Look out, the ladies of Pet Chat are back today. Dr Fiona, hello. Good afternoon, Mark. And Cheryl Shaw as well. Good afternoon to you. Hi there. Now, my reading glasses can't just get across to your bros today. I thought it first looked like a Christmas tree before I was rebuked severely. Well, it's very sparkly, so it could be. Yes. Easter bunny? Easter bunny. We're going to be talking about keeping our pets safe over the Easter break.
And Cheryl, you're just getting ready for Easter for our pets. You've actually got a nice little Easter in there, so you can have that once you've finished chatting. Oh, thank you. That's very nice. Well, let's talk about Easter. This is a time that a lot of people start travelling over. You know, they might be going to visit family or friends. And one of the things that we need to remember when we're taking our pets with us, particularly our dogs, if we're stopping on the road, you know, part of the journey, make sure you don't open that car door until you've got your dog on a lead because they can get spooked really easily. They're in a different environment and then we've got a drama of a lost dog. So also another thing to remember is if you are travelling somewhere, sure, your phone number's going to be on the dog's collar, hopefully, but you can add another tab.
even just a key tag that you can put on, you know, a different address that you may be staying at just in case something happens because dogs are real opportunists. If a gate or a door is left open, they're going to take off and, you know, try to go to their own environment if they're in an unfamiliar territory. And this happens a lot, doesn't it, Fiona? Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, you get your strays in and, as you say, hopefully most of the time they have a tag on with a phone number, but sometimes they don't and that's where microchips are.
Fantastic, because we scan the microchips, check the details. But then the other issue, obviously, is making sure your microchip details are up to date. But lots of opportunity to put different phone numbers on your microchip as well. Yeah, that's a great idea. The other thing, too, is if you are having visitors and you've got a cat who doesn't really like having people around, make sure that you're putting your cat in a safe place, particularly like a bedroom or something like that. And go and visit the cat regularly to make sure it's not getting too stressed out, because some cats really don't like visitors. Definitely. They really are animals after my own heart, I've got to be honest. But it's important that we're looking after their welfare, particularly when we're entertaining. The other thing is when we are entertaining, a lot of people let their guard down a little bit.
They've got visitors and families staying with them. So we need to make sure that we're not leaving things around, particularly around mealtime, things that some pets can get into. And we just want to avoid that extra trip to the vet if we can do it over the long weekend. And, of course, the no-brainer, the food that's around at Easter time. Mark, I know you've had the chocolate hot cross bun this morning. I call them a chocolate sandwich. A chocolate sandwich. I love it. But just imagine how bad that would be if a dog was to get it. I mean, you know, we've got the chocolate. We've got, you know, some of these have sultanas as well. And the yeast. So hot cross buns are a really bad thing for dogs. So it's the sultanas that are our main problem, isn't it?
Yeah, and depending, I guess, how much chocolate's in there. The chocolate's up there with the sultanas as well. It's quite adequate, to be honest. Quite a nice amount. Just no. The other thing is if you've got your stash of eggs at home, make sure that your pet can't get into them. I mean, you know, you don't want to have no bunny delivery on the Sunday. We want to make sure that the dog isn't getting into them beforehand. And on that, I had a dog years ago that found a great big, it was a sockable egg. And he just didn't eat just the chocolate. He ate the wrapping as well. So with that, the treatment is, Fiona, what do they do when they come in with the chocolate that the dog has eaten and they say, I don't know how much or he's got into the stash? What happens? So what we do.
is we give them a medication to make them vomit. So that can get out anything that's in the stomach. If we catch it, normally the time frame is within about an hour. So definitely if you see your pet eat some chocolate, call the vet straight away because if we can get them to vomit within that hour, you're removing most of the toxic effects of the chocolate. But yes, as you said.
It's not uncommon, Cheryl, to make a dog vomit and you bring up some wrappers and in a Labrador or that such breed, it's not uncommon to also bring up a sock or something else that the dog's eaten and the owner's like, oh, I did wonder where that sock was. So, yeah, if your dog eats chocolate, give the vet a call. And some chocolate is worse than others as well. Some of the chocolate has more toxicity. Yes. So that's your Theobriman and your caffeine. Yes, yes. So the darker the chocolate, the more toxic it is. So dark chocolate is more toxic than milk chocolate, which is more toxic than white chocolate. So, yeah, if in doubt.
Call the vet, give them as much information as you can. So what it is the dog's eaten, how much it is, how many kilograms your dog is, or just approximately, because that can help us determine are we going to have just sort of a mild tummy upset like vomiting and diarrhea, or are we potentially going to be having tremors and seizures and heart-related issues. And there's another Easter egg that isn't the chocolate. It's so sugar... Sugar eggs, they're called. And a lot of those contain high amounts of xylitol. So xylitol is also very toxic for dogs. So making sure that whatever you've got out, that you're just keeping it out of the reach of your pet. It's so important. I actually ended up at Sash with a friend of mine last Easter. And you would not believe how many people were there. Oh, I can only imagine it. Chocolate toxicity. It was amazing. There was just a line-up of people with their pets that had got in to the chocolate. So we do need to be mindful. Another thing that's around, particularly at this time of the year, are lilies. Now, we get lilies all of the time. But lilies are really toxic. And often people will bring a bouquet at Easter time when they're staying. We need to make sure that if you've got a cat, there's no lilies.
lilies in the house. So lilies, every part of the lily, whether it be the petals, the stamen, the dust even on the stamen, the leaves, even the water that's in the vase, these things are all really, really toxic to cats. So make sure if you're taking flowers that they're suitable for what pets are around. That's very thoughtful. Yeah, definitely. Nice thought to bring flowers, but also even more thoughtful to make sure they don't have lilies in them if you're going somewhere with a cat. Yeah.
Great excuse, actually, all of this as well, if you're visiting some family or friends. Oh, and I didn't get the kids eating Easter eggs because I was the dog or cat. Again, he's very considerate. I'm not sure how the kids would feel in that scenario. I was thinking of the people who have to turn up and have been paid for Easter eggs. It's great we can blame the dogs. But another thing too, you know how people do the Easter egg hunt? Make sure that you have got the dog locked away when you're doing that. You don't want the opportunist grabbing the eggs and make sure that they're all accounted for. Remember where they are. Yes, yes. And it's just about...
It's just about keeping your guard up because it's not a routine thing. So if you've got different people or different food or even different pets that are coming to visit, maybe you don't normally have a dog in the house but someone's bringing their dog to visit, just try and be vigilant and mindful. Yeah, good advice. Yeah, good idea to map that Easter egg hunt out so that you can go back and check after the kids have been there to make sure that you've got it the last one. The dogs will find it. They will. They really, really will. Good afternoon, Anne from Greta. Your dog's waking you up in the middle of the night, Anne. What's the story? Oh, well, she's a very naughty little miniature schnauzer, that's all. Oh, dear. Tell me more. Okay, when she was a pup, I'd always take her out if she woke up.
And I think I got to the stage where I was rewarding her for doing the good things by going to the toilet. Now that she's over a year old, she's about a year and two months, she's still waking me up in the middle of the night, two to three times of the night. So I get up, just throw her out, let her go do what she has to do, come back, and she'll go back to sleep. But last night, I just got sick of it. I just went, oh, let's go back to bed. She went back to bed and I never heard from her until 5.30 this morning. I think she's playing games with me. It sounds like potentially she's trained you well, Anne. I think so. So did she make it through last night without doing away at all?
Yes, I always take her out and I watch her before I go to bed so I make sure she's done it so I know she's okay. And, of course, I'm renting. You know, I'm paranoid. Yeah. Yeah, so, you know, she went to bed and I think it was about her past one or something. She woke me. She just puts her feet on the bed. I'm a light sleeper anyway. And I just went, I'll just go back to bed. Go back to bed and found her sleep. Yes. Well, it sounds like maybe you've put your baby training skills to work for your puppy. I would say, and probably my only comment would be, I mean, I think you're...
on the right track in terms of just retraining her, that actually she doesn't need to go outside. If you find that she's having accidents, schnauzers are a little bit overrepresented for different bladder stones. So if you find that she is doing wheeze overnight, then I would definitely be taking a urine sample into your vet to just make sure that that's not an issue. At her age, it's unlikely, but I only mention it to you because of her breed. Okay. And I've got an older one. He's seven in a couple of months. Yeah. And he's fine. He'll sit there and watch her. He goes outside and he goes, well, I'm not going out there. He sounds very smart, Anne. He is very smart.
Very good. Well, best of luck with the toiletry. Thank you so much. Thanks, Anne. All right, Annie, again, best of luck with all of that. One dog's the smart one, the other one just enjoying that attention, hey? Yeah, look, it's, you know, I wouldn't choose to get up for a few times a night during the night, but obviously she just likes the company of her mum. Sometimes you have to. That's where I'm at. We tried to connect a couple of times with Anne, whose cat was a bit of a fussy eater and an escape artist. Fiona, you've got some nice general advice for folks who, like Anne, may be in that similar boat? Definitely. So I guess we'll divide that into two, a fussy eater and trying to escape. Lots of people...
Try and do the right thing by keeping their cat indoors. Because cats and outside, they just don't mix. You know, they're trying to kill local wildlife or having interactions with cars. Or fight outside of my window at two in the morning. Yes, that's a noise one will not forget. Yeah, so keeping your cat inside is definitely the right thing to do. What that means is, though, we need to provide plenty of physical and mental stimulation to keep them satisfied. So that can mean, you know, playing with little...
lasers or toys or you know toys up and down the hallway to get them physically moving around young cats are obviously easier to do that than older cats often but there are lots of battery operated little you know you can get little mice that will sort of independently run themselves or treat toys that will spit out food occasionally so lots of physical activity is really important mental stimulation so having them to use their minds so this sort of comes into your puzzle toys and and that sort of thing it can be nice to let to let your cats have some outside time so I guess the way to do that safely is either on a harness and lead We have a ragdoll that lives near us, who I regularly see on a little lead, having a bit of fun and exploration in the front yard, which is really responsible for the owner to let them have that outside time, but in a safe way. And the other thing that you can do that's a great opportunity for cats is build some outside enclosures. So they're often sort of netting enclosures, which gives them outside access. They can sit in the sun. They can watch the well go by, get those sights and smells, but it doesn't put them in any danger. And I guess with that, they're still getting that wander around sort of expanding their territory as well. Yeah, you know, if there's an insect or a little lizard, then they'll get plenty of interest and enjoyment with that.
Anything to add there, Cheryl, that you can think of? I know a lot of cats really enjoy playing with paper balls. So you don't have to have an expensive toy that if you just roll up some paper balls and, you know, flick them across, the cats will really love that. It's just a fun thing to do. And because they're so lightweight, they, you know, roll around with them, they put them in their mouth, throw them up themselves. So, yeah, it's almost like a dog when they're playing with a ball of paper. It looks like dog behaviour. They're fun to watch. I saw a video on social media somewhere during the week of somebody's shower and there was like a big huntsman spider that was climbing up to the shower and this cat was jumping up onto the shower and then the spider had run underneath and he climbed up on the top. Oh, so much fun. Never-ending fun. Unfortunately, because they wanted to be responsible, they cut the video off before.
before the cat had actually got the spider. But they did say in the bottom, if you're wondering what happened, the spider was, you know, it was finished because of the cat. So I guess, yeah, so we've discussed the cat trying to escape. I guess then touching on the fussy eating component. Cats are different to dogs in the way that they eat and the requirements that they have for food. Often as a young animal, if you provide them with plenty of exposure to plenty of different things, you then have a higher chance of your cat being more tolerant to food as they get older. So it can be a little bit of a tricky situation, particularly if there's a medical reason to switch a cat onto a, you know, maybe it's a dental diet.
renal diet or a gastrointestinal diet, but any food changes do need to be done quite slowly and over a couple of weeks because cats do often tend to be a little bit slower on the uptake of a new food than a dog. Fiona, a couple of things you've been seeing as you've been out there looking after the animals of the hunter. And of course, coming right up to Easter as well. Is there a bit of a rush on at the moment? Yes. Look, I'm sure everywhere is flat stick at the moment. It just, Murphy's Law, it happens when you get a short week, you end up seeing five days worth of people in four days. So yes, I guess if you genuinely are concerned about your pet, definitely give your vet a call. But I guess also understand that they are probably going to be pretty busy at the moment. And if it's something that's been hanging around for a while, it may just need to hang around for a few more days. But if you're in doubt, definitely give your vet a call. Yeah, obviously. Well, that's the trick, isn't it? We say, look, everything you should go and have a look at to make sure it isn't an emergency. But if it really isn't.
you're probably going to be at the back of the queue for a couple of days. Yeah, and look, at this time of year, if you're in the back of the queue, that's the place you want to be. If you get seen straight up, it's normally because your pet's really unwell. But if in doubt, just phone because the nurses are incredibly qualified on the end of the phone and can advise you, okay, you need to come down now or this is a next week issue or this is a tomorrow issue. All right, and hopefully for you at home with your pet, it is a next week issue. Yes, that's a best-paced scenario, yes. You've also been seeing a few foreign objects just pop up at the moment. We talked about that, Cheryl, earlier with the Easter eggs. What else have you been finding? Look, some non-food items are just not supposed to be consumed, but our pets don't realise that. Dogs tend to be...
culprits for eating toys or Kongs or shoes or socks or underwear. We've seen it all. Whereas cats tend to ingest more your long, fine objects. So I've seen balloons and string and cotton. Nerf gun bullets is a big one. I've removed two or three of those because the ends are rubber. So I think they must like the texture of them. So they chew the foam bit off and tend to just ingest a rubber bit, which is perfect blockage of intestines for cats. But yeah, we treat them very differently.
Certainly, if you're worried, often it's animals off their food or vomiting or just not quite right. Again, if in doubt, give you a better call. But sometimes they need surgical removal, and that's the way it is. But often there can be a behavioural component to why they've eaten it in the first place, which is like one we had this week. It had eaten, I would say, close to a two-litre ice cream container full of grass. Wow. So that's a lot of grass. What size animal are we talking here? 20 kilos at a border collie size. That's a lot of grass to have in your stomach. So we did end up having a chat to the owner about the fact that...
There's more than likely a behavioural route to eating that much grass because that's not, you know, sometimes animals like eating grass, you know, the odd strand or so. But when you're eating fistfuls of grass, there's a reason. There's a reason for it. That's some tasty Sir Walter, isn't it? Oh, dear. Yeah, look, you know, Doggo's doing great. But, yeah, and the other thing, I guess, is if you notice things missing. If you notice half the Kong missing or you've got a Sockstealer Labrador in your house.
Again, it's like the chocolate. You've got to be vigilant. You've got to remove those items because the dogs will eat them if they get the chance. G'day, Margaret from Rutherford. Your dog is panting heavily after exercise. What's going on, Margaret? Yes, she's only 10 months old, and she runs around and plays and does all those normal things like a puppy does. But when she comes in, she just flops and she just pants, pants. And when I nurse her, her little heart's going 10 to the dozen. Yeah, so I don't know whether this is normal for her or if it's a normal thing, but, yeah, I'm just a little bit concerned of late.
Okay. Have you noticed a change, Margaret, in the way she tolerates the exercise? No, she loves to exercise. So she's always been like this after exercise? Yeah. No, no, not like this, but she does exercise. But I've been told she's a very stressful dog, puppy training. But, yeah, even when I walk her and we come back, she'll just flop and then she'll just pant and pant and pant. Yes, yes. Okay. Does she seem distressed at all, Margaret?
No, no, she seems to be quite happy. I mean, I've been out and I've come home and she's happy. She jumps on me when I get home and things like that and she's just playing out in the yard at the moment. Yeah, she doesn't drink a lot either. Okay, look, I'd probably have a couple of comments with regards to the behaviour, Margaret. I mean, we have had a very hot and humid summer, so it may be she's overexerting herself because puppies, you know, they just want to play all day every day, but sometimes their bodies just can't quite keep up with their brains. So I would potentially...
start pulling her up a little bit earlier and maybe not letting her get quite so exhausted. And if you find that she still seems to be panting more than you would expect or seems to take a long time to recover from exercise, it would be sensible to get her checked over by your local vet, particularly, you know, checking her cardiovascular system. So the colour of her gums and listening to her heart and lungs. And if there was any concerns there, obviously they could advise you further, but it may well be just pulling her back a little bit from the exercise she may want to do, but it may be a smart thing to just not let her do quite so much and get quite so exerted. So is it a normal thing for Little Moodle to do that? I mean, she's my first little dog I've had. It would be hard to comment without seeing it actually happen, Margaret. But what you could always do is take a bit of a video so that then you could show your vet what it's like when it's happening and then they could pass comment whether they feel it's within normal range or not. All right. Best of luck with everything there, Margaret. And we'll do one more today. Ingrid at Warners Bay, there is a bit of a change in your dogs in terms of bowel movements. And we'll obviously try and keep in mind, Ingrid, a lot of folks still having their lunch as well. What's the story, Ingrid?
Oh, well, my dog is in her 16th year. She's a Cavoodle. Yeah. And she does get four little squares of pawpaw every morning and every evening with her vegetable pulp and dry pellets. Yes. And I've just noticed in the last, say, three months or so that her number twos are much more pale and towards yellow than they ever were before they were sort of brown. And the pawpaw's always been in hers and my diet for a long time. And instead of doing, say, three number twos a day, she's doing maybe...
five or even sometimes six. Okay. Okay. And you haven't, I mean, you've commented on the diet already. You haven't noticed or you can't think of anything you've changed in her diet that correlates with those changes in bowel movements? No, I haven't done any change in her diet. Okay. I do notice when she, I think she might even be drinking more because now I'm very, even more aware. Yes. I think she might be looking in the grass for say a dead worm or something because when she drinks, sometimes there's a bit of soil in the bottom of the bowl, whichever bowl she decides to drink from. And when I, if I see her,
With her nose in the lawn, she's sort of going deaf. So if I clap my hands very loud, she'll pick her head up and not keep doing it. Okay, okay. And if we just go back to the poo there for a moment, would you comment whether there's any mucus or any blood that you've noticed with those poos? No, they're all normal texture sort of. Okay, all right. Look at her age, Ingrid. If she hasn't had an annual vet checkup recently, I would absolutely be pointing you in that direction for a couple of reasons, okay? A dog of her age...
can have underlying medical conditions that sometimes you can't detect. Either the vet may be able to detect abnormalities on a physical exam or they may recommend some blood tests or a urine test to screen her for some conditions that could cause increased drinking. Now, sometimes as dogs get older, they do just get a bit more of a sensitive gastrointestinal tract, which it sounds like we've definitely got going on with her. But it might be something that's easy to fix with a bit of probiotic, for example, added to her food. But if it's something that's been happening for a while, I definitely recommend a good top-to-toe checkover.
Okay, best of luck, Ingrid, and indeed all of our callers today. Well, ladies, we've done it. We've made it all the way through, and you're all off to have a nice Easter. Anything exciting in your world, your family, Dr Fiona? We're heading to the Easter show along with the rest of New South Wales. How wonderful. Which will be fantastic, but yeah, I'll make sure the kids all have their little wristbands with our mobile phones on them because I think it's going to be very busy, but it'll be lots and lots of fun. With their chocolate sandwiches, i.e. chocolate. Chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I think, with a bit of added chocolate for dessert. And what about you, Cheryl? I think it's chocolate all the way. That's winning. That's a winning couple of families right there. All right, ladies, thanks as always. We'll talk to you next time. Thanks. Thank you.
Thanks for listening to this podcast from 2NURFM at the University of Newcastle.