Latest / Ask The Experts / Welcoming a New Pet with The Checkout Vet
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Eight thirty nine thirteen ten WIBA and ask the experts
- 0:04Speaker 1: with check Out Veterinary. Join this morning by doctor Marty Greer.
- 0:09Speaker 1: Of course, doctor Greer recognized by the Westminster Kennel Club
- 0:12Speaker 1: as Veterinarian of the Year. And you can learn more
- 0:15Speaker 1: about doctor Greer. Learn more about Checkout Veterinary and the
- 0:18Speaker 1: other vets as well at checkout Vet on their website
- 0:21Speaker 1: check out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
- 0:24Speaker 1: They're amazing drive through service and of course they are
- 0:27Speaker 1: there when you and your pet need them. They're open
- 0:30Speaker 1: Monday through Wednesday, and then Friday through Sunday nine am
- 0:33Speaker 1: until five pm. That includes weekends. And you may be saying,
- 0:37Speaker 1: well what about Thursday, so well, Thursday's check in Veterinary
- 0:40Speaker 1: is open for you. So it's a really, really great,
- 0:42Speaker 1: great clinic set of clinics that are there for you
- 0:45Speaker 1: and your pet when you needed. Today's a great day
- 0:47Speaker 1: to start that relationship. Pick up phone, give a call
- 0:49Speaker 1: six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred, that's
- 0:52Speaker 1: three one eight sixty seven hundred, or learn more online
- 0:55Speaker 1: at checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
- 0:59Speaker 1: Doctor Greer, how are you doing this morning.
- 1:01Speaker 2: I'm doing great. Thank you.
- 1:03Speaker 1: It's really good to talk to you. And we had
- 1:05Speaker 1: a story on the news this morning. Obviously we had
- 1:08Speaker 1: that the hurricane come through the South, and anytime there's
- 1:12Speaker 1: a natural disaster, a lot of just like people are evacuated,
- 1:17Speaker 1: a lot of pets are evacuated as well, from humane
- 1:19Speaker 1: societies and other places. And some pets are coming in
- 1:22Speaker 1: to the area from North Carolina and UH and South
- 1:26Speaker 1: and southern states that were affected by the hurricane. And
- 1:30Speaker 1: had me thinking about getting a new pet and adding
- 1:32Speaker 1: a new family member to your to your family, and
- 1:35Speaker 1: and what that process is like. And as I was
- 1:38Speaker 1: kind of jotting down notes, doctor I was I was
- 1:41Speaker 1: actually basically doing the opposite of one of what we
- 1:44Speaker 1: did when we got when we when we picked up
- 1:47Speaker 1: our dog. But I don't know, and correct, that's probably
- 1:51Speaker 1: probably not all that uncommon where sometimes folks don't really
- 1:55Speaker 1: plan all that all that well for a pet.
- 1:57Speaker 2: They just connect, they do sometimes and sometimes it's a
- 2:01Speaker 2: match made in heaven and it can work really well.
- 2:03Speaker 2: Sometimes not so much. So you want to be thoughtful
- 2:06Speaker 2: about this because if the pet is young, you may
- 2:09Speaker 2: be spending the next fifteen sixteen seventeen years with them,
- 2:12Speaker 2: so you do want to have some strategies in mind
- 2:14Speaker 2: before you just you know, hoop out there, put your
- 2:17Speaker 2: hand up and say, yep, we'll take her. So I
- 2:20Speaker 2: do encourage people to give it some thought. And one
- 2:23Speaker 2: of the best resources for how you make these decisions
- 2:26Speaker 2: is your veterinary team. So speak to your veterinarian, your
- 2:29Speaker 2: veterinary technicians, the receptionists. These people know you. I'm assuming
- 2:34Speaker 2: you have a relationship with them already. They know you,
- 2:36Speaker 2: they know your lifestyle, they know what kind of pet
- 2:39Speaker 2: you're suited to have, and so they can give you
- 2:42Speaker 2: some really important input on making these decisions. It's really
- 2:47Speaker 2: easy to make an impulsive decision and have it not
- 2:49Speaker 2: turn out to be the ideal situation. So please please
- 2:54Speaker 2: please give it some thought and use those resources. Also,
- 2:57Speaker 2: there's some really good websites and really good books out
- 3:00Speaker 2: there for pet selection, so you know, think it through
- 3:06Speaker 2: and make sure that you figure out it's the activity level,
- 3:11Speaker 2: the grooming needs, the exercise needs, the behaviors of the
- 3:16Speaker 2: pets fit your lifestyle, because not every pet fits everybody.
- 3:22Speaker 1: Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary,
- 3:25Speaker 1: of course, learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
- 3:28Speaker 1: check out vet dot com and and doctor. It's interesting
- 3:31Speaker 1: we talk about kind of that, you know, that that
- 3:33Speaker 1: picking out that right pet and getting that right fit.
- 3:36Speaker 1: I remember years ago a friend of mine, this is
- 3:40Speaker 1: probably twenty years ago, he had a I don't know
- 3:42Speaker 1: what kind of dog. It was a big, big, giant,
- 3:46Speaker 1: hairy dog. And I'm like, and he's like me, he's not,
- 3:49Speaker 1: you know, mister, I jog every night. I don't run.
- 3:52Speaker 1: I don't do those type of things. I'm like, are
- 3:54Speaker 1: you sure that's the right dog? And I don't know
- 3:55Speaker 1: what type? It's like a maybe a Burmese mountain dog.
- 3:58Speaker 1: He's like, it really just likes to walk. And I'm like, oh, okay,
- 4:02Speaker 1: maybe that is a little bit of research goes a
- 4:04Speaker 1: long way, doesn't it, Doctor.
- 4:06Speaker 2: It does. And there's some good books. There's one that
- 4:09Speaker 2: used to be in print and you can still pick
- 4:10Speaker 2: it up from time to time on Amazon's called The
- 4:13Speaker 2: Right Dog for You by Daniel Torture. And even though
- 4:15Speaker 2: it's a fairly old book, it still has really great
- 4:19Speaker 2: charts in it that go through the activity levels, the
- 4:24Speaker 2: grooming needs, all the bits and pieces that you might
- 4:26Speaker 2: not think about as a new cred owner. So it
- 4:29Speaker 2: walks you through some of those decisions. And then there's
- 4:32Speaker 2: a more recent books. There's a couple of editions of
- 4:35Speaker 2: it that Benjamin and Lynn Hart wrote called The Perfect Puppy,
- 4:38Speaker 2: And again, it's not about developing the perfect perfect puppy.
- 4:41Speaker 2: It's about selecting a dog or a puppy that suits
- 4:46Speaker 2: your needs. And they interviewed a CAC judges and breeders
- 4:48Speaker 2: and a number of different very knowledgeable people for that book,
- 4:52Speaker 2: So those are important. Now, a lot of these aren't
- 4:54Speaker 2: going to have the mixed breed dogs in them, and
- 4:56Speaker 2: oftentimes when you get a mixed breed dog, you don't
- 4:58Speaker 2: really know what you're getting because it doesn't come with
- 5:01Speaker 2: a DNA test in many cases. And those DNA tests
- 5:04Speaker 2: are pretty fun and pretty interesting. They can be very
- 5:07Speaker 2: helpful in understanding some of the behaviors, some of the needs,
- 5:13Speaker 2: and some of the potential health concerns for your pets.
- 5:16Speaker 2: But by the time you get a pet, if it's
- 5:19Speaker 2: coming through a rescue, you're not going to have that
- 5:22Speaker 2: information because they don't test before they place dogs. So
- 5:26Speaker 2: those are important, and I don't want to sound negative
- 5:29Speaker 2: about rescues, though I want to be really careful what
- 5:31Speaker 2: I say, but some rescues we have some behavioral issues with. Now,
- 5:36Speaker 2: any breed, any dog can have behavioral issues, so please
- 5:39Speaker 2: don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. But we do see
- 5:41Speaker 2: more fearfulness and behavior issues in some of these rescue
- 5:46Speaker 2: dogs because they weren't raised the way that we would
- 5:50Speaker 2: have raised them. They may not have been genetically selected
- 5:53Speaker 2: for behaviors, so sometimes we don't know. Some of the
- 5:57Speaker 2: rescue dogs are a little more challenging to work with
- 5:59Speaker 2: behavior than pure bred dogs. And the other downside to
- 6:04Speaker 2: the rescue is you don't have the predictability of knowing
- 6:06Speaker 2: when you got your little dog, your little chuahwah, you
- 6:09Speaker 2: knew about how big he was going to be when
- 6:11Speaker 2: you go get a rescue. I picked out a dog
- 6:14Speaker 2: for a client many years ago. She was an older lady.
- 6:17Speaker 2: Her husband had passed away, so she was a widow.
- 6:19Speaker 2: She'd always had dog and wanted another dog. And I
- 6:21Speaker 2: went to a teaching lab at the web school and
- 6:25Speaker 2: they had this really adorable little male puppy. So in
- 6:28Speaker 2: the procedures we were doing, we noted him, and I
- 6:32Speaker 2: called her and I said, I found this really great
- 6:33Speaker 2: little dog. I think he'll be about forty pounds when
- 6:36Speaker 2: he grows up. I think he'd be the perfect dog
- 6:38Speaker 2: for you.
- 6:38Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 6:38Speaker 2: No, he turned out to be one hundred and twenty pounds.
- 6:42Speaker 2: So we misjudged what is potential was going to be. Now,
- 6:47Speaker 2: she always better dogs a little more than they needed,
- 6:49Speaker 2: but he wasn't going to be a sixty pound dog.
- 6:53Speaker 2: He was clearly destined to be one hundred and twenty
- 6:55Speaker 2: pound dog.
- 6:55Speaker 1: Oh wow.
- 6:56Speaker 2: So yeah, So those are really important things, especially as
- 6:59Speaker 2: your aging as you're getting your last dog. If you're
- 7:02Speaker 2: sixty or seventy and thinking about getting your last dog,
- 7:05Speaker 2: you don't want it to be something that doesn't suit
- 7:08Speaker 2: your lifestyle. It's a lot easier to be flexible when
- 7:10Speaker 2: you're young and you have better physical capacity. I always
- 7:15Speaker 2: tell people ten years from now, fifteen years from now,
- 7:17Speaker 2: will you be able to pick that dog up? So
- 7:19Speaker 2: you're fifteen years older, the dog is fifteen years older,
- 7:23Speaker 2: so they're going to be a lot bigger than they
- 7:25Speaker 2: were as a puppy. Can you lift that dog and
- 7:27Speaker 2: put it in your car? If something catastrophic happens, then
- 7:29Speaker 2: you have to get the dog to the vets because
- 7:31Speaker 2: we have phone calls from people that say, I can't
- 7:35Speaker 2: get my dog in the vehicle. I don't know what
- 7:36Speaker 2: to do. I need help, and my neighbor's not home,
- 7:38Speaker 2: and you know, I don't have a partner or spouse,
- 7:42Speaker 2: I don't have anybody that can help me, and so
- 7:45Speaker 2: we have to kind of scramble to figure out how
- 7:47Speaker 2: we can get them to the VAT clinic. So, you know,
- 7:51Speaker 2: just thinks through some of those things. How much grooming
- 7:53Speaker 2: do they need? Do they have to go to the
- 7:54Speaker 2: groomer every eight weeks which means A they don't shed,
- 7:57Speaker 2: but b they need to be constantly groomed, So that
- 8:01Speaker 2: means ongoing expense unless you learn to do it yourself.
- 8:04Speaker 2: So there's just a lot of aspects of pet ownership.
- 8:07Speaker 2: In the book, the book that I wrote, The Pandemic Puppy,
- 8:11Speaker 2: it does go through some of this, and like I said,
- 8:13Speaker 2: there's some really good websites and really good books out there,
- 8:16Speaker 2: so please do a little research. But oftentimes the instinct,
- 8:20Speaker 2: the knee jerk reaction is oh my gosh, what an
- 8:23Speaker 2: adorable little dog. Let's just go pick him up. Once
- 8:26Speaker 2: you meet them, it's like taking home a car over
- 8:28Speaker 2: the weekend that the dealership says, here are the keys.
- 8:32Speaker 2: You know, take it home, park it on your driveway
- 8:33Speaker 2: for the weekend. They know that car is not coming back.
- 8:37Speaker 2: They know that puppy is not coming back once it's
- 8:39Speaker 2: home with you for the weekend. Yeah, you're already invested
- 8:42Speaker 2: in it, and it's too late. It's yours.
- 8:44Speaker 1: You got to ask two doctor. For folks that do
- 8:46Speaker 1: go down the rescue route, would you recommend getting a
- 8:49Speaker 1: DNA test just to not just for obviously a lot
- 8:52Speaker 1: of fun to kind of identify what breeds are are there,
- 8:56Speaker 1: but just to kind of help you know what to
- 8:59Speaker 1: expect when you've already expect. I mean, but you've already.
- 9:02Speaker 2: Got the dog. Yeah. I think they're pretty helpful. We're
- 9:05Speaker 2: out to the point that there's about three hundred and
- 9:06Speaker 2: fifty tests on the paw print genetics test, so you
- 9:09Speaker 2: can get a ton of information that will help you
- 9:12Speaker 2: to say, are the liver and zimes always going to
- 9:14Speaker 2: be low? Because normally we don't worry about liver and
- 9:16Speaker 2: zymes when they're low, but this will be something that
- 9:18Speaker 2: you know the dog is always going to be that way,
- 9:21Speaker 2: or are they predisposed to having some kind of health issue,
- 9:24Speaker 2: so you can be vigilant, be watching for it. You
- 9:27Speaker 2: and your veterinarian can start paying attention to some of
- 9:29Speaker 2: their health needs when they're earlier so that you can
- 9:32Speaker 2: pick up on things. So I think those tests are
- 9:34Speaker 2: really helpful and really useful. They usually put them on
- 9:37Speaker 2: sailor on Christmas. That kind of keep an eye out.
- 9:39Speaker 2: If you want to give somebody a fun Christmas gift,
- 9:41Speaker 2: this can be it. Yeah, because then they just take
- 9:44Speaker 2: a cheek swabs, then to the lab and in about
- 9:47Speaker 2: two weeks they'll have results back. So those are pretty fun.
- 9:50Speaker 2: The other thing about rescues is, unfortunately a lot of
- 9:53Speaker 2: these dogs do come from the South Florida, Georgia, and
- 9:56Speaker 2: North Carolina. When we see them coming from Texas as well,
- 9:59Speaker 2: any place from Texas east on the southern border where
- 10:02Speaker 2: we have the ocean and a lot of water, we
- 10:05Speaker 2: see a lot of heartworm disease coming in with these dogs.
- 10:07Speaker 2: So if you are taking in one of the dogs
- 10:09Speaker 2: that are coming in as a rescue, please ask the
- 10:12Speaker 2: rescue organization to heartworm test the dog before they move
- 10:15Speaker 2: into your house. Again. Once they're with you, they're pretty
- 10:18Speaker 2: much part of your family, and you want to know
- 10:20Speaker 2: ahead of time is this dog going to need heartroom
- 10:22Speaker 2: treatments That can amount to one thousand dollars. It can
- 10:25Speaker 2: be expensive, it can lead to long lifelong health problems.
- 10:28Speaker 2: So you know, just ask them to do that simple
- 10:31Speaker 2: heartworm test so that they've already got that information before
- 10:33Speaker 2: you make the decision, and it's not just an emotional decision,
- 10:37Speaker 2: but a financial decision as well.
- 10:38Speaker 1: Really helpful information as always from doctor Marty Greer of
- 10:41Speaker 1: checkout Veterinary, the website checkout vet dot com. That's check
- 10:44Speaker 1: out vet dot com speaking of things like having tests
- 10:49Speaker 1: and those type of things done on your new pat.
- 10:52Speaker 1: I know, one of the great things about checkout Veterinary
- 10:54Speaker 1: is that first exam, that first visit that's free. Obviously
- 10:58Speaker 1: testing and other things there are fees included than those
- 11:00Speaker 1: are spelled out right in black and white, which is
- 11:02Speaker 1: also great about the transparent pricing at checkout Vet. Let's
- 11:05Speaker 1: talk about then that that first pet visit and kind
- 11:08Speaker 1: of what goes on as a vet. What are you
- 11:11Speaker 1: looking for, how's that how is that communication then between
- 11:14Speaker 1: the pet family and and you kind of going on
- 11:17Speaker 1: what goes on in that in that first visit doctor.
- 11:20Speaker 2: Sure, So we're going to do a comprehensive physical exams.
- 11:22Speaker 2: Check their ears, listen to their hearts, steal their bellies,
- 11:25Speaker 2: check or hernias, you know, just do a really comprehensive
- 11:28Speaker 2: exam with our hands, with our stethoscope, with an otoscope,
- 11:31Speaker 2: just that hands on kind of stuff, not just but
- 11:34Speaker 2: that hands on kind of stuff. And then we will
- 11:36Speaker 2: if it's if it's a dog over six months old,
- 11:38Speaker 2: we will recommend a heart room test and of course
- 11:40Speaker 2: a fecal analysis because again the southern states tend to
- 11:44Speaker 2: have more intestinal parasites than we do here in the North.
- 11:46Speaker 2: The only good thing about winter, that is two good things.
- 11:49Speaker 2: One is allergies go away and the other's parasites go away.
- 11:52Speaker 2: Otherwise I'm not so much a fan of Wisconson January.
- 11:58Speaker 2: So those are things that you're going to want to do.
- 12:00Speaker 2: And if we have no vaccine history on that pet,
- 12:02Speaker 2: as we want, with them coming through a rescue, or
- 12:06Speaker 2: if it's a young dog that's coming from a breeder,
- 12:09Speaker 2: a rescue, whatever, they're going to need a series of
- 12:11Speaker 2: at least two vaccinations. So you're going to see your
- 12:13Speaker 2: veterinary clinic at least twice. Now with puppies, we may
- 12:16Speaker 2: see you every three to four weeks until the puppy
- 12:19Speaker 2: is sixteen to eighteen weeks old, and you'll be like,
- 12:21Speaker 2: do I have to come to the vent every month
- 12:23Speaker 2: for the rest of this dog's life? What have I
- 12:25Speaker 2: gotten myself into? Dogs are babies, just like our babies,
- 12:30Speaker 2: and they need to have a series of vaccine boosters
- 12:32Speaker 2: so that they get full protection. So one trip into
- 12:35Speaker 2: the veterinary clinic is not going to fill all the
- 12:38Speaker 2: needs of your pet. They're going to come in for boosters.
- 12:40Speaker 2: They're going to need to come in for being weighed
- 12:43Speaker 2: so that we know what size heartworm and what size
- 12:45Speaker 2: fleet and chick preventives we need to put them on.
- 12:47Speaker 2: Putting them on the scale is an important part of
- 12:49Speaker 2: our exam. Knowing it's they're gaining weight correctly. We're going
- 12:52Speaker 2: to talk about what diet you're feeding, and what supplements
- 12:54Speaker 2: you're giving, and what preventives we need to give, and
- 12:57Speaker 2: you know all the things that go into this. If
- 13:00Speaker 2: your vet isn't discussing some of those nutrition supplements, bring
- 13:03Speaker 2: it up, you know, they may have just overlooked it,
- 13:05Speaker 2: or they might have been kind of busy so your
- 13:07Speaker 2: vet tech, your veterinary assistance. They're also very well versed
- 13:11Speaker 2: in what foods are appropriate and which foods are not appropriate,
- 13:14Speaker 2: what kind of snacks and treats you can give, and
- 13:16Speaker 2: we've talked about those in the past, the fruits and
- 13:18Speaker 2: vegetables and those things that you can give, avoiding grapes
- 13:20Speaker 2: and raisins. So it's a great opportunity for you to
- 13:24Speaker 2: go in, gets your puppy acclimated, have them learned. The
- 13:28Speaker 2: veterinary clinic is a fun place to be. We're very
- 13:30Speaker 2: careful with our young dogs and our puppies that come in,
- 13:33Speaker 2: and of course the kittens too. I don't want to
- 13:35Speaker 2: leave out our cats and kitten friends with giving them
- 13:37Speaker 2: lots of food treats. I want them to think they're
- 13:39Speaker 2: at a restaurant and not at a vet clinic. Like
- 13:42Speaker 2: you came in and had a little snack because, oh,
- 13:43Speaker 2: by the way, while you were here, we gave you
- 13:45Speaker 2: a vaccination. But it wasn't really all that big a deal.
- 13:48Speaker 2: The big deal was you came in, we had fun,
- 13:50Speaker 2: you got on the table, we touched you. You got
- 13:53Speaker 2: to eat cheese or peanut butter or ginger snaps or whatever.
- 13:56Speaker 2: Fun things that we have for you, and then you
- 13:58Speaker 2: left and you're like, oh, that was great, So that
- 14:00Speaker 2: the next time you go to the veterinary clinic, the
- 14:03Speaker 2: dog is dragging you to the door, one is go
- 14:05Speaker 2: in and saying, hey, I remember them, we had cookies
- 14:08Speaker 2: last time. So I think those things are really important.
- 14:12Speaker 2: And if you're working with a veterinary clinic that is
- 14:14Speaker 2: not able to provide those kinds of things for you,
- 14:16Speaker 2: that they're not discussing some of these things, they're not
- 14:19Speaker 2: helping you with having a friendly, happy veterinary visit, then
- 14:23Speaker 2: you may want to look for somebody that's willing to
- 14:25Speaker 2: do that, because a lot of us are.
- 14:27Speaker 1: It's great when you hear too about you know, kind
- 14:29Speaker 1: of seeing it. I think obviously I love getting the
- 14:32Speaker 1: chance to talk with you each and every week, and
- 14:34Speaker 1: one of the things I really love about it is
- 14:36Speaker 1: getting some of the different perspective is you know, as
- 14:38Speaker 1: a pet owner, we tend to you know, we tend
- 14:40Speaker 1: to think of our relationship with our pets, and we
- 14:43Speaker 1: tend to forget our vets have a relationship with our
- 14:46Speaker 1: pets as well, and the importance of that love and trust,
- 14:49Speaker 1: that bond being built there as well, And I love
- 14:51Speaker 1: getting a chance to hear from your perspective about what
- 14:55Speaker 1: you want that experience for the pet to be like
- 14:57Speaker 1: when they come and visit you at Checkout Veterinary. It's
- 15:00Speaker 1: a really really cool model. And we talked about that
- 15:02Speaker 1: drive through service a little bit earlier. Doctor Greer and
- 15:04Speaker 1: the team at Checkout Veterinary. They've got those garage bays.
- 15:07Speaker 1: They open right up, you drive your car right in.
- 15:09Speaker 1: Pet doesn't have to walk in through a lobby or
- 15:11Speaker 1: waiting room with other animals and other pets that other
- 15:14Speaker 1: smells are things that make can make them nervous and uneasy.
- 15:16Speaker 1: They're coming right on in in the car. They absolutely
- 15:19Speaker 1: love it. It's a fantastic, fantastic clinic. You can learn
- 15:22Speaker 1: more online checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot
- 15:26Speaker 1: com even better, pick film, make that appointment today, give
- 15:28Speaker 1: them a call six oh eight three one eight sixty
- 15:30Speaker 1: seven hundred. That's three one eight sixty seven hundred, or
- 15:33Speaker 1: stop in there right at twenty seven to ten. Prairie
- 15:35Speaker 1: Lags Drive in Sun Prairie open Monday through Wednesday, Friday
- 15:38Speaker 1: through Sunday nine until five. That that includes the weekend,
- 15:42Speaker 1: so it's a really really cool thing at checkout Vet.
- 15:44Speaker 1: And I'm going to ask you doctor about We touched
- 15:46Speaker 1: on kittens just a bit there, but I'm want to
- 15:48Speaker 1: ask you a little bit about giddycats. Also want to
- 15:50Speaker 1: talk about introducing your pets to not only the family,
- 15:53Speaker 1: but other other furry friends as well around your family.
- 15:55Speaker 1: Will talk about that and so much more as asked
- 15:58Speaker 1: the Experts and doctor Marty Greer of check Vet continues
- 16:00Speaker 1: right here on thirteen ten wi b A eight fifty
- 16:06Speaker 1: seven thirteen ten WIBA and ask the Experts talking this
- 16:10Speaker 1: morning with doctor Marty Greer of check Out Veterinary the
- 16:13Speaker 1: website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
- 16:17Speaker 1: Talking about adding a new pet to your family. Some
- 16:20Speaker 1: of the things you need to think of before you
- 16:22Speaker 1: add that patent, of course, some of the experiences once
- 16:25Speaker 1: you have that new family member. And doctor talked about
- 16:28Speaker 1: a little bit about dogs. What about cats and kittens
- 16:31Speaker 1: is what a great addition to a family they can
- 16:33Speaker 1: be and they are so much fun to have. But
- 16:38Speaker 1: you do want to also prepare for a homecoming for
- 16:41Speaker 1: a kitten as well.
- 16:41Speaker 2: Don't you, Oh for sure, especially if you have other
- 16:44Speaker 2: cats in the household. So first you want to make
- 16:47Speaker 2: sure that everybody's leukemi and FIV tested. Those are viral
- 16:50Speaker 2: diseases that are infectious. So you don't want to bring
- 16:52Speaker 2: a new kitten into the household with established cat or
- 16:55Speaker 2: cats that may have an infectious disease that will affect
- 16:57Speaker 2: the adult cats. That would break your heart, break my heart,
- 17:01Speaker 2: so you want to be really careful with that. And
- 17:03Speaker 2: then bringing in a new cat, you need to introduce
- 17:05Speaker 2: them carefully. You can't just plunk them down in front
- 17:07Speaker 2: of the other cats and say, here is your new
- 17:09Speaker 2: little buddy. Enjoy because some cats are not that friendly
- 17:13Speaker 2: about having a new cat in the household. So we
- 17:16Speaker 2: have to be careful how we introduce him, so that
- 17:18Speaker 2: the bigger cat doesn't feel offended, doesn't start urinating inappropriately,
- 17:22Speaker 2: doesn't hurt the little baby. So be thoughtful and careful.
- 17:25Speaker 2: There's actually a book called The Natural Cat, I like
- 17:28Speaker 2: books Thentral Cat, that has a whole page or a
- 17:32Speaker 2: whole section in it about introducing a new kitten into
- 17:35Speaker 2: the household and these kind of fun little techniques. Patricia
- 17:38Speaker 2: McConnell's book called Feeling Out Numbers and Patricia taught behavior
- 17:43Speaker 2: at the University of Wisconsin and has been involved with
- 17:46Speaker 2: behavior for her entire career. He's got a great book
- 17:51Speaker 2: called Feeling out Numbered on how to handle a multiple
- 17:54Speaker 2: pet household, a multiple dog household. So there's there's some
- 17:56Speaker 2: really good resources out there. Make sure the kitten knows
- 17:59Speaker 2: how to use the litter, but make sure they can
- 18:00Speaker 2: get in and out of the litter box because sometimes
- 18:02Speaker 2: they're any bitty and we forget that they're not tall
- 18:05Speaker 2: enough to crawl up into the box, and then you
- 18:06Speaker 2: get upset if they're going potting on the floor. It's like, well,
- 18:09Speaker 2: it's not really his fault because he's not able to
- 18:12Speaker 2: reach the box. So you know, make sure they can
- 18:14Speaker 2: get to their food and water. You know, be certain
- 18:17Speaker 2: that all those things are happening, so that your introductions
- 18:20Speaker 2: go well. Several of my staff members have just gotten
- 18:22Speaker 2: new kittens, and you know what I really like best
- 18:25Speaker 2: is not getting one kitten, but getting two. And I
- 18:27Speaker 2: know it sounds a little self serving, like, oh, sure,
- 18:30Speaker 2: she just wants us to have a bunch of cats
- 18:32Speaker 2: so that they spend a bunch of money. Kittens work
- 18:35Speaker 2: really well in pairs. They do very well if they're
- 18:38Speaker 2: socialized together, if they're raised together, they're always going to
- 18:41Speaker 2: be best friends, and that works much better than trying
- 18:43Speaker 2: to bring you know, a kitten into the house and
- 18:45Speaker 2: then six months later bringing in another kitten. So, if
- 18:48Speaker 2: you're thinking about getting a kitten, and you know, the
- 18:50Speaker 2: thing about kittens is there's usually a lot of them.
- 18:53Speaker 2: If you go to the shelter, you go to the
- 18:54Speaker 2: Humane society, there's usually an abundance of kittens. Especially spring
- 18:58Speaker 2: and fall. There's kitten seasons because the cats cycle seasonally,
- 19:03Speaker 2: so that there's kittens in you know, kind of bunches.
- 19:05Speaker 2: It's really nice to have two kittens. They raise together,
- 19:08Speaker 2: they keep each other company, they play with each other.
- 19:11Speaker 2: It takes a lot of the burden off of you
- 19:13Speaker 2: for socializing them and for having to, you know, like
- 19:16Speaker 2: endure their playfulness at two o'clock in the morning when
- 19:18Speaker 2: they're running around on your head and I'm sure Atum
- 19:21Speaker 2: probably can probably nodding right about now, yes, yes, So
- 19:26Speaker 2: those things can be really helpful. So if you're going
- 19:28Speaker 2: to get a cat, just get too. It's not twice
- 19:30Speaker 2: as much work. It's so much easier to have two
- 19:33Speaker 2: kittens in one.
- 19:34Speaker 1: Really good to know about any I also have two cats.
- 19:36Speaker 1: They're just the most fantastic things in the world. As
- 19:39Speaker 1: we talked this morning with doctor Greer, today is today
- 19:41Speaker 1: pick up phone. Give them a call at check Out
- 19:43Speaker 1: Veterinary telephone number six oh eight three sixty seven hundred.
- 19:46Speaker 1: That's three one eight sixty seven hundred. Learn more online
- 19:49Speaker 1: check out vet dot com. That's check out vet dot com. Doctor,
- 19:53Speaker 1: it's always great chatting you enjoy this most fantastic of days.
- 19:56Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 19:56Speaker 1: It comes your way next year. On thirteen ten. Wivy
- 19:59Speaker 1: right