Paws, Reflect & Heal with Dr. Randy

Q&A With Dr. Randy - Your Pet Questions Answered

• Dr. Randy Pet Vet

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Summary
In this episode of PAWS, Reflect and Heal, Dr. Randy Aronson discusses fascinating facts about cats and dogs, answers common questions pet parents have about their pets' health and wellness, and emphasizes the importance of veterinary care and safety practices. The conversation highlights the unique characteristics of pets, nutritional needs, and preventive care to ensure a long and healthy life for our furry friends.

Takeaways

  • Cats have a unique way of communicating with humans through meows.
  • Dogs possess a second nose that detects pheromones.
  • Routine veterinary tests can help catch health issues early.
  • Spaying and neutering can prevent certain health problems.
  • Not all lumps or bumps on pets are dangerous, but some can be serious.
  • Purring in cats may promote healing and tissue repair.
  • Dogs can smell in 3D, aiding in their tracking abilities.
  • Whiskers in cats serve as radar sensors for navigation.
  • Bad breath in pets often indicates dental disease or microbiome imbalance.
  • Modern anesthesia practices in veterinary medicine are very safe.

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Send your questions to randy@drrandypetvet.com so Dr. Randy can answer them in future episodes!

If you'd like to schedule a telemedicine appointment with me, please send an email to info@pawstucson.com. Make sure to note your telephone number and a brief description of the issue you're having. Someone from my office will respond to your email to schedule an appointment.

Connect with me on my website, social media pages, and all podcast platforms!

Products and Resources I Recommend
Microbiome Testing
Animal Biome - Gut Microbiome Health Test

Nutrition
K9 Natural

Feline Natural

Just for Dogs
Farmers Dog

Other...

Speaker 00:

Hi everybody, this is Dr. Randy from Dr. Randy PetFet. Welcome to Pause, Reflect, and Heal. This is the podcast that celebrates all of our pets' wellness, lifespan, and longevity. We're going to start the show very shortly, but before I want to ask a favor.

Speaker 00:

If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button, like the show, and even leave a comment if you would. It helps us a great deal. Also, you can follow me on Instagram at Dr Randy Petvet. And if you'd like to receive health and wellness tips from me, go to drandypetvet.com. Right up at the top, you can sign up for my newsletter. I appreciate that all very much. Thank you and enjoy the show.

Speaker 00:

Today we're gonna do some fun things. First, we're gonna talk about facts that you may not know about your cat and dog. Number one, cats have a vocabulary of different meows, just for humans. So cats rarely meow at each other after kittenhood. They develop meows mainly to communicate with their pet parents. Two, their whiskers are like radar sensors. So whiskers are deeply embedded and can detect tiny air movements, helping cats navigate in the dark. This is often was used when cats were fural and lived in caves or dens so that they know that they would fit inside the cave or den and not get stuck. Also, cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees. So each ear has 32 muscles, letting them pinpoint sounds with incredible precision. Purring may help healing. So the vibration or frequency of cats purr, which is at about 25 to 150 Hertz, is known to promote bone density and tissue repair. And the last on cats is that cats sweat through their paws only. So on hot days or during stress, like at the vet, you may notice their damp little paws. This is very, very common. We see it in our veterin practice all the time. Let's switch to our canine friends, our dogs. So dogs have a second nose. The vulmar nasal organ, or it's called Jacobson's organ, lets dogs detect pheromones and chemical signals humans can't. Often in our practice, we use a product called adaptyl, which is a canine pheromone product, very, very good in acclimatizing a new pet into the household, getting dogs through stressful situations like going into a kennel, also thunderstorms or firework type situations. It can be very soothing. And it's a smell that you cannot pick up, only the dogs can pick up. Dogs' nose prints are very unique. So just like human fingerprints, each dog's nose print is one of a kind. Dogs can smell in 3D. So they can detect scents separately with each nostril, helping them track the direction of smells. And also it's uh it's just a very, very useful in their hunting situation. Tail wagging direction matters. So research as that research has actually shown that wagging more to the right signals positive feelings, while left-sided wagging can indicate stress. And lastly, dogs have dew claws and it's a purpose. So we don't like to see these dew claws removed. We've actually learned through our rehabilitation training that dogs dig in with these uh dew claws. So these extra toes help with gripping, climbing out of water, and stabilizing at high speed. Now you will see dogs with extra sets of dewclaws on their hind and St. Bernard's, sometimes Huskies. We'll see them in Newfoundlands. And many times these can also be getting in the way, they can get damaged, they can get caught on fences. So sometimes those will be removed, but the front dew claws should never be removed on a dog. Next, I'd like to talk about 10 questions pet parents ask veterinarians. Of course, the first question that I always normally get is what should I feed my pet? And you we've had multiple podcasts on this, obviously, non-inflammatory foods, whole fresh foods are very important, but they really need a balanced diet. So make sure you choose the right food for your pet's age, size, and health needs. And this is something you can consult with your veterinarian. Also, you know if uh the supplements are a good idea, uh, they should be discussed also. You'll learn through my podcasts and newsletters and QAs that I do that I'm a big fan on freeze-dried whole food or lightly cooked foods or air-dried products. And this will keep the carbohydrate levels down, the inflammation down in your dog's body, and really help uh in your dog or cat's situation. The next question that often gets asked is what vaccines does my pet need and how often? So vaccines are here to protect against serious diseases. Some are required for all pets, while others depend on your pet's lifestyle. And normally at Pause Veterinary Center, we make a personalized plan for your dog or cat. Now, I am a big believer in pet titers, vaccine titers. Vaccine titer is a situation where we measure whether your dog or cat is protected against the diseases we're going to vaccinate for. And often when we get a protective titre returned to us from Kansas State University, we will not vaccinate them until something in that titer wanes or sl or low gets lower. People ask, well, what about rabies? Well, rabies is important in licensing situations, but I would explain to you that in Hawaii or England, which are rabies-free zones, your dog or cat could not get into those areas unless they had a protective titre. So we really should be looking at titers more often in our pets than not so we can really eliminate that huge immunological load of a vaccine. Another question we get often asked is how do we prevent fleas, ticks, and heartworms? These parasites can cause very serious illnesses. And we recommend safe, effective preventatives. Most of the time, this will usually require year-round protection. Many areas don't get enough of a hard freeze to kill off mosquitoes, so we really like our heartworm prevention to be year-round. I'm kind of using more an all-in-all inclusive, kind of chewable heartworm preventative. It seems to work the best and is the safest. Another question we get all asked a lot is should we spay or neuter my pet and when? So spaying and neutering can prevent certain health issues and unwanted litters, of course. And the best timing will depend on the breed and age. I will tell you in dogs, I always like to see if we could hold off neutering or spaying until 14 to 16 months due to the fact that the dog's bone plates close, and we really want them to have that full growth before possible. Many of my clients don't spay or neuter their dogs, and we we don't really see a high incidence of breast cancer or uterine problems or prostate cancer or testicular cancer. So many times I think having those organs intact can really be very helpful for the longevity of our pets. Another thing we get asked a lot in the office is is a lump or bump something to worry about? Well, not all lumps or bumps are dangerous, but some can be. And we can check them with a simple test to give you peace of mind. Often what is done is called an FNA or fine needle aspirate, and we look for inciting cells that could be signs of malignancies and may indicate that this lump or bump should be removed as soon as possible. Many, many times removing a primary cancer will prevent it spreading to other places in the body. There is cancer like mast cell disease that can be treated pretty commonly and easily, even with supplements, if it's diagnosed and treated early. Another question we see a lot or we get a lot is why is my pet so itchy? Well, itchiness is really caused by allergies, parasites, or skin infections. I allude to the fact that I really like to see us do a food sensitivity test like Nutriscan or the VDI Labs allergy test, and I'll couple that with a biome test to balance my dog or cat's body. Often, when these two tests are incorporated, we can pick a good treatment plan as far as the right food, the right supplements, and avoid very costly medications and also a lot of secondary problems that can exist from those medicines that are picked. What about my cat's bad breath or my dog's bad breath? Well, bad breath is really an indicator of dental disease, but it also could be an indicator of dysbiosis or imbalanced microbiome. Many times a dental cleaning is needed to be done, and this is something to compensate that bad breath. I do like to teach my clients and pet parents how to uh brush their cat and dog's teeth properly, starting off with kitten puppyhood, so we really can prevent some of these dental problems. I also am a firm believer in dogs chewing hard products. That seems to eliminate many, many problems. And we do advocate uh uh frozen marrow bones and things like nyilabone that can really make a big difference. But regular dental care at home could really, really help. There are some products like Prodenta, which is a powder you can put in your food that does help their breath and can take care of some of the plaque and calculus that's on your dog's teeth or your cat's teeth. Another question we get often is does my pet need blood work or other tests? Well, routine tests can catch problems early, even before your pet shows symptoms. This helps us help keep your pet healthy and treat issues quickly. What I like to tell my pet parents is I always look for kind of routine blood work so that I can see trends. So we may catch a kidney enzyme that's starting to rise before it's actually a really bad problem and be able to do supplements and food type recommendations to keep that from going into chronic kidney disease. So routine tests can be very, very helpful and often pick up things that a lot of times we won't see. There is a blood test called a pro-BNP test that looks at your dog or cat's heart muscle, and it can tell us if that heart muscle is being stretched abnormally or causing problems that we need to deal with. So again, that's something that uh I really think routine blood work can really help, and follow your veterinarian's uh recommendations on that. And the last, which I think is very important, is is anesthesia safe for my pet? Well, modern anesthesia in our vet in our vet practices is incredibly safe. We use all the same monitoring equipment and trained staff that you would have in the human hospital where we're doing blood pressure, EKGs, oxygen, CO2 monitoring, temperature monitoring, uh, and we can really follow this through the gas types, anesthesias that we are using. Gas is kind of a great situation now because basically, if if we're there's an issue or there's problems, we either turn it down or off and we're done, and the procedure can be reversed at any time. So we find that monitor anesthesia is a very, very safe situation. Maybe not used what you're used to in the past. So I hope you enjoyed these fun facts and the veterinary questions. We can elaborate more on asking me questions on my website, and that's drrandypetvet.com. If you again watching this on YouTube, please like us and subscribe. It really helps us a lot. And we will also, on our Dr. Randy PetFet site, be able to send you emails and newsletters and uh also Instagram at drandypetfett where we post all of these things for you for the future and to educate you because that's my passion getting you guys educated and teaching you as much as I possibly can. I appreciate you all so much. Thanks for listening.