Yes, it is Pet Chat. And today I'm joined by Cheryl Shaw and Dr Fiona Kiblin. Hello. How are you, Amanda? I'm wonderful, thank you. How are you, Cheryl? Amanda, I have to tell you, I'm feeling pretty stressed at the moment. You're feeling stressed. I think there's a story here. There is a story. I have to ask Amanda, no Amanda, Fiona a question. Okay. All right. So we have a serious question for Dr Fiona today. I'll do what I can to help. All right. In the meantime, Cheryl, we're going to talk about your issue. Yeah. So today you were going to talk about carrots, but now you've got a different kind of carrot problem. I do indeed. Oh dear. What happened this morning and what I need to ask Fiona about is what I'm going to look at because
This morning, I laid all of my clothes out ready for Pet Chat. And as you know, I always wear a brooch. So I had a lovely little brooch sitting on the clothes ready to put on this morning. And when I came out of the shower, the brooch is gone. Now, the brooch was a little carrot. It's a knitted carrot. And Fiona, inside, it's got a little bit of that stuffing, you know, that white. Yeah, like polyfill type stuff. Polyfill, that's it. And on the outside is a little pin, a safety pin. But unfortunately, the pin was not closed. Oh, Cheryl. You poor thing. I know. I'm so stressed.
The problem is I don't know which dog has taken it. It's certainly nowhere. It cannot be found. We have searched high and low. And my problem is what am I going to look for? What do I do in this circumstance? I'm really, as I said, I'm concerned but not sure what I should be looking for. Yeah, okay. So we've, I guess, got two main concerns with that. Part one is the carrot itself potentially could be like an obstruction, a foreign body obstruction. But then part two is obviously the pointy pin.
There's no guarantee that there will be a problem. Things may be okay. Okay, fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. So I have seen multiple times things like nails and sewing needles and that sort of thing pass through a cat or dog's gastrointestinal tract without causing a problem. Wow. Yeah, pretty amazing, isn't it? It is. It depends a lot on which...
direction is heading first, whether you've got the more blunt end heading first or whether you've got the more pointy end heading first. And then the other thing that can make a big difference is whether we've got food material or in this case, carrot patting material kind of protecting or wrapping that sharp point as it heads through the gastrointestinal tract. So it's not necessarily going to be an issue, but obviously there's a big concern. I can imagine you're beside yourself. You don't know where it is. You don't know which dog has been involved. Has the dog eaten it? Hasn't the dog eaten it? There is always a possibility it's not inside one of the dogs, that it is somewhere else, but obviously we don't know that. So we're working on the assumption that one of the dogs has probably eaten it.
A safety pin is made of metal, so it will show up on x-ray. So there is the option of x-raying the dogs to see is there some kind of metal within the dog because if you find something, instantaneously you know who's the culprit and you know whereabouts in the gastrointestinal tract it is. Something like a safety pin, we would not cause a dog to vomit. If, for example, you x-ray the dog and it's in the stomach, that would be a situation where I would not recommend inducing vomiting to bring the material back up because there is the risk of the pin lodging as it comes back up. In terms of what to look for, really we're just looking for...
Adverse gastrointestinal signs, basically. So any vomiting, any diarrhea, any off food, any discomfort or change in personality, those sorts of things would be the things to watch out for. And I think if you were seeing any signs of either of the dogs being off colour, that would definitely be a trip to the vet. And knowing this history that you said, the first thing that I would do is x-ray the dog because we've got a suspicion of a metal foreign body somewhere in the dog. If the pin is in the dog, what do you do then? So if Cheryl decided to take her dog to the vet after pet chat and wanted to get an x-ray and you can see the pin, I would not necessarily take the dog straight to surgery. Because there is the chance that if the dog is asymptomatic and currently happy and well, that it can pass through itself. So to subject a dog...
unnecessarily to major abdominal surgery is not a decision to be taken lightly. So Fiona, just on that, how long would it take to pass through? So when we're looking at faeces to see what's there, how long from say this morning to when will that appear? It could be in as little as 12 hours. It could be 24 to 36 hours, but it can be quite quick. So any faeces that comes out of any dog, you'll be on the hose, hosing it down, seeing if there's anything in there. And meanwhile, looking for anything that just may not seem quite right. Yeah.
Oh, those dogs. They'll be the death of me. Look, on the plus side, as we're talking off air, I would be a very rich person if I had a dollar every time someone came into the clinic, rushing their dog into the clinic. My dog's eaten her. Insert word.
battery, hairpin, nail, hair elastics, Nerf gun, you name it, like Nerf gun bullet, you name it. And then you x-ray the dog and you can't see any issues and then you call the owner back saying, oh, look, I can't see anything, everything looks good. And they're like, oh, it's okay, I found it under the couch. So it hopefully isn't in the dog. But, you know, if it is, then we wait and watch for any changes in behaviour or any abnormal clinical signs and then...
First thing would be x-ray to see if we can actually see. And the benefit of it being made of metal is we can see it on x-ray. Yes. So that's always really helpful because you can be a definite yes, it's in the dog or no, it's not, which doesn't always happen. I just wish it had been closed. Yeah. An open safety pin, I guess, is much more of a risk than a closed safety pin. But you never know. It could be not even in the dog. Maybe the dog carried it somewhere and it's just dropped and you just haven't seen it. I love your optimism. I'm going to be in that glass half full camp and hope.
my very hardest that you get home and you find it. I do too. I really do. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the advice. That's right. Best of luck. And on that note, I guess, yeah, in general, if you know your dogs are ones to ferret around or steal things, or even if they're not in your case, Cheryl, you know, just always be mindful what you're leaving around or what the kids are leaving around because, you know, you don't want to be in the situation that Cheryl's in. Yeah. Yeah. Just, they don't normally steal things, but interestingly today, a little bit of stress factor behind all of this is we had our pill man there, you know.
cleaning out the pool and the dogs don't particularly like him. So they were a little bit elevated in their stress levels. So whether that's a reaction to, I'll just go and grab something, I don't know. Maybe something that smells familiar or is a, you know, happy smell or something, but poor Cheryl. Well, you'll have to keep us posted. Definitely. Hopefully it's good news. Will do. Yeah.
Now, Cheryl, you were going to talk about carrots and we've spoken about carrots. We've done carrots part one. Let's do carrots part two. The bad carrots is behind us now. Now we're going to be talking about the benefits of carrots for dogs. And obviously carrots are really great. They're packed with nutrition. They're packed with fibre, carotene, antioxidants and potassium. So they're a really good and a cheap treat for dogs. And a lot of people do give their dogs carrot. And one of the things that we need to talk about here is that sometimes a raw carrot opposed to a cooked carrot can have different benefits. And a lot of people don't realise that when you're giving a raw carrot, carrots have a cellular wall that...
dogs cannot digest. So when they are eating, they're not herbivores, so when they're eating a carrot, the cell walls don't break down unless they're cooked. So when your dog does a faeces, you'll see that in the carrot, in the poo, there's often little chunks of carrot. And whilst the carrots are great for dogs because they'll help clean their teeth a little bit, but also... dogs really enjoy the crunch of a carrot. They love that sound and that crunching in their mouth. So for them, it's an activity, an enrichment activity, which is really good for a raw carrot. But when we're looking at what happens with a carrot when it's cooked, it is better absorbed. So if you're pureeing or you're lightly steaming, that is going to break down those cell walls so that the dog is actually able to consume all of the vitamins that are in that carrot. And the thing is with carrots too, a lot of people don't realise that there's different vitamins, minerals and things in different coloured carrots. And we always think of our carrot as being the orange carrot, but there are other colour carrots. So when we talk about what colour carrots we have, obviously we've got...
our normal orange carrot, which is great because it plays a really big role in vitamin A. And vitamin A is one of the things that our dogs need for vision. Particularly now our dogs are living a longer life than they used to. So that night vision is really important. So increased vitamin A over a longer period of their life is certainly going to help with that. The other thing is that they're really great for immune function and that immunity and breaking down free radicals, stuff like that. So your orange carrots are great. But then when it comes to our red carrots, red carrots contain an ingredient that's also found in tomatoes. So that's lycopene. And lycopene is really good.
for dogs to help their cells from damage. And it helps in cardiovascular, things like that. So it's an important one. Yellow carrots, oh, they are so rich in lutein and also in xylothro. And that is another thing that is really important for dogs because this helps their retina. So again, we're getting back to the eyes. So eye health from carrots is really important. The other one, the purple carrots, they're packed with really lots of the same things that you find in blueberries and blackberries, which we know contain high amounts of antioxidants. So they're a really good one as well. So if you're looking at the different heirloom varieties, they're certainly going to give your dog a great opportunity to unlock some other things. The other thing in your carrots, you've got insoluble fibre and soluble fibre. So this is going to help with bowel movement, particularly for those dogs that have anal gland problems as well.
their meal is going to help and you can feed both raw and cooked also grated carrot it's fabulous to put over the top of a dog's meal so that's one of the things that you can add to their meal but remember that if you're giving raw carrots you need to supervise your dog with carrots because sometimes some you know very zealous eaters can take down big chunks and actually choke, so watching what your dog's consuming. But carrots are great for puppies. Cooked carrots are great for puppies and for senior dogs as well. So carrots have a lot of benefits and just make sure it's not the knitted variety with a pin. Oh, Cheryl. Oh, dear. Look, just moving away from that, I just want to know, can cats have carrot? Yeah. Okay.
But I would cook the carrot for a cat because the cell walls need to be broken down so that they can actually get the nutrients that are inside the carrot. And once it's broken, it'll be a lot easier for them to absorb. Right. And so that would help with their teeth cleaning as well? Crunchy carrot for teeth cleaning. Okay. So you can try your cat with it. But the whole thing is the two ways of carrot, whether it be raw or cooked, are different. So raw carrot is going to help with that crunching. But the cat may not enjoy that like a dog will enjoy that. Dogs really like that crunch, crunch, crunch. Whereas the cats tend to not be so focused on that. Yeah.
So carrots are worth a try, though. See what she thinks. Yeah, she'll probably just look at it and leave it. Yeah, she'll be like, I'm not going to eat that. That is not good enough for me. Mix it in her food and maybe she will, so you never know. All right. Thank you very much. That was interesting. All right, well, we've got Clayton on the line. We'll get to him shortly. And we've got Clayton from the entrance on the line. Thanks for holding. Clayton, how can we help you today? Hi, I've just got a question about my parrot. He's a son, Konya. He's an older parrot. He's 28 years old who's recently been having seizures. And he is on the medication, Kefra. Okay. And I'd just like to hear what the vet would think about that.
Yeah, sure. So I assume, Clayton, that you've taken the parrot to the vet and the vet's put it on this medication? That's correct. Yeah. Okay. Do you know, was there any blood testing involved for your parrot prior to that? Yes, there was blood testing involved as well, and there was no issues found with kidney or liver problems. Okay. Any sort of testing for lead or heavy metals or anything, do you know? Yes, that was all fine as well. Okay. And his nutrient levels were fine as well. But the issue that I kind of have is I suspect that rather than him having seizures, it could be atherosclerosis, which...
is also common in older parrots, as I'm sure you know. Okay. And that can't be tested for without a CT scan, which requires anesthetic. Yes. Now he's 28, so I'm not really keen to put him under anesthetic. Okay. So how would you recommend to approach this?
Okay. Well, I guess my first couple of questions, Clayton. So how long have the seizures been going on for? Probably the last six months. Okay. And is the medication, how long has he been on the medication for? He's been on the medication for about three to four months. And since he's been on the medication, his seizures have...
but they haven't completely stopped. Okay, all right. So I guess a couple of things. Firstly, hats off to whoever's looking after you and the bird. They've done a good workup, as far as I'm concerned, with ruling out other things that could be causing the seizures. Great, I was talking to Sasha outright. Yeah, perfect. I think, yeah, so as a general rule, if you have basically epilepsy or seizures and you put an animal on medication and that medication improves the seizures significantly, then...
Common things are common, right? Okay. So if the seizure medication is improving the seizures, it's probably the right thing to be doing. Okay. It's very, very possible that we need to adjust the dose. Okay. He's on 0.08 of a mil three times a day. Okay. And has he had any follow-up rechecks since you started the medication? No, which I'm going to do soon because one thought I had is can we just assume that he has atherosclerosis and put him on that sort of medication anyway?
Look, I'm going to defer to the specialist, Clayton. This is like super, super sub-specialty. And whoever's looking after you is probably much more capable of answering that question. Definitely, definitely. Definitely whoever's done his workup so far has done a very, very good job. And part of starting any new medication is initial follow-ups, okay? You know, to touch base with the client. Is it working? Isn't it working? Have we seen a big improvement, a partial improvement? Are there any side effects? Do we need to add in any other medication? Do we need to adjust the medication? So there's lots and lots of little tweaking potentially to be done. Sorry, you go. Sorry to interrupt. There's also a small maybe quality of life issue that I have. I mean, I've had him since he was 12 weeks old. So he's very bonded to me and I love him very much. And he's a senior bird.
Now, when I do syringe feed him, he absolutely hates it. Even just seeing the syringe, he'll go into a panic. So now he's become afraid of my hand. He's never been afraid of my hand before. He used to run out of the cage to my hand. Now he sort of retreats to the back of his perch. He'll still step up and down on command. There's a bit of damage to the human-animal bomb there.
I mean, it's been three months and he's still sort of quite angry at the syringe. Do you think that's going to calm down? Because I sort of don't. I think he has this sort of fixation on the syringe now and it's probably going to be something that he doesn't like. Look, that's possible. Depending on the medication, my comment would be when you go for your follow-up, which I would do sooner rather than later, have a chat to them about whether they can get it compounded and have a different flavour added to it. Yeah, it actually tastes quite nice. I've tasted it myself. Does he think it's nice though? That's the more important thing I think. Well, he likes apples and to me it has like a sweet apple-y taste to it. But yeah, it's because I can hold him in that position because he sleeps inside my shirt each night.
But I'll put him away before I go to bed. But I can hold him in that position, nestled against my chest, and he'll stay there and cuddle, no problems. But if I bring a syringe close to him, that's when the panic starts, and that's when he... starts to, yeah. Get upset, yeah. Cheryl, have you got anything to add there? Clayton, with the negativity surrounding the syringe, it might be worth trying one of his high-value foods. Like you said, if he really likes apple or if he particularly likes a sunflower seed, present that you've got that with you when you're giving the syringe and then after he's had the medication, reward him with that favourite treat. That could actually bring that whole scenario around of being a negative experience. Yes, I have tried that a lot of times and to be honest...
he will refuse a sunflower seed from me afterwards. And that's when I know he's quite angry. Yeah, he's that upset, yeah. That's his favourite high-value food. Look, Clayton, you're raising really valid points here. I would definitely suggest going back to see the specialist raising your concerns. If it is to the point that...
you feel he's more distressed with the medication, maybe you and the vet need to have a chat about are there other medications or is there another option or what we do moving forward because it's not necessarily a straightforward situation, I don't think. Yeah, okay, no problems. Thank you very much for the call. No, but thank you very much for your help. I appreciate it. Good luck. Thanks, Clayton. Thank you. Goodbye. Bye. Yeah, we don't normally get lots of birds.
So it's nice to have a new one today. Yeah. And yeah, hats off to whoever's been looking after the bird. They've done a very good job. And we're going to get to our pets of the week. This week, we've got Spice and Sasha. We're going to start with Spice. So Spice is a four and a half year old black and white female cat. She's described as true to her name. So I think she's got a gentle, comforting warmth, warm side, but then also has a very unknown background and probably a little bit of trauma there.
At some point, so she's incredibly good with other cats. Very good surrogate would be great with younger cats or even another adult cat in foster care that she gets along really well with. But with people, she's just starting and slowly getting there, trying to understand how the whole people thing works. So she's happy to be in the room with you. She's happy to sit on the couch with you, but she's definitely not a sit on your lap and carry around type cat. It's a bit reluctant at the moment. Yeah, and I fully would assume that will settle down with time. She will understand her environment a bit more, but she's more a, I want to be.
Near you, but on my terms. So, yeah, that's that. She is probably not suitable for a home with kids because they're just less likely to understand that she needs a bit of space. Yeah, check out the cat and they're just going to go, nope. Correct, correct. But, yeah, in the right home, she could be a wonderful addition to the family. Okay, next we've got Sasha. Sasha is also a four-year-old, American staffy female.
And typical to the breed, full of love, just wants to be with you or on you or attached to you or patting you or licking you or just being with you because she loves you so much. So yes, if you're after a snuggle bunny, Sasha is your pick. Affectionate, loyal, just wants to be with you. As is very typical for a larger breed dog, obviously you need to be used to having a big dog or being physically able to walk an excitable big dog. Regular fences, she's not going to be a good match for cats or pocket pets.
but would just adore being with some human people. Wonderful. And if you'd like to check out our Pets of the Week, Sasha and Spice, you can head to 2nurfm.com.au. And right now we have Bruce from Belmont, north on the line. Hi, Bruce. You've got an issue with a stray cat? Yes, I have. How can we help, Bruce? How can we help? Well, Doctor, there's a problem with this cat. There are no medical dramas with it. I don't know where it's come from, but it's landed at my place about a week ago. Okay.
I don't know whether it's trying to make a permanent statement by stopping here, but trust me, I'm trying to get rid of it. Now, in between that, I've been contacting the local vet to see if there's some kind of registration attached to it. They've got nothing. So you haven't been able to... Has it had a microchip scanned, Bruce? I've got no idea whether it was microchipped or not, but I've had a notice put down inside the vet in surgery just in case somebody turns up with ownership paper saying, well, that's my cat, where is it? Yes, yes.
And the only basic question I've got is, I know with particular cats, they're very fussy when it comes down to particular cat food. So is there some kind of, I happen to put this executive cat food out there that's above the rest of them to make this cat happy? If you feed a cat, Bruce, it is going to stay. If you do not want the cat to stay, do not feed the cat, is my advice. I haven't been feeding it much, trust me, because I want it here. I don't know where it's come from. But, you know, it's not a pain in the rear end, but I just want the damn thing to go away and find somebody else's place to drop into, you know. What about a shelter?
You drop it into an animal shelter? Well, yes, I thought about doing that too, but then again, it might just sit out there for God knows how long, you know. So the benefit, Bruce, of taking it to either the vets or the shelter is the very first thing that we do when any stray animal comes in is scan it for a microchip, okay? Because if it is microchipped, that information attaches it to an owner and the owner can then be contactable, okay? Because, you know, as far as you're aware, you know, there could be an owner absolutely devastated and looking for their cat, but you're not going to be able to tell by looking at the cat.
if it's got a microchip or not. So whether it's calling the ranger, whether it's dropping the cat into a rescue, whether it's taking it to the vet, I definitely, definitely recommend you do take it to get microchip scans so that we can reunite it if it's got an owner. Good luck with that, Bruce. We are out of time and thank you very much, Dr Fiona, and good luck with your dog, Cheryl. Thank you so much. Yeah, fingers crossed we find the carrot pin. Not in the dog. Not in the dog. Not in the dog.