All right, Pet Chat's the name of the game. And so far, we have to open the door for Cheryl Shaw, who's jumping. G'day, Cheryl. Hi, Mark. Now, at this stage, I think it might just be you, but who knows? Parking outside is not great this morning, so we'll see if we get a vet, all right? Okay. If not, we might just ring them up. What do you reckon? That's a good idea. Yeah, David's probably on a junket. Yeah, he'll be away somewhere, enjoying life. All right. In the meanwhile, though, yes, our pet of the week a bit later on, but you will have a topic today. Now, I'm seeing that brooch. Is that a brooch or is that a giant fly on your jumper there? It is. It's a brooch that is a giant fly. So we're going to be talking about flies and our pets, and there are really a lot of them around at the moment.
All right. That's our topic for today. Flies and our pets. So let's get into this one. Should be a good one. With summer just about on us. Well, that's right. What actually happens, I've found that every year when we turn our clocks, you know, to our new summertime, in blow the flies. It's a magical thing just happens, doesn't it? It is. And the flies and the insects have all arrived. But the flies in particular are really annoying to us, but they're also annoying to our pets and particularly our dogs. Dogs tend to suffer a lot from flies and not just the annoying part of the flies where they're landing on them and, you know, the dogs sort of trying to get the fly off them. But some flies actually bite. So we have these biting flies that rely on taking blood from another animal to reproduce.
So some of the dogs that are more affected are dogs that have a lot of odour. So some breeds of dogs smell more than others. Like people. Exactly. So you'll have your German Shepherd dogs that have a different odour because they're quite an oily dog. And you'll have your dogs like your Labradors and your Boxers. And those dogs tend to really suffer a lot from fly bites, but particularly around their ears and on the top of their nose. So those areas are quite easy for a fly to land on and to take blood. And particularly if they don't have a lot of hair in those areas, like on the top of the nose, there's not a lot of hair there. So the flies land, they very quickly bite. And then the dog, when it's...
bitten, will bleed a little bit. Now that dried blood, as it starts to dry after the flies left, will encourage more flies to come back and bite because dry blood has an odour and the flies are attracted to it. So if you do happen to see that your dog has some fly bites on it and there's some blood there, you must wipe it away just to try to limit the amount of flies that are going to come back and revisit. The thing is with dogs, when they're bitten on the ears... they'll usually shake on, even before they're bitten, when the fly's there, they will shake their heads just to try and get rid of the fly. And when they're shaking their heads, their ears are flapping and the small capillaries inside the pinna or the ear itself will burst and they will cause like a blood blister. It's called a haematoma. And that will fill with blood. And you need then to take your dog to the vet to have surgery on it. They'll lance it and put a drain in it because otherwise it will get infected. The other thing with dogs that get bitten on the ear, sometimes with that flicking and the shaking of their head and the actual damage to the ear tissue, the dog can...
lose part of its ear so the dog's ear will become sort of the tissue will grow and become quite distorted and quite ugly sometimes the ears will fold on themselves things will happen that create sort of an ugly ear for the dog so we also have a lot of trauma when dogs are bitten on their ears they will actually rub their ears on like on the ground or they'll scratch at them and again we get a secondary problem so that scratching will cause issues again so you know we need to be really careful about what we're doing there are available creams and lotions that you can use to stop flies from biting just like we have so you need to make sure that you're using something to prevent the flies from striking your dog. The other thing is good husbandry, making sure that you are keeping the area that your dog is laying in clean. Kennels and aviaries and chook coops, they are notorious for bringing flies around. So trying to keep these areas as clean and disinfected as possible will minimise some of the flies. And Mark, do you remember those things back in the olden days? They had these fly strips and the flies would get caught on the sticky. Very much so, yeah. Yeah, they're a really good idea to have around if you've got chooks and you can hang them in your chook pen and around the area to try and minimise the amount of flies that you've got in those spaces. But yeah, flies are a pretty big problem for most of our dogs.
Yeah, particularly when you mention all those other flow-on issues as well, just something in the most cases so simple from just a fly buzzing around and biting and just all these other problems that become even worse than the initial one. Yeah, and I think keeping your pet really clean is another thing. So if you're bathing your dog and keeping the skin nice and healthy and the coat, you know, sort of minimal odour around it. And some dogs do have a lot more odour. If you think about dogs that have a lot of saliva, you know, those slobbery ones, they get really... I try not to think about that. I know, I know, but I'm just sort of setting that scene. They get quite smelly around the face. So that's where the flies will come in and land on their jowls and just become sort of, as I said, an irritant, but also...
potential at biting. All right. Well, from a grooming perspective, turning into our special week this week, but if we have dogs that are more prone to be odorous, is that a chance where good grooming can actually at least mitigate that a little bit? Absolutely. So we're trying to keep the flies away from them. Flies obviously are attracted to smells. The other thing is when we do have flies, some flies will lay eggs.
on sores. So if your dog's got a sore, you've then got the potential for a fly or the female to lay eggs and that's sort of pretty gross. They'll feed on the tissue. So if you're bathing your dog regularly, you will notice if there's anything wrong with the pet's skin as well. So apart from keeping the dog clean and fresh, you will see any eruptions on the skin, anything that looks a bit strange. So that gives you an opportunity just to further...
view your dog for anything that could potentially be a problem. Because I think when you bath the dog, one of the things that you'll notice is that when you're rubbing, you'll feel things. Sometimes it might be a lump that you weren't even aware of. It's usually how it works. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, as we think about what's happening with our pet skin, we can see when we're bathing them exactly what's going on underneath that fur.
All right, lots to think about, particularly, Cheryl, with the summer just about upon us. And you're right, though, it is amazing. The daylight saving hits and all of a sudden everything else, just the natural world around us clicks in as well. I actually saw the very first mosquito of the season buzzing around my window. Oh, they're so bad, yeah. Well, I got stung by one of the flies yesterday. I was in my garden and I got one of those. I call them a March fly, but it's not March. I got stung by one of those and they're quite nasty. So hence today's topic. I thought, oh, here we go. We've got all of these flies and they're biting. So fly strike. It certainly is a good thing to keep in mind for our pets with all of those other lingering issues as well. Cheryl, you mentioned the flies are out and about at the moment, giving us some real problems for our dogs.
secondary issues, but also for pets at the moment, the rats are out. Mice and rats, they can be real problems, can't they? Oh, absolutely. And if your dog isn't immunised for leptospirosis, it really is, you know, get it in front of your mind to ring your vet and get your dog booked in for the lepto-vaccination because they have potential from the rat urine to... kill a dog. So it's really important that our dogs do receive their leptospirosis injection. And that's the thing, I mean, we see the rat as, well, that's a vermin, gloves and into the bag and into the garbage, but they just see it as the next thing that's in front of them, don't they? Yeah, but I think, Mark, the bigger problem with leptospirosis is that what we don't realise, it's the urine. So they might wee on something that your dog licks. So I know my dog actually licks the gate and the rats will run across the top of the gate. I've got quite a big property and we have rats, we also have possums, we have snakes, but the lepto is really important to understand that it can be such a simple thing that they've licked something, you know, they could lick a bowl that a rat's been in.
and weeding and then we've got issues. All right, so it is the time of the year for all of that, so keep those things front of mind. Still to come, we'll take a look at our dog and the cat of the week. We've got a couple of good ones for you, and I know we're going to do it later, but even the names Rusty and Mr Pickles. I like Mr Pickles. As we continue with Pet Chat this afternoon, Cheryl will show us here, and Cheryl, we sort of started this hour by talking about summer. We're just about into that time of year. We all love to get out and about, and many love to take their pets out and about too. You think to the big hardware stores, you think to cafes and some outdoor alfresco restaurants. Are there some things that we should be keeping front of mind, firstly, as the owner of said pet? Absolutely, Mark. This is one of my...
things that I believe, unless your dog is really well-trained, and I mean really well-trained, like a service dog. Yeah, and obviously that's the caveat here. If it's a service dog, all of those sort of things, this is not part of, if we get on the negative, this is not part of that discussion. That's right. So one of the things that if you do take your pet, say to a cafe, and you are having your coffee and there's other people in attendance and your dog's not well-trained, you've got a potential that the dog is going to lunge up on the table, try to take things. But not only that, if they're not settled, if they're not laying next to you or under the table or beside you, then we've got a problem because the dog is actually in the way of people. So a lot of restaurants do say, yes, your pet is welcome.
But it's really for pets that are really well behaved. And by saying that, not everybody is a pet lover. So there's some people I know that won't go to cafes because... Dogs are allowed there. So, you know, you need to make sure. Also on that, if you are going to someone's place for a barbecue and you've got your pet and you can always take it everywhere, don't just assume that those people that you're going to visit want your dog there. Always ring and ask because this is a thing too that I've had people turn up and say, oh, you know, when I was working, they'd say, oh, yeah, we went to somebody's place and they weren't happy that we'd taken our dog and said, oh, no, we don't want dogs here. I saw that very thing on Judge Judy a few months ago. Did you? They'd taken their dog that was not the most polite dog in the world.
to someone's house that was a friend of the wife's or the husband or something, and all of a sudden the dog's outside on a leash somewhere tied up because it was a bit of an aggressive dog, bit someone, and they're in trouble. Yeah, and this is the thing too. Some pets, when you are visiting people, aren't used to being around children or different people, and they can actually sort of play up a little bit and have the potential to bite, and that's where we just want to make sure that the pet is welcome, the pet is well-behaved, that we need to check out. The other thing with our hardware stores, personally I have an issue with... dogs going to hardware stores. I think there's a time and place for everything. And for a dog that has to sit in a trolley, that is not normal. And so people, I know, take their cardboard boxes with them or they piece a carpet and they put their pet on that inside the trolley. But if you think about the...
instability of that trolley. The dog is not stable in that. And then the person is actually shopping. So when they're shopping, they're leaving that pet unattended, you know, to go to the product or produce or whatever it is that they're looking at, whether it be cattle dog food or whether it's a hardware screw or whatever. And that dog is left. Now, dogs jump out of their trolley. And I have seen it happen where a dog actually broke its leg because it jumped out of the trolley. So it's really important to be mindful that they're not used to sitting in trolleys. And the other thing, I don't know if they still do it, but there was a rule that a dog had to wear a muzzle. Now, I think that's just wrong. If your dog has to wear a muzzle because it's out and about, there's something really wrong.
I suppose it's for litigation in the hardware stores, but I just don't think that's right. I think the pet is much better off to be at home and comfortable than in a trolley. The other thing is, again, not everybody likes dogs, and so taking your dog to an area where people are scared. I took my granddaughter, who doesn't like dogs, to the hardware store. You sure that's from your lineage, that kid there? I know. She's actually quite scared of dogs. She owns three cats, so she's a cat girl. Wise person. This dog actually was on a leash, and it came over, and the man thought she wanted to pat it. Meanwhile, she sort of...
grabbing hold of the side of my leg. And the dog actually jumped up on her and knocked her down. So that's part of the thing that I don't get about why people want to take their dog out. Not everybody wants to pat your dog and love your dog. The other thing too is you get the people you go out that meet that love dogs. So they want to come up and engage with your dog. And does your dog want that? I know. And a lot of this thing in your face, dogs don't actually like people being in their face. And the people that put their hand out to pat the dog and let it sniff them, that to some dogs is absolutely terrifying. There's all these smells and odours and also their personal space has been invaded. So we've got to be mindful about do we take our dogs or do we leave them at home? And most importantly as well, no...
dogs in the trolley on a Saturday morning. No people in the trolley on a Saturday night either. Just saying a couple of things to live by there as we continue with Pet Chat. Cheryl, who said we need a vet? We don't need those clowns, do we? We'd like to have them around for some professional advice as well. We'll see who we can blame next week. Absolutely, we will. There's always the opportunity for you to think about increasing your family by way of a dog or a cat of the week.
Pet of the Week page is a good spot to start. We'll look at Mr. Pickles first. Lovely black cat. Now, Cheryl, I think you're a heartbeat away from adopting yourself. Yeah, I can't get a cat because my dogs don't like them, but I like cats. Yeah, that's a tricky look. He's nice. Very much. Likes a bit of a pet, apparently, although doesn't like being picked up. Might give you a nip if he's carried around. So he's pretty much telling you, leave me alone. Yeah, pretty much a cat. It's a stock standard for a cat there. Rusty is the Aussie cattle dog. We're going to start with him looks-wise first. From the picture, he almost looks like, and I mean this in a really nice way, like a stuffed toy dog. He does. He looks like a plush toy.
He's very cute. He is. Again, with cattle dogs, with this particular one anyway, it loves a bit of a cuddle up on the lap, loves a bit of a game playing in the backyard. Of course, with this type of dog, Cheryl, if you ain't got stuff for them to do, you've got the wrong breed. Yeah, he's a working dog, so he's going to need lots and lots of activities. Also, because he's still young, you're going to need to do a lot of training. And how early should we be getting into that? Let's have a look. How old is Rusty now?
He's about 15 weeks, I think. So pretty much once you've got the receipt in hand. Yep, he should be already starting his training. No doubt he's doing that with his carer at the moment, but you need to continue. Cattle dogs need a lot of training because, like you said, Mark, they are an active dog, and if they're not trained, you'll end up with a lot of problems. Yeah, and even if you've got the big backyard, you obviously need family members that can actually spend that time every day engaging with him and just making sure he's not bored. Absolutely, he needs a job to do.
All right. I've got a few jobs on my desk later. Can you do those ones? These are active dogs, so he's going to be an active dog, and you need to stimulate him. Otherwise, you'll end up with problems. All right. That's the sort of thing to keep in mind when you're having a breed such as Rusty, the Australian cattle dog. Pickles, the black cat, though. He's there for you as well. If you'd like some details on both of those, head up to our pet chat page and click on the Pet of the Week at suinurfm.com.au.
Good times and great music at 2NURFM 103.7. Just about ready to wrap up with Pet Chat with Cheryl Shaw today. Now, Cheryl, the good news is you have plenty of things for us to talk about. The bad news is you've burned through about five weeks of topics. I know. In half an hour. But not that it's a big thing today, but it will be warmer again towards the weekend and just a bit of a heads up as we start to walk our dogs as well. I know. When the weather starts to warm up, we've got to be really mindful about what time we're taking our pets out for a walk. Unfortunately, a lot of people choose the middle of the day when it's really hot, both the cement and the tar.
roads or wherever you're walking your dog, it can be too hot for them. We put on our sand shoes or our joggers and away we go, not thinking about the poor pet, and their feet get burnt. It is so terrible, the pain that they suffer just going on a walk. When you think, oh, I'm doing a good thing, I'm taking them out, they're getting to smell and sniff and walk and exercise, but meanwhile, the pain is phenomenal in those feet. As a general rule, if it's too hot for you to walk on that surface in a bare foot, the animals are probably in pretty much the same boat. That's it, absolutely.
All right, Cheryl, that's it. It's all over. Okay. Thank you for that. We'll catch you next week. You will. Any idea on what your topic will be then? Oh, I don't know. I'll have to think about this one hard now. All right, we'll come up with one. Between now and next week, Pet Chat Bag, next Wednesday after midday, here at 2NURFM.