot
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of good cold water. What about is pets age? Do they? It
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seems and maybe I'm off on this. As I'm aging, I'm noticing things
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like even hotter days, I just don't rebound as fast and I get tired
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faster. Same thing for pets absolutely, so as they're aging, we need
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to take really good care of them, so you know, be aware of
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it. And a lot of dogs and cats as they age develop kidney problems,
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which means that for their kidney function to be adequate, they need to
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have additional water that they take in. So don't start restricting your dog,
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your cat's water. If they're starting to urinate more, you need to go
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to the veterinary clinic and cee, do they have kidney failure, do they
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have diabetes, do they have Cushing's disease? What'shys physiologically changing in their bodies?
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So don't just you know, cut back the water so that they don't
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have an accident on the floor. That's pretty hard on their organs. So
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take them in, get get a veterinary exam with some lab work, and
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make sure that you know what their condition is. I want to we're going
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to talk in just a moment about fourth of July and preparations. We'll probably
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talk about a bit next week as well, just because I know the day
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itself is big, but even the weeks, even right now I'm hearing them
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and for a lot of pet owners. But when you mentioned things like obviously
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talking to your doctor about more frequent urination or maybe drinking drinking more often,
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that's something folks should should hesitate to call. I mean, I sometimes think
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like as pet owners were like, it's no biggie, And the reality is
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even if it is no big deal, it's good to just kind of check
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in with your vet. And your vet will very much welcome that information,
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won't they absolutely. I mean, we do a lot of wellness blood testing
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just to make sure as long as we're drawing blood to do a heart room
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test frequently, we do enough additional lab work. We actually have a special
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pricing on if you have a stool sample and a heart room test that we
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discount significantly discount the CBC Chemistry panel which checks your pets overall health. So
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it's something to check in with your veterinarian about and we always run that special.
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It's our summer wellness so it's a great chance for us to look at
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their electrolytes, their blood count, their liver, their kidneys, their glucose
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levels, you know, just a really good check under the hood of how
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your pets health is doing. So it's it's very affordable to do it that
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way. It's summer wellness as we're talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer.
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Of course you can learn more the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
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vet dot com a really really cool practice. Of course, they check out
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veterinary. If you head on over to the website checkout vet dot com,
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you can see a bit of it in action, and it's really cool to
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see in person as well. I'm going to actually one of these weeks get
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up. We're going to do a little tour to see all the ins and
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outs and of course tell phone number for checkout VET six eight three one eight
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sixty seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty seven hundred. Fourth of July
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is coming up, and obviously those days on either side of the fourth are
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busy, but even now fireworks are going off, and for pets it can
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be quite traumatic, can't it It sure can. July fourth is the number
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one day for pets run away from home. They hear the noises, they
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get scared, they take off and sometimes you can never find him again.
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So make sure that you've got your ID on your dog, that they've got
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a tag on. There's now ID tags that have a QR code on them
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that will allow you to scan that. That's the Buddy ID system, which
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goes with a microchip. You can scan that and it'll take you to a
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database on your phone, so you don't need a scanner like you do for
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a microchip. You can go to the database and look up who you know,
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find out who the pet is, and as the pet owner, you
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can put as much or as little information on there as you want. If
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you want to say, my dog is diabetic he needs insulin, you can
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do that. If you want to just have basic information so that they know
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how to reach you, that's great. But those are really super options that
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we've never had before. That is amazing. And for pet owners be warned.
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Is even pets that are typically very calm and very they never wander off.
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All it takes is one literally explosion and they and they suddenly go from
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being very mellow to bolting. And I mean, who can blame them?
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I know, even by us we have we have deer in our yard and
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this time of year you'll see them like those explosions will happen and they will
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just they will go because it's it's terrifying. As we as we kind of
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wrap up this segment this week, doctor, let's talk about Checkout Veterinary.
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I mentioned you can get a pretty good feel for for how it operates at
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checkout vet dot com that's checkout vet dot com. But let's talk about some
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of the some of the great features. Speaking of pets being scared and and
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you know, all of us humans included seeing a doctor can be can be,
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you know, kind of speak a little uneasy pets especially, and you've
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worked really hard to minimize that fear, haven't you. Yes, So our
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whole motivation behind this drive through is to allow pets to be more comfortable.
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They're in their own space. You pull into the garage, you close the
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garage doors. Your pet never is around any other pets. They're only around
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the staff that are involved in their care. They're not around a bunch of
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other people. So it just really isolates them from all those outside influences that
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can make them really anxious. I really thought this would primarily be a great
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dog service, but as it turns out, forty percent of our clients have
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cats, and the cats are really comfortable there. So instead of you having
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to peel your cat out of the carrier, we can very easily have them
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come out and they feel comfortable. There's no rottweiler steering at them, there's
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no other people around, there's no barking dogs, so it doesn't smell weird.
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It's a really great experience for our pets. Does make it easier too
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for testing, you know, when you've got to do like a blood draw
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or anything like that. I've got to and just even just help puts the
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touching the animal patient pal patient there. It's different than pitation, Yeah,
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exactly, I've got to assume with the pet more relaxed, it's probably from
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a vet's perspective also better to kind of get good results and good readings.
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Absolutely, especially cats will have a very high glucose level when they're stressed,
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so they can almost look like they're diabetic. If they're stress levels high enough,
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it changes their blood counts, it changes everything. So yes, physiologically
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we're going to get better answers. And of course if we do blood pressure
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checks, which we don't often but we do sometimes im pats, their blood
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pressure will go up, just like yours with white coat syndrome. You know,
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you sit in the chair at the doctor's office of the dentist office,
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and you know your blood pressure isn't normal. Cats are amazing creatures. They
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are also a little alien to they are They are not small dogs, No,
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they are not. Doctor Marty Greer It's always great hanging out the website.
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Checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Dan O'donnald comes
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your way next year. Thirteen ten Wiba