All right, we are ready to go with our Pet Chat team this afternoon. Dr. Fiona, welcome along. Thank you very much for having me, Mark. And also Cheryl Shaw, as always, welcome. Pleasure. Thank you. Now, you are starting. We've got your badge. We have to check what's on the badge today. You have the dog paw and some words that I can't read all this way over there. Okay, so it's about tags today. So making sure that your dog is wearing a tag and proper identification so that your dog comes home.
That's pretty important that the dog comes home, isn't it? It is, yeah. All right, so we're doing that. And, of course, Dr Fiona here to answer all of our vet questions also. Absolutely. Please give me a call. Dogs and tags and making sure that we can get the pets back with our owners. That's it, Mark. Often dogs might have a tag or a name ID, but...
It's really important that we do check that your dog is actually wearing a tag. So many dogs escape and get out of their yard and they don't have their identification. Now, there is different types of identification. A lot of people think that the dog being microchipped is enough to get it returned. Now, if that microchipping isn't up to date, it means the details may have changed. You may have moved house. You may not have updated things. You may have changed phone numbers. All of those things can mean that you're not necessarily going to get your dog reunited with you like you think. So I always believe it's a great idea. Microchipping, yes, keeping those details up to date, but the dog wearing a name tag and with not just one but two contact numbers on it.
important that there's two contacts because sometimes you may be in a situation where you can't get to your phone and you may be away somewhere, something's happened, your dog's got out and that second contact can mean the dog being reunited back home. So making sure that our tags also are clearly identifying the dog's name, those phone numbers. Now I mean clearly identifying because sometimes the engraving wears down and it can be really difficult to read what's inscripted on the tag. Another thing that you can do is use the collars that are embroidered. So they use the webbing on the collar to put the phone number and the name of the dog. But again, make sure that you're using two phone numbers. I know
For us, we used to always have our dogs listed at work as well as our phone number so that if something happened during the day when we weren't home, the dogs would be called. The thing is that dogs are opportunists. You might think, oh, my dog won't go out. But if a gate or a door is left open, they will take off. And another thing is we're about to come into storm.
time. So storm season starts happening now. Some dogs that are frightened of storms and again, fireworks, they will just get so panicked and they will do extreme things to get out and they will run, running scared and panicking and they'll cover long distances just in that whole momentum of just running for fear. So again, it's really important to get your dog back. We need to make sure that these tags are on the dog and they do fall off. Sometimes they'll fall off. You'll think, oh, my dog's wearing a tag. But if you are connecting your leash to your dog's collar, sometimes people, instead of putting it through the ring, will actually put it through the collar. Have you seen this, Fiona? I've done this, Cheryl.
and I have almost lost my dog and the collar and the tag in the process. On the naughty list. Yes. So as you say, Cheryl, there's the D ring that the collar is designed to have the lead clipped to and then there's the little key ring ring that is designed to hold the dog tag on. You don't want the lead attaching to that bit. And because it does, it just pulls. And you might think it's okay and then that tag just comes away and you've got no tag. So checking regularly that your dog is wearing its tag is so important. That's a good start. Really important. Yeah. And there is a little bit of safety issue with some tags. Sometimes some dogs will get their tag caught in...
decking, you know, so the timber decking. So sometimes the tags can go into those. I actually had a standard poodle named Archie that he used to lay on those bench seats and his tag went down between the bench seat and he panicked. And when he panicked and... and jumped. He twisted and it twisted the collar around his neck and I actually had to cut it off. But you need to be mindful. If your dog has a collar, a lead, a tag that's getting caught in floorboards and things, make sure that you maybe then get the embroidered collar. But it is important that you keep those details up to date. If you move, make sure that you've updated your microwave. Your microwave, now I'm all over the place today. Make sure you've done your microchipping update and also that if you change phone numbers, you change address that you are following through with changing those details. That information also is important if you are travelling. So if you're travelling with your dog, I always...
It suggests putting on a second temporary tag that has got some other details on it so that if you're away and your dog gets out, that there's somebody else that they can contact. All right. Yeah. And you want to add something to that, Dr. Fiona? Yeah. Obviously, as Cheryl talked about, I mean, microchipping number one, but super important that those microchip details are up to date. It is relatively easy to update your details. If you do move house, if you move address or you change phone numbers, or as Cheryl said, we want to add additional phone numbers. It's quite easy to do that, quite clear on the website, the microchipping website for how to do that. So follow those.
But the other thing that I put on tags, as Cheryl said, as well as two phone numbers, I actually also have, in my case, the clinic I work at, the vet that says vet and then the vet's phone number. And it also says I am microchipped. So just the more information you can... give people the better. Yeah, and a lot of people also put on if their dog is in a medical condition. Oh, super important. That's important because that way we want to get that dog back reunited with their owner. And I think when there's details on it, if somebody finds a pet, they're more likely to contact them. That way, if they contact the owner, you don't get the fine that the dog goes to the pound. So it's a really win-win situation with having as much detail so that people can contact you. So how often, Fiona, because I'm guessing when people find a lost animal, they bring it into a veterinary clinic, how often are the details outdated on a microchip and how often are animals brought in and there is just no
identifying weight at all. Yeah, look, it's really relevant, Mark. It would happen at least on a weekly basis, as Cheryl said, in storm season much more frequently that we're getting stray animals because they just panic and run when the storm goes on. The number of stray animals that get dropped to the clinic with an identifying tag, I would say is zero. So if someone finds a pet and there is a tag, a collar with an identifying tag with a phone number, it doesn't get to the vet because people do what Cheryl said. They phone the numbers on the tag. Now, if you know if your dog slipped its tag or it's broken its collar or whatever, obviously it makes it to us. But the percentage of times that the microchip is up to date, I'd say it's probably 50%.
So 50% of pets are not being reunited with their owners quickly because those microchip details are not correct. Yeah. And speaking of quickly, if your dog does get out, it's really important that you start looking quickly. Immediately start checking. Ring your vets. Just check. But also going to social media is a really powerful way of getting your pet reunited with you. Putting up on a post that your dog's missing. On the local community pages. Yeah. That's just such a helpful way of getting dogs back together with their owners. So yeah. So yeah, certainly check around. We had some family that were living at Edgeworth at the time. They had a border collie. Obviously the right dog to have for a suburban backyard, right? No matter how high the fence. That's another topic for another day, Mark.
But anyway, the dog had got out, four days had passed, and they thought, well, it's all over, Red Rover. And it turns out that four days later, some young kids that were riding their bush bikes through the bush, the other side of West Wall's End, had found him in the bush out there, happy as anything, and into the West Wall's End vets he went, and obviously contact was made. But, I mean, that's a long way away. They can cover some serious distance. Yeah, yeah. But it's also devastating when you do lose a pet because you just worry, where are they, what's happened? Absolutely. It's just, yeah. Sometimes they're out there living their best life, but not often.
Fiona, you want to talk about something that from time to time many people will do. They go on holidays and they obviously need to leave their pets at home. Yes, well, relevant, I guess, because we've just come out of school holidays. A lot of people go away. Over the years, my family and I are extremely lucky because we have an amazing source of vet nurses that I can call on to house it. So we are extremely lucky. And it's also in their employment contract, other tasks as required. I wouldn't stretch that far. But, yeah, obviously incredibly skilled.
access for for me but for a lot of people they don't have that so yeah who looks after your pets while you go historically I guess a lot of people put their dogs and cats into boarding and a lot of most of those places well the good reputable places certainly have full insurance and you know trained staff and all those sorts of things but with a house sitter or a pet sitter maybe maybe they're just the kid across the road or maybe they're a fully professional setup or maybe they're just someone you found on Facebook but I guess probably important to think about you know Do you know their background? Do they have references? Have they had experience with either your pets or pets, the people that you know? Do they have any kind of training? And I guess particularly, you know, if something went wrong, who would they call? You know, do they know who your local vet is? Do they know if your pet's got, you know, regular medication that they need? Do they know how to administer that medication? Do they know if you're not contactable while you're away, who's the next person that needs contacting? So lots of things to think about. So at the very least, you must leave a fully comprehensive cheat sheet for them. Look, yes, mine is currently three or four pages long.
Gotcha. And we're not talking big, bold writing. No, we're not. Size 12 font. But, yeah, really important because stuff that you think might be super obvious might not be obvious to the person that doesn't know your pets. I'll try and make this as non-random as I can, but how often are we seeing situations where animals are getting brought in in a veterinary setup where something has just gone wrong with the house sitter?
Not super frequently, but we've also had some really tragic cases that haven't ended well through no fault of their house sitter, but just situations that have arisen while technically they're in charge. So having that really clear plan of what to do, who to call, where to go is really important. And often we'll have proactive owners who will notify us at reception or phone the clinic and be like, I'm going away from date X to Y. This is the house sitter's name. This is their phone number.
Just that sort of thing. So you're just making it as watertight as possible. Cheryl, I'm sure you've got some thoughts on this. Yeah, look, I'm one of those ones that I would make sure I'm doing a lot of background search on the person that's going to be looking after your pet. Because if you don't do that, you're not really sure what's going to happen. I had a friend who the sitter said she was turning up and she wasn't turning up. They were away for a long weekend. And they knew that she didn't go. She took the money that was placed for her, but she didn't go back. And so I think it's really important. They knew because they checked their little ring camera and nobody had been there. So it may just be a weekend and the pets, sure, they were fine. But that's not the point. There's money being...
and the pets aren't being cared for. So make sure you do your background research on the person. Know, get some references, things like that. But it is a really super important idea, too, to get them to meet the pets before you go away. So I think that that's, you know, that's in a nutshell. Let them meet. See how their interaction is, you know, particularly if you've got multiple pets, you know, they're feeding cats and dogs. You just want to make sure that everything is sort of laid out and you're happy with them. Yeah, sometimes family end up being the person that does that as well. I was that person. Yeah, yeah. For a lot of years.
And then the other options we talked about is kennels, cattery, that sort of thing. Again, any reputable kennel or cattery will want to see a vaccination record for your pet. If you're booking somewhere and they're not asking for the vaccination status of your pet, you need to be thinking about looking somewhere else because that should be absolutely, without a doubt, something that gets checked by every cattle dog staying in a facility because otherwise they're rife for spreading viruses because the pet's immune systems are down because they're a bit stressed, because they're away from home and they're your sort of situations where things get spread around. All right. Good times. Great music at 280RFM 103.7. We're continuing Pet Chat. We're Dr. Fiona. Cheryl Shaw is here as well. And 49216216, that's how you get in contact with our ladies this afternoon. G'day, Victoria. You have a question in relation to dogs with separation anxiety. What would you like to know, Fiona? Victoria, sorry. Well, our little pooch is fine. She's been trained to, there's not a problem when I go away, she's 14. But we also have a new product called Adactyl that's picked into the apartment, which is wonderful in the living room. But so many people don't realise.
that their little poochers get really upset if they're left. So many times I've been walking and I'm having to chat over a fence to a poor little pooch who's so distressed, you know, and separation anxiety is obviously quite a problem. Can the girls advise, with the radio show, advise people what to look out for with their little doggies when they leave them, particularly with so many people working and their dogs are left all day, you know? Yeah, you raise a really interesting and relevant topic, Victoria. I think pets, specifically dogs these days, probably do deal with separation.
do have to deal with separation anxiety more so than if we think sort of 10 or 20 years ago. But I do think that's a double-edged sword. I think the reason we, I think there is an element that has been bred into dogs because people like the idea of having a constant companion. They love their dogs with them. If you think about, you know, most people these days, the dogs are inside, the dogs might be wearing clothes, the dogs might go to the cafe, the dogs might go to the beach, the dogs might sleep on the bed. Now, you know, 20 years ago, that was absolutely unheard of. So I think we are...
possibly without realising, pre-selecting for dogs that like and seek our companionship more than maybe we used to. And the by-product of that then is if you, as you say, have to go to work all day, this dog that you love and adore and spend a lot of time with when you're home suddenly has to cope with being by itself. And you mentioned a product, Adaptil, which is fantastic. We use it in the clinic all the time. There's a cat equivalent. And yes, it is a really brilliant product to just help chill some pets out if they do get a little bit anxious. And I think a lot of people, particularly when I talk to them in consultations, if you draw certain things to their attention, they are aware that the dog probably is a little bit anxious when it's left alone. And that opens up the conversation for how we can manage that, how we can work towards the dog not...
towards the dog being less anxious yeah um yeah and I think a lot of that stems from when you first get a dog or a puppy is setting them up for success you know setting them up for being okay with being by themselves for short periods of time to start with Yeah. Was there anything else you wanted to add, Victoria? When I leave, I always say to our little Rosie, mind you, she's a 14-year-old. She's quite something. Mummy will be back soon. Look, it's interesting you say that. So we have two dogs at the moment. One is under 12 months of age, and they know of a morning when I'm going to work. You know, I haven't intentionally set up a routine, but they know I've got my scrubs on, I make my coffee, I tell them to go outside, and for them, the final thing is locking the back door.
And when I lock the back door, they're like, righto, mum's off to work. And they take themselves off to bed. Whereas if I don't lock the door, they just sit at the back door and think I'm just doing something else in the house. So it can be helpful to have some cues if you've got a dog that can cope with being by itself because then it helps them realise, okay. Leave the radio on. I was told once, leave the radio on so they can hear some voices, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Nothing wrong with that. All right. Thank you so much for all of that, Victoria. And a little bit more, just a little bit more of Pet Chat on 2NURFM. So if you do have a question, it's time to have a look at our pets of the week. We have Alfie the dog we'll get to in a moment. And who wants to take a swipe at our cat, Ellie? That's figuratively speaking, not literally, of course. So Ellie is a white cat.
Stripey Tail and Mark, any other comments you have to make about her appearance? I'll answer just a little black or very dark grey dash between her ears. There's been a lot of jolly conversation this morning about whether we should attack Ellie's black swipe with white out. You said put some liquid paper on there. Maybe I did. Obviously, I'm very much joking. It is a very cute little mark, but it does look like she's kind of just stuck her head under. Under something, yeah. Yeah, just stuck her head and got a black mark on her. She is a young...
Female cat, originally was fairly shy and quiet, but he's really coming out of her shell with her foster carer. Loves a cuddle, loves to be a bit silly and have a play and run around the house. She is still on the more reserved side for a cat, so sort of, you know, a big, loud, busy family is probably not her preferred location. She has briefly lived with a small dog who was a cat-friendly dog, but, you know, big, boisterous dogs or young children is probably not for her. Yeah, I love the last line. Ellie?
really prefers the quiet life. Yeah, so she'll be perfect for someone, you know. Of course, we have Alfie, the Chihuahua cross dog as well. Yes, Alfie is pretty cute. Chichi cross, Chihuahua dachshund, they're calling him nine months old, ready to steal your heart and claim your couch. So he's a lap dog if ever there was one. Lots of love to give, loves to be with his people.
pint-sized package of joy. If you like sitting on the couch by yourself, he's probably not the dog for you. He's not the dog for you. He can get the cat instead. Yes, great idea. So he very much loves being a cattle bug on the couch, which is pretty cute. Still being nine months old, obviously still a puppy, has lots of curiosity, enjoys a play with his foster brother and loves his people, just wants to be with you basically. All right. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about our pets of the week, that of course is Alfie the dog and Ellie the cat. You can find our pet chat page.
at 2nurfm.com.au. G'day, Sharon, from Singleton. Your dog is eating some bird droppings. What's going on there? Oh, look, it's terrible. So if it is on the path, and even though it's dry, he will come and lick at the path to eat it. When the birds get on the clothesline or come in the yard, he'll bark at them and chase them so they'll fly off, and when they drop the droppings, he'll then go and lick it out of the grass. Delicious. Yeah, constantly. Look, it's... I have no idea why. Well, I think...
I'm going to say this is a double-barrelled question. So dogs chase things that move fast. He has learnt that if he runs towards the birds, they fly away. And as an added bonus, they leave a little present for him. So, yeah, it's not going to do him any harm, Sharon. I would certainly want to make sure he's up to date with an intestinal all-wormer to make sure he's not getting any parasites or anything. I don't really think you're going to be able to stop him doing it. Oh, really? Yeah, but it's not... He doesn't catch the birds, I'm assuming. Oh, no, he's not interested in that whatsoever. Like, if they lean on the clothesline, he'll just stand under it, bark, the bird will fly off, and 90% of the time, they're dropping, and he goes straight to eat it. Yeah, OK. And then he's quite content, and then he'll sit there, like, looking at his lips for 10 minutes after.
I'm worried, is it going to make him sick? I don't know why he would be eating poop. I don't know what it is about it, but droppings from other animals certainly seem to be quite attractive to dogs. I'm assuming they contain probably quite significant pheromones and scents that we can't smell. I'm pretty sure we can. Mark thinks we can smell them, yes. Yes, I agree. Some of them we can, yes. Sharon, just on that, what type of birds are coming into your yard? So we have magpies. The magpies, he really likes to bark at it. It seems like that's his...
favourite delicacies. And then we have king parrots and we have rosellas and we have I forget the name of them now. Well it's a nice mix. Yeah I was just going to say a nice mix of birds that are coming. I was going to suggest if it was something that you didn't want there like your miners and things that you could put some old CDs on your clothesline. The reflection of those will make the birds go away but those birds coming in are rather nicer. Yeah and see we've got feeders in the trees too like we feed them and yeah.
We don't really have many of the miners, and he's not interested in chasing those. Or the topknot pigeons, he doesn't worry too much about them either. Magpies seems to be like his favourite dropping. Yeah, look, Sharon, I... He'll go along the fence line and eat any of it. Yeah, I don't think you're going to be able to break him over the habit. As long as you're using an intestinal wormer to protect him against intestinal worms, I would just probably accept that it is what it is and enjoy, as Cheryl said, enjoy the beautiful bird life in the yard. Yeah, so can't harm him at all as long as he's upstate with worming, which he is, yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned about it.
All right, best of luck, Sharon. We have room for maybe one more. G'day, Leslie at Boolaroo. What is happening with your cat there, Leslie? I have a white cat who's almost 16 years old. I'm aware that in the past I've tried to put...
sunscreen on his nose and his ears. However, the few times that I managed to, he immediately licked it off. Yes. He does spend some time outside and he has, in the last week, has developed a blue lump. It looks blue anyway. Okay. One of his ears. Okay. I'm a bit concerned about, obviously, whether it's sunscans or cancer. And he doesn't seem to be worried about it. I can touch it lightly and he doesn't worry about it. But I don't know whether I should have it removed or whether it's a bit much for him at this age.
Yeah, well, thanks for your call, Leslie. I 100% have the same primary concern as you that squamous cell carcinoma or skin cancer is something that we could be looking at. Simply given his age and the position of that lump and the colour of his fur, it's like a tick box to skin cancer. Tick, tick, tick. Now, if...
The other thing I would say is age is not a limiting factor for us to be able to do something like this. He, depending on his general health, could quite easily get another few years, depending on how everything goes. And if this is a skin cancer, it's going to be extremely big and very annoying and potentially ulcerated and infected by that stage. So a small lump is quick, is easy to get off. The anaesthetic would be shorter. So if it was something, yeah, I would definitely get it checked by your vet, Leslie. Obviously go by their advice, but I'd be heading in and considering getting that cut off for sure. Thank you so much for that.
Call Leslie and best of luck with everything in your kitty cat as well. Ladies, we have made it to the end. The time has got us. So a big hour of Pet Chat. Thank you so much. Dr. Fiona, we'll catch you next time. Absolutely. And Cheryl, shall we get you next week or what? You sure do. Excellent. Well, we all have Amanda next week. So make it normal. Excellent. So a good week on the way. Thank you very much. Pet Chat done for the week on 2NURFM.