Episode #61 Valley Fever + Pop Quiz For Bird Dog Owner: Nate Istrate

We sit down with Nate Istrate to talk through a real valley fever scare in a hunting dog and what finally brought the symptoms under control. We share what to watch for in your bird dog, what the common tests can miss, and how to think about treatment without panic spending.

• Sam’s head tremors and the path to a valley fever diagnosis 
• How dogs get valley fever from desert dust and why it is not contagious 
• Where valley fever shows up in the body including lungs, bones, and brain 
• Prednisone as a short term inflammation tool versus antifungals that treat the fungus 
• Fluconazole basics, treatment timelines, and what “low titer” can still mean 
• Why a negative blood test may not fully rule it out and when to retest 
• Practical risk reduction for Arizona hunting dogs during dusty conditions 
• Vet experience and pricing notes including West Valley Animal Hospital in Peoria 
• Reading your dog’s behavior, energy, and tail wagging as a health signal 

If you like what you hear, make sure you share it with a friend, rate it, do whatever you can to knock up our algorithms and get get the word out there to help fulfill that purpose uh to educate and encourage the next generation of quail hunters in Arizona. To help further our work, please consider making a tax-deductible gift. Visit us online at azquailtoday.com and be sure to follow us on social media for the latest information and updates.

Connect with us: Email us at ryan@azquailtoday.com —we'd love to hear from you! 
Follow us on Instagram at @azquailtoday

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to Arizona Quail Today, your go-to podcast for all things quail hunting in Arizona. We're dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of quail hunters. A big thanks to our supporters and proud partners. Thanks for tuning in, and now let's dive in today's program.

Sam’s Symptoms And The First Clues

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Okay, back in the studio with Nate Estrate. Nate, what is up, buddy? What's up, Ryan? Oh my goodness. Okay, so in this episode, I just wanted to cover some big topics like valley fever, dogs, uh, how you're doing. Yeah. So what's going on with your dog?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

So my dog, Sam, he uh just did some blood work with him at the vet, and he has a low titer for valley fever. So they measure how much how present it is. It's pretty inactive, but we have him on a medication called fluconazole.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

And it helps keep that valley fever at bay. Are you familiar with valley fever in dogs and how it works or no?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

You know, a little bit. Like I uh my dog Zona had some really weird stuff going on one time. Like her literally her body would like curl up and like arch back, and like her body would curl up, and I'd give her pretazone and she'd like be back to normal. So I don't know what it was, but it was the weirdest thing. It was like some people, like my daughter had an allergic reaction to a scorpion sting one time, and her like literally her body like curled in. My daughter. It's like the same type reaction. Uh it was the same type of reaction. I was like, I was like, my dog, I was like, did my dog get a bit stung by a scorpion? Like, I don't know, but it's happened a few different times. So I keep like a bottle of Predatzone with me. Zona or for Zona. It never happened. I mean, it hadn't happened in years, but I mean, she's like seven, eight now. It's happened a few times. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

So I've learned a lot in the least.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah, why don't you just download. Let's just talk about valley fever.

What Valley Fever Is In Dogs

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah, and I can share a little bit about what Ryan's talking about too. So uh valley fever is a fungal disease that humans and dogs can get, and it's Do you mind if I like pull this up?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Well, yeah, pull up while you're talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah, pull up some some info on it, but it's it's contracted through the air like dust. And so it's more common for dogs, especially hunting dogs, to get it because they're running around in the desert, nose in the ground, nose in the dirt, or you know, their nose is just digging through things. Wow. Sometimes uh they they just get it like that. And valley fever is could be pretty strong uh for the symptoms, and it can be a lot of different things. It could be like in their lungs, it could be in their brain, it could be in their spine. Yeah, and so uh the way kind of what led me to find out with Sam is he had these head tremors, it was like a mini seizure. And I have videos I could show you if you want to see. Wow, his head would shake back and forth, left and right, and he couldn't stop it. He'd just kind of shake, dude. And then what would happen sometimes would get him out of it? I'd be like, come on, Sam, let's go. And I'd get him to go and get up outside. And if he kind of focused his mind, he'd stop. But it happened occasionally, like once or twice a year, and then it went to a couple times a year, every month, and then it was pretty consistent. Wow. We went to the doctor, the vet, and they're like, There's they assumed inflammation in his brain. So they they prescribed him prednisone. That's usually where a lot of- That's exactly what I was just saying. Yeah, that's where every and prednisone is a is honestly like a miracle medication. It is a miracle. They give it to dogs like pretty like there's a lot of uses for it. It's an anti-inflammatory.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

People use it too. People do use it. Yeah, because I was like, I remember somebody telling me, like, oh, just get some predators on it.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

It's no, it's good, but the one bad thing, it's not bad, but the drawback with prednisone is it's a really strong medication. It is, it's and the vets all say it's not good long term. Yeah, it's not a solution. You use it just for the amount of time you have the the prescription, and then you and then you you have to kind of wean off for three to six months, and then you can do it again. So, Sam, we put him on prednisone, solved it, but then it came back, and it was kind of back and forth with the vet. I was down at Guy Molicones doing some training. Oh, wow, and I explained this whole thing to Guy, and I'm like, Guy, I don't know what to do. And I had just dropped off Sam. I was gone for I know I was leaving him for six weeks, and I said, Guy, here's his meds. I said, What do you think? And can you just like give me your point of view? And he's like, You know what it could be? He's like, Has Sam ever had valley fever? And I'm like, it was low. Oh wow, so he he's the one who diagnosed it for you? Well, what he said was so when I went to the vet, they tested his blood for valley fever. Oh, yeah. But it the way it works is like a titer, and it's it shows your antibodies. And if you have a low antibody, it means it doesn't affect the dog, or at least it shouldn't. And I told Guy and he knows the numbers, and and guy said, you know, with valley fever, is it affects every dog differently. It'd be like if you had a cold and I had a cold and it affects me really bad, but it doesn't affect you. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, some people are like laid up in a hospital about to die. And the next guy's like sneezes and he's like, I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Is exactly but they both had COVID, right? And so with valley fever, he said Sam could have it and it could show on a blood test really low, but it could affect him. He's like, Go to the vet and just say, Hey, could we try fluconazole? And I did that for it's been a year and a little bit since then. No more episodes. Fluconozole is like way cheaper than prednisone, and you can take it like they can take it for the rest of their lives.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

So, dude,

True Or False Valley Fever Quiz

SPEAKER_00 6:00

all right. I'm gonna read to you these I I pulled up 10 facts about Valley Fever. Tell me if you know this, okay? Well, we're just gonna do a uh a true or false. Oh, I don't know about the facts. I'm gonna turn this into a true or false uh false uh quiz for a podcast. That'll be fun. So we'll do this on the podcast live and then we'll see what you what your answers are. This'll be good.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

This is a quiz.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Oh no, I don't want them to do A, B, C, or, D. This is like this would be multiple choices would take away. Okay. You could just do the ten facts. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. Uh okay, hang on, let's see see what we got here. Um Valley fever quiz creating true or false summary. We're getting there real quick. Um, while this uh is generating, um uh so overall is is is the dog doing good.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

The dog is doing great. Yeah. Just did some blood work and his valley fever titer is low. Sometimes it never the titer never goes away, but their symptoms are kind of kept at bay. Yeah. And so it's one of those things that it could just be in their blood forever. But he's doing good, which is good news. Yeah, he had kind of on and off all kinds of symptoms, but the pre or not the pre the the fluconazole, the valley fever medications helped, and shout out Guy Molicone.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

He's like a scientist.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah. I don't even know. He he calls himself like a behaviorist, I know that, but he knows all these specific dog details.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

He helped diagnose, he's not even a vet, and he helped diagnose Sam with a problem, and then I took it to the vet, and they're like, oh, that makes sense. They're like, we're on board with the with the information I've provided.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Okay, here we go. Um, Nate. Yes. Dun dun dun dun. Let's see. Are you ready to take the quiz? I'm ready. Okay. Question number one Valley fever in dogs is caused by fungus that lives in the desert soil. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I want to say true.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

The answer is true. That's right. Okay. And the explanation is valley fever comes from fungi that live in dry and sandy desert soils. Dogs and people get sick when they inhale the spores. Good job.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I knew I had a friend who had valley fever. It hospitalized him.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yeah. They know each other. They could know each other very well. Okay, question number two, Nate. Dogs catch valley fever directly from other infected dogs. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I think that's false.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

The answer is false.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

It's not contagious.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Good job. Good job. What I need is a I need one of those exit noises. You know, brrrrrr. We gotta download that. Yeah, we could do that. You're gonna have you're gonna have to help me do that. Like, true. Because this would be a fun game we could start doing. Like I could do true or false on here. Yeah. And like or right or wrong. That's what we should do. Yeah. Okay. So the answer is false. Valley fever is not contagious between dogs. Infection happens only by breathing in spores from the environment, not from contact with sick animals. So you can kiss your dog and be fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Okay. Question number three. Now let's make sure you we see what kind of percentage you get.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

So I'm gonna give you is ten questions total.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

All right.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

So just uh you want to keep track over there? Yeah, I'm two for two. Yeah, so I got you a pin right here. And so you're two for two. You're doing really good, 100% so far. Okay, so question number two is false in the explanation. Valley fever is not contagious. Yeah, you got that. All right, question number three. Dogs usually get valley fever by inhaling spores in dusty or disturbed soil. True or false? True. Right. The answer is true. You're doing really good, Nate. The activities like digging, sniffing the ground, being out in the wind, dust storms, and so you can inhale

Dust Storms Risk And Other Animals

SPEAKER_00 10:41

it. So if you see a a nonsoon or a monsoon, either or a nonsoon is What is a nonsoon? Well, I invented the word.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Okay, you're okay. This is a nonsense.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah, but a nonsoon is basically it's no rain. But it's like a wannabe monsoon, but it's a nonsoon.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

So it's isn't that like a haboob? Have you heard that? It's kind of like a haboob. Because that's like a major dust storm with no rain.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yeah, I just feel like it doesn't fit Arizona good enough. I mean, I when I heard haboob, I thought of India.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

That makes sense. It sounds like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Haboop.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

And it might even be like Eastern Origin or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

I don't I mean, and I think it's great that, you know, I don't care. Nonsoon. I like it. I just I just prefer the nonsoon. Haboob sounds so weird. It doesn't feel it doesn't feel like it fits our vocabulary.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

It doesn't even sound like a real word. Well, the first time I heard it, I said, that's fake. You're making fun of me or something. That's what I thought too.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

I when I heard a hubob. I'm like, what's a what's a habob? Anyway, I like the nonsoon. So um, let's see. So, question number three. Did you answer that one? Yeah. Okay, you got that one right. Question number four valley fever is common in dogs that live in or visit desert regions like Arizona. True or false? True. You are right. Dude.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Pretty tough.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

It is especially especially common in low desert areas of Arizona, parts of California, New Mexico, and Texas, where the fungus grows naturally in the soil. So you're correct. Okay, question number five, halfway done, Nate. So far you're right, like 100%. Okay, valley fever can affect only the lungs and never spreads to other parts of the bodies. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

I think false.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

You are correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah. That's what I thought at first, too. It was only the lungs.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, it often starts in the lungs, but in some dogs the infection spreads, disseminates um to bones, joints, eyes, skins, or even the brain.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, that's pretty much the whole body.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, valley fever can affect only the lungs and never spreads to other body parts. The answer is false. Yeah. That's interesting. So I I didn't know that. I didn't know that it actually can spread to the bones, joints, eyes, and skin, and even the brain. And that's what was happening with Sam.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

I think so. You know. And then to be honest, the they said the only way we would know 100% is if they did like a CAT scan and MRI, and that's thousands of dollars. And we've no way.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Who cares? Well, and I mean not that who cares, but you know, it's well we diagnosed it without having to do all that, is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

And you could take those MRIs and CAT scans and still find out nothing, you know. So Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Question number six, Nate. You you basically are on your way to being a veterinarian.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

This is vet school.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Hey, you know what we'll have? We'll have preferred, you know, vets for Arizona Coil today, and we'll put Nate Estrate up there.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I can answer valley fever questions. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Only. So but only the questions that we submit.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

There's only ten of them.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

There's only two. Hey, listen, I gotta stick to the sheet, guys. Okay. Uh number number uh six. Common signs of valley fever in dogs include cough, fever, low energy, and weight loss. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I think that's true.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

The answer is true. When it's mainly in the lungs, dogs often show vague signs like coughing, fever, tiredness, poor appetite, or gradual weight loss. Does that sound about right?

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, Sam didn't have any of those. The only one he did have was the low energy.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

And I think for a lot of tired bur dog guys, especially pointer, those dogs are high energy dogs. Yeah. And when you see them slow and low energy, it should be a sign that something's up.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

You're like, what? Come on, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, something's up. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

So I I this quiz was too easy. I must have put this for like a fifth grader. So it's okay. Okay. Many dogs, question number eight: many dogs need months of antifungal medication treatment to valley fever. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

True. At least.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

You gotta dude. You're killing it. Treatment typically involves antifungal drugs for six to twelve months, and some dogs with more severe cases may need to be shot. I'm joking. May need to, you know, even longer therapy.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Yeah, it's pretty much lifelong medication. Yeah. I was just shaking.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Just to see if like get a little boom in there, you know. That'd be terrible. Oh yeah. Alright, number nine, dude. You if you get 100%, I am totally recommending you for like ongoing education in this area. We're gonna do lots of quizzes on you, though.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

You're good.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Okay, number nine, keeping dogs away from bare dusty ground can reduce valley fever risk. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

True.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

True. Dude, you're too good. Were you the were you a good kid in school? No. Well, you didn't apply yourself, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

That's that's what my mom said.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Oh, that's funny. I've heard that a lot growing up. But you could have done good.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

I oh for sure. Well, yeah. You did I did good in college, not in like elementary or high school.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

I didn't do good in actually school either. Until high school, the the tail end of high school when I was like, okay, I gotta get my act together. Yeah, it's I'm gonna be a loser. Yeah. Okay. So um all right. So you you you got that Ryan uh right. The explanation is limiting off-leash roaming in undeveloped desert, discouraging digging in bare soil. Okay, well, first of all, sorry. We're not gonna let our we're gonna we need our dogs off the leash in undeveloped desert. And we need them roaming. Avoiding dust storms can reduce yeah, so there you go. That's the nonsoons I was talking about. Can reduce expense. Yeah, so I would say like the other day, dude, I was out. Did you it was windy? And I was out there like in it. And with the dogs dogs and horses. Can horses get all that Valley Fever?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

I bet you they can. Yeah, let's pull it up. I bet you they can.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Can horses get this? Yeah, so this is our friends over at Perplexity. Yes, horses can get it. It's relatively uncommon compared to dogs and people, but yes, they can. Yeah, that'd be a bummer.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

I think it's just the way dogs have their noses so close to the ground. I think you're so right. It right there, sometimes even rubbing or touching the ground. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yeah, you're right. Oh, I gotta watch Happy on that because he's like a stupid little sniffer. It just goes their nose just kind of He's like sniffing mice around the house all the time.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah. It's like part of it is how they're job. It's what they're made to do. I know. All right. Especially hunting dogs.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Dude, you're you're almost at 100%. Here, this is the last one. With early diagnosis and treatment, many dogs can recover or be well controlled. True or false?

SPEAKER_01 18:35

True.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

True. One hundred.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

That was the hardest test I've ever taken.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Oh, dude, you crushed that. I mean, I don't know what to say. I'm gonna alright, we're gonna do a bonus question. Bonus question make much harder. Okay, this is um we're gonna see if we can get to Oh no, I think it's trying to give me a let's see. A bonus question. Uh Alright, here here we go. Ready? Bonus question. Valley fever in animals is caused by only one species of fungus. Ha ha ha. Um hang on. One species of fungus coming. And no other related species infects dogs, horses, or people. So valley fever in animals is caused by only one species of fungus, and no other related species infects dogs, horses, or people. Answer true or false.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

That actually is tough. I don't know. I think that's true. Yes. You got it wrong.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

It's wrong? Yeah, it's false. Okay. So finally. I gotta go back to books. Yeah, you g okay. Valley fever is caused by two closely related related fungal species. So there's two different fungi, both of which can infect humans and various animals. Huh. Do you want an expert level?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Sure. I mean, I don't know if it matters for people to know the species.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Well, but it's cool to know that there's two. There's not just one.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

That is true. It's good to know that. I didn't know that there was even more.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Okay, here's the expert bonus question. Oh, shoot. This is about horses. Do you want to get away from that and just do dogs? I don't know much about it. You're the horse guy, actually, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:53

You are the rancher. Ex-rancher.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah, you know, I mean, basically on Dutton Ranch. Have you ever seen any of those shows?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Is that from the yeah? No, I haven't.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, I've watched uh watched the Yellowstone and now I've watched. I'm watching Marshalls now. And there's like I watched all the 18. There was like an 18. You should watch the 1883. That's that's honestly my favorite. That's like the prequel? Tim McGraw's in it with Faith Hill. It was really good.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

The prequel to Yellowstone.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Okay, here's the expert dog bonus questions.

Testing Limits And False Negatives

SPEAKER_00 21:30

It's very hard, Nate. Okay. So in dogs with valley fever, a negative blood antibody test uh serology completely rules out the disease. So no further testing or repeat something are needed in the first test is negative. If the first test is negative. So it says teeters? Titer. Titers. What is that?

SPEAKER_01 22:00

That's like the when they test it, it how it measures, there's a scale of how severe the valley is.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

How smart you are, dude. Alright, so let me read the question again. In dogs with valley fever, a negative blood test, antibody test, completely rules out the disease. Uh so no further further testing or repeat titers are needed if the first test is negative.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

I would say false just because there's always a chance of like a false negative, and there you you get out, you could always do a second test.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

You got it.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So basically, dude, you just crushed it because I gave you one bonus question that was hard, and then a super hard one, and you just nailed the super hard one. So answer is false. Some dogs with early or localized valley fever can test negative at the at first because of their immune system has not yet produced enough detectable antibodies, or because their immune response is atypical. So many vets will sus if they suspect the disease um repeat teeters later or use additional diagnostics like imaging or other lab tests to help confirm or rule it out. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

That's what I oh the reason why I know that is I was talking to my vet today, an hour ago.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_01 23:23

No, I they called and they gave me the report on Sam's blood titer, and they said it was the lowest measurable titer apart from being absolutely negative.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

And there's like So this is how you knew all the lingo? Yeah. You basically cheated. You No, I studied you knew I wanted to do this podcast. I studied for the test.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Oh my god. So I was ready, and sh they said if I wanted to, I could take him off the meds and test his blood in a few months.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

So can you take the medicine that he's taking if you feel tired?

SPEAKER_01 23:59

I don't I don't it says not for human consumption on it.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

But it's funny that you can use the predazone.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

That's weird. You know what? I'm gonna pull it up. What is predazone used for?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

It's a steroid. It's an anti-inflammatory drug. It's a steroid, and it you it helps from what I know boost um Yeah. Like lung, like it helps people a lot of times it's like people who have problem breathing, like well, so maybe asthma so it helps boost breathing, from what I know.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Let's see if I get that one right.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Yeah, let's see, it's coming. It says uh Predazone is uh is used to reduce inflammation and suppress an overactive immune response. It is not an antifungal drug itself. So it just it's used to reduce inflammation and suppress overreactive immune response. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Well, and that's that's why originally they started with the prednisone, because they Yeah, it's called it's pronounced like pred prednisone.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Prednisone, I think is what it is. Prednisone. Yeah, because it's P-R-E-D-N-I-S-O-N-E. So it'd be prednisone.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Yeah. Yeah. And they were looking at the symptoms and they didn't see his blood work. So it's not, I mean, it can help the symptom of valley fever, but it doesn't treat it.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Med yeah, it says it's uh basically a medication that decreases inflammation and calms down the immune system active activity in the body. Doctors and vets use it in many conditions where inflammation immune attack is a major part of the problem, such as asthma, flares, severe allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, and some cancers. Wow. It's cool that we can like use this medicine.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

It's a like I said, it's a really powerful medication.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, I've got some in the truck, and I'm just like it is, it is kind of like a weird miracle kind of drug.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

It is. It's super strong. Yeah. One side effect is it makes you really hungry and really thirsty. So dogs they usually drink a ton and eat a ton of food.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Wow. Yeah, in the context of infections like valley fever, predenzone is sometimes added short term to manage serious inflammation or immune medicated complications. Uh, for example, severe inflammation and joints, eyes, or nervous system, while the actual antifungal drugs like flu what was it?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

The fluc fluconazole.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Fluconazole, uh yeah, treats the fungus. So that's what your dog's on. Yeah. Wow.

Fluconazole Vs Prednisone Costs

SPEAKER_00 26:53

And so do you have to stay on this forever with your dog or no?

SPEAKER_01 26:56

I can either do a blood test. So he I just tested his blood and he's been on it, and what we could do is take him off. Yeah, do a blood test and see if it changes. If it doesn't go up, then we're good. Or I can That's cool. Uh continue taking it. But to be honest, the blood tests are pretty expensive.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

So then don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

And the medication is. You spent a bunch of money the other day. And the medication's cheap. Yeah, it's expensive. It's I spent $400 at the vet.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

And I mean, it you know, it's a price to pay for an old dog, but and you love him. I love my dog, and I want him to live and be comfortable. But they're like, if you want to check, they call me like, do you want to do another blood test in a month? And then they're like, and then a follow-up blood test. Heck no. I'm like, I'm not just gonna do blood tests every month. Yeah. If he's fine on it and it's not affecting him, it's that's good. It's like 30 cents a pill for the fluconazole. That's so for like a hundred pills, it's thirty bucks.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

How much did you say per pill?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Thirty cents.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

And for uh and it's a hundred dollars, or sorry, thirty dollars for a hundred pills. So for fifty days, it's thirty bucks. Yeah, that's nice. Because I take it he gets it once in the morning and once in the evening.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Yeah. It says pred predenzone suppresses immunity. Vets use it very carefully in fungal infections and try to balance the benefit of reducing damaging inflammation against the risk of making it harder for the body to fight the fungus.

unknown 28:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

So Well, do you want to share who your vet is?

Finding A Vet You Trust

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Yeah, sure. Yeah, they actually did a really good job of like tell us about them. West Valley Animal Hospital.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Honestly, pretty affordable prices too. I've gone to a few different vets, and I know people have connects to their own vets, but it's it's by far the best price. Where is it located? It's right next to my house. Like in the West Valley? Yeah, 99th and Beardsley.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

99th Avenue and Beardsley.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Well, I'm pulling them up right now.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

West Valley Animal Hospital. Honestly, fair prices. They trimmed, I'll just have to add, they trimmed Sam's nails for 15 bucks. If you go to like a dog groomer, they're so expensive. I've called several different dog groomers and they're like, I'm like, how much to just trim his nails? They're like 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

I'm like, I trim I trim Zona's nails.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

I don't have like a do you have like a dog nail trimmer? I don't have that.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Yeah, I made her bleed, unfortunately. She went to the city. She looked at me and she's just like and I mean I bear I didn't mean to, just barely. I did, it just went a little too far and it just bleed a little bit, and then she's okay. But I you can do it without it. For sure. I just you just need to get gentle. But she had some like weird like Curella Deville thing.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Oh, so did Sam. And they like curl over. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

And I don't even know if Cruella Deville has claws, but she seems like she would. She hates dogs and looks creepy.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

So um Yeah, West Valley.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

They did a good job.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Yeah, so uh West Valley Animal Hospital located at 7807 North 35th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona. It is a long-standing small animal veteran. Really?

SPEAKER_01 30:14

North 35th?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Is that we find out for sure. Valley West Animal or West Valley?

SPEAKER_01 30:21

There might be multiple West Valley animal.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Is it West Valley? Oh wait. West Valley Equine?

SPEAKER_01 30:27

No. So I have it right here.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Okay, what's the address?

SPEAKER_01 30:35

10246. Oh, I got it so wrong. West Beardsley Road. Okay. Peoria AZ85382. It's still West Valley Animal Hospital. In Peoria.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Wow. Animal Hospital. In Peoria. Okay. Yeah, I think somehow I just let me see if it'll pull right up. Yeah. Okay, here are the basics West Animal Peoria. So it is Peoria. Yeah. This says they describe themselves as a full service hospital both for wellness care and treatment. West Valley Animal Hospital. What do they do? Everything.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Everything. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe just a a regular vet that doesn't do everything might be cheaper, but I had a serious problem with sales.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Full service animal clinic.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

They helped figure it out quickly, so.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yeah, and it says routinely sees the desert area dogs, of course. In the desert.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Desert dogs.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Desert dogs. Of course, you see the desert dogs. We don't bring Flagstaff dogs to you. Like we've okay. But yeah. Looks like they've got eight hours eight to five, Monday through Friday, Saturday, nine to twelve, closed on Sunday. Closed on Sunday. Yeah. It's like Chick-fil-A.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

You my Chick-fil-A.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

My Chick-fil-A. Okay. Well, I think we we got it, Nate. I mean, that was a good podcast. I felt like that was very educational. Yeah. Very real. Very relevant. I don't know. So, yeah, thanks for hanging out, dude.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah. Alright, guys. Nate, anything else you want to share with listeners?

Reading Your Dog’s Energy And Tail

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Um, yeah, it's just pay attention to what your dog's doing. Guy shared a lot of good, like just bonus stuff, you know. That's great. But yeah, pay attention to your dog. Like, if you know they're normally a high-energy dog and they they run around a lot, or they're just they get up and going, and then all of a sudden they're slow. Oh yeah. Tired, lazy. I mean, sometimes they're tired. If you just went hunting, yeah, they're tired. But if you didn't do any major activity and they're tired, something could be up.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

That's a good that's a good word.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

And then one thing my the vet told me, which this is a good sign. Like, if your dog is sick or maybe not doing well and is on some sort of a treatment plan, they said, like, a good sign is like if your dog's wagging their tail still, they're happy, then they're doing okay. You know, don't be super worried about them. Because when Sam, when he was having those head tremors, he was not wagging his tail at all. And so, and then when he we started to put him on the meds, we had like a f a weekly follow-up. Oh, that's good. And then when he'd come in, he'd start to slowly wag his tail.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

I wish you would have told me this, dude. You didn't even tell me you're going through this. I mean, bro, I'm here for you, man. Like Carolyn was crying, she thought we had to put him down. You should have called me, dude. I think we might have talked about it, but no, I didn't know your dog was so sick.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Well, he's good now, so dude, that's awesome. But the vet said if your dog's wagging their tail, it's a good sign. Like they're still even if they're a little sick or not feeling well, as long as they're wagging this could just be fake, but or like just misinformation. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Because I think Vecki, I could see Zona like have like, you know, like dying of rattlesnake venom, and she's still wagging her tail.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Well, maybe. But if they're really like when he was going through that, like those head tremors and it was real bad for him, yeah, he was not wagging his tail. So the vet was like, it's a good sign because they can like imagine if you're sick, yeah. And if you're really, really sick, yeah, the equivalent of like wagging your tail for a human is like laughing. You're not gonna be laughing and like super joyful if you're like on your deathbed. You know, you're probably just gonna be barely breathing. Yeah. And so dogs dogs commun like their tail communicates a lot, actually. I know you know this, like for No, I mean I mean, tell me more.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Well, you know When they twitch it twice, it means like I don't know everything they're frisky. I don't know. When they twitch it three times, it means they're ready to play.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

I are you I I don't know. I don't know all the tail signs, but one of them is like if it's between their legs, I'm sure you've seen it, they're like scared or really timid if you've seen that. Yeah, of course. Yeah, and everyone knows that one.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

But their tail can communicate a lot of things. Oh, yeah. So like when they're wagging their tail consistently, they're probably happy in a playful mood. Um, if their tail is fixed, like straight, yeah, locked out, they're pretty alert. They're and we see that in pointers, like they're alert, very focused. Yeah. And so then the the one or two twitch, I don't know specifically about that, but you're right.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Actually, because when Zona's like on a bird, but it's she's like she throws a point sometimes, like she's done this before, where it's like kind of getting sloppy. Or it's just like sh the sense weird. Yeah. Like she's like kind of like hard point, and then all of a sudden she's like wagging her tail. She's like, I'm happy. It's not a full focus, but I feel like this bird is might have moved, you know, and she's like wagging her tail just a little bit, and I'm like, Ain't no bird there, or it's like something's not right. Yeah. But if it's like lock, lock, lock down, it's like, okay, we got a bird here. Okay, that's cool. Man, we should do next time we meet, we're gonna do top 10 questions on dogs' tails.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

I'll have to study. I don't know uh every tail.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

You should go study because I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna try to I'm trying I'm gonna I want you to see if I can get you to fail.

unknown 36:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Now I don't want you to fail. You know, stump me, though. I'm gonna try to stump you. Yeah. No, that was too easy. That test was way too easy, you know. But you were just inundated by doctors.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

I was getting the the the valley fever info.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

Yeah, that was pretty cool. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Real common in dogs, especially bird dogs, hunting.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Common common with people in the valley. It is. Yeah. So if you're feeling like that and your tail isn't wagging anymore out there, you know, I know, I know we have a lot of listeners that self-identify as furries, and we are totally inclusive at Arizona Quail today. If you're if listen, if your tail just if you can't get it to wiggle waggle, then maybe you need some predizone. So, okay. That's a bonus round. That was a bonus rough cut right there.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

That was a rough cut.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

All right. Are you done? Are you good? I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Anything else you want to share?

SPEAKER_00 37:52

I know you you should you dropped some knowledge, too. Yeah. Thanks for bringing value to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, it was just something I I learned and Guy helped teach me a few things.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

But when was that? That was like a while ago.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Uh last year. Last one year ago.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Last J June. But now you're really feeling the impacts of Sam's stuff now, more recent.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Well, we just did a blood they did a blood test uh just to make sure he's all good. So he's been good for a while, but he when he was when he was uh sick, it was probably like a year and a half ago, last January or something.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Oh. But I thought you just said you just got off the phone with a doctor.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

They just I did blood work and they were just because I went to go get a follow-up. I went to go get a refund the prescription, like, hey, it's been one year since your last blood work. Let's let's do it again.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, I've got ADD, so I'll I like f this is why I listened to my own podcast to make sure I understood what we did. Okay.

Share The Show And Get Outside

SPEAKER_00 38:53

All right, well, thanks for listening with us, guys. If you like what you hear, make sure you share it with a friend, rate it, do whatever you can to knock up our algorithms and get get the word out there to help fulfill that purpose uh to educate and encourage the next generation of quail hunters in Arizona. So, um, and remember, Nate, get outside.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Boom. Thanks for listening in. To help further our work, please consider making a tax-deductible gift. Visit us online at azquailtoday.com and be sure to follow us on social media for the latest information and updates. Till then, remember to get outside!