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Cat Care with the Checkout Vet · Ask The Experts

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  Eight forty one thirteen ten Wi b A and ask the experts when doctor Marty
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  Greer. Of course, doctor Greer comes to us from check out Veterinary the
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  website check out vet dot com at checkout vet dot com if you had a
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  chance to check out the website. I haven't been there yet. Definitely had
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  on over to check out vet dot com. Even better, stop on end.
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  They'd love to see you right at the area clinic and sun Prairie at
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  twenty seven to ten Prairie Lakes Drive in sun Prairie, open Monday through Wednesday,
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  nine to five, Friday through Sunday. Yeah, that includes the weekends
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  nine to five as well. Doctor Greer, how you doing this morning.
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  I'm doing great. Thank you. It is so cool to see you and
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  have you in studio. You have a great fourth I did. It was
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  beautiful weather. We had a lot of fun in the pool. It was
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  great. That's That's about the best way to spend it. Real quick.
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  We're going to talk about feline health a bit this week, but I wanted
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  to ask you about Westminster and you know, for folks that don't know,
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  you've been personally recognized by Westminster for for your your Veterinarian of the Year.
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  And let's talk a little bit about Westminster. And obviously most of us are
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  very familiar with the dog show, but the Kennel Club is they do a
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  lot, don't they. They do, and it's a pretty it's a pretty
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  big event. They've moved it a little bit around for the last couple of
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  years because of COVID, but it's going back to Madison Square Garden next year
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  in February again, so it's going to have back to that kind of really,
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  oh, I don't know, special feel about being at the Garden.
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  That's what everybody calls it in the dog world, is the Garden. It's
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  been at the Tennis Center, the Billaging King Tennis Center for the last two
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  years, and it was beautiful there, but they want to get it back
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  to the city. It was in Queen's it was hard for people to get
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  there. They want it back in the city where people really can attend and
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  sort of get a feel for how how big a deal it is to have
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  a dog there. So for folks that and I'm a casual viewer, as
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  somebody that watches with a more trained eye, what are you participants, even
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  you, what are some of the things that folks should probably be watching for.
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  It maybe like a insight that things that maybe us kind of I don't
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  know, amateurs may not think about other you know, I think of like
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  like as as a fan of football, a kind of watching it differently than
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  maybe folks that don't. For you with Westminster and other dog shows, what
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  are you looking for? What do you see and what are some of those
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  tips you could share? Well, sort of the most exciting thing for us
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  personally is that some of those dogs that are out there are dogs that we've
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  created by breeding them, by delivering them when they were puppies. So that's
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  that's really fun for us because we do know the people who are in the
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  ring and we know the dogs, so that's that's fun. But it's really
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  interesting to watch because first of all, they give you all the history of
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  the breed, and I think it's really engaging to look at that and to
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  really understand breeds. And every year I watch and there's a few new breeds
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  out there, and it's kind of fun to see and you're like, wow,
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  you know I could live with that dog. That would be cool.
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  Oh that's a neat dog. Oh no, yeah, no, I don't
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  want that in my house. So we all have our different preferences, and
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  that's why there's there's Westminster. There's over one hundred and sixty breeds in the
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  world, there's over three hundred, and that's why is because all of us
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  have our own personal preferences. But it's fun to watch the dogs and some
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  of them come out. You just see it in their face that they are
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  there and they're in it to win it, and the handlers are there and
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  the owners are there, and the dogs just know how big a deal it
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  is. So that's really fun. Is Westminster obviously is the biggest is it
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  number of participants history? What kind of makes it such a prestigious event?
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  It seems to be incorrect me if I'm wrong, That is like the super
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  Bowl of pet shows? Correct, right? And there is the World Dog
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  Show, There's the Philadelphia Dog Show. So there are other that's the one
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  on Thanksgiving, there are other big shows, but there's something really prestigious about
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  Westminster. You have to be invited, and winning at Westminster is really the
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  pinnacle of any dog or owner or handler's career. So some dogs go out
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  there with their owners, some dogs go out with professional handlers. But regardless,
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  it's really just very spectacular have the opportunity to even win your breed and
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  be in the group, or to win the group and to be in the
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  best in show ring. So there's all these levels along the way that you
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  have to win and get past, and a lot of it's about grooming and
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  conditioning and breeding and making sure that your dog is at the pinnacle of their
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  career when they walk in the ring. You want to be recognized for that.
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  Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer, of course, Doctor Greer comes
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  to us from Checkout Veterinary the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet
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  dot com. And obviously we think of the pets being shown, but there's
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  also other things. And you've won what twice now, Veterinarian of the Year.
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  Can cry just once? Just one? Yeah, just once? There's
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  a different vet every year. Oh it's different. You won once, which
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  is big time? Yes, huge? What is that is? What does
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  that mean? Then? As far as like obviously it's a big deal,
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  but like what goes into being recognized for that and what do they look?
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  Well, you have to be nominated and you're typically nominated by your clients and
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  so the year that Westminster that I won, twenty twenty three, we were
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  at one of the other dog shows and we were walking through and I said
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  to my husband, you know, I don't think we should go to Westminster
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  this year. We've got so much going on. We're traveling, we've got
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  a lot of stuff going on. I think we're going to have to stay
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  home. And he looks at me and he goes, well, there's this
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  thing and I said what thing. He's like, well, there's this Westminster
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  Veta the year and I didn't even know about it. And he's like,
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  so there's this thing, and I think we should plan to go to Westminster.
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  And I said, well, you know, but there's a lot of
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  great veterinarians and a lot of great clients that nominate veterinarians. And he looks
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  at me and he goes, no, no, I think we need to
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  plan to go. So you get nominated by your veterinarian and then there's different
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  selection processes. The year I was selected, it was based on votes on
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  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. So not only are you nominated by clients,
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  which is a huge honor to have a you know, and they picked four
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  regional finalists. So I was the regional finalist for the Upper Midwest. But
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  it was it was just really really heartwarming to feel like my clients appreciated so
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  much of what I did that they wanted to nominate me and to make sure
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  that I got voted in, which took a lot of time and effort on
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  their part to vote and to do all those all the parts that made it
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  happen. So it was really fun and really great and it is a huge
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  honor to have clients that feel that strongly. And last year I got to
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  interview the four veterinarian finalists and they're all just excellent veterinarians, wonderful people.
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  I'm in a really cool bunch of people. I mean, I'm really proud
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  to say I'm a veterinarian and that I have colleagues like this. That is
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  I'll tell you. I know it's been a little while, but congratulations.
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  A couple of years ago, did they tell your husband by the way that
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  you that you had wanted he know? Or did he just pretty just he
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  just had a feeling that I had a good chance. You didn't. We
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  didn't know until the voting was all done, So we were and I'm not
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  typically one that watches social media that much, and so I didn't influence anybody
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  to ask them to do this. I was just watching the votes as they
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  were coming in, and I'm like, oh, man, you know this
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  is this is tight. I wanted on Facebook really, the other the other
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  two platforms were more for the younger people. Yeah, and I'm not so
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  it was more of a Facebook win than anything else. But it was fun
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  to watch. And you know, we were at Culver's at night and I
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  was looking at the voting and just going, oh, no, I hope
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  it keeps holding was the was a miniature poodle of the most recent winner,
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  and so obviously they're into their specific categories and then the winner of each category
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  goes on to the Best Best and show how do they compare different? You
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  know, I think of my chihuahua, and then I think of folks with
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  you know, great Danes or you know these Burmese melt? Sure? How
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  do they compare a breed different breeds? Sure? And that's a great question
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  because a lot of people think it's really difficult. But basically, there's a
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  breed standard. There's a written standard by every breed club of what the ideal
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  dog in that breach should look like it's head type, it's coat, it's
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  length, it's height, that's weight, so how it moves, the structure,
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  the whole bit. And a lot of people look at it as saying,
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  well, it's just a beauty contest, but it isn't. It's really
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  a lot about structure and breeding stock. So the dog has to be built
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  to do the job they were made to do. If they're a companion dog
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  and their job is to sit in your lap, great, that's what they're
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  built for. If their job is to hurt sheep or cattle, or to
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  hunt or to protect or whatever happens to be the job that they were developed
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  by humans over the last several hundred years to do, then they should match
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  the ideal standard as closely as possible, so they're not judged against each other
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  as much as they are their breed standard. And that makes it really fun
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  to watch. And once you start to understand that, then you can look
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  at the AKAC website for how the dog is supposed to be put together,
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  or get out the book or whatever it is that you want to do.
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  But each breed has their own standard and it's written by experts in the breed
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  not by the AKAC is some of that also to kind of help preserve kind
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  of those standards overall of the breeds. Is you think of, you know
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  of what you mentioned getting you know this particular breed and then you get the
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  information wanting to make sure that it stays true to it what it should be.
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  And yes, because dogs that are meant to hunt have to be able
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  to cover a lot of ground, they have to have a good nose,
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  they have to have good vision, So all those things are important structurally.
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  So yes, that is exactly as form follows function, and so they want
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  them to look like they're supposed to to do their job. Very very cool
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  stuff. Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary the website check
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  out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Got a great information
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  about doctor Greer and check out Veterinary online. If you're not familiar with Checkout
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  Veterinary, definitely head on over to the website checkout vet dot com. It's
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  an amazing concept. They've got the nice base where you drive in. It's
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  less stress for you and more importantly, less stressful for your pet as well.
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  All the information available at checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot
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  com. We're gonna continue our conversation with doctor Marty Greer. We will do
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  that next as ask the experts with Checkout Veterinary. He is right here on
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  thirteen ten wu ib A thirteen ten wi b A and ask the experts.
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  Talking with the Westminster Vet of the Year, Doctor Marty Greer comes to us
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  from check Out Veterinary, the website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet
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  dot com. We're going to get to talk a little bit about cat health
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  in just a moment. But one final thing too is we're talking about Westminster
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  and a little bit about your experience when when you won Vet of the Year
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  at Westminster. What is that like? I mean, what goes what goes
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  on? How do they how do they kind of recognize you for that for
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  those for that honor? Sure, so we got to sit in the box
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  seats to watch the dogs, so we were like arm links away from the
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  dogs that were being judged with the Westminster Kennel Club. And then there was
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  a ten thousand dollars check donated from Tripanion Animal Health, the insurance company and
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  Westminster to donate for ten thousand dollars to Mighty Vet, which is one of
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  the organizations that supports veterinarians and their mental health. So it was a great
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  you know, I didn't financially benefit from it, but it was you know,
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  it's just really a great honor. Yeah, it goes to a great
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  cause, and that is very very cool. As we talked this morning with
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  doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Vetering, the website checkout vet dot com. That's
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  checkout vet dot com. As I was leaving home this morning, of course
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  the routine, take the dog out. The cat's always always wanting to get
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  on to push your back in. I thought, you know, we haven't
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  talked much about cats or kiddies and a little here, a little there,
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  but cats are such an amazing companion. They're great. Not only are they
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  great companions, they do great work. I know. One of the reasons
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  we have cats is we've never seen them mouse in our house for no other
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  reason than the presence of a cat. But cats do have special health challenges,
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  don't they. They do, And one of the greatest challenges we have
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  as veterinarians is we see them as kittens. For their vaccinations and then we
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  span neuter them, and then we don't see them for another fifteen years.
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  Because they're indoors, they're healthy. For people's perception is they don't need veterinary
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  care, they don't need vaccines, they don't need blood work, they don't
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  need routine care until they run into a problem. And many times, by
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  the time we see them at fifteen, they've got hyperthyroidism, thyroid disease,
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  they've got kidney disease, they're diabetic, they have cancer, something's going on
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  with them that causes a pretty significant health concern, and many times they've lost
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  a third to a half of their body weight by the time people recognize it,
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  because it happens slowly enough until somebody comes over and says, what happened
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  to your cat? You don't even notice. They slow down, they get
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  quieter, and so we tend to just they're sort of the forgotten pet.
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  We're really great at taking our dogs in once or twice a year for health
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  testing, for heartworm testing for their flee and take or their heartworm preventive and
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  their vaccines and all those things, but our cats really just get kind of
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  left behind. And that's a real tragedy. For us as veterinarians, because
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  the earlier we intervene with some of those diseases. Of course, like any
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  other disease that we have as humans, the better chances are that we have
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  to correct it and provide your cat with a long healthy life. And I
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  don't want a stereotype, but I know like my cats, for example,
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  they don't like if my dog is not feeling well, he makes it very
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  apparent that he's Cats are a little more complicated emotionally are as far as feelings,
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  yes, and cats are really good at hiding their disease. They don't
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  tell you that they're having trouble breathing until they're really in trouble. They just
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  don't tell us because they're a lower on the food chain, and so based
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  on evolution, if they hide their disease, they don't look like prey to
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  some other creature. Now, they don't evolutionarily change when they move into our
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  houses, so once they're in your home, you may not notice. Now
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  you may realize that you've stepped on a hairball when you got out of bed
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  in the middle of the night. Those things, but the other changes just
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  don't seem to happen. And if the dog is eating out of the cat
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  bowl, you don't notice that the cat's not eating as much. If you
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  have multiple cats, sometimes it's hard to tell who's dropped off on their appetite,
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  who's drinking more than usual. So all the little signals that we typically
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  have. And most people that have a cat have multiple cats. Many people
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  are multiple cat owners, and that makes them really fun. They're great pets
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  to live in groups. You know, people think cats are kind of aloof,
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  and they're really not. They're wonderful pets, but we just forget that
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  they have health needs. With that. As we talk with doctor Martin Greer
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  of Checkout Veterinary, you mentioned getting them in for regular checkups just like people.
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  Just like other pets as well. I think for a lot of people
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  and cats are they can be a little more skittish. I feel like my
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  personal feelings, they're a little more complex as far as how they operate in
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  that stuff. The concept you have a checkout veterinary, I think of cats,
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  and I think you had mentioned early on you were thinking a lot of
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  dog owners, but really cat owners have really responded to this setup, haven't
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  they? Yeah, much more than I would have expected, and that it's
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  great for them because they don't have dogs in the lobby barking at them,
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  staring at them, and sitting in their carrier. But like all veterinarians,
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  we do have the ability to offer you medication to help the cat's anxiety.
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  There's videos on the American Association Feline Practitioners website on how to practice getting your
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  cat in and out of a carrier so that the day you have an appointment,
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  the cat doesn't hide under the bed and you have to cancel your appointment
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  because you couldn't find them. So there's a lot of great information out there.
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  We frequently will put cats on GABA pet in the night before in the
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  morning of their appointment, just to make them more comfortable, more chill when
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  they come in. It is not easy to draw blood on cats. It
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  is not easy to do some of their exams. We would love to take
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  blood pressure on them all when they get to be older, but they don't
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  tolerate that very well. So there's a lot of nuances to veterinary care and
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  cats. There's a lot of products that we use to try and make it
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  easier for you. There are some practitioners that only do feline and there's some
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  practitioners that specialize in feline or they may have a special feline waiting room.
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  In our case, we don't because we never have a waiting room because they
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  don't need to. But there are definitely ways that your veterinary can help you
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  and your veterinary staff can help you in getting the cat acclimated to the carrier,
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  getting them used to writing in the car, getting them accustomed to some
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  of the things that we have to do at the veterinary clinic. So there's
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  things we can do. And we start talking about, well, at what
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  age do we really have to start engaging with these cats, And my typical
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  answer is when they reach about three quarters of their life expectancies, So for
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  many cats, that's around age twelve that we should start doing annual blood and
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  urine testing. So if your cat's been into the clinic multiple times and they
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  come in and they chicken, baby food or little treats, and then they
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  get used to when they come in at twelve, it's not such a foreign
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  concept, it's not so scary to them, and when they're scared, it
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  makes it difficult for the veterinary staff to handle them. One of nice things
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  as well, as folks listening saying you know what, I cat hasn't been
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  into the VET for a while. First office visit free obviously testing that there
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  is a charge with that, but getting them in it's not going to cost
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  anything. At checkout vet, of course, you learn more online checkout vet
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  dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Of course. Doctor Marty Greer
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  comes to us from checkout Veterinary Doctor. It's always great talking with you.
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  I think we're gonna have to get more into specifics with cats. We'll probably
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  get to that in these coming weeks. Great idea, Doctor Mardi gree of
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  checkout vet again that website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
• 17:07
  Dan O'Donnell, he comes your way next. He has a chance for
• 17:08
  you to win one thousand dollars right here on thirteen ten WIBA