Latest / Ask The Experts / Allergies with the Checkout Vet

Transcript

Allergies with the Checkout Vet · Ask The Experts

0:00
Speaker 1: Eight thirty five thirteen ten WIBA and Ask the Experts,
0:04
Speaker 1: joined this morning by doctor Marty Greer. Of course, doctor
0:07
Speaker 1: Marty Greer, the Veterinarian of the Year for the Westminster
0:10
Speaker 1: Kennel Club. She comes to us from Checkout Veterinary, the
0:13
Speaker 1: website check out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
0:18
Speaker 1: You can learn more about Checkout Veterinary. You can learn
0:20
Speaker 1: more about doctor Greer a little about what makes it
0:23
Speaker 1: so so special and so unique. Of course, located right
0:26
Speaker 1: in sun Prairie. Open every day except for Thursdays between
0:31
Speaker 1: nine am and five pm. That's including weekends, and of
0:34
Speaker 1: course on Thursdays, check in Vet is available to you.
0:37
Speaker 1: So they've got you covered at Checkout Veterinary. You, and
0:41
Speaker 1: more importantly, I hate to say it that way, but
0:42
Speaker 1: it's true. More importantly, your pet covered in Checkout Veterineary,
0:46
Speaker 1: doctor Greer, how are you doing this morning?
0:49
Speaker 2: Good? Yes, it is all about the pet. Not sorry,
0:51
Speaker 2: not about you. Sorry, it's all about the dog, the cat. Yeah. Yeah,
0:55
Speaker 2: it's the list for legged creatures. Yeah.
0:58
Speaker 1: They and they really do appreciate what what you've been
1:01
Speaker 1: able to do at Checkout Veterinary, and I urge people
1:03
Speaker 1: to check out the website. Checkout vet dot com to
1:06
Speaker 1: learn more about about checkout Veterinary again, it's an amazing concept.
1:10
Speaker 1: Drive in pet is cared for right in the bay.
1:13
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about unloading and walking in
1:17
Speaker 1: and all the other animals in there. It's just it's
1:19
Speaker 1: just a really, really great concept. Again, more information available
1:23
Speaker 1: at checkout vet dot com. Great day to start that
1:25
Speaker 1: relationship as well. You first visit, it will be free.
1:28
Speaker 1: That's for the office visit, the that that kind of
1:31
Speaker 1: once over. Obviously tests and other things there there are
1:34
Speaker 1: fees and of course transparent pricing is another big thing
1:37
Speaker 1: at checkout Veterinary, so you'll know what those what those
1:40
Speaker 1: things are going to cost. Learn more online checkout vet
1:42
Speaker 1: dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. And doctor. We're
1:47
Speaker 1: getting into for a lot of us humans getting into
1:50
Speaker 1: allergy season, and I thought, you know what with you know,
1:53
Speaker 1: molds and other weird things in the air. And it's
1:57
Speaker 1: also pets and pets do have just like humans, they
2:00
Speaker 1: do have allergies, don't.
2:01
Speaker 2: They They sure do. And this is the time of year,
2:05
Speaker 2: August and September of the worst two months of the
2:07
Speaker 2: year that we see for allergies that some pets are
2:09
Speaker 2: year round, some pets are seasonal, but absolutely this is
2:13
Speaker 2: the worst time of year. And a lot of people
2:14
Speaker 2: call it ask what they can do for their pets
2:16
Speaker 2: because they can see how uncomfortable they are. So they
2:19
Speaker 2: may be looking at their feet, scratching, biting, chewing, rubbing
2:24
Speaker 2: at their ears, rubbing at their faces. So dogs typically
2:28
Speaker 2: don't have the kind of hay fever that humans do
2:30
Speaker 2: with the sneezing and the runny eyes and rendinose some
2:32
Speaker 2: dogs do. Mostly they have cheap feet, and so they'll
2:36
Speaker 2: lick and bite their toes and then the toes because
2:39
Speaker 2: of that chronic exposure to saliva. They're a chemical and
2:42
Speaker 2: saliva called poor friends, and those turn the feet kind
2:45
Speaker 2: of a rust color. So when they walk in the door,
2:48
Speaker 2: I can tell if your dog has allergies, if it's
2:50
Speaker 2: a bad one, by just looking at their feet. And
2:52
Speaker 2: you may say, oh, no, no, she's fine. Well she's
2:54
Speaker 2: probably not fine if her feet are brown and she's
2:56
Speaker 2: not supposed to have brown feet.
2:59
Speaker 1: A doctor, and this is not a surprise. I learned
3:01
Speaker 1: something new from you, many new things every time we speak,
3:05
Speaker 1: and that is that is I hear the term too
3:08
Speaker 1: for has here a lot with dog owners the term hotspots.
3:11
Speaker 1: Are we talking is that what we're talking about too
3:13
Speaker 1: is like itchy, just itchy areas, whether on the feed
3:15
Speaker 1: or it seems like they like to like to nibble
3:18
Speaker 1: on their hindquarters sometimes too.
3:20
Speaker 2: Like by the yeah, yeah, So a hotspot is a
3:23
Speaker 2: special kind of reaction that the skin has, and it
3:25
Speaker 2: can be really due to allergies or anything that breaks
3:28
Speaker 2: the surface of the skin. So a small you know,
3:30
Speaker 2: if they run into a bush and have a little scratch,
3:32
Speaker 2: any of those things, and a hotspot is really hot.
3:35
Speaker 2: It's superfici. It's technically called an acute superficial bacterial pioderma,
3:39
Speaker 2: which is why we call them hot spots if nobody
3:41
Speaker 2: wants to call them those. But essentially what happens is
3:44
Speaker 2: any break in the skin, whether analogies or trauma or
3:47
Speaker 2: anything else that happens, then the dog starts to bite
3:49
Speaker 2: and look at it, and then the skin gets kind
3:51
Speaker 2: of moist or kind of damp, and then it spreads
3:55
Speaker 2: this bacterial infection and they can spread like wildfire, like
3:58
Speaker 2: they happen passionately overnight. The very worst ones are below
4:01
Speaker 2: the ear those are the hardest ones to heal. They
4:04
Speaker 2: take three or four weeks to heal. If they're anywhere
4:05
Speaker 2: else on the trunk of the dog, they're a little
4:07
Speaker 2: bit easier to heal, but they're still not easy or fun.
4:10
Speaker 2: And they're normally not on the feet. They're usually on
4:12
Speaker 2: the trunk, the hip, the side, like I said, the
4:16
Speaker 2: side of the face, and those are the nasty ones.
4:19
Speaker 2: They can be related to an ear infection of they
4:21
Speaker 2: can be independent of that, and those do require veterinary intervention.
4:24
Speaker 2: You need to come in. We need to shave those
4:26
Speaker 2: so that we shave all the way back into normal skin.
4:29
Speaker 2: So we usually shave about an inch around the hot
4:31
Speaker 2: spot to help it dry out, and then we'll treat
4:34
Speaker 2: with topicals like an antibiotic and asteroid, and then an
4:37
Speaker 2: oral antibiotic and an oral steroid or an oral medication to
4:40
Speaker 2: reduce the scratching, biting, licking, itching, so that the dog
4:44
Speaker 2: can let it heal. If you let it go, it's
4:46
Speaker 2: going to practically double in size every day. So you
4:49
Speaker 2: may think, oh, this isn't so bad. It may not
4:51
Speaker 2: be too bad when you go to bed on Friday night,
4:53
Speaker 2: and by Monday morning, it can be just a mass,
4:57
Speaker 2: so you don't want to ignore those. They're pretty they're
5:00
Speaker 2: pretty rapidly spreading.
5:01
Speaker 1: Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinarian
5:04
Speaker 1: the website check out vet dot com. That's all one
5:07
Speaker 1: word checkout vet dot com or tough one number six
5:10
Speaker 1: o eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three
5:12
Speaker 1: one eight sixty seven hundred. A lot of great information
5:15
Speaker 1: though at checkout vet dot com. Erage to head on
5:17
Speaker 1: over there this morning. When you were talking to about
5:21
Speaker 1: about some of these things. Do do dogs and cats?
5:24
Speaker 1: Can they get like ezema or other like type of
5:28
Speaker 1: humans kind of skin itchy, flaky irritations like that?
5:31
Speaker 2: Do they get?
5:32
Speaker 1: Is there is there a similar thing to ezma for
5:35
Speaker 1: for pets?
5:37
Speaker 3: Oh?
5:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's lots of similar things that we see
5:40
Speaker 2: in dogs and cats. The good thing about cats is
5:42
Speaker 2: that they tend not to have the kind of skin
5:44
Speaker 2: problems with allergies that we see in our dogs. But
5:46
Speaker 2: cats get things like ringworm that we don't see very
5:49
Speaker 2: free glowing and dogs. I had one in yesterday, So
5:51
Speaker 2: it's not uncommon to see different kinds of conditions, and
5:54
Speaker 2: so you need to make sure that you know the difference.
5:56
Speaker 2: A lot of people will see staff leasions of bacterialation
5:59
Speaker 2: on the dogs skin and then these ring like colorettes
6:01
Speaker 2: all over there, especially on their bellies where there's not
6:04
Speaker 2: as much hair, and they'll think it's ringworm because it's
6:06
Speaker 2: a nice round circle. But that's actually bacterial in the
6:09
Speaker 2: dog and it's usually fungal in the cat. So there's
6:12
Speaker 2: definitely differences. And this is why you want to contact
6:14
Speaker 2: a veterinarian and get in is we need to make.
6:16
Speaker 3: Sure that we're treating appropriately. And now we have all kinds.
6:19
Speaker 2: Of great medications for dogs with allergies. We have several
6:23
Speaker 2: new ones on the market that have been out ten
6:25
Speaker 2: years in under, so it's no longer the struggle that
6:28
Speaker 2: we used to have with trying to get these dogs
6:30
Speaker 2: comfortable during the summer and fall. You know.
6:32
Speaker 1: One of the things, doctor, I remember the first time
6:34
Speaker 1: I heard the term ringworm, I was I think maybe
6:39
Speaker 1: high school, middle school, and as you mentioned cats, our
6:42
Speaker 1: cat had it, and I thought it was literally like
6:44
Speaker 1: some type of some type I think a lot of
6:46
Speaker 1: people do, before they know what it is, assume it's
6:48
Speaker 1: some type of or we're talking about we're talking about
6:50
Speaker 1: it very itchy infection, aren't we.
6:53
Speaker 2: Right, And it's caused by a fungus. It's similar to
6:57
Speaker 2: people that have athletes foot or other kinds of fungal infections.
7:00
Speaker 2: So it's caused by a fungus and it's typically not
7:05
Speaker 2: super contagious to people. But if you're in close enough
7:07
Speaker 2: contact with the cat and they have those lesions, then
7:10
Speaker 2: you can get them. Like I said, dogs hardly ever
7:12
Speaker 2: get ringworm. Cats fairly frequently do. And back in the
7:14
Speaker 2: old days, we used to think that cats could be
7:16
Speaker 2: asymptomatic carriers, meaning that they had no patches of hair loss,
7:20
Speaker 2: no signs of it. And then they did a really
7:22
Speaker 2: elegant study at the University of Wisconsin right here in Madison.
7:26
Speaker 2: The dermatologists that the vet school did a bunch of
7:29
Speaker 2: cultures on vet students, on clinicians and their cats, and
7:34
Speaker 2: they determined that cats do not asymptomatically carry ringworm. That
7:38
Speaker 2: they found fungal bores on the cat, but they were
7:42
Speaker 2: often from the people, not the other way around. So
7:44
Speaker 2: we need to make sure that we understand what we're
7:47
Speaker 2: treating so that we're accurately diagnosing and treating it. These
7:50
Speaker 2: ringworm has some new diagnostic testing that we can do
7:52
Speaker 2: to help us improve our chances of accurately diagnosing it
7:56
Speaker 2: and treating it. So we have some really great things
7:58
Speaker 2: that we can do with ringworm, but that's not nearly
8:02
Speaker 2: as common as the hotspots and allergies to atopy that
8:05
Speaker 2: we see with a putsheeing, biting, licking, scratching, all that stuff.
8:08
Speaker 2: Now cats do that to their feet. We have to
8:11
Speaker 2: worry about something completely different. It can be a liver problem.
8:14
Speaker 2: Completely different analogies and dogs. So it's important that we
8:17
Speaker 2: understand the distinction.
8:18
Speaker 1: Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary
8:22
Speaker 1: the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
8:26
Speaker 1: I get this vision of like like a big old
8:28
Speaker 1: hound dog and they get, you know, a hind leg
8:31
Speaker 1: going at the collar, giving them an I gotta you
8:33
Speaker 1: know you think of dogs. I think of you know,
8:35
Speaker 1: on some level, you know, just like people you get
8:38
Speaker 1: itches from timetime, mosquito bite or something like that. And
8:41
Speaker 1: I think of the cat's doing the thing with their
8:43
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about their stretching those
8:45
Speaker 1: hind legs out as far as they can and doing
8:47
Speaker 1: that long they're they're licking their whole hind legs. Are
8:51
Speaker 1: those those are probably as we talk about those, those
8:53
Speaker 1: are kind of fairly just typical behaviors, nothing to be
8:56
Speaker 1: particularly alarmed by, correct, right, As.
8:59
Speaker 2: Long as we don't see really intense itching, scratching, liking, biting, chewing,
9:04
Speaker 2: and we don't see any hair loss, that's probably just
9:06
Speaker 2: a normal way for the cat to behave. But once
9:09
Speaker 2: they start getting into those places that they're causing self mutilation,
9:12
Speaker 2: they're scratching at themselves so much as they're damaging their
9:14
Speaker 2: own skin, then we need to address that. And like
9:17
Speaker 2: I said, there's some over the counter things that we
9:19
Speaker 2: have for dogs, but mostly their prescription items, So I
9:22
Speaker 2: definitely want to have a chance to explain the differences
9:25
Speaker 2: in all those medications.
9:27
Speaker 1: Is there just because of you know, I look at,
9:30
Speaker 1: for example, my dog and my cats. As much as
9:33
Speaker 1: they look neat and clean to me, and I think
9:35
Speaker 1: they're just the gra thing, they're a little less hygienic
9:38
Speaker 1: than humans. Is there concerns about you when you're talking
9:41
Speaker 1: about you know, causing self harm and open wounds. Are
9:45
Speaker 1: there greater concerns as well for secondary infections and other
9:49
Speaker 1: ailments with cats?
9:50
Speaker 2: And dogs, yes, and of course we have to be
9:53
Speaker 2: careful with how frequently we bathe, but a dog with
9:56
Speaker 2: abnormal skin can have frequent mass and that could be therapeutic.
10:00
Speaker 2: With normal skin, you shouldn't bathe very frequently, maybe a
10:03
Speaker 2: couple of times a year, or maybe every six or
10:05
Speaker 2: eight weeks when they go to the groomer, But it's
10:07
Speaker 2: not something that you want to be doing on a regular,
10:09
Speaker 2: daily or weekly basis as long as the dog has
10:11
Speaker 2: normal skin. Once their skin is abnormal, therapeutic shampoos and
10:15
Speaker 2: baths and creams and lotions can be very helpful. But
10:18
Speaker 2: again you want to speak to your veterinarian because there's
10:20
Speaker 2: some things that you can get over the counter that
10:23
Speaker 2: can be safe, but there are some things that are not.
10:25
Speaker 2: So please make sure that you're consulting your veterinarian for
10:28
Speaker 2: the right advice before you go off the rail.
10:31
Speaker 1: What about cats? Do cats need any time? I know
10:35
Speaker 1: what we do and this is just what we do
10:37
Speaker 1: is like I take a washcloth, I get a little
10:40
Speaker 1: damp and kind of pet my keys with it once
10:42
Speaker 1: in a while, just to kind of get some of
10:44
Speaker 1: that surface, if you know, if they were outside and
10:46
Speaker 1: getting in cats I mean cats. I don't think they
10:50
Speaker 1: voluntarily do this, but do people give cats baths or
10:53
Speaker 1: other things that can be done for every kiddies that
10:56
Speaker 1: need to be cleaned up a bit?
10:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, once or twice a year for a bath. For
11:00
Speaker 2: a cat, it is probably sufficient. They do a pretty
11:02
Speaker 2: good job keeping themselves clean. But if you've ever tried
11:05
Speaker 2: to bet a cat, it's it's a bit of a
11:07
Speaker 2: wrestling match, and usually you end up losing. This right
11:10
Speaker 2: up there with giving toasted cats toenails come out and
11:13
Speaker 2: start to fly and can get pretty ugly pretty fast.
11:16
Speaker 2: So you want to be very prepared when you bathe
11:19
Speaker 2: your cat so that you've got everything within arms reach
11:21
Speaker 2: and you can get it done very efficiently, because that
11:23
Speaker 2: cat's not going to hang around for the for the
11:25
Speaker 2: rint cyclist.
11:27
Speaker 1: I bathe my cats this year, and I look like
11:30
Speaker 1: I got the knife fight afterwards.
11:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't forgive you anytime soon. They will hold
11:36
Speaker 2: a grudge.
11:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that is for sure. Talking this morning with
11:40
Speaker 1: doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinarian the website checkout vet
11:43
Speaker 1: dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. I want to
11:46
Speaker 1: talk with you in just probably the next thing we
11:48
Speaker 1: two about allergies when it comes to things like diets
11:51
Speaker 1: and things as well. But one of the things too
11:53
Speaker 1: is an overall kind of question about about allergies. I
11:58
Speaker 1: know with humans sometimes things can kind of maybe they
12:01
Speaker 1: were always there, but maybe tend to irritate us or
12:04
Speaker 1: become more of an issue as we age. Do we
12:06
Speaker 1: see more allergy problems and pets as they get older
12:09
Speaker 1: or is that not the case for pets.
12:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, the typical allergies we'll see in dogs will start
12:15
Speaker 2: somewhere between two and four years of age. Their first summer.
12:18
Speaker 2: They are never allergic. They have to be exposed to
12:20
Speaker 2: the pollens and the molds, all those things that they're
12:22
Speaker 2: exposed to in their first year for the second year
12:26
Speaker 2: to start to stay see signs of allergies. If that happens.
12:30
Speaker 2: If they have allergies sooner than that, we need to
12:32
Speaker 2: look at food allergies. If they have allergies between two
12:34
Speaker 2: and four years of age, we can use presnan zone
12:36
Speaker 2: as a steroid. We can use apicuoil, which is an
12:39
Speaker 2: oral medication given daily with fewer side effects than prednizone.
12:43
Speaker 2: We can give injections of side a point every four
12:45
Speaker 2: to five weeks. That is a monoclonal, a antibody drug,
12:50
Speaker 2: so it's a completely different drug class than pregnan zone
12:53
Speaker 2: and apple quoil. So we have some really nice products
12:56
Speaker 2: on the market that are very effective in treating our pets.
12:59
Speaker 2: So if you're used to pre zone being your only choice,
13:01
Speaker 2: we have other things as well. A lot of people
13:04
Speaker 2: want to use benadryl and cleeriton loaratidine, zirtech, those kinds
13:08
Speaker 2: of things, and those don't typically work particularly well. Benadryl
13:12
Speaker 2: will make them a little bit sleepy, which no, that's
13:14
Speaker 2: not terrible. If they're scratching all night and you want
13:16
Speaker 2: them to sleep through the night instead so that you
13:18
Speaker 2: can get some sleep.
13:19
Speaker 3: Too, it's not bad to do that, but it may
13:22
Speaker 3: not be sufficient, so you may end up having to
13:24
Speaker 3: go in.
13:24
Speaker 2: Now. Aplequoil and side a point are very great drugs.
13:27
Speaker 2: They're relatively new, so that means they're relatively expensive. If
13:30
Speaker 2: you have a small dog, they're not as bad as
13:32
Speaker 2: if you have one hundred and twenty pound dog. But
13:34
Speaker 2: I still fall back on prednance on a fair amount
13:36
Speaker 2: of the time if we just need it for a
13:37
Speaker 2: short course or we need to get something under control.
13:40
Speaker 2: Fairly quickly, or if you can't afford the other medications,
13:43
Speaker 2: because I don't want your dog to be untreated. I
13:46
Speaker 2: want to make sure that we give them some kind
13:48
Speaker 2: of relief because if they're scratching.
13:49
Speaker 3: And uncomfortable all night, you're.
13:51
Speaker 2: Scratching an uncomfortable all night too. So we want to
13:54
Speaker 2: make sure everybody's quality of life is as good as
13:56
Speaker 2: we can make it. And if, like I said, if
13:58
Speaker 2: you simply can't afford the side of appic, well you
14:01
Speaker 2: do have other choices. So it's not like we're backing
14:04
Speaker 2: you into a corner and saying this is the only
14:06
Speaker 2: thing I can do for you. We do have alternative medication.
14:08
Speaker 1: Really good to hear from doctor Marty Greer this morning,
14:11
Speaker 1: of course, Doctor Greer comes to us from Checkout Veterinary
14:13
Speaker 1: Clinic writ and Sun Prairie right at twenty seven to
14:16
Speaker 1: ten Prairie Lakes. Drive in Sun Prairie, stop on and
14:19
Speaker 1: check it out. You can of course learn more as
14:20
Speaker 1: well online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
14:25
Speaker 1: Today's that day, start that relationship pickup phone, get McCall
14:28
Speaker 1: six so eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's
14:30
Speaker 1: three one eight sixty seven hundred. Again, you can learn
14:33
Speaker 1: more online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
14:38
Speaker 1: We'll talk about allergies and food allergies and other things
14:41
Speaker 1: with pets. We're talking a lot about about skin things
14:44
Speaker 1: and environmental things. What about the food that you've given them.
14:46
Speaker 1: We'll get some details from doctor. We will do that
14:48
Speaker 1: next as Ask the Experts with Checkout Veterinary continues right
14:51
Speaker 1: here on thirteen ten double U I b E eight
14:57
Speaker 1: fifty one thirteen ten WUIB and ask the Experts. Talking
15:01
Speaker 1: this morning with doctor Marty Greer. Doctor Greer comes to
15:04
Speaker 1: us from Checkout Veterinary the website checkout vet dot com.
15:07
Speaker 1: That's checkout vet dot com. More information on the website,
15:11
Speaker 1: great resource to learn more about. Checkout Veterinary, of course,
15:15
Speaker 1: also open Monday through Monday, except everyday except Thursdays from
15:20
Speaker 1: nine am until five pm. That includes weekends and of
15:22
Speaker 1: course on Thursdays. They are open as well at the
15:24
Speaker 1: other clinic at check invet. You can learn more about
15:27
Speaker 1: all of that at checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
15:30
Speaker 1: vet dot com. Per Prefer give because like PERP you
15:33
Speaker 1: are call it prefer You can give them a call
15:37
Speaker 1: three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three one eight
15:39
Speaker 1: sixty seven hundred before Doc died. It's something I kind
15:42
Speaker 1: of popped in my head in that last segment, and
15:44
Speaker 1: I should have brought it up when we were talking
15:45
Speaker 1: about ringworms. Sometimes it's not allergies that's causing your your
15:49
Speaker 1: pet to be itchy. It's things like like fleas, And
15:51
Speaker 1: you've got to be aware of that too, don't you, right, and.
15:55
Speaker 2: Please kind of come in two categories. The typical dog
15:58
Speaker 2: can have a lot fleas and be mildly itchy and uncomfortable.
16:03
Speaker 2: A dog that's got flea allergies flee allergy dermatitis. A
16:06
Speaker 2: FAD will only need one or two flea bytes a
16:09
Speaker 2: week to just be a mess because they're so sensitive
16:12
Speaker 2: to those flea bites. So you want to be very
16:14
Speaker 2: careful with your flea and tick control. And people tend
16:17
Speaker 2: to start thinking this time of year that getting cooler,
16:20
Speaker 2: they don't need to worry about it, And in reality,
16:22
Speaker 2: October is our worst month for fleas every year. That's
16:25
Speaker 2: the number one month that we see fleas coming in
16:28
Speaker 2: on dogs and cats. They really love cats. So you
16:31
Speaker 2: want to continue your flee in tick prevention year round.
16:34
Speaker 2: We used to say, oh, you could do it seasonally.
16:36
Speaker 2: We say the same thing about heartworm, but now the
16:39
Speaker 2: recommendation is to go you round. There are days in
16:42
Speaker 2: January that can be forty degrees out and fleas and
16:45
Speaker 2: ticks can be moving, so don't let your guard down,
16:47
Speaker 2: keep it up, make sure that you're giving it. Whether
16:49
Speaker 2: it's a topical or an oral, they're all very effective,
16:53
Speaker 2: So just make sure that you're continuing to use it,
16:55
Speaker 2: because you don't want to end up with a flea
16:56
Speaker 2: infest station in your home. It's really hard to get
16:59
Speaker 2: rid of. Don't let that happen to you. And even
17:02
Speaker 2: if your cat doesn't go outside, if your dog does,
17:04
Speaker 2: your dog can bring fleas into the house and they'll
17:06
Speaker 2: set up house keeping on the cat if you're not
17:08
Speaker 2: treating the cat. So again, be really cautious. My sister
17:11
Speaker 2: in law had fleas on her cat from the dog.
17:14
Speaker 2: The cat never food outside, so don't be casual about it.
17:18
Speaker 2: It's a it's a serious thing to have to deal with.
17:21
Speaker 1: Do do flea collars, for example? Are they all pretty
17:24
Speaker 1: good or are there certain types of or drops, or
17:27
Speaker 1: what's what's kind of the better it depends. I guess
17:30
Speaker 1: as a vet, what do you recommend oftentimes for folks
17:33
Speaker 1: when it comes to flee flea prevention.
17:36
Speaker 2: Sure, the topical drops work very effectively.
17:39
Speaker 3: Those are really nice.
17:40
Speaker 2: Those commons Frontline and Advantage and Revolution for cats. There's
17:44
Speaker 2: a number of them on the market for Vecto, all
17:46
Speaker 2: kinds of things. And then we see the collars. The
17:49
Speaker 2: color that we prefer being used now is called Ciresto.
17:53
Speaker 2: It has a completely different kind of chemical in it
17:55
Speaker 2: than what we've seen in the past with organophosphates and
17:57
Speaker 2: carbonates which were fairly toxic to us as well, So
18:00
Speaker 2: it's better to use this Cresto collar. It's more specific
18:03
Speaker 2: to the tick and flee kind of situation. The orals
18:07
Speaker 2: work really well as well, So we have four oral medications.
18:10
Speaker 2: We have next Guards and Perica, Credelio, and Brevecto. So
18:14
Speaker 2: those are all orals. We have them for dogs and
18:17
Speaker 2: they are very effective as well. They do require a
18:20
Speaker 2: bite of the tick or the flea for them to work,
18:22
Speaker 2: so they don't have the repellency that you get with
18:24
Speaker 2: the topical that have sort of a hot foot effect.
18:27
Speaker 2: The topicals will not only kill the flea or ticket,
18:30
Speaker 2: they bite the animal, but they'll create a hot foot effects.
18:33
Speaker 2: So if the flea gets on the dog of the
18:34
Speaker 2: tickets on the dog, they're going to hot foot it
18:36
Speaker 2: back off because it's really in uncomfortable place for them
18:39
Speaker 2: to be. So they have different mechanisms of action and
18:42
Speaker 2: you can actually use both of them together if you're
18:44
Speaker 2: in a really high situation. If you go to a
18:46
Speaker 2: place up north every weekend in Marshfield, Wisconsin, rapids that area,
18:51
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like a hobby to take the ticks
18:53
Speaker 2: off of your dog. It's so frequently that they're found
18:55
Speaker 2: up there. So if you're in areas like that, you
18:57
Speaker 2: can double up on the medications and use both. So
19:00
Speaker 2: talk to your veterinarian about what can be combined. Don't
19:03
Speaker 2: just go on your own. Make sure that the mechanism
19:06
Speaker 2: of actions of those drugs are safe to use together.
19:09
Speaker 2: And of course you know you can google things as well,
19:11
Speaker 2: but always take your veterinarian advice or your veterinary professional
19:15
Speaker 2: if they have technicians and other assistants, as you want
19:18
Speaker 2: to listen to them as your primary source because they
19:21
Speaker 2: know your pet in a way that you can't just
19:23
Speaker 2: generally find information on the Internet, so speak to your
19:25
Speaker 2: veverinary professionals.
19:26
Speaker 1: Really important guidance this morning from doctor Marty Greer, and
19:29
Speaker 1: I made the mistake. I always used to believe that
19:31
Speaker 1: like when it got cold, ticks would just they would
19:33
Speaker 1: die because they'd freeze. And I realized they just kind
19:35
Speaker 1: of they just kind of stop what they're doing and
19:37
Speaker 1: then when it warms up, they warm up and then
19:39
Speaker 1: get going again. So you got to be careful with that.
19:43
Speaker 1: We got a little bit of time and I feel
19:46
Speaker 1: like we could probably do an entire an entire hour
19:48
Speaker 1: long show on this stuff. But food allergies, just like people,
19:55
Speaker 1: pets deal with food allergies. What are some of the signs?
19:58
Speaker 1: What are some of the ways to maybe diagnose a
20:01
Speaker 1: food allergy for your pet?
20:04
Speaker 2: So clearly GI signs, vomiting and diarrhea are a pretty
20:07
Speaker 2: good indication, but those aren't terribly common. Most commonly we
20:11
Speaker 2: see ear infections or itchy skin. So that's kind of
20:15
Speaker 2: where it gets to be confusing to people, is, well,
20:17
Speaker 2: why does my dog have an ear infection from the food.
20:20
Speaker 2: So we've seen a lot of dogs that do very
20:22
Speaker 2: very well if they're on either a limited nigen diet
20:26
Speaker 2: or a hydrolyzed protein diet, which can be fairly expensive,
20:30
Speaker 2: but if sometimes it's only for twelve weeks or so,
20:34
Speaker 2: that we need to do that as a trial, a
20:36
Speaker 2: diet trial to see if your pet gets better. So
20:39
Speaker 2: again this is something you want to work with your veterinarian.
20:41
Speaker 2: You may have to find a novel protein like venison
20:44
Speaker 2: in the food, you may have to find a novel
20:45
Speaker 2: carbohydrate like pas, or you may have to go to
20:48
Speaker 2: something that's a hydrolyzed protein diet, which means that those
20:51
Speaker 2: protein molecules are broken down to ten thousand dollars or
20:54
Speaker 2: less so that your dog's immune system doesn't react to it.
20:57
Speaker 2: And again, we can see food allergies in cats as well,
20:59
Speaker 2: but it's not as and cats. So if you're having
21:02
Speaker 2: problems with not seasonal aalogies if they're year round, so
21:06
Speaker 2: in January, if your dog is still biting at their
21:09
Speaker 2: feed and uncomfortable, you probably want to talk to your
21:11
Speaker 2: veterinarian about a diet trial. It does require twelve weeks
21:15
Speaker 2: of very very strict control of everything that goes between
21:18
Speaker 2: their little furry lips, so that means they get their
21:21
Speaker 2: dog food and water and that's it. So no treats,
21:24
Speaker 2: no choose all those things. You know, I'll have people
21:27
Speaker 2: will sit down and go through this whole thing with them.
21:29
Speaker 2: And if Grandma lives at you and she has Alzheimer's,
21:31
Speaker 2: or you have a two year old that's dropping food
21:33
Speaker 2: off the chair, it's pretty hard to get the dog
21:35
Speaker 2: on a food elimination diet because you're being undermined by
21:38
Speaker 2: people that don't mean to do any harm, but reality
21:41
Speaker 2: is they don't understand. But if you do decide to
21:44
Speaker 2: commit to it, you have to commit to everything. It
21:46
Speaker 2: means no raw hide choos, no dog biscuits, no nothing else.
21:51
Speaker 2: And it's hard to do that for twelve weeks. But
21:53
Speaker 2: there are some tips and tricks that your veterinary professional
21:55
Speaker 2: can give you so that you have some alternatives for
21:58
Speaker 2: ways you can still give treats that are not going
22:00
Speaker 2: to interfere with the food elimination diet because all it
22:03
Speaker 2: takes is one bite of a pizza crust with some
22:05
Speaker 2: pepperoni on it on Saturday night and you're setting yourself
22:10
Speaker 2: back by another six weeks. So again, you know, really
22:13
Speaker 2: speak to your veterinarian and make sure that you're committed
22:15
Speaker 2: to it, because once you make that decision. It could
22:17
Speaker 2: be hard, and if you've already been diet hopping from
22:19
Speaker 2: one protein to the next to the next, it's even
22:22
Speaker 2: harder because there are fewer things that your pet hasn't
22:24
Speaker 2: already been exposed to. So before you tackle something of
22:27
Speaker 2: this nature, be sure you're speaking to your veterinarian about it,
22:29
Speaker 2: because it's a it's a big deal, but done well,
22:33
Speaker 2: it can be absolutely life changing for your dog or cat.
22:37
Speaker 2: Not done well, it can be kind of a problem.
22:39
Speaker 2: So be sure you're getting right the right advice and
22:42
Speaker 2: that you're speaking to somebody that understands your pet specific
22:45
Speaker 2: medical care, not just reading something randomly online because those
22:49
Speaker 2: you know, Facebook messages and other things, they don't really
22:52
Speaker 2: understand your pets needs.
22:53
Speaker 1: You want your pet to be happy, You want your
22:54
Speaker 1: pet to be healthy, and of course that of course
22:56
Speaker 1: makes you happy and makes you feel good as well.
22:58
Speaker 1: It's a great dat to start that kind conversations, start
23:00
Speaker 1: that relationship. You can learn more online checkout vet dot com.
23:04
Speaker 1: That's checkout vet dot com. Tell phone number six O
23:06
Speaker 1: eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's three one
23:09
Speaker 1: eight sixty seven hundred. Doctor Greer, great talking with you
23:11
Speaker 1: this morning. You enjoy this beautiful day.
23:14
Speaker 2: Thank you. Make sure you make your free visit appointment.
23:17
Speaker 1: Did make that exactly? That first visit it is free
23:19
Speaker 1: at checkout vet again right on Prairie Lakes Road of course,
23:22
Speaker 1: uh the website checkout vet dot com. Daniel Donald comes
23:25
Speaker 1: your way next here on thirteen ten WIBA