Latest / The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of / Dr. Josh Davis Vet Q&A from October 21st, 2026
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: It's Dr. Josh Davis. He's here with us in the
- 0:04Speaker 1: studio to answer questions that you might have about the health,
- 0:09Speaker 1: general well-being, or perhaps the sickness of your cats and
- 0:13Speaker 1: dogs specifically. Dr. Davis is the chief surgeon and vet
- 0:20Speaker 1: at Trilogy Veterinary Clinic in Sandy.
- 0:24Speaker 2: Yep, that's right.
- 0:24Speaker 1: All right.
- 0:27Speaker 3: It's a beautiful facility, and everybody that works there is super,
- 0:30Speaker 3: super nice.
- 0:30Speaker 2: Yes, that's right. They better be or else. Your pets
- 0:33Speaker 2: are in good hands there.
- 0:36Speaker 1: So if you call or text, we need to know
- 0:40Speaker 1: what kind of an animal it is, and we prefer
- 0:44Speaker 1: to know the name of your pet. So 877-602-9696 or 339-864-TEXT-QUESTIONS. Oh,
- 0:46Speaker 1: I had a question. Go ahead.
- 0:56Speaker 2: I've been seeing some things online.
- 0:58Speaker 3: I get a lot of pet algorithm stuff sent to
- 1:00Speaker 3: me about only feeding your.
- 1:03Speaker 2: Dog once a day. Oh, that's the healthiest thing to do.
- 1:07Speaker 1: Really?
- 1:08Speaker 2: Is that anything that has any truth to.
- 1:10Speaker 1: It at all?
- 1:11Speaker 2: Uh, I, I don't know that I would say that
- 1:13Speaker 2: that's necessarily better than anything else. Um, some dogs and
- 1:17Speaker 2: cats do fine with that and that fits into people's
- 1:19Speaker 2: lifestyles sometimes. But, um, yeah, I think about them kind
- 1:24Speaker 2: of like us and I don't think we would enjoy
- 1:26Speaker 2: only eating one meal a day. You know, I mean,
- 1:28Speaker 2: we do different things than them, but I find, um,
- 1:31Speaker 2: like breakfast and dinner, I think fits them pretty well and, um,
- 1:34Speaker 2: keeps them, you know, kind of even keel throughout the
- 1:37Speaker 2: day that way. But, uh, so I would say, I'm
- 1:40Speaker 2: not sure that it matters that much, but, um, you know,
- 1:43Speaker 2: everything online is, I take always with a grain of salt.
- 1:46Speaker 2: That's why I'm glad I have you here to ask.
- 1:48Speaker 2: Everyone has the next best idea, the next best thing, but,
- 1:51Speaker 2: At the end of the day, it's not always true.
- 1:53Speaker 1: My cat, Klaus, gets two meals a day, one in
- 1:55Speaker 1: the morning and one at night. That's because he has
- 1:58Speaker 1: to have his insulin.
- 2:00Speaker 2: In cases like that, especially, he has diabetics and everything.
- 2:03Speaker 4: We offer Hudson two meals a day, but there are
- 2:06Speaker 4: times when he decides breakfast is just not his thing.
- 2:09Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's okay.
- 2:10Speaker 1: It's fine.
- 2:11Speaker 2: It's his choice at that point.
- 2:13Speaker 4: All right, let's go to Alicia.
- 2:16Speaker 1: Alicia.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 2:17Speaker 1: Are you there?
- 2:18Speaker 5: Hey, yes.
- 2:19Speaker 6: Thanks for letting me listen.
- 2:20Speaker 1: Yes, you're welcome. Tell us about your dog or cat
- 2:23Speaker 1: and what the animal's name is and what's your question.
- 2:27Speaker 6: Yes, I have an eight-year-old Shorky. He's a Shipsy Yorkie
- 2:30Speaker 6: mix named Bert. He's part of a bonded litter mate
- 2:33Speaker 6: pair that I rescued years ago. So he's got a
- 2:36Speaker 6: bunch of fun quirks. But about two weeks ago, he
- 2:39Speaker 6: started just randomly limping and favoring one of his legs.
- 2:42Speaker 6: And there doesn't seem to be any pain or injury
- 2:46Speaker 6: or anything that I can find.
- 2:48Speaker 7: And it seems to kind of be off and on.
- 2:50Speaker 6: And I can't figure out if there's anything that would
- 2:52Speaker 6: be causing it.
- 2:53Speaker 2: Okay. Is it a back leg or front leg?
- 2:56Speaker 6: It's a back leg.
- 2:57Speaker 2: A back leg.
- 2:58Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah.
- 2:59Speaker 2: The most, so in general for pets, if they are
- 3:03Speaker 2: walking abnormally or limping, that's kind of their way of
- 3:06Speaker 2: telling you there's a problem and they may not be
- 3:09Speaker 2: crying out in pain or anything like that, but limping is,
- 3:13Speaker 2: it implies there's something dysfunctional.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Is the pet saying, are you seeing this?
- 3:17Speaker 8: Yeah.
- 3:17Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 3:18Speaker 2: They're telling you something's going on. That often is painful,
- 3:21Speaker 2: but can be neurologic sometimes. And For that breed in
- 3:24Speaker 2: your situation, I would be super suspicious about the most
- 3:28Speaker 2: common one we see is called a patella luxation. And
- 3:32Speaker 2: basically that's where the kneecap isn't in a solid position.
- 3:36Speaker 2: And so it can pop in and out of place
- 3:38Speaker 2: and they can be fine one minute, limping or hobbling
- 3:41Speaker 2: around the next minute. And then they seem to be
- 3:43Speaker 2: fine again. And that's the most common reason for that breed.
- 3:47Speaker 2: Could be others, but that's my highest suspicion. How do
- 3:49Speaker 2: you deal with that problem? Depending on the severity of it.
- 3:53Speaker 2: Some dogs we don't do much, except for weight management's
- 3:57Speaker 2: really important. Obese dogs really struggle with that. And then
- 4:00Speaker 2: if there is some pain, we'll put them on anti-inflammatories.
- 4:03Speaker 2: And the more severe cases, surgery is often the best option.
- 4:07Speaker 4: Hudson does that. We used to stretch his leg out
- 4:11Speaker 4: just so. I think you showed us how to do it.
- 4:14Speaker 2: Pop it back in. Pop it back in.
- 4:15Speaker 4: But he's learned to pop it back in himself.
- 4:18Speaker 2: Yeah. They'll kick their leg way back and usually pops
- 4:21Speaker 2: it back in.
- 4:22Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 4:22Speaker 2: So that's what I would be suspicious of for you.
- 4:25Speaker 8: Yep.
- 4:25Speaker 9: All right.
- 4:25Speaker 1: Okay, great.
- 4:26Speaker 6: So it sounds like go get him checked out at
- 4:28Speaker 6: least to understand there may be some things to do
- 4:30Speaker 6: at home, but better show us how to stretch.
- 4:31Speaker 1: It out or something like that.
- 4:33Speaker 2: Get a diagnosis and then, yeah, then you know what
- 4:35Speaker 2: to do better. Get a diagnosis.
- 4:37Speaker 1: All right. All right, Alicia.
- 4:39Speaker 6: Thank you so much.
- 4:40Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 4:41Speaker 1: And we've got a couple of lines going here, so
- 4:43Speaker 1: let's talk to these folks.
- 4:45Speaker 4: The caller on line three dropped off, so let's go
- 4:47Speaker 4: to John. Hello, John.
- 4:49Speaker 1: John, what's your dog or cat's name, and what's the problem?
- 4:52Speaker 9: So my dog's name is Lily. She's a chocolate lab.
- 4:58Speaker 9: And she likes to– so I have a leopard gecko.
- 5:03Speaker 9: And she likes to give the leopard gecko rides around
- 5:06Speaker 9: the house on her back.
- 5:07Speaker 1: No, she doesn't.
- 5:08Speaker 9: I want a picture.
- 5:09Speaker 2: She does.
- 5:11Speaker 9: I can send a picture. Every once in a while,
- 5:14Speaker 9: she'll come up and lick the gecko, and I'm wondering
- 5:17Speaker 9: if my dog can get any sickness from that.
- 5:20Speaker 4: Oh, good question.
- 5:21Speaker 1: Or what about the gecko getting a sickness from the dog?
- 5:25Speaker 9: Either way. But, yeah, it's weird. We try to keep
- 5:28Speaker 9: them away from each other, but they polarize towards each other.
- 5:31Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah.
- 5:32Speaker 2: That's, that's kind of fun. That would be a fun
- 5:34Speaker 2: picture to see. Um, yeah, in general, I mean, different,
- 5:38Speaker 2: totally different, you know, species and categories. So probably not
- 5:41Speaker 2: a lot of crossover and especially if they're both healthy and,
- 5:44Speaker 2: you know, good preventive care and everything. Um, reptiles though,
- 5:47Speaker 2: I do know sometimes there is a risk for things
- 5:50Speaker 2: like salmonella bacteria. Um, so that'd probably be the only
- 5:55Speaker 2: thing I'd be overly concerned about, or if, you know,
- 5:57Speaker 2: we're eating the reptile poop or anything like that, but yeah.
- 6:01Speaker 2: I mean, if they've already had a lot of contact
- 6:03Speaker 2: and they've done well together, I'd say your risk is
- 6:05Speaker 2: probably low, but the bacterial thing is the only thing
- 6:08Speaker 2: I'd probably watch out for.
- 6:10Speaker 1: If you send us a picture, we'll publish it. Just
- 6:12Speaker 1: send it to radioformel at x96. com, and we'll put it
- 6:16Speaker 1: on our socials.
- 6:16Speaker 4: Or video.
- 6:17Speaker 1: Yeah, or video's even better.
- 6:20Speaker 9: Okay.
- 6:20Speaker 1: All right. Thanks for calling.
- 6:22Speaker 4: Thank you, John.
- 6:22Speaker 9: Thank you, guys. Thanks for letting me listen.
- 6:24Speaker 1: You bet. Thank you.
- 6:26Speaker 9: All right.
- 6:26Speaker 4: Let's go to Kelly.
- 6:27Speaker 2: Hello, Kelly. Hello, Kelly.
- 6:29Speaker 1: Kelly, what's your question for the veterinarian?
- 6:32Speaker 8: So I have a cat who is over 19, and
- 6:38Speaker 8: just within the last couple weeks, she's started to use
- 6:42Speaker 8: the carpet as a litter box.
- 6:44Speaker 1: Now, wait, back up. What's the cat's... You say she,
- 6:47Speaker 1: but what's her name?
- 6:49Speaker 8: Kitty.
- 6:50Speaker 1: Her name is Kitty. Her name is Kitty? All right.
- 6:53Speaker 8: 19. Yeah, yeah.
- 6:53Speaker 2: That's... getting definitely more and more common. We're seeing a
- 6:59Speaker 2: lot of older cats and dogs for that matter too. And,
- 7:03Speaker 2: For kitties that age, if we're starting to have accidents
- 7:07Speaker 2: outside the litter box, the most common reason for cats
- 7:11Speaker 2: that age would be kidney disease or going into kidney failure.
- 7:16Speaker 2: They just can't hold it, probably. Yeah, they don't make
- 7:18Speaker 2: urine normally anymore in those cases.
- 7:20Speaker 1: Diabetes, maybe?
- 7:22Speaker 2: Diabetes can do that, yeah.
- 7:24Speaker 1: I mean, our cat didn't stop using the litter box,
- 7:28Speaker 1: but just just flooded the litter.
- 7:31Speaker 5: Oh yeah.
- 7:31Speaker 2: They just constantly.
- 7:32Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 7:33Speaker 8: Right.
- 7:33Speaker 2: Yeah. And so, yeah, I would say, um, blood work
- 7:37Speaker 2: would tell us all of that information and help us,
- 7:41Speaker 2: you know, help us help you determine what's the next
- 7:43Speaker 2: best steps because some diseases are treatable or even, you know,
- 7:48Speaker 2: manageable kidney disease is a little tougher cause there's not
- 7:51Speaker 2: cures for it, but there's ways to manage it. So,
- 7:55Speaker 2: I'd say the sooner you can get some lab work done,
- 7:57Speaker 2: the better we could tell you what to do next
- 7:59Speaker 2: with that because that would be a concern for sure.
- 8:01Speaker 1: If it is diabetes, be prepared. If you want to
- 8:04Speaker 1: keep your cat alive, what we have to do with
- 8:07Speaker 1: our cat, Klaus, is he gets an insulin shot in
- 8:11Speaker 1: the morning before his first meal and an insulin shot
- 8:14Speaker 1: at night before his evening meal. And he doesn't care
- 8:19Speaker 1: for that.
- 8:20Speaker 8: Where do you give him the shot?
- 8:21Speaker 1: She's late.
- 8:23Speaker 8: She's maybe five pounds at the moment.
- 8:26Speaker 9: Oh, tiny.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Klaus has got all kinds of loose skin.
- 8:29Speaker 2: Scruff of the neck.
- 8:31Speaker 4: If you pinch the scruff of the neck, that's the
- 8:33Speaker 4: best place to do it.
- 8:34Speaker 1: That's where it gets.
- 8:35Speaker 2: And there are actually nowadays, too, there's actually oral meds
- 8:38Speaker 2: for diabetic cats, too.
- 8:40Speaker 3: Oh, really?
- 8:40Speaker 2: But I would still, I mean, at that age, I'd
- 8:42Speaker 2: be super concerned about kidney disease. So I would want
- 8:45Speaker 2: to rule that out for sure.
- 8:46Speaker 1: All right.
- 8:47Speaker 4: Get some blood work.
- 8:48Speaker 8: All right. Okay.
- 8:49Speaker 2: All right.
- 8:49Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you. See you later.
- 8:51Speaker 8: Okay. All right.
- 8:52Speaker 4: Let's go to Leslie.
- 8:54Speaker 1: Hi, Leslie. What's your animal and what's its name and
- 8:57Speaker 1: what's the problem?
- 8:59Speaker 7: Good morning, everybody. My animal is a nine-year-old pit bull
- 9:03Speaker 7: male named Rowdy. And, yeah, he's a rescue. I didn't
- 9:09Speaker 7: pick the name and he lives up to it. But
- 9:12Speaker 7: my question is, he... Had some dietary indiscretion last week,
- 9:17Speaker 7: so we had him on his typical bland diet.
- 9:19Speaker 1: What is dietary indiscretion?
- 9:22Speaker 2: What did he get into?
- 9:25Speaker 7: So six months ago, he ate part of a Kong toy,
- 9:28Speaker 7: and that actually ended up coming out of him.
- 9:32Speaker 2: Wow.
- 9:33Speaker 4: That's some heavy chewing.
- 9:34Speaker 9: Yeah.
- 9:36Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 9:37Speaker 7: Like I said, lives up to the name, right?
- 9:39Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 9:40Speaker 7: But this morning on our walk, his stools were back
- 9:43Speaker 7: to being soft after a couple of days of fairly
- 9:47Speaker 7: formed stools. So I was wondering if that's normal or
- 9:50Speaker 7: if I need to be concerned again.
- 9:52Speaker 2: For diarrhea for most pets, as long as they're eating, drinking,
- 9:57Speaker 2: kind of behaving normally most of the time, it's self-limiting
- 10:01Speaker 2: or we'll give them a little bit of help with
- 10:03Speaker 2: probiotics or anti-diarrheals, things like that. But if now if
- 10:07Speaker 2: they're lethargic or not eating or acting off in other ways,
- 10:12Speaker 2: then I would be more concerned about it. But If
- 10:15Speaker 2: the trend continues but we're otherwise fine, you're probably okay
- 10:18Speaker 2: to give it a couple of days. But don't wait
- 10:20Speaker 2: too long if we start to get lethargic or stop eating, drinking.
- 10:23Speaker 2: That's always a bad thing. Perfect.
- 10:26Speaker 1: All right.
- 10:27Speaker 8: Thank you.
- 10:28Speaker 1: Okay.
- 10:28Speaker 4: See you later.
- 10:30Speaker 1: Thank you very much.
- 10:31Speaker 2: Let's see.
- 10:32Speaker 4: We got 877-602-9696 is the number to call. We got
- 10:34Speaker 4: some lines open there. Let's see. I can't call in.
- 10:36Speaker 4: I have a 13-year-old corgi named Bullitt. who has ignored
- 10:46Speaker 4: my commands or calls his whole life. He's always done
- 10:50Speaker 4: whatever he wants. Within the last year, it seems he
- 10:53Speaker 4: might have either become less interested in listening to me
- 10:56Speaker 4: or maybe he's going deaf. How do I tell if
- 10:59Speaker 4: it's still just his attitude or his ears?
- 11:03Speaker 2: Yeah, that one can be tricky because they can't talk
- 11:07Speaker 2: to us and tell us, but we do have little
- 11:09Speaker 2: things we can do to test that. And also... getting
- 11:12Speaker 2: down into the air and looking at the structure and
- 11:14Speaker 2: the eardrum and all that's important. And, um, and then
- 11:17Speaker 2: there's different ways we can test for that.
- 11:19Speaker 1: For sure.
- 11:20Speaker 4: I've been hearing that dry kibble and water is bad
- 11:23Speaker 4: for animals and underfeeding or calorie restriction is good for longevity.
- 11:29Speaker 4: Is there truth to this?
- 11:31Speaker 2: Oh, the water thing. I, I can't really think of
- 11:33Speaker 2: a reason why that would be a bad thing, especially
- 11:36Speaker 2: with kibble, but, And so restricting is, it's healthy if,
- 11:42Speaker 2: especially if you have an overweight or obese pet, but
- 11:45Speaker 2: maintaining a good body condition, I think is, is kind
- 11:48Speaker 2: of ideal and that's different for every pet. So, I
- 11:51Speaker 2: wouldn't intentionally restrict them into, you know, underweight status or
- 11:55Speaker 2: anything like that. But I think portion control and body
- 11:58Speaker 2: condition management is very, very important. And animals are different.
- 12:02Speaker 3: Like I think with Oakley, I could do free feeding
- 12:05Speaker 3: with her. Like I could leave a bowl out and
- 12:07Speaker 3: she'd probably come and go to it. But with Riley,
- 12:11Speaker 3: she would just eat anything that was anywhere.
- 12:14Speaker 2: They'll, they'll become morbid. They'll be so at night if
- 12:16Speaker 2: you let them. Yeah. So, In my experience, I'd say
- 12:19Speaker 2: 99% of pets cannot self-regulate, and that's why it's so
- 12:23Speaker 2: important to do that. But if you get lucky with
- 12:26Speaker 2: the one that can, I love that too, but it's
- 12:29Speaker 2: just not reality most of the time.
- 12:31Speaker 1: Klaus the cat cannot self-regulate. But he still doesn't lose weight.
- 12:36Speaker 1: I don't know what happens there. I guess he's just
- 12:39Speaker 1: got fat on him that's never going to go away.
- 12:41Speaker 8: It's hard.
- 12:41Speaker 2: With diabetics, it can be a challenge for sure.
- 12:43Speaker 4: Okay, here's a twisty-turny question.
- 12:47Speaker 8: Uh-oh.
- 12:47Speaker 4: Hi, I have a female Australian shepherd named Coco who
- 12:51Speaker 4: is about three years old. She was spayed at around
- 12:55Speaker 4: six months old by a neighbor who was pet-sitting her.
- 12:59Speaker 4: Without my permission.
- 13:00Speaker 2: What?
- 13:01Speaker 1: No, I don't think it was done in the kitchen.
- 13:03Speaker 2: Hopefully they took it somewhere.
- 13:05Speaker 1: I hope so.
- 13:06Speaker 4: Is there any possibility of reversing the procedure or would
- 13:10Speaker 4: it be permanent depending on what was removed? If reversal
- 13:13Speaker 4: is possible, would it be safe for her? What risks
- 13:16Speaker 4: would be involved and approximately how much would it cost?
- 13:20Speaker 2: Most of the time, most space surgeries are what we
- 13:23Speaker 2: call ovarial hysterectomy. So you take the ovaries and the uterus,
- 13:27Speaker 2: which not reversible at all for that.
- 13:30Speaker 8: Yeah.
- 13:31Speaker 2: In humans and women, there are procedures for sparing the
- 13:35Speaker 2: organs because we do like to hang on to hormones
- 13:38Speaker 2: as long as possible and things like that. But in dogs,
- 13:40Speaker 2: it theoretically can be done. I've seen it done here
- 13:44Speaker 2: and there, but it's not necessary because when we spay,
- 13:47Speaker 2: it's usually for population control or to minimize certain cancer
- 13:51Speaker 2: risks too. So, yeah, you're probably not in a reversible
- 13:55Speaker 2: position at this point. All right.
- 13:57Speaker 4: Sarah, your last question quickly, please.
- 14:01Speaker 2: Okay.
- 14:01Speaker 5: So I have a nine month old black lab mix
- 14:05Speaker 5: that her name is Ruby that we got from rescue rovers.
- 14:08Speaker 5: And I have been making her dog food with like, um,
- 14:12Speaker 5: ground meat I get from a bougie pet store. And
- 14:15Speaker 5: then I put pumpkin rice, bunch of vegetables. Um, is
- 14:19Speaker 5: that good? How do I know she's getting all the
- 14:21Speaker 5: nutrients that she needs?
- 14:23Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. Um, homemade diets are definitely
- 14:26Speaker 2: trickier to make them complete and, It sounds like you're
- 14:29Speaker 2: being fairly holistic with different things. One thing you can
- 14:33Speaker 2: do is add a daily multivitamin into the mix of that,
- 14:37Speaker 2: and those could be powders or capsules, things like that.
- 14:40Speaker 2: And at least then you have a better shot at it.
- 14:42Speaker 2: And there are some websites, too, that can give you
- 14:45Speaker 2: good recipes to try and get a little bit better
- 14:47Speaker 2: that way. But it's a lot more work, and it's
- 14:50Speaker 2: a lot trickier sometimes to do that. But if you've
- 14:53Speaker 2: got the time and space, yeah, go for it.
- 14:56Speaker 9: Right.
- 14:56Speaker 5: Do you have any good websites for recipes? Because that's
- 14:59Speaker 5: the other thing is the Internet.
- 15:01Speaker 6: Has just so many.
- 15:02Speaker 2: Yeah, there are. I don't have any specific, but there
- 15:05Speaker 2: are actual specific pet nutrition websites. So and they're usually
- 15:10Speaker 2: going to be a little more reputable than just the random,
- 15:12Speaker 2: you know, random search that way.
- 15:13Speaker 8: All right.
- 15:15Speaker 1: Awesome.
- 15:15Speaker 8: Thank you.
- 15:16Speaker 1: Thanks, Sarah. Is it cheaper to do that? Is that
- 15:19Speaker 1: why you do it?
- 15:20Speaker 2: I think it's probably way more expensive. It's more expensive.
- 15:23Speaker 2: Because you have to kind of buy either everything fresh
- 15:25Speaker 2: or frozen fresh, things like that. And good quality kibble is,
- 15:29Speaker 2: I think it's just fine, you know.
- 15:31Speaker 9: All right.
- 15:32Speaker 8: Dr.
- 15:32Speaker 1: Josh Davis, thanks for being with us. If you have
- 15:36Speaker 1: any needs for your pets, Trilogy Veterinary Hospital or Clinic,
- 15:41Speaker 1: I think.
- 15:41Speaker 2: Yes, it is. In Sandy.
- 15:42Speaker 1: In Sandy. Look for that. Thanks, Josh.
- 15:44Speaker 9: All right.
- 15:44Speaker 2: Have a good one, guys.
- 15:46Speaker 3: All right.