The Pet Doctor - Keeping your pets healthy & pet wellness - Pets & Animals on Pet Life Radio (PetLifeRadio.com)

Life is a matter of perspective. You thought your mom would understand when you didn’t call her when you said you would. It was no big deal. You were tired. To your silently brooding mother it was just another sign that you don’t respect, cherish and love her. One more example of your lack of regard for her feelings. Sound familiar?  As a veterinarian and an ailurophile (cat lover) I must admit that are so many times that I just don’t understand my feline patients or my own two cats Quidi Vidi and Zimzala. But I am getting better. I know that I am not alone. My guest is Dr. Sandra Mitchell, a board-certified veterinary practitioner in feline and exotic companion mammal medicine.

The human/animal bond has led to tremendous advances in pet care. There are times when this bond become pathological. When a pet can’t be with their humans, they can have panic attacks-separation anxiety. My guest is Dr. Gary Landsberg. He is both an American and European board certified in veterinary behaviorist. He has a behavioral clinical practice in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Landsberg is a award wining consultant, author and international lecturer. He is also a member of the executive council of the Fear Free Initiative.

The other week I spoke to an infectious disease expert on the current novel corona virus pandemic. Today my guest and I are going to chat about issues that can arise as a result of us hunkering down during our self-quarantine social distancing. Our pets are loving it…finally their humans are home and can pay more attention to them…whooopeee! But with this closeness can come potential problems, in and outside the home.  My guest is Dr. Tina Wismer. She is a veterinarian, board certified veterinary toxicologist and diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. Dr. Wismer is also the Medical Director of the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center.

Marijuana and it’s non-tripy cousin, CBD are touted to treat everything from pain, stress disorders, glaucoma, cancer, eating disorders and a plethora of other conditions. Though medical marijuana is currently legal in 23 states it is still deemed illegal by the Federal Government leading to a paucity of scientific research. The purple haze swirling around this lack of knowledge is blinding. Just discussing the use of medical marijuana and CBD is illegal in 49 states. California is only one where veterinarians can least have an open discussion with pet owners. Yes, marijuana and CBD are natural. You can find them in everything from toothpaste and tea, ointments and cookies, candy and tinctures but that doesn’t make these products inherently safe. What other nefarious substances may be lurking in these products. Then there is the problem of trying to determine which product is best for a particular problem? How much should you give? My guest is Dr. Robert Silver is one of the foremost authorities on the topic of medical marijuana and CBD in our pets. Dr Silver is a 1982 graduate of Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, with a Masters in Cardiopulmonary physiology also from CSU. Dr Silver helped to found, and is Chief medical Officer of RxVitamins, an exclusive veterinary nutraceutical company, for the past 25 years. Dr Silver is also the author of the peer-reviewed article in Animals.com The Endocannabinoid System of Animals. Dr Silver has authored textbook chapters on veterinary cannabis, and published his classic: Medical Marijuana and Your Pet. Today Dr Silver will share his clinical and research-based knowledge of cannabis, and especially CBD oil in veterinary species.

Likely you and your mom never heard of Ignaz Semmelweis but they both subscribed to a simple act of hygiene that could save your life…washing your hands. In 1847 Hungarian physician, Dr. Semmelweis, saw that women who gave birth under the care of doctors in Vienna had a much high rate of death that was 3 time higher than those who were cared for by midwives. The difference was the simple act of hygiene, washing hands with a chlorinated lime solution. You can’t turn on the TV, listen to the radio or peruse social media feeds without hearing about SARS-CoV-2, commonly known as corona virus and the disease it caused, Covid-19. What is this virus, is your pet at risk, are you at risk from your pet? What can you do to protect all the members of your family and your community? My guest, Dr. Jane Sykes is an infectious disease specialist, a veterinarian, holds a Ph.D. in veterinary microbiology and is the Chief Veterinary Medical Office of the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. We are going to bring you the most accurate information that is available at this time. Please let your friends about this podcast. It could help prevent someone you care for from getting ill and allow us all to get back to the life we enjoyed before Covid-19 as quickly as possible.

I was a pretty sickly kid. At 3 ½ years of age my appendix ruptured and the doctors didn’t figure it out for 14 days. I spent a lot of time around physicians and found medicine fascinating. But it wasn’t until I was in college that I changed my major from pre-med to pre-vet. I realized that rather than just taking care of males and females, adults and kids and variations on the theme, I could be a veterinarian. I would be able to care for a zoo full of creatures. I could be a pediatrician to gerontologist, behaviorist to surgeon and get kisses from puppies with sour milk breath…what could be better? You might know of a tween or teen who has already made up their mind that veterinary medicine is the career path for them. Getting exposure to all the vet med can be is extremely helpful in the journey of dream to reality. But where can these youngsters get that experience? Dr. Chris Carpenter, the founder of Vet Set Go is helping kids in 6th to 8th grade discover the myriad of opportunities that veterinary medicine encompasses. Besides books, communities and blogs, Vet Set Go is providing scholarships to 3 lucky kids so they can attend the upcoming week long Auburn Junior Veterinary Camp. Vet Set Go is covering tuition, room and board.

Daily news reports warn us of the impact that our carbon foot print is having on our planet. We are told to change how we live and what we drive. But could our pets themselves -what and who we feed them contribute to their detrimental environmental pawprint? We pamper our dogs and cats like children and are told by pet food companies that we need to feed them like wolves and bobcats. But is this the best diet for them? Could these ancestral diets be contributing to the rise in obesity in our pets and climate destruction? What can we do for our pets that is easy, safe and nutritious and possibly reverse climate change? My guest is Dr. Ernie Ward, an internationally recognized veterinarian, author and lecturer from North Carolina with expertise in senior pets, pain management, nutrition and founder of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. He will soon be releasing a book that is sure to be paradigm shifting for all pet parents who are concerned with providing the best possible care for their furry family members and the veterinarians who care for them.

If an earthquake, fire, flood or storm were to affect your neighborhood, would you be able to save your human and animal family members? But you have time. What are the chances that you need to worry about it? As emergency situations seem to be affecting more and more people more frequently, fire, police and emergency first responders can easily become overwhelmed. You need to prepare and you need to prepare NOW. But what do you need…at home, at work and in your car? My guest is an expert in emergency preparedness. Sadly, she has recently been involved in too many events that have put her knowledge into action in her hometown area of Southern California. Darleen Geekie is a registered veterinary technician, veterinary practice owner and president of VEMA, Inc., Veterinary Emergency Medical Assistance, makers of the only pet emergency kit made specifically for animals by veterinarians.

Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur are two scientists whose names may sound vaguely familiar. These two scientists of the 1800 are responsible for saving millions of lives by discovering the connection of bacteria and disease. But not all bacteria are bad. In reality we need a balanced microbial population of bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and viruses to stay alive. But of the 100 trillion microbes that can be found in and on an animal’s body, only 1% of them can be cultured in a lab. So how do we pinpoint the microbial makeup of disease? How do we eradicate the bad bugs while not disrupting the exquisitely delicate equilibrium of the remaining microbes? And oh yes, how do we not give rise to Super Bugs that defy all of the antibiotics in our arsenal? My guest is Dr. Janina Krumbeck. She is the director of Microbiome Applications at MiDog.

It may look like your pet is just staring off into space for a few minutes or it could fall to the ground, flail with its legs, vocalize, urinate and defecate. You feel so helpless. You think your pet could be dying. What could have caused this? Did your neighbor poison your pet? Is it time to consider euthanasia? Your pet may be having a seizure, and my guest Dr. Kelley Vurik, a board-certified veterinary neurologist and neurosurgeon at Veterinary Neurology Center in Southern California will help to demystify what you're seeing. She's going to chat with me today about the possible causes, treatments and outcomes for these frightening displays of neurological activity.

If you thought finding the perfect soul mate and the requisite dating scene was tough, try finding a com-Pet-ible mutt-match. The process is nothing to bark. It is imperative that you get it right because once you bring a pet into your home it is for life…their life. But now there is an app for that…How I Met My Dog? By answering some simple questions, you too can find a fabulous dog and rescue one at the same time. My guest is Jodi Andersen, the Chief Pet Expert at How I Met My Dog.com

Did you realize that by merely vaccinating your dog or cat you could save the lives of over 55,000 impoverished people, the majority of them being children on an annual basis? That is one person every ten minutes. These deaths come from a wholly preventable disease-canine rabies. Rabies is a viral disease that has been virtually eradicated from our domesticated pets in the United States because of a robust vaccination program but still ravages people, pets and wildlife in many areas globally. My guest is Dr. Robert Duquette, an Associate Director of Veterinary Professional Services for Merck Animal Health. We are going to discuss how a routine rabies vaccine for your pet can be the lifesaving shot that is felt around the world.

It’s a feeling…eyes boring into your very soul. You are helpless. You are compelled to follow the commands that are flooding into your consciousness. Your hand trembles as you reach for something that could have dire consequences. Who is controlling your actions? Some nefarious predator? No. It is your cat or dog is trying to con you out of something from your plate. A little bit won’t hurt…or will it? Maybe your pet isn’t feeling well and you want to avoid a trip to the veterinarians…if you take something when you have the same symptoms, why not give it to your pet? A little bit won’t hurt…or will it? Now there is an app that is easy to use, reliable and answers your questions about what you can and shouldn’t give your pet. It was created by my guest, veterinarian Dr. Mari Delaney.

What do Overland Park, Kansas, the California cities of San Francisco, Thousand Oaks, Salinas and Oceanside, along with Laredo, Texas, Clarksville, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon Providence, Rhode Island and Jersey City, New Jersey have in common? They share the dubious honor of being named earlier this year, the top 10 cities in the United States with the highest percentage increases in positive heartworm tests in our companion pets. This mosquito-borne disease can be deadly to cats and dogs. And it's one hundred percent preventable. But what if you don't live in one of these areas? What if your pet is totally indoors? What if you've never seen mosquitoes? Do you still have to worry? My guest today is an expert in veterinary parasitology and has had first-hand experience in the devastating effects that this disease can have on our pets. Dr. Cassan Pulaski has a masters of preventive health and is a doctor of veterinary medicine. She's a member of the Board of the Companion Animal Parasite Council, a post doctorate research and teaching associate at the University of Georgia, and director of the parasitology section of the Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. She knows what she's talking about. And we'll be chatting with her this week. Tune in!

If you have a pet, most likely you love it a lot. You buy the best food you can afford. You give it lots of treats….in fact if you were to admit it, it is a bit pudgy. Your pet has a toybox full of goodies. It has a plethora of clothes and collars. When you are away at work…and you are away a lot, you have a pet nanny cam so you can look in on it. You visit your vet whenever it is ill … and it hates going there. You try to play with it a couple times a week. All in all, you are a pretty good pet parent. This is all marvelous but are you truly doing all you can? Most pet parents sincerely care but sometimes they don’t know what they don’t know and that can have detrimental effects on the pet’s quality and quantity of life. Now you can obtain reputable, reliable pet physical and mental health information on any of your devices and much of it is free! My guest is Steve Dale. He is a friend, a certified animal behavior consultant, a journalist, host of two nationally syndicated radio, special contributor at WGN Radio in Chicago and for 21 years wrote on pet matters for the Chicago Tribune. You may have read his work in USA Weekend, Cat Fancy and more. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, National Geographic Explore, Fox News and a plethora of various Animal Planet shows.